Chapter 88: Meaning of the Dokkaebi Sculpture (1)
“Me? Do you have an artifact that needs to be appraised?”
“No. I asked because… there’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”
“You want to have a discussion instead of appraisal?”
“Actually, I’m about to get married and want to give a gift to my in-laws. I’ve prepared everything necessary for marriage… but I want to give a special gift.”
“You should ask that to someone else…”
Haejin couldn’t understand why she was asking him for such a favor.
Yaerin then explained, “Actually, her future in-laws are in the legal profession. However, her fiancé’s parents aren’t that fond of her. That family is so aloof… you would think that it has produced ministers for centuries.”
Yaerin criticized them as if she didn’t like it, but Hyaeju stopped her.
“That’s enough.”
“Hu… well, anyway, we found out that her in-laws like antiques very much. I’ve suggested a few things, but I thought you might be able to give us a better opinion.”
“Hmm…”
Haejin hadn’t done anything like that before. So, he wondered if his advice would be helpful.
Yaerin then continued, “If you help, Osung Foods will pay you well for your help.”
Haejin had no reason to refuse when they promised to pay well.
“Then, let’s hear about your in-laws first.”
They went into a small staff lounge inside the museum. As the staff was working hard at the moment, no one would come in there.
“But, you have a friend?”
They sat around a small table while Haejin asked the question. Yaerin then raised her eyebrows.
“You thought I’m a loner without friends?”
“I’ve only seen you alone so… wild…”
“That’s because of the history between me and Eunhae. I’m not a mad dog. I don’t bite everyone around me.”
“Oh… anyway, shall we hear our story?”
Hyaeju bit her lips and hesitated. It took her a while to talk.
“My fiancé and I met while traveling. Because of that, my parents didn’t really like him. You know, they were worried that he might have approached me for the money…”
“Yes. As parents, they can be worried.”
“But, as he graduated from a law school and has a good reputation in legal circles, they gave us their permission eventually. I thought we could get married without any problems after that, but I found out later… that my fiancé’s family doesn’t really like me… they never expressed it, so I didn’t know, but I found out when I met my future mother-in-law. She has prejudices about children who grew up in very affordable families.”
She spoke of her family as very affordable when it was one of the richest families in the country. It made Haejin smile. Her reserved tone of talking and her expression showed that she had received a good education, but she had an arrogance that resembled Yaerin’s.
She was kind of a mix between Eunhae and Yaerin.
“So, you want to change their mind with a gift?”
“Yes,” Hyaeju nodded with a slightly gloomy face. Yaerin talked again bluntly, “You are so blind… you bought the car, bought everything to fill your new home, gifts for your in-laws, and you even paid half the price of the house. Why are you still groveling?”
“I’m not groveling, I just want my in-laws to like me. It is all for my fiancé.”
“What a devoted wife.”
Yaerin shook her head and clucked her tongue, but she didn’t say anything more.
“Umm… what I want to know is not how you got engaged but the mood and situation of your in-laws.”
Haejin wasn’t interested in other’s love stories. Especially when he was alone…
“Oh, I’m sorry. My father-in-law used to be a judge, but he retired. The corporations are trying to scout him as a lawyer, but he is refusing.”
“He is a great man.”
Yaerin flinched at this. She wanted to talk about it from the perspective of the corporations, but she restrained herself to not make things awkward.
(In Korea, former judges and prosecutors are often hired by companies since they are the seniors of the current judges and prosecutors, they have a strong influence over their juniors and can make them make decisions in favor of the companies.)
“Yes, he is.”
Whether she was just saying that or really thought so, there was no way to know.
“And, my mother-in-law is the typical housewife. My father-in-law is even more interested in antiques, so I think we should concentrate on him.”
“Brothers and sisters?”
“There’s one younger brother who’s trying to get a job. He’s been trying to find a job for about a year, so I offered him to join our company, but his father strongly objected.”
“Oh… what does your father-in-law like? There are many types, like porcelains, sculptures, western paintings, and eastern paintings, so it would be better to pick one.”
“I don’t know for sure, but there are a few eastern paintings in his house and a few white porcelains. Oh, I also saw an inkstone. If he likes liquor, I’ll get a bottle of good liquor and present it, but he has stopped drinking…”
“I think I know his tastes. Then, shall we have a tour of Insadong?”
Although cheap fakes for tourists filled the main streets of Insadong, in smaller alleys, you can see various artifacts worth tens of millions to hundreds of millions and buy them.
The downside is that the buyer has to discern whether the artifact is real as even experts sometimes make mistakes, carefully examining doesn’t always give the answer.
“Before that, take a look at ours, first. My aunt would scold me if she finds out that I let a guest just leave.”
“Okay, there are many good things here and they can be trusted, so all the better for me.”
Artifacts in the Haevici Gallery had to be expensive, but Hyaeju smiled and agreed.
“You’re not talking about the paintings on sale out there, right?” Haejin asked out of curiosity.
Yaerin smiled and stood up.
“I’m not asking you to buy a Salvador Dali. The cheapest painting on sale today is 700 million.”
“Oh… then we’re going to the artifact storage?”
“Originally, I shouldn’t let others in there, but I’m letting you in because you’ve been hired as Hyaeju’s consultant for a day.”
“You two must be close.”
“She’s also close to Eunhae. Although there’s bad blood between Eunhae and me… this naughty girl pretended to never meet Eunhae, but in reality, they often met!”
Yaerin spoke loudly as if she wanted Hyaeju to hear it, but Hyaeju just looked back, spoke one sentence, and turned back.
“Stop fighting now, you’re not kids.”
“Don’t you speak for Eunhae in front of me.”
Hyaeju didn’t bother to answer that, she just shook her head and kept walking. Yaerin ran to her, took her arm, whispered something, and laughed.
Haejin envied that. As he didn’t go to school like the others, he had no one to call a friend.
Even though he got close to a few peers while he worked, that relationship ended when he moved to another company. That was why he was nice to Sujeong.
Yaerin took them to the second basement floor’s exhibition room. Although it was called an exhibition room, the door was locked, and it was dark. Therefore, even if someone got there by mistake, they would turn around.
“Here? It looks like you hid things here to avoid the tax investigation.”
Yaerin pouted as she entered the password to open the door.
“We’re not Hwajin. We don’t have that kind of power yet. It’s a shame…”
Judging from her expression, she was really sorry about it.
“Oh…”
They went inside. The room was called the exhibition room for a good reason. Each artifact was protected in special glass boxes. Names and explanations were written under them.
There were even thermometer and hygrometer at the entrance in order to store the artifacts in good condition. There were more than a thousand artifacts in there.
“Look around this place first and go to Saeyeon Gallery if you can’t find anything good. Oh, you do know there are many things I cannot sell, right? Even my aunt can’t sell about half of these on her own.”
Hyaeju accepted that coolly.
“I know. I wouldn’t ask for a national treasure or a treasure. That would be too much. There’s also no need to go to Saeyeon Gallery. Don’t you know that?”
“Don’t know what? Has something else happened aside from Eunhae quitting?”
Yaerin’s eyes sparkled.
“Saeyeon Gallery might as well shut down now. Before Eunhae stepped down, she leased all the artifacts to foreign museums. They’re in chaos now because of that.”
“Wow… great!”
Yaerin was shocked at first, but she soon started to smile. While they chatted, Haejin started to move first.
In fact, an antique is not a welcomed gift unless it is very expensive and famous.
For instance, white porcelain or celadons that were sold over a hundred million on auction or a painting by a famous artist of Jeseon would be happily accepted, but receivers are not that delighted by receiving things where only experts can judge their value.
Because of that, the owner must pick an artifact on one’s own to value them.
“Do you remember what kind of porcelains your in-laws had?”
Hyaeju ran to Haejin at this.
“I don’t know for sure, but there were many white porcelains.”
Her future father-in-law could be owning white porcelains because he liked them, or he happened to get them while trying to get porcelains.
“And their shape? Was there something big and wide like Moon Porcelain? Or was there something of a middle size like a vase? Or something like a small dish…”
“They were quite big.”
People who collect old porcelains usually prefer big Moon White Porcelains at first and move on to vases and to small dishes in time.
If someone likes small dishes among the Joseon white porcelains, that are simple without splendid patterns, it would be okay to think that the person has loved white porcelains for a long time.
Then, what is the best porcelain to give as a gift? It depends on the receiver’s knowledge and experience about antiques, but the safest choice is the small Blue Flower White Porcelain that is luxurious and preferred a lot.
And, as Hyaeju’s future father-in-law had big porcelains, the Blue Flower White Porcelain’s splendor wouldn’t be too much.
Haejin made the decision and started to look around quickly, but then he heard Hyaeju’s surprised voice from behind.
“Oh, my…”
Haejin looked back. Hyaeju was standing in front of a jade artifact.
“Why were you surprised?”
“Oh, this looked like a red bug for a second…”
Yaerin slapped her shoulder and chided her.
“Please understand. She is easily scared.”
Haejin looked at that jade sculpture. Then, he asked without looking up.
“Is this for sale?”
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