Artifact Reading Inspector

Chapter 23: Two Paintings (4)

Getting the basic supplies and ingredients needed for the restoration took more than three days.

Setting a new vent and new lights also costed millions.

“Why do you need all this to restore a painting? It’s like you are about to set up a lab!”

Although restoring artifacts required the right equipment, the most important thing was the skills of the restorer.

They told Byeongguk to leave as he wasn’t needed, but he stayed, saying he had never seen the restoration of an eastern painting.

“It’s just a few chemicals, pipette and a beaker. It’s not a lab. You’re just exaggerating…”

Sujeong changed into her work suit and asked a question.

“We should analyze the paper’s material, right?”

“Yes, finding out the paper of the painting is the first step. To do that, we need graph ‘C’ dye. We can examine the outcome and determine the paper.”

While speaking, Haejin carefully lifted a corner of the painting with a bamboo tweezer and cut out a piece. He then dropped one drop of graph ‘C’ dye that he had made in advance.

The paper piece absorbed the dye and turned into a light brown a while later.

“That’s Anpi.”

“Anpi? What’s that?”

“Diplomorpha tree. It used to be used to make drawing papers, but it is still often used to make high- quality papers. Byeongguk, please give me that third paper.”

Byeongguk carefully handed Haejin one of the many papers that had been prepared.

“It is the same paper?”

“Yes. This is Choji made of Diplomorpha. It is different from Korean paper manufactured in factories. It is made by taking out the paper fibers floating in the water tank. An old-fashioned way.”

“Oho…”

“Sujeong, you should start cleaning.”

As the painting had been greatly damaged, Sujeong had to use a soft wool brush to remove the dust on the surface. This is dry cleaning.

After that, they covered the painting with rayon paper (half-transparent paper used for restoration) and used spray to apply water.

“This is wet cleaning, right?”

“Yes. The rayon paper will absorb the pollutants.”

They removed the rayon paper, dried the painting and cut the new paper to mend the missing parts.

This process had to be done very carefully and delicately, so Byeongguk had to cover his mouth to mute the sound of his breath.

After repeating the process of cutting, gluing, setting and attaching dozens of times, the painting was somewhat finished.

“Wow… now it looks like a painting.”

“This isn’t done yet. We should remove the backing paper, mount the painting again and reinforce it.”

Reinforcing the painting meant applying color to the awkward-looking parts created by mending the lost parts. It didn’t mean drawing.

True restoring was preserving the original painting as much as possible to help people enjoy it properly. Hastily drawing to restore would damage the value of the painting.

Sujeong took the camera that had been recording the process and checked the recorded video.

“The important part is about to begin. I guess we are done today?”

Haejin stretched his back and took off the reading glasses.

“Yeah. It wasn’t hard, right?”

“I think I know how this works.”

Even though Sujeong had never restored eastern painting before, since she was an expert of restoring western paintings and ceramics, she learned fast.

“Well, the teacher taught so well.”

Sujeong ignored that and took off her apron.

“But when did your father teach you all this? I thought he only excavated… and wasn’t he more interested in western paintings than in eastern paintings?”

She must have heard a lot about Haejin’s father from Byeongguk.

“Yes. My father was more interested in western paintings. So, he visited many art museums in Europe with me. I didn’t learn restoration from my father. I learned it from Lee Hongjae before I went to college. He has passed away, but he was the best at restoring eastern paintings. I learned from him while others were in high school, so of course I am good at it.”

Restoring artifacts wasn’t limited to great artifacts. In fact, apart from national treasures, when things like an old book of a family getting wet or the traditional folding screen getting ripped, restoring was required as well.

So, while ordinary people studied things like math and English, Haejin worked on paintings to improve his skills.

“Oh… then you must know little about restoring western paintings.”

Sujeong’s smile was mischievous. It was probably her self-pride about the fact that there was something she was better at.

“Yes, I don’t know a lot about restoring western paintings.”

“Hmm… okay. Don’t worry. I will explain it to you. Of course, not for free.”

After that, they almost never came out of the storage to work on the painting. They had succeeded.

The painting, which was about to break apart, was now a new painting.

Of course, paintings that have been restored and paintings that have been stored well have different values, as restored paintings have been touched by people who were not the real artist. Nevertheless, as this one was Yoon Duseo’s painting that hadn’t been discovered yet, it would certainly surprise the world of art.

Additionally, the story of how it got to Korea was especially remarkable. Yoon Duseo’s painting was found at a flea market in France…

They were celebrating their success at a barbeque restaurant when Haejin received a call from Eunhae. Haejin glanced at Byeongguk, he then said that he should answer, although he looked like he felt a little bad about it.

“Hello, Mr. Haejin. Do you have a moment?”

“Yes, it’s okay.”

“There is an auction tomorrow in Korea Auction. There are some artifacts I want, including the jade buddha you told me at the preview, but I cannot believe the other appraisers. I can also afford your fee. So, could you please help me?”

Her voice was small, probably because of her previous mistake. However, as she later gave forty-five million more, Haejin was not mad at her.

“Okay. Oh, but do you have time today?”

“Today? Yes, I’m free.”

“Then, could you come here? I will give you the address. I’m at a workshop in Insadong, and I want to show you a painting. You will be the first to see it, so I am giving you a great privilege.”

“A painting? Okay, I will be there right away.”

Haejin hung up while Byeongguk sulkily asked, “You are going to sell it to that Eunhae? Khmm… You know how it works, right? I am the seller.”

“Oh, okay. I won’t touch your fee, so please take it.”

Sujeong ate a piece of the rib eye and snorted.

“Hah! But you are going to take 20% fee for restoring…”

“Hey, but I am taking a low fee because it’s you. Do you think it is easy to learn eastern painting restoration with an actual artifact? I am your teacher from now on.”

“Oh, okay! Take this from your pupil’s money!”

They laughed, chatted and ended their barbeque party. Then, they returned to the workshop to rest.

Eunhae carefully opened the door and went in.

“Hello. Oh, Mr. Haejin.”

Eunhae carefully looked inside and smiled brightly when she spotted Haejin. She waved her hand.

However, there was a familiar guy coming after her.

“Oh, nice to meet you. We see each other again.”

Manager Lee Jongmyeong of Mirae corporate group smiled and offered his hand. Haejin took it and they shook hands. Byeongguk approached.

“Who is this?”

“Oh, this is Ms. Eunhae’s fiancé. You know Mirae corporate group, right? He is the manager. His name is Lee Jongmyeong.”

“Oh… you are really handsome.”

“Hahaha! Thank you.”

“Nice to meet you. I am Oh Byeongguk. This is Oh Sujeong, my daughter and a restoration expert.”

Byeongguk was already promoting his daughter. Well, to work as a restoration expert in Insadong, leaving a good impression to the wealthy businessmen was always needed.

“Nice to meet you. I am Oh Sujeong.”

“You are a very beautiful woman.”

“Thank you, hoho.”

It looked very hospitable, but Eunhae looked sorry as if she knew Haejin’s bitter feelings.

He could guess why Jongmyeong had tagged along. It was probably he was worried about his fiancé getting ripped off, although Haejin could understand, he could feel a little offended.

“Please, this way…”

Byeongguk led Jongmyeong and Sujeong to the underground storage. Eunhae moved fast to follow him while speaking in a very low voice as she passed by Haejin.

“I’m sorry. He insisted on coming…”

However, Jongmyeong was already here. Byeongguk went to the table in the middle of the storage and proudly spoke.

“This is the painting.”

The tall Jongmyeong bent down to look at the painting. Haejin wanted to say, ‘Can you even find out anything if you do that?’, but he restrained himself.

“This painting is?”

Jongmyeong eventually looked back and demanded an explanation.

Haejin looked at Eunhae instead of answering. He was asking her to take a look.

Eunhae went next to Jongmyeong and studied the painting. But she couldn’t recognize it either, so she also looked back.

Haejin put a photo on the table. It was a photo of the painting before the restoration.

“First, this painting was discovered by Ms. Sujeong here at a flea market in France and has been restored here. It was in poor condition, so it would have been destroyed without the restoration.”

“Oh… I see. In this condition, restoration was its top priority. However, this is impressive. It’s Ms. Sujeong, right? How have you restored it so perfectly… it looks great.”

Haejin wasn’t going to step forward with the restoration. They had agreed to put Sujeong forward, so Byeonguk spoke.

“She has studied conservation and restoration of the artifacts at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria. She is great at restoring ceramics and paintings. I am not saying this because she is my daughter.”

Eunhae smiled and nodded.

“I see. It seems she is worthy of that compliment. Then, could you explain this painting? I haven’t heard about this.”

“Actually, it is impossible to recognize this painting, unless you are an appraiser.”

Haejin glanced at Jongmyeong as he spoke. His lips hardened. Haejin meant why he had come when he couldn’t recognize it, and he understood that.

“Yes, that is why I trust you.”

“This painting is an unknown painting of Yoon Duseo.”