Chapter 84
Gwak Tae-woo stared at Si-woo with wide eyes.
"How on earth did you know that? You didn't know from the start that there was writing under there, did you?"
"No. If someone engraved their resolve onto a sword, it wouldn't be unusual for them to engrave a ruler beneath it as well. Given the customs of the Joseon Dynasty, it was within the range of possibility."
"Even so, to be certain from nothing but the carved marks..."
Gwak Tae-woo narrowed his eyes.
The way Kim Si-woo had reacted a moment ago had been less like a guess and more like certainty.
No, more than that, how had they even found General Kwon Yul's chinyonggeom in Japan?
He had heard every detail on the way here.
Something unbelievable, like a plot ripped straight from a novel, was unfolding right in front of him.
"...I'm flabbergasted. I've spent decades in this field, and yet even seeing it with my own eyes, I still can't quite believe it."
Gwak Tae-woo said in a low voice, looking at Kwon Yul's ruler on the monitor.
"If this really is General Kwon Yul's chinyonggeom, then it's an event that will be recorded for generations in the history of Korean cultural heritage."
After a moment of silence, Gwak Tae-woo let out a dry laugh.
"I'll be frank. I'm already convinced. No, everyone here probably is. The incised yuhyeolseongseong, the period authenticity of the Songseol style, the battle scars from real combat, and even Kwon Yul's ruler hidden in the traces of age... The odds of all that lining up by chance are practically nonexistent."
Gwak Tae-woo turned to Si-woo.
"I owe you an apology. Until today, I thought of you as just a lucky appraiser. No, that probably wasn't quite it—I was annoyed that someone without a proper background was running around in this field. But after seeing this, I have nothing to say. Hah."
"Not at all."
Gwak Tae-woo instructed the researcher to preserve the analysis data and schedule further verification.
* * *
Time passed quickly.
The restoration experts sent by the Fabergé Heritage Committee began restoring the tank and the Angel Egg, and at the National Museum's preservation facility, Kwon Yul's chinyonggeom went under precise verification until the results came back.
Now that the work was done.
For the first time in a while, he enjoyed some rest.
He spent his time idly at home.
He watched the movies he had been putting off.
He even dug out the web novel he had stopped halfway through and read it all day long.
And while he was at it, he checked the news.
Or rather, he couldn't help checking it even if he hadn't wanted to.
These days, wherever he went online, it was a huge topic.
And posts kept pouring into the best boards.
And then.
Looks like the government was in a hurry.
The moment it was confirmed through all sorts of evidence that the sword really was General Kwon Yul's chinyonggeom, articles began flooding in.
While the whole world was buzzing and calling his name, he spent the entire day at home with Kkamangi curled up beside him.
When he sat on the sofa, the cat climbed onto his lap.
When he lay down on the bed, it curled up on his chest.
"Aigoo, my little one."
"Meow-!"
His mother, looking half-annoyed, came out of the kitchen and muttered, "You two really don't separate for even a second."
"How could I push away something this cute? I've been out a lot lately, so I should spend time with him when I can."
His mother said, sounding fed up, "It only obeys me when I give it churu."
"That's because you keep yelling at it for wrecking the plants."
"And that's because it keeps wrecking expensive pots and plants."
Even as she grumbled, she shot Kkamangi a dirty look.
Kkamangi ignored her completely and lazily swished its tail on Si-woo's lap.
Then the doorbell rang.
Ding-dong.
Si-woo turned his head.
"Mom... don't tell me you ordered more plants?"
"My son has money, so he should have some hobbies too."
"...If I'd known this would happen, maybe I should've bought a bigger house."
He muttered while looking at the place already crowded with pots.
When he opened the front door, a professional plant delivery worker was standing there, pushing a huge potted plant on a cart.
It was about the height of an adult's head.
A broad-leafed, deep green houseplant spilled luxuriously over the rim of the pot.
"Please sign here."
His mother came out with a delighted expression and signed for it.
Meanwhile, the delivery worker looked at Si-woo's face and tilted his head.
He clearly seemed vaguely familiar, but he quickly did his duty and asked, "Where should I put it?"
"You can leave it here."
"I'll help you."
Seeing that the worker was sweating as if the load were heavy, Si-woo spoke up.
"Oh, thank you. Your son is really handsome, and he's kind-hearted too."
Si-woo supported the bottom of the pot and put a little force into it.
What the... it's lighter than I expected.
When he lifted it on his own, the delivery worker's eyes went wide.
"Your son is incredibly strong. With the soil included, this easily weighs over 60 kilos..."
"It doesn't feel that heavy. I'll move it myself."
"Hey, hey. Don't throw out your back!"
His mother tried to stop him, but he lifted the pot with ease and carried it inside.
"Is it okay to set it here?"
His mother pointed to a sunlit spot in the first-floor living room and said, "Yes. Put it there."
The delivery worker kept thanking them and left.
Si-woo looked down at his own hands.
It was strange.
A pot that should have been heavy felt far too light.
Why am I this strong?
He clenched and unclenched his hands.
The sensation in his palms was different from before.
As if he had spent years training his body.
Don't tell me...
One possibility came to mind.
Kwon Yul's chinyonggeom.
When he had glimpsed the memories housed in the sword,
Si-woo had moved as Kwon Yul himself.
He hadn't been able to act by his own will in that situation, but the sensation of gripping the sword, setting his feet, and cutting down the enemy had remained intact.
The stink of blood on the battlefield.
The feel of a blade slicing through armor.
Even the flow of strength running through his whole body.
Could those memories have remained in my body?
This had happened before, too.
After experiencing the memories of Anna sealed within the Singing Bird box,
he had naturally come to understand the cadence and grammatical structure of nineteenth-century German, which was completely different from modern German.
It wasn't just knowledge, but something that felt worn into his tongue.
He could read it and have the meaning come to him instantly.
Had he received physical strength this time instead of language?
Kkamangi had somehow come to his feet and was rubbing its head against him.
A low purr resonated through the quiet living room.
His mother was standing in front of the new plant, touching its leaves with obvious satisfaction.
"We really do need some green in this house."
"Mom, you didn't order anything else besides this one, right?"
"..."
"Mom?"
"Another one comes tomorrow."
Si-woo looked up at the ceiling.
At this rate, were they going to have to expand the building?
* * *
The next day, Si-woo went to work at Eterna Gallery.
Even spending all day lounging at home never got old.
He had lain on the sofa watching movies with Kkamangi.
He had also gone shopping with his mother and spent the day at a leisurely pace.
If it were up to me, I'd spend the rest of my life like that...
But the memories he had seen through the relics pulled his mind back into place.
Representative's office, Eterna Gallery.
Shin A-young smiled warmly when she saw him arrive.
"You're in today? You could have rested a little longer."
"If I stay at home too long, my body starts itching."
"Would you like some coffee?"
"Yes, thank you."
Shin A-young poured coffee into two mugs.
Si-woo took his cup and sat down in a chair.
Shin A-young took the seat opposite him.
"I actually have something to tell you. Things are progressing smoothly on the National Museum side. They say removing the corrosion layer is what takes the most time, but the restoration team says the condition is better than expected. The blade itself has been preserved fairly well."
"That's a relief."
Si-woo took a sip of coffee, and Shin A-young brought him more good news.
"I met with a government official and discussed the matter of loan exhibition."
"Has there been a decision?"
"It's been approved. Since our contribution to the repatriation was significant, they agreed to a loan exhibition at Eterna Gallery, the same way the Baekje gilt-bronze Maitreya in meditation was loaned out before."
Si-woo's hand froze.
"Really?"
There was an unmistakable note of excitement in his voice.
"Yes. Honestly, it wasn't difficult."
Shin A-young said, wrapping both hands around her coffee cup.
"From the government's perspective, all they needed was a way to publicize a success. As long as they got the title of a government-led cultural heritage repatriation, they didn't care where the artifact was displayed. From the Blue House's point of view, being in the news matters more than locking it away in a storage vault."
"Right."
"The corporate side is the same. The foundation was funded by conglomerate chairmen who poured in trillions of won, and they also invested in creating a cultural street around Eterna Gallery. If you want people to come to the street, Eterna has to have something worth seeing. From their standpoint, having Kwon Yul's chinyonggeom disappear into the National Museum's storage vault would be a disappointment."
"So in the end, everyone's interests lined up."
"Exactly. The government gets publicity, the companies get investment justification, the foundation gets results, and we get the loan exhibition. There was no reason for anyone to object, since no one loses."
In truth, since most of this case had been handled by Eterna Gallery, it wasn't hard to secure this kind of special treatment.
"If restoration goes smoothly, we should be able to display Kwon Yul's chinyonggeom at the gallery within a few months. It would be great if we could line that up with the Fabergé Egg restoration too, but we'll have to see the Heritage Committee's schedule for that."
Si-woo set his coffee cup down.
"If the Fabergé Egg and Kwon Yul's sword are unveiled at the same time, the buzz will be on a completely different level."
"I think so too. Organizing a simultaneous unveiling would be best. It puts a Western treasure and a treasure of our own people side by side in the same space. The press won't be able to stay away."
Shin A-young's eyes sparkled.
They were the eyes of a businesswoman.
* * *
Si-woo went into his office.
As soon as he opened the door, Choi Yi-seo stood up to greet him.
"You're in. I was wondering when you'd show up."
"Team Leader Choi Yi-seo. You really had a hard time this time."
Choi Yi-seo waved both hands.
"Hard time? I didn't really do anything. The appraiser was the one who recognized Kwon Yul's sword. All I did was send files over to the shared drive from the side."
"Without that, the relic would've been lost."
They spent a long while talking, trading compliments back and forth.
The aftermath of what had happened in Japan.
The flood of articles.
Then Choi Yi-seo smiled, went back to her desk, and opened her laptop.
"I actually waited for you to come in so I could organize the files. I've uploaded them to the shared drive, so please take a look."
"You should've rested a bit. Did you come straight to work without taking any time off?"
"No. I rested for a few days too."
He sat down and turned on the monitor.
On the shared drive, the folder Choi Yi-seo had organized was neatly sorted.
Artifact photos, provenance records. Files meticulously arranged one by one.
He looked through the photos one at a time.
There were no artifacts glowing with hidden light.
After closing the last file and stretching for a moment, he skimmed through the direct messages on Byeolstagram.
As his fame spread, many people overseas had recently been sending artifact appraisal requests as well.
Then one DM caught his eye.