Looking for His Birth Parents (1)
James, after sending Colt off to work, was meeting Jake at Sotheby’s.
“Thank you for coming. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. James.”
Jake’s eyes were shining with an enthusiasm that made James feel faintly cornered.
“……”
But Jake wasn’t looking at James at all. His gaze was fixed on the box in James’s hands. The fragrant wooden box had been hastily prepared at Insadong before James came to Sotheby’s.
Swish.
When James moved the box to the left, Jake’s eyes followed it. When he moved it to the right, they followed again.
“…I don’t think you’re actually happy to see me.”
“The precious artifact is this way… this way……”
Jake, still staring only at the box, was beckoning toward it with both hands.
“…You’re not in any state to talk, are you?”
James shook his head and handed the box over to Jake.
Thunk.
“Take it.”
“I’ll put it in the vault and bring the contract right away!!”
Jake ran straight to the vault, tucked the wooden box inside, and began issuing orders to Sotheby’s security staff.
“From this moment on, guard the vault! Don’t let so much as an ant get near it!”
“Yes, sir!”
After that, all James had to do was sign the contract Jake brought him, with the 1% auction commission already filled in.
Scratch, scratch.
James’s signature was being added to the contract.
“That contract is done too. Shall we finish the next matter as well?”
“Of course. I’ve already called a lawyer from the British Museum. He should be waiting outside by now.”
“Let’s get it over with quickly.”
They hadn’t been able to meet Medlin because their schedules hadn’t lined up, but the British Museum’s work was meticulous.
“…The payment will be executed today, and ownership of the Texas land will transfer the moment the funds are deposited. Do you agree?”
“Of course.”
James signed the documents the man held out without even bothering to hear any more explanation.
“As for the transfer of ownership in the United States and the taxes involved, we have been authorized by Mr. James to handle those matters……”
Scratch, scratch.
“Anything else I need to sign?”
“…You just signed the power of attorney for that as well, so no.”
“It was a good deal. I hope the British Museum finds a lot of artifacts.”
He shook the hand James offered and they exchanged a firm handshake, but James still couldn’t shake a sense of unease.
Did the British Museum really make the right choice?
“……”
“Ah, please send me a message once the deposit is complete.”
“…I will.”
And just like that, his connection with the British Museum was over.
Ah! There was still King Arthur’s crown, though.
Of course, the competition over the gold coins and the crown was only just beginning.
Only after the British Museum’s lawyer left Sotheby’s did Jake place the item he’d been hiding all this time on the table.
“Oh, the pamphlet’s out?”
It was a booklet about the international auction hosted by Sotheby’s.
“This pamphlet is reserved only for VVIPs. Take a look at the very last page.”
On the final page of the booklet, James found the photograph of King Arthur’s crown that he had taken with his phone.
“Heh. Not bad for an amateur, was it?”
It was the sort of crown that would have looked like a work of art no matter who had taken the picture.
“Verification won’t take long.”
“I’ve already left that to you, Jake. I don’t plan on getting involved, so just handle it for me.”
“Thank you for your deep trust, James.”
“……”
James wasn’t trusting Jake so much as trying to get on with his own work.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“Yes. Ah, and as for Medlin from the British Museum……”
As James left Sotheby’s, he finally heard why Medlin hadn’t shown her face that day.
“It seems all the equipment is ready, so she must have been in a hurry.”
In a hurry, huh……
Medlin and her team of experts were already in Texas, at the land James had sold them. They were there to begin excavation as soon as the purchase procedure was complete.
Buzz.
And then the deposit message arrived.
“They say the land payment has been deposited too.”
“Congratulations, James. We’ll keep the artifacts you entrusted to us under tighter security and open them slowly. We’ll circulate the pamphlets to the Louvre in France, as well as to major museums and VIP collectors of artifacts.”
“……”
James found this kind of report nothing but tedious.
How much longer is my money going to keep multiplying, anyway……
“See you again, Jake.”
Buzz.
Land purchase procedure completed. Payment confirmed. Contract now in effect.
Medlin checked the text message and immediately gave orders over the phone.
“We can proceed with the work! Move fast!”
-Yes, Medlin.
From that day on, Medlin and the British Museum team began their excavation. The surrounding residential neighborhood was curious about the heavy equipment that had suddenly arrived, but no one could tell what was happening behind the tall fence they’d put up.
Whirrr.
A large excavator had also been brought in and was being prepared. Once the experts finished their first survey of the ground and gave the order, they planned to dig down there.
But the experts had no choice but to stop partway through their survey.
“…M-Medlin.”
“What is it?”
“An enormous cavity has been discovered underground.”
“!!”
“We can’t see the bottom. It’s too deep to have been made by a private individual….”
“Heh. A fine beginning.”
Whether the end would be fine as well remained to be seen.
“And there’s a toxic gas being detected down there. We can’t go any farther like this.”
“Toxic gas?”
The Texas land James had sold was producing results no one had expected.
“If excavation continues like this, there’s a high risk of explosion. Even if it doesn’t blow, the workers will suffocate and die first.”
“!!”
A few days later, James received astonishing news from Jake. It was about Medlin and the British Museum, who had been excavating artifacts in Texas.
“…What? They found what there?”
-…I told you, an oil field. Medlin and the experts discovered an oil field, so the project has been switched from artifact excavation to oil development.
What the British Empire had discovered on the Texas property it bought was nothing less than petroleum. That was why toxic gas had been seeping out.
“W-Why would there be an oil field there?”
James thought back to the enormous tunnel he had dug while following the magic book’s instructions to dig into the earth and create a passage, and to the mana he had awakened through it. It had been a passage carved out by mana.
…It was so deep I never even thought about going in.
Only later, through his master’s magic book, had he learned that digging down through the tunnel had been part of the process of awakening mana. So he had immediately stopped doing that pointless work with a shovel and sealed off the entrance. Since he’d sealed it the very next day, he had never once imagined there might be anything beneath it.
It was just a deep, black hole—so it was connected to an oil field?
Even so, James harbored no regrets at the news that they had found oil.
“Sounds like Medlin hit the jackpot.”
James figured the oil discovery could bring in a considerable profit.
-The experts are currently assessing the estimated reserves of crude oil.
Even if the reserves aren’t huge, the project will still be profitable. I dug it that deep, after all……
There was already a long tunnel in place, one James had dug down into the earth. They wouldn’t need to drive pipes all the way into the depths. That said, a true windfall was impossible. The land Medlin had purchased was so small it could barely fit a single house. If they were going to develop the oil field in earnest, they would have to buy up the surrounding land and extract crude from multiple points, but with residential homes packed so tightly around it, the business was sure to run into serious trouble.
“Thanks to that, I guess there’s no need to worry about Sotheby’s auctioning off King Arthur’s crown. That’s a relief.”
-Haha. If that’s what you think, Mr. James, that puts us at ease too.
In truth, Jake had been worried that James might be upset over the crude oil found in Texas. Oil was an entirely different matter from artifacts. If the reserves were sufficient, it could make someone unimaginably wealthy.
“Even if I’d known there was crude oil under my land, I wouldn’t have had the nerve to develop it. I sold it to someone who could make proper use of it for a fair price, so that’s enough for me.”
-Yes. As you said, even though we didn’t find the artifacts Medlin was after, the chance that we’ll take a loss has gone down. That made the auction much easier. As soon as that news came in, we let the British Museum and the British Royal Family know that King Arthur’s crown exists.
Of course, Medlin had gone berserk when she heard the news. But the contract was already in effect, and oil had been found on the land, so she couldn’t directly complain to James. Doing so might have stirred up ownership issues over the oil field.
“Good. I’ll just hear the results later.”
-Yes, James. I’ll bring you good news.
James had briefly considered visiting the international auction where his own items would be put up for sale, but he decided not to attend.
Too much trouble.
He had concluded that going all the way overseas to attend an international auction would only be exhausting. So he decided to stay in Korea and handle the remaining matters there.
Once I sort out that one thing, I guess I’m basically done?
James had come to hear the result of the search for his parents that he had applied for with the Korean government some time ago.
“Thank you for coming right on time.”
Otherwise, he would have had to wait a long while. Thanks to her calling ahead, they were able to get straight to business.
“…In Mr. James’s case, the orphanage from the past has since closed and no longer exists, and as a result all records were lost. So unfortunately, we couldn’t find any information.”
“……”
“The only thing left now is to register your genetic information and wait. Would you be willing to do that?”
“……”
James tilted his head.
“…You heard my explanation just now, right? Would English be more comfortable for you?”
“No. It’s fine. I understand.”
With that answer, James turned and walked out.
“……”
Last time he had been with Suzy, but today she had said she couldn’t miss her lecture, so he had come alone.
…What is this?
What puzzled James wasn’t the fact that she hadn’t found anything. It was the striking change in her attitude. She was the same government official who had once dealt with him so curtly, but today she had been remarkably gentle and polite.
It wasn’t strange simply because she had been kind. It wasn’t even odd that they had met after setting an appointment in advance. But because the inexplicable situations had kept piling up one after another, James had started paying close attention to her emotional state.
…She’s lying.
Most of the things she had said with that friendly expression were lies.
Why?
James found himself wanting to know the reason.
Step. Click.
He stopped walking and looked back at the building he had just left. There, he spotted a man in a suit turning hurriedly away.
“……”
Until a moment ago, the man had been watching him, and in his two hands as he turned away was a camera fitted with a large telephoto lens.
What’s this now…?
So absorbed had he been in the strange things that happened inside that he had only belatedly realized he was being watched.
I came here on the appointed day to hear the result, and the unfriendly official lied to me so politely… and the person watching me is waiting for me right on schedule too?
James stood there for a moment, sorting out his thoughts.
“……”
Once he considered why he had come here today, the answer emerged easily enough. There really was no other conclusion to draw.
Don’t know which one it is, but… one of Korea’s competent civil servants found one of my parents.
And one of those parents was watching him.
—