739 - The Outcast Writer of a Martial Arts Visual Novel

"Jin Yeom Bang's family treasure is a forgery?" No matter how I look at it, the painting before me is the famous sunflower artwork from art history textbooks. But to hear it's not the original, rather a counterfeit—it was incredibly hard to believe. "Yes, it's such a cleverly made forgery that even a fence who has dealt with calligraphy and paintings for decades couldn't recognize it. It was so precisely crafted that all the black market connections had to get involved." "Is there no possibility that it was swapped?" I've heard tales of stolen authentic artworks being replaced with counterfeits and circulated in the black market. The sellers profit from high prices, and the buyers hope they've drawn the right lottery ticket. "It seems it wasn't done without understanding the stakes. The fence, who thought there'd be a huge profit, invested everything into the forgery and thoroughly vetted it." The deceased perpetrator wasn't simply selling off goods and taking back the money; they were punished just for selling a forgery. There was no trickery from the criminal midway. If this is true, there's only one conclusion. "It was a forgery from the time it was stolen, then." The homeowner, the criminal, even the fence were all fooled by this intricately crafted counterfeit. Ridiculous as it sounds, it can happen when art theft is involved. "......" "What's wrong?" I asked Gi Moon Hyang Ju, who was smiling slyly over my conclusion. "You don't suspect that I swapped it, do you?" She claims that she secured the original in Honam Province and lied about purchasing the counterfeit from me. It's a plausible scenario. "No, I do not." I answered firmly. "That's unexpected." "Even if it were a lie, I don't want to doubt my ally." "Oh my, I don't consider anyone my man unless we've tangled in bed together." Gi Moon Hyang Ju gave an alluring smile and gestured towards the bed in the corner. "If I said I'd turn a blind eye, you wouldn't have any reason to lie or to make excuses by saying it was a counterfeit." There's no reason to lie inconveniently. It's simple logic. Besides, there's no need to cast unnecessary suspicion on Haowon, from whom we need further assistance. Though it was a calculated response based on weighing the benefits and costs. "Wow. Such rejection—I'm hurt." Gi Moon Hyang Ju, showing a slightly admiring smile at me, then made an exaggeratedly sulky face like an actress adept at handling men. "I will take the sunflowers." "Oh dear. How could you ravage a maiden's heart like this and just satisfy your desires?" "Hahaha..." Hearing her, people might get the wrong idea. Is it okay to leave with the sunflowers? I was in a difficult spot when someone swooped in with a fastball. "You're no maiden." Ga Young. Even if someone is beautiful, calling themselves a maiden in their 30s is just wrong. "Hm, who?" "Doesn't matter." Ga Young. Gi Moon Hyang Ju is not our enemy. Why suddenly step in front of me? "It seems our detective is quite popular." "That's a misunderstanding." People might suspect infidelity. She's just a dedicated maid spiritually connected to me. "That's right. Not our detective but Ga Young's master. Let's go, master." Ga Young picked up the sunflowers for me and grabbed my sleeve. Should I simply greet her and leave, or ask Ga Young to pause for a moment? Before I could deliberate, a word froze Ga Young's steps. "Running away?" "...Master, give the command to fight." "G-Ga Young?" "Ga Young...? So she's the granddaughter of the Heavenly King. I apologize for my jest." As soon as Gi Moon Hyang Ju heard Ga Young's name, she seemed to realize her identity and changed her stance immediately. "Yes, it was truly my mistake." "..." Ga Young had no intention of backing down. A fierce battle ensued between the sharp glances of the two women in mid-air. "Young Mistress Ga Young was raised cherished under her grandfather and is learning to interact with others at my side." Ga Young, you act well in front of Gil San or Un Yeob, so why are you so sharp with Gi Moon Hyang Ju? It was a puzzlement, though I desperately tried to calm the awkward atmosphere. "It's alright, Master. The man who brings late spring to our sister Chu Yeon, surely other women's hearts would be swayed as well?" "Do you know Master Hu Bei Gi Moon Hyang Ju well?" Chu Yeon is the true name of Hu Bei Gi Moon Hyang Ju. A courtesan lives by her courtesan name from the moment she receives it, so knowing the real name typically indicates a closer relationship. "Oh my! Really?! Sister Chu Yeon actually shared her real name, not even her courtesan name, with a man?" "..." I've been had. "The sister who never let a man's fingertip brush hers even offered you her lap pillow? To think she'd show interest in a taken man! She's surprisingly bold!" "Chu Yeon? Lap pillow?" How far have these absurd rumors spread? "Master Hu Bei Gi Moon Hyang Ju is like a... mother to me." Spilling "grandmother" in front of Master Hu Bei Gi Moon Hyang Ju's ears would be troublesome, so I corrected the relationship explanation. "A mother-son relationship with no blood ties! One must start there to win over the former top courtesan of Hu Bei! Do you act spoiled? Does she indulge you reluctantly?" "......" "Oh dear! Really? The Chu Yeon sister?" "It's a misunderstanding." I did gain a lot by acting childlike, but it's a misunderstanding. "Alright. Alright! I'll believe you for now. When other courtesans play with taken men, it's courteous to pretend ignorance." "I shall... take my leave." No matter how much I explain, she won't listen, so I gave up and bid farewell. "Hang in there!" I told you it's not true. Even though I was leaving with everything I needed, it felt like my energy was drained. —— "A forgery?!" "He sold a counterfeit and amassed a fortune, so it's no surprise he ended up getting stabbed." Having found the perpetrator and retrieved the stolen goods, it was time for the final report. "Wasn't the painting he stole the family treasure? Could it be that the painting my grandfather passed down as an heirloom was a fake from the start?" The family heirloom they'd safeguarded throughout their life was a forgery. For Jin Yeom Bang's head of the household, this was shocking news, but even in modern times, it's not entirely unheard of. "They say the forgery is so skillfully made that even the most seasoned fence couldn't tell. It took a gathering of experts scrutinizing it to finally appraise and identify it." "A skillfully made forgery, you say?" "When I looked into it separately, it appears that there are many forgeries since the sunflowers were released as a series." If there’s a tenth painting of Ban Hwa Baek’s sunflowers, it’s not impossible to find a twelfth or fifteenth. By the same logic, it seems there are quite a few forgeries circulating out there. "I think I might’ve heard about that somewhere." "The criminal, unaware that it was a forgery, treated it as stolen property and ended up killed for their audacity." "How can this be? Perhaps it was swapped...? No. If it was planned from the beginning, there would be no reason for any hostility." "No need for such suspicions. We moved swiftly to recover it." "Really... truly... our family treasure is a forgery?" Jin Yeom Bang's head of the household stared blankly at the family heirloom, finding it difficult to believe. "I have no words to offer." This is problematic. I thought solving the crime and retrieving the stolen goods would secure a new business partner, but now the hard-sought heirloom is a forgery. Dear client, we did the work per contract, so perhaps you can proceed with opening the account? Should I force it a bit? Or calculate anew? While I ponder, the head of the household clapped my shoulder and laughed heartily. "Haha! Stand tall! Why should the one who worked hard feel sorry?" "You’re alright?" "I'm fine! Actually, I'm very grateful! If it weren't for my detective, I might have faced great embarrassment!" "Embarrassment? What do you mean by that?" The head of the household smiled slyly at the sunflowers and shared a concealed fact. "I originally planned to sell the heirloom to expand my business." "The sunflowers?" The head of the household nodded. "It’s a renowned piece, but what's a mere painting against the profitability of my business? I thought it better to sell it to a merchant offering a good price and expand my ventures." "But still, wasn’t it an heirloom passed down from your ancestors?" "To me, it seemed like a cursed item." The head of the household spoke, gazing at the returned family heirloom with a mix of love and hate. "A cursed item, you say?" "I've been eager to dispose of Ban Hwa Baek’s sunflowers at any chance. While to my father, it was a legacy left by my perpetually ill grandfather due to household matters, to me it was the shadow of a cantankerous, mad old man." "It seems there are deep family stories intertwined with your grandfather." So, there was a reason for the displeasure with the calligraphy and paintings kept in the treasure house. "My grandfather truly enjoyed Ban Hwa Baek’s work. Perhaps it was the illness and the similarly cantankerous disposition that made them feel a kinship. One day, he suddenly left the house and returned with sunflowers in tow." A sense of kinship... Given his deep interest in paintings, perhaps his grandfather empathized with Ban Gogh’s troubled yet brilliant artistic life through his works. Wait a minute. "Ban Hwa Baek... Could it be?" Suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind. "What’s the matter?" "I have something to ask."