After putting away the counterfeits he had made as a part of training, Han JinHo properly started his real work.
It was a work which required a long time and concentration, so when he finished it, the day was starting to get bright.
Han JinHo threw everything away and fainted on the bed into a deep sleep.
Of course, he couldn"t sleep for long because today was a day he had to go to school.
Turning off the alarm that was ringing like crazy, Han JinHo raised his body with a sleepy face.
He stretched his arms, got off the bed and paced towards the toilet.
Han JinHo finished his preparations in the blink of an eye, left the officetel and faced towards the school.
There was only one reason why he chose to live in an officetel that was more costly than other places: it was close to school.
Walking for 3 minutes after leaving the officetel, he arrived at the school"s main entrance. If he wanted to find an accommodation closer than the current one, he would have to live at the school.
Han JinHo was currently at third grade. It had been approximately one year since the reinstatement after finishing his military service.
[TLN: Just to note, any male living in South Korea over the age of 20 has to serve around 2 years at military, and if he was commuting a university beforehand, he would be able to go back to it.]
After arriving at school, Han JinHo decided to first listen to lecture. What he had to do today was to be present for two lectures which he couldn"t afford to miss, since he wanted to graduate.
That was a promise he had made with his deceased parents. He said he would at least graduate from university.
The promise was limited to graduation and not the marks he got, so he didn"t pay attention to anything unrelated to graduating.
To him, university was only worth that much.
As a result, during the lecture, his mind had completely unrelated things floating around.
"I should sell something else again after lecture."
In truth, the "him" that Han JinHo was showing the world was but a tiny aspect of himself.
Working as a part time Antique Appraiser and commuting to university were things that Han JinHo was deliberately showing.
No-one other than himself knew the other side he had.
While thinking about this and that, the lecture came to an end so he left his seat.
There was another lecture he had to take after this, so he had to waste some time before that.
Since he did other things in his mind during lectures, he didn"t really think lectures were taking his time away.
After leaving the lecture room, Han JinHo bought a coffee from a vending machine and headed towards a nearby bench.
While he was drinking his coffee on the bench, he spotted a person walking.
"Yu CheIn"
She was a very famous woman of this school. So famous that even without paying attention, he still heard some things about her.
Yu CheIn was a student like a celebrity. In fact, she had received offers from numerous companies, and she still had offers coming in.
Her beauty was overwhelming, and anyone would have trouble averting their eyes after seeing her once.
She was good at studying and had a good personality so people always surrounded her.
She took the same subject as him, so they greeted each other a few times, and had some short conversations during meetings. Every time he did so, he felt like she was a person of a different world.
All the men around Han JinHo"s age tried their hardest to receive even a speck of her attention, but Han JinHo totally cut his attention off.
The current Han JinHo only had his mind set on relics - or to say, extremely special relics.
He looked up at the sky while drinking coffee. The blue sky without a single cloud filled his vision. He drew on the clear sky, the new work he was planning to make. The thing he made last night was only a practice to warm up his hands before the real one.
All the practice so far were all preparations for the next work he was planning to make.
While he was step by step, drawing the blueprint on the sky, the surroundings grew noisy.
Wondering what was going on, he lowered his head and saw Yu CheIn walking towards him. It seemed like the source of the noise was the conversations of the people around Yu CheIn.
He wanted to finish his coffee in one go and leave the place, but it was already too late.
"How are you, sunbae-nim?"
[TLN: sunbae is the Korean way of reading senpai, and "nim" is equivalent to "sama" in j.a.panese]
Yu CheIn greeted after she approached Han JinHo, with a bright smile on her face. Han JinHo smiled awkwardly and slightly nodded his head.
"Yeah, good."
[TLN: The reason Yu CheIn calls Han JinHo "sunbae" despite their same grade, is because JinHo started the university before Yu CheIn did. They are in the same grade since JinHo had been serving the military for 2 years]
In that moment, Han JinHo"s eyes caught sight of Yu CheIn"s necklace. As if she felt it, Yu CheIn spoke while smiling brightly.
"It"s a unique necklace, right? My Grandpa gave it to me as a present."
Han JinHo once again had to give an awkward smile. The one who had made the necklace she was wearing was himself after all.
"That thing… was sold at 3.8 billion won at auction."
That wasn"t a normal necklace. It was a necklace with a special power in it. He had sold it through auction, but didn"t expect Yu CheIn"s grandfather to have bought it.
"Oh, you"re drinking coffee? Can you get me one as well?"
Yu CheIn asked, still having the smile on her face. But when she asked that, a man who was near her came forward.
"I, I"ll go and get it!"
The man raced towards the vending machine.
Han JinHo who saw that quickly stood up from his seat.
"Drink your coffee well. I have a lesson."
Yu CheIn quietly stared at Han JinHo"s back as he quickly left the place.
Soon, the man who had run all the way to the vending machine pushed out a coffee while breathing heavily.
"Haa, haa. H, here"s the coffee."
Yu CheIn received it while smiling.
"Thank you."
Facing her smile, the man"s body and expression suddenly turned rigid.
"S, she"s pretty. But why do I feel so scared?"
Yu CheIn"s smile was beautiful enough to let souls escape. But to the man, it for some reason seemed scary.
"Is it because she"s frighteningly beautiful?"
His body trembled.
"I feel troubled to death when she sometimes does that."
Yu CheIn sometimes approached him like that, greeting in an overly friendly manner. At such times, Han JinHo always escaped the place, using random excuses.
Han JinHo judged the reason for her actions as mere curiosity.
Since pretty much the only male who didn"t pay her any attention was himself.
Even old lecturers with some age looked at Yu CheIn with different eyes.
She was beautiful and attractive to that degree.
In any case, since he escaped from there, he had to find somewhere else to waste his time on.
It had to be a place which wasn"t conspicuous. He soon found a bench that was in a random place in the corner.
He sat there, looked around then went back into thinking. At the start, he wanted to think about the new thing he was planning to make, but he remembered the necklace on Yu CheIn"s neck.
"She said it was a present from her grandfather, right?"
Which meant that her grandfather was quite an amazing person. And it also meant that he was one of the people who knew about special relics.
Those kinds of people were actually few in number. If Han JinHo was determined to investigate, he would be able to find out in a while.
But he didn"t want to do so. Because that was a bothersome and dangerous work.
While he was thinking about small things, the smartphone in his pocket vibrated.
Buzz.
When he checked, it wasn"t a phone call, but an alarm that was designed to ring at special occasions.
He opened an application. It was an app he had made himself.
It was an app made to check a mail of a special account when someone sends a message to the account.
The reason he made this app was to not show any connection between that mail account and Han JinHo.
In other words, this application allowed him to check the mail in a state where the connection between the account and himself was severed.
This had incorporated Han JinHo"s extremely special abilities, so no scientific approach could ever create a hole in the system.
"The auction is starting soon."
The mail was from Luina, a special auctioning company.
It was a mail sent to all members, announcing how the auction will begin soon.
It was an announcement telling them to prepare the items if they are to be auctioned or money to buy those items.
A proper list of the items and the exact auction time and place would be given 15 days before the actual event.
Han JinHo had kept on selling some of his own works during Luina"s auctions.
The thing he had sold last time was the necklace Yu CheIn was wearing.
There were plenty of items that were sold before that, that had a higher price than the necklace.
Han JinHo indulged himself into thinking. What should he sell this time? And when could he attend the real auction and buy the items there?
Time pa.s.sed by in the blink of an eye.
"It"s time for the lecture soon."
Han JinHo stood up from the bench. There was a fair bit of things to do after attending the remaining lecture today.
It seems that today would be a pretty busy day.
After the lesson, Han JinHo left the school and followed the main road.
Then he turned to a small road.
It was then that he was sure that someone was following him.
He wasn"t completely sure while he was on the main road, but he was now a.s.sured.
"It"s not just one?"
First, there was one who was blatantly following him, and there were two other people carefully following from a bit further away.
Han JinHo slipped into an alleyway that was connected to the small road.
Since he abruptly went into the alleyway, the man following straight behind him hurriedly followed in.
And when he entered, he had to face Han JinHo.
Han JinHo had been standing there, waiting for the man.
"What"s your objective?"
It was a man in the middle-30s. At the start he was surprised to see Han JinHo standing there, but soon controlled his facial expression and slowly walked up.
"I am this kind of person."
He took out a business card from within his clothes and presented it to Han JinHo.
The Best Agency General Manager, Lee MyungHoon.
That was the name written on the business card. While taking the business card away with his hands, Han JinHo checked the man"s expression and eyes.
As he saw it, Lee MyungHoon was definitely not a normal employee. The two people that weren"t approaching from all the way back was the same.
"The reason I came to find you today, Mr. Han JinHo, is to give you a very good suggestion."
Han JinHo nodded his head then shouted past Lee MyungHoon.
"Don"t keep standing there and come out. I don"t want to hear the same thing over and over again so let"s do it at the same time."
Lee MyungHoon"s face turned rigid at that instant. He turned around and frowned when he saw two men appear.
From the mood, it seemed like they all knew each other very well. Of course, it didn"t seem like they were good acquaintances.
"For starters, it"s better to avoid people, right? Follow me."
After saying that, Han JinHo turned around and paced forward.
The three others followed his back while being careful of each other.
After walking for who knows how long, they pa.s.sed by a few alleys, came to a residential district, then walked a bit more to arrive at a small mountain.
There were a few people on the road designated for climbing, but when they curved around the side, they came to a wide, open land without a single human presence.
"Now, this should be a good place to talk freely. Please talk now."
Han JinHo stood at the middle of the open land and spoke towards the three men.
The three people looked at each other in the eye. It seemed like all of them had the same purpose.
One of them looked at the other two and suggested.
"Let"s not do this between us; why don"t we group together?"
"Group together?"
"Even if we force him to make some things, isn"t it all pointless if we hinder each other? So let"s share like friends, okay?"
The two others who were pondering for a while finally nodded their heads.
"It is indeed a good suggestion but… can you persuade hyung-nim?"
[TLN: hyung is equivalent to brother]
"We can talk about pros and cons. Unless we"re going to fight each other, dividing it among us is the best answer. Don"t you think so? If we didn"t know each other beforehand, well, that would"ve been a different story though."
"Hah, President Jung is indeed a racc.o.o.n."
"He wouldn"t have been able to handle it if he didn"t sell it to one of us three."
Han JinHo who was quietly watching the three people join together smiled bitterly after hearing the words "President Jung".
The mastermind of this event was indeed Jung SangPil
Translator: Rain27
Proofreader : Uptime