Tomb Raider King

However, Irene's expression as she looked at Yoo Jaeha's face was odd.

“Is it really this person?”

Ju-Heon started to frown after hearing Irene’s question. Irene had a serious look on her face.

“Yes. What is it? Do you know him?”

Irene then responded as if not knowing him would be weird.

“Of course I know him. He’s the person who scammed my older brother one month ago!”

Ju-Heon almost laughed after hearing that.

‘That damn Yoo Jaeha!’

He had thought that the damn Monarch of Fraud would not be still, but for him to already have scammed the Holten household!

‘He’s leaving his prints behind for me.’

“Scam? Was your older brother scammed?”
“Well, you see……he bought an expensive painting but it ended up being a counterfeit……”

Irene lowered her head as she said that. She seemed to be embarrassed just to say it. She was even more embarrassed after seeing Ju-Heon holding back his laughter.

“You must be thinking that he was stupid to be scammed.”

Of course that was the case. It was extremely comedic for a family that was as rich as some royal families to be scammed by a counterfeit.

Lo and behold, Ju-Heon started to laugh.

“Did you properly hire an appraiser to look it over?”
“Yes, the appraisers employed by the Holten household thoroughly confirmed it………”

However, it ended up being a counterfeit and they were scammed.

“My older brother bought the painting but it just happened to be the same picture that a family friend’s mother had purchased………”

That was when they had realized it was a counterfeit.

There was no way two exact same masterpieces would exist in the world. They were arguing saying that they each had the real painting until three, four, five…twenty people who had the same painting showed up, making all of them faint on the spot.

They were going crazy because all of that had happened in a span of three days. Furthermore, the reason this news was spread so slowly was because they had all tried to purchase a painting that had been stolen.
In a sense, their carefulness led to their problem.

Ju-Heon chuckled at that comment.

“And the person who sold the painting to your brother is this man in the picture?”

“Yes, there was a guest at home when I went back for the first time in a month and it was this person. His face is memorable so I remember it well.”

It seemed as if Irene was living alone away from home because she caused misfortune to those around her. She also changed hotels on a weekly basis because staying at any one hotel for a long time would send them to bankruptcy.

Anyway, Irene cautiously asked a question.

“Umm, but why are you looking for this person?”

She was giving a gaze that seemed to be asking if Ju-Heon had been scammed as well. Ju-Heon smiled brightly.

“No, I was not scammed.”

Forget being scammed, he was planning on scamming this bastard from here on.

“An acquaintance of mine was scammed so I am looking for him.”

Irene had an awkward expression as she started to speak. She had a grim look on her face.

“Uh……but you won’t be able to find him anymore.”
“Excuse me?”
“That person fell off a cliff in a car accident.”
“Excuse me?”
“He was caught trying to scam one of my brother’s friends……so the two of them were chasing him and saw it with their own eyes. They don’t know if there was an issue with his breaks or if the speed was the issue, but he crashed through the guard rail and fell. The cops pronounced him dead.”

Ju-Heon started to laugh as if it was unbelievable.

“You’re saying that bastard is dead?”

---

Riiiiiing.

In a white workroom with a good amount of sunlight. This was a secret room on the third floor of a gallery in the corner of Los Angeles.

The young man who was painting a picture picked up the phone.

“Oh, old man Edward. Long time no chat.”

[Aigoo, I can finally contact you. What have you been up to so that I couldn’t contact you?]

The young man who was chatting through a headset started to laugh.

“What else would I be doing, I'm pretending to be dead.”

The old man on the other side of the call started to laugh.

[Ho, you faked your alma mater last time. You then put a mole on your face and pretended to be someone else. Now, you have nothing better to do than to pretend to be a corpse? I didn't expect you to go that far.]

“Hahaha! I had no choice. I almost ate shit messing with the Holten household!”

[It must have been a huge scam for you to be pretending to be a corpse. What will you do if you are caught?]

“It's fine. I just have to lay low for a few months before reappearing! They’re all idiots so they won't be able to find me.”

Yoo Jaeha.

The 26 years old young artist was hiding in his secret workroom burning up his artist’s soul, no, his scammer’s soul as he was putting oil paint on the canvas.

Something peculiar was that he had an autograph paper the size of an origami paper in his mouth as he was drawing.

The painting he was drawing right now was the image of people trying to survive a roaring sea.

This was Rembrandt’s < The Storm on the Sea of Galilee > that was stolen from Boston's Gardner Museum in 1990. It was one of the masterpieces that was stolen from the incident that was called the biggest art theft in US history.

However, this was obviously a counterfeit.

Of course, he was not just looking at a picture and copying it.

[The secret sign of the counterfeit who shocked the world (B-Grade:Rare-Grade / Possession Artifact)]

That was indeed the case.

The autograph paper in his mouth was an artifact. Yoo Jaeha was using that artifact to create counterfeits that could even trick the best appraisers in the world.

The pieces he created using this artifact were perfect replicas to give the appraisers headaches. Furthermore, paintings were not the only things he could forge.

Edward started to speak again.

[Anyway, the fact that you picked up my call must mean that you ran out of money again.]

“Well, I spent a lot of money to pretend to be a corpse. Damn it, my car was destroyed, I had to pay my damn assistant to keep her mouth shut, I can't leave this secret room on the third floor, I feel like I'm going to die. I’m a total old boy right now, an old boy.”

[Perfect. Do you want me to introduce you to a job that could make you some money?]

“What kind of job is it?”

[Artifact restoration.]

Yoo Jaeha clicked his tongue as if he didn't like it. He didn’t like restoring artifacts because it quickly exhausted him.

‘No choice since I don’t have any money.’

“Who is the client?”

[You know about TKBM’s Chairman Kwon Tae Joon?]

Yoo Jaeha stopped painting after hearing that. He started to frown as he asked back.

"What the, that large corporation's chairman? That person is the client? Really?”

[Why, are you interested? It’s urgent.]

“Of course. Didn’t you say that person has a ton of artifacts? I used up all my artifacts to survive falling off a cliff.”

Yoo Jaeha was greedy for artifacts but could not go into tombs because he was afraid. Naturally, this news made him very happy.

That was why he quickly started to call somewhere.

---

Yoon Min Hee.

Yoo Jaeha's college hoobae and assistant twisted her lips. [1] She had graduated from an art college and set up a gallery, but there were no peaceful days because of her boss who went around scamming people.

‘Now what? Pretending to be dead after messing with the Holten household?’

She would not be his assistant if that person wasn’t a talented artist and didn't have the restoration ability.

Yoo Jaeha was once labeled as a genius new artist with high expectations, but one day, he started to scam people left and right.

He casually sold forgeries and he wasn’t satisfied with selling his paintings or sculptures as his professor's new works; he even sold one of the professor’s used tissues as a new art piece!

He always said the same thing after each time.

‘Art is a scam.’

Furthermore, it was as if he had grown wings with his scamming ability after getting an artifact a few months ago.

‘Did he get a taste of money or something?’

Of course, she wasn’t complaining because his acting like a corpse got her over 100 million dollars to keep her mouth shut.

‘And I’ll let him off because he seems to now be connected to TKBM.’

This was a chance.

It was a major corporation! When would a nameless artist work with a major corporation like that? The right connections could get her a forever career and earn her a lot of money.

‘Furthermore, Chairman Kwon has a lot of artifacts. If we can get even a few of them……’

They would make a ton of money.

It was at that moment.

“Anybody here?”

The gallery door opened and some unfamiliar men entered. There were two men.

One was an average Asian while the other was quite handsome. He was also young. He seemed to be in his early twenties.

“What can I do for you?”
“I came because I heard that Yoo Jaeha is here.”

Ju-Heon was the one who said that.

Yoon Min Hee smiled bitterly after hearing Yoo Jaeha's name.

‘Ah. Is this one of the idiots who was scammed by sunbae?’

They had come to Yoo Jaeha's gallery after Irene told them about the location. Of course, Yoo Jaeha was hiding in the third floor secret workroom right now. However, Yoon Min Hee calmly started to speak as she had been paid to keep her mouth shut.

“I apologize. Unfortunately, the Director-nim is not here right now………”

Furthermore, she had no time to waste with these idiots when they had a meeting with TKBM tomorrow.

“Unfortunately, it is time for the gallery to close now.”

It was at that moment.

Bang!

“Mommy!”
“Are you sure he’s not here? Huh? Are you sure he’s not pretending to be dead?”

Oh Seung Woo was the one who shouted. He was pretty good at acting like this after working under gangsters for many years.

However, Yoon Min Hee who had been paid did not back down either.

“The D, Director-nim passed away recently from a car accident! Please don't make things complica………”

It was at that moment.
Bang!

“Kyaaaa!”

Ju-Heon placed a heavy backpack on the table. He calmly smiled after hearing Yoo Jaeha was dead as he started to speak.

“It’s fine if it is you even if Yoo Jaeha is not here. I just wanted to hire him to do something.”
“H, hire?”
"Before that, do you perhaps know what is inside this backpack?”
“Excuse me? What did you bring with you that you’re causing such a ruckus………”

However, Yoon Min Hee had to question her eyes after opening the backpack.

“Uhh, uhhhhh?
“My goodness! Artifacts……!”

There were over ten artifacts in the backpack. Ju-Heon smiled after hearing her say artifacts as if he had been waiting for that.

“You do recognize them. You are Yoo Jaeha’s assistant right? Then do you know how to restore them? It doesn't matter to me who it is as long as they know how to restore the artifacts.”

Yoon Min Hee quickly responded to that question.

“I, I know how to restore them.”

Honestly speaking, she didn't. However, Yoon Min Hee quickly got up.

“Please excuse me for a moment while I go to the restroom.”

She ran to the restroom and started to shout in a quiet voice.

“Director-nim! Something big has happened! Artifacts! Artifacts! Over ten of them!”

[Are you sure they're really artifacts?]

“Do you not trust my eyes? You were the one who taught me about artifacts!”

Yoon Min Hee was urgently shouting to Yoo Jaeha on the phone.

“It’s a jackpot! I can tell they’re going to sell at high prices! I don’t know for sure, but they are all destroyed and there was even an Egyptian artifact that seemed to be a higher-grade than your artifact.”

Yoon Min Hee was a smart employee. Seeing her going nuts like this made Yoo Jaeha click his tongue.

[Then what is the problem? Isn’t the answer obvious?]

“Then……!”

Yoo Jaeha started to chuckle.

[If you understood what I meant, do exactly as I say.]

“What do you need me to do?”

[Put them in the restoration room saying you'll restore them. I’ll stealthily head over. Make sure to keep them distracted.]

“And then?”

[I can make perfect fakes in 10 minutes. Switch them with those. I'll sell it to Chairman Kwon I'm meeting with tomorrow if they aren't useful to me.]

“But Director-nim. Won't we get caught?”

[Are you joking? Anybody not at Chairman Kwon’s level are idiots. We’ll switch them out and swindle them off to Chairman Kwon or use them ourselves.]

“But what if we get caught?!”

[Damn it, who do you think is going to make the fakes?! We won’t get caught!]

Yoo Jaeha didn’t know much about anything else, but he was a genius artist. The counterfeit artifact was able to use more strength than normal in his hands.

It allowed him to create fake artifacts as well. The fakes did not only look similar, they even had the same abilities.

Of course, they disappeared quickly and the strength was clearly different from the original, but…

[Anyway, quickly get started if you understood!]

“Y, yes sir!”

The only one confused that she suddenly disappeared to the restroom was Oh Seung Woo.

‘Why is she suddenly acting like this?’

However, Ju-Heon who came to this gallery with all of his artifacts just smiled.

“Will he slowly come out now?”
“Excuse me?”
“That damn scamming Rapunzel bastard.”

---

1. Hoobae is a term for underclassman in Korean. Opposite is sunbae which is upperclassmen. Korea has a much stronger sunbae/hoobae hierarchy than the American education system.

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