Wearing an exhausted face full of dark circles, Han JinHo left his house. He really didn't want to, but had no choice, since there was a lecture he had to attend to today.
There was only a little bit more to go until he had no need to continue doing this. Now, it was no longer just because of his parents' will, he also became determined to see it to the end. He had come so far; if he was to stop here, all of which he had done thus far would turn meaningless.
He didn't want that to happen.
Till now, he had invested so much time, emotions, and effort into it. Of course, it was hard to compare it with other students, but he still did his best to ensure his graduation.
A period of long four years were spent, so shouldn't he at the very least, receive a certificate of graduation?
"Uuh."
Han JinHo stretched his arms. He hadn't slept a single second during the night so he was extremely tired, but the lack of sleep could be solved during the lecture.
The analysis of the four newly gained relics were going easier than he had thought. The estimated time he had set as his goal was a month, but at this rate, it would be done with in just a few more days.
His constant production of counterfeits and magic training had been a huge help.
Forging replicas were greatly beneficial to increasing his skills on subtle control of mana as well as feeling the flow of mana.
At the start, he made something exactly the same as the real one, and later, he used the creator's style to make original counterfeits.
The imitation of Chusa's work which Chairman Choi NamHee was scammed into buying was like that.
In particular, using mana to create the same type of material and atmosphere as the time period the real one was made in, were absolutely impossible to do without a delicate control of mana.
The research on martial arts which he had found recently had also been greatly helpful, as martial arts allowed a look on magic and mana from a new perspective.
And thus, his skills had gone up as a matter of course.
Once he finished analysing these four relics and was able to make them by himself from scratch, he was planning to resume the excavation of his ruin which had come to a stalemate.
Training was good, relic analysis and martial arts were also good, but the thing that served the most help in his growth was excavation of a ruin.
The ruin under his possession always had a distinct reward every time he proceeded. Without those rewards, no matter how much Han JinHo had trained in magic, he wouldn't have reached the level he is in today.
Training had indeed been fruitful, but it couldn't be compared to the power he had gained from excavating the ruin.
He had experienced many things after bravely entering the world with antique appraisal. And most of what had happened moved towards a direction that helped Han JinHo.
There were some unfortunate happenings, but they all ultimately turned out to be good.
"I must have been born with innate luck."
Isn't the fact that he found the ruin in the first place, a proof that his luck is good?
While smiling at himself, he carried his feet over.
Han JinHo arrived at the school and diligently paced towards the building where the lecture was held. When he walked about halfway there, someone approached him.
"Han JinHo-ssi?"
Without stopping his feet, he turned his head around to see who the person was. A man wearing a fashionable suit, roughly around the age of middle-30s, was standing there.
He had a good-looking face and a tall body, which made him look like a model.
"Could you give me some of your time please?"
"No."
After replying, Han JinHo faced the front again and picked up some speed.
The man - Yu JinHyuk stared at Han JinHo with a dumbfounded expression. He wasn't expecting to be rejected on the face like this.
With a startled voice, he hurriedly spoke while taking a business card out from his person.
"I'm this kind of person. Could you please listen to what I have to say?"
"I have a lecture, so,"
Leaving only that sentence behind, he pretty much sprinted and left that place. Yu JinHyuk speechlessly looked back and forth between Han JinHo's back and the name card on his hand.
Han JinHo had entered the building before he could do anything. Yu JinHyuk now had to wait till the lecture was over.
"I thought he wasn't interested in studying… maybe he is?"
He shook his head and sat down on a bench near the building Han JinHo had entered. Yu JinHyuk was planning on meeting Han JinHo today so he had to see him even if he had to wait. He checked the time.
'I have mountains of work, and yet…'
While frowning, Yu JinHyuk's opinion on Han JinHo went down by one.
There were limited number of things he could do on a bench.
He took out his smartphone, and started doing all the work he could do on a phone. The scene of Yu JinHyuk sitting down while focused on his phone was like an artwork.
The people walking past continuously had their eyes stolen by him.
Some of them gathered their courage to approach and talk to him, but facing his cold response they were scared away.
As time passed, Yu JinHyuk became increasingly annoyed, and was unable to focus on work.
At that time, the lecture ended, and students swarmed out of the building. Yu JinHyuk finally put his phone away and looked for Han JinHo with glaring eyes.
Han JinHo was the last person to leave the lecturing room. He had been sleeping the entire period so he needed some time to wake up.
After going back home, he had to analyse the relics again.
The relics were currently inside his inter-dimension, so where-ever the place may be, as long as he could take them out, he could go straight into analysing.
Chasing his sleepiness away with stretching and mana, he stood up from the spot and left the room. Following the corridor, he left the building and found a pair of eyes glaring at him.
'That person is still here. Who is he?'
Just then, he was really busy because of the lecture so had refused, but if the person was so obstinately wanting it, he could give him some of his time. What was so difficult about hearing a few words? Han JinHo resumed walking while thinking as such.
Yu JinHyuk walked up as if he had been waiting for this.
Han JinHo could see the surrounding people's eyes gather at him. He had a feeling that he had experienced something similar to this before, so his feet involuntarily came to a stop.
'It's the same as when Yu CheIn walks up.'
An unrealistic appearance that puts the entire world below its feet, and pulling the eyes of the surrounding to one point; it was very similar to Yu CheIn's case.
Maybe Yu JinHyuk was accustomed to these kinds of eyes, he neared Han JinHo without caring about others.
"The lecture is over now, right? Could you give me some of your time?"
Han JinHo nodded his head.
"Sure."
Yu JinHyuk took Han JinHo to the carpark. He let Han JinHo into his car and left the school grounds, as it seemed to be difficult to have a proper conversation inside the school.
While driving, Yu JinHyuk passed a name card to the side.
"This is the business card I couldn't give before."
Han JinHo took it and looked.
'DaeWoon Group?'
The business card read, 'DaeWoon Group Planning Manager Yu JinHyuk'. DaeWoon Group was one of the top enterprises of Korea, and there was most likely no-one who didn't know about it.
Why would a planning manager of that kind of company look for him?
'Wait, DaeWoon Group, Yu JinHyuk?'
Several puzzle pieces aligned themselves inside his head.
"You looked for me because of CheIn?"
Because of this time's incident with Park SeoJun, he did a light investigation on Yu CheIn. It wasn't that hard to find out since Han JinHo had one of Korea's top informants.
No, even without the informant, as long as he had some interest, it wasn't something that difficult to investigate.
"I can somewhat see why, but let me still hear it. You can talk while driving, right?"
Yu JinHyuk once again made a dumbfounded expression. This was once again, a response he hadn't been expecting.
But feelings were just feelings, and he still had to say what he needed to.
"Did you approach CheIn because you knew she was the chairman's granddaughter?"
Han JinHo smiled.
"Ooh! She's the chairman's granddaughter? I didn't know that. Ah, indeed, to be able to gift something like that, her grandfather must be at least on the level of a chairman."
While thinking about it, Han JinHo made a big nod.
"But speak properly. You know it's not me approaching, but the other way around, right?"
Yu JinHyuk momentarily forgot he was driving, he turned his head around and blankly stared at Han JinHo.
"Did you not even investigate about that before coming?"
Yu JinHyuk speechlessly faced back towards the front and re-organised his thoughts while pressing his lips.
"Are you planning on continuing with the antique appraisal job?"
"Who knows? Why do I have to tell you that?"
"If you're going to, I want to recommend you undergo a proper curriculum and start it legally. I have connections to that side so I can help you there."
He spoke as calmly, and politely as possible.
"I have no time to invest like that. I'm busier than it seems, you see."
"Could I perhaps know what you're busy with? If I can help you with anything, I will do it."
Han JinHo stared at him with doubtful eyes.
"You keep on saying you will help me, but you haven't mentioned what you want yet."
Yu JinHyuk shook his head.
"I have no ulterior motives. It's just that I want to somehow help the person that CheIn is interested in."
Han JinHo too, shook his head.
"No-one can help me with it."
He knew Han JinHo was saying don't question any further, so Yu JinHyuk closed his mouth and indulged in his thoughts.
'He's a strange person.'
The reason why he kept on suggesting his help was because the way a person received other's help and their attitude revealed their personality.
Yu JinHyuk often relied on this to see through a person and its success rate was quite high.
However, it was a bit difficult for Han JinHo.
'No, maybe it's not that difficult.'
Han JinHo seemed to have a lot of confidence in his own abilities. These types of people, when their self-confidence crumbled, their ego would crumble together.
'The question is, how far does his abilities go?'
He, while driving, came to such a conclusion.
"How far are we going? If we're finished talking, I would appreciate it if we could go back to school."
Yu JinHyuk gave a bitter smile in response to his words. He indeed has drove too far.
"Don't tell me you came today because you wanted to say something like, don't meet with CheIn anymore?"
"No."
"Oh? That's a bit unexpected. I thought you would definitely say that."
Yu JinHyuk smiled.
"You don't seem like someone who would do as someone else says. Plus, I also can't handle CheIn."
Han JinHo nodded showing sympathy, and Yu JinHyuk continued with a different topic.
"What is Han JinHo-ssi planning to do after graduation? Judging from the short conversation is a bit odd but, I don't think you are thinking of continuing with antique appraisal."
"Not sure. I guess… business?"
"That was also unexpected."
Yu JinHyuk carefully looked at Han JinHo. Han JinHo's expression was serious.
"If you need funds for your business later on, contact us. I can help you with that as well."
"You already know I have enough funds, don't you?"
When he spoke while wearing a smile, Yu JinHyuk shook his head admitting defeat.
"Could you give me some of your time later?"
"Why? Does the chairman want to see me or something?"
Yu JinHyuk made a strange face but still nodded, and thought Han JinHo was really different to other people.
"Yes. He wanted to see you at least once."
He said to bring him if he was a promising guy, but leaving that decision to Yu JinHyuk was pretty much the same as wanting to see him.
"Can I go there now?"
Han JinHo's question made Yu JinHyuk widen his eyes. He didn't allow one to rest till the very end, thought Yu JinHyuk as he turned the handle while nodding.
"Let's go now."
Wearing an exhausted face full of dark circles, Han JinHo left his house. He really didn't want to, but had no choice, since there was a lecture he had to attend to today.
There was only a little bit more to go until he had no need to continue doing this. Now, it was no longer just because of his parents' will, he also became determined to see it to the end. He had come so far; if he was to stop here, all of which he had done thus far would turn meaningless.
He didn't want that to happen.
Till now, he had invested so much time, emotions, and effort into it. Of course, it was hard to compare it with other students, but he still did his best to ensure his graduation.
A period of long four years were spent, so shouldn't he at the very least, receive a certificate of graduation?
"Uuh."
Han JinHo stretched his arms. He hadn't slept a single second during the night so he was extremely tired, but the lack of sleep could be solved during the lecture.
The analysis of the four newly gained relics were going easier than he had thought. The estimated time he had set as his goal was a month, but at this rate, it would be done with in just a few more days.
His constant production of counterfeits and magic training had been a huge help.
Forging replicas were greatly beneficial to increasing his skills on subtle control of mana as well as feeling the flow of mana.
At the start, he made something exactly the same as the real one, and later, he used the creator's style to make original counterfeits.
The imitation of Chusa's work which Chairman Choi NamHee was scammed into buying was like that.
In particular, using mana to create the same type of material and atmosphere as the time period the real one was made in, were absolutely impossible to do without a delicate control of mana.
The research on martial arts which he had found recently had also been greatly helpful, as martial arts allowed a look on magic and mana from a new perspective.
And thus, his skills had gone up as a matter of course.
Once he finished analysing these four relics and was able to make them by himself from scratch, he was planning to resume the excavation of his ruin which had come to a stalemate.
Training was good, relic analysis and martial arts were also good, but the thing that served the most help in his growth was excavation of a ruin.
The ruin under his possession always had a distinct reward every time he proceeded. Without those rewards, no matter how much Han JinHo had trained in magic, he wouldn't have reached the level he is in today.
Training had indeed been fruitful, but it couldn't be compared to the power he had gained from excavating the ruin.
He had experienced many things after bravely entering the world with antique appraisal. And most of what had happened moved towards a direction that helped Han JinHo.
There were some unfortunate happenings, but they all ultimately turned out to be good.
"I must have been born with innate luck."
Isn't the fact that he found the ruin in the first place, a proof that his luck is good?
While smiling at himself, he carried his feet over.
Han JinHo arrived at the school and diligently paced towards the building where the lecture was held. When he walked about halfway there, someone approached him.
"Han JinHo-ssi?"
Without stopping his feet, he turned his head around to see who the person was. A man wearing a fashionable suit, roughly around the age of middle-30s, was standing there.
He had a good-looking face and a tall body, which made him look like a model.
"Could you give me some of your time please?"
"No."
After replying, Han JinHo faced the front again and picked up some speed.
The man - Yu JinHyuk stared at Han JinHo with a dumbfounded expression. He wasn't expecting to be rejected on the face like this.
With a startled voice, he hurriedly spoke while taking a business card out from his person.
"I'm this kind of person. Could you please listen to what I have to say?"
"I have a lecture, so,"
Leaving only that sentence behind, he pretty much sprinted and left that place. Yu JinHyuk speechlessly looked back and forth between Han JinHo's back and the name card on his hand.
Han JinHo had entered the building before he could do anything. Yu JinHyuk now had to wait till the lecture was over.
"I thought he wasn't interested in studying… maybe he is?"
He shook his head and sat down on a bench near the building Han JinHo had entered. Yu JinHyuk was planning on meeting Han JinHo today so he had to see him even if he had to wait. He checked the time.
'I have mountains of work, and yet…'
While frowning, Yu JinHyuk's opinion on Han JinHo went down by one.
There were limited number of things he could do on a bench.
He took out his smartphone, and started doing all the work he could do on a phone. The scene of Yu JinHyuk sitting down while focused on his phone was like an artwork.
The people walking past continuously had their eyes stolen by him.
Some of them gathered their courage to approach and talk to him, but facing his cold response they were scared away.
As time passed, Yu JinHyuk became increasingly annoyed, and was unable to focus on work.
At that time, the lecture ended, and students swarmed out of the building. Yu JinHyuk finally put his phone away and looked for Han JinHo with glaring eyes.
Han JinHo was the last person to leave the lecturing room. He had been sleeping the entire period so he needed some time to wake up.
After going back home, he had to analyse the relics again.
The relics were currently inside his inter-dimension, so where-ever the place may be, as long as he could take them out, he could go straight into analysing.
Chasing his sleepiness away with stretching and mana, he stood up from the spot and left the room. Following the corridor, he left the building and found a pair of eyes glaring at him.
'That person is still here. Who is he?'
Just then, he was really busy because of the lecture so had refused, but if the person was so obstinately wanting it, he could give him some of his time. What was so difficult about hearing a few words? Han JinHo resumed walking while thinking as such.
Yu JinHyuk walked up as if he had been waiting for this.
Han JinHo could see the surrounding people's eyes gather at him. He had a feeling that he had experienced something similar to this before, so his feet involuntarily came to a stop.
'It's the same as when Yu CheIn walks up.'
An unrealistic appearance that puts the entire world below its feet, and pulling the eyes of the surrounding to one point; it was very similar to Yu CheIn's case.
Maybe Yu JinHyuk was accustomed to these kinds of eyes, he neared Han JinHo without caring about others.
"The lecture is over now, right? Could you give me some of your time?"
Han JinHo nodded his head.
"Sure."
Yu JinHyuk took Han JinHo to the carpark. He let Han JinHo into his car and left the school grounds, as it seemed to be difficult to have a proper conversation inside the school.
While driving, Yu JinHyuk passed a name card to the side.
"This is the business card I couldn't give before."
Han JinHo took it and looked.
'DaeWoon Group?'
The business card read, 'DaeWoon Group Planning Manager Yu JinHyuk'. DaeWoon Group was one of the top enterprises of Korea, and there was most likely no-one who didn't know about it.
Why would a planning manager of that kind of company look for him?
'Wait, DaeWoon Group, Yu JinHyuk?'
Several puzzle pieces aligned themselves inside his head.
"You looked for me because of CheIn?"
Because of this time's incident with Park SeoJun, he did a light investigation on Yu CheIn. It wasn't that hard to find out since Han JinHo had one of Korea's top informants.
No, even without the informant, as long as he had some interest, it wasn't something that difficult to investigate.
"I can somewhat see why, but let me still hear it. You can talk while driving, right?"
Yu JinHyuk once again made a dumbfounded expression. This was once again, a response he hadn't been expecting.
But feelings were just feelings, and he still had to say what he needed to.
"Did you approach CheIn because you knew she was the chairman's granddaughter?"
Han JinHo smiled.
"Ooh! She's the chairman's granddaughter? I didn't know that. Ah, indeed, to be able to gift something like that, her grandfather must be at least on the level of a chairman."
While thinking about it, Han JinHo made a big nod.
"But speak properly. You know it's not me approaching, but the other way around, right?"
Yu JinHyuk momentarily forgot he was driving, he turned his head around and blankly stared at Han JinHo.
"Did you not even investigate about that before coming?"
Yu JinHyuk speechlessly faced back towards the front and re-organised his thoughts while pressing his lips.
"Are you planning on continuing with the antique appraisal job?"
"Who knows? Why do I have to tell you that?"
"If you're going to, I want to recommend you undergo a proper curriculum and start it legally. I have connections to that side so I can help you there."
He spoke as calmly, and politely as possible.
"I have no time to invest like that. I'm busier than it seems, you see."
"Could I perhaps know what you're busy with? If I can help you with anything, I will do it."
Han JinHo stared at him with doubtful eyes.
"You keep on saying you will help me, but you haven't mentioned what you want yet."
Yu JinHyuk shook his head.
"I have no ulterior motives. It's just that I want to somehow help the person that CheIn is interested in."
Han JinHo too, shook his head.
"No-one can help me with it."
He knew Han JinHo was saying don't question any further, so Yu JinHyuk closed his mouth and indulged in his thoughts.
'He's a strange person.'
The reason why he kept on suggesting his help was because the way a person received other's help and their attitude revealed their personality.
Yu JinHyuk often relied on this to see through a person and its success rate was quite high.
However, it was a bit difficult for Han JinHo.
'No, maybe it's not that difficult.'
Han JinHo seemed to have a lot of confidence in his own abilities. These types of people, when their self-confidence crumbled, their ego would crumble together.
'The question is, how far does his abilities go?'
He, while driving, came to such a conclusion.
"How far are we going? If we're finished talking, I would appreciate it if we could go back to school."
Yu JinHyuk gave a bitter smile in response to his words. He indeed has drove too far.
"Don't tell me you came today because you wanted to say something like, don't meet with CheIn anymore?"
"No."
"Oh? That's a bit unexpected. I thought you would definitely say that."
Yu JinHyuk smiled.
"You don't seem like someone who would do as someone else says. Plus, I also can't handle CheIn."
Han JinHo nodded showing sympathy, and Yu JinHyuk continued with a different topic.
"What is Han JinHo-ssi planning to do after graduation? Judging from the short conversation is a bit odd but, I don't think you are thinking of continuing with antique appraisal."
"Not sure. I guess… business?"
"That was also unexpected."
Yu JinHyuk carefully looked at Han JinHo. Han JinHo's expression was serious.
"If you need funds for your business later on, contact us. I can help you with that as well."
"You already know I have enough funds, don't you?"
When he spoke while wearing a smile, Yu JinHyuk shook his head admitting defeat.
"Could you give me some of your time later?"
"Why? Does the chairman want to see me or something?"
Yu JinHyuk made a strange face but still nodded, and thought Han JinHo was really different to other people.
"Yes. He wanted to see you at least once."
He said to bring him if he was a promising guy, but leaving that decision to Yu JinHyuk was pretty much the same as wanting to see him.
"Can I go there now?"
Han JinHo's question made Yu JinHyuk widen his eyes. He didn't allow one to rest till the very end, thought Yu JinHyuk as he turned the handle while nodding.
"Let's go now."
