After Park Min-seok and his family carefully embraced the Four-Tiger Sword and left the workshop, the news began shaking the entire Korean antique-art world.
Word spread swiftly through antique-art communities and among scholars that a genuine 300-year-old Four-Tiger Sword had been revived in a nameless workshop on the outskirts, and restored to nearly perfect condition at that.
"You heard that the sword from Lee Family Workshop is a genuine Four-Tiger Sword, right?"
"Apparently, he recognized it when it was about to be thrown into a scrapyard."
The doubt and curiosity of those who had not seen it in person neared the breaking point. From early morning, reporters and collectors crowded the front of Lee Family Workshop. Park Min-seok, the sword's owner, had cut off outside contact, so every eye naturally turned toward Han-gyeol, who had led the restoration.
For several days, Han-gyeol kept the workshop shuttered and quietly passed the time drinking tea. He had known from the moment he began restoring the Four-Tiger Sword that an object of this magnitude would inevitably bring government institutions and academia into motion.
Then, one day, Park Min-seok called him.
"Master, I can't handle this. The Cultural Heritage Administration, professors—dozens of people call me every day, and some have even come to my house. This is too weighty an object for our family to decide alone. Please, help us just one more time."
Park Min-seok sounded desperate. The joy of finding the treasure had been brief. The world's pouring attention and pressure were too great for an ordinary man to bear.
After consulting Mr. Park, Han-gyeol found the wisest solution.
They would invite representatives of the Cultural Heritage Administration and leading academic authorities to Lee Family Workshop for an official 'Public Appraisal and Conservation Treatment Report.'
On the appointed day, Park Min-seok and his family returned to the workshop. In their hands was a black storage case.
"Welcome."
After greeting the family courteously, Han-gyeol guided in the appraisal committee members from the Cultural Heritage Administration and the history professors who followed them.
The Four-Tiger Sword revealed its majesty once more atop the workbench at the center of the workshop. The moment the dark-red steel and silver Big Dipper appeared beneath the lights, suffocating silence fell over the room as though by prior agreement.
"Good heavens...... How can this be?"
An elderly professor affiliated with the Cultural Heritage Administration approached the sword, his white-gloved hand trembling. Forgetting even the scholarly authority to which he had devoted his life, he studied the blade with eyes wide as a child's.
"It's perfect. It could never be a clumsy imitation forged by later generations. Both the marks from forging the iron and the silver-wire inlay technique correspond precisely to a royal bestowal from mid-Joseon."
At the elderly professor's assurance, the other scholars behind him also burst into exclamations.
"It's miraculous. To think a genuine Four-Tiger Sword in this condition was hidden in private hands. And look at its preservation. Even the National Museum of Korea's storage vaults would struggle to produce a sword that survived centuries of corrosion and still radiates the energy of the Seven Stars so vividly."
The scholars' excited voices filled the workshop. Standing beside them as they heard every assessment, Park Min-seok and his uncle clasped hands in overwhelming emotion. In that moment, a government institution officially recognized that they had protected not a senile old man's delusion, but a national treasure.
Yet in the shadow of this dazzling achievement, a venomous gaze watched them.
***
Watching the event on a broadcast in his office, Professor Choi Myeong-ye's face twisted with uncontrollable rage and jealousy. Before the damage from Chairman Kang's incense burner had even faded, the nameless brat had unearthed another national-treasure-class artifact.
"Lee Han-gyeol...... This insolent bastard insists on running wild in my territory?"
Professor Choi irritably swiped across the tablet on his desk. If this continued, his standing would clearly collapse altogether. He immediately called a culture reporter at a conservative newspaper with whom he was friendly.
"Hey, Reporter Kim. It's me. You know that Four-Tiger Sword circulating online, right? Yes, that one. But listen, I think the reporting has gone entirely in the wrong direction. Everyone is overlooking how dangerous that sword is."
Professor Choi began twisting the logic with his characteristic air of authority.
"Think about it. Does it make sense to leave a treasure worth billions of won in a private citizen's home, especially a real blade capable of killing someone? It is at obvious risk of theft and could easily be used in a crime. Shouldn't we rigorously apply the Cultural Heritage Protection Act and have the state take compulsory possession of an object like this? If we recognize it as private property, there's no knowing when it might be sold overseas."
His objective was clear. He meant to stoke public anxiety, strip the sword from Park Min-seok's family, and erase even Lee Han-gyeol's contribution to its restoration by drawing in state authorities. It was a petty war of public opinion.
As though they had been waiting for Professor Choi's call, articles with sensational headlines began pouring out.
***
The dozens of reporters gathered outside Lee Family Workshop charged like a pack of jackals toward Park Min-seok and his family as they left, reacting to the sudden flood of stories.
"Mr. Park Min-seok! A controversy has arisen over the safety of private ownership. What do you have to say?!"
"The sword is said to be worth billions. Are you secretly planning to sell it to an overseas museum?!"
"If the Cultural Heritage Administration orders compulsory possession, will you comply?!"
It was a barrage of aggressive, leading questions. An ordinary person would have frozen, unable to answer, but even beneath the reporters' storm of camera flashes, Park Min-seok and his family remained remarkably calm.
Park Min-seok's uncle, who had once screamed at the top of his lungs inside the workshop, confidently stepped before the reporters.
"I don't know where this nonsense started, but our family has absolutely no intention of selling this sword for money! It is our family's pride and soul. Do you think we'd become unfilial bastards who sell our ancestors' spirit for a few coins?"
The uncle looked directly at the reporters and continued.
"Safety? State possession? You must think we mean to keep this sword locked away in our house and treasure it privately, but we have no such plan."
The reporters began murmuring.
"With legal advice from Master Lee Han-gyeol of Lee Family Workshop and Mr. Park of Gobojae, our family has already decided to place this Four-Tiger Sword on long-term loan to the National Museum of Korea!"
The reporters' eyes widened at the phrase long-term loan.
Under a long-term loan, ownership remained private while custody and exhibition rights were entrusted to a government institution without charge.
The museum could protect the artifact with perfect systems, the public could view a precious cultural property, and the owner could honor the family name. It was the wisest possible compromise.
"We are placing our family's treasure, and this nation's treasure, in the national museum so the entire public can safely see it. Who in the world is calling it dangerous and talking about taking it away? I don't know which ignorant scholar is spouting that nonsense, but if anyone publishes an article defaming our family's honor, we will not stand by."
At that rebuke, the reporters fell silent. Park Min-seok's uncle finished speaking and began to turn away, only to look back as though remembering something. His gaze fell upon Han-gyeol, who stood quietly before the workshop door.
"And this great sword saw the light of day entirely thanks to Master Lee Han-gyeol of Lee Family Workshop."
Deep respect suffused his voice.
"Without him, it would have been treated as scrap and melted away in a furnace. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for recovering our family's pride and a history that nearly disappeared."
As he bowed to Han-gyeol, the reporters' cameras turned toward the young restorer as one.
Amid the pouring flashes, Han-gyeol merely smiled faintly and returned a light bow.
***
Watching the interview from his office, Professor Choi hurled the smartphone in his hand at the wall.
"Those...... Those viperous bastards!"
Professor Choi's shallow attempt to manipulate public opinion had been shattered before it could accomplish anything. Han-gyeol and Mr. Park had already looked one move ahead and raised their defenses.
Professor Choi's interference had instead produced the opposite effect, elevating Lee Han-gyeol from a mere repairman into a perceptive expert capable of proposing the proper course for cultural-heritage preservation.
***
Several days later, once every administrative procedure was complete, Park Min-seok's family returned to the workshop. Their faces were brighter than ever.
"Master. You have truly worked hard."
Park Min-seok clasped both of Han-gyeol's hands, then drew a thick envelope from his coat and pressed it toward him.
"Our family pooled together this restoration fee and reward."
Han-gyeol's eyes widened slightly as he checked the amount on the check inside.
"This...... is far more than the amount we agreed upon."
"It is a pitiful sum beside the value of this Four-Tiger Sword."
His uncle scratched his head awkwardly.
"If we failed to show even this much respect to the benefactor who restored our family's roots, we could never face our ancestors. Please don't refuse. Accept it."
200 million won. It was the greatest sum Han-gyeol had ever handled while operating Lee Family Workshop.
Rather than refuse, Han-gyeol accepted their sincerity with care.
After Park Min-seok's family left, Han-gyeol stood by the window and drew a deep breath. Something other than the amount he had received burned hot within his chest.
'An appraiser who restores history.'
Recognition as a true artisan who did not merely patch broken objects, but read the grain of time within them and unearthed buried truth. It was the level his grandfather had devoted his life to reaching, and the road Han-gyeol now walked.
***
A month passed in the blink of an eye.
Han-gyeol visited the National Museum of Korea to see the Four-Tiger Sword. The museum was crowded with weekend visitors.
Deep within the exhibition hall, dozens of people repeatedly cried out in admiration before an enormous display case illuminated by the main spotlight.
"Wow, look at those constellations shine. That sword is 300 years old?"
"You can really feel its spirit when you see it up close."
Squeezing through the visitors, Han-gyeol saw the familiar figure of the dark-red steel. The Four-Tiger Sword rested within a perfect preservation system.
The silver Big Dipper and the words 'Ward Off Evil Spirits,' which he had uncovered himself, gleamed beneath the lights like the Milky Way across a night sky.
Han-gyeol stepped closer and silently studied the sword. His gaze moved to the metal information plaque beneath it.
The sword's name and the lender's name were neatly engraved in the caption. Then came the final line of the description. The letters were very small, but to Han-gyeol, that single sentence stood out more clearly than any other.
[Conservation Treatment and Restoration: Lee Han-gyeol, Lee Family Workshop]
The old workshop once driven to the brink of closure by debt collectors, along with the grueling years built by his grandfather's bent back and freezing fingertips, was now proudly engraved within the exhibition hall of the nation's finest museum.
"Grandfather."
Han-gyeol murmured softly as he looked at the Four-Tiger Sword beyond the glass.
"The stars I mined are shining very brightly."
A deep, peaceful smile spread across Han-gyeol's lips.