After the man from the secretariat had gone, Do-beom Hwang spoke to Tak-hyeon Lee in a hurry.

"Chairman. Is there any need for you to go that far? I'll call him and say a word about where a mere Prosecutor General gets off telling anyone to call him."

"No. Leave it. I can do it myself."

Tak-hyeon Lee waved a slow hand like a man with nothing left in him and said,

"Do you really not know why the Prosecutor General called?"

Do-beom Hwang dropped his head at Tak-hyeon Lee's question.

It wasn't that Do-beom Hwang didn't know why the Prosecutor General had called.

The Prosecutor General had shown a side of himself he had never shown before, and that had made him angry; the words were offered to take the edge off Tak-hyeon Lee's anger.

And it was Tak-hyeon Lee, the man with the right to be angry, who was cold instead, so shame left Do-beom Hwang nothing to do but bow his head.

Tak-hyeon Lee got up from the sofa and patted Do-beom Hwang on the shoulder.

"It's all right. These things happen."

Tak-hyeon Lee told Do-beom Hwang it was all right instead, and walked slowly toward the desk.

"Find out what Prosecutor General Song has most on his mind these days. His calling in person looks less like a man about to break this open and more like one who wants to trade a little and close the thing off at a decent line."

"…Understood."

Do-beom Hwang answered that he understood Tak-hyeon Lee's meaning and bowed his head.

Tak-hyeon Lee sat down in the chair and said,

"And start easing Mun-jong out of his work."

Do-beom Hwang lifted his head with a startled face.

"Do you really mean to put Mun-jong out?"

"However I turn it over, that seems to be the right thing. Hoo…"

Tak-hyeon Lee let out a deep sigh.

A little earlier, when Seong-ho Kim told him to decide, Tak-hyeon Lee hadn't given an answer on the spot.

Instead he had ordered Mun-jong Lee to keep his head down, and let a word about…