"The director has agreed to see you."

"Working late, I see."

"Not at all..."

They'd hired their staff here for looks, too.

The receptionist at the first-floor desk blushed.

The time was 9:10 p.m.

Lee & Jang, working so diligently in the service of Korea's powerful and its upper class, was lit up like a city that never sleeps.

Two buildings in Gwanghwamun were their offices.

The Star Building, which housed the main office, was ablaze with light even this late at night.

The firm's head officially earned seventy billion won a year.

It was a monster outfit where even the lowliest lawyers easily cleared a hundred million.

I'd stormed its heart.

There'd been no need to think it over for long.

Even in wartime, the generals had always met face to face to hash things out.

I wanted to meet Son Dae-gyun, surely a key figure in the Ilsong Society, and make my plans.

I wanted to know how much he knew about me.

"Please go up to the fifteenth floor."

"Thank you."

Even in enemy territory, I took my time.

I'd come straight here after talking with Attorney Jo.

I wasn't in anything like a suit.

Just the jeans and shirt I'd been wearing at school.

Ding.

The elevator moved at high speed.

I arrived on the fifteenth floor.

"CEO Jang Tae-san?"

A female secretary was waiting in front of the elevator.

This one was even more beautiful.

Make a lot of money, and every man's heart seems to work the same way.

"I'm Jang Tae-san."

"The director is waiting for you."

Waiting, my ass!

The late-night visit must have caught him off guard.

I was curious about his mug.

I wanted to see what kind of human being was still playing the lapdog to the Japanese, still dreaming of being a pioneer.

Through the wide windows, I could see Gwanghwamun.

A week from now, that vast space would be lit up with candles.

It seems to me that's when Korea's ancestors woke up.

"Please go in."

The office had a nameplate on the door: Director Son Dae-gyun.