Il-gyeong Dan was a displaced man, driven south from his home.

Born the child of a poor farmer in Haeju, Hwanghae Province, Il-gyeong Dan came to Seoul entirely alone during the Japanese occupation and made his money in trade.

From delivering rice at the market to peddling brassware, there was nothing Il-gyeong Dan hadn't done in the Myeongdong market. Once he'd amassed some capital, he began lending to the merchants around him, throwing himself in earnest into the private-lending market.

In an era when monthly interest of 30 percent was commonplace, Il-gyeong Dan kept a conscience of his own, and having built up trust in the market that way, by just after Liberation he'd come to be called the foremost cash king of Myeongdong.

After the war, as the units of money grew larger, his clientele naturally shifted from individuals to businesses.

He specialized in lending money to companies in need against collateral, and pouring every won he earned into Myeongdong and Gangnam real estate, he rose all the way to the seat of Korea's foremost real-estate magnate.

There was scarcely a soul running a business who hadn't borrowed from Il-gyeong Dan at least once—so much so that people said not having borrowed from Il-gyeong Dan meant you'd never grown into a company worth counting.

The pawnbroker of the business world.

Il-gyeong Dan—of whom it was said that to borrow quick cash you should seek him out sooner than any bank, who had served as the money window of the entire business establishment—now stood revealed before Seong-ho.

"I heard you've been playing at money-lending with the companies. I had to see for myself just what sort of fellow set his spoon on my dinner table."

Seong-ho bowed his head toward Il-gyeong Dan and said,

"My apologies. I had no intention of encroaching on your business, sir. I merely helped out of a sense of fellowship. But if it has angered you, sir, I'll apologize once more. I'm truly sorry."

Though Seong-ho bowed and apologized in earnest, what came flying back was a scornful snort.

"Hmph. Fellowship? You're as brazen a…