Eun-a Jang glared at the seated Tak-hyeon.

“You won’t regret it?”

“Regret?”

Tak-hyeon asked Chang-jong, standing behind Eun-a Jang.

“Chang-jong. Will you regret it?”

At Tak-hyeon’s question, Chang-jong looked at the back of Eun-a Jang, who stood a step ahead of him, snorted a laugh, and said,

“Regret? Surely you don’t mean divorcing this woman? As if. I’ll never regret it.”

Eun-a Jang turned her head and glared at Chang-jong.

At her gaze, Chang-jong let out a snort and said,

“Hmph. Honestly, isn’t it awkward that the word ‘married couple’ gets slotted in between you and me? For how little time we’ve spent together since marrying—let’s just settle it while we’re at it. That seems better for us both.”

“You… you’d say that even though you have a daughter?”

“Did you just say my daughter?”

At the word “daughter,” the smile on Chang-jong’s face hardened.

And going up to Eun-a Jang, thrusting his face to within a nose’s distance, he said,

“Is there any proof that daughter is my daughter?”

Eun-a Jang jabbed a finger at Chang-jong and shouted,

“You don’t believe it even after a test was done?”

“Are you confident that test was a proper one? Then since it’s come up, let’s have it out. Test again, and if the result comes out that she’s my daughter, I’ll take responsibility and never bring the matter up again. But if the result comes out that she’s not my daughter… you’d better brace yourself.”

Feeling that Tak-hyeon was taking his side, Chang-jong let fly at Eun-a Jang, adding on all the things he hadn’t been able to hurl at her before.

Eun-a Jang’s hands trembled.

Whether it was from indignation, or from the humiliation of being bested by Chang-jong, who’d never once raised his voice at her before, couldn’t be told.

Seong-ho smiled without a word at Eun-a Jang’s state, then looked at Sang-jong.

Even if Eun-a Jang were washed out like this, it made little difference to Seong-ho.

But to create a more interesting situation, it was better for Eun-a Jang to remain within the Ilhyeon family.

So it was necessary to help Eun-a Jang about here.

Of course, the one to help had to be someone other than Seong-ho.

Because Seong-ho was the director of the play, not an actor cast in a role.

Receiving Seong-ho’s gaze, Sang-jong turned his head to look at him.

And perhaps sensing something in Seong-ho’s gaze, he recalled the conversation they’d had at Seong-ho’s home not long ago.

He told me to take the side of the weak, didn’t he?

Right now, to anyone’s eyes, the weak one looked to be Eun-a Jang.

The attitude she’d shown coming to her husband’s family wasn’t pleasant, but to anyone’s eyes the victim was clearly Eun-a Jang.

A child her husband had fathered outside.

As if suddenly having that child foisted on her weren’t enough, her husband was pressing for divorce.

Sang-jong gave Seong-ho a slight nod and rose from his seat.

“Chang-jong. You mustn’t treat your wife that way.”

Sang-jong split apart the space between Chang-jong and Eun-a Jang.

“Sister-in-law. You too, calm your agitation for a moment.”

“Brother-in-law.”

“Chang-jong being in the wrong is being in the wrong, but even so, you mustn’t act that way toward Father. And Chang-jong.”

Sang-jong scolded Eun-a Jang, then glared at Chang-jong.

“You. You’re the one in the wrong, so what’s with that attitude? Hurry and apologize to your wife.”

“Brother.”

“At any rate, fathering a child outside was your fault, that’s certain. From your wife’s standpoint that alone is bitter enough, and now she’s told to take on raising the child too—of course she’d be angry. Apologize, and promise there’ll never be a thing like this again. That’s all you can do.”

When Sang-jong spoke and put on a dignified expression, Chang-jong looked at him with a gaze of disbelief.

With Father already taking his side, he couldn’t understand why Sang-jong was acting this way.

Unlike Chang-jong, Tak-hyeon looked at Sang-jong with an interested air.

And he asked Suk-ja, who’d only been sitting quietly,

“Where’s the child now?”

At Tak-hyeon’s suddenly asking where the child was, Suk-ja turned her head to look at him and answered,

“Right now Masan-daek’s daughter-in-law is raising it. It happens there’s a newborn in that household too. But why do you ask?”

“Then have them raise it there a while longer. Give a generous fee for their trouble.”

“Don’t worry about the fee. When have you seen me be stingy about such a thing? But how long do you intend to have that household raise it?”

Suk-ja looked at Eun-a Jang as she spoke.

She’d called Eun-a Jang in to raise the child, and yet even though Eun-a Jang had come, why Tak-hyeon was telling Masan-daek’s daughter-in-law to go on raising it struck Suk-ja as strange.

Tak-hyeon, without even answering Suk-ja’s question, said to Eun-a Jang,

“Go back, think it over carefully, and decide. If you raise it, you’ll go on together under the shade of the Ilhyeon family, but if you refuse, you’ll have to leave Ilhyeon.”

“Chairman!”

“This is the decision I’ve made. Whether you decide alone or decide after consulting Chairman Jang, do as you see fit.”

Finishing, Tak-hyeon rose from his seat.

He’d substituted rising for the meaning that there was no need to talk further.

When Tak-hyeon rose and left, only silence flowed through the living room.

With the decision-maker gone, the actors remaining held their places with blank faces, having forgotten their lines.

Seong-ho, the director, only watched them quietly with a smiling face.

“At last, our Restructuring Headquarters’ Head Seong-ho Kim has received a formal appointment to the office of president. It means the position our Restructuring Headquarters holds in the group is now equal to the other affiliates.”

Deputy Head Gyeong-deuk, standing up on a chair, spoke to the Headquarters staff in a booming voice.

“Though our staff number no more than a hundred or so, the work we do is no less than that of other affiliates holding thousands of employees.”

At Gyeong-deuk’s words, the staff gathered in the Headquarters looked at him with sparkling eyes.

Gyeong-deuk raised a hand and continued,

“That the planning office could become a Headquarters and change this fast, all the way to reporting directly to the Chairman—all of you bear in mind that it’s because of President Kim’s outstanding leadership. Just as until now, if we support President Kim well going forward too, good days will be with us. Understand?”

“Yes! Understood!”

The Restructuring Headquarters staff all answered with one voice.

There was no one who didn’t know Seong-ho was becoming president.

Because the new president-level personnel selection had already been announced late last year, with only the appointment remaining.

But there was no one who thought Seong-ho’s presidential appointment had been smooth.

Everyone knew it was a precarious situation that could collapse at any time, being a position he’d risen to hurriedly in a short span.

Seong-ho had weathered such a situation wisely and, in the end, received the presidential appointment letter.

And Seong-ho’s presidential appointment brought about the result of elevating the Restructuring Headquarters’ position by a rung.

The Restructuring Headquarters staff all rejoiced at the rise in the position of the Headquarters they belonged to.

“Why is it so noisy?”

Seong-ho came into the Headquarters office together with Byeong-jin.

Gyeong-deuk bowed his head toward Seong-ho and led the chant.

“Congratulations on the Head’s promotion to president.”

“Congratulations.”

The Headquarters staff all at once followed Deputy Head Gyeong-deuk’s words.

Gyeong-deuk came down from the chair, approached Seong-ho, and said,

“We’ll serve you with all our heart and sincerity going forward, President. My sincere congratulations.”

Seong-ho looked around at Gyeong-deuk and the Headquarters staff and laughed.

“Thank you. But you’ve all finished your work and are doing this, I trust?”

Seong-ho gestured toward Byeong-jin.

Byeong-jin found Gyeong-deuk’s among the appointment letters he was holding and handed it over.

While Gyeong-deuk examined the letter, Seong-ho said,

“I went as representative and received the appointment letters. Deputy Head Lee has been promoted to Vice-President… and Deputy Head Mun has also become a Vice-President.”

Following Gyeong-deuk, Deputy Head Yong-nam Mun too received his appointment letter from Byeong-jin.

Looking for a moment at the moved Gyeong-deuk and at Yong-nam Mun, who gazed down at his letter as if it were a curious thing, Seong-ho said to the gathered Headquarters staff,

“Let me first say thank you to all of you who’ve congratulated me. But let’s wrap up the joy with this. Because we have much to do.”

Seong-ho bowed his head slightly toward the staff who rejoiced as if it were their own affair and continued,

“The inauguration ceremony has been canceled. So let’s finish the rejoicing with this, and everyone return and wrap up the work you were doing.”

“The inauguration ceremony’s been canceled?”

The moved Gyeong-deuk looked at Seong-ho with startled eyes, appointment letter in hand.

“The appointment letter came out faster than expected, but wasn’t the inauguration to proceed as planned?”

“Let’s talk about that inside. Deputy Head Lee and Deputy Head Mun, come to my office with me.”

Seong-ho signaled Byeong-jin with his eyes to wrap things up and headed for the Head’s office ahead of them.

Gyeong-deuk and Yong-nam Mun, appointment letters in hand, followed Seong-ho to the Head’s office, and Byeong-jin, who remained, waved his hand grandly and said in a booming voice,

“All right, all right. If you’ve all heard, get back to your seats. And the team leaders of each team, sort out the progress of the work you’ve been handling and report it to the Head shortly, so get ready.”

Unlike at the start, the Headquarters staff, in the now calmly-settled mood, put their disappointment behind them and returned to their seats.

Byeong-jin surveyed the staff, then turned his head and looked at the Head’s office for a moment.

And recalling what he’d heard at the place he’d gone with Seong-ho to receive the appointment letters, he shook his head.

“I’ve no idea how this is going to turn out.”

Muttering to himself, Byeong-jin let out a small sigh and returned to his seat.

Having entered the Head’s office, Seong-ho sat first on the reception sofa.

Following after, Gyeong-deuk, and last of all Yong-nam Mun, who came in and shut the door, sat across from Seong-ho.

Seong-ho looked at Deputy Heads Gyeong-deuk and Yong-nam Mun and began to explain the reason the inauguration had been canceled.

“You’ll know that this Wednesday there’s the presidential inauguration, and next Monday a gathering of the five great groups and the new Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy has been arranged.”

Gyeong-deuk nodded slowly and answered,

“Yes. I know.”

“And you know there’s an expectation that a realignment of the business world will take place at that gathering?”

“I understand it’s not an expectation but a certainty.”

Yong-nam Mun answered in a calm voice.

Since the account Gyeong-deuk had heard was no different from Yong-nam Mun’s words, he nodded and said to Seong-ho,

“But what does that have to do with your inauguration, President? Isn’t it the Chairman who goes to that gathering?”

Seong-ho laid his palm on the appointment letter set on the table and said,

“I’ve been made to go in the Chairman’s place.”

“What?”

Gyeong-deuk, perhaps at a loss for words, could say nothing and only blinked.

“You go in the Chairman’s place, President?”

Yong-nam Mun, always so composed, was perhaps surprised too, and asked Seong-ho in a flustered voice.

Seong-ho looked back and forth between Gyeong-deuk and Yong-nam Mun and nodded.

“Yes. I’ve been made to attend the meeting of the Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy and the five great groups as the Ilhyeon Group’s representative.”

Perhaps because it was the second time hearing it, Gyeong-deuk and Yong-nam Mun were much calmer than at first.

But their startled hearts still wouldn’t settle.

The two caught their breath for a moment, and Gyeong-deuk asked Seong-ho first.

“If it’s in the Chairman’s place, wouldn’t it be right for the Vice-Chairman to go?”

“Ordinarily, that would be right.”

“Could it be that the Vice-Chairman has… fallen out of favor?”

At Gyeong-deuk’s words, Seong-ho laughed lightly and shook his head.

“That’s not so. What would there be for the Vice-Chairman to fall out of favor over?”

If you went looking, how could there be none?—the words rose all the way up Gyeong-deuk’s throat.

But since that wasn’t what mattered right now, he tilted his head and withdrew for a moment.

When Gyeong-deuk withdrew, this time Deputy Head Yong-nam Mun, who’d been quietly listening, asked Seong-ho,

“Is there a possibility that practical, working-level matters will come up at the gathering the Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy has convened?”

Seong-ho smiled lightly at Yong-nam Mun and nodded.

“That’s right. That’s why I’m attending as the working-level person.”

“But even so… for you to attend the gathering, President… won’t the other places object?”

Yong-nam Mun had put it in as roundabout a way as possible so as not to offend Seong-ho—that the ranks didn’t match.

“There’s a possibility they’ll object that the ranks don’t match.”

“But even so, since the Chairman instructed it, doesn’t it not matter what the other places say?”

Gyeong-deuk said that it didn’t matter what the other places said.

Seong-ho smiled slightly at Gyeong-deuk and said,

“That’s a fair point too. But even so, the other party being displeased is something that can’t be helped.”

“Then what do you intend to do? You can’t very well say you won’t go, can you?”

“That’s why we have to prepare all the more perfectly.”

At Seong-ho’s words, Yong-nam Mun nodded as if he thought the same.

“That’s right. If we prepare so perfectly that the other places can’t say a thing, they won’t be able to raise complaints.”

“But what is it we have to prepare perfectly? We only know we’ll be discussing the abstract matter of business-world realignment—we don’t know what talk will come up at the gathering, do we?”

At Gyeong-deuk’s words, Seong-ho raised the corner of his mouth.

“We don’t know what talk will come up. But one topic will surely come up, so we need only prepare, for certain, what we know.”

“If it’s a topic that will surely come up…”

“Yes. The Doa Motors acquisition. With the reasons not to acquire that we’ve prepared so far, I intend to attend that gathering.”

Hearing Seong-ho’s words, Gyeong-deuk and Yong-nam Mun looked at him with startled faces.

(End of Chapter 124)