"Head. The results are in."

A staffer rushed frantically into the conference room.

Byeong-jin, who'd been shifting in his seat even while sitting, asked the staffer who'd hurried in,

"So, how did it go?"

"It's unsold! It's gone unsold, they say."

"What? Really? It really went unsold?"

Byeong-jin sprang to his feet.

Following him, Byeong-ju Jeong asked the staffer,

"The reason? What do they say the reason is?"

"The reason is…"

The staffer glanced at Seong-ho and answered just as he'd heard it from the staffer waiting at the bidding site.

"They say it's because no acquisition candidate meeting the creditors' criteria emerged."

"The creditors' criteria? What are the criteria, that no candidate met them?"

Byeong-jin, on his feet, asked the staffer.

But the staffer, perhaps not knowing that much, only wore a troubled expression and could say nothing.

Seeing this, Deputy Head Gyeong-deuk answered on the staffer's behalf.

"What's there to ask? Naturally it means none of them met the price, doesn't it?"

Byeong-jin, perhaps finding Deputy Head Gyeong-deuk's answer persuasive, nodded.

Byeong-ju Jeong grabbed Byeong-jin's clothes to make him sit and asked the staffer,

"Did they say everyone participated in the bidding?"

The staffer turned toward Byeong-ju Jeong, who'd posed the question, and answered,

"Yes. Every company expected—the German company, plus Sunwoo and Dugyeong and the rest—participated in the bidding, they say."

"Everyone participated and still none met the price? Does that make sense?"

Everyone gathered in the conference room, Byeong-ju Jeong included, looked at Seong-ho with faces curious as to how they should interpret the present situation.

"Understood, so you may go now."

Seong-ho told the staffer who'd relayed the news that he'd done well, then looked around at the team leaders watching him and said,

"All right, now that the results are in, let's move."

"Do we participate at the price that's dropped from going unsold?"

"Shall we first find out how much each company wrote down?"

"I'll take Dugyeong's side."

"Then I'll take Sunwoo."

At the word to move, even without anyone instructing them, the team leaders began of their own accord to discuss how…