Director Shim finished speaking and left the motel room.

Before he left, he begged Mun-jong several times over to please save him and his company. To that, Byeong-jin told him not to worry and to wait, saw him off properly, and came back to the room.

Mun-jong looked at Seong-ho and asked—

"Gambling?"

Turning over what reason Chang-jong could have for needing money, the first thing that had come to Mun-jong's mind was gambling.

"There's no way Chang-jong siphoned that money for something else… and the amount he siphoned isn't that large — so I'm thinking gambling. Am I wrong?"

Byeong-jin, who had been listening in silence, clucked his tongue at that.

A billion is a small amount?

To some it was a sum they'd never lay eyes on for their entire lives — but not to a man of the Ilhyeon family.

"It's not gambling."

Seong-ho shook his head — not gambling.

Byeong-jin, who'd been clucking at Mun-jong, turned his head and looked at Seong-ho. Byeong-jin's investigation had only turned up the fact of the embezzlement — he hadn't figured out what Chang-jong was siphoning the money to spend on.

But Seong-ho, from experience in the life before, knew exactly what Chang-jong was hooked on now.

"If not gambling, then what?"

"Futures, sir."

"Futures?"

Mun-jong narrowed his eyes.

"What do you mean, futures? Presents for whom? Don't tell me it's a woman."

Mun-jong seemed unable to make sense of dipping into company funds to buy someone gifts.

Byeong-jin was similarly stuck. He'd been keeping tabs on Chang-jong's surroundings, and hadn't spotted him meeting any woman.

Seong-ho smiled at the two men looking at him strangely and shook his head.

"Not that kind of futures, sir."

"Not that kind — then what kind?"

"Stocks-and-futures. Futures, as in the market instrument."

"Stocks — futures?"

As Mun-jong tilted his head as if he didn't follow, Byeong-jin — as if he'd caught Seong-ho's meaning — spoke up.

"You mean futures that trade on the stock market? The ones where you buy and sell in advance based on how you think prices will move…