"You're Assemblyman Sang-taek Kim's daughter, aren't you?"

Mi-ryeong Kim turned her head at the sound of her father's name coming out of Seong-ho's mouth.

"What? So now you realize who my father is?"

Mi-ryeong Kim assumed, as most people would have, that Seong-ho was tucking his tail between his legs.

"That's good to hear."

"Good to hear?"

"Yes. I'd been agonizing over it, but thanks to you, I've been able to make an easy decision."

Mi-ryeong Kim just stared at Seong-ho, not understanding what he meant.

Seong-ho took the hand of Gyeong-eun, whose arm was linked through his, and said to Mi-ryeong Kim,

"Please pass this along to Assemblyman Kim. Tell him the matter of the political contributions is off."

"The contributions?"

Mi-ryeong Kim's voice, so sharp only a moment ago, wavered slightly.

Reckless as she was, living as though nothing in the world could frighten her, even she knew exactly what Seong-ho was talking about.

"They say you're supposed to keep the public and the private separate, but I'm only human. I'm not big-hearted enough to go out of my way to help the father of someone who dislikes me and my wife."

"I…"

"Yes. Go ahead."

Seong-ho looked at Mi-ryeong Kim and smiled, as though inviting her to speak if she had something to say.

"Did my father ask you for political contributions…?"

"He mentioned he's holding a publication party for his memoir in a few days."

"He does have a publication party next week, but…"

The fact that Seong-ho knew about the publication party made it hard to believe he was lying.

Mi-ryeong Kim bit her drying lips and said,

"It wouldn't have been you my father asked for contributions — it would have been Ilhyeon. Are you in any position to say whether it's given or not?"

"Have you forgotten who I am, and who this person standing here is? Surely you didn't think we couldn't make a decision of that size?"

At Seong-ho's words, Mi-ryeong Kim's parched lips cracked.

It wasn't so much that she'd forgotten as that she'd been carefully looking away from it.