"The Shinpyeong Party wants a meeting. Why do you suppose they've asked for one?"

Seong-ho thought for a moment.

"Whom did they ask to meet?"

Tak-hyeon smiled faintly.

"They said they'd like to meet my eldest."

"They want to meet Eldest Brother — and they inquired with you about it?"

"Yes."

Seong-ho gave a small nod.

"It appears the Shinpyeong Party intends to ask for political funds."

"And what leads you to that conclusion?"

Tak-hyeon's mouth curled up as he asked for the reasoning.

Seong-ho laid it out calmly.

"For an ordinary matter they'd have gone to Eldest Brother directly and arranged the meeting without troubling you. There's nothing unusual in that. Even I meet the Ulsan assemblymen and the mayor once or twice a month."

"True. A businessman meeting a politician is hardly remarkable."

"But if they inquired with you about wanting a meeting, it means they want that meeting to be official, and they want you to know about it."

"Correct. There'd be no reason to inform me otherwise."

Tak-hyeon indicated his agreement.

And he looked at Seong-ho as though anticipating what came next.

"So how does that connect to political funds?"

"They raised an official meeting with you, but the man they want to meet is not you — it's Eldest Brother. Which means it's a matter awkward to raise with you directly. And what would that be, if not money?"

"Ha ha ha."

Tak-hyeon slapped his knee and laughed.

Seong-ho didn't imagine Tak-hyeon had asked because he hadn't worked it out himself.

Because what he heard in the Chairman's voice was not surprise but admiration.

So he could roughly anticipate what came next.

"Correct. That's why they approached me this way. But I'd rather you went, and not Mun-jong."

"Me?"

He had expected it, but Seong-ho feigned surprise.

"There's no need to look so startled. Just go, listen, and report back to me."

"Chairman… Still, wouldn't my going in Eldest Brother's place be a discourtesy — to him and to the Shinpyeong Party both?"

Tak-hyeon snorted, his mouth curling up.

"You're better than my eldest. You…