Having let the laughter spill out of him for a good while, Mun-jong — apparently having enjoyed it enough — finally brought out the main point.

"Look at me. Sitting here carrying on without even telling you the reason I called you in."

Mun-jong wiped the traces of laughter from his face and spoke to Seong-ho.

"I've just told the Minister of Culture to appoint you head of the support committee."

"Head of the committee?"

"That's right. If we're joining, shouldn't the headship of the committee naturally be ours?"

"There's really no need to go that far…"

Seong-ho put on a burdened expression.

Mun-jong looked at Seong-ho like this and said with a smile,

"Why? Does the headship of the committee weigh on you?"

"The headship does seem a bit much, doesn't it? Several other companies are taking part besides me, and if someone as young as I am were to take the headship…"

"That works out well, then."

"Works out well?"

Seong-ho stopped and looked at Mun-jong at his saying it worked out well.

"As it happens, the Culture Ministry side came back declining that very thing. They said the headship had already been decided for their own vice-minister. In exchange, they've agreed to give us a deputy headship."

"A deputy headship?"

Seong-ho looked at Mun-jong — who had gone to the trouble of talking his way around to it when he could simply have said from the start that it was a deputy headship — as though he found it absurd.

Mun-jong, heedless of this gaze of Seong-ho's, went on.

"That's right. Mirae, you, and DN Group's representative are to serve as joint deputy heads. Since you're representing our Ilhyeon in working with other companies, you must never allow yourself to look small. Understood?"

"Don't worry. I'll make sure there's nothing that blackens the Ilhyeon name."

Mun-jong treated Seong-ho as though he were a man going off to do something momentous.

"Finish it well and come back, and I'll arrange a post for you within the group. So don't worry about the company — go and see the…