Yeong-su Cha tipped back his soju glass in silence, and Seong-ho Kim did nothing but fill the empty glass again. Neither man exchanged a single word.

In the noisy meat restaurant, only the spot where Yeong-su Cha and Seong-ho Kim sat felt like a different world, wrapped in silence.

After the silence had lingered over their table for a long while, Yeong-su Cha downed three glasses of soju in quick succession and lifted his head.

"Brother-in-law."

"Yes, Brother. Go ahead."

"Do you think it looks right to you too—me being the one who goes in?"

Seong-ho Kim gazed at Yeong-su Cha with sorrowful eyes.

It was because no one understood his situation better than Seong-ho Kim did.

"Haaah……."

Yeong-su Cha let out a deep sigh and hung his head.

Then he threw the liquor down his throat and poured out the resentment welling up from within.

"What in the world did I ever do wrong to Ilhyeon? I worked myself to the bone for Ilhyeon……."

"I know. You worked harder than anyone, Brother."

"Beside that damned Jeong-eun Lee, do you know how hard I…… how hard I worked……."

Yeong-su Cha clutched at his chest.

"Do you think it was only once or twice that I nearly went mad from the frustration? Do you know how many times I stopped her from doing something completely absurd……? And now, on top of everything, they're telling me to take responsibility for the wrongs Jeong-eun Lee committed?"

"I don't think that's right either."

Having heard exactly what he wanted to hear, Yeong-su Cha unburdened the words he'd kept locked inside his chest to Seong-ho Kim.

"I worked like a servant. No—'servant' is putting it mildly. 'Worked like a slave' is more accurate. Like a Black slave laboring on a cotton plantation run by white men. I worked like that just to survive in Ilhyeon, and in the end they tell me to walk out as the discarded card—does that even make sense?"

"It makes no sense at all."

"I stopped her. I stopped her, told her not to do it! So why do I…