Even in the middle of all the noisy talk, Seong-ho Kim sat quietly sipping his tea, for all the world as though none of it had the slightest thing to do with him.

Though in point of fact, every word going back and forth was talk that concerned Seong-ho Kim.

"There's a limit to how far you can take a lie. Who's going to believe a thing like that?"

"A lie? Did you just call it a lie?"

"Well, isn't that exactly what it is — a lie?"

Sang-jong Lee turned the question right back on Mun-jong Lee.

"A hundred trillion? Honestly. Why stop there? If he's going to lie anyway, why not throw out a thousand trillion?"

"Hey, you little — you…"

"That's enough."

As the exchange began to show signs of overheating, Suk-ja Chu stepped in to hold Mun-jong Lee and Sang-jong Lee apart.

"Your father will be out any moment now. How long do you intend to keep this up?"

At Suk-ja Chu's words the sniping stopped, but the eyes of the two men were still fixed on each other in a glare.

"If the voices are carrying all the way to the study, everyone must be in fine spirits. Good energy in this house."

Just then Tak-hyeon Lee showed himself in the living room, where the silence had settled.

Everyone who had been sitting rose to their feet to receive Tak-hyeon Lee.

"Well, then? And what subject were you all finding so entertaining today?"

Tak-hyeon Lee asked after the reason for the raised voices of a moment ago as he took his seat.

Mun-jong Lee sat down after Tak-hyeon Lee and hurriedly apologized.

"I'm sorry, Father. I forgot for a moment that you were in the house and raised my voice. Please forgive me."

"Did I just scold you?"

At Tak-hyeon Lee's words Mun-jong Lee quickly bowed his head, and then told him what it was he and Sang-jong Lee had been discussing.

"We were talking about Ilhyeon Electronics' hundred-trillion investment."

"As it happens, a great many people have been curious about that. Myself included…"

Tak-hyeon…