"Father. You've come out."

Min-yeong Oh hurriedly jabbed Sang-jong Lee in the side, rose from her seat and greeted Tak-hyeon Lee.

"You're out early."

Hyeon-ju Bang, who had been watching the business unfold with amusement, also rose and greeted Tak-hyeon Lee.

Tak-hyeon Lee nodded at his daughters-in-law's greetings.

And then he spoke toward Sang-jong Lee, who had been in full flow with his voice raised.

"It was too noisy for a man to sit still. So I came out, and found you having an interesting conversation. Well then — you can't acknowledge it?"

At Tak-hyeon Lee's words Sang-jong Lee hesitated for a moment.

Because he felt he knew what the intent behind the question was.

But Sang-jong Lee did not change his words.

The thought had come to him that the moment he changed them, in the worst case he might have to set down the presidency of Ilhyeon Construction.

Sang-jong Lee bit his lower lip and opened his mouth.

"…No, sir. I cannot acknowledge it."

"Then let's hear it. Why is it you cannot acknowledge it?"

Tak-hyeon Lee said he would hear him out, and took a seat.

Sang-jong Lee, feeling that an opening had come to him, began to explain his reasons with a tense face.

"The bet was whether a hundred trillion won could be raised. But what Ilhyeon Electronics received is not a hundred trillion won. All it has done is open an overdraft account from which a hundred trillion won may be drawn. An account is not money, and does not meet the terms of the bet."

When Tak-hyeon Lee nodded, Sang-jong Lee took it that his case was being listened to in earnest, and gathered a little more courage to go on.

"Nor does the total limit on the overdraft account amount to a hundred trillion won. Adding all three banks together it comes to barely seventy trillion, and even that carries a condition requiring consultation with the banks before it is used. How, then, can this be called winning the bet? If the thing is properly reckoned, it is rather I who should…