The moment the meal was over and she had come up to the second floor, Min-yeong Oh set up a commotion.

"Gwangsan-daek. Get Jun-myeong's outer coat ready for me."

"Younger madam. In this weather, wouldn't an outer coat be unnecessary?"

"Do you know how cold it is inside a place like that, Gwangsan-daek? Our Jun-myeong feels the cold terribly — if the boy freezes to death, will you take responsibility for it, Gwangsan-daek?"

At Min-yeong Oh's snapping words the member of staff who helped with the housework could say nothing at all.

Sang-jong Lee, who had been watching from beside them, let out a sigh and said,

"It's July now. July. The sweat runs off you standing still, and here you are trying to pack an outer coat — are you in your right mind?"

"It's better than not having one. If he's hot he can simply not wear it, can't he?"

"Do you imagine Jun-myeong has gone off somewhere to enjoy himself? He's been dragged off by the prosecution and you're going on about an outer coat."

Min-yeong Oh, the coat still in her hand, flew at Sang-jong Lee.

"Then am I to sit on my hands the way you do?"

"What do you mean, I've been sitting on my hands?"

"Haven't you? Even the youngest brother-in-law is going to the trouble of arranging a meeting with Jun-myeong, and what is the man who calls himself the boy's father doing? Nothing at all. Am I wrong?"

"That's…"

Sang-jong Lee could say nothing.

Because it was true, just as she said, that he had been sitting on his hands.

"I'm thinking about something else just now."

"Something else, what?"

"Our future."

"Not our future — your own future is what you'll be thinking of."

Sang-jong Lee did not deny it.

"Only if I have a future is there a family of ours, and a Jun-myeong. If I go down, do you suppose you or Jun-myeong will come through untouched?"

"So what is it you mean to do?"

Sang-jong Lee did not care for the look in Min-yeong Oh's eyes, but…