On the third day after he and Chung-seop had gone to look at the Gangnam buildings, Chung-seop called again.

—Head, there are several people willing to sell. Would you like to meet them?

—Good. When should I make the time?

—They say they’ll meet whenever you’re free, even right this minute.

—Understood. Let me finish with what I’m looking at now…

Receiver still in hand, Seong-ho checked his wristwatch.

—I’ll come over to Future Advisory in two hours.

—Understood. Then I’ll tell the building owners to head over here as well.

Hanging up, Seong-ho tidied the documents he’d been reviewing and rose at once from his seat.

Just then Byeong-jin came into his office.

Byeong-jin looked at Seong-ho, up and packing his things, with a puzzled eye.

“Going somewhere? Don’t tell me you’re leaving already?”

Pulling on his coat, Seong-ho turned to Byeong-jin, who stood there holding a document for approval.

“If it’s not urgent, let’s do it tomorrow.”

“It’s not urgent, but I do need your signature before we can move ahead with the inauguration ceremony…”

“Inauguration ceremony?”

Draping the coat over his shoulders, Seong-ho frowned.

Missing the expression, Byeong-jin went on, eyes down on the paperwork.

“Yes. You’re becoming a President in name and all—we ought to hold an inauguration.”

Seong-ho paused a moment, then finished settling the coat and waved a hand at Byeong-jin.

“Hey, hey. Forget it. Forget it. What inauguration?”

“Maybe you don’t need one, but for the sake of the rest of the staff we have to do it. This is tied up with the whole Headquarters’ morale.”

At the mention of Headquarters morale, Seong-ho let out a heavy sigh and held out his hand.

“Let me see it.”

Still standing, Seong-ho took the document and looked over what was written inside.

Then he reached out, took Byeong-jin’s pen, and drew lines through it.

“Cut this and this. What do we need a banquet for? Take out the bouquet presentation and that sort of thing too. And it’s fine to hold it, but don’t make it a big production. With the country in the state it’s in, if we throw some grand inauguration people will curse us for it. Better to…”

Seong-ho wrote something on the document with the pen.

Then he handed it back to Byeong-jin.

“There’s that whole gold-collecting campaign going on right now, isn’t there? Why don’t we replace the event with this—the newly promoted, myself included, donate gold, any staff who want to join in do the same, and we give the whole lot in the name of the Restructuring Headquarters.”

“Donate gold to the gold-collecting drive?”

Byeong-jin considered it for a moment, then clapped his hands.

“That’s not bad at all. If we photograph it and use it for publicity, it’d do wonders for the Headquarters’ image. We share in the nation’s hardship—how’s that for a slogan? Ha! Really, that head of yours works like a charm. Maybe you should have sat the bar exam instead of Dae-su.”

“How’s Dae-su doing these days?”

Seeing the matter more or less wrapped up, Seong-ho asked after his friend for the first time in a while.

Byeong-jin adjusted the collar of Seong-ho’s coat as he wound his scarf and answered.

“How do you think? Says he’s swamped.”

“Swamped?”

“Yeah. Says the complaints are just pouring in. Breach-of-trust and embezzlement cases outnumber the theft cases, apparently.”

“With things the way they are, I suppose it must be quite something.”

Seong-ho nodded and said to Byeong-jin,

“Still, I ought to see him. Find a time and set something up. Let me know once it’s arranged.”

“Got it. So where are you off to?”

“Ah. To buy a building or two.”

Seong-ho said he was going to buy buildings as though it were nothing at all, and waved a hand.

“That’s the last of today’s approvals, so if you’ve got anything else, bring it tomorrow. I’m off, then.”

Seong-ho waved and left the office.

Gyeong-deuk, who happened to be arriving at the office just then, watched Seong-ho leave with a parting nod, then came over to Byeong-jin.

“Is he heading home?”

“Yes. Says he’s calling it a day.”

“Oh? What’s the occasion, leaving this early? Usually he’s the last one out of anybody.”

“Says he’s going to buy a building, so he’s leaving early.”

“Going to buy what?”

Deputy Head Gyeong-deuk, who had been looking off in the direction Seong-ho had gone, turned to Byeong-jin with a flabbergasted expression.

“A building?”

“Yes.”

“Now hold on. Who talks about going to buy a building like they’re popping down to the corner store for a stick of gum?”

“Uh… well, that’s how the Head put it.”

Byeong-jin wore a look that said he found it just as absurd himself.

Gyeong-deuk regarded him quietly for a moment, then nodded.

“Then again, he does operate on a different scale than us. Our hands would shake just buying wallpaper for the house, but for the Head, buying a building might be as easy as us buying gum.”

The more he talked, the more it started to make sense to Gyeong-deuk.

He looked once more toward where Seong-ho had gone and said,

“That we can pass these days as peacefully as we do, in a time like this, is all thanks to the Head. Right. To a man like that, a building or two is nothing. Yes. That’s it.”

Having carried on the conversation and agreed with himself all on his own, Gyeong-deuk came away even more impressed by the sight of Seong-ho going off to buy buildings as casually as buying gum, and moved off to where the Headquarters staff were.

Then, gathering the staff around, he began recounting what had just happened in a booming voice.

“Our Head operates on a whole different scale. The man goes off to buy buildings the way we’d pop into a corner store for a snack, I tell you. This is the size of the vessel that leads the Ilhyeon Group’s Restructuring Headquarters. You understand?”

Gyeong-deuk telling of a scene you’d never witness anywhere else, and the staff hearing it, all wore pleased expressions, as though they themselves had become Seong-ho.

And they felt a swell of pride at being members of the Ilhyeon Group’s Restructuring Headquarters.

When Seong-ho arrived at Future Advisory, Chung-seop’s secretary welcomed him warmly.

“Head. You’ve arrived, sir?”

“Is President Jo inside?”

“Yes. He’s waiting for you along with the guests. Please, come in.”

The staffer led Seong-ho inside.

As he entered the office, employees who’d been hard at work spotted Seong-ho and came over to greet him.

“Head, you’re here, sir?”

“Head, why don’t you come by more often? We’ll forget your face, sir.”

“Head, since you’re here—take a look at this, would you? What do you make of this company?”

One greeting him warmly, one grumbling that he didn’t visit more often, one thrusting an investment list at him and begging him to look it over—many of them called out to Seong-ho at once.

“Come now. Ease off, all of you. The Head didn’t drop by the office to socialize.”

At the escorting secretary’s scolding, the gathered crowd flushed with embarrassment.

Seong-ho, who had been quietly watching all this from the side, raised a hand and spoke to the Future Advisory staff with a light smile.

“My apologies. I’ve an appointment today. I’ll make time to come again another day, so let’s talk then. I hope you’ll understand. Well, then.”

When Seong-ho asked for their understanding, the staff could pester him no further.

They cleared a path for him, and as Seong-ho passed through the opened way, he conveyed his thanks to them with a nod.

Watching all this unfold from inside, the building owners turned to Chung-seop with startled looks.

“President Jo. Why are your staff peppering that man with questions? He isn’t a Future Advisory employee, is he?”

“He’s not an employee—he’s our largest investor. That’s why they all think of him as one of the family.”

“Largest investor?”

“One of the family?”

The building owners, who had come to sell their properties to Seong-ho, stared at him and Chung-seop with wide eyes.

“Then is he the real owner of Future Advisory?”

“That’s not quite it. But he is indeed one of the major shareholders.”

Having introduced Seong-ho briefly, Chung-seop walked forward and greeted him.

“Head, you’ve arrived?”

“Am I late?”

“Not at all. You’re right on time.”

Assuring him he wasn’t late, Chung-seop introduced the building owners to Seong-ho.

“Head. These are the gentlemen who’d like to sell their buildings to you. And this is Head Seong-ho Kim, who leads the Ilhyeon Group’s Restructuring Headquarters.”

“A pleasure. I’m Seong-ho Kim.”

Hearing the introduction, the building owners couldn’t hide their astonishment.

Not in their wildest dreams had they imagined the man buying their buildings was from the Ilhyeon Group.

“Shall we go inside, then? We can’t very well stand around talking out here.”

At Seong-ho’s suggestion, the owners came to their senses.

And exchanging startled glances, they filed together into the conference room.

As they took their seats, the owners each offered Seong-ho a word in turn.

“I had no idea the man buying our buildings would be a son-in-law of the Ilhyeon Group.”

“I was full of worries until I came here, but they’ve all vanished clean away.”

“I’ve made up my mind—I’ll sell, no question.”

Seong-ho looked around at the owners who’d resolved themselves upon learning his identity, and asked with a smile,

“You’ve decided to sell because it’s me buying?”

The owner seated directly across answered first.

“When we heard the buildings would be paid in full in cash on the day of signing, we half thought some crank was playing a prank on us. Coming up with tens of billions in cash inside a single day, and in a time like this of all times, is no easy feat.”

Another owner seated beside him chimed in.

“Just so. ‘No easy feat’ hardly covers it. Who else in all of Korea besides the Ilhyeon Group could manage it? If anyone could…”

“It would be no one but Il-gyeong Dan.”

Chung-seop turned to the owner seated at the far right with a bewildered expression.

“Il-gyeong Dan? Who’s that, to be spoken of as able to do the same as our Head Kim?”

“He’s—”

Just as the owner who’d been asked went to explain who this Il-gyeong Dan was, a voice came first from the doorway.

“That answer, I’ll give myself.”

An old man stood in the doorway, leaning on a cane, long white eyebrows drooping down as he glared at the seated company.

Chung-seop, startled by the old man’s sudden appearance, rose from his seat.

“Who are you, coming all the way in here? Is no one out front? How did you let an outsider get this far?”

Having summoned guests only to let an outsider intrude upon them, Chung-seop felt a rush of embarrassment.

So he called out for the staff outside, but not one of them showed their face.

Just as the flustered Chung-seop moved to go out and check for himself—

The old man standing at the door stepped slightly aside, and a burly man came in and blocked Chung-seop’s path.

The burly man raised a hand toward Chung-seop, pointed to the chair Chung-seop had been sitting in a moment ago, and said,

“Have a seat.”

With the burly man following the old man into the conference room, Chung-seop’s expression grew still more troubled.

“And who are you, to tell people to sit or stand in someone else’s company?”

“The elder wishes you to sit. So please, sit.”

“The elder? If by ‘the elder’ you mean…”

Realizing the elder the burly man spoke of was the old man leaning on the cane behind him, Chung-seop turned his gaze to him.

The old man raised a hand toward Chung-seop and said,

“Let me apologize first. I’m sorry. But I simply had to lay eyes on whoever’s trying to snatch my buildings out from under me.”

The old man came inside, still leaning on his cane.

He swept his eyes once over the building owners, then approached Seong-ho.

“Is it you? The one trying to buy up my buildings?”

“Your buildings…? What do you—”

As Chung-seop looked at the old man in bafflement, one of the owners seated across the way shot to his feet with a shocked face.

“Il-gyeong Dan?”

The old man turned to the owner who’d spoken his name and scowled.

“Il-gyeong Dan? Am I some friend of yours?”

At the old man’s cutting words, the owner hurriedly bowed his head.

“Chairman. My apologies. I spoke your name with disrespect. Please forgive me.”

The old man gazed quietly at the owner bent low and said,

“You own the Iljae Building, don’t you?”

“Ah—!”

At the old man knowing exactly who he was, the owner of the Iljae Building wore a look of shock.

“Your son wrecked his business this time around, so you’re trying to sell off the Iljae Building.”

“How could you possibly…”

“How do I know? Do you think there’s anything Il-gyeong Dan doesn’t know?”

Il-gyeong Dan gave a scoffing laugh and turned to face Chung-seop.

“Your staff have been taken outside for a bit by my men. I told them to bring them back once we’re done talking, so don’t fret.”

“How on earth…”

Chung-seop, about to ask how he could have led all the staff out, stopped his question at the sight of the burly men standing behind the old man.

The moment he looked at them, the method dawned on him.

Il-gyeong Dan turned away from the speechless Chung-seop and made for an empty seat.

The burly man pulled the chair out to make it easier for him to sit.

Il-gyeong Dan lowered himself slowly into the chair, entrusting his weight to his cane, and the instant he was seated, he glared at Seong-ho and said,

“So you’re the one they call Tak-hyeon Lee’s son-in-law?”

A man who called the great Chairman of the Ilhyeon Group, Tak-hyeon Lee, by his given name.

Il-gyeong Dan—the one they called “the Pawnbroker of the Business World”—sat across from Seong-ho, glaring him down.

(End of Chapter 108)