Ding-dong.

While Seong-ho and Gyeong-eun were watching TV, the bell rang.

“Who could that be at this hour?”

Gyeong-eun tilted her head and looked at Seong-ho.

She was asking him whether anyone was due to come by the house.

Following Gyeong-eun’s gaze, Seong-ho looked toward the entrance where the bell had rung and shook his head.

“I’ve no idea who it is. Wait here a moment.”

Seong-ho rose and went to the intercom.

—Who is it at this late hour?

When he picked up the intercom and asked who had rung the bell, an unexpected voice came from the other end.

—It’s me.

Seong-ho considered for a moment why the owner of that familiar voice had come to the house, then answered.

—You’ve come, Brother. Wait just a moment.

Setting down the intercom, Seong-ho told Gyeong-eun, who was looking at him with curious eyes, who the visitor was.

“The second brother’s here.”

“The second brother?”

At the news that Sang-jong had come, Gyeong-eun wore a puzzled expression and tilted her head.

And she rose to follow Seong-ho as he walked to the front door to let him in.

Seong-ho paused a moment as he answered Gyeong-eun’s question.

“Who knows? Seems he’s got something he wants to say.”

Standing alongside Gyeong-eun, Seong-ho headed for the entrance with her and sorted through, in his head, the reasons he’d just considered.

And among the several reasons, he was able to find one.

So that’s it.

Seong-ho thought he knew why Sang-jong had come.

And the moment he saw Sang-jong’s face, he was certain.

“Brother. What brings you here in the middle of the night?”

“Did you know?”

At Sang-jong’s abrupt question at the door, Seong-ho guided him inside and said,

“Come in first.”

When Seong-ho told him to come in, Sang-jong strode into the house without hesitation.

And to Gyeong-eun, standing off to one side and looking at him with strange eyes, he said,

“I’ll be gone soon, so no need to bring out tea.”

Without even waiting for Gyeong-eun’s answer, and without coming all the way in, Sang-jong stood at the entrance and turned around.

And he asked Seong-ho again.

“Did you know Chang-jong brought a child home?”

“Yes. I knew.”

Sang-jong knocked his arm against Seong-ho’s chest.

Gyeong-eun startled and blocked the space between Sang-jong and Seong-ho.

“Why come barging in all of a sudden and hit someone!”

When Gyeong-eun shouted at Sang-jong, he furrowed his face and pushed her away.

“Who hit anyone? It was just a light tap.”

“Isn’t a tap the same as hitting? Well, isn’t it?”

Sang-jong pushed Gyeong-eun away, telling her she was being loud, but Gyeong-eun raised her voice further and stood up to him.

Grateful as Seong-ho was that Gyeong-eun stepped up for him, he knew that calming her agitation was the way to get Sang-jong out of the house quickly, so he first settled the agitated Gyeong-eun.

“Gyeong-eun. It’s all right. Let’s hear the second brother out first.”

Seong-ho soothed Gyeong-eun, who’d blocked the way, and took her by the shoulders to move her to his side.

And looking at Sang-jong, he continued his earlier answer.

“I knew because I discussed it with Chang-jong.”

At the words that he’d discussed it with Chang-jong, Sang-jong’s face flushed red.

“And the eldest? When did the eldest brother find out?”

“I discussed it with Chang-jong and then told the eldest brother right away. And the two of them went into the Chairman’s office.”

“You son of a—”

Sang-jong went to strike Seong-ho’s chest once more.

But seeing Gyeong-eun wearing an expression that said she’d lunge and sink her teeth in the instant he hit Seong-ho, he lowered the hand he’d raised.

Still, unable to stop the anger surging up, Sang-jong’s face only grew redder.

Seong-ho thought it would be good to calm Sang-jong’s agitation about here.

Because from the temperament of Sang-jong he’d observed since the former life, Seong-ho knew he was now nearing his limit.

“Brother. The reason I told you late is that it was a good thing for you.”

“A good thing for me?”

Sang-jong scoffed and shouted at Seong-ho.

“Me being the only one who didn’t know a fact all the other siblings knew—that was for my sake?”

“I didn’t know either.”

Gyeong-eun, listening from the side, stepped in to say she hadn’t known either.

Sang-jong scoffed at this side of Gyeong-eun.

“You don’t need to know. It’s a matter that has nothing to do with you.”

“What do you mean, nothing to do with me?”

“You…”

Sang-jong stopped what he was about to say and looked at Gyeong-eun for a moment.

And glancing back and forth between Seong-ho and Gyeong-eun, he spoke slowly in a voice from which the agitation had subsided.

“You two are people who have nothing to do with the Ilhyeon Group succession, aren’t you.”

Hearing Sang-jong’s words, Gyeong-eun’s eyes filled with question.

Because she couldn’t understand what on earth this affair had to do with the group succession.

But Seong-ho knew why Sang-jong had said this.

He’s anxious after all, it seems.

Being excluded from this affair had surely brought Sang-jong anxiety.

It was plain he’d thought that if Mun-jong, along with Chang-jong and Seong-ho, joined hands, he would be completely isolated.

Seong-ho looked at Sang-jong’s face, betraying his anxiety, and a smile came to him.

An audience member sitting a step apart from the play is asking to be let into it too—so I ought to oblige.

In truth, there was no role in this play that required Sang-jong.

He only had to sit quietly alongside Jeong-eun and watch how it all turned.

And yet the audience member without a role had come to Seong-ho’s house asking to be worked in too.

And seeing such an audience member, an interesting idea came into Seong-ho’s head.

Seong-ho quickly fashioned a role for the audience member, and began to speak in order to draw the audience-member Sang-jong into the play.

“That’s why I didn’t tell you, Brother.”

“That’s why you didn’t tell me?”

“Yes.”

Seong-ho nodded and took hold of Sang-jong’s shoulder.

“You need only watch quietly, Brother, to see how the situation flows.”

“Just watch? How am I supposed to just watch when the family’s become a laughingstock?”

At Sang-jong’s booming voice, Seong-ho spoke to him in a voice tinged with amusement.

“And what of it?”

“What?”

“What does it matter if the family becomes a bit of a laughingstock? Thanks to it, one of your rivals has been cleared away.”

“That’s… what do you—”

Sang-jong went to ask what he meant, then stopped and let his mouth fall open.

And he looked at Seong-ho with startled eyes.

Showing that Sang-jong an even deeper smile, Seong-ho said,

“Chang-jong is now completely cleared out of the succession picture. You sat still, and a rival got cleared away—isn’t that a good thing for you, Brother?”

A smile gradually spread across the face of the Sang-jong who’d worn a startled expression.

Watching it, Seong-ho continued.

“And the eldest brother has set foot in this filthy business too, so you alone are the one with nothing on your clothes. Now do you understand my saying I deliberately didn’t tell you?”

“Yes.”

Sang-jong twitched the corner of his mouth and nodded.

“Yes. Hearing your explanation, it makes sense. So what should I do now, then?”

“You need only stay out of it, Brother. If you go over to the muddy water just to see what it’s like inside, muddy water might splash onto your clean clothes. You need only watch quietly.”

“Just watch?”

To the slightly disappointed Sang-jong, Seong-ho drew close, put his shoulder alongside Sang-jong’s, and led him toward the door as he said,

“You need only take charge of Ilhyeon Construction and press ahead with the goal of building Ilhyeon Town in Seocho, Brother. And then, if it ever seems it just won’t do, you can take the side of the person having the hardest time in this affair.”

“The person having the hardest time? Who’s having the hardest time in this affair?”

Standing at the door, Sang-jong looked at Seong-ho with a face that asked who that was.

Hand on the doorknob, Seong-ho answered his question.

“I don’t know who it is right now, but won’t we be able to tell once some time has passed?”

“Once time has passed?”

“If you take the side of the weak one then, your image will improve greatly, Brother.”

“Take the side of the weak one… yes. That’s a fine idea.”

Perhaps finding Seong-ho’s words plausible, Sang-jong patted Seong-ho’s shoulder, showing his satisfaction.

Seong-ho turned the doorknob, opened the front door, and said,

“So for now, go back and rest with an easy mind. You’ll have much to do going forward.”

“Yes. If I’m to return to the company and push ahead with building Ilhyeon Town, I’ll have to move busily too. You must have your hands full over Doa Motors, so get some rest. Gyeong-eun. Sorry for coming at such a late hour.”

Unlike when he’d come to the house, Sang-jong even offered an apology, gave a wave, and left Seong-ho’s home with a light step.

Standing at the door, Seong-ho watched Sang-jong’s departing back and smiled without a word.

As always, the entrance of a new role made the play all the more interesting.

This time too, Seong-ho got a strong feeling that the situation would unfold all the more interestingly.

Tak-hyeon pressed his thumb and middle finger hard against his temples as he listened to Do-beom.

“They say Doa Motors’ strike is growing more heated by the day.”

“Why are those fellows so dissatisfied?”

At Chairman Tak-hyeon’s question, Do-beom answered with a troubled expression.

“It seems to be because news spread that a German company has shown interest in acquiring them.”

“So a foreign company says it’ll acquire them, and they’re dissatisfied with us, a fellow domestic firm, and want to go under a foreign company instead—is that it?”

“To summarize… you’re correct, Chairman.”

Crash.

Do-beom shut his eyes tight.

Tak-hyeon had swept the desk clear with his left hand, the free one, unlike his right, which was pressing his temples.

Even so, the anger seemingly not subsiding, Tak-hyeon’s sunken voice filled the office.

“The lunatics. Their own company went under, and they’ll pick and choose who gets to help them? And the German company hasn’t even said what it’ll do—how are they raising all this fuss over nothing but a company name?”

“It’s likely because the German company is one of the world’s most prominent…”

Crash.

Tak-hyeon hurled the pencil holder still remaining on the desk toward the mirror.

The mirror shattered to pieces, but Do-beom, without so much as a twitch of an eyebrow, stood his ground and asked Tak-hyeon,

“What shall we do, Chairman? The transition committee is showing signs of being troubled. They seemed worried that if the Doa Motors acquisition falls through, the other merger cases lined up in a row would flow badly too.”

“So? What is it those transition-committee fellows or whatever want now?”

“They cautiously sounded out whether it might be better to just step back about here.”

“Step back?”

The corner of Tak-hyeon’s mouth, the hand pressing his temple now removed, twisted upward.

“Just step back like this?”

Sensing danger in the upturned corner of Tak-hyeon’s mouth, Do-beom spoke to him in as gentle a voice as he could manage.

“Chairman. The transition committee says that if we name a company we want in place of Doa Motors, they’ll help us acquire that one instead. With the union coming out this hard-line and the committee finding it burdensome, how about stepping back about here?”

Bang!

“What I want is Doa Motors.”

Tak-hyeon brought his fist down on the desk.

And with the fist he’d struck it with trembling, he said,

“There will be no Ilhyeon stepping back. Acquiring Doa without fail and building an automobile company that’s world-class, beyond just Korea—that’s my goal.”

Hearing Tak-hyeon’s words, Chief Do-beom knew that whatever situation unfolded, Tak-hyeon would not step back.

In that case, he thought, he’d better persuade Tak-hyeon in a different direction.

“Chairman. Then how about we move first?”

“Move first?”

“Yes.”

Do-beom said as he approached Tak-hyeon,

“The Doa Motors acquisition negotiations haven’t even begun, and yet the union moved first, didn’t they? So I’m suggesting we might pull the acquisition negotiations forward and start them earlier than scheduled.”

“You’re saying we settle it first, before the situation gets worse?”

“Whether it gets worse or better, I think it’d be good to make the decision by our own hand. As things stand now, we’ll be dragged along by the union.”

Do-beom thought the reason Tak-hyeon was raging like fire wasn’t Doa Motors alone.

He’d concluded that Tak-hyeon raged because he hated having a decision made by another’s will.

And Do-beom’s thinking was correct.

“That’s good. Then tell Head Kim to proceed with the Doa Motors acquisition right away. Whether it turns into porridge or rice, we ought to cook it ourselves.”

Tak-hyeon’s face grew considerably softer.

Do-beom picked up, one by one, the things that had fallen because Tak-hyeon swept the desk, and set them back on it.

After some time had passed thus, once Do-beom had confirmed that Tak-hyeon’s anger had subsided a good deal, he began his second report.

“Chairman. And word has come in that the third daughter-in-law is entering the country by this afternoon’s flight.”

(End of Chapter 119)