A little while later, Mun-jong Lee came to see Tak-hyeon Lee together with Sang-jong Lee and Seong-ho Kim.

Tak-hyeon Lee looked down at the report that had come up from the Strategic Planning Office and asked Sang-jong Lee,

“So — Ilhyeon Construction wants to acquire Jisan Cement?”

“Yes. If only you’ll grant your permission, Father…”

Tak-hyeon Lee, who’d been reading the report, lifted his head.

And when he shot a glance at Sang-jong Lee, Sang-jong Lee flinched and spoke again.

“If you grant your permission, Chairman, Ilhyeon Construction intends to try acquiring Jisan Cement.”

Tak-hyeon Lee heard him out, nodded, and put a question to Mun-jong Lee.

“And the vice-chairman? Have you agreed to this?”

“With Ilhyeon Construction stepping forward this eagerly, I’ve decided to take the broad-minded view.”

“The broad-minded view?”

Ilhyeon Group Chairman Tak-hyeon Lee snorted a laugh and tossed the report onto the table.

Tak!

Then he turned his gaze to Seong-ho Kim.

“And Strategic Planning’s judgment?”

“Strategic Planning is of the view that if we drag things out a bit more, we can bring the price down further.”

“Right. That’s what the report said, too.”

Even though he’d read the report, Tak-hyeon Lee had asked Seong-ho Kim directly to confirm it.

Withdrawing his gaze from Seong-ho Kim, who’d said the same thing as the report, Tak-hyeon Lee said to Sang-jong Lee,

“Where do you plan to get the funds?”

“It’s not difficult.”

Sang-jong Lee answered Tak-hyeon Lee’s funding question as if he’d been waiting for it.

“I’ve finished talking it over with the Jisan Group chairman. We’ll pay 100 billion won as a down payment and pay the remaining amount in installments. The down payment I’ll borrow from Gyeongsang Bank and Hobuk Bank respectively, and I plan to source the remaining balance from the banking sector as well.”

“If you’re taking out loans, you need collateral — what do you plan to put up as collateral?”

“There’s that apartment-complex lot over in Songpa, isn’t there? I’ll use that—”

Tak-hyeon Lee’s face crumpled.

“So you’re saying you’ll borrow money against the land set aside for the apartment complex as collateral?”

“Chairman, don’t worry. Once we acquire Jisan Cement, paying back the loans will be nothing. And if things get really tight, we can just announce that we’re building the apartments and pull in the pre-sale money.”

“Pre-selling in order to free up the collateral on the land you’ll build apartments on — isn’t that pulling out the bottom stone to prop up the top? You…”

When Tak-hyeon Lee showed signs of about to lose his temper, Sang-jong Lee hastily dropped his head.

And he began to plead with Tak-hyeon Lee.

“Chairman. Please believe in me. I really can do this well. Just once, trust me and leave it to me.”

Ilhyeon Group Chairman Tak-hyeon Lee looked down at Sang-jong Lee, head bowed so low it nearly touched the table, and let out a sigh.

“Haah.”

After the deep sigh, Tak-hyeon Lee shot a glance at Mun-jong Lee.

The corners of his mouth were turned up — an expression as if the sight of the pleading Sang-jong Lee were somehow delightful.

Tak-hyeon Lee closed his eyes for a moment, opened them, and nodded.

“All right. Give it a try.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much. After I acquire Jisan Cement, I’ll grow Ilhyeon Construction bigger than ever, for all to see. So trust me and wait just a little while.”

“That’s enough — now get out.”

Tak-hyeon Lee gestured as though it were all a bother and told him to leave.

Sang-jong Lee bowed his head in thanks any number of times and went out.

Mun-jong Lee followed after him with a smile, and lastly Seong-ho Kim bowed his head, closed the door, and left the study.

Ilhyeon Group Chairman Tak-hyeon Lee gazed blankly at the closed study door and said to Chief Do-beom Hwang,

“Was this a pit Mun-jong dug?”

“From the conversation after Sunday’s meal, I couldn’t detect any sign of it.”

“Then, having thought it over quietly after that day, did he judge it better to toss Jisan Cement to Sang-jong?”

“Chairman.”

To Tak-hyeon Lee, who tilted his head as if it didn’t add up, Do-beom Hwang spoke carefully.

“Before Mun-jong left the house on Sunday…”

Tak-hyeon Lee turned his head toward Do-beom Hwang, who’d trailed off for a moment.

Do-beom Hwang tilted his head briefly, then said to Tak-hyeon Lee,

“He spoke with Assistant Manager Kim for a while.”

“Assistant Manager Kim? You mean the son-in-law?”

“Yes.”

Recalling the sight of the two of them talking from a distance at the time, Do-beom Hwang said,

“Assistant Manager Kim caught Mun-jong, and the two of them talked for a while in the yard. And then Mun-jong left Pyeongchang-dong with a look on his face like he was rather pleased about something.”

“After talking with the son-in-law, Mun-jong wore a pleased expression?”

If he assembled the puzzle from what had happened in today’s meeting, what the conversation between Seong-ho Kim and Mun-jong had been about rose naturally in Tak-hyeon Lee’s mind.

But just because the shape of it rose naturally didn’t mean the situation itself felt natural.

Tak-hyeon Lee furrowed his brow and asked Chief Hwang,

“So what you’re saying is — the son-in-law advised Mun-jong to toss Jisan Cement to Sang-jong? That’s the story?”

“I, too, am aware that something about the situation is off. But I’ve only told you exactly what I saw, Chairman.”

Even to Do-beom Hwang’s mind, it was strange.

But strange as it was, he couldn’t very well ignore what he’d seen and let it pass.

Because if you erased the one strange part, all the pieces of the puzzle fit together.

Tak-hyeon Lee shook his head again and again, then asked Do-beom Hwang,

“If we end up acquiring Jisan Cement, how much damage do we stand to take?”

“You’d lose most of the amount handed over as the down payment.”

“100 billion won…”

Ilhyeon Group Chairman Tak-hyeon Lee, apparently displeased at the prospect of losing 100 billion won, leaned his head back against the sofa and closed his eyes for a while.

And, twirling the fingers of his clasped hands round and round, he sank into thought for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth.

“Set aside reserves in advance and prepare for the loss.”

“Even knowing there’s a problem with Jisan, you really intend to permit the acquisition?”

“Didn’t I just tell him to try it a moment ago? So leave it be. You have to go through a crisis to grow the ability to handle one.”

Tak-hyeon Lee had grasped the Jisan Group’s problems in advance.

And yet he didn’t stop Sang-jong Lee.

As if worried about Sang-jong Lee’s future, Do-beom Hwang squeezed his eyes shut.

Into that Do-beom Hwang’s ears came Tak-hyeon Lee’s instruction.

“Give the planning-office kids their praise for a job well done and pay out the bonus as is. And… keep a good eye on the son-in-law.”

Do-beom Hwang, opening the eyes he’d closed, looked down at Tak-hyeon Lee, who still had his eyes shut.

Tak-hyeon Lee continued his instructions, in the same posture as before.

“Because I need to know whether this situation came about because the son-in-law advised Mun-jong, as you say, or whether Mun-jong figured it out himself and tossed Jisan Cement to Sang-jong.”

“If it’s a situation the son-in-law engineered by advising him… does that mean he’s passed the test?”

Tak-hyeon Lee’s closed eyes opened.

And, gazing at the ceiling with them open, he answered,

“If a student sat an exam and was graded, and got a higher score than expected, it’s only proper to check whether or not he cheated.”

“Cheating, you mean…”

Tak-hyeon Lee turned his head and looked at Do-beom Hwang.

“I’m a man who hates, more than anything, a situation I can’t understand. So keep a good watch, so that I can understand it.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Do-beom Hwang knew that “keep a good watch” meant surveillance.

And he felt he could dimly foresee the situation that would follow once the surveillance was over.

‘Assistant Manager Kim, too, is going to end up sucked into the whirlpool that is the Ilhyeon Group.’

Do-beom Hwang got the strong feeling that Seong-ho Kim, whether he intended it or not, was going to be swept up together into the events about to unfold.

Seong-ho Kim sat with Byeong-jin Jo and Dae-su Park, tipping back glasses of drink.

Byeong-jin Jo looked at the men in black suits visible behind Seong-ho Kim, who was pouring the drink into the glasses.

The two men sat with no drinks and just a single portion of meat set out between them.

They were pretending otherwise, but the way they kept minding the direction where Seong-ho Kim sat gave off a strong sense that they hadn’t come to eat — they’d come to watch Seong-ho Kim.

Byeong-jin Jo studied them intently and asked Seong-ho Kim,

“Ilhyeon people?”

“Yeah. Wherever I go, they follow.”

At his words, his friend Byeong-jin Jo abruptly raised his hand.

“You gentlemen over there. Don’t sit like that — come over. Come and eat with us.”

The secretariat staff, who’d been keeping watch over and protecting Seong-ho Kim from a distance both at once, were flustered by Byeong-jin Jo’s sudden move and turned away.

Dae-su Park smacked the back of Byeong-jin Jo’s head with his palm.

“Hey, you crazy bastard. What are you doing?”

Byeong-jin Jo rubbed the back of his head with his hand and said as if wronged,

“They can’t even eat properly way over there for nothing, so I’m just telling them to come over and join us. Isn’t that better?”

At his words, Seong-ho Kim laughed and raised a hand to call a server.

Then, pointing to the table where the men watching him sat, he told the server who’d come over,

“Put three portions of galbi, two bowls of rice, and a stew over at that table. And I’ll settle the bill from this table, so if they need anything more, tell them not to worry and just order it.”

“Will they not be wanting any alcohol?”

“They’re on the job, so no alcohol. Just set out a couple of soft drinks.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Dae-su Park watched Seong-ho Kim ordering from the server for a moment, then asked,

“What’s gotten into you? Why buy meat for people who followed you here to keep watch on you?”

“Those people are doing this to make a living too, so they should eat while they’re at it. Following me all the way to a barbecue joint and ordering just one portion of meat while they watch me — how pitiful is that?”

“You…”

Dae-su Park shook his head as if he couldn’t understand.

And the secretariat staff seemed just as startled as this Dae-su Park was.

At the sight of the server bringing the meat and the words Seong-ho Kim had passed along, they couldn’t hide their surprise and only looked toward where Seong-ho Kim was.

“Eat plenty. And if you need anything else, feel free to say so.”

Byeong-jin Jo waved a hand at the wide-eyed secretariat staff, telling them to eat plenty.

Dae-su Park looked at Byeong-jin Jo as if dumbfounded and said,

“You’re not even the one paying — why are you the one telling them to eat plenty?”

“What does it matter who says it? Seong-ho’s thoughts are my thoughts anyway, aren’t they?”

At the sight of Byeong-jin Jo, Seong-ho Kim burst out laughing and nodded.

“Right, right. My thoughts are your thoughts.”

Seong-ho Kim, with a merry face, lifted his glass and urged them to drink, and so the three of them tipped back their soju glasses.

After the glasses had gone round a few times like that, Dae-su Park put some meat in his mouth and said,

“So — what’s the occasion for calling us out?”

Hearing Dae-su Park’s question, Seong-ho Kim recalled the contents written in the diary.

[19XX, month X. Dae-su was demoted from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigations Division and sent down to the provinces. With no particular backing, Dae-su—]

Seong-ho Kim tossed back the drink in his glass.

‘I thought he’d come back up, but once he went down, he couldn’t climb back up for more than twenty years. This time, I can’t let it turn out that way.’

Seong-ho Kim meant to lend a hand so that the life of the friend who’d wept for him could change.

(End of Chapter 12)