Some thirty minutes had passed with Modu Bank’s president Don-su Park and the vice-president staring anxiously at nothing but the empty table.

“Why isn’t he coming?”

“Don’t make a fuss. It’s not 8 o’clock yet.”

“Still, it’s nearly 8 now…”

Just as the vice-president was noting that the appointed time was nearly up, the door opened and Seong-ho, whom they’d been waiting for, appeared.

“I’m a little late, aren’t I?”

President Don-su Park and the vice-president, who’d been seated, sprang to their feet and greeted Seong-ho.

“Not at all. You’ve come right on time.”

“A pleasure to meet you. I’m Seong-ho Kim of Ilhyeon.”

When Seong-ho held out his hand first, Don-su Park clasped it.

“I’ve heard a great deal about you. I’m Don-su Park of Modu Bank.”

Seong-ho held Don-su Park’s hand and talked with a smile for a moment, then exchanged greetings with the vice-president too.

“Shall we sit, then?”

Seong-ho invited them to sit and instructed the staff waiting at the door to bring out the food.

“So, what’s the occasion that you asked to meet me?”

At Seong-ho’s words, President Don-su Park first offered his thanks.

“First, let me offer my thanks to you, Head Seong-ho Kim, for making time like this.”

“Not at all.”

When Don-su Park went so far as to bow his head, Seong-ho rose slightly from his seat and took hold of the bent Don-su Park’s shoulder.

And waving a hand to say it was fine, he said,

“When it’s the president of Modu Bank, of all people, asking to meet, I ought to make time even where there is none. It’s fine. We’ll have to keep meeting going forward, so if you’re overly formal at our first meeting, it makes me uncomfortable.”

“That won’t do.”

Don-su Park shook his head and said in an earnest voice,

“I should have come early and greeted you first, Head, but I was late. My apologies.”

“My apologies.”

When Don-su Park apologized, the vice-president seated beside him also bowed his head and offered an apology.

Seong-ho, who’d stopped them from bowing when they gave thanks, didn’t stop Don-su Park and the vice-president when they apologized.

President Don-su Park got the sense that something had changed.

But he had no leisure to think deeply about how the sense differed.

Because what mattered right now wasn’t some indefinable feeling.

Having bowed his head, Don-su Park slowly raised it and said to Seong-ho,

“Head. The reason we wanted to see you is none other than… we’ve taken the liberty of coming to ask whether you’re really not participating in this Doa Motors bidding.”

Seong-ho tilted his head and answered Don-su Park,

“I believe our intent has already been made known? I understand what I told the Deputy Prime Minister at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry went out officially through the press—and you asked to meet me to ask about that?”

“I know what Ilhyeon’s intent is. We’ve come to ask you, please… to change that thinking.”

“Change my thinking?”

Seong-ho still wore an expression that said he didn’t understand.

Don-su Park, his face looking parched, wet his lips and said,

“I fully understand what reason you have for not participating in the bidding. We’ll ease that worry. We’ll block the union’s backlash for you.”

“Modu Bank will block the union’s backlash?”

Seong-ho barely held back the laughter threatening to burst out.

Because the expression “block” sounded comical.

You set the tricks in motion from behind, and you’ll block it?

Seong-ho spat out the real words in his heart, but outwardly said nothing at all and only listened quietly to what Modu Bank’s president Don-su Park had to say.

“Yes. We plan to make contact with the union through the fellow currently out there as provisional manager. And we’ll have Modu Bank take on the mediation between the union and Ilhyeon. After all, wouldn’t the talks proceed more comfortably going through us, a buffer zone, than talking with Ilhyeon directly?”

“That’d be so.”

Seong-ho nodded as if in agreement.

President Don-su Park took courage from Seong-ho’s manner and continued,

“And we’re also willing to lower the acquisition price when negotiating after the bidding.”

At Don-su Park’s words—that he’d merely consider it, not that it was settled—Seong-ho let out a snorted laugh.

“Willing?”

Don-su Park broke into a sweat at Seong-ho’s reaction and said again,

“I’d be grateful if you’d understand that, not having finished consulting with all the other creditors, I can’t say for certain.”

“Even if the other creditors’ opinions differ, in the end isn’t Modu Bank’s thinking the creditors’ thinking?”

“That’s so, but… Head. What I can say for certain in this place is about this much—that Modu Bank will do its utmost to lower the bidding and acquisition price. But if we do our utmost, won’t a good result come of it? So trust us and participate in the bidding again.”

Listening to President Don-su Park, who tried to placate him with words of doing his utmost though he couldn’t promise, Seong-ho spoke at once.

“I understand what you mean. I’ll go back, think on it seriously, discuss it with the Chairman and the others, and then decide.”

“Um… in this place, right now…”

“I too will do my utmost.”

Seong-ho had echoed President Don-su Park’s words—doing his utmost, not a promise.

Don-su Park couldn’t press Seong-ho to give a firm answer.

Because having first said he’d do his utmost instead of giving a firm answer, he couldn’t demand a firm answer from Seong-ho alone.

Seeing the food that happened to be coming in just then, Seong-ho smiled and said to Don-su Park,

“Then shall we wrap up the talk about here and have our meal? The dinner hour has grown quite late.”

Don-su Park looked with regret-laden eyes at the food being laid out one dish at a time.

Feigning ignorance of Don-su Park’s feelings, Seong-ho picked up his chopsticks and reached first for the food.

Seated in his study, Tak-hyeon received Do-beom’s report on the meeting between Seong-ho and Modu Bank.

“The bank president’s face looked bad when he left the restaurant, you say?”

“Yes. The president, who kept a smiling face until Head Kim got into his car, contorted his face the moment Head Kim’s car left, they say.”

“Ha ha ha. Seems he got nothing out of it.”

“Chairman. But might Head Kim have pushed Modu Bank too hard?”

“Why? Worried?”

Tak-hyeon, wearing an amused expression, looked up at the worried-faced Do-beom and asked.

Do-beom nodded slightly and said,

“It’s that the thought occurred to me it might be better to concede about here and raise our bidding competitiveness through Modu Bank, the creditors’ representative.”

Do-beom, thinking he ought to say it all now that he’d brought it up, continued,

“If we meant not to acquire Doa Motors, that’d be one thing, but if we mean to acquire it, isn’t conceding to the other side also a method? It’s not as though we’ll never see them again, so wouldn’t it be good to concede to the other side about here and secure both their goodwill and the practical gains?”

“Yes. That’s good too.”

Tak-hyeon showed a manner as if in agreement.

At Tak-hyeon’s manner, Do-beom added talk of the presidential side.

“There’s word that the Blue House side is uncomfortable.”

“Oh?”

At Tak-hyeon’s interested reaction, Do-beom lowered his voice and said,

“The Blue House reportedly meant to carry out restructuring among the business world starting with Doa Motors. But with a brake put on it from Doa Motors first, the restructuring cases being prepared next are all reportedly at a standstill too. Chairman. Oughtn’t we prop up the new president’s face too? If we put on the brakes from the very start, they may not look kindly on Ilhyeon.”

“Yes. That could be so.”

Tak-hyeon nodded and lifted the teacup before him to drink his tea.

Do-beom quietly watched Tak-hyeon, who said nothing after drinking his tea.

“Um, Chairman.”

Unable to wait, Chief Do-beom cautiously called to Tak-hyeon.

Tak-hyeon, drinking his tea with the cup in hand, turned his head to look at Do-beom.

“Why do you call?”

“Do you intend to leave it as is?”

“Look here, Chief Hwang.”

Setting down the teacup, Tak-hyeon called to Do-beom.

Do-beom corrected his posture and answered,

“Yes, Chairman.”

“You worry far too much.”

“What? I worry too much?”

“Do you think Head Kim doesn’t know what you’ve thought of? Or that he wouldn’t know the Blue House is uncomfortable?”

Chief Do-beom gave no answer to Tak-hyeon’s question.

Knowing it wasn’t a question posed to get an answer, Do-beom only listened quietly to Tak-hyeon’s words.

“Head Kim knows all of it. And yet aren’t you curious why he’s pushing Modu Bank so hard? The thought occurred to me that perhaps, in this bidding, there’s no alternative but us. It seems Head Kim caught on to that and is acting this way. Well? Doesn’t that seem plausible?”

“Chairman. The German company’s bidding participation is definite. They’ve already told the government of their intent to participate and said they’ve finished preparing to enter the bidding.”

“Participating in a bidding doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll acquire.”

Do-beom’s eyes went wide.

Tak-hyeon had said, as if it were nothing, something he’d never once thought of.

The assumption that participating in a bidding meant being unconditionally eager to acquire was one most people held.

Because bidding meant there was interest, and having bid meant one would acquire—that was the natural flow.

But Tak-hyeon was saying it might not be so.

“There’s no particular reason for the German company to acquire Doa Motors. If it’s a shortage of production plants, the plants they have now are plenty for production, and there’s all the less need for Doa Motors’ technology. Is that all? Using the Doa brand would actually be a minus for the German company. Because the image of a luxury brand gets damaged. So would there be any reason to go out of their way to acquire Doa Motors?”

Hearing Tak-hyeon’s explanation, it truly seemed to Do-beom there was no reason at all for the German company to acquire Doa Motors.

“Then Head Kim knew that and…”

“If not that, there’d be no reason to treat Modu Bank so dismissively.”

Tak-hyeon lifted the teacup he’d set down and took a sip.

Do-beom looked down at Tak-hyeon savoring his tea and said, as if amazed,

“How could Head Kim have known this?”

“That’s what I’m curious about too.”

Chairman Tak-hyeon gazed at the ceiling for a moment with the teacup in hand.

And in a low voice, he spat out the words in his heart.

“It’s a fact I could only infer after seeing Modu Bank’s manner and Head Kim’s actions. And yet Head Kim must certainly have known from before that the German company’s bid was a decoy. That’s why he went out of his way to put on the performance of visiting the Doa Motors Gwangmyeong plant, to seize the initiative. He’d been certain. But how on earth… did he know?”

Tak-hyeon only gazed at the ceiling with an expression that said he couldn’t understand no matter how he thought about it.

Though the Ilhyeon Group had declared its non-participation in the bidding, the bidding schedule couldn’t be pushed back on that account, so the Doa Motors bidding proceeded as scheduled.

People thought that, since Ilhyeon hadn’t participated in the bidding, the German automaker’s acquisition was as good as settled.

Because there existed no place besides Ilhyeon within the country to acquire Doa Motors.

Sunwoo Group was in a state that didn’t need the Doa Motors acquisition, having acquired Duryong Motors, and among the companies wanting to set foot in the automobile industry, there existed none that would execute large-scale funds in the present situation and step up to acquire.

Among domestic companies, Ilhyeon was the only place that could acquire Doa Motors, which bore debt exceeding 10 trillion won.

In such a situation, with Ilhyeon declaring non-participation, the German automaker’s acquisition could only be seen as settled.

Byeong-jin, with a tense face, couldn’t sit still and kept pacing.

Byeong-ju Jeong gestured at the pacing Byeong-jin and said,

“You’re making me dizzy, so sit down a bit.”

“Team leader Jeong, aren’t you nervous? I’m so nervous I could go mad…”

“I’m just as nervous as you are, team leader Jo. But what can we do?”

Byeong-ju Jeong glanced at Seong-ho.

Unlike the others present, Seong-ho was nothing but composed.

Having looked at Seong-ho for a moment with wondering eyes, Byeong-ju Jeong said to Byeong-jin again,

“We’ve done everything we can do. So let’s sit calmly and wait.”

At Byeong-ju Jeong’s words, Byeong-jin returned to his seat and sat.

And looking at Seong-ho, he asked,

“Head Kim. Will it really go unsold? By the talk going around now, the dominant expectation is that the German company will take Doa Motors with a sole bid…”

“And what if it doesn’t go unsold?”

At Seong-ho’s words, Byeong-jin spoke in a startled voice,

“If it doesn’t go unsold, then we don’t get to acquire Doa Motors, do we?”

“That’s just it. And then, what of it?”

“Uh… what?”

Seong-ho looked around at the people seated there with a smiling face and said,

“What is it we’ve analyzed all this while? Didn’t we find over a hundred reasons alone why we mustn’t acquire Doa Motors? So even if we don’t get to acquire Doa Motors, we can take comfort in those reasons. So be at ease.”

Byeong-jin was left with nothing to say.

As Seong-ho said, the Restructuring Headquarters had dug like mad only into the reasons Doa Motors mustn’t be acquired.

And now they were to feel regret over a failed acquisition?

If anything, they ought to think that not acquiring was better for restructuring.

But contrary to the analysis, the people present wanted the Doa Motors acquisition.

Because if they failed to acquire Doa Motors, a sense of crisis arose that not only would globalization fail, but within the country they might fall behind Sunwoo Group, which had acquired Duryong Motors.

And Seong-ho surely wasn’t unaware of this.

Though for now they were reasons Doa mustn’t be acquired, the Restructuring Headquarters staff thought that in time these would become a powerful weapon, a favorable hand in the acquisition work.

But the process was already over, and the bidding had begun with the Ilhyeon Group not participating.

They’d come all the way to the end without even getting to play their hand.

(End of Chapter 127)