Leaving the Blue House, Seong-ho Kim headed straight for Pyeongchang-dong to report to Tak-hyeon Lee on what had happened there.

Arriving at the estate, Seong-ho went straight to the study without stopping to greet Suk-ja Chu or Min-yeong Oh.

In the study, Tak-hyeon was practicing calligraphy alone.

"Chairman. I'm back."

At Seong-ho's greeting, Tak-hyeon paused his brush and turned toward him.

"So. Did the talks go well?"

"Yes. I didn't say a word the entire time."

"Good man."

To anyone eavesdropping, the exchange would have made no sense at all — but the two of them looked at each other and smiled, perfectly in sync.

Setting down his brush, Tak-hyeon clasped his hands behind his back and walked over to where Seong-ho stood.

"Let's head downstairs first."

"Yes, sir."

Seong-ho answered, agreeing to Tak-hyeon's suggestion of the underground chamber, and glanced briefly around.

"By the way, where's Secretary Hwang—"

"He's already down there."

Learning that Do-beom Hwang was already waiting below, Seong-ho felt a small jolt run through him.

So it's today.

The intuition that something he'd long expected was finally arriving flickered through his mind.

But without letting it show, Seong-ho quietly followed Tak-hyeon toward the hidden chamber.

"Was everyone coveting what belonged to everyone else, just as you predicted?"

"Yes. If the setting hadn't been the Blue House, it might genuinely have come to blows."

"Heh. I imagine so. I imagine so."

Tak-hyeon let out a short laugh, opened the door, and stepped out.

Walking down the stairs alongside the building toward the basement, Tak-hyeon asked again.

"And that wasn't the end of it, was it?"

"No. As I was about to leave, the President asked to speak with me."

"I thought as much..."

Tak-hyeon nodded as if he'd expected exactly this, and entered the passcode at the chamber door.

Beep-beep-beep-beep.

Click.

Before stepping through the opened door, Tak-hyeon turned to face Seong-ho.

"The code is 52438726."

Seong-ho stood there repeating the eight digits to himself several times, working to commit them to memory.

Tak-hyeon waited silently, watching him.

Once Seong-ho lifted his head to show he'd memorized…