Thunk.

Tak-hyeon Lee, stepping out of the car, looked up at the Blue House main building.

“Chairman.”

Unlike usual, today it was the Presidential Chief of Staff himself who had come out to handle the reception protocol.

“Oh, you. It’s been a while.”

Tak-hyeon offered the Chief of Staff a friendly greeting.

The Chief of Staff bent at the waist, politely took the hand Tak-hyeon extended, and bowed his head.

“How have you been? I was quite worried, hearing you’d been unwell.”

“Thanks to your concern, I’m all right now. And however uncomfortable I might be, I had to come today. Isn’t that so?”

“That’s a relief. If you hadn’t been able to come, I was just fretting over whether we’d have to change the date.”

“Now now. That won’t do.”

Tak-hyeon hardened his face and shook his head as he spoke.

“When the whole nation is pleading for this to end even a day sooner, how could we delay it? However unwell I might be, for the country’s sake I’d have come lying down if I had to.”

“That’s our Chairman.”

The Chief of Staff bowed his head, then glanced at Seong-ho standing beside Tak-hyeon and gave a small smile.

“It seems the Chairman’s devotion to the country has been passed along well to your son-in-law. Thanks to Head Kim’s active help, we were able to proceed without great difficulty.”

“Ha-ha-ha. Is that so?”

At the Chief of Staff’s praise, Tak-hyeon turned to Seong-ho with a smiling face.

And, looking at Seong-ho, who was bowing his head as if embarrassed, he said,

“I did tell this fellow to cooperate actively with what the government was doing. And to hear it was well observed — that’s fine work.”

“Then shall we go in and discuss the details? The wind is chilly, and I worry it may harm your health, Chairman.”

“Yes, let’s go in. The President will be waiting too.”

Tak-hyeon nodded to the Chief of Staff’s suggestion that they head inside.

Seong-ho, who until then had merely been listening quietly, spoke cautiously to Tak-hyeon.

“Then I’ll wait in the annex.”

Tak-hyeon turned his head to look at Seong-ho and nodded.

And he followed the Chief of Staff, who went in first, slowly entering the President’s office located in the main building.

“This way, then, Head Kim.”

The protocol secretary, who had come up beside Seong-ho at some point, guided him to the annex.

And so the two of them dispersed to the main building and the annex respectively, as the final confirmation of the five major groups’ Big Deal began at the Blue House.

“Chairman Lee. How can I make this right? I said it was fine, again and again, and yet that fellow under me went and brought Ilhyeon Power back after all. Really now. I’m so sorry to your late father I hardly know what to say.”

Mirae Group’s Chairman Jang came in supported on someone’s arm.

The moment he entered, he offered Tak-hyeon an apology before any greeting, and Tak-hyeon rose from his seat and answered Chairman Jang with a rueful expression.

“What can be done? Since it’s come to this, I’ll just have to make the best of what I’ve received.”

“Even so, you should have asked for Mirae Electronics. Had you done that, we’d have handed Mirae Electronics to Ilhyeon rather than Sunwoo.”

Chairman Jang glanced at Sunwoo Group’s Chairman U-ha Kim, standing beside Tak-hyeon.

The glossy-headed Chairman U-ha Kim rubbed the area around the crown of his head with his hand and blustered.

“Aigo. Chairman. Then what was Sunwoo supposed to do? Sunwoo absolutely needed Mirae Electronics.”

“Don’t give me that sob story. Didn’t Sunwoo get its hands on petrochemicals too, not just Mirae Electronics?”

“And thanks to that, Mirae lost the most powerful competitor in the automobile industry.”

“Ha-ha-ha. Anyone listening would think Sunwoo had given up its car company. When all it gave up was the peripheral-equipment companies — air-conditioning units and the like — that go into cars.”

“Come now, Chairman. Don’t be like that. That alone holds great value, and who would know that better than you, Chairman, so intimately versed in the automobile industry?”

Mirae’s Chairman Jang and Sunwoo’s Chairman U-ha Kim, looking at each other with smiling faces, traded sharp words without either giving an inch.

Tak-hyeon, watching this from beside them, burst into laughter.

“Really now. That’s enough, both of you. You’re making me all envious.”

At Tak-hyeon’s words that he was envious, Chairman Jang and Chairman U-ha Kim, who had been glaring at each other, stepped back.

“Tch, well — compared to you, we’ve got it better.”

Chairman Jang lifted his cane and pointed at a chair.

And after asking the aide supporting him to help him over to sit, he said to Tak-hyeon,

“Ilhyeon took a big loss on this one. I know it, and every citizen of Korea will know it too.”

“As much as Ilhyeon lost, Mirae gained greatly.”

“There’s no need to spell it out quite so pointedly.”

Chairman Jang frowned at Chairman U-ha Kim as if displeased.

And as he sat down in the chair, handing his cane to the aide, he said,

“If a time comes when you need to ask something of Mirae, do tell me. I’ll grant just about anything within reason.”

Chairman Jang seemed to be trying to work off his guilt over bringing back Ilhyeon Power by granting a favor.

Tak-hyeon smiled faintly as he sat down across from Chairman Jang.

“Understood. I’ll think it over carefully, and if something comes up, I’ll speak up without hesitation.”

At Tak-hyeon’s words, Chairman Jang finally put on a satisfied expression, as if a weight had lifted from his heart.

Chairman U-ha Kim, sitting beside Tak-hyeon, looked back and forth between Tak-hyeon and Chairman Jang and thought,

Ilhyeon, making a loss-taking deal. What a world…

Ilhyeon was a group that never, ever did anything at a loss.

Ever since the days of the founding chairman, Ilhyeon was a group that would sooner profit by a single grain of rice than take a loss — a group that never tolerated losses — and yet on this one deal, it had taken a loss.

U-ha Kim recalled the present situation, in which the sight of Ilhyeon taking a loss was so utterly out of character, and tilted his head.

Could there be something else going on?

It occurred to U-ha Kim that Ilhyeon giving up Ilhyeon Power might be for some other reason.

Because otherwise, he couldn’t imagine Ilhyeon giving up Ilhyeon Power so easily.

Both semiconductors and shipbuilding are money-sinking businesses…

On top of that, they were subject to industry cycles, needing to earn during boom times to endure the busts.

Considering all that, Ilhyeon putting forward Ilhyeon Power, which held monopolistic technology, looked nothing but strange to U-ha Kim.

“His Excellency is entering.”

While Sunwoo Group’s Chairman U-ha Kim gazed at the side of Tak-hyeon’s face with a puzzled look, President Dae-sang Kim entered.

Those present rose all at once to greet Dae-sang Kim.

“Chairman Jang. You needn’t rise, Chairman Jang.”

President Dae-sang Kim told Chairman Jang, who was struggling to get to his feet, that he needn’t stand, and gestured to the other groups’ chairmen present as well.

“Now, now. Please sit. Let’s talk sitting down.”

Dae-sang Kim offered each of the five groups’ heads a nod of greeting, then sat down first.

Soon the others all took their seats too, and the discussion began.

“The reason I’ve gathered you all here today is for the successful conclusion of the Big Deal.”

President Dae-sang Kim gestured toward the Chief of Staff.

The Chief of Staff, who had been standing in front of the office door, laid down the papers he’d brought before each of the five groups’ heads, one by one, at Dae-sang Kim’s gesture.

Confirming that a paper had been placed before everyone, President Dae-sang Kim said to the five groups’ heads,

“These are papers stating the matters agreed upon by the working teams. Please review them and sign.”

“Sign?”

Sunwoo Group’s Chairman U-ha Kim lifted his head and looked at Dae-sang Kim.

Dae-sang Kim explained to U-ha Kim, who was looking at him with a gaze that asked why they should sign.

“These are matters fully finalized at the working level. And everyone here already knows their contents, having received briefings. But an unease still lingers in my heart.”

“Unease? What sort of unease do you mean?”

“The unease that you all might not keep your word. The unease that you might say you’ll do it in words alone, then turn around later and tell a different story. This kind of unease remains in my heart.”

At Dae-sang Kim’s words, Mirae Group’s Chairman Jang knit his brow and asked,

“Don’t tell me you’ve brought this out because you think we might not keep our word?”

“I believe you won’t do that, too. But nothing in this world ever goes exactly as one wishes, does it? So I’m merely trying to give it a bit of binding force — please understand.”

Dae-sang Kim smiled as he spoke to Chairman Jang.

To those present, Dae-sang Kim’s smile felt like a threat.

And in fact, the heads who had undergone prosecutorial investigation from the previous threat did not take Dae-sang Kim’s words at face value.

But even so, there was nothing the group heads could do.

Because last time it had ended with an investigation, but they had no certainty it would end that way the next time too.

“Very well.”

Chairman Tak-hyeon Lee was the first to pick up the pen handed over with the paper.

And after signing the paper with a bold stroke, he closed the pen cap, set the pen back down in front of him, and said,

“To make a promise and not keep it — there’s nothing more ill-bred than that. We meant to keep our word even without this, but if having it puts your mind at ease, there’s no reason not to sign.”

Having finished speaking, Tak-hyeon looked at President Dae-sang Kim and gave a small smile.

And he looked around at the other four groups’ heads, one by one.

Ilhyeon Group was the place assessed to have taken the greatest loss in the Big Deal.

With the head of such a place signing first, the other heads lost any pretext for refusing to sign.

“Ahem. If Ilhyeon does it, we must too.”

Mirae Group’s Chairman Jang lifted his pen following Chairman Tak-hyeon Lee.

Once Chairman Jang followed Tak-hyeon in signing without complaint, the remaining heads lifted their pens one by one.

President Dae-sang Kim watched in silence, beaming, as the heads signed their pledge to faithfully keep the agreed-upon matters.

In the car returning from the Blue House, Tak-hyeon told Seong-ho, seated beside him, about what had happened in the President’s office.

“The President thrust a paper at us to keep our word.”

“Did he?”

At Tak-hyeon’s words, Seong-ho reacted as though it were nothing.

If anything, the bigger reaction came from Do-beom Hwang, seated in front.

“A paper? He said he’d get the promise down in writing, even?”

Do-beom Hwang, seated in the passenger seat, turned his head to look at the back seat and asked.

Tak-hyeon let out a small laugh at seeing the reaction that should have come from Seong-ho come from Do-beom instead.

“Why so surprised?”

“It is surprising.”

Chief Secretary Do-beom Hwang twisted himself around further in his seat and said,

“If it was agreed at the working level, that’s as good as done — so why go to the trouble of putting it in writing?!”

“Dae-sang Kim said so. That a place might turn up later telling a different story.”

“But it’s a matter agreed at the working level — where is there any taking that back?”

Do-beom shook his head as if he couldn’t understand.

Tak-hyeon seemed to be of the same mind as Do-beom, giving a light laugh and turning to look at Seong-ho.

Seong-ho, too, had a trace of a smile on his face.

But to Tak-hyeon’s eye, Seong-ho’s smile felt different.

“It seems you think such a thing could happen?”

At Tak-hyeon’s unexpected question, the laughing Do-beom turned his head with a startled face.

And he hurriedly looked at Seong-ho and offered words to help him out.

“There’s no way Head Kim would think such a—”

“You’re right. I do think that, as time passes, a place that fails to keep its word could appear.”

“Head Kim!”

Do-beom, who had been about to speak up in Seong-ho’s defense, turned his head with a startled face and looked at Seong-ho.

But unlike the startled Do-beom, Tak-hyeon was looking at Seong-ho with a face that said he’d expected it.

“So it really was you who tipped him off.”

“What? Tipped off? What is it that Head Kim tipped off?”

“The document about pledging to fulfill the promise.”

“It’s less that I tipped him off — I only gave a hint.”

“A hint?”

Do-beom’s mouth fell open, and Tak-hyeon lifted the corner of his.

Seong-ho turned slightly to face Tak-hyeon, seated beside him, and said,

“He was fretting over whether the promises might not be kept later, so all I did was tell him — then why not get it down in writing?”

“Ha-ha.”

Though he’d expected it, Tak-hyeon let out a small laugh at the word that Seong-ho had tipped him off, and shook his head.

Do-beom, with a startled face, said to Seong-ho,

“These are no ordinary people — they’re the heads of the five major groups. To secure a signed pledge from such heads to keep their word? How could you know how they’d take that—”

“Because the one thrusting the paper at them was the President.”

“Yes. And so no one could utter a word of complaint — they had no choice but to sign.”

At Seong-ho’s words, Tak-hyeon recalled the situation in the President’s office and spoke.

Do-beom asked, still with a startled face,

“No one said anything at all?”

“Didn’t you hear Head Kim just now? The President thrusts a paper at them saying he can’t trust them, so make the pledge — who there could say they’d rather not? The other four, myself excepted, are all people who even stood at the prosecutors’ photo line. Had they said no this time, the photo line might have been drawn not at the prosecutors’ office but at the prison.”

Though Tak-hyeon said it like a joke, it struck Do-beom that it might be true.

And Tak-hyeon, who’d offered it like a joke, thought the possibility was very high as well.

That was how impossible it was for the group heads to refuse the President’s proposal.

“And since I signed first, they could say ‘no’ all the less.”

“You signed first, Chairman?”

“Yes. If things are as Head Kim says, it’s a deal where we profit no matter what — so what if it went wrong and the deal fell apart? When everyone thinks I’ve taken a loss, that’s all the more reason to step forward.”

Tak-hyeon spoke to Do-beom with a smiling face, then turned his head.

And, hardening his smiling face, he said to Seong-ho,

“As you said, it had better be a deal favorable to us. Because I don’t want to become a man who made the most idiotic deal in all the world with his own two hands.”

“You needn’t worry. It will absolutely be a deal favorable to us.”

Tak-hyeon looked at Seong-ho and once more brought a smile to his lips.

And he gazed at Seong-ho with a look of curiosity — wondering why he was so confident about something all the world was calling a mistaken deal.

(End of Chapter 159)