Once the commotion had settled for a moment, Seong-ho stepped closer to Tak-hyeon.

From how things had gone so far, it didn't look as though the situation would end easily.

Tak-hyeon glanced at Seong-ho as he approached and continued issuing instructions to Do-beom.

"There's a Japanese restaurant on this same floor, isn't there? Go get some sushi from there as well."

"Yes, sir."

"Sushi too?"

At this, Gyeong-eun asked Tak-hyeon with a troubled expression.

"What on earth did you hear, and from whom, to have you acting like this?"

"That's a good question."

Tak-hyeon nodded, as though he'd been waiting for exactly that question, and said,

"A few days ago I had a meal with former Prime Minister Heung-suk Kim."

"There's a name I haven't heard in a while. Is he keeping well?"

"Never mind the pointless chatter and listen properly."

Tak-hyeon shot Gyeong-eun a glare, as if warning her not to interrupt, and carried on.

"In any case, I arranged to meet former Prime Minister Kim at the White Hotel. I asked him — with no particular meaning behind it — why he wanted to meet at the White Hotel when we have a hotel of our own…"

Recalling the moment seemed to stoke Tak-hyeon's anger all over again, and he paused to steady his breathing.

Then he glared at Gyeong-eun and said,

"The former Prime Minister told me this. He said he's fond of Chinese dumplings, and that for dumplings, the White Hotel is the place — while Ilhyeon Hotel's dumplings were nothing special. And then…"

Bang!

Bang!

Tak-hyeon struck the table with his palm.

"I came and tried them myself, and they really are nothing special."

"How different can dumplings really be, that you'd carry on like this?"

At that, Tak-hyeon's voice rose nearly to a roar.

"You think that's all there is to it?"

"There's more…?"

"As it happens, that same day, I ran into Chairman Kang of Hong-eun Construction at the White Hotel."

"Chairman Kang, at the White Hotel?"

At the mention of Chairman Kang, Gyeong-eun's expression hardened.

Chairman Kang of Hong-eun Construction had long…