Chang-jong Lee, who had kicked his way out seething, muttered quietly in front of the gate.

"Going back in would be… a bit much, wouldn't it?"

Chang-jong Lee looked at the great gate and wore a bitter expression.

Because, unlike when he had come out seething, now that he was actually out it struck him all at once that he had come out for nothing.

"Ugh. Never mind. Have I no one else to ask? Never mind, I say. I've no wish to be asking favors of a live-in son-in-law either."

His pride evidently would not allow him to go back in, and Chang-jong Lee turned roughly and went down the Seongbuk-dong hill.

The place Chang-jong Lee headed for was his own office, located in Cheongdam.

"How did it go?"

Coming into the office, Chang-jong Lee went straight to the CEO's room, and there held a conversation with CEO Seo-gang Won and Director Gyu-cheol Ju.

To the two men who had been waiting on the result, Chang-jong Lee spoke in a voice that crawled away into nothing.

"It didn't go well…"

"Didn't go well? What is that supposed to mean?"

CEO Seo-gang Won asked as though he could not follow.

Chang-jong Lee, with an abashed expression, hesitated a moment and then opened his mouth with difficulty.

"…Seong-ho refused."

"Refused?"

Gyu-cheol Ju, seated at Seo-gang Won's side, raised his voice.

"Weren't you sure of it? Isn't that why we raised you, who do nothing, all the way to Deputy CEO!"

"Now, now. Director Ju. Don't be so angry — let's talk this over calmly."

Having settled a Gyu-cheol Ju who was half out of his seat, Seo-gang Won spoke to Chang-jong Lee, who wore an apologetic expression.

"Deputy CEO Lee. Didn't you say you could persuade Vice-Chairman Kim? That's why the whole setting has been arranged around Ilhyeon Solutions — and how are we to manage if you handle the business like this?"

Within the calm words, a blatant reproach was contained.

Chang-jong Lee flushed at what Seo-gang Won said.

"I did try to persuade him, but… he was so utterly…