Knock, knock.

A server knocked softly and opened the door.

Slide.

The server came in through the sliding door, looked from Seong-ho Kim to Gae-sik Hwang and back, and asked carefully,

"Shall I bring the food out?"

"No."

Gae-sik Hwang put a hand up fast.

"We've still got things to talk about, so it'd be better if you brought it in a little later."

"Understood."

The server knew Gae-sik Hwang was an important customer at the restaurant, so he withdrew without a word, shut the door, and went away.

Once the door was closed and the sound of the server's footsteps had faded, Editor-in-Chief Gae-sik Hwang turned to Seong-ho Kim and asked in a hurry,

"Solicitation of murder. Did I hear that right?"

"You did. An investigation into it is going on at the prosecution right now."

"Is it solid?"

"Do you know who died?"

"That's just it. Who is it? Who died?"

He realized he had been so caught up in the fact that Mun-jong Lee had committed solicitation of murder that he hadn't asked who the dead man was.

"If Vice-Chairman Mun-jong Lee went so far as to order a killing, it must have been someone fairly important."

"He wasn't important."

"Not important? Then—"

"Not important, no. Close, though."

Gae-sik Hwang's eyes moved at that.

Because close told him more about how serious this was than important would have.

"His driver."

"Ha."

A gust of air escaped Gae-sik Hwang before he knew it.

"A driver isn't just somebody close… Then who did he give the order to?"

"He gave it to his attending secretary, and it was done."

This time a low groan came out of Gae-sik Hwang.

"You're telling me the attending secretary killed the driver? On Vice-Chairman Mun-jong Lee's orders?"

"Yes. And every bit of it has been confirmed."

"…This is no ordinary business."

If the dead man had been unconnected, or connected to Mun-jong Lee only faintly, some hole could have been found to slip out of.

But with the dead man his driver and the killer his attending secretary, it was another matter.

Even…