"How did it go?"

"They settled it upstairs and sent word down."

Regret came through in Dae-su Park's voice as he explained to Seong-ho Kim what the prosecution's leadership had settled on.

"Incitement to murder won't be charged — not enough evidence to prove it. What the evidence does cover — the embezzlement, the breach of trust — gets looked at closely and charged."

It was what Seong-ho Kim had expected, and he let out a laugh.

Seong-ho Kim's laugh seemed to embarrass Dae-su Park. His face reddened and he made his excuses.

"There's nothing to be done about incitement to murder. It's entirely possible and there's testimony, but with no physical evidence, charging it in a hurry would… you know, don't you? That it makes them nervous upstairs."

"I know. That's why, when I first talked this over with you, we set it up assuming it wouldn't fly."

"That's true enough… but I can't help feeling it's a shame."

"This is enough on its own. This was never the place to finish Mun-jong Lee anyway."

"Not the place? No — before that. What do you mean, the place to finish him? What are you talking about?"

"Something along those lines."

Seong-ho Kim tapped Dae-su Park lightly on the back, and the tap said he had done well.

Then he rose from his seat and walked off.

Dae-su Park looked at Seong-ho Kim's back as though something about it were odd, then hurried after him.

"So you've decided to pour it all onto Tae-hun Park?"

Seong-ho Kim turned his head a little to look back at Dae-su Park, who was hurrying along at his heels, and asked,

Dae-su Park nodded and answered.

"That's right. Either way, we have solid evidence on the attempt to kill Byeong-hui Jang and on the killing of Ju-cheol Seong. Tae-hun Park goes down as the principal in the murder, and Ho-yeong Lee gets indicted alongside him, on charges of complicity and of standing by."

"Roughly how much do you think it'll come to?"

"How much would you like it to come to?"

Seong-ho Kim heard…