"First of all, let me say thank you for accepting our invitation like this."

Seong-ho Kim looked once at the interpreter passing his words to Eric Rubin, then turned to the Ilhyeon Electronics people seated on either side of him and said,

"I have heard that you were insulted at the last negotiation. I will apologize on Ilhyeon Electronics' behalf."

Seong-ho Kim finished speaking and bowed his head.

The Ilhyeon Electronics staff who saw it did not know what to do with themselves, and Eric Rubin, sitting across from him, was just as flustered and hurriedly put out a hand toward Seong-ho Kim.

"No, no. I think that sort of thing can happen."

Eric Rubin looked over the Ilhyeon Electronics staff in the room and said,

"It happened to me countless times in America too, so it was nothing special."

"That is not so. Be that as it may, mockery is not a thing that can be allowed."

Seong-ho Kim set his face hard and looked around at the executives seated to left and right.

"I will not go looking for who did it, why he said what he said, or exactly what he meant by it. But those of you who were in the room will know who said what."

Seong-ho Kim's cold words sent the executives' heads down, as though they meant to drive themselves into the ground.

The present situation felt more frightening to them than being taken to task for why they had done such a thing.

"If a story like that reaches my ears one more time, you had better be ready for it. Because any man who has set his mind on ruining this company — I will chase him into hell and make his life a misery."

It was a threat: Seong-ho Kim would not stop at simply making a man leave the company.

Yong-gyun Shin, Sector Head of the Information & Communications Sector, and the others came to see that this was not simply an acquisition negotiation.

It was an occasion for gathering the executives and warning them.

This side of Seong-ho…