"You're a vice-chairman, and you've got so little judgment as this? You could have waited until the other man finished speaking and then said your piece — you couldn't hold that in? And of all places, carrying on like that at a regular presidents' meeting — what do you suppose the other affiliate presidents make of it?"

At Tak-hyeon's roar, Mun-jong lowered his head a fraction and, without meaning to, muttered under his breath. "They're just hired hands living off our money anyway…"

"What?"

"Nothing."

Mun-jong hurriedly lifted his head. "I was in the wrong. From now on I'll pay more attention to how I conduct myself."

Mun-jong knew that apologizing quickly and begging pardon was the fastest way out of this. So even though it was a thing he couldn't accept, he meant to smooth it over with an apology.

Tak-hyeon knew Mun-jong's manner well enough. But since the man was, at least on the surface, apologizing, he couldn't very well keep scolding him.

"Fine. Then…"

Just as he was about to close the matter out, Seong-ho approached the spot where Tak-hyeon and Mun-jong stood.

"Chairman."

Tak-hyeon, about to deliver his parting word, stopped at the sight of Seong-ho coming up. Standing beside Mun-jong, Seong-ho spoke to Tak-hyeon on Mun-jong's behalf.

"Please don't be too hard on Brother. To Brother, acquiring Doa Motors may well have seemed more important than anything else. And I agree myself that Doa Motors is a company we ought to take. It's only that the timing he had in mind differed from mine, so our views parted — that's all."

Seong-ho tossed a fresh log onto a fire that had been dying down.

Mun-jong felt like planting a hand on Seong-ho's back and shoving him off — telling him the matter was already settled and he should go. But seeing Tak-hyeon's expression shift the moment the words "Doa Motors" came up, he couldn't quite bring himself to drive Seong-ho away. After all, he took it that Seong-ho had come for his sake.

"Right, Doa Motors… Let's hear it, then. Why did you throw such…