Byeong-jin Jo looked over the scene — an office that looked more like a crowded marketplace — and clicked his tongue in disbelief. He turned to Byeong-ju Jeong beside him and said, dumbfounded, "I heard a warning from the Head, but I never imagined it would be this bad. My god… what on earth is going on here?"

"Because this is the only place in Korea that still has money."

Byeong-ju was just as startled. But thinking it over, he supposed it wasn't so strange that things had come to this.

"I hear even the private lending market in Jongno has shut its doors. They're saying you can't get dollars from the black-market currency dealers in Namdaemun now even at 1,300 or 1,400 won to the dollar."

"1,300, 1,400 won? Even so… the official exchange rate right now is only just past 1,000, isn't it?"

"It's still sitting in the 1,000s only because the currency market's shut down."

Today, too, the currency market had closed within an hour of opening. With the won-dollar rate hitting the trading limit day after day, the official dollar-trading window had become effectively useless.

Byeong-ju's shoulders slumped, drained at the sight of Korea's future looking so bleak. Just then, Gyeong-deuk Lee clapped him on the back.

"Why are you standing here looking so worn out?"

"Deputy Head."

Byeong-ju came to himself and greeted Deputy Head Gyeong-deuk Lee. Unlike Byeong-ju, Gyeong-deuk seemed positively energized. Receiving Byeong-jin and Byeong-ju's greetings, he looked out over the packed office and smiled.

"People are pouring in with armfuls of collateral, but do you know what I just saw a moment ago?"

"What did you see?"

Byeong-jin chimed in eagerly, as though inviting Gyeong-deuk to tell them.

Lowering his head slightly, as if it were some kind of secret, Gyeong-deuk covered his mouth with a hand and said to the two of them, "I just saw someone from Sunwoo Group go into the Head's office."

"Someone from where?"

"Sunwoo Group? Sunwoo Group came in to meet with the Head?"

Byeong-ju, whose shoulders had drooped a moment ago, and Byeong-jin both looked…