The acquisition negotiations between Sunwoo Group and Duryong Motors had already fallen through once. What's more, rumors were rampant in the market that a German automaker was set to acquire Duryong's shares and take the company for Germany. Given this, Tak-hyeon found it hard to believe that Sunwoo Group would actually try to acquire Duryong Motors. But Seong-ho knew this improbable-seeming thing was true — because he remembered, quite clearly, that Sunwoo Group had already gone on to acquire Duryong Motors in that former life.

Not knowing this, Tak-hyeon couldn't help but question it, and so he pressed Seong-ho for the reason.

"Sunwoo means to revive a deal that already fell apart? What's the reason?"

"Because Sunwoo Motors needs to grow larger in order to survive."

"Hm… well, that's true enough. Sunwoo Motors isn't in a good position to survive on its own in the current situation. It's fair that they'd need to grow to survive somehow… but couldn't they survive by acquiring Doa Motors instead? There's no reason they'd have to insist on Duryong Motors specifically, is there?"

Tak-hyeon still couldn't help but question why Sunwoo would try to revive an already-dead deal for Duryong Motors when Doa Motors sat right there on the market.

Seong-ho looked Tak-hyeon in the eye and said, "Because in that case, the tail would be wagging the dog. With Sunwoo Motors' debt already substantial, taking on Doa Motors' debt on top would be too much to bear. If they acquired Doa Motors, there's a real risk Sunwoo Motors itself could collapse along with it. That's why Sunwoo Group is going after Duryong, which carries relatively smaller debt, rather than Doa Motors. This is the first reason we shouldn't accept Sunwoo's proposal."

Though Seong-ho explained in detail, Tak-hyeon didn't fully agree. If he were Sunwoo's chairman, he could see several points that would need addressing. But he couldn't keep dwelling on this one issue alone — because the word "first" in Seong-ho's explanation kept echoing in his ears.

"Sounds like there's a second and third reason too. Go on, then — tell me why…