"When your name came up I was startled……"

"Chief. That is……"

"Call me sunbae-nim. The way you used to."

"Yes! Sunbae-nim."

A secret inner room in a private bar in Gangnam.

Flushed and warm with drink, Hong Seokju, chief of Daehan Securities, sat across from Sim Taejun and laughed in good humor.

Chairman Ha Tae-ung had instructed him to pull Sim Taejun up first, for what was coming.

After parting from Chairman Ha Tae-ung he had called Sim Taejun out at once.

Sim Taejun had learned the work under Hong Seokju in his own Daehan Bank days. He is branch manager at Jamsil now, and his position is an awkward one.

Fail to get hold of a solid line around this point, and the order of things is to retire with branch manager as the end of it.

Holding on without a line is not an easy thing.

Above executive level at head office, you need a sure line.

For Sim Taejun right now, Chief Hong Seokju of Daehan Securities could be that line.

The Chairman…… and to think he is on good terms with the Chief.

Sim Taejun did not let his guard down. No sooner had he sent Chairman Ha Tae-ung a message of loyalty than a connection like this was handed to him.

"Do you know what the Chairman wants?"

"Not yet……"

Sim Taejun shook his head carefully at Hong Seokju's question.

"I do not know."

"Heh heh."

Hong Seokju looked at Sim Taejun and laughed. His face had reddened with a fair amount of drink in him. But his eyes were bright and clear.

"I did not know either, at first."

"……." "But the moment I heard your name I understood."

Hong Seokju picked up the half-emptied glass and turned it slowly.

Swirl.

The amber whisky rode up the crystal and swirled and swirled.

"The Chairman is not a man who simply uses people."

"What do you……"

"He looks at what you are good for first."

Sim Taejun's face stiffened slightly. Taken a certain way, it was a thing that could give offense.

But by the…