Seongbuk-dong. Chairman Ha Cheolgon's study.

Winter sunlight came through the wide window and lay in long stretches across the floor.

Ha Cheolgon sat at his desk, listening to a report from An Donghyeon, the chief of the general secretariat.

With the cold deepening, he worked from home more often than from the office these days.

"Chief Ha Donghun has been making some unusual moves."

"What's he up to now?"

"He keeps digging around young master Tae-ung. School, financial transactions, even his past connections. He's put people on all of it."

Chairman Ha Cheolgon's expression went cold.

"And the others?"

"Each of them is moving on his own."

"Tsk."

He clicked his tongue quietly. He knew exactly what his boys were thinking, the ones he'd handed pieces of the group to.

They'd be hunting for a weakness, some way to get a hold on his grandson Ha Tae-ung.

And if they found nothing, they meant at least to cook up some trouble that would leave a mark on him.

Not one of them had the ability, and they didn't even know how to join forces.

Who would be the first to trip the boy up!

Each of them had that one goal, and they were hiring people and throwing money at it.

"Any legal trouble?"

"Jo and Jang is blocking it."

"Blocking it well?"

"Yes. Anyone who digs into his personal information or pushes too hard gets a warning right away. And where necessary, they're stepping in directly."

"Of course they are."

Ha Cheolgon nodded.

Jo and Jang. His clever grandson had built his shield before he started anything.

His grandson Ha Tae-ung thought several moves further ahead than his own foolish sons did, grown men who ran the businesses themselves.

Even with Ha Cheolgon for a grandfather, the boy never asked for help.

He hadn't held out his hand to anyone in the family.

He hired his own people and cut his own path, on his own strength alone.

Ha Cheolgon liked that in him all the more.

The children he'd kept by his side all his life, meanwhile, were…