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June 29, 1995. 2 p.m. Seocho District, Seoul, South Korea.
40,000 shoppers moved through the five floors of the Sampoong Department Store. Families drifted between clothing racks. Teenagers crowded the food court. Children pressed their hands against the glass display cases near the entrance.

Unbeknownst to them, up above on the fifth floor, the mall's top executives were having a meeting to decide their fate.

The building's cooling systems had been switched off roughly an hour earlier, and the hot air in the room had gone completely still. Spread across the table in front of them were maintenance logs, photographs, and handwritten warnings.

Chairman Lee Joon rose from the table and delivered his instruction.
The mall would stay open.

Then, at 5:40 pm, without a word to anyone, the executives walked out of the building to safety and left thousands of customers and employees to die.

But the story does not begin with that meeting. It had been building since early that morning.

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