Seong-ho Kim knew exactly why Committee Head U kept watching his expression for a reaction.

"You needn't worry. There will be no reduction or cancellation of the support funds simply because the national team's results have been poor."

"Truly?"

Hyeong-sik U beamed as he spoke.

"Thank you so much. I was worried sick that Ilhyeon would be disappointed and cut or shrink the second and third rounds of funding."

"We're not so cold-hearted as to change a sum that's already been finalized. And besides, isn't the current situation like a mock exam before the real exam of the World Cup—a chance to see just where our skill level stands? We shouldn't be judging whether the team is doing well or poorly at this point."

"Oh, my. That's right. You're absolutely correct."

U even clapped his hands together as he chimed in agreement with Seong-ho's words.

"Even though we keep losing right now... we just have to do well at the World Cup. Isn't that so?"

U turned to Gu-taek Song and Myeong-cheol Park, seated beside him, seeking their agreement that he wasn't wrong.

Gu-taek Song and Myeong-cheol Park nodded with awkward expressions at U's question.

"Well... yes. That's right. That would do."

"If we do well at the World Cup, then, well..."

The two men chimed in agreement with the notion that doing well at the World Cup would be enough.

But neither of them believed the national team would do well at the World Cup.

A team that loses every single friendly match—how is it going to do well at the World Cup?

Doing well when it looks likely to become the first host nation ever eliminated in the group stage... We'd be lucky to manage even a single win.

It was a World Cup that carried a jinx of every host nation advancing to the round of sixteen, but going by the national team's current form, not just the round of sixteen but even a single win looked impossible.

Under such circumstances, both men thought that expecting the team to do well at the World Cup was taking…