“Have a seat here.”

Seong-ho led Yeong-su Cha to the guardians’ lounge.

“Brother. Would you like some coffee?”

“No. I’m fine.”

Yeong-su Cha, unable to shake his awkward expression since a moment ago, still couldn’t look Seong-ho straight in the eye even alone with him, and kept staring at the floor.

Seong-ho took two bottles of juice from the refrigerator and sat down across from Yeong-su Cha.

“Have this, at least.”

“Ah… thanks.”

Taking the juice Seong-ho handed him, Yeong-su Cha only held it in his hand and kept looking at the floor.

Seong-ho gazed at him quietly for a while, then spoke first.

“Brother. Is there something you want to say to me?”

“That’s… um…”

Unable to get the words out properly, Yeong-su Cha slowly lifted his head.

With eyes that held both apology and shame at once, he gave Seong-ho an awkward smile and finally managed to open his mouth.

“There’s… something I’d like to ask of you…”

Seong-ho tilted his head, as if he couldn’t imagine what Yeong-su Cha could possibly want to ask of him.

“What would you have to ask of me?”

“That’s…”

Even told to go ahead and speak, Yeong-su Cha hesitated a moment more, and only after squeezing his eyes shut could he finally begin.

“It’s nothing else, but—you remember when we were all gathered together?”

“You mean when Gyeong-eun was moved to a regular room?”

“Yes. That time.”

Yeong-su Cha fidgeted with the juice bottle Seong-ho had given him.

“Do you remember what Father said to your sister-in-law then?”

“You mean about raising Ilhyeon Card’s subscriber count to 10 million?”

“Yes. That…”

Gripping the juice bottle tightly, Yeong-su Cha finally got to the point with Seong-ho.

“Ilhyeon Card’s current subscriber count, as you know, is 8 million. And even that’s a near-fictional number padded out by pulling in capital-financing subscribers. Raising that to 10 million… you know that’s no easy task, don’t you?”

Listening to Yeong-su Cha, Seong-ho could roughly guess why he’d stayed behind to talk to him like this.

And a thought suddenly came to him about how he might make use of this opportunity.

Not knowing that Seong-ho’s mind had wandered elsewhere, Yeong-su Cha went on.

“So I talked it over a great deal with my wife, and the conclusion we came to was… you’re attending the Blue House–hosted big deal as our group’s representative, aren’t you? We were hoping you might acquire another group’s card company there…”

Seong-ho looked quietly at Yeong-su Cha.

He didn’t “talk it over”—he was given a one-sided order.

Without needing to see it happen, Seong-ho could tell that Jeong-eun had unilaterally instructed Yeong-su Cha, and that Yeong-su Cha, having received that instruction, was now sitting before him making the request.

He knew from the former life exactly what kind of person Jeong-eun was.

And he understood very well, too, how uncomfortable Yeong-su Cha felt carrying out such an order.

“I’m sorry. To ask such a thing so suddenly… but however I think about it, there’s no proper way to raise the subscriber count to 10 million…”

“Is that what you think too, Brother?”

“Hm?”

“Do you truly believe there’s no way to raise the subscriber count other than acquiring another card company?”

At Seong-ho’s words, Yeong-su Cha hung his head.

He knew it himself.

That this method was nothing more than leaning on someone else without any effort of his own.

Seong-ho turned his head to look at the door connecting to the hospital room.

They really are different.

Gyeong-eun had made an entirely different choice from Jeong-eun.

She had thought up her own way to climb higher and given her utmost to carry it out.

But Jeong-eun tried to climb easily by leaning on someone else’s strength.

Feeling anew the difference in caliber between Gyeong-eun and Jeong-eun, Seong-ho turned his head back to Yeong-su Cha.

Knowing that Jeong-eun’s method was a shameful one, Yeong-su Cha couldn’t properly lift his head.

Seong-ho spoke slowly to him.

“Acquiring another card company or installment-finance firm to raise the subscriber count is certainly one method. But do you think the Chairman wouldn’t know?”

“He’d certainly give us hell for it…”

“You can already picture it, can’t you?”

Yeong-su Cha nodded, as if he too knew this.

Seong-ho spoke to him in a low voice.

“Rather than that, how about raising the subscriber count organically instead?”

“Organically?”

Yeong-su Cha seemed to consider Seong-ho’s words for a moment, then shook his head.

“If it could increase that easily, why would I be asking you? Korea’s economy is at rock bottom right now, so even existing subscribers are canceling—there’s no way we could manufacture new subscribers on our own. It’s impossible. Using this big deal to acquire another card company is a faster, easier path.”

“Is it, though? Is acquiring another card company really easier than raising the subscriber count?”

Seong-ho first shook his head to signal the difficulty, then began explaining to Yeong-su Cha.

“A new government has come to power in a bad economy. Do you think the new government will just throw up its hands and say, ‘Oh dear, the economy really is bad’?”

“They wouldn’t… would they?”

“Right. That’s exactly why they’re pushing this big deal as part of the industry reorganization, isn’t it?”

Yeong-su Cha nodded at Seong-ho’s words.

Unless it were the tail end of a lame-duck presidency, a president who had only just taken power would never simply sit back and watch a broken economy stay broken.

“The external situation hasn’t changed at all right now. The only thing that’s changed is us. So isn’t the solution rather simple?”

“How so?”

“Domestic demand stimulus.”

“Domestic demand stimulus?”

Yeong-su Cha’s eyes widened as he looked at Seong-ho.

Seong-ho reached for the juice bottle still just sitting in Yeong-su Cha’s hand.

He opened the cap and handed it back to him, saying,

“The best way to revive the economy right now is to stimulate domestic demand. To make people spend money.”

“Make people spend money…”

Yeong-su Cha murmured Seong-ho’s words softly, lowering his head to look at the juice bottle.

Seong-ho watched him and continued.

“They’ll lower interest rates and pump money into the market. First they’ll revive the broken domestic demand, and on that strength, they’ll surely try to bring the collapsed economy back to life. So if people are going to spend money, what do you think they’ll spend it with? Will they go around with pockets stuffed full of cash like before?”

“…Card usage will increase.”

Yeong-su Cha spoke the thought that came to him after hearing Seong-ho out.

Seong-ho smiled.

“Do you think other groups don’t know this? Even if the new government demanded it as a big-deal card, would they hand it over?”

“They wouldn’t hand it over…”

“And if you’re asking me to bring one back for you, how am I supposed to manage that? Even candy in a child’s hand takes twisting their wrist to pry loose—how could I possibly bring back a card company that’s about to become a goose laying golden eggs?”

“That’s true. You’re right. But…”

Even if the new government meant to normalize Korea’s economy through domestic demand stimulus, that was, after all, a matter of the future.

Until then, they’d have to endure Tak-hyeon’s criticism for failing to reach 10 million subscribers, and even when that day came, there was no guarantee it would produce 10 million subscribers.

Yeong-su Cha could only look down at the juice bottle, thinking that though a bright future was in store, the road there might be a rough one.

Seong-ho dangled the bait before him.

“10 million subscribers. It’s true that’s not a number you can produce just by sitting still and saying, ‘Please subscribe.'”

At Seong-ho’s words, Yeong-su Cha, who had been looking down at the juice bottle, lifted his head.

Seong-ho opened the cap of the bottle in front of him and downed the juice inside in one gulp.

“Even at the market, before they sell fruit, they cut some up and offer it for you to taste first. Is a card company any different? To us, card subscribers are our customers buying our product, aren’t they?”

“So you’re saying to give a gift when someone subscribes to the card?”

“Giving a gift is one thing, but… hasn’t Ilhyeon Card, until now, only issued cards to people who came to us directly asking for one? Why not change that a little?”

“Change it…? How?”

“By approaching the customer first. Going out into the streets ourselves to bring in customers.”

“Hmm…”

“Instead of waiting for the customer to come to us, Ilhyeon Card goes to where the customer is. And we throw out bait to secure them.”

Seong-ho waved the now-empty juice bottle before Yeong-su Cha as if it were the bait itself, and said,

“The marketing costs will be considerable for the moment. But if the customers we secure that way go on to use their cards under the new government’s policies…”

“…It’s not a losing proposition.”

Yeong-su Cha, seeming to understand Seong-ho’s words, nodded.

Confirming that Yeong-su Cha had taken the bait, Seong-ho set the bottle he’d been waving down on the table.

Now he knows what to do, doesn’t he?

He felt that just from talking this much, Yeong-su Cha would move on his own from here.

And Seong-ho knew very well, from his experience in the former life, just what kind of results such self-driven action would produce later on.

Seong-ho looked at the pensive Yeong-su Cha and smiled without a word.

The examination center had been bustling with people for some time now.

The reason for the bustle wasn’t that many people had come for checkups.

It was because men in suits kept flocking to the one occupied VIP room.

Nurse Yang looked at the people heading toward the VIP room and said to the head nurse beside her,

“There seem to be more men in suits at this hospital than patients or doctors.”

The head nurse watched the departing figures alongside Nurse Yang and nodded.

“Of course there are. But you have to understand.”

“Understand? Why?”

The head nurse gestured with her chin toward where the men had gone and said,

“You know who’s admitted there, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then you know who her husband is too?”

“I do. He’s the head of the Ilhyeon Group’s Restructuring Headquarters.”

“Right.”

The head nurse gave Nurse Yang a look that said, now do you understand?

But Nurse Yang still didn’t seem to get it, only blinking.

The head nurse gave a short laugh and handed over the chart she’d been looking at.

“Never mind, don’t bother thinking about it, just take the VIP patient’s vitals check to the center director.”

Nurse Yang took the chart in her arms and grumbled.

“The VIP really must be something. For any other patient, we’d just report by phone that there’s nothing unusual, but for the VIP’s chart the center director has to check it with his own eyes. So all it’s done is give us more work. So annoying…”

“Enough nonsense, hurry and take it. The center director will be waiting.”

“Yes, I’ll be right back.”

Chart in hand, Nurse Yang headed toward the center director’s office.

The head nurse watched her go, then turned to look at the VIP room and muttered to herself,

“Says he can’t leave his sick wife’s side, and yet he’s calling his staff in to the hospital. Quite something, really. If my husband were like that, I’d carry him around on my back…”

The head nurse looked at the VIP room with an envious gaze.

In the guardians’ lounge set up beside this VIP room that so many envied, a lively discussion about the big deal was underway.

“I think we can bring in electronics, automobiles, and petrochemicals, at the very least.”

Byeong-ju Jeong pulled a document out from among the stack of papers on the table and held it out to Seong-ho.

“This is material that came out from inside Sunwoo Group.”

Seong-ho took the document Byeong-ju Jeong handed him and looked over its contents as he listened.

“Word inside Sunwoo Group is that they may have to give up either automobiles or electronics. What you’re looking at now is a summarized financial statement for both divisions.”

“They posted a 300 billion won loss last year alone?”

“Yes. Automobiles alone lost 300 billion, and electronics posted a loss of over 50 billion as well. It seems Sunwoo Motors couldn’t avoid the fallout from Doa Motors either. Sunwoo Electronics was hit by the downturn.”

“Sunwoo Motors… Sunwoo Electronics…”

Seong-ho muttered to himself as he looked at the document Byeong-ju Jeong had handed him, and Byeong-jin Jo chimed in to back up Byeong-ju Jeong’s point.

“If that’s the talk coming out from inside Sunwoo, isn’t it worth a try? If we swallow even Sunwoo Motors, our Ilhyeon would monopolize the domestic market. Taking Sunwoo Electronics would also be a big help for our home-appliance business, so it’s not a bad choice either. Head, why don’t we give it a shot?”

Byeong-jin Jo offered his support and gauged Seong-ho’s reaction.

Byeong-ju Jeong, who had proposed it first, was doing the same.

Because with a single word from Seong-ho, not just the Ilhyeon Group but Korea’s industrial landscape itself would be reorganized.

After thinking in silence for a while, Seong-ho tossed the document he’d been looking at onto the table and rose from his seat.

Byeong-jin Jo, Byeong-ju Jeong, and the Restructuring Headquarters staff who had come with them rose along with Seong-ho.

Seong-ho turned to Byeong-jin Jo and the others and said,

“I’ll discuss it with the Chairman, so let’s wrap up this conversation here for now.”

“You’ll discuss it with the Chairman?”

“Whether it’s Sunwoo Motors or Sunwoo Electronics, it’s no small matter.”

Hearing Seong-ho’s words, Byeong-jin Jo and the others all nodded, and Seong-ho looked down at the stack of documents on the table and said,

“In any case, I understand what you’re saying. Let’s leave it here for today. We’ll take up the rest after I’ve spoken with the Chairman.”

At Seong-ho’s words, Byeong-jin Jo and the others said they’d come again the day after tomorrow, and one by one they left the hospital room.

Once everyone had gone, Seong-ho reached for the leather diary sitting on the table.

He opened the leather diary and checked the results of the big deal that had taken place in the former life.

(End of Chapter 149)