"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…