Even though summer had begun, the Ilhyeon baseball club's momentum showed no sign of slowing.

Ilhyeon! Ilhyeon! Ilhyeon!

The crowd packing Jinju Stadium didn't stop chanting Ilhyeon's name even after the game had ended.

Seong-ho Kim watched them from the sky box.

"We're still before the All-Star break, and the gap with second place is fifteen games!"

Byeong-jin Jo spoke in a delighted voice to Vice-Chairman Mun-jong Lee, who was standing there with Seong-ho.

But Vice-Chairman Mun-jong looked utterly uninterested in baseball standings and said with a bored expression—

"Isn't this room supposed to be soundproofed? How are we supposed to talk like this? Can't we do something about the noise from the crowd out there?"

The cheers from the stands seemed to be grating on him.

He glanced around the box and grumbled.

"What the hell is wrong with the people who blow money to come to a place like this? If they want to watch, they can watch comfortably at home. Really. Broke people always have the worst pretensions. If you're broke, live like you're broke — why waste money coming somewhere like this?"

Byeong-jin, who had been in a good mood because the team won today, felt a bitter taste rise in his mouth.

In Mun-jong's eyes, baseball looked like a child's ball-game, and the people cheering for it looked like some sort of underclass with no money in their pockets.

"Brother. But you can see how much the people love it — they're shouting Ilhyeon's name at the top of their lungs, aren't they?"

Seong-ho, wearing a smile, pointed at the stands visible through the window and said—

"They'll all become Ilhyeon customers. As they come to love Ilhyeon baseball, they'll naturally buy Ilhyeon Electronics TVs, drive Ilhyeon Motors cars, stay at Ilhyeon Hotels, and shop at Ilhyeon Department Stores. It's a good thing."

"Even so, what money would ball-game lovers have..."

Even at Seong-ho's words, Mun-jong kept the bored expression and stared out the window with dry eyes.

Seong-ho knew why Mun-jong was acting this way.

"Brother. You don't need to worry. It's already begun."