House Steward Ung-hyeon Lee frowned at the sudden crowd and moved to block them. But Seong-ho gestured that it was fine and spoke loudly to Chairman Cheol-jin Choi of Homyeong Construction and the others gathered there.

"You want to borrow money? Fine. I'll go in and speak with the chairman about it."

"Seong-ho!"

Gyeong-eun, arms crossed, gave him a worried look. She'd assumed that letting these people into the yard and simply leaving them standing there was Tak-hyeon's indirect way of signaling he had no intention of lending anyone money. Seong-ho wasn't unaware of that either. But to his eyes, this too looked like an opportunity — which was why he'd told them he'd try asking on their behalf. Of course, he wasn't offering to simply lend the money outright.

Patting Gyeong-eun's hand to reassure her, Seong-ho went on. "If you're able to put up collateral, I'll go in and persuade the chairman to lend you the money."

"Collateral?"

"Yes."

Seong-ho looked Cheol-jin Choi in the eye. "If Homyeong Construction can put up the land it holds in Seocho, I'll lend you money matched to its value."

"The Seocho land is…"

At Cheol-jin's troubled look, Seong-ho spoke loudly enough for everyone else to hear as well.

"Listen, all of you. Right now, you can't borrow money from the banks even with collateral. I imagine you already know that, which is why you've all come here."

Seong-ho paused a moment and looked around at the people gathered. None of them could argue with that. The reason they'd come here instead of a bank was painfully obvious.

To the silent crowd, Seong-ho went on. "I'm sure the chairman would want to lend money to all of you, valuing these long relationships — as would I. But you know as well as anyone how bad the situation is right now. In a time like this, lending money to others before securing our own house could easily look like a breach of fiduciary duty."

At this, Byeong-mu Choi tried to object. "Breach of fiduciary duty, what nonsense—"

But Cheol-jin cut him off. "Quiet."

Cheol-jin…