Howon had given Minna and her students two rooms - one for Minna and Eunhee to share and the other for Seungho and Changsun. The rooms were not big, but was spacious enough to fill two twin beds, a wardrobe to hang their garments and a space for their luggages. 

“And the bathroom is shared here,” Howon pointed the two bathroom at opposite sides of the hallway, “The one near the entrance is for males and that one is for females. I’ll leave you to rest, but I’ll be at the main house if you need me. Just knock,” 

Minna and her students thanked Howon again as he exited the guest house. She smiled at the three teenagers who was staring at her with anticipation. 

“Well, looks like our plan has changed,” Minna said, “But we should continue practicing tonight,” 

“Won’t the match be cancelled?” The taller boy, Seungho asked, “It’s flooding pretty bad there,” 

“It’s still better to be prepared,” Minna replied. She knew that repetition is tiring, but if there was one thing she was most proud of her team for, it was their hard work and diligence. And it was her personal mission to bring the international trophy home to Jinhae, “We should all rest up first though, we had a long day. Let’s meet in three hours at seven for dinner with Howon,” 

The boys went to their room and Eunhee tailed Minna to their room across. When Eunhee closed the door behind her, she asked Minna, “Seonsaeng, do you think Howon-goon makes a lot of money?” 

Minna chuckled. She had always find Eunhee unpredictable, which had gotten her into troubles in the past, but she never stopped Eunhee from questioning things, “I don’t know Eunhee, why does it matter?” 

“Because if he makes money doing all of this,” Eunhee grinned as she plopped on her bed and gazed up at the wooden ceiling, “I want to be like Howon-goon,” 

“You mean you want to run a guesthouse like this?” Minna gave her a kind smile. 

Eunhee nodded, “He looks happy running the inn and he doesn’t have to worry about studying or working,” 

“Well, this is his work and I’m sure he has a lot of things to take care and do that we don’t see,” 

“You’re right,” Eunhee turned her gaze outside of the window, towards the young tangerine trees, “But he seems to like what he does, I want to be like that when I grow up.” 

 

~

 

“So, have you considered my offer?” 

Sunggyu wanted to get over with this quickly. But he knew that patience was going to take him where he wanted to be, so for now, he told himself to endure. The office smelt like burnt cigarettes, and it was lit up by old fluorescent lamps in the ceiling that flickered once in a while. Sitting across the table was a middle aged man, who once he had considered an uncle, or maybe closer to a brother. But right now, he considered Lee Jaesok, the CEO of M entertainment, to be a mere business partner. 

“I have,” Sunggyu replied, “But you know that’s not what I want,” 

Jaesok leaned back on his chair and sighed, “I invested so much in the group and I built you all from the ground up, you can’t possibly think I’ll let it go that easily?” 

“I understand, but we’re not even active right now, how much money are you really making from Infinite?” Sunggyu replied. 

“Enough to keep things running here,” 

Sunggyu clenched his teeth, but he forced a diplomatic smile to hide his frustration, “Hyung, you should understand where I’m coming from. We need to make money to live,” 

“You could just do your activities under M Entertainment,” Jaesok suggested, as if he wasn’t the one who told Sunggyu they had to wait until everyone is back from their military duty. 

“Would you let me run things the way I want if you want us to continue our activities under M Entertainment?” 

“Well,” Jaesok tilted his head as if he was thinking hard, but Sunggyu already knew the answer, “You will have to consult things with me first, of course,” 

Sunggyu sighed and averted his gaze to the trophy cabinet behind Jaesok. Almost all of it belonged to Infinite - it belonged to them, but why is it sitting here as if Jaesok was the one who earned it? 

“It looks like we won’t ever come to an agreement,” Sunggyu stated, “If that’s the case, I will have to start involving my lawyer,” 

“Are you bluffing?” 

But when Sunggyu didn’t reply, Jaesok quickly said, “Alright, how about this, I’ll sell Infinite to you, but all credits and copyrights for songs released under M Entertainment will still come to me. It’s not a bad deal, Sunggyu,”

He knew when he dropped the bomb, Jaesok would immediately cease and come up with better terms. Sunggyu didn’t have a lawyer - he wasn’t even sure if he had enough money to pay one. But if it needed to be done, he wouldn’t hesitate. It had been two years since he started this battle and it wasn’t going anywhere closer. 

Sunggyu smiled with satisfaction and nodded his head, “Deal. When can we start signing the paperwork?” 

 

~

 

The first thing Sunggyu did before his flight back to Jeju that evening was pay a visit to one of s with Woohyun tagging along and driving him. When Sunggyu knocked the beige apartment door in front of him, he heard some noisy shuffles from inside the apartment and he turned to Woohyun with his brows furrowed. Woohyun, who was as clueless as him, only gave Sunggyu a shrug. 

The door in front of them finally opened ajar, revealing someone familiar, but not who he was looking for. 

“Sungyoon?” Sunggyu said, half in disbelief. Sungyoon was once a trainee at M entertainment, but he decided to quit and become a solo artist. Sunggyu wished he was as smart as Sungyoon to quit sooner than later. 

“Ah, Sunggyu hyung,” Sungyoon cleared his throat awkwardly as he bowed his head slightly, “And Woohyun hyung,” 

“What are you doing here?” Woohyun asked, even though it was obvious enough. 

Sungyoon was only wearing his boxers, and his grey dyed hair was in a mess. Even then, he still looked good. 

“A-ah that, you know, me and-“ 

“Sungyoon, what’s taking you so long?” A voice came from inside the apartment unit and Sungyoon chuckled awkwardly at the two men in front of him. 

“Yah, Lee Sungjong!