How to get a non-empty value when accessing a merged cell?

Question

Google Sheets

The problem is that the value of the merged cell (C9:C10) is contained in only one cell, namely the very first one at the time of the merging (C9). What do I need to apply (and do I need a formula for this) so that when I access any cell inside the merged cell (it can be of any height), I get not an empty value, but exactly the one that is formally contained there?
Is there some other way to logically merge two rows without merging their cells (the table is made for simple analytics)?