Black Label [EN]: Chapter 116

Black Label 115

116. Boys, be ambitious

Thus, the first night in Korea passed.

As soon as the next morning dawned, I finished my simple preparations and started walking towards the Wall Flower office.

The midsummer sun was causing heat haze to ripple above the asphalt.

Even though I was just walking slowly, sweat poured out and soaked my T-shirt.

I was filled with unpleasantness, but when a cool breeze occasionally blew and cooled my sweat, I felt good again.

It’s summer again. I am passing through the middle of summer, which has come without fail this year as well.

“Hoo-.”

Jae-seung, who had been walking non-stop, finally took a breath and stopped in front of a tall building.

It was the building where Wall Flower’s new office, which had recently moved for the purpose of expansion, was located.

Since it had moved to a newly built commercial building next door, it was practically located only about 50m away from the existing office.

Soon, Jae-seung began to walk vigorously into the commercial building. Perhaps because it was a commercial building dedicated to offices, where famous insurance companies and several venture companies were located?

Just stepping into the lobby floor gave me the feeling that it would have several times better facilities than the existing office.

After getting on the elevator, I looked in the mirror and straightened my clothes and hair again.

Soon, as a cheerful notification sound rang, the elevator door opened.

“S, CEO…?”

Jae-seung was able to meet Lee Kang-jun from the design team, who was waiting for the elevator.

Just as Jae-seung was about to say hello, Lee Kang-jun shouted, “I really missed you-!” and hugged Jae-seung tightly. It was quite a sudden welcome, but Jae-seung didn’t dislike it.

Soon, Jae-seung lightly patted Lee Kang-jun’s back and replied in an infinitely gentle tone.

“Me too. I really missed you too, Kang-jun.”

After a deep hug, Lee Kang-jun continued, looking quite excited.

“CEO, is this your first time coming to the new office? I’ll show you around.”

“Then I’d be grateful. But weren’t you waiting for the elevator to go down?”

“That’s right, but it’s okay. I left my phone charger behind, so I was just going to my car for a while.”

After speaking, Lee Kang-jun said, “Come this way,” and started walking a few steps ahead.

As Jae-seung exchanged such conversations with Lee Kang-jun about their recent activities, they were walking along a spacious hallway.

“Ah, hello?!”

Some faces I had never seen before began to greet me with a very disciplined look.

Although I didn’t know them well, I thought they were newly hired employees and responded with a smiling face and an infinitely gentle tone.

Among them, there were also some fresh female employees. Soon, Lee Kang-jun whispered in a low voice.

“We’ve hired a lot of employees while you were away. A few design intern employees have also joined, and a *CS* (Customer Satisfaction) department has also been newly established. All the female employees are from the CS department.”

As Jae-seung nodded and replied, “I see,” Lee Kang-jun stopped in front of a large glass door at the end of the hallway and said again.

“Here it is.”

Soon, as Lee Kang-jun opened the glass door with all his might, Jae-seung unknowingly let out a short exclamation, “Oh….” It was because of the view of the new office seen through the door.

What should I say? It felt like a company atmosphere was now in full swing?

At least a dozen desks were closely attached to each other, and partitions were placed between them. Also, some employees I had never seen before were carrying bundles of documents and busily moving around the office.

As Jae-seung was busy looking around the interior of the office, Lee Kang-jun added an explanation in a gentle tone.

“This is the space used by the CS department employees and office workers. Our design team employees have a separate workspace inside.”

When I turned my gaze towards Lee Kang-jun’s fingertips, I saw a door with a sign that said ‘Design Room’.

Soon, Jae-seung tilted his head slightly as if he was curious and asked.

“I think I should see Director Song first, but where is Director Song?”

“He’s probably in the design room. Director Song also works in the same space as our design team employees.”

Jae-seung frowned and asked, “Huh? Why?”

Could it be that there wasn’t even one room to use as the CEO’s office in this large space?

Soon, Lee Kang-jun started walking towards the design room inside and replied.

“He says it’s to monitor us, but well? Actually, there is one room left. One wall is made of glass, so it has the best view, and only high-end wood furniture is brought in, and the interior is the most elaborate, so I thought he would use it as the CEO’s office….”

After hesitating for a moment, Lee Kang-jun shrugged his shoulders and added.

“He said that room is the ‘CEO’s office’ that you will use when you come back.”

After letting out a sigh, “Huh…,” Jae-seung finally smiled. It was a decision that was truly like Director Song.

It seemed that Director Song was waiting eagerly for the day he would return, leaving a space for himself.

Jae-seung, who had already arrived in front of the design room, took a deep breath while holding the doorknob tightly in his hand.

I felt nervous for no reason at the thought of facing the employees after a long time.

Soon, Jae-seung opened the tightly closed door with all his might.

“Oh? CEO!”

“CEO-!”

The employees, who were concentrating on their work while sitting in their seats, stood up and began to welcome Jae-seung.

It seemed that deep joy was lingering on the faces of those employees.

Director Song was the same.

After smiling, he even clapped his hands and welcomed Jae-seung in his unique sarcastic tone.

“Wow, I’m actually seeing our CEO’s face in person? I thought I could only see it on TV or the internet.”

Soon, Jae-seung sat down on the sofa in the center of the design room and greeted everyone in a low voice.

“How have you all been?”

As Jae-seung took a seat, Director Song and the design team employees began to sit on the sofa one after another.

Only a few intern employees who had recently joined were still standing guard at their seats, constantly hesitating.

Soon, Director Song gestured to them and continued in a very gentle tone.

“What are you all doing standing there? Come and sit down quickly.”

As the intern employees, who didn’t know what to do, began to sit in the empty seats on the sofa one by one, Director Song looked at Jae-seung again and continued.

“Say hello. These are the newly hired intern employees. They are all geniuses who came through a huge competition. You may or may not know, but after the CEO started making a name for himself, whenever we posted a job advertisement, we would be flooded with job application emails. It’s a lot of work to look through them all.”

Jae-seung felt awkward for no reason and asked briefly, “Is that so?” At that moment, Director Song asked again.

“By the way, what about school? Did you take a leave of absence?”

“Ah, I’ve discussed it with Parsons [Parsons School of Design in New York City].”

“Discussed? What kind of discussion?”

Soon, Jae-seung began to briefly summarize the details of the discussion with Parsons Design School. In fact, at first, he only wanted to apply for a ‘leave of absence’.

I wanted to strengthen Wall Flower’s internal affairs now that the media’s attention was focused on it, and I had to move to Dior House in France from the end of this year to start preparing for haute couture [high fashion].

However, Professor Edin Thomas, who heard about these circumstances, suspended Jae-seung’s leave of absence application and soon delivered good news.

“I was originally going to apply for a leave of absence, but Parsons made a good offer first. They said that even if I don’t attend classes, they will acknowledge my attendance if I submit assignments for required courses and take exams through the Parsons website.”

“Oh, really? Isn’t that a very unusual treatment? Are there any similar precedents among other Parsons-trained designers?”

“Yes. I think there were a few before. Actually, it’s not a decision for me, but a decision for the school. If I get a Parsons degree, then I’ll have a career of producing haute couture designers.”

Soon, Director Song nodded a few times and opened his mouth again.

“Anyway, that’s good. So how long can you stay in Korea?”

“I think I’ll be in Korea until the end of the year.”

Various conversations took place. I heard a lot about how Director Song had been doing and how the employees had been doing.

I had talked on the phone several times, but most of them ended briefly.

The employees were shining their eyes and asking questions about active designers and the New York fashion scene.

Jae-seung had only briefly set foot in it, but it was a dream area for the employees.

As I was talking, 30 minutes had already passed.

Everyone seemed to want to hear more of Jae-seung’s heroic stories, but it was time for the employees to work, and Jae-seung had too many things to discuss separately with Director Song.

“Let’s share the rest of the story at the company dinner soon….”

After hesitating, Jae-seung looked at Director Song and opened his mouth again.

“First of all, Director Song.”

“Yeah?”

“Please show me around the CEO’s office.”

Having finished speaking, Jae-seung added, “And I have something to discuss with you separately.” Director Song nodded a few times and immediately jumped up from his seat.

The employees naturally returned to their desks, and Jae-seung followed Director Song straight to the CEO’s office. Soon, he stepped into the CEO’s office for the first time.

“Oh….”

Jae-seung couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration. Just as Lee Kang-jun had told him, the CEO’s office was quite well-decorated.

Beyond the glass wall, the entire city of Ilsan was visible.

And on the spacious wooden desk, there was a new iMac PC along with various computer peripherals.

Soon, Director Song picked up the phone on the wooden desk and asked softly, “Coffee? Tea? Water?”

It seemed that a separate internal phone was set up, connected to the front office.

But what to say? Director Song’s appearance was just cute.

It was as if he were a child showing off a new toy, with such an innocent look on his face.

Jae-seung chuckled and sat down on the plush sofa, answering softly.

“I’ll just have a glass of water.”

“Okay.”

Not long after, a young female employee entered the CEO’s office with two glasses of water on a tray. It seemed they were prepared with luxurious crystal glasses, considering the reception of guests.

After the female employee carefully closed the door and left, Director Song spoke again.

“Actually, I really wanted to use this phone once. I needed an excuse. Now I finally get to use it.”

After speaking, Director Song scratched his back with a back scratcher and spoke again.

“Anyway, why did you call me separately? Seeing as you called me out, it seems like there’s a pretty important matter?”

“Yes, that’s right. Director, how’s the interview request situation?”

“To put it a bit exaggeratedly, it’s beyond counting. If we were to accept all the interview requests coming in, I’d have to know how to use shadow clones, you know?” [Shadow clones are a reference to a ninja technique that creates multiple copies of oneself.]

After speaking, Director Song paused for a moment and asked, “I’m only asking just in case, but you don’t happen to know how to use shadow clones, do you?”

Jae-seung chuckled and replied briefly, “No, unfortunately.” Then, in a calm tone, he continued.

“Could you please organize and pass me the list of media outlets that have requested interviews?”

“Okay. I think I can send it to you by lunchtime today at the latest.”

It was a golden opportunity to do effective marketing for free.

If the amount that should have been invested in marketing was used to improve the quality of the product, wouldn’t it naturally lead to public acclaim?

Of course, just because it was a good opportunity didn’t mean they could respond to interview requests from all media outlets.

First, they needed to properly identify which media outlets were worthwhile, and then carefully select which requests to respond to, in order to proceed efficiently.

Jae-seung nodded a few times and immediately brought up the next item on the agenda.

“Before preparing for the next season’s products, I’m thinking of opening an offline store for Wallflower.”

Director Song, seemingly startled, asked back, “What…?” Silence filled the spacious CEO’s office for a moment.

“Are you serious? So suddenly?”

“It’s about time we opened one, isn’t it?”

“Well, yes, but….”

Director Song trailed off, furrowing his brow slightly as he fell into thought.

Opening an offline store wasn’t an unrealistic idea either.

Thanks to the consecutive successes over the past few seasons, the amount of money tied up in Wallflower itself had become quite large.

“If we work hard to find a commercial district with reasonable rent, we should be able to open a few stores without much difficulty, just with the funds tied up in Wallflower….”

“But?”

“Maintenance is the problem. I’m worried that it’s too risky of an attempt. As you know, the efficiency compared to the investment is not great. Wouldn’t it be better to continue supplying to good select shops like now and explore new routes?”

Jae-seung shook his head firmly.

“No. We absolutely have to open one.”

“Is there a specific reason?”

“We can’t just keep being at the mercy of select shops, can we?”

“That’s true, but….”

As Director Song said, the risk was too great, and the efficiency compared to the investment was not great either.

However, Jae-seung’s opinion was also valid.

Leaving aside small-scale select shops, signing contracts with large select shops where famous brands were heavily represented always felt like a major challenge.

Because Wallflower didn’t have its own store, the select shop naturally took the position of the ‘gap’ [superior party in a business relationship], and Wallflower took the position of the ‘eul’ [inferior party in a business relationship].

As Director Song was lost in deep thought, Jae-seung added, as if to drive the point home.

“After finishing the Dior Haute Couture creative director project, I’m going to stay in Korea and focus solely on growing Wallflower. I’m also thinking of challenging prestigious fashion weeks around the world under the Wallflower brand name.”

“Hmm….”

“We can’t just keep hanging around select shops or outlets then, can we? That’s absolutely unacceptable. We’ll have to create a premium line and break into department store luxury boutiques, and also open up overseas routes. But we don’t have a single store of our own? Have you ever seen a brand in a luxury boutique that doesn’t have its own store?”

Director Song nodded a few times. Everything he said was right.

Looking far ahead, really far ahead, opening an offline store would definitely be one of the obstacles that had to be overcome.

However, the only problem was that Jae-seung was looking too far into the future.

“Okay. Then let’s get this straight first. How many stores are you planning to open this time?”

Director Song asked, then immediately picked up his glass and started drinking water.

Peeking through the water glass that half-obscured his view, he saw Jae-seung folding his fingers one by one, counting them off.

And then.

“Hongdae, Yeonnam-dong, Itaewon, Gangnam, Myeongdong. For now, those are the five places I have in mind. If conditions allow, I’d like to open more.”

The moment Jae-seung answered, Director Song started coughing, “Cough! Cough!”

“Was your selection criteria perhaps in order of highest rent?”

“Absolutely not.”

Director Song shook his head vigorously and continued.

“Let’s say Yeonnam-dong is okay. But Hongdae, Itaewon, Gangnam, Myeongdong, do you even know how much the monthly rent is? Half of the purpose is to show off anyway, isn’t it? It’s too inefficient. Instead of doing that, pick just three of the five places. If you overdo it like that, the funds you can operate with will decrease too much. What if we have a bad season?”

After speaking, Director Song added in a desperate voice, “President, let’s think about the future a little bit as we proceed. Are we going to make a lot of money during the peak season and then pay the rent during the off-season? That’s not what we want, is it?”

“It’s okay. That won’t happen, and from the beginning, I was planning to use the funds tied up in Wallflower to improve the production line, not to open stores.”

“What? Then where will the funds to open the stores come from?”

“First, for the Yeonnam-dong store, I’m going to buy a low-rise building with the 3 billion I have in hand and then open it.”

Yeonnam-dong, which was confirmed for redevelopment in 2006, is slowly going through a period of upheaval in 2013.

Although Yeonnam-dong is currently on the rise, the commercial district will only begin to fully activate from 2014 onwards.

With approximately 3 billion won in ammunition, there would be no problem at all in purchasing a dilapidated low-rise building in the outskirts.

The Yeonnam-dong building that he would purchase would be repainted on the exterior, the interior facilities would be reorganized, and then it would be given as a gift to his father.

Since it would later gain the reputation of ‘Yeontral Park’ [a nickname for Yeonnam-dong Park, comparing it to Central Park in New York], it would definitely play a golden role.

Of course, the first floor of the building where Wallflower’s store would be located was an exception.

“Okay, let’s say Yeonnam-dong is okay. Then what about the rest? Is money going to fall from the sky?”

“Have you ever seen money fall from the sky? It just pops out of your pocket.”

“So, what I’m saying is, whose pocket is that big money going to pop out of?”

Jae-seung immediately took out a business card holder that he had carefully kept in his back pocket.

It was a business card holder with the business cards of overseas tycoons he had met and formed relationships with through Alexander King’s show and the Parsons·F.I.T competition, neatly arranged.

“These are the business cards of overseas investors I have personal connections with. The business cards that are marked with a pen are people who have already confirmed their investment.”

Director Song, with a blank face, began to look through the business cards in the business card holder he had just received, one by one.

Surprisingly, most of the business cards inside were marked at the corners. The calculator in his head started running quickly.

At this point, it seemed that Jae-seung’s usual words were a clear expression of his true feelings.

His words that he would put Wallflower in the ranks of the world’s top brands, no, that he would put it at the very top.

Soon, Jae-seung, who had been quietly watching Director Song, paused for a moment and spoke again.

“As I’ve been living my life, it seems that there are many more people who want to bet big money on my future.”

“Huh, well….”

“Do you remember what I said when I brought you here, Director?”

Director Song muttered in a low voice, “Of course, I remember,” and then continued.

“At that time, you probably said, let’s play in really big waters…?”

Jae-seung took a few sips of the water in his glass and replied in a very serious voice.

“Shall we slowly get in?”