Black Label [EN]: Chapter 138

138. Korean Haute Couture

Inside a fairly spacious room, large posters of Korean idol singer Kwon Ji-hoon were plastered on the wall at regular intervals.

‘Sally,’ the owner of this room, is a college student living in San Francisco.

She was currently sitting hunched in a chair in front of her computer, completely absorbed in staring at the monitor screen.

She was watching Kwon Ji-hoon’s new song and music video, which had just been released the day before.

‘He’s so cool….’

It had been three years since she fell in love with K-POP, thanks to a Korean exchange student friend.

In the meantime, countless singers had appeared and released new songs. However, she was convinced that no singer could replace Kwon Ji-hoon.

It wasn’t that she was so deeply in love with Kwon Ji-hoon from the beginning.

She merely spent her leisure time listening to Kwon Ji-hoon’s songs or looking up related information.

Of course, the situation had changed drastically now.

Buying every album as soon as it was released was a given, and she was spending a considerable amount of money each month to purchase merchandise, including posters.

Moreover, whenever Kwon Ji-hoon or his idol group had a U.S. tour concert scheduled, she would wage war to get tickets.

After getting tickets through extremely fierce competition, she would drive a long distance of 13 hours to attend the concert.

In the process, she came to love not only Kwon Ji-hoon but also the country of Korea itself.

She even started studying Korean language and culture about two years ago, and now she has even opened a channel on YouTube, the world’s largest video streaming site, to post videos promoting Kwon Ji-hoon and Korea.

It was just a hobby at first, but it had long since surpassed that stage.

The number of subscribers who regularly watch Sally’s channel exceeded 500,000, and now she is able to receive a monthly income that is difficult for a student to earn.

Her life had undergone a major change thanks to Kwon Ji-hoon, so it was only natural that she would fall even deeper in love as time went on.

Sally, who had been watching the music video with a delighted expression, began to nod her head to the beat as if she were completely immersed in the music.

At that moment.

“Hmm?”

Sally frowned, looking puzzled. It was because of the young Asian man who suddenly appeared in the music video.

Suddenly, the scene in the music video changed, and a long dining table was zoomed in on.

The edges of the table were lined with gold and even studded with dazzling jewels here and there, giving it a luxurious feel.

And on top of that table, all sorts of delicacies were laid out.

Soon, the camera angle changed, revealing two men sitting across from each other at the table.

It was none other than Kwon Ji-hoon and Jae-seung. The two men looked relaxed as they used knives to cut their respective steaks.

Sally was intently staring at Jae-seung on the monitor screen.

Although he didn’t have strikingly outstanding looks, he didn’t feel out of place sitting right in front of Kwon Ji-hoon.

Not only the table, but also the chairs the two were sitting on seemed to be more than enough to catch the eye.

They were decorated so lavishly that they resembled ‘thrones.’

Soon, the two men in the video, Kwon Ji-hoon and Jae-seung, picked up gold glasses studded with rubies and lightly toasted.

– Another Class, Awesome Life, Always Flex.

– My friends and I are always careful about what we say.

– Because even casual conversations during meals can become news articles.

Sally nodded her head once and vaguely guessed to herself.

‘But who is he? Is he a close friend of Ji-hoon?’

It was just a guess based on the lyrics. Sally muttered in a low voice, “Let’s see…,” and immediately opened a new internet window.

Since it had been 24 hours since the music video was released, she guessed that if she accessed Kwon Ji-hoon’s fan site, there would be plenty of posts that would clear up her questions.

Sure enough, as expected, the fan site was full of posts related to the music video.

New posts were even being uploaded every few seconds.

Drrr.

[Anyone seen Jihoon’s new music video? Isn’t it so cool? 😀]

└> [Yeah. By the way, who is the Asian guy who appeared in the middle? Is he a Korean singer? Or just a friend? I’ve never seen him before.]

└> [He’s a Korean designer named ‘Lee.’ He’s a famous designer who is close to American designers like Marc Jacobs and Alexander Wang. He’s a recognized artist.]

└> [I knew it. I guessed he was a great person. There’s no way an ordinary person could appear in Jihoon’s music video. By the way, Jihoon is amazing as always. He’s close to not only singers but also designers, right?]

└> [Artists inspire each other. And ‘Lee’ is a designer who was featured in Time magazine. I think more people know him than you think.]

└> [By the way, I heard that all the props and costumes used in Jihoon’s music video were made by the designer ‘Lee’?]

└> [Oh? When I look again, all the props have the ‘Wall Flower’ logo engraved on them? Is the brand that the designer ‘Lee’ runs Wall Flower?]

└> [Bingo! By the way, if you go to the Wall Flower site, you can buy the clothes that Jihoon wore. Although you can only buy some of them….]

└> [Oh my god! Of course, they ship overseas, right? I have to go and buy a few right away.]

└> [Does anyone know more information about the designer ‘Lee’?]

└> [Yeah. I keep getting drawn to him. I want to know more about that designer.]

Sally, who had been looking through the posts and comments with a serious expression, wrote ‘Lee’ on her notebook.

‘This person would be a good topic for the video I’m going to make this time.’

Simply scraping music video clips won’t increase the number of subscribers.

You have to create videos that unravel topics that many people are curious about or interested in.

She was planning to create a video that would interpret the meaning of Kwon Ji-hoon’s new song music video and include information about the designer ‘Lee’ who made a cameo appearance.

Sally nodded her head a few times as if satisfied and immediately began to collect various information.

She could already picture the enthusiastic response from her subscribers.

* * *

– I’m really happy that things are going well, but to be honest, I feel upset and depressed on the other hand.

Jae-seung smiled slightly at Ashlyn’s somewhat gloomy words over the phone and asked back.

“What do you mean? Happy, but also upset and depressed?”

– I’m happy that Lee is gaining fame….

Ashlyn trailed off and let out a long sigh, “Hoo…,” before continuing the words she had swallowed.

– Lee’s SNS, I mean. It’s full of girls’ comments, right? I’m really upset and depressed.

Jae-seung shook his head once and continued to speak again.

“That’s just a temporary phenomenon, right? As Ashlyn knows, the artist he worked with is such a famous person.”

– Don’t become too famous. No, even if you become famous, I wish you would give me time to prepare myself.

Jae-seung laughed again.

How could that be done at will?

Anyway, even these ridiculous complaints felt so cute.

And Ashlyn’s expression over the phone was vividly drawn in his head.

Suddenly, he felt like teasing her, so he asked again, pretending not to know.

“Um? What are you anxious about?”

– …….

After a moment of silence, Ashlyn replied briefly, “I don’t know,” with a very annoyed tone.

“You don’t know?”

– No, I know. But I don’t want to answer.

“What is that?”

– What?

When Ashlyn replied in a very blunt tone, Jae-seung laughed again and continued fluently.

“Ashlyn, you don’t have to worry. Actually, I’ve looked through them all, and I couldn’t find anyone more beautiful than Ashlyn.”

– What? Oh my god! So you looked at all those women’s pictures one by one?

“No. I mean….”

He said it to cheer her up and reassure her, but it seemed to have only brought about the opposite effect.

In the end, he was able to barely appease Ashlyn after explaining for a long time.

“Anyway, I want to go to France soon.”

– Me too. I miss you.

“Let’s just be patient a little longer, because there’s really not much time left.”

In just a week, he would be moving to France, where Christian Dior’s headquarters are located.

It was time to start preparing for Dior’s haute couture [high fashion] in earnest.

Also, he was planning to stay with Ashlyn during his time working at Dior.

Considering that, he had already told the LVMH Group [a French multinational luxury goods conglomerate] official to prepare a residence where the two could live comfortably.

At that moment. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door of the president’s office, which was tightly closed.

Jae-seung shouted, “Come in,” and immediately spoke to Ashlyn.

“I think I have to hang up now. I’ll call you again later.”

Soon, the door to the president’s office opened, and Director Song revealed himself.

He confirmed that Jae-seung was on the phone and naturally sat down on the sofa and began to wait quietly.

Even after Director Song entered, Jae-seung exchanged a few more affectionate words before finally ending his call with Ashlyn.

Soon.

“Should I have come a little later?”

“It’s okay. I was about to hang up anyway.”

“Really?”

Director Song, who asked back briefly, picked up the sunglasses on the side table and asked in a teasing tone.

“By the way, how does it feel to become a star overnight? I just saw it for a while, but it seems like you can’t even go to the local supermarket as you please now?”

“You didn’t come to tease me, did you?”

“Hey, you’re saying something disappointing again. Who’s teasing you? I’m just trying to encourage you. Isn’t the life of a star a tough one?”

When Jae-seung sighed deeply as if he couldn’t win, Director Song chuckled and continued to speak again.

“Anyway, the response is better than expected in many ways.”

Jae-seung nodded his head a few times as if agreeing.

It had only been about three days since the release of Kwon Ji-hoon’s new song music video, in which he made a cameo appearance.

Nevertheless, he could feel the ripple effect of the music video in detail.

First of all, in just a few days, the number of followers on Jae-seung’s personal SNS [Social Networking Service] jumped by a whopping three times.

In addition, the traffic and order volume of the Wall Flower official site had also increased significantly.

Of course, more than half of the new users who visited the Wall Flower official site were overseas visitors, and most of the products ordered were those that were used as costumes in this music video.

Even posts and videos explaining who he was and what kind of person he was were popping up like mushrooms on various community sites at home and abroad.

The post titled “The man who appeared in Jihoon’s music video. Introducing designer, Lee” posted by a user with the nickname Sally on her YouTube channel had already far exceeded one million views and was looking at five million views.

“Actually, I just finished ticketing for the flight to France. It’s a Tuesday morning flight next week.”

“Thank you.”

Director Song replied, “What are you thanking me for,” and continued to speak.

“When I talked to the LVMH Group official, they said that there is a press conference scheduled as soon as you arrive. I put the list of expected questions and model answers that I received in an email, so be sure to read it even on the plane. When I briefly looked through it, it seemed like there were a few sensitive questions mixed in, so it would be good to be prepared.”

Jae-seung nodded his head a few times, acknowledging the information.

Some of the journalists he would meet at the French press conference, who had conservative tendencies, were bound to be unhappy with the fact that an Asian had taken over the reins of the Dior House.

He was going to save his words as much as possible at the press conference.

He knew that great results were the best answer to suspicious questions.

Soon, Director Song patted him on the shoulder lightly a few times and added again.

“Put your worries about Wall Flower aside and focus on showing what designer Lee’s haute couture is all about. And health is the top priority, you know that without me saying it, right? Take care of yourself and come back safely.”

Jae-seung, with a faint smile, replied, “Of course,” and turned his head to look out the window.

Now, it was impossible to find any traces of winter on the streets.

The occasional warm sunlight was telling him that he had arrived at the end of spring.

Suddenly, he thought that by the time he returned to Korea, red maple leaves would be falling all over the streets.

‘Christian Dior….’

The glorious moment to head to the place he had dreamed of so much was imminent.

Jae-seung clenched his fists tightly.

His heart was pounding.

That’s usually the case with challenges. It is accompanied by anxiety and anticipation.

Now it was time to write a new history once again.

At that time, Director Song, who was stroking his chin and soaking in his thoughts, carefully asked a question.

“By the way, it seems like time is quite tight, but do you have any designs in mind?”

“I don’t have any detailed designs in mind, but I have a rough concept.”

“Concept? What?”

Jae-seung smiled and replied.

“Hanbok [traditional Korean clothing].”