Black Label [EN]: Chapter 15

Black Label 14

15. F Trend View

The ATM, having swallowed Jae Seung’s bankbook, began to emit a series of loud noises.

Zhiiiiiing-!

Jae Seung pulled the earphones from his ears and exhaled deeply.

“Haa-.”

The earphones in Jae Seung’s hand were playing an English listening file, not music.

After casually draping the earphone cord around his neck, Jae Seung immediately began to examine himself in the mirror behind the ATM.

His eyes were bloodshot with prominent veins, and his face looked gaunt. The shadows under his eyes drooped down to the sides of his mouth.

Jae Seung carefully scrutinized his reflection, gently touching his cheeks when—

Tak-!

The ATM spat out his bankbook, indicating that the transaction was complete.

He had stopped by the bank to check his transaction history and take some time to reassess.

‘Let’s see….’

With a calm gaze, he meticulously scanned the transaction history printed in his bankbook.

He checked whether he had made any unnecessary expenditures or if the unit price was appropriate compared to the production cost of the product.

He examined many aspects, and fortunately, there seemed to be no major issues.

Jae Seung’s gaze eventually landed on the ‘Balance’ line at the very end of the bankbook.

– Balance: 663,400 won

Looking at the balance in his business account, he felt a sense of relief.

The 150,000 won his mother had given him as pocket money just two weeks ago had already grown this much.

Of course, it was a small amount compared to the money he had earned through the production of imitation clothing in his past life.

Nevertheless, the reason Jae Seung felt satisfied was simple.

It was because he valued the ‘meaning’ within the ‘numerical value’ more.

‘This is money I earned with my own strength.’

And….

‘It’s also money that will allow me to make my own clothes.’

Jae Seung smiled with determination, then put his earphones back in.

Even with the earphones playing incomprehensible English sentences, he couldn’t help but hum.

* * *

Late at night, Jae Seung stared intently at a blank piece of paper, the end of a pen in his mouth.

‘Hmm. What kind of clothes would be good…?’

Jae Seung had decided that once his bank balance exceeded 600,000 won, he would start producing his own clothing.

His current balance was 660,000 won.

The time had come to start producing his own clothing. Jae Seung moved his pen and wrote down keywords on the A4 paper.

– Cost reduction.

He had to find a way to minimize costs without lowering the quality of the fabrics and subsidiary materials used in production.

The capital he currently possessed was barely enough to produce one piece of clothing.

However, Jae Seung wanted to use this 660,000 won to create at least three types of clothing.

‘If I reduce the expenses incurred in the intermediate process, it’s not entirely impossible.’

The work of typical designers can be briefly summarized as establishing a clear ‘concept’ and drawing a ‘schematic.’ In other words, the designer’s job is to design.

From here, the work proceeds through the collaboration of various people.

The ‘work order’ written by the designer is delivered to the sewing factory, where they produce the sample and *pattern for the clothing. Usually, a considerable expense occurs in this process.

‘For now, I’ll have to make the samples and patterns myself.’

Just by making the samples and patterns himself, he could reduce the cost by an average of tens of thousands of won per piece.

Others have no choice because they don’t have the technical skills to make samples and patterns themselves, but Jae Seung’s case was a bit different.

To put it a bit dramatically, he was confident that he could perform the difficult curved sewing of premium brands with his eyes closed.

‘Yeah. It’s much better to do it myself in many ways.’

After completing the sample production, he planned to sell them in the Wall Flower blog market using a ‘pre-order, post-production’ method.

It was a more labor-intensive method compared to stocking up on inventory in advance, but he didn’t want to accumulate inventory in a situation where funds were lacking.

“Good.”

The first thing to do was ‘design.’

What ‘message’ to convey. He had to clarify the concept of the clothes, what kind of *fabric to use, and how to arrange the colors.

Design.

It was what he could do best.

It was also what he wanted to do most.

Jae Seung, who had been smiling contentedly, exclaimed, “Ah! That’s right!” as if he had remembered an important matter he had forgotten, and immediately began to type on the keyboard.

A few days ago, he had received an email from a fashion magazine.

He had meant to reply right away, but he had been so busy that he had forgotten.

– Hello? I am Kwon Hyung-mok, editor-in-chief of ‘F Trend View,’ a leading fashion magazine.

I happened to come across the ‘Wall Flower’ blog, and while browsing, I was greatly impressed by the column you wrote, so I am writing this email….

In short, they enjoyed reading his column and wanted to have a meal together to discuss it, asking if he could spare some time.

‘Of course, that’s not all they’ll really talk about.’

In any case, it was an offer he had no reason to refuse. Even if he only ended up eating with them, it wouldn’t matter.

There was no harm in making a connection with them.

F Trend View.

Jae Seung had also been a subscriber to the fashion magazine for quite some time.

It might not be a very popular magazine at the current time in 2010, having only been founded a year or two ago. However, it was a place that would receive a lot of attention later on.

He liked the magazine from the way they hired employees. As far as he remembered, it was a company that valued individual ‘ability’ more than ‘academic background.’

It was somewhat distant from the sentiment of the domestic fashion industry, where designers without good academic backgrounds could not easily rent a gallery.

‘I really enjoyed it. It was so satisfying to see them criticize the evils and absurdities of the fashion world….’

Jae Seung smiled contentedly and moved his fingers fluently to type on the keyboard.

It was to write a reply.

He thought it would be nice if they offered him a collaboration such as an ‘interview’ or ‘column serialization,’ but he shook his head.

‘Don’t expect too much.’

In any case, Jae Seung wrote the reply with the utmost care.

* * *

A few days later, inside the editorial team office of the fashion magazine ‘F Trend View.’

Team Leader Kwon Hyung-mok was glaring at the innocent monitor screen with a frown. Or, to be more precise, he was closely watching the ‘blog’ on the monitor.

‘No, why isn’t there a reply?’

It had already been a few days since he had accidentally discovered the Wall Flower blog and sent an email to the blog’s owner. In fact, he had expected a reply within 24 hours, no matter how late it was.

It was a big miscalculation.

“No, what are they doing that they haven’t replied? It’s polite to at least say they’re having trouble, isn’t it….”

As Team Leader Kwon Hyung-mok muttered in a frustrated tone, Manager Min, who was sitting next to him, asked with a puzzled expression.

“Yes? Who didn’t reply this time that you’re so angry?”

“No, that blog I emailed the other day.”

“Huh… Don’t tell me you still haven’t heard back?”

“Hey, are you teasing me? Can’t you tell? If they had, would I be like this?”

As Team Leader Kwon Hyung-mok poured out aggressive questions in a sarcastic tone, Manager Min shrugged and replied.

“No way. Team Leader, should we leave a comment on the blog? They might not be checking their email at all.”

“That’s not it. They did read the email.”

Manager Min fell into thought. He wondered if he had really been rejected.

No matter how much ‘F Trend View’ had not shed its newbie image as a fashion magazine, it was not to the point where it would be rejected by a personal blog market.

‘What is it? Usually, personal blogs rush to contact magazine companies when they receive a call….’

Then, Team Leader Kwon Hyung-mok took out a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket and continued.

“Hey, Manager Min. Forget it. Even if the Peace Envoy [a sarcastic term implying the blog owner is too good for them] doesn’t want it, that’s it. Let’s go have a cigarette.”

“Okay. Except for being a college student, there’s no other merit.”

Just as the two were about to leave, Team Leader Kwon Hyung-mok frowned slightly and opened his mouth.

“Huh? Hey, wait a minute. I just got an email?”

“Yes? Now?”

It was an email from the name ‘Lee Jae Seung.’ Unlike what he had said earlier, he still had quite a bit of attachment. Team Leader Kwon Hyung-mok opened his mouth in a nonchalant tone.

“Let’s just read it once. Come and watch if you want to see it too, Manager Min.”

“Ah, yes!”