Black Label [EN]: Chapter 196

Black Label Episode 195

196. A New Dream in the Face of Adversity

“Honey, they said everyone’s gathered, so I think we should head down soon.”

Jae-seung nodded at Director Song’s words and replied,

“Yes, just a moment.”

Having finished speaking, Jae-seung stood in front of the full-length mirror, once again adjusting his attire.

He rearranged his neatly swept-back hair, smoothed out the wrinkles on his suit jacket with his palm, and tightened his loosely tied necktie even more.

Then, he picked up the black box that was placed on the shelf next to the mirror.

As he leisurely continued his preparations, Director Song, who was waiting for Jae-seung in front of the hotel room door, began to urge him repeatedly.

“What are you doing? Let’s go quickly!”

“Yes, I’m all set.”

Soon, Jae-seung gently opened the lid of the small black box in his hand.

The identity of the box was none other than a ‘watch case’.

“It’s been a while.”

Jae-seung muttered softly as he took out the watch that was lying alone in the watch case and fastened it tightly on his wrist.

The watch in the watch case was none other than the ‘Wall Flower Watch’. The mysterious watch that had gifted a new life to his past, impoverished self.

Soon, Jae-seung brought his wrist to his ear and listened intently.

Tick, tock-

The faint sound of the second hand, which could barely be heard even when focusing all his attention, was simply ringing softly.

Smiling as if satisfied, Jae-seung immediately left the hotel room.

* * *

In a corner of the hotel lobby, the employees who were joining this ‘trip to France’ were gathered in small groups.

Jae-seung looked around at the employees and carefully began to speak.

“First of all, thank you all for your hard work in coming such a long way. The reason I’ve gathered you all here is that there’s an important announcement to make.”

Starting with the employees of the VMD [Visual Merchandising Department] team led by Nam Gwang-min, and extending to the designers from the design team who had greatly contributed to this season’s product lineup…….

A total of thirty-four employees began to watch Jae-seung with bated breath.

Soon, Jae-seung wore a faint smile on his face and immediately got to the point.

“I think it would be good for everyone to get a good rest today, for once.”

No sooner had Jae-seung finished speaking than a great commotion arose. It was clear that everyone seemed happy.

Were the employees not already exhausted from the grueling work schedule that had continued for the past few months?

It was a decision made because he judged that they would not be able to perform their duties properly, as they were fatigued from the long flight and had not yet adjusted to the time difference.

“Everyone knows that a grueling schedule will begin tomorrow, right? Although it’s free time, I hope you’ll refrain from excessive schedules or excessive drinking as much as possible, considering the upcoming schedule.”

Having finished speaking, Jae-seung clapped his hands once and said, “Well, that’s all for today,” at that moment.

The employees, unable to contain their excited feelings, began to exchange various conversations among themselves.

Soon, Jae-seung glanced down at his wristwatch and suddenly exclaimed, “Ah!” Then, he immediately turned his head and began to stare intently at Director Song.

Before long, Director Song, aware of Jae-seung’s gaze, was startled as if he had committed a crime and began to ask questions in succession, “What? Why? What is it?”

As a strange silence flowed for a moment, Jae-seung wore an infinitely wicked smile on his face and continued to speak in a very gentle tone.

“Director Song and Gwang-min should come with me. There’s a place I need to visit for business.”

“Hey! Give me a break today! This is my first time in France! I want to go sightseeing too!”

“You can go sightseeing to your heart’s content after the fashion week schedule is over, right? No time. Hurry up.”

Director Song, muttering in a sarcastic tone, “Why does my bad feeling never miss……,” gently patted Nam Gwang-min’s shoulder and added again.

“Hey, let’s go. We have to do what we’re told.”

Nam Gwang-min patted Director Song’s shoulder with a smiling face and offered words of comfort, but it didn’t seem to be of much help.

Judging by the dark shadow that was deeply cast over Director Song’s face, it didn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.

* * *

Jae-seung, Director Song, and Nam Gwang-min. As soon as these three left the hotel, they boarded a luxury limousine that was waiting.

This was also a vehicle prepared by the Janel Group for Jae-seung’s convenience.

As the luxury sedan smoothly drove down the road, Director Song was simply staring blankly out the window with a sulky face.

Soon, Jae-seung held Director Song’s hand tightly and quietly began to speak.

“Director, we’re not going to work.”

“Then?”

“We’re going on a picnic.”

“Where are we going?”

“Tuileries Garden.”

At Jae-seung’s playful answer, Director Song shouted, “Ew!” and shook off Jae-seung’s hand at the same time.

“We’re going to inspect the Paris Fashion Week stage in advance, aren’t we?”

“Well, wouldn’t it depend on how you think about it?”

Jae-seung said soothingly as he opened the diary in his hand and continued to speak.

“Either way, even if we look around for a long time today, it won’t be easy to find an answer. After looking at the past Paris Fashion Week videos, it seems like they set up a temporary stage inside the Tuileries Garden.”

“Seriously, you’re amazing. You’ve already found all that and organized it in the meantime?”

“Well, it’s not that difficult, is it? Anyway, since there’s still plenty of time until the start of Fashion Week, the temporary stage probably hasn’t been set up yet. Either way, I don’t think we can come up with a proper alternative just by looking around once today, and we’re just visiting to see what kind of place we’ll be fighting in.”

Soon, Director Song coughed a few times for no reason and said quietly.

“Hey, President. I think there’s some misunderstanding, but we didn’t come to play, we came to work in the first place, right? It’s natural to work. And you know what, I’m a person who feels great joy in working when everyone else is playing. You know what ‘Workaholic’ means, right? It’s a word made just for me.”

At Director Song’s solemn words, Jae-seung tilted his head slightly as if he couldn’t believe it and asked back.

“Hmm, is that so?”

“Of course.”

Silence filled the car for a moment. After a short pause, Director Song whispered to Nam Gwang-min in a low voice.

“Hey, Gwang-min. Is the Tuileries Garden also a tourist attraction in Paris? Is it a place where people will recognize you if you brag about going there?”

* * *

The Tuileries Garden is located between the ‘Louvre Museum’, ‘Place de la Concorde’, and ‘Tuileries Palace’, and Jae-seung had already been there several times.

After the car stopped near the Tuileries Garden, the three began to buy various supplies needed for the picnic while chatting casually.

First, they stopped by a famous brunch cafe nearby and bought sandwiches and bread, as well as other snacks. Then, they stopped by a shabby wine shop not far away and bought three bottles, one for each person, with names that they seemed to have heard somewhere before.

As they were finishing the calculation and coming out, Jae-seung carefully picked up his share of the wine and said.

“Please put the wine in the bag you brought from the brunch shop.”

Nam Gwang-min and Director Song asked at the same time as if they had promised, “Why?”, “Why?” Jae-seung shrugged his shoulders once and replied.

“It’s illegal to drink alcohol in public places in France. Everyone puts it in like this and drinks it little by little in secret.”

This was also a skill that he had naturally acquired thanks to his numerous overseas schedules.

Of course, he didn’t forget to bring a wine opener. Finally, after purchasing a mat from a stall located right in front of the park.

The three began to walk confidently towards the inside of the Tuileries Garden.

“Shall we finish the work story first?”

Jae-seung, along with Director Song and Nam Gwang-min, began to walk around various places inside the Tuileries Garden, explaining the points where the temporary stage had been set up during the past Paris Fashion Weeks.

As the three were walking slowly inside the park. Some of the young passersby they encountered in the park recognized Jae-seung and asked for photos or autographs.

After completing the general inspection, the three sat down in a quiet place on the outskirts of the park.

They unwrapped the takeout sandwiches, opened the wine in the bread bag, and began to drink it sip by sip, exchanging various conversations.

“It seems like the things to consider have greatly increased since it’s being held outdoors. The last Diom Collection was also held outdoors, but I was able to finish it smoothly because I could set the start time of the show.”

Soon, Nam Gwang-min snapped his fingers and made a loud noise, ‘snap!’ and replied.

“The performance using the sunset was really great. The location has already been decided, so there’s nothing we can do, but the time is also a problem. If we’re unlucky and get assigned to a daytime slot, we’ll have to give up on performances that use lighting altogether…….”

An indoor stage where natural light is blocked is one thing, but holding a show outdoors during the day? It was truly a terrible situation that he didn’t even want to imagine.

As Nam Gwang-min said, it was an extreme case where they would have to give up on performances that used lighting altogether.

Soon, Jae-seung nodded his head a few times and replied.

“I think it would be good to think about the worst-case scenario first.”

“When will the order come out?”

At Director Song’s question, Jae-seung shrugged his shoulders once and replied quietly.

“They said it would come out around noon tomorrow. All we can do now is pray that the Wall Flower Collection time will be assigned to a good time slot.”

He didn’t think that he would find a clue by taking a short time to look around today, but after looking at it with his own eyes, he felt like his eyes were getting darker.

Soon, Jae-seung took a few more sips of his share of the wine. It was because he felt like a sigh was about to come out.

After finishing the short strategy meeting that didn’t yield any particular results, the three began to walk back the way they came.

Eventually, as they were passing over the bridge that led to the outside of the park.

“Still, the view is amazing.”

It was Director Song’s words, uttered in a slightly trembling tone, from the bridge leading to the outside of the Tuileries Garden.

It was a place where quite a lot could be seen. The Louvre Museum in the distance, the Seine River flowing below, and the Musée d’Orsay [a museum housed in a former railway station] on the opposite side of the river, etc…….

It seemed that Director Song was not the only one who was immersed in emotion.

Nam Gwang-min and Jae-seung were also staring blankly at the surface of the Seine River, which was swaying gently, as if they had been possessed by something.

Was it thanks to the setting sun that was falling?
The water of the Seine River, which was clearly cold, felt like it would be as fluffy and warm as a chick’s down.

Soon, Jae-seung quietly began to speak.

“In two months, Wall Flower will be able to be reborn as a self-proclaimed ‘premium brand’.”

Designer ‘Lee’ had already debuted on the world stage several years ago, but what about the brand Wall Flower?

Thanks to his fame, or thanks to the fact that some of the products he occasionally released caught the public’s attention, it had been mentioned and appeared on the surface of the media several times, but it could be said that it had not yet officially set foot on the world stage.

This Paris Fashion Week is Wall Flower’s official first debut stage.

As Jae-seung was deeply immersed in thought, Director Song and Nam Gwang-min were staring blankly at the surface of the Seine River, which was swaying gently, and began to exchange conversations.

“President, Director. I still don’t feel it. I feel like I’ve come this far by accident.”

“Yeah, me too. Every time I wake up, I’m afraid that I’ll go back to selling fakes in Dongdaemun [a large shopping district in Seoul known for its wholesale and retail businesses] when I open my eyes. I wonder if it’s all a dream.”

Soon, Jae-seung began to look alternately at the faces of Director Song and Nam Gwang-min, who were leaning against the railing side by side and taking in the scenery.

The two people’s eyes were sparkling with passion. After maintaining silence for a moment, Jae-seung quietly said to Director Song.

“Director. The Fashion Week preparations will be finished well by me and the staff. I think you should do something else.”

“Something else? What?”

“I want to finish preparing the ‘Wall Flower Watch Line’ as soon as possible and show it off properly.”

Then, he raised the watch on his wrist and added quietly to Director Song.

“Please find someone who can recognize the value of this watch.”