Black Label [EN]: Chapter 56

Black Label 55

56. Every Choice Comes with Responsibility and Consequences

In Paris, France, the ‘Paris Pogue’ office has a separate room exclusively for editors.

A small space of about four square meters.

The bright light emanating from the monitor illuminated a woman’s face.

The woman with bluish eyes stared intently at the screen, fully absorbing the light.

“Hoo…”

Perhaps because she had been staring at the monitor all day, her eyes felt extremely dry.

After rubbing her eyes a few times, she turned her head and began to look at a frame placed on one side of her desk.

In the photo in the frame, two boys with innocent smiles were standing side by side, arms around each other’s shoulders.

They were her two sons.

Her two sons, whose faces she hadn’t seen properly for the past few days due to her never-ending work.

Her name was Geraldin Saglio.

However, most people remembered her not by her name, but by her prestigious title as an editor at ‘Paris Pogue’.

She studied fashion at Paris Esmod [a renowned fashion school] and worked at various companies through internships.

Eventually, she settled at Pogue, one of the world’s leading fashion magazines.

After enduring ten years of hardship, she finally succeeded in earning the prestigious title of ‘Editor’.

After roughly sweeping her disheveled hair back, she picked up the mouse again.

It was clear that many brands would soon be releasing their F/W (Fall/Winter) season clothing.

Before that, she was busy writing an article predicting this year’s trends.

As she chewed on her lower lip and reviewed runway photos from the past several years, a young woman carefully peeked her face through the slightly open door and spoke cautiously.

“Geraldin?”

The sudden visitor was none other than Melanie, a junior editor at Paris Pogue.

“Yes, Melanie. You can come in.”

Melanie, who had just stepped into the room, shook the plastic bag in her hand and continued.

“Ah, would you like a bagel?”

“Oh, thank you.”

“Are you writing an article?”

“Yes. It’s ‘Deadline’ week, so it’s really killing me.”

After shaking her head, Geraldin added as if making a resolution, “I’m really going to rest well this holiday. Really.”

“Geraldin, you look so tired. Why don’t you rest a little while you eat?”

“Hmm, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Anyway, thank you so much for the bagel.”

After exchanging a few more words, Melanie left her room.

As soon as she left the room, a heavy silence fell again.

Geraldin opened the bagel box she had just received and muttered in a low voice.

“Yeah. I need to rest a little.”

Geraldin believed that ‘thinking’ and ‘exercise’ were similar in context.

Moderate exercise improves the quality of life, but excessive exercise has the opposite effect.

It ruins your health and exhausts your mind.

Geraldin nodded as if agreeing with her own opinion, and then began to browse her SNS [Social Networking Service, like social media].

Web surfing was the only rest she could take here.

Click, click.

She checked the newly added comments under the photos she had posted and observed people’s reactions.

Then, she began to look at photos containing the recent activities of several celebrities she was friendly with.

After browsing all the SNS, she began to check her official email inbox.

There were hundreds of emails piled up in her inbox. Most of the piled-up emails were a kind of ‘fan letter’ sent by readers who had read her articles.

At that moment, one email caught Geraldin’s attention.

[Dear Geraldin, I would like to invite you.]

‘Hmm? It’s been a while since I’ve received an email like this.’

Perhaps because of her title as an editor at ‘Paris Pogue’, Geraldin occasionally received emails of this kind.

She was sure that it was an email sent by the owner designer of a new brand that had not yet gained proper recognition.

If it were the owner designer of a brand that had already been verified to some extent, they would have contacted her through formal procedures rather than her publicly announced email address.

Click.

As soon as she opened the email, Geraldin’s brow furrowed deeply.

It was because of the terrible grammar. The email revealed her poor French skills.

It was full of incorrect grammar and the selection of inappropriate words was noticeable.

The good thing was that the content was easy to understand.

‘As expected….’

As expected, the email contained the expected content.

It was an email from the owner designer of a new designer brand called ‘Wall Flower’.

They were planning a show with the theme of ‘Minimalism’ in preparation for the current F/W season, and they wanted to invite her, who usually prefers minimalist fashion.

It was a very interesting point. It wasn’t the content of inviting her that was interesting.

It was because the trends that Geraldin was predicting for the 2011 F/W season and the 2012 S/S (Spring/Summer) season were ‘Minimalism’.

‘Did they have a similar idea?’

She also liked the part where they would be responsible for first-class airline tickets, the best hotels, all meals during her stay, and even an escort if she accepted the invitation.

But….

‘Sorry, Wall Flower.’

Geraldin muttered softly and immediately pressed the ‘X’ button in the upper right corner of the internet window.

Click.

She could somehow adjust her schedule if she wanted to, but there was no reason to do so.

Fashion is business.

And in the business world, value is proven by ‘sales’.

If it were a valuable brand, she would have heard its name several times already.

She knew well how valuable it was to support new designer brands, but that wasn’t her job.

She was just an editor at ‘Paris Vogue’ and was too busy being faithful to her assigned tasks.

“Let’s meet if we have a chance later.”

She muttered softly, shook off the bread crumbs remaining on her hand, and added again.

“…But it’s probably difficult.”

* * *

It had been a month and a half since Jae-seung had sent emails to the big names in the fashion industry.

As time usually does, it had passed relentlessly.

Now, the deadline for the release of the 2011 F/W season products and the show was only about a month away.

As time passed, that is, as the ‘deadline’ approached, the atmosphere in the office became increasingly urgent.

Perhaps because everyone maintained a tight sense of tension?

All preparations were proceeding very smoothly.

It was proceeding so smoothly that it made one wonder, ‘Isn’t this proceeding too smoothly?’

“Everyone, eat first.”

At Jae-seung’s words, the employees began to gather and sit on the sofa in front of the coffee table.

Today’s lunch menu was ‘Chinese food’. Jae-seung carefully opened his mouth as he tore off the wrap covering the jajangmyeon [Korean-Chinese noodle dish with black bean sauce].

“I haven’t had a chance to tell you yet, but we’ll be able to get help from FTV Magazine and KubaKuba Webzine again this time. We’ve agreed to have them publish articles and columns respectively before the show.”

“Wow-!”

“Things are really working out well, aren’t they?”

Things were really working out well. The target number of product releases was exactly ‘thirty’.

They had already succeeded in exceeding thirty last week.

Although twenty-five of them were designs devised by Jae-seung, and the rest were all designs by Lee Kang-jun.

However, they were planning to continue receiving design submissions for the next two weeks, so there was still room for Choo Ji-hoon and Nam Gwang-min to be given opportunities.

“President, what about the emails? Haven’t you received any replies?”

“Emails?”

“The emails you sent back then.”

After sighing once, Jae-seung gave a bitter smile and replied quietly.

“No, not yet.”

Most of them hadn’t even opened the emails he sent.

A very small number had checked the emails he sent, but had not even given a separate reply.

After all, they were just emails that he had written and sent with the hope that something might happen without much expectation.

At that time.

Ding-!

An alarm rang from the cell phone placed on one side of the coffee table.

Jae-seung immediately picked up his smartphone with an indifferent face and checked the contents.

It was a deposit notification text message.

– Depositor: Gallery TT

– Deposit Amount: 2,400,000 won

After checking the contents, Jae-seung frowned without realizing it.

The worst situations began to emerge one after another.

Like when a large stone is thrown into a pond, and dirt rises from the bottom.

That’s because the amount he had just received was exactly twice the amount Jae-seung had previously paid as a deposit.

As Jae-seung was lost in thought with a very serious expression.

Ding-!

A text message arrived in succession.

It was a message from Gallery TT.

– This is ‘Michelle Kim’, who helped you with the consultation regarding the gallery rental agreement. Due to the gallery’s circumstances, we have no choice but to terminate the rental agreement. As stated in the contract, we have deposited twice the contract amount. We ask for your understanding with a generous heart. We are very sorry.

Jae-seung unknowingly let out a hollow laugh.

It was just a hollow laugh because it hadn’t been promoted yet, but if the promotion had been in progress, he would have spat out profanity.

The employees, who noticed that Jae-seung’s expression was unusual, began to ask Jae-seung questions one by one.

“Is something wrong?”

“President, what’s wrong?”

In response to the questions asked by the employees with worried expressions, Jae-seung shook his head once and replied.

“The gallery unilaterally canceled the rental.”

As soon as Jae-seung finished speaking, the employees all looked as if the sky had fallen.

They were the ones who were looking forward to Wall Flower’s first show as much as Jae-seung. They seemed very anxious about the fact that the show might be canceled.

Nam Gwang-min, who was constantly wiping his face with both hands, carefully opened his mouth with a gloomy expression.

“Haa…. I never expected him to be so ignorant.”

Jae-seung was the same. What should I say? He thought she was a woman who seemed to be missing a screw, but he never even imagined that she would be like this.

This time, Lee Kang-jun asked a question with a very worried expression.

“President, wouldn’t it be too late to rent a new gallery? Could it be that the show will be canceled….”

“Absolutely not, so you don’t have to worry.”

Jae-seung replied in a rather firm tone, and tried to calm down as much as possible to reassure the employees.

“I got back twice the contract amount that I had put down in the name of contract termination. I have some extra money, so let’s have a big company dinner. The show will proceed as is no matter what. We can somehow solve the gallery rental problem, so you don’t have to worry.”

Renting a new gallery itself was a problem that could be solved without much difficulty.

However, the key was ‘Can I find a gallery I like?’

He was trying to pretend to be calm so that the employees wouldn’t worry unnecessarily, but he really felt angry.

He was even more angry because he could clearly picture what the situation was like.

Surely a more famous artist than himself had requested to rent the gallery. Renting the same date as the date he had decided to rent.

He didn’t know whether there was an agreement between the artist and the gallery, but it was clear that the gallery had decided that giving the rental to that artist would be much more helpful to the gallery’s career.

That’s why they unilaterally terminated the contract like this.

‘It’s really dirty, dirty….’

Just as Jae-seung was clenching his fists hidden under the coffee table.

Ding-!

Jae-seung’s smartphone made an alarm sound again.

Ting-!

Jae-seung picked up his smartphone again. This time it was an email arrival notification. He unlocked it and immediately launched the email application.

How much time had passed? After staring at his smartphone screen for a long time, Jae-seung said in a rather low voice.

“Everyone.”

In an instant, the employees’ attention was focused on Jae-seung.

After giving a satisfied smile, Jae-seung put the cell phone he was holding on the coffee table and continued.

“Would you like to read it?”

Soon, the employees began to slowly read the email floating on Jae-seung’s smartphone screen.

The upper part was written in ‘French’ and the lower part was written in ‘English’. The same content was written in two different languages.

It was an email from ‘Paris Pogue’. No, to be more precise, it was an email from the fashion editor of Paris Pogue.

Although they couldn’t perfectly understand all the contents written in the email, at least the one-line sentence at the very bottom was a sentence that anyone could interpret.

– We will go to Korea. to watch your show.

Silence flowed for a moment.

Soon.

“Waaaaaaaaa-!”

“Oh my god!”

“Pogue, you mean Pogue is coming, right? Right?”

“No way!”

A huge cry of joy began to echo throughout the office.

A loud shout that seemed like it would be swept away at any moment.

Although he wasn’t shouting along with them, Jae-seung was also sincerely happy.

This was clearly an opportunity that was impossible to compare with all the opportunities he had previously obtained.

‘Good….’

As he had repeatedly said, he believed that the cards he had in his hand should be used as much as possible.

For the success of the show, or for ‘minor revenge’.

For reference, he likes to repay both favors and grudges for sure. Whatever it is, he doesn’t like things to be ambiguous.

Of course, he won’t pay much attention to minor revenge.

Like deep footprints left in the place where an elephant has passed, he will lightly trample on narrow-minded people.

Towards greater glory and greater success.