Black Label [EN]: Chapter 7

Black Label 6

7. Wall Flower Reform Shop

As soon as Jaeseung entered the house carrying the sewing machine box, his father, Lee Kangsoo, asked with a puzzled look.

“What’s in that box?”

“It’s a sewing machine.”

“A sewing machine?”

Lee Kangsoo frowned for a moment.

“I wanted to learn how to use one, so I talked to Mom.”

“You want to learn how to use a sewing machine?”

Soon, his mother, Kim Eunhyung, who was sitting next to Lee Kangsoo and peeling fruit, chimed in.

“It’s good to see him taking initiative. He said he wanted to learn, so I gave him some allowance.”

Lee Kangsoo nodded once in response, then immediately turned his attention back to the TV news screen he was watching.

‘…He’s so taciturn.’

Even in his past life, when Jaeseung expressed his desire to become a ‘fashion designer,’ his father was subtly opposed.

Although he didn’t explicitly forbid it, he advised him to learn other skills, saying, ‘What more can you do with a sewing machine besides work in a factory?’

Jaeseung, who had been standing blankly for a moment, cleared his throat a couple of times before speaking again.

“Father.”

His father simply looked at Jaeseung without answering.

Jaeseung then struggled to bring up the somewhat embarrassing words he had repeated to himself several times.

“I will work really hard.”

Silence hung in the air for a moment.

Jaeseung added another sentence.

“I also want to become a great technician like you, Father.”

After speaking, Jaeseung bowed his head and immediately walked towards his room. Both Lee Kangsoo and Kim Eunhyung seemed quite surprised by Jaeseung’s words.

“Ahem. Hmm.”

Lee Kangsoo just stared at the TV screen and muttered something, while Kim Eunhyung looked at Lee Kangsoo with a happy smile.

After Jaeseung entered the room, Kim Eunhyung put the fruit knife she was holding on the tray and said in a rather bright tone.

“Honey, isn’t Jaeseung admirable these days?”

“These days? Why?”

“It seems like he’s finally found his path.”

“Ahem, hmm… People don’t change that easily.”

Lee Kangsoo, who had replied briefly, began to look at Jaeseung’s tightly closed door.

Not long after, Lee Kangsoo, with a faint smile on his face, muttered softly.

“Still… he’s quite determined.”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing. If there are apples, peel some more.”

“Okay.”

* * *

After entering the room.

“Hoo-.”

Jaeseung immediately let out the breath he had been holding.

Why are a few words so difficult?

He had always had an awkward relationship with his father. They didn’t talk much, and his father was a bit stern.

Of course, that’s not to say that all the problems were his father’s fault.

From a certain point on, Jaeseung himself had refused to talk.

“…Let’s take it slow.”

He didn’t want to remain in the same awkward father-son relationship as in his past life.

He imagined scrubbing his father’s back at the bathhouse and occasionally getting out of the city together to sit in front of a fishing rod, chatting.

Now, he just wanted to understand his father’s world more deeply and broadly. He was desperately curious about how ‘Lee Kangsoo, the man,’ was recorded in history, not just ‘Father.’

There was a reason why Jaeseung specifically said to his father, ‘I want to become a technician like you,’ before entering the room.

His father worked as a ‘direct foreman’ at a construction site. In fact, anyone who had accumulated experience in various jobs at a construction site and had the ability to oversee the construction could do it.

However, his father was very proud of his job as a direct foreman at the construction site.

It’s a shameful story, but in his past life, he didn’t really understand his father’s pride.

After arguing with his father, he would sometimes have the nasty thought, ‘It’s just manual labor anyway.’

But not now.

From some point on, he was able to fully understand his father’s pride.

Direct foreman.

It was the result of his father, who had given up his studies before even graduating from middle school, dedicating his youth to it.

His hands are now large, like a *sotdukkeong* [Korean cauldron lid], but that was the result of doing all sorts of odd jobs at the construction site since his hands were as delicate as fern fronds.

It was the result of waking up like clockwork at six in the morning and leaving the house with his tools, rain or shine.

Jaeseung then gave a bitter smile.

‘I really need to pull myself together and work hard.’

To repay his parents’ youth, which was sacrificed for the peace of himself and his younger sister, Seunghee.

To give them a life that was different from his past life.

To prevent his father from needing to patch up his worn-out clothes anymore.

To soothe the calluses on his mother’s hands.

‘Let’s go all in and do it.’

Jaeseung took a deep breath and sat down at his computer desk.

He immediately pressed the power button and waited silently for the computer to turn on.

Now that he had a sewing machine, he could say that he was already halfway prepared.

As soon as the computer turned on, Jaeseung accessed a popular portal site and started creating a blog.

Since the initial setup was so straightforward, it didn’t take long.

About 5 minutes passed?

[ Wall Flower Reform Shop-! ]

A pretty decent blog was completed.

“Nice.”

So-called ‘Wall Flower Reform Shop.’

It was the first step Jaeseung had planned. Although he wouldn’t be able to make a lot of money, if he ran it consistently, he would definitely be able to save up some of his tuition before graduating from high school.

Jaeseung was planning to sell the clothes he had reformed himself through this blog.

Click-!

Click-!

Every time Jaeseung tapped the keyboard a few times, new categories were created within the blog.

1. Tailoring Reform

2. T-shirt Reform

3. Jeans Reform

4. Jacket Reform

5. Wall Flower Self-Made Clothes

“Okay. For now, this should be enough….”

There was one video that had deeply impressed him in his past life. It was a video of a designer named ‘Adam Sacks’ who instantly cut plain dresses or T-shirts with scissors and weaved threads to recreate them into uniquely designed clothes.

In fact, his reform work was ‘the realm of art.’

Most people recognized him as an artist rather than a designer.

After that, Jaeseung had become a little interested in reform.

‘It’s definitely an appealing field.’

Jaeseung smiled and nodded in satisfaction.

Reform.

A field that can breathe new life into clothes that have gone out of fashion. Into plain clothes.

By adding new materials, by adding a few lines, by simply cutting and tearing, it is reborn into a completely new piece of clothing.

In fact, the charm of the reform work was attractive, but the fact that it did not require a lot of initial capital was also quite pleasing.

Even if you only look at Jaeseung’s closet, there were plenty of clothes he didn’t wear.

‘Let’s start with those clothes first.’

Jaeseung smiled faintly, immediately turned off the computer, and pushed the sewing machine box under the desk.

He wanted to touch the sewing machine right away, but it was late at night.

He postponed trying to operate the sewing machine until tomorrow and headed straight to the bathroom.

It was time to wash away the fatigue accumulated during the day with hot water and prepare for tomorrow.