chapter 13.1

[You must be very busy. However, I am curious about your wife’s condition. Is she doing okay?]

Geonwoo couldn’t take his eyes off his cell phone, which was overwhelmed by messages that were scratching his nerves. Secretary Kim, who was standing at the door of the conference room, blinked without knowing what to say. It was when Geonwoo’s thumb moved to the call icon.

“Mr president? Let’s go in.”

Inside the conference room, employees were waiting. Geonwoo didn’t have enough time to make a call right away. Besides, it seemed that rational conversation was difficult now. Geonwoo, who put his phone in his pocket, entered the conference room, and the staff of the planning team stood up.

As the staff bowed down, Geonwoo raised his head and sat at the center of the table. Soon all the lights in the conference room went out and the PPT screen appeared on a white screen. Standing in front of the screen, the team leader led the meeting with a powerful voice. This meeting was prepared to find an artist who would replace Seol Hyung Seok. After the presentation, the team leader put his hands forward and waited for Geonwoo’s opinion. Tick, tick. It was not the second hand of the clock that made a certain sound in the conference room. Tick, tick. It was the sound of the ballpoint pen head held in Geonwoo’s hand being pressed and raised repeatedly. Even after the presentation was over, the air in the conference room was desolated because of Geonwoo, who remained silent. The staff of the planning team couldn’t even breathe properly, stared at Geonwoo. The team leader, who had run out of patience, brought the clenched hand to his mouth.

“Ahem! Mr. President, how are the artists we have selected?”

“………”

“Obviously, any of these artists are good with this scarf collaboration project …”

The team leader didn’t even finish his sentence, but Geonwoo stopped the flow by putting down the ballpoint pen he was holding on the table. The team leader, who was surprised, gave a gulp at Geonwoo’s gaze, who was looking straight at him. Geonwoo, who had never spoken in the conference room, spoke for the first time.

“We will have the meeting again next Monday.”

“Yeah?”

“You need to shorten the list of artists. You don’t have to line up that many to show me. At most, you just need three.”

When Geonwoo tried to stand up from his seat, the team leader asked questions with courage.

“What don’t you like about, Mr president?”

“They are not fresh. So l am not looking forward to any collaborations with these artists. Do you think l don’t know that the writers that the team leader chose once collaborated with other companies for refrigerators, commercials, and mobile phones?”

When the problem was pinpointed, the eyes of the team leader and staff rolled down.

“Think about why I tried to sign a contract with Seol. You will have to find an artist with his own brand.”

When Geonwoo left the conference room after he had finished speaking, all the employees were depressed. Nevertheless, there was nothing wrong with what Geonwoo had said, so they couldn’t speak up. When the team leader turned on the lights in the conference room, the staff spoke out one by one.

“Ah… Where else do we find an artist like Seol?”

“Artist Seol is too much. I can’t believe he just left the contract behind.”

The team leader who was scratching his head said to the staff.

“Does anyone have any other ideas? The overseas side might be good, can someone try to contact some artists there?”

“How do us people who work in front of computers know any foreign artists?”

They only had two days of time, but trying to reach out to overseas was very difficult. While everyone was suffering from headaches, an employee named Eunjung, who wore glasses raised her hand.

“From the rumors I heard, artist Go Joon came to Korea.”

“Artist Go Joon?”

The team leader twinkled his eyes, touched the table with both hands and leaned his body forward.

“My friend works in an art gallery.”

“Is your friend trustworthy?”

Eunjung nodded as she looked around at her coworkers who were staring at her with deadly eyes. The team leader raised his lips satisfactorily and clapped hands. The employees also glimpsed each other and joined in applause. The team leader looked at Eunjung lovingly as if looking at gold and silver treasures.

“But my friend does not know the artist’s number.”

The team leader raised his neck and said triumphantly with his arms folded.

“If you can find the source of the rumors, you can find anything.”