Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: The Elegan Photoshoot
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“I’ll go get it.”
“It’s fine. You just stay behind the wheel.”
The only places open nearby were a convenience store and this small cafe.
Surprisingly, quite a few men and women were drinking coffee from the crack of dawn. Which was probably why it was open 24/7.
A cup of coffee to sober up after a long night?
“Ten hot Americanos, five hot Americanos with an extra shot, and one iced Americano with an extra shot, please.”
“One iced Americano with an extra shot, is that right?”
“Yes.”
The clerk double-checked the order, likely because of Seul-bi’s ‘iced Americano even if I freeze to death in winter’ policy.
“Okay. Just a moment, please.”
“Can I have the one with the extra shot first?”
“Yep!”
4:30 AM.
It was an exhausting hour when most people were asleep, but the face of the woman in her late twenties, who seemed to be the owner, was brimming with energy.
I took the first coffee that was ready and went back to the car.
I handed the caffeine-packed coffee to the Answer members, who had woken up and were shivering, wrapped in blankets.
“Ooh. Yoo-jun oppa, you can turn off the heater now!”
“Even though you’re shivering from the cold?”
“It’s drying out my skin. Turn it off.”
No one objected to Seul-bi's words.
The shoot is in less than thirty minutes. What’s the point now?
“Ah! Mine’s an iced Americano.”
“You said you’d drink iced Americanos even if you froze to death.”
“But I got up so early, and it’s so cold…”
“…Alright.”
The studio would be hot from the heaters and lights. Surely, someone there would want an iced Americano.
“Ah, that’s warm.”
The car filled with the rich aroma of coffee.
“I got extra shots. I know it’ll be tough, but hang in there.”
I grabbed the rest of the coffee and arrived at the designated location.
It seemed they had rented out a three-story studio that specialized in wedding photography.
“Ugh. I’m nervous.”
“Why are you nervous?”
Answer’s members let out small laughs at Choi Yoo-jun’s muttering.
“What if the Europeans there talk to me? My English isn’t very good.”
“You worry about the strangest things.”
We entered the studio.
“Please head up to the second floor.”
Following the staff’s directions, we went upstairs.
A wardrobe manager was checking the clothes on a rack, and makeup artists were setting up their cosmetics while looking at printouts.
Seeing a dozen people bustling about, it finally sank in that they were going to be the cover models for Elegan.
Despite being staff for a foreign luxury magazine, they all looked Korean.
They were probably from Elegan Korea.
“Hellooo.”
“We’re in your hands!”
“Have some coffee before you start.”
“Thank you, we’ll enjoy it.”
Even though there was a coffee machine, people preferred coffee from a cafe.
“Yoo-jun, go get five more.”
“Yes, sir!”
Choi Yoo-jun quickly dashed out.
“We’ll work with two of you at a time.”
“Seol-ah, over here. Seul-bi, over here.”
Two makeup artists were assigned to each person and began their work, while Ro-si and Yi-na moved over to the wardrobe section.
* * *
After her makeup was done, Seol-ah’s long purple hair cascaded down, shimmering under the lights.
As Seol-ah looked at her reflection in the mirror, her purple eyes met mine, and she gave a gentle smile. It seemed she wasn't so intimidated by me anymore.
“Whoa! Seol-ah-nunim! You look amazing! Absolutely stunning, for real!”
Choi Yoo-jun’s gushing was justified; with her purple hair and matching contacts, Seol-ah’s aura was otherworldly.
Seol-ah, too, seemed very pleased as she examined herself in a full-length mirror, wearing a white see-through dress.
“Seol-ah, you’re so slim, but your figure is beautiful. I’m so jealous.”
The female staff gathered and complimented Seol-ah.
“…Won’t I look chubby?”
“Pfft! Where? People who wear luxury brands have great figures even if they’re thin. They all either hit the gym or visit clinics, after all.”
The staff laughed at Seol-ah’s concern, and Choi Yoo-jun nodded in fervent agreement.
Seol-ah’s appearance was perfectly balanced, calm, and graceful, as if you could cut a full-body photo of her in half and it would be a perfect mirror image.
Once she had put on the expensive accessories, I wondered if this was what the heiress of a tycoon would look like.
Seol-ah’s photoshoot began first.
Elegan’s exclusive photographer was surprisingly Korean. No, from his vibe, he seemed to be a Korean-American in his forties.
“Aaalright, let’s change up the pose. Relax your shoulders…”
*Click, click, click, click. Click, click, click, click.*
“Gooood, gooood.”
Seol-ah, who was awkward at first, started showing a model-like presence within five minutes of the shoot starting.
Was it thanks to the magic of "You're doing great, great, great!" that could make even a whale dance?
“Tomorrow the earth… um… the fall of the earth. Ooh, those eyes are very gooood.”
I heard he was from Italy… but he felt more like a Korean-American.
At the photographer’s direction, Seol-ah let her gaze fall.
It occurred to me that eyes that have given up on everything look the same as eyes that have attained enlightenment about the ways of the world.
*Click, click, click, click. Click, click, click, click.*
Seol-ah’s vacant expression, a result of being up all night, appeared on the monitor.
“Gooood.”
Seol-ah seemed very satisfied with her own image on the monitor, her smile never fading.
“Wow, Ro-si, this looks especially good on you.”
Ro-si wore a green checkered two-piece suit with slightly raised shoulders and black stockings. Despite her slender frame, she exuded an unapproachable sense of weight and authority.
“Is this season’s trend ‘Dark Elegance’?”
“Ah! Ro-si, you know your stuff. That’s right. It’s ‘Graceful Dark Elegance.’”
With a slight smile, Ro-si looked down at her own body from her lower half to her waistline, looking pleased.
The platinum and diamond watch on her left wrist shimmered in harmony with her lustrous hair color.
“So damn cool. Our artists are seriously amazing. They’re so beautiful, no one would even dare to hit on them!”
“Right? No one’s in their league.”
Choi Yoo-jun and I spoke with pride.
Seeing the Answer members dressed in elegant luxury brands, I could already see a glimpse of their future success superimposed on them.
At 7:30, freshly baked cookies and bread were set up like a buffet.
As the studio filled with the scent of high-quality butter and vanilla, I felt a strange sense of peace.
“Hyung. Are we allowed to eat?”
“Go ask.”
“Yes, sir!”
At my joking remark, Choi Yoo-jun scurried off.
Why do I feel embarrassed?
Seul-bi, who was being fitted for a chain-patterned checkered blouse, had her eyes fixed on the snack bar.
Sure enough, while Seol-ah and Yi-na’s two-shot was in progress, Seul-bi walked over to the snack bar.
“Oppa…”
“Just eat a little. Only as much as you can handle.”
“Hehet. Ro-si, come here. Come here.”
Ro-si, who had been glancing at me, approached Seul-bi as if she had no choice. After starving for nearly a day and a half for the Elegan shoot, her appetite exploded on the day itself.
“Mmmmmm! Nom nom!”
Seul-bi and Ro-si, marveling at the taste of the cookies, couldn’t have looked happier.
“Hyung, try some! It’s really good!”
Choi Yoo-jun brought over a paper plate with several kinds of cookies.
“I’m fine, but… thank you.”
It was obvious he would be disappointed if I didn’t thank him.
As a courtesy, I picked up a moist-looking cookie and took a bite.
Beyond the soft cookie layer, I could taste a rich, sweet pineapple filling.
The flavor was deep, but the texture of the pineapple was perfectly preserved. It was such a well-made cookie that I imagined someone must have stirred it by hand with a spatula while it simmered.
“But Seul-bi is really something else.”
“You mean the eating?”
“Yeah, yeah! She eats so much but doesn’t gain weight.”
“She does if you look closely. She just gains less than others.”
Choi Yoo-jun and I happily watched Seul-bi and Ro-si eat instead of watching Seol-ah and Yi-na’s shoot.
“Nom, nom, nom.”
But then, I felt a sudden chill.
The moment I realized that even the sound of the shutter had stopped, Ro-si looked up, cookie in hand.
*Click-click-click-click!*
Startled with a piece of bread in her mouth, Seul-bi’s gaze shot toward the camera.
*Click-click-click-click!*
“Just like that! Don’t move, stay right there!”
Seul-bi and Ro-si froze, caught in the act of sneaking bread.
“Move the lights over here. You two, stay as you are.”
“Pfft! *choke*.”
Choi Yoo-jun and I burst out laughing at the ridiculous sight.
We had never imagined they would end up in an Elegan pictorial looking like that.
The lights were moved, and they took many more two-shots of Seul-bi and Ro-si, but in the end, the photo that was chosen was the one taken without proper lighting, the one where they were caught eating.
“So gooood. So gooood.”
At the sight of the elegant girls in their designer clothes, stunned while eating bread, the rest of us burst into laughter once again.
I found myself hoping that this would be the photo used in the article announcing Answer as the cover models for Elegan.
The photoshoot finally wrapped up as evening approached.
The shooting itself didn’t take that long, but the time spent adjusting makeup and refitting clothes for each concept was considerable.
“Hmph. I don’t want to take this off.”
Yi-na and Seul-bi looked at the clothes they were wearing with longing.
“We have to return everything today, but I’ll see if I can request your cooperation,” a woman in her early forties, dressed in a black pantsuit, said with a smile.
She was the vice president of Elegan Korea, and we exchanged greetings.
“I was a little worried when I heard Answer was modeling instead of Your Girl. But this is wonderful.”
“Thank you.”
“I think the head office will be very pleased as well.”
Since she was here, I might as well ask about the article.
“Would it be possible to release an article with one of the photos from today?”
“Ah… do you know any entertainment reporters?”
“Of course. I know someone who can get it on the main portal page.”
Somehow, I had a feeling things would work out well.
* * *
“Elegan wants a sponsored article?”
“Yes. It seems they want to increase their Korean customer base this time.”
“Haha. It’s surprising that a magazine company didn’t have any connections with a newspaper.”
“That was always their concept, wasn't it? As it happens, your newspaper's readership matches Elegan's target demographic… Anyway, I’ll stop taking credit. Please write a great article about our Answer.”
“Hahaha. I’ll let the advertising department know right away. Thank you so much.”
I hung up and looked at the Answer members through the rearview mirror.
After pulling an all-nighter and working until evening, they were all passed out.
They must be starving.
I composed a text summarizing the day’s work.
-Successfully completed the Elegan photoshoot.
-Connected the Vice President of Elegan Korea with reporter Shin Dong-min.
I almost forgot. The ad offer that the junior writer from the radio show I helped had connected me with.
-Received a school uniform model offer from an agency. Awaiting positive feedback.
I sent the composed text to Manager Ji and Director Lee.
I made sure to report anything that could help my performance review and incentives.
I like Director Lee and JD Enter, but as I resolved when I got a second chance at life, I have to look out for myself.
This mindset would remain, even if my wealth grew from millions to tens of millions.
Of course, by then, I imagined I’d probably own an agency of some sort.
I dropped Answer off at their dorm and went home.
“Haaah…”
I try to delegate to Choi Yoo-jun and focus on other things as much as possible, but it’s not easy.
Tonight, I planned to do a final check on the custom map I made for the VR rhythm game and upload it.
I had finished it yesterday, but I needed to do a final review to make sure the notes and obstacles appeared in time with the beat.
♪♬
Today is the third time we’ve met.
Will we meet again tomorrow, in this little fling of ours?
Please know my eager heart, you silly fool.
♪♬
Clear sound emanated from the VR headset.
While typical map creators used 128kbps or 320kbps MP3 files at best, my creation was different from the start, using a WAV file with a 1411kbps bitrate for superior sound quality.
If you’re going to do something, do it right.
I swung my lightsaber at the directional notes flying toward me.
*Zwing! Zwing!*
The sound of the precisely sliced notes blended perfectly with the original track.
I dodged obstacles blocking the space above, below, and to the sides while slicing through the notes.
The movements naturally flowed into something like Answer’s choreography, and a satisfied smile spread across my face as I progressed.
I could confidently say that its level of polish was far superior to the original soundtracks that came with the game.