Advancing, Part 5
Jung Seung-hyun stepped back into Daeryung Sangsa.
The reception room of Daeryung Sangsa lay in an unfamiliar silence.
Seung-hyun’s throat was dry, but he could not even reach for the water glass as he kept thinking about the conversation he had to have next.
Across the table, Director Choi Jin-a and Brian from Lime Design sat side by side, both watching him.
“CEO, what brings you here so suddenly? Is everything all right at the factory?”
Director Choi asked cautiously.
Brian also leaned in with an interested expression.
Seung-hyun drew a breath and began.
“I’m afraid there’s been a problem with delivery this time.”
“What? A problem with delivery?”
Director Choi’s face hardened.
There was a buyer right in front of them. What was he saying?
“You clearly said both quality and delivery were guaranteed, didn’t you? What do you mean, a problem suddenly came up?”
Seung-hyun immediately stood and bowed at a ninety-degree angle.
“I’m sorry. After checking the yarn that came in today, I found that instead of the A-grade we were supposed to receive, C-grade yarn was sent. We tried to secure new yarn right away, but market conditions are bad, and we still haven’t been able to secure enough volume. If we keep the delivery date as it is, it won’t be possible.”
“No, that’s...”
Director Choi looked stunned.
Brian, who could not understand their conversation because they had been speaking Korean, still sensed from their expressions that something had gone wrong. His own face began to stiffen as well.
So Seung-hyun immediately explained the situation to Brian in English.
Seeing Brian’s expression grow serious, Seung-hyun kept his tone calm and confident so the other man would not panic.
“Director Choi, I’m very sorry, but I don’t think this means we have no options.”
Director Choi was fluent enough in English that she had no trouble following Seung-hyun’s measured, blunt pronunciation.
“What do you mean by that? You just said you couldn’t supply it within the deadline.”
“Yes, that’s correct. But I’d like to say Haesol Textile has two choices to offer you, Director Choi. Would you hear me out?”
This was clearly a situation where he should have apologized profusely and kept his head bowed. Instead, this young CEO kept his head up straight and said confidently that there was another way.
She found it absurd, but also curious enough that she could not help asking.
“Two choices... what kind of choices?”
Seung-hyun held up one finger.
“First, you give us about three more weeks on the delivery date. If you do that, we’ll secure A-grade yarn through another channel and supply the high-density silk blend fabric according to the original plan. Of course, Daeryung Sangsa would have to agree to that.”
Seung-hyun’s voice was grave.
If they imported a small amount directly at a slightly higher price, without going through a domestic supplier, it would take about three weeks for the material to reach the factory.
Director Choi exchanged a look with Brian.
At the mention of an extension of three weeks, Brian’s expression darkened as he waited for the second proposal.
“Second...”
At this point, Seung-hyun lifted his head and met Brian’s eyes.
“What if, instead of a dark gray fabric line, we supply you with an Art Fabric? Would you be interested?”
Brian looked as if he could not believe what he had just heard.
“Art Fabric? Are you asking me to believe Haesol Textile has that kind of technology?”
“You don’t have to believe it.”
As he said that, Seung-hyun held up two fingers and went on.
“Two days. Give us just two days. Then we’ll provide the sample Brian wants.”
Director Choi, who had been listening, cut in.
“Art Fabric? I’ve heard that’s for furniture and interiors... but what we’re receiving is silk-blend apparel and leather-alternative material. Isn’t that an entirely different approach?”
“It is. That’s why I’m asking for your opinion. If Brian refuses, we’ll deliver the quantity you requested in three weeks.”
Director Choi was about to say it was nonsense, then stopped when she saw Brian fall into deep thought.
Daeryung Sangsa had placed the order, but in practical terms the true principal of this contract was Brian of Lime Design.
After a long silence, Brian asked, “It is interesting. Applying Art Fabric to clothing or a fabric line would be rare even in Europe, but I think it would be extremely attractive. The question, of course, is quality.”
“Do you really think you can do it? Within two days?”
Director Choi realized from the two-day limit that they did not even have a sample yet.
In the end, what he was saying was that he would run the machines for two days and produce a sample Brian would be satisfied with, but Director Choi could only look on skeptically.
Brian, however, seemed to be quietly intrigued by the idea of Art Fabric, and his expression showed clear interest.
“It is possible. Brian, by any chance, do you have an Art Fabric sample with you?”
He shook his head.
“No, but... I do know one place in Korea where there might be a sample. Roche Bobois.”
Seung-hyun knew the place.
A luxury imported-furniture brand in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam.
Its main clientele were people with tens or even hundreds of billions of won in assets, and even one ordinary sofa there was said to cost tens of millions of won.
“Thank you. Then I’ll take my leave first. I’ll come back within two days with a sample that will absolutely satisfy you.”
After bowing deeply to the two of them, Seung-hyun hurried out of Daeryung Sangsa.
“Haa... I’m truly sorry.”
Director Choi, left behind, gave Brian an apologetic look, but he answered with surprising composure.
“I’m curious. What kind of result will come from his confidence?”
He toyed with the dark gray high-density silk-blend sample, wearing an unreadable expression.
*
“Wow... the scale really is different.”
The Roche Bobois showroom on the main road in Nonhyeon-dong looked, from the outside alone, like a modern art museum.
Beyond the glass wall, brilliant lights glowed, and avant-garde sofas and tables were arranged throughout the space. Inside the showroom, a few customers sat on luxurious sofas in the middle of consultations.
Seung-hyun felt a flicker of tension.
He represented Haesol Textile, yes, but a showroom at this level was unfamiliar territory.
And on top of that, time was short. He had no room to waste.
“Welcome, sir. Please feel free to look around.”
A female employee wearing a name tag greeted him politely.
Her name tag read Kim Se-young, and she looked to be in her late twenties.
“Yes, thank you.”
Seung-hyun soon ignored the clerk and moved deeper into the showroom.
As he turned his gaze, the sofas made of dazzling fabrics immediately caught his eye.
Some of them were truly close to works of art, with vivid patterns and prints that looked like brush strokes.
Cushions imported from various countries were lined up on display, and at a glance their designs looked like spreading paint or mottled ink wash paintings.
“Oh... so this is what real Art Fabric looks like.”
Seung-hyun touched one of the cushions, and
his fingertips were suddenly swept by a familiar, electric sensation.
[Yarn composition: 80% linen, 20% silk / Hand dyeing = indigo...]
[Process method = individual brush work (10-minute soaking per pass)...]
As countless fragments of information burst into his mind, Seung-hyun swallowed dryly despite a slight wave of dizziness.
As I thought...!
It was exactly as he had suspected.
Through a handcrafted process, the water-like bleed on the linen base had been brought out more naturally with a brush.
Even C-grade yarn... no, precisely because it was C-grade yarn, if he adapted this method, it might actually create a better effect.
What mattered here was the pattern.
Depending on the pattern they used, they could create a sense of luxury and inspiration for the customer.
And on that point, Seung-hyun was confident too.
The thing he had been best at since majoring in design was pattern work, and his father’s computer already held countless designs.
It made no sense that he could not tweak one of them a little, produce it, and check through the fabric data what kind of marketability it had.
On the other hand, there was someone watching Seung-hyun from a distance as he fiddled with the cushion and wore an unreadable expression.
“Who is that guy?”
She was wearing a slim suit with simple accessories, but she was a young woman with a slender, refined beauty.
At her question, the employee with the name tag came over and answered.
“He’s the customer who came in earlier. He’s been standing by the Art Fabric sofa section without asking any questions.”
“A customer?”
She swept her sharp gaze over Seung-hyun’s clothes.
He was dressed neatly in a dark-toned suit, but she immediately recognized that it was neither a bespoke suit nor a luxury department-store one.
Since only someone with luxury shoes and accessories from head to toe would dare pull out a card here, she tilted her head and approached him.
He was the man still fiddling with a cushion.
“This is one of our most popular limited-edition cushions. It was made as an art collaboration, so each pattern is different.”
Seung-hyun nodded and shifted his gaze to the rug beside it.
There, using some other technique, rough marble-like patterns were mixed in as if paint had been splashed across it.
This too... actually, this one feels a little cliché and rough?
At the sight of the young man nodding with great significance at the cushion, she made a strange expression and said, “Hello. I’m Yu Se-rin, the MD and creative director at Roche Bobois Korea.”
“Ah, yes...”
“Are you looking for something in particular?”
Her expression was curious, almost searching.
Only then did Seung-hyun realize his mistake.
She had figured out he was not here to buy anything, and he said a little sheepishly, “Ah, hello. I run a small fabric factory called Haesol Textile.”
“A fabric factory?”
“Yes. I was looking to make Art Fabric, and I heard this was the only place in Korea that carries it, so I came to take a look. If I was being rude, I sincerely apologize.”
“Oh... yes. No, it’s fine.”
Since he was indeed not a customer, she had half expected as much, but now she felt increasingly bewildered.
He wanted to make Art Fabric?
A man who ran nothing more than a small fabric factory?
She believed that true Art Fabric only emerged when artistic sensibility blended with Europe’s long history and outstanding technical skill.
And yet this man, smiling shyly with such an innocent face, supposedly had both artistic sensibility and outstanding technical skill?
It was impossible to believe.
“It’s all right, so take your time and look around.”
Still, she had no intention of chasing away someone just because he wasn’t buying anything.
She had enough generosity to support anyone who was willing to try.
So after turning away coolly, she went over to the employee and even said, “Don’t bother that customer, and unless he does anything strange, just let him be.”
“Yes, understood.”
Just then, another customer opened the door and came in. As Se-rin turned toward that side, she soon forgot all about the young man entirely.
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