GyeolBit (2)
“Are you sure this is really all right?”
They had asked to change the contract, which might mean the fabric price could change as well.
And yet, since he was saying it was fine for now, Director Choi Jin-a couldn’t help but ask, worried as she was.
“I never expected to find fabric like this in Korea. Would it be possible to know how it was made?”
Brian ignored Director Choi’s question and turned to Seung-hyun instead.
“Do you want the details down to the smallest point?”
“Oh? If it’s a secret, there’s no need to tell me that much. I was only curious about what kind of technology was applied to this fabric, and what sort of sensibility and artistic philosophy were woven into it.”
An artistic philosophy and sensibility...
In truth, it had not been born from some empty, meaningless sweep of the hand.
It was the result of his own aesthetic, one that had grown through art high school and art college, and beyond that, it also struck at the illusion modern art so often carried with it.
The mountain of marketability data he had gained while printing the pattern had offered him something close to the right answer, and that was what made this result possible.
“I’ll organize what I was thinking at the time and send it to you when we deliver the fabric.”
“Oh-ho, good.”
He smiled in obvious satisfaction and kept absently turning the fabric sample over in his hands, utterly absorbed by it.
The one left dazed by all this was Director Choi Jin-a.
“Then all we need to do is add the fabric information?”
Her question carried a trace of unease.
“Ah, since the fabric itself has changed, we’ll have to revise the supply price per yard...”
As expected, Director Choi felt the moment she had been dreading had arrived.
It wasn’t just any fabric, either. It was the very fabric the buyer was praising to the skies, so what that price would become...
Apparently deciding that this was not information he needed to hear, Brian took the sample and left the meeting room.
That made Director Choi listen with some tension.
“We’ll keep the 3,000 yards from the original contract at the same price as the existing high-density silk blend.”
The tension on her face vanished at once at the unexpected answer.
“Pardon? Ah, thank you.”
“We did solve the problem, but the beginning of the problem was on our side. If you want additional deliveries of GyeolBit afterward, we’ll need 350,000 won per yard.”
On the surface, the art fabric had become a highly satisfying result, but the fact remained that the material was still only C-grade yarn.
That meant the higher yard price would, for Haesol Textile, turn every roll they produced into a tremendous profit.
Even so, Director Choi Jin-a had no reason to refuse.
No, if anything, the fact that she could buy a fabric praised so highly by Brian, a man deeply versed in Europe, at this price alone meant there was nothing to refuse.
“Understood. Then I’ll revise the contract and send it to Haesol Textile.”
“Yes. Then I look forward to working with you.”
Seung-hyun stood and bowed his head politely.
If she had not understood him and waited for him, he would never have gotten this result.
“I should be the one thanking you. You must have had a hard time making samples for two days. I was too flustered to say it then, but honestly, I was completely shocked when I saw them. I never imagined this level of quality could come out in such a short time.”
“I was lucky.”
“Really... for some reason, it seems like luck follows Mr. Jung a lot. Let’s do well together.”
When she held out her hand, Seung-hyun took Director Choi’s hand firmly.
“I won’t disappoint you.”
*
A month later, in a five-star hotel in Seoul.
Colorful brochures were piled high on the desk.
Delivered by air mail, these promotional materials neatly showcased the furniture lineup Roche Bobois was proud of, and the most eye-catching item of all was the photo placed right in the center: the GyeolBit art fabric sofa.
“Good.”
Brian slowly turned through the brochure with a satisfied smile.
It was the result he had only just managed to obtain after strongly urging headquarters.
The headquarters marketing team had been skeptical about a sofa made with such unusual fabric from Korea, but even after receiving the additional samples, they had been surprised enough to add the image cuts sent by Daeryung Sangsa to the pamphlet.
That was the very brochure he now held.
Thinking he had rested enough, he immediately gathered the promotional materials and left the hotel.
He headed for Nonhyeon-dong.
He got out of the car in front of a furniture shop, his features sharply defined against his blond hair, a white man with a striking face. That man was Brian.
“Brian, welcome. Did you come to see the director?”
The store he walked into was, surprisingly, the very Roche Bobois showroom Seung-hyun had visited not long before.
At the employee’s warm greeting, Brian nodded and walked calmly inside.
In the open showroom, a variety of imported furniture gleamed beneath the lights.
Fabric sofas in all sorts of colors, tables with gracefully curved lines...
And far off in the distance, even luxury chairs brought over from Europe.
“Brian, over here!”
Yu Se-rin came over with a light wave.
With her elegant features, slender figure, and a refined suit, she wore a composed smile.
The moment Brian saw her, his face brightened with pleasure.
“Yu Se-rin, it’s been a while.”
“It has. You’re in Korea often, aren’t you?”
“The Korean market is just that important. Especially the flow in the high-end imported furniture sector—I wanted to keep an eye on that too.”
The two exchanged a brief hug before sitting down at a table deeper inside the showroom.
Before long, champagne glasses and simple finger food were brought out.
“So what sort of news did you bring me this time that you called me out like this?”
When Yu Se-rin asked with a playful look, Brian smiled casually, took a bite of finger food, and raised a hand.
As if he had business with the store, he chewed slowly and looked around the showroom.
Since most of the furniture displayed here was already familiar to him, Yu Se-rin tilted her head, but soon waited quietly for him to return to the matter at hand.
After a while, Brian came back to his seat and, after thinking hard for a moment, said, “Was it six months since we last saw each other?”
“Maybe? Wasn’t the last time in Florence in the summer?”
“Right.”
“Why don’t you come back to the company? I think the higher-ups still miss you.”
He shrugged.
“I’m fine. I’m tired of staying in one place for too long. These days, the years I have left are shorter than the years I’ve already lived. So I’d rather be free than tied down.”
“In that case, there’s nothing I can say. But why did you look around the store? These are all things you already know, aren’t they?”
Brian made a face that suggested he was unsure whether he should say it or not, then opened his mouth.
“The art fabric on display.”
“Yes.”
“Is that all?”
Yu Se-rin spread both hands in obvious confusion.
“Do you want something else besides that? Or are you looking for something in particular?”
“So there isn’t any...”
He rubbed his chin, mulling something over, then carefully took a newly printed Roche Bobois pamphlet from his bag.
“I wanted to show you something a little unusual.”
Interest sparked, and Yu Se-rin picked up the Roche Bobois pamphlet.
She respected Brian’s eye more than anyone’s, but she had never been particularly interested in the products of the small furniture importer where he worked, outside the world of global luxury conglomerates.
Even so, she took an interest because Brian had never before tried to show her anything from Lime Design directly.
“Mm-hm... What exactly are you trying to show me?”
There was nothing especially striking on the front of the pamphlet.
Ordinary people might have found the prices and designs interesting, but to Yu Se-rin, half-finished mid-range furniture had no chance of catching her eye.
And yet, after the existing Lime Design products at the front ended, there, newly added near the center of the back section, was the GyeolBit art fabric sofa.
Yu Se-rin’s brow furrowed, and her pupils widened.
“Ah...”
The pattern, with its ink-wash feel spreading like a landscape painting, and the subtly layered colors touched by brushstroke-like texture, came through vividly even in the photograph.
At first she had meant to glance at it casually, but the more she felt the Eastern quality of the art fabric, the more she found herself drawn in, until at last she tore her eyes away and asked, “Where did this come from?”
Brian smiled a little crookedly, as though he had expected that.
“Heh. Well? What do you think?”
He was clearly teasing her, but her serious expression did not soften.
“This is... really unusual. The Eastern feeling is quite striking. And GyeolBit? Don’t tell me this came from Korea?”
“...”
Brian merely gave her a sidelong smile and lifted the champagne glass for the first sip.
Finding the person who had made that exacting, sensitive woman so agitated before her was enough to send a strange heat up his spine.
“If you don’t want to see me die of frustration, start talking. Where did this come from?”
After taking half the champagne and savoring the sharp burst of carbonation, Brian said, “I did get it in Korea.”
“Really? Where? Saerom Furniture? Line Roset? Minotti? Ah, did they just develop the fabric itself? Hanil Global or Taesung, maybe? Anyway, I’ve never heard of any of those places being interested in art fabric.”
“Hahaha! You’re really in a hurry. Are you trying to play twenty questions with me?”
“I’m doing that because you won’t just give me the answer!”
At last she barked at him, but Brian did not even twitch an eyebrow, simply smiling as he said, “I only found out about it myself recently. It’s called Haesol Textile.”
“Haesol Textile?”
She tilted her head.
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“Is that so?”
He took another sip of champagne and tilted his head as well.
Hadn’t that young man drawn inspiration from somewhere in Roche Bobois?
Seeing that this woman had no idea, it was clear she had not given him the hint that led to this Eastern-style art fabric.
Thinking that way made Brian like the young man even more.
So he figured it out on his own, did he? Both the technical side and the artistic side.
Meanwhile, Yu Se-rin, watching Brian sit there with that sly little smile while thinking to himself, was growing more and more irritated.
“Just tell me already...”
As she was about to press him again, Brian gathered up the pamphlet and stood.
Yu Se-rin looked up at him in disbelief, and Brian said, “Now that I’ve told you the company name, I’ve told you everything I can. I have a feeling I’m lucky, and maybe this neighborhood will end up with one more shop selling art fabric besides this one.”
“Give me another hint. We do have a history together, don’t we?”
Brian smiled faintly and tilted his head just a little.
“Aureum? Maybe?”