Evolution (1)

I’m translating the chapter into HTML with the required paragraph structure and will preserve the in-universe status window as a styled block. I’m also keeping the character voice and business terminology consistent with the glossary.CHAPTER_TITLE: Evolution (1)

Roche Bobois MD office.

Yu Se-rin’s desk was covered with sales reports that had been arriving one after another.

She sat on the sofa, watching the screen, her expression bright and clear, but a single email subject line kept pricking at her nerves.

RE: Request for Additional Production of the Versailles Line.

[...We’re sorry, but because our already planned output is so heavy, it would be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠difficult to take on an additional contract right away...]

“Sigh...”

Yu Se-rin let out a cold breath.

The Versailles Line was already riding an explosive wave of success, so extra supply was the one card she wanted most right now.

And yet Haesol Textile had replied that it was difficult. What was she supposed to do with a headache like that?

“This won’t do.”

Yu Se-rin decided to call directly.

She felt it was too frustrating to keep going back and forth by email alone.

“Ah, is this President Jung Seung-hyun? This is Yu Se-rin.”

“Yes, MD Manager.”

At the calm voice coming through the receiver, Yu Se-rin made her plea.

“The additional production I asked about before... is it really impossible? We’re completely swamped with reservations right now, so it would be wonderful if you could release just a little more stock.”

Her voice was full of urgency.

The success of the Versailles Line had given her a solid advantage, but to keep that momentum going, she needed to keep replenishing the sofa inventory.

If Haesol Textile truly could not supply more, then she would have to switch to another fabric manufacturer, and that was not an option. It was maddening.

The Versailles Line had been built around Haesol Textile’s proprietary art fabric from the beginning.

“I’m sorry. We did try our best, but our production lines are already packed with other work right now.”

Jung Seung-hyun’s answer was polite, but firm.

“Would it be possible to use another line? Even as a simple OEM arrangement...”

“That could create quality problems. Our technicians need to oversee the process directly, and we’re short on manpower as it is, while we also don’t have enough equipment time.”

Yu Se-rin swallowed a sigh, finding nothing more to add.

“Understood. Still, please let me know right away if anything changes. For now, I suppose I have no choice but to keep waiting.”

She tried a little longer to continue the conversation, but Seung-hyun’s answer ultimately came down to the same message: it was impossible right now.

Unable to hide her disappointment, Yu Se-rin finally ended the call.

After some thought, she immediately informed headquarters of the situation and called the staff together.

“You all know the Versailles Line is getting a strong response. But we’ve run into a bit of a problem. We’ve been told that the fabric manufacturer at the core of the Versailles Line can’t provide additional supply.”

At once, the staff’s faces darkened.

High sales affected their bonuses too, and the news that they couldn’t sell any more of such an expensive, popular product was not good for them either.

“For now, we need to diversify what we’re selling by recommending other products to customers. So please don’t emphasize the Versailles Line too heavily.”

Then someone raised a hand.

“How many Versailles Lines do we have left, then?”

“As far as I know, around fifty? I’ll need to check with the factory to get an exact number. Thanks for your hard work, everyone.”

In a situation like this, even Kang Mo-hyeon couldn’t smile.

If no more products were being made, then this wasn’t just sales talk for the floor; it meant that “almost sold out” had become a real, active fact.

Yu Se-rin’s mention of the remaining fifty units was also a deliberate way of warning the staff.

He bit his lip.

*

A week later, at Haesol Textile.

Seung-hyun was looking through several photos on his monitor, all of them materials Cha Hee-ju had carefully organized and sent regarding Davide Sossi.

She had dug up detailed information on his childhood, his family background, the art genres he liked, and more. It was remarkably thorough, exactly the kind of work one expected from a major corporation.

It made sense that he had grown up by a lake in northern Italy, but it was strange, in a good way, that she had even found out he longed for flowers and open meadows so much.

In the message she had written, “I couldn’t find his first love, but I did find stories from his childhood,” and the desire to capture Davide Sossi’s heart shone through it all so plainly that it was almost impossible to miss.

“Hmm... Is that why living in a place like that gives him this kind of sensibility?”

Photos of the town near Lake Como in northern Italy where Davide Sossi had lived at twelve, flower pictures he had liked on social media, snippets from newspapers and magazines.

Seung-hyun didn’t miss a single detail, taking in even the smallest things in case they might spark inspiration.

Then his gaze stopped on one landscape photo.

Soft, rolling grassland, tiny wildflowers in full bloom, and beyond the blue lake, the mountain slope stretches out in a hazy distance...

He looked at the photo quietly for a moment, then gave a small nod.

“If I put a hometown landscape into bedding... what would that look like?”

He started imagining it.

What kind of material should he use?

If he wanted to express soft, gentle nature, then instead of the smooth sheen of GyeolBit bedding, a quieter, cozier texture might be more appropriate.

He also reexamined the quilting style.

If the goal was to evoke a broad, supple feel like a meadow, he could minimize embroidery and add printing that looked as if pastel tones had naturally bled into one another.

“This could work.”

As the countermeasure took shape in his mind, a quiet smile spread across Seung-hyun’s face as well.

The problem was making a new fabric that didn’t exist yet.

But after succeeding a few times already, it no longer felt all that difficult.

Seung-hyun immediately began building a simulation in the fabric weaving program.

For a soft, gentle touch, nothing beats modal. Add the natural texture of linen and the stability and durability of cotton...

The weaving program began ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠calculating the optimal ratio.

From that point on, Seung-hyun holed himself up in the president’s office and threw himself into fabric development.

Apart from a quick trip to Hongdae to sign a lease and talk with an interior contractor, his routine never changed: once he came to work, he stayed in the office running programs until midnight before heading home.

By the time more than two weeks had passed, several ratios had been selected.

With dark circles sinking all the way down to his cheekbones, Seung-hyun finished a few final settings and then burst out of the president’s office.

“Foreman, I’m going to run one line.”

“Ah, yes.”

“We have modal and linen at the company, right? Could you get those ready for me?”

“Understood.”

Seung-hyun waited until the machine that had been producing GyeolBit fabric finished completely, switched it off, and then started it up again.

Then he matched the settings he had entered earlier and set it running.

Whirrrr-

Seung-hyun’s eyes sharpened as he watched the machine begin weaving according to the values set by the weaving program.

After a long while, he touched the freshly produced fabric, still warm from the machine, and his expression settled.

It wasn’t enough.

If an ordinary person who knew nothing about fabric touched it after it had been spun from 400-count yarn, they would probably marvel at how good it felt, but to Seung-hyun it was still far from satisfactory.

He continued weaving with other settings, but each one revealed some small shortcoming.

Of course, if the fabric quality was only so-so, then the marketability would suffer as well.

Seung-hyun bit his lip.

In theory it isn’t bad...

The blended fabric composition of 40 percent linen, 30 percent modal, and 30 percent cotton was certainly decent, but the weave itself needed to be denser and more harmonious.

But how?

That “how” was the problem.

Seung-hyun carried all four failed fabric samples back into the president’s office and began thinking.

He picked up all four at once and stared at the monitor, trying to figure out what was wrong, when...

“This is...?”

Seung-hyun was startled.

It was presenting information on the optimization process for a fabric woven from three different yarns.

Not only that, but it was also telling him the ideal temperature and humidity.

That was the kind of information a company with its own proprietary fabric technology would never reveal to outsiders.

In the case of linen, because it is a natural fiber, maintaining a low temperature is important since high heat can cause shrinkage or damage. In general, about 20°C to 25°C is typical.

Modal, on the other hand, is a regenerated fiber and comparatively heat-resistant, so 30°C to 40°C is generally considered appropriate.

Since he had mixed those two yarns with cotton as well, finding the optimal temperature and humidity had not been easy at all.

Seung-hyun immediately entered the information into the weaving program and rushed back out.

“President, just now...”

Park Han-soo, who had been about to make the bedding in the usual way, turned around in surprise.

His eyes seemed to ask whether this was another test after the last one had already failed.

“Just this once.”

Inside the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠interface, the blend ratio of the three yarns was adjusted to 38.4 percent, 35.4 percent, and 26.2 percent.

Under ordinary circumstances, those tiny decimal places would have seemed possible only in an experiment, not in real mass production, but this time Seung-hyun was unusually resolute.

Each of the linen, modal, and cotton yarns was fed into the input slots in balanced proportion, and the machine’s temperature and humidity were also controlled with precision devices.

“All right, we’ll begin.”

When the weaving machine’s button was pressed, the machine noise came out in a steady rhythm.

Along with the machine’s distinctive metallic sound, the three threads were woven together in a complex pattern, gradually becoming fabric, and that process slowly came into view behind the machine.

Until now, Park Han-soo had been content simply to watch, but the young president’s expression was so serious that he found himself unconsciously focusing, eyes flashing with concentration.

After some time, the weaving ended and the workers carefully removed the sample fabric that had emerged in a slightly bundled state.

Seung-hyun and Foreman Park touched the fabric with their fingertips, holding their breath.

The dense weave felt soft, yet there was a springiness to it that seemed to gently push back against the palm.

Linen usually had a rough surface and wrinkled easily, but with modal blended in, a faint, silk-like sheen shimmered through it.

“Th-this feeling is...?”

A cry of admiration burst from Park Han-soo.

This was clearly different from the earlier samples, which had been uneven or puckered and therefore low in marketability.

For some people, it might look like a luxury hotel sheet; for others, it might feel like a soft linen fabric. In that sense, the unique texture of the middle ground was what stood out most.

Seung-hyun lightly shook the sample fabric, then ran his hand over the surface again.

As the much higher evaluation figures appeared before his eyes, Seung-hyun’s heart beat hard.

“Foreman, feel this. This is... really beyond easy words.”

“I’ve never... felt a texture like this before. And it keeps almost all of linen’s natural wrinkle texture without that roughness, while still staying soft, breathable... wow.”

Even the dispatched workers reached in from the side and brushed it with their hands, letting out cries of admiration.

Normally, linen products had a strong reputation for being difficult to care for, wrinkling badly, and resisting ironing, but this was different.

Modal and cotton filled in linen’s weaknesses, while the natural grain of linen still lived on in a subtle way.

“How can it be this soft...?”

Park Han-soo even tugged at the fabric, crumpled it, and smelled it, as if trying to confirm it wasn’t some kind of trick, and his face brightened.

“President, this... would be revolutionary if we used it for bedding!”

It was so well made that it almost seemed a waste to use it only for a limited edition intended for Davide Sossi.

Of course, if they prepared another line with this, all they would need to do was change the pattern.

Holding the fabric in his hand, Seung-hyun thought of Dualtex.

Maybe...

For the first ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time, hope arose that the status window might give him a clue that could finally complete the once-incomplete Dualtex.