‘…Anyway, it must have failed, right?’
The next day, Eunsu arrived at work, sat down, and immediately dived into work mode.
She was always diligent, but today, more so, fueled by various stimuli received the day before.
Previously, revealing her position at an interior magazine elicited responses like, “Wow, you work there?” But mentioning Bida drew more ambiguous reactions, which she didn’t appreciate.
She also regretted not being able to dismiss Gye’s veiled threat or mockery cleanly. If Bida had been more prominent, she could have confidently brushed him off.
‘I’m going to grow this place.’
Eunsu had always been interested in architecture, furniture, and interior design. She once dreamt of being a furniture designer but quickly gave it up for practical reasons.
Then she joined an interior magazine, and her first major assignment was interviewing Director Kim Kyung-hoon.
She vividly remembered studying vintage furniture intensively for days before meeting him. His appreciation of her efforts made the interview smooth and enjoyable.
“Vintage refers to the year grapes are harvested for wine. It also means something aged with value, like a well-aged wine. It signifies something that remains charming and excellent over time. That’s what I love.”
Director Kim’s words sparked her interest in vintage furniture.
At the time, her ambition was to earn enough money to buy all sorts of vintage pieces. She never dreamed she would make it her profession.
As she also checked how other vintage furniture shops were doing, a name she disliked appeared: Moem.
The front page of a top-3 fashion magazine featured a huge special article titled “The Places Go Jiyeon Loves”. Go Jiyeon was the hottest top actress of the moment, famous for selling out anything she touched.
“Ah, I’m so envious. Ah, it’s so annoying.”
Why is Manager Seon acting like that today?
Unaware of Seonkyeong’s curious gaze, Eunsu murmured her lament and searched for Moem.
Upon visiting Moem’s website, she found its design utterly terrible. The crowded listing of celebrities who purchased from them and the places they sponsored made her feel as if she was looking at a poorly made PowerPoint presentation, suffocating her from within.
“Objectively speaking, we are dozens of times better.”
The Bida blog and Instagram, meticulously managed by the talented and diligent Jaerim, were honestly breathtaking. They had a substantial following and visitor count. It just didn’t translate to equivalent sales.
“I wonder how effective the Go Jiyeon effect will be…”
While Eunsu daydreamed about a more famous celebrity casually visiting Bida, buying everything from here to there, and then broadcasting it widely on their social media, she suddenly thought of someone. But she immediately shook her head to dismiss the thought.
Then, Eunsu’s phone rang. It was Jaerim.
― Manager! Manager!
“What’s up? Is there a problem?”
― There’s a customer downstairs looking for you. Hurry!
“A customer?”
Jaerim, his voice full of excitement, whispered,
― It’s Choi Yoonbin!
“What? Yoonbin oppa? Right now?”
― You actually know Choi Yoonbin? That’s unbelievable!
Eunsu stood up immediately. With wide eyes, Seonkyeong muttered she’d be back soon and hurried down to the first-floor showroom.
There, she saw the profile of a man examining the fabric armchairs lined up by the entrance. His slender yet well-proportioned body and unusually small face made it clear he was a celebrity.
“Oppa.”
At Eunsu’s call, Yoonbin turned with a bright smile.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. How have you been?”
Approaching quickly, Eunsu stood in front of Yoonbin and smiled back.
“It really has been a long time. What brings you here? No call or anything.”
“I came to see you. I would have called you for a meal if I had more time, but my schedule got pushed up, so I just dropped by. Luckily, you’re here.”
“Normally, if it’s not my day off, I’m almost always here.”
Yoonbin had debuted at seventeen as a member of the idol group and remained a top star, renewing his peak of popularity several times, even now at thirty.
Currently more famous as an actor, he had just completed his military service in January and immediately started filming a drama. Since then, Eunsu and he had only occasionally contacted each other, aside from having a meal right after his discharge.
“Let’s go upstairs and have a cup of tea. I’ll make you coffee.”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll make the coffee… Oh, here he comes.”
Just then, Yoonbin’s manager entered, carrying several takeaway coffees and a load of cookies.
“You must’ve had a hard time carrying all this by yourself. Thank you.”
Yoonbin looked apologetically at his manager and took half of the coffees from him. Then he turned to Jaerim, who was curiously peeking around.
“Give these to the staff here.”
“Wow, thank you.”
Jaerim gratefully accepted the coffee from Yoonbin.
“What about the others…”
“I’ll deliver the rest to the people in the workshop downstairs.”
Jaerim took the coffees meant for Joo-han and Somin as well. Eunsu tried to help the manager with the remaining items, but he smiled and insisted it was okay.
“You didn’t have to bring all this. Let’s go up. Do you have a moment to sit and talk?”
“Sure.”
Eunsu, Yoonbin, and the manager went up to the second-floor office. Jaerim, who had been watching them for a while, quickly darted downstairs.
“Manager!”
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
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