His fingers started to turn red from the cold. He finished smoking his cigarette, threw it on the ground and stepped on it.

.

The guy wasn’t coming. He’d been waiting for two hours now. In this freezing cold weather, in his thin leather jacket.

He knew that he must look stupid. And he was, otherwise he would have never come here in the first place. But he was desperate and didn’t have any other choice. He should have gotten the man’s phone number. He should have asked for his business card.

In hindsight it was clear that the guy had just tried to get rid of him as quickly and easily as possible, and he in his excitement hadn’t even thought much about it until it had been to late. And now here he was, with his guitar on his back, a bag full of CDs and mixtapes and wearing a leather jacket at minus 2 degrees Celsius.

Music is a terrible thing. No, actually the music industry is a terrible thing. A terrifying thing. Something made for shameless people and those hoping to become some. Not a place for naïve people like him.

He sighed. What should he do now. He didn’t have many places to go.

Slowly, he walked back to the bus station, rubbing his freezing hands against each other, to get a little bit of warmth but they just hurt.

He had spent all that money and time to come here for nothing. This was in a business district, far away from his home. Even though it was afternoon there weren’t many people on the streets yet. Too early to get off work probably. Seungyoon sat down at the bench of the bus stop all alone.

Maybe if he had a real band it would be easier, he thought.

It’s not like he hadn’t tried. It just had never worked out. Sometimes because of musically or personal differences. But sometimes just because of their circumstances and money. Most people couldn’t afford this lifestyle for too long. Or they just grew tired of it. Heck, even he was tired of it.

But for some reason he still couldn’t give up. He could not give up his dream. So he was making music just by himself. On the weekends he sometimes performed either alone or with a band in some bars. The band members were nice and they got along well but they were all older than him and did it as a hobby, besides their regular jobs. Most of them had a family to support. They lived in nice apartments, leading normal lives. Not like him.

The bus came and Seungyoon got on and found a seat in the back. He stared out of the window for a while, ready to sleep, since he would be riding this bus for a long time, when he saw a familiar building around a station he often used to come.

Suddenly he had an idea. He pressed the button and got off the bus.

*

“This is our next project. It’s one of our biggest clients. You all better put all you have into this and come up with some good ideas. We can’t risk to lose this. I expect everyone to give 120%” 

Seunghoon sighed while looking through the printed pages in front if him. This was a big project alright.

A big beverage company, wanting to change their whole marketing appearance for their 65thanniversary. Brand core, slogan, website... everything had to be new.

It was exciting in a way and he knew he should be excited. But he felt the pressure more than anything. This company was big.

Not only was it their biggest client, but also big in the sense that they sold all kinds of products. From beer and whisky etc. to soft drinks, sport drinks... And the company seemed to not know what they want. Something modern and new but still keeping their traditional image at heart... This wouldn’t be easy.

“Seunghoon-ssi, any comments?”

He looked up to find his boss and everyone at the meeting table looking at him. , he hadn’t listened, did his boss add anything there at the end?

“Not at all, I can’t wait to start on this,” Seunghoon said with his brightest business-smile.

“That’s great to hear. We expect a lot from you.”

Great...

Not that he wasn’t going to give his best. He never did half-hearted things, much less when it came to work. He liked his j