“Hul, indeed,” You bite your nails. 

***

You fiddle on your seat and glance repeatedly at the clock hanging on the wall.  You picked out a casual coffee shop, your favorite place, where Chen always takes you to.  You didn’t order anything and just sit there, waiting for Samsung’s rep to come.

“Kim Jaemi-ssi?”

Kim Jaemi, that’s your secret name!

“Oh!” You turn towards the voice and come face to face with a woman looking like she was Rin’s age, her hair tied down in a low ponytail and her forelocks pinned to the side of her head, wearing a fitted black blazer which she buttoned at her stomach, and matching trousers with black heels.  “Yes, hello,” You stand up and bow at her.  “You must be the Samsung representative,”

She shakes your hand and takes the seat across from you.  “That’s me,” She grins.  “Lee Hyosung,”

“Kim Jaemi,” You reply.  “Oh, you knew that already,”

Hyosung laughs and sets down her files on the table.  “As expected from a factory outlet owner,” She says as she catches your outfit.

You’ve got to admit, you did tidy up a little bit.  You wore your long-sleeved, light maroon dress that fell to your knees, the edges, the cuffs and the neckline lined with ivory lace.  You let your hair down, flowing down your back tidily in its dark brown waves.   

You smile at her and  glance at the heels she was wearing.  “Wow, that’s pretty,”

It was indeed.  It was simply black but the golden lining at the edges made her look extra exclusive.  It was a marvelous pop to her working suit. 

“Hey, I wouldn’t want to look shabby beside you, would I?” She grins as you let out a light chime of laughter.  “So, getting down to business,”

Her french manicured nails pulled a set of paper out of her clear folder and slides it over to you. 

“I wouldn’t actually read that if I were you,” Hyosung stares at the paper with slight disgust.  “So many trivial matters that doesn’t even matter and I’m supposed to make millions of them,”

True, the set of paper was thick, about half a finger’s height.   You quickly flip the pages and clear your throat, silently agreeing with Hyosung.  “The point is?”

She laughs, then answers your question.  “Occassionally, a photographer from our company will come over to your outlet and take pictures, candid or through a photoshoot, of all the people working in your outlet.  Including you.  And well, it’s basically a contract about you letting us do so.  The good thing, is that you wear your own outfits, and we give you the latest products of our company to use without constraint, in exchange for your pictures,”

You gape at her explanation.  Is it really this easy? It’s very imbalanced, but promotion and advertisement is the key to a business.  Well, you get the products and your pictures taken and your clothes promoted, but really? Maybe you should read the contract first.

“Too easy?” Hyosung asks. 

“Well..”

“I only told you the good part, kiddo,” She grins.  “The slightly bad thing is if another company offers for you to promote their products too as their models, you can’t say yes to them.  So this contract ties you to us and only us.  Then, if we think your appearance is becoming less appealing, say, you gain weight, we’re to give you a diet on how you should maintain your appearances.  The photographer needs a crew to carry his equipments, so it wouldn’t be rare for your studio to be packed with people and lighting equipments,”

You nod a her additional conditions. 

“You and your models or co-workers might be slightly disturbed by the unscheduled photoshoots the photographer would like to hold, but your design is still your design and your work is your work.  We won’t interfere too much with it and you’re free to complain if we do otherwise,”

“Ahh, I get it,” You nod.  The whole time she was talking, your eyes were on the contract paper.  You paid careful attention to her words and matched them with the ones in the contract.  The rep was telling the truth, no tricky business and well, it’s in perfect accordance with the contract.  “You must’ve really made millions of these, Hyosung-ssi.  It’s like you remember every word,”

“Nearly millions, Jaemi-ssi,” She laughs along with you.  “Trust me, I’ve played games a lot of people, but you have my word that I won’t do so with you.  And it isn’t special treatment, but, let’s say, I was persuaded not to by somebody,” She winks.

Your curiosity was piqued, but your attention was a bit divided with the contract.  You weren’t disadvantaged, aside to the fact that about 4 to 5 days a week your studio will be packed with people you don’t know and you’ll occassionally be pulled away from the shop, otherwise, the contract was absolutely advantageous for you.

“Alright,” You smile, setting your hand tidily upon the stack of papers.  “A 1 year contract, can be prolonged or not according to either side’s discussion and agreement, can only be disconnected if either side wrongs a regulation,”

“Took the words right out of my mouth,” Hyosung hands you a pen and praying yourself good future, you sign upon the provided space, beside the CEO’s own signature.  “Objective achieved,” She grins, sighing relief.

“I hope we can work well together in this present and in the future.  Please take care of me, Hyosung-ssi.  Send my highest regards to the owner,” You grin back at her and shake her hand, giving her a deep bow. 

“He’ll be happy to receive the news and your regards,” She smiles.  Glancing at her watch, she presses her earpiece into her ear and pushes a button on her phone.  “Busy day ahead, gotta go! Good luck with your outlet!”

And with a swish, she was out of the shop. 

Just when you were sighing your own relief, a question surfaces in your mind.

Rushing out of the shop, you catch Hyosung’s black figure slipping between the crowd. 

You run after her, doing much better than any people can in heels.  “Hyosung-ssi!”

It seems that she heard you, because she turned back right before she enters her car.  “Yes?”

Still having quite a distance to go, you just shout your question aloud.  “Who sent you the pictures and told you not to play games with me?”

“Oh!” She stops for a milisecond, then continues her progress into her car.  “The person was trying hard to be anonymous and told me not to tell anybody if I found out who he was,” She yells, rolling her window up, beginning to drive away.  “But, his family name is Cho!”

As she disappeares, the question does not drown away.  Cho?

***

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU LOVELY PEOPLE

I kneel before all of you to apologize for my 1 month, 4 day absence TT_______________TT

@-ximini i'm sorry :""( I'm so sorry yes i'm still updating i'm so sorry for temporarily deserting this website :"""""( 

yes to all of you i'm still updating this story and am still writing with all my heart

but as you know, highschool came and i got in the student council too and since the last month and four days, things have been hectic.  i had to make proposals and schedules and had to catch up with quizzes and daily tests and this week is actually reinforcement week because next week is the mid semester tests TT__________________TT

ottohgae i really wanted to update quickly but didn't have any time

GOD DO YOU KNOW I STILL LOVE EVERYBODY HEEREEE??

I STILL LOVE YOU AND I'VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH AND PLEASE DON'T HATE ME FOR NOT UPDATING DILIGENTLY TT___TT

please please please please keep giving me your love and you don't have to accept my apologies but don't stop reading and don't stop believing in me too ;_;

you guys are my best and only readers :"""

i'll update whenever i can :"

Too Many Worlds manhi manhi sarang hajuseyo :")