“Sorry, we have too much pending items to print, I don’t think we can entertain you today,”

“In a day? We can’t do that?”

“Go find another studio. We have too much on our hands,”

“Who could possibly print those in one day?”

 

After hearing all these from the 4 studios she visited, she almost fell sick. She sat down on one of those convenience store mono-block chairs to re-think her whole life…well, not literally.

“It’s almost sunset and not one single studio would take me in,” she slouched down the chair, losing hope.

“Ahjussi, do you happen to know any nearby photo studios which have little or no customers?” she asked the convenience store clerk who quickly thought of a place.

“See that ugly flickering sign?”

“Yeeees?”

“There’s a photo studio there that no one ever visits. Heck, I don’t even know if it’s still on business. They used to be the only studio here but then over the last few years, the studios sprung like mushrooms around here and since they’re the farthest from the main road, they’re the least visited. One even said they’re service was-”

“Thank you, ahjussi! I owe you my life!” Eunjo said and ran to the flickering sign the man was talking about.

Wow, the sign is ugly. It looks pretty worn down. She shrugged and pushed the dusty door open. She was welcomed with an unmaintained studio. It was poorly lit and it had wooden floors. There was a couch on the right side of the room, probably meant for waiting clients, which was covered with old magazines and catalogues. There were lights and tripods on the left side of the room which were all stacked up like lumber, there was a white cloth on top of it which obviously failed to conceal the mess. On the left-most corner, there were racks of clothes, probably old costumes, and in front of Eunjo was the main desk. Behind the main desk were cabinets of photobooks and old lenses.

 At least their floors are still shiny.

“Hi, excuse me, may I ask if you’re still in service?” No reply.

“It’s just for a really important matter and you’re the only one left I could ask,” No reply.

The only sound that can be heard inside the room were virtual game sound effects. Eunjo approached desk and found three boys who looked like they were her age. The one farthest from her who was at the backmost area of the studio was playing video games. He looked pretty tall and his hoodie was up, so Eunjo couldn’t really see clearly. The other guy was on the right side of the desk, seated on a swivel chair, reading a book despite the terrible lighting. And the last guy was on the front-most part of the desk, his chin on his two palms, he wasn’t sleeping but his eyes were drooping down, or at least Eunjo thought they were.

“Hello? Hey, I need help here,” she waved her hands in front of the droopy-eyed guy and tried to get his attention. “Yah, I’m not invisible. Unless, you’re asleep, you better answer me here,” Eunjo looked to see that the other two guys weren’t budging as well.

“Aish,” she scratched her head in confusion. Why aren’t they moving? Ah, I know what to do.

Eunjo thought of an idea and quickly got her camera from its case. Pointing the camera to the droopy-eyed guy, she clicked and the flash went off.

“Yah!” the guy shouted with all his might. “What was that for?”

“Well, that got your attention. I’ve been here for about five minutes waiting to be accommodated. But all that I saw were three boys who were motionless and you looked like you were sleeping so-”

“I wasn’t sleeping. And what if my eyes were light sensitive, huh? You could’ve gotten me blind with the flash,” the droopy-eyed said with his voice full of annoyance. Wow, his voice is so loud.

“What if I was dying here, huh? I was waiting for your response for 5 minutes. You could’ve killed me with your unresponsiveness,”

“Are you dead?”

“Are you blind?” Eunjo raised her eyebrows at the guy and he just raised his hands in defeat.

“What did you come here for?”

“Isn’t this a photo studio? I have some really urgent matters and I need these photos printed by tomorrow because-”

“We’re out of business,”

“Hey, hyung, can you keep it down? I don’t know if you could see through those tiny eyes but I’m reading and- Oh! A customer!” The guy who was on the swivel chair almost tripped on a stray Pringle container as he approached the desk Eunjo and droopy-eye were in. “Good evening! What may we do for you?”

“Out of business, huh?” Eunjo, once again, raised her eyebrows at the first guy and continued to talk to the other.

“Jinyoung, don’t encourage her. She pointed her flashing camera at me,”

“Jaebum-hyung, don’t be so childish. Is she the first customer in a month or not?”

“She is, but-“

“No but’s! Let’s get working. So, what may we do for you?” Jinyoung asked Eunjo once again.

“I have these photos to print and I need them immediately because I need to mail them by tomorrow. Do you think it’ll be possible?”

“I don’t think so. We’ll close at 8,” Jaebum argued. Obviously he’s still mad at her for flashing her camera at him. “Wow, my eyes hurt. Thanks a lot,”

Jinyoung smiled to make up for Jaebum attitude. “But! We could extend if it’s really urgent,”

“What are you doing? We close at 8. Come back tomorrow,” Jaebum stood up and pretended to pack up.

“No no. I’m a co-owner so I could decide on when to close. How may I help you again?” Jinyoung asked as nicely as he can to avoid any trouble the argument might lead to.

“I have to get these photos printed by tonight. I need them tomorrow,”

Jaebum rolled his eyes, and whispered but made sure he’s heard, “That’s hopeless,”

“Hyung, she’s still a customer. Our first in a month. You need to be nicer,” Jinyoung whispered to the older guy, which earned a sigh. He turned back to Eunjo who was waiting desperately. “He’s not usually this grumpy… Well, it depends. Let’s see the photos,”

“You do know we have to rummage through the supply room to do this right?” Jaebum once again spoke up while Jinyoung was checking the photos.

“I’ll rummage through the supply room myself if I have to. I just desperately need it by tomorrow. I swear,” Eunjo looked him in the eyes. Jaebum just sighed, still feeling the sore in his eyes because of the flash.

“I’ll do it,” Jaebum stood up from his chair and hesitantly opened the small door leading to the supply room. Eunjo smiled appreciatively, gaining hope once again. The amount of patience I need just to get where I want to go.

“Is there something wrong with him?” Eunjo asked Jinyoung as he was still looking at the photos.

“I don’t think so, probably still upset….”

“Still?” Eunjo curiously asked.

“Are we going to print all of these? Wow,” Jinyoung put a piece of Pringle in his mouth and continued looking at all the pictures. “This is going to take us all night, telling by the number of pictures and the condition of our printer. We also have to wait for our ink to…..” Jinyoung continued to enumerate the things they have to fix and started to compute the costs out loud.

“Yeah, exactly why I was reluctant, Jinyoung,” A sound came from the supply room followed by a rumbling of falling boxes which startled Eunjo and Jinyoung.

“Are you okay, hyung?”

“I’m fine! Don’t worry,”

“Idiot,” Eunjo snickered.

“I know right?” Jinyoung laughed along with Eunjo and prepared the stuff they need. Apparently, this was going to take all night.

“I heard that. I’m a co-owner of the studio so don’t you think I have the right to deny a customer when she insults me?” Jaebum came out of the supply room with disheveled hair and dusty supplies on his arms. Eunjo just shrugged.

“It’s not my fault you stacked those boxes so high,” Eunjo said, secretly having fun teasing such a hot-tempered guy. “So, how much will it cost?”

“Woah, woah, woah. We aren’t even sure if these are working well anymore. Let’s see,” Jinyoung swept away all the random things on top of their printer and plugged it in. He the machine and it started to make noises.

“Are you sure that’s even safe?” Eunjo worriedly went in and turned off the machine. She sighed in defeat. “I guess not. Well, it’s almost 7pm. I don’t think I’ll be able to find a studio that’s willing to accommodate me at this time. I better get going….” Eunjo gathered her stuff to leave, extremely disappointed at her fate.

“Wait, since you’re already here,” Jaebum said as Eunjo turned around. “Maybe we can fix it. It’s not that serious, anyway. We just have to pull out our secret weapon,” Jinyoung looked at the older boy, surprised at the change of attitude, he then put another Pringle to his own mouth.

“Secret weapon? What, is it inside your supply room again? No, thanks. It might kill you going in there again.” Eunjo waved him off.

“Heol~” the unnoticed guy at the back suddenly spoke up, throwing his headphones on the floor. Eunjo craned her neck to see what was going on. She guessed he might’ve lost the game he was playing. He stood up and turned around, startled by the 3 pairs of eyes looking at him.

“Hi?” he pulled down the hood of his jacket and he ended up looking less of a caveman than he did a while ago. “Are you a customer?”

“Well, yeah, I was just about to leave but…”

“He’s our secret weapon. He’s Mark-hyung,” Jaebum pointed to the boy. “He can fix the machine. You just have to find a way to cure his laziness,”

“By the looks of it, I don’t think that’s possible,” Eunjo’s outspoken self was shown and the other two guys just laughed because they knew it was true.

“What’s so funny? I don’t even know what’s going on?” Mark said and as he was about to go back to his game chair, Jinyoung pulled him out of it.

“This young woman needs our service and she’s willing to pay us for it. How many customers have we had for the past month?”

“Zero,” Mark said.

“Exactly. Now do you want to eat decent food for the next coming weeks or not?” Jinyoung continued to persuade the older guy. He was obviously the only one fully interested in this.

“What’s in it for me?”

Eunjo’s expression brightened, coming up with an idea. “Meat,”