After Story 21

"He's not doing it?"

-Yes. Well, he seemed to be looking for another job.

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind for now."

He shouldn't have been wrong. Lee Jihoon pondered as he put his phone inside his pocket,

Han Maru, that fellow, whom he had already learned the name of, should be studying to become an actor. Otherwise, it couldn't explain the concentration or expression skills he showed at the scene.

"Or does he know that being an extra brings no benefits?"

If he was smart, then he should know that doing background acting once or twice should be more than enough experience.

It wasn't like the opportunity to see lead actors up close was common, and it wasn't that he would be given various other acting opportunities, so just doing it once or twice to gain experience was the right decision.

Jihoon rolled up the cue sheet and tapped it on the back of his neck. It should be okay for the time being, but 'that day' was bound to arrive; it was the day where every prop and every extra in the monitor would pierce his eyes and fuel his anger.

He needed Han Maru, the special medicine, to safely pass that day. He would receive less than half of the stress he was receiving now if he could have that human medicine by his side to soothe his rampaging mind.

"Director. The preparations are ready."

Jihoon put Han Maru in a corner of his brain for now. He was going to think about it after finishing the shoot.

* * *

"Manager, I plan to stop after this month."

"After this month? Weren't you going to move your shift to the weekend and keep doing it?"

"That was the plan, but something came up. I don't think I can keep doing a part-time job."

"Really? That's a pity. There are quite a few customers who come to see you, Haneul."

"Thank you for putting me on a pedestal."

"I'm not. It's the truth. Anyway, alright. I'll take it that you'll be working until the end of this month. If you change your mind later or have some time once you're done with your matters, then come back. I'll prepare a spot for you. The owner liked you too because you were good at work, especially in the past few weeks. He said that you were looking better and better."

While they were talking, some customers arrived.

The manager told her to go home and went to the counter. Haneul changed out of her uniform and left.

"I'll be leaving first."

"Good job today."

She pushed the door open and left the café. She had applied to drop out, and she wrapped up her part-time work.

She felt slightly sorry because she was toppling the tower that the previous Han Haneul built over her lifespan, but there was no helping it. Her frame of mind had changed. The same, yet a completely different person was going to live on from now.

The distorted familial relationships had been resolved. The trip she went on with her mother played a big role in it. She would send casual text messages and calls, and she managed to regain an ordinary family.

She had taken care of an urgent business, so what was left now was to fix her environment. As long as she had decided to become an actress, she couldn't dawdle around. Dropping out of college and wrapping up her part-time job was the first step toward that.

"Hello, president. This is Han Haneul, and I called you a few days ago. Do you remember me? I was planning to visit you today. Yes, okay."

She went to the express bus terminal. Buying a ticket to Asan, she went to the waiting area. After drinking a sip of water, she called around again.

Yes, president. Hello. This is Han Haneul, and I called you a few days ago — she called a few owners of other factories until she arrived in Asan. Not a single one of them wanted to meet her.

It was a response she expected, so she didn't feel regret or anything. In fact, the owner of the factory in Asan was peculiar for meeting her.

She arrived at the factory in Asan. It wasn't that large. She walked past the storage warehouse to head to the office.

"Hello." An old couple with flocks of gray hair greeted her.

From their wrinkles and skin, they seemed to be in their late 40s to early 50s. They would look younger if they dyed their hair black.

When she greeted back, the wife offered her a seat.

"Thank you for allowing me to take some of your time."

"We're thankful instead. You came all the way here."

The husband was the one who picked up her call, but now that she met them in person, it was the wife who was talking to her. The husband just kept watching as though what his wife was doing was all correct.

Baek Homin, Park Youngsoo. She recalled the names of the two people.

"You must be busy, so I'll get straight to the point. My main point is just as I notified you through email."

"Yes, I've read it. It felt rather peculiar since we've never received emails like that before."

"You must have thought it was laughable, didn't you?"

"I thought you were a young person with guts, but I never looked down on you. If we did, we wouldn't have seen you either. But now I'm worried instead. What can you do with a factory that's almost out of business?"

It was just as mistress Park said. From the exterior of the factory to the office, there wasn't a speck of vitality in it. They probably decided to listen to a college girl's proposal because they were in such a situation. To her, this was an opportunity of a lifetime.

"You haven't shut down your business yet, so there's plenty of room. I believe that we have potential."

"If it goes well, then we don't have any complaints. We were having a hard time clearing inventory as it is and were about to wrap things up. Shall we hear your story then?"

She took out a laptop and placed it on the table.

"I've had a look at the website you were running. It seemed to be very old."

"It is pretty old since we made it back when we were making sesame oil. Rather than that, I haven't seen that in a long time. We didn't even look at it recently since we had zero orders through the site." Mistress Park bitterly looked at the screen.

President Baek, who was watching, stood up. "You two should continue talking. I'll go smoking for a bit."

He left after finishing his words.

"My husband has been quite stressed out lately. He thought that this was a promising business and even looked into aroma oil imports and signed a contract, but we haven't been getting any sales. Ever since it became hard to maintain our warehouse, he's been leaving all the business to me. He used to be full of confidence too," said Mistress Park as she clasped her hands. She added that it was such a pity about his drooping shoulders.

"I'm sure the business will thrive again. I can only earn something if the business goes well, so it'll be a headache if it doesn't."

"You sound like just what I imagined through your email. It's not reckless confidence that is typically seen from those around your age. I feel the experience from you. How peculiar."

"You have great eyes. I'm quite experienced indeed."

Mistress Park smiled. Haneul continued to explain. "First up, the website is a problem. A screen filled with text isn't that visibly good. Moreover, the banner is outdated too. Not to mention all the broken text throughout. Of course, I presume you knew this already."

"To an extent. But even if the website does function, the business wasn't going well, so we practically gave up on it."

"Aromatherapy has just begun gaining popularity. It was mentioned before, but due to our culture of placing more importance on eating and drinking therapies instead of scented ones, it just hasn't gained interest yet. It's a business that not only the cosmetics industry but also individual enterprises are entering."

"We've seen it talked about on TV, but there are no businesses that order from small companies like us. Even if there's a boom in popularity, they'll instead buy popular products from famous cosmetics companies."

"Ordinarily, yes, but there are quite a lot of customers who prefer uniqueness. Also, we are going to start pushing one keyword alongside 'well-being.'"

"You mean 'natural', the one in your email?"

"Yes."

"I didn't find it all that attractive though."

"Environmentally-friendly products increase the purchasing power quite considerably. The products you're importing from Germany have already been clinically proven to not cause any allergies, right? Moreover, it's been extracted through distillation."

"Most oils are extracted through distillation, so I don't think it's anything to emphasize about."

"Marketing is about emphasizing what sounds obvious as not so obvious. Also, we'll add a bit of misconception on top of it. When you think of 'chemicals' you think that it might be bad for your body, but when you think of 'natural oils' you think it's good for your body. Even though in truth, those that haven't been refined to suit our body are all poison, whether natural or chemical."

Mistress Park nodded.

"We're going to keep promoting the increase in the quality of life our customers can get by using the products, to customers who like uniqueness. A custom-blended oil created domestically. We can't sell the imported oil directly and need to process it further if we want to open the wallets of the consumers. This is the easiest method to differentiate ourselves from other businesses too. With the current trend, there will be a lot of businesses that create and blend oils themselves. We have to corner a spot in the industry before it turns into a red ocean."

"We don't have any knowledge about oil blending," said Mistress Park.

"I can solve that for you, as well as the website and advertising. Like I wrote in the email, I didn't propose this to you thinking that I should just recklessly try it out. I've come to offer you a method so that I can gain a stable income."

She closed the laptop and looked into Mistress Park's eyes.

"I can't guarantee that we'll definitely be successful. Even if you refuse, I can understand it."

Mistress Park walked to a wall in the office. There was a bottle with a ribbon wrapped around it. It was a bottle of sesame oil.

"If we wrap everything up now, we'll be able to do something about our later years. However, my husband and I don't want to live a boring life for the rest of our lives. If we did, we wouldn't have quit the company we worked for. Let's do it. I like your boldness quite a lot, Miss Haneul."

"Really?"

"Yes. Just like in the email, we'll receive consulting from you and pay for the products. It's not that big of a deal for us since we are doing it with items we were about to throw away."

"For the website design, I'll draft up a couple and show it to you. As for the advertisement, I'll shoot one myself and use various video platforms and blogs to spread them around. Oh, I hope you can look into manufacturers to create the containers for the blended oil."

"Don't worry about that. We know a few. Just tell me the shape. I'm sure the younger generation is more knowledgeable about what they prefer."

"I'll proceed with the rest after consulting with you."

"Alright then."

Haneul put her laptop inside her bag.

"I know it's somewhat awkward of me to bring this up on our first meeting, but…."

"Revenue share, I see. You're really quite bold. But I don't hate you. Shares, huh? I'll have to see the sales to be sure, but for now, I think you should take a percentage cut from the profit."

"If you're thinking like that, then I have no problems with it either. I guess showing results do come first. We can talk about how much you're willing to give me once we look at the sales later."

After setting their next appointment, Haneul stood up from her seat.

"I'll try to bring my husband to the next meeting."

"Okay."

"Also, have you done this business a lot? From your age, it can't be right, but you seem so proficient."

"Maybe my desperation to make this successful shone through? You have to become successful so that I can become successful."

Mistress Park smiled. Haneul shook hands with her.

"I hope I can gain something from the young businesswoman and that things go well."

"If this business goes well and what I'm doing separately goes well too, you might be able to reap some of the profits."

"What is it?"

"A very efficient advertisement."

She said goodbye to Mistress Park, who looked puzzled, before leaving. She made eye contact with President Baek who was standing in front of the warehouse. President Baek nodded at her before returning to the office.

Haneul looked at the entire factory and took a photo. This place would become her support. If things went well, she would be able to get her face known as the advertising model for the product.

The order was slightly off, but her ultimate goal was the title of an actress. She would never become an actor who performed in Marronnier park, always feeling hungry. While her husband said that they should focus on their dreams without worries, she had a hard time committing to that due to her personality.

Her husband was also probably setting up insurance even though he said they should focus on their dreams without worries.

“In this life, you might become an actor and a full-time housewife.” She smiled and turned around.

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