Jibe Gajima

Key was bored.

He never liked office work much. Currently, he had a stack of papers on his desk to sort through. They contained dates he needed to confirm, expenses for the photo shoot and runway show, how much it would cost to run adds — all important things Key should review.

He had one teeny, tiny problem though. He didn’t want to. As the designed, he didn’t really have to do all this work himself. He could have hired a larger team to do all of it for him.

He could have, but he didn’t. He had a small group of employees to help out, buy most of the work was done himself. That’s the way Key functions. He was independent; he never worked well in groups.

Whenever group projects were assigned in high school, he took control. He would do half the work, while the other members split the rest of the tasks between themselves. He never minded doing more work, because that meant more of the work was done his way.

Some might say he was a bit headstrong. Hell, that’s what the entire fashion world thought. Who was this man — he’s practically still a kid! — and just what did he think he could accomplish? Despite the criticism he faced (bloggers constantly said things like “He won’t last a day”, “This industry isn’t a place for nursery school children”, and “He’s just wasting his time.”) he kept his head held high. Everyone told him the industry would chew him up and spit him out, yet here he was, two years later and still going strong. His brand was steadily rising in popularity — and this time the attention wasn’t because of his age.

He never gave up when their words got too harsh. He wanted to prove to them, to every single person who ever doubted him, that they were wrong. He was well on his way to accomplishing that. Sometimes, though his pride never would let him admit it, — because admitting it to himself was almost as bad as admitting it to them — he was a bit in over his head. Sometimes he wondered if this was all worth it. Should he just pack up and go home? When his thoughts wandered here, he had to remind himself that everything would pay off in the end.

Besides, wouldn’t returning to Daeggu after everything that happened be admitting defeat? He’d return home a failure, and they would take their “I-told-you-so”’s and shove them in his face.

All of his hard work would pay off in the end. It had too. For Kibum, failure wasn’t an option.

“Hey, Danmi?” Key called suddenly.

Danmi, who had previously been on the phone, placed it back in its cradle, and looked back at him. “Yes?”

“Do you... think I’m a little too ambitious? I mean, for taking all of this on?” He gestured around him with his arms.

“Having ambitions isn’t a bad thing, Key. And really, I don’t think you have any reason to doubt yourself. You’re talented.” She made a small note of something —it probably had to do with the phone call— on a notepad as she spoke. “You’ve got a gift, so own it.”

He listened to her words, smiled a little at the compliment, and leaned back into his chair. “It’s just... sometimes I wonder...”

A knowing smile made it’s way onto Danmi’s face. “...If it’s really worth it?” Key nodded, a bit surprised that she knew exactly what was troubling him. “Then let me ask you this,” she continued. “Does this make you happy?”

He answered without hesitating. “Ne. This is what I want more than anything.”

“Then why are you doubting it? Never question a thing that makes you happy, Kibum.” She got up from her chair and walked in front of his desk. “Now, you look a little bored, so why don’t I take these,” she picked up the stack of papers from his desk, “and you can call the models back. I’ve already called the girls, so you just have to call Jiyong-shi and Jonghyun-shi, okay?”

When she took the stack of papers, he was relieved. “Thanks, Danmi. You know, you really are great. What would I do without you?”

She chuckled on the way back to her desk. “I don’t know, die of ennui? Drown under all of these papers? Honestly, you’d probably dance around your office to pop songs. That’s what you do on my days off, isn’t it?”

He shot her what was meant to be a menacing glare, but started to laugh. “You.” He pointed at her. “Get back to work.”

She shook her head and laughed. “Whatever you say, boss.”

Danmi had been with him ever since he started Electric Heart. When he came to Seoul, he was alone. He knew he couldn’t expect to get anywhere completely by himself (though at the time he wished he could; he loathed the idea of having to work with someone) so he posted ads looking for an assistance.

Maybe he was just picky, but everyone he interviewed was useless. They knew nothing about fashion, at least not as much as Kibum hoped they would, nor did they know anything about business or finances. He thought his search was hopeless, until he interviewed Danmi. She was an economics and business double major, and she made money with small modeling gigs. “I’ve never really liked modeling.” She had told him. “I love fashion, but I’d much rather work behind the scenes. The spotlight just isn’t right for me.”

He hired her on the spot.

Over time, Danmi had become not only his assistant, but his best friend.

They worked well together, and for once in his life, Key didn’t mind having someone else work with him.

Key shuffled through the drawers of his desk and grabbed out a file that had the models’ contact information. Reaching for the telephone, he dialed the number for Jiyong’s cellphone.

“Ah, hello, Jiyong-shi. This is Kim Kibum of Electric Heart. I just wanted to call and let you know that the first day of shooting starts Thursday.”

There was a pause, where the man on the other line spoke. “Yes,” Key answered his question. “That is two days from now. Your agency should be able to fill you in on the rest of the details, but the fashion show will be a week after the photo shoot is over with.”

Again, Key paused to listen to the man speak. “You want the formal schedule? Your agency should have a copy, but if you’d like, I can email it to you?”

When the man on the other line answered, “yes, please,” Kibum wrote a small reminder on a post it note. Email Jiyong.

“Well, it was nice speaking to you, Jiyong-hyung. I’ll see you Thrusday. Thank you.” Hanging up the phone, Key glanced down at his paper to see what Kim Jonghyun’s number was.

He used the eraser on his pencil the press the numbers on the phone and dial. “Hello?” The voice on the other line sounded a bit caught off guard, and there was a considerable amount of noise in the background. Key could have sworn he heard someone say, “Can I take your order?”

“Er, yes, hello. Jonghyun-hyung? This is Kim Kibum of Electric Heart.”

“Oh, hello Kibum-shi! I’m sorry, can you hold on a second?” Key mumbled an ‘mhm’ into the phone, but the man on the other line probably didn’t hear it. He heard rustling, like Jonghyun was moving the phone away from his ear. “Krys, can you please cover for me? For just five minutes?” It was faint, but Key still heard him talk. “Please? I really need to take this call.” He heard a girl reluctantly reply ‘okay’ and then Jonghyun was back on the phone.

“I’m sorry,” he chuckled a little. “That wasn’t very professional of me, was it? It’s just that I’m at work right now...” His voice drifted off at the end.

“It’s okay.” Key smiled, though he knew Jonghyun couldn’t see him. “I just wanted to let you know that we’ll start shooting on Thursday. The fashion show will be a week after we finish up the photo shoot.”

“Alright,” Jonghyun replied. Then he took the phone away from his mouth again and said, “Krys, I’ll be back out in a minute, okay?”

“I’m sorry,” Jonghyun said abruptly. “This is really unprofessional of me,” he said for the second time. “But I have to get back to work. Could you... text me the schedule? This number is my cellphone.”

“Text you?” It was a bit unconventional, but Key shrugged and decided he’d do it anyway. “Yeah, I guess I can.”

“Thank you! Again, I’m really sorry about how unprofessional all of this is.”

After reassuring Jonghyun that it wasn’t a big deal and hanging up the phone, Key took his own cellphone out of his pocket.

On the phone, Jonghyun seemed much more laid back than he had in person. Key decided that he liked that.