Ji-Won's words came out sounding a tad bit too harsh. He intended to be firm, but still retain a bit of a tolerant hint. After all, it wasn't his intention to appear like a cold tyrant in front of his employee. But, unfortunately, his regret came one step too late.
Hearing his severe tone, Su-Jin flinched, her neck shrinking as though she had been slapped. Her boss's stony-hearted attitude rendered her completely speechless, so she could only bow her head silently.
Two seconds later, she was leaving the Director's office with an embarrassed expression plastered on her face. She slumped into her chair like a boneless person, almost sliding onto the floor. With a loud exhale she leaned forward, placing her head on the desk.
'Based on the Director's reaction just now I guess I really did something to upset him.' She groaned inwardly.
Meanwhile, as soon as he was left alone in his office, Ji-Won hurriedly reached towards his desk. After fumbling for a moment he finally found the remote that operated the window shades. He frantically pressed on the button, feeling relieved only when the large window was once again entirely covered. After that, he started nervously pacing around his office.
As Ji-Won kept measuring the room like that, he resembled more a black wolf locked up in a cage, than a Director in his office.
Due to the rising frustration, he kept brushing his hand through his hair, making the black strands shift in all directions. While his midnight black hair appeared more and more unruly with each brush of his fingers, Ji-Won's nostrils kept flaring in annoyance. Even his eyes darkened a few shades, until they looked like two bottomless pits.
'If you are going to get drunk and do stupid things, at least have the decency to remember them! What's the point in looking so remorseful after the fact? Also, how can apologizing for what you don't even remember be considered properly asking for forgiveness?!'
While his mind berated poor Su-Jin like that, Ji-Won's body continued to march around the office, stopping in his tracks from time to time only to let out a string of cold snorts.
~~~
Just like she promised, Su-Jin didn't forget to ask Mi-Suk if she wanted to be the graphic designer's substitute. That evening during dinner, the two of them discussed the matter while eating. To Su-Jin's delight, Mi-Suk accepted almost immediately, which made Su-Jin's mood to turn for the better.
'This is perfect! Maybe now that Grim Reaper Boss will look at me more kindly. After all, I did get him a graphic designer on such short notice.' Su-Jin gloated to herself.
"Thank you so much, Mi-Suk. You are wonderful." Su-Jin chirped, hugging her friend around the shoulders.
"Don't mention it. Besides, taking part in a project for such a big company will definitely look good on my portfolio, so it's a win-win situation." Mi-Suk grinned.
"But don't you have your webtoon to work on? How will you manage two projects at once?" Min-Jun intervened, glancing between his sister and their friend.
"You are not the only person who is capable of working hard, Min-Jun. In this family there's also me." Mi-Suk scowled at him, going as far as to stick her tongue out in his direction. "Besides," she continued in a more serious tone. "I will only need two or perhaps three days to finish with the concept pictures once your company gives me the theme."
"That's great news." Su-Jin beamed in delight.
"Yeah well, just be careful not to overwork yourself. Otherwise you'll end up having dark marks under your eyes and look ugly like a ghost." Min-Jun warned, sounding sarcastic.
But, at the same time, a look of worry flickered in his gaze as he stared in Mi-Suk direction.
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, neither Mi-Suk, nor his sister noticed that small show of emotion. They were too deep in conversation to pay any attention to him.
"So, you really have no idea what the theme for the event will be?" Mi-Suk was asking.
"No. We have to make a list and one idea will be chosen among the ones presented. We will find out next week." Su-Jin sighed.
"How's your list coming along?" her friend asked, between a mouthful of rice.
"Not good. I kept trying to think of interesting ideas, but somehow they all seem… plain and boring. Nothing they haven't done already." Su-Jin sighed again, poking at her rice with the chopsticks.
"Stop playing with your food and eat." Min-Jun nudged her. "You need your strength if you are to work hard." After a short break he added. "Have you thought about searching through all their previous special events? I am sure a company as big as Kangji Tourism should have documents saved about their previous work."
"Yes, they have an archive in the Planning Department. It contains their previous deals, offers, propositions and who knows what else."
After she finished her words, Su-Jin paused for a brief moment. Then, she began sounding excited all of a sudden.
"That's it! Why didn't I think about that earlier?! Min-Jun, you truly are a genius."
"I already knew that." Min-Jun retorted matter-of-factly.
Both women rolled their eyes at his lack of modesty. However, Su-Jin couldn't deny that her brother had given her a wonderful idea.
Until then, she had only read about the events and offers they had available in the current year. She never thought about going further back and checking what they had one year or two years ago. If she looked at those, maybe she would get an idea. After all, you never know where the spark of inspiration could come from.
Truthful to her newfound resolution, Su-Jin spent the entire first half of the next day hidden in the archives. The first hour and half was spent while looking between the multitude of boxes stashed there, until she finally found the ones she believed would be worth checking.
Based on their labels, those boxes she chose contained touristic packages for tours around the city that had been approved in the last two years. Considering the fact that all these files were sorted based on month and year, she really had no idea what kind of activities they contained.
Therefore, in order to get a general idea of the content, she had to thoroughly peruse each and every single file.