Chapter 9: The Exchange Of Ideas
The area near Kyung-Soo still smelled like lavender. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and took in the sweet smell of perfume, Nivritti left behind. Why did she have to run away from him? What did he do? He just greeted her. Or was it because he kissed her? He wanted to follow her and ask her about everything, but people started pouring in.
The lift came and the door opened before him. He had to get into it, he had a meeting with the CEO after all. The CEO called him to discuss Rencontre with him. He had to go to the 21st floor. He entered the lift followed by a few people. Girls were swooning over him. They could not stop giggling at him.
He was aware of the attention he got everywhere he went. It was like a routine for him. Everyone wanted to be close to him but that girl, that girl ran away from him. It was a strange behaviour he never expected from anyone. She saw him and ran away as if she saw a serial killer in front of her. What was that about, he had to know.
People kept getting off the lift and he rode the elevator all the way up to the 21st floor. He knocked at the door but there was no answer. He looked around, but the CEO’s assistant was not there. She must be on her way. He again knocked and the door opened. A stout, middle-aged man opened the door. There was not a single wrinkle on his face, but his hair was all white due to the stress of running a big company.
He was on his Bluetooth speaker talking fast in Japanese. Being the head of a huge company, he made a point to learn at least two languages. So, he knew, Mandarin and Japanese and of course, his mother tongue, Korean. He smiled at Kyung-Soo and gestured for him to sit. Kyung-Soo bowed down to him and Hu Bong nodded at him with a huge smile.
He then went back to talking on the phone. After a few minutes, he disconnected the call and placed his Bluetooth set on his table.
Kyung-Soo again bowed down to him and greeted, “annyeonghaseyo, Hu-ssi.”
.....
“Annyeonghaseyo, King. So early?” asked Bong.
“Could not sleep,” replied Kyung-Soo.
“Everything okay?” Bong was concerned.
“You have no idea,” thought Kyung-Soo. And then he decided to lie, “yeah, yeah, everything is fine. You wanted to meet with me?”
“Yeah, the script department is working on something special for Rencontre,” informed Bong.
“We are not performing?” Kyung-Soo was shocked.
“Of course, you are performing, that is the main event, but this year is the special, seven-year curse and all. So, I thought of doing something more,” educated Bong.
“What do they have in mind?” even Kyung-Soo was curious.
“I don’t know,” smiled Bong.
“What?” Kyung-Soo was now confused.
“They are still working on the idea. Choi-ssi will finalise it today and I want you to come with me to approve the idea. I know mostly Young comes to these meetings, but I want you this time,” informed Bong.
The moment Kyung-Soo heard the name of the script department his mind raced to the girl. The beautiful fairy he saw today and kissed yesterday. He would get to see her again. Maybe he could ask her everything he wanted to. He was over the moon. “Of course, whatever you say,” he replied politely.
“Okay then, be ready for my call. I will inform you as soon as Choi-ssi gives me the green signal,” said Bong.
“I will be,” smiled Kyung-Soo. He bowed down to Bong and left his cabin. He went back to his practice room and started waiting for his team member to arrive.
In the meantime, Nivritti ran to the stairs and started climbing them as if her life depended on it. After climbing two stories, she stopped and looked back. No one was following her. She was all alone. She placed her back towards the wall and caught her breath. She closed her eyes, clutched her purse near her chest and kept breathing heavily for a few minutes.
“Shit!” she murmured. “What the hell, girl?” she shouted at herself. “Okay, I know you are an expert in running, but why did you run like an idiot? What would he think about you? You ran as if you were disgusted by him. Grow up! Learn to face your problems.” She closed her eyes and gulped hard. “Yeah, yeah, I will, just not today. I need a peaceful day, for once, please God, just a day, just a good day. Is that too much to ask?”
She knew she could not climb eight flights of stairs. She decided to take a lift. She opened the stairs door and entered the 3rd-floor lobby. She waited for a lift and reached the 11th floor. She was the first one to arrive in her department. She took a minute to find her composure. She exhaled loudly and started her system. While her system was starting up, she took out the papers she had her idea typed on and started typing them in her system.
It was a rough draft, yet it took her time to type in. She was so immersed in her work that she didn’t notice that the office started filling in. Jae-Hwa came and stood next to her.
“Good morning,” greeted Jae-Hwa.
“Hi!” Nivritti smiled at her.
“You look tired, didn’t you sleep last night?” asked Jae-Hwa, concerned.
“You have no idea,” stated Nivritti.
“Working on your idea?” asked Jae-Hwa.
“Something like that,” Nivritti lied.
“So, you have the One?” inquired Jae-Hwa.
“I think so, hope Mr Choi likes it. What about you?” questioned Nivritti.
“I too have an idea, but I don’t know if he will like it,” said Jae-Hwa, disheartened.
Hey, everything is fine. Let’s just hope for the best for now, okay?” Nivritti tried to cheer her up.
“Yes, let’s,” smiled Jae-Hwa.
Jae-Hwa went to her cubicle, still with a smile on her face and started her system. They waited for everyone to arrive. Everyone was excited to present their ideas to Chung-Ho. Girls knew that Young would attend the meeting, so they were excited to meet him more than they were excited to meet Hu Bong.
When everyone was present, Chung-Ho stood up and announced, “Good morning, everyone, let’s start the meeting. Let’s meet in the conference room.”
Everyone stood up and started streaming inside the conference room. The seniors took up the chairs and juniors were left standing. Nivritti was technically a senior, but she walked in last with Jae-Hwa. The moment she saw everyone, she froze. She was confident in her idea but had no idea how to face everyone.
They all saw what happened yesterday. No one liked her, everyone thought she hurt the dog. Thae even scolded her in front of the entire floor. She had no idea how to remove that stain from her name. She was not speaking to anyone, and no one was speaking to her except Jae-Hwa. She had to tell everyone that she has cynophobia, then only everyone would forgive her.
When everyone was comfortable, Chung-Ho started the meeting. “So, you all know why we are here?”
“Yes, Choi-ssi,” everyone said in unison.
“All of you have ideas ready?” asked Chung-Ho.
“Yes, Choi-ssi,” again everyone shouted at once.
“Let’s hear it then.” He picked up a marker and stood near a whiteboard. “Seong-Ssi. Let’s start with you,” demanded Chung-Ho. He looked at a smart-looking man in his forties. He worked as the script editor. He mostly edited scripts for ASD.
“Okay, I was thinking that we could ask boys to visit an old age home and distribute gifts,” said Dae, the
“What? Seong-ssi. I hoped for better from you. They have done that multiple times. I want new ideas,” Chung-Ho was disappointed. He then addressed another script editor, “Hae-Ran?”
“Um... I was thinking about all the groups of K&Q could talk to each other in a single meeting. It will be a huge hit. They can talk about their upcoming projects and so on,” Hae-Ran presented her idea.
Chung-Ho placed the marker on his lips and thought for a minute. “That’s good. Very good. It will obviously be huge, but we want something which only boys should do. Our emphasis should be on ASD. But this is a good suggestion. Let me write that on the board.” Chung-Ho immediately wrote her idea on board. Hae-Ran was happy.
One by one he started asking the script team for ideas and he was showered with good and bad ideas.
“We can ask them to interact with fans on the streets,” said one person.
Chung thought and replied, “hmm... that would be chaotic. We will have to spend a lot on security and who knows how safe our boys will be.” He rejected that idea.
Many ideas later it was Jae-Hwa’s turn, “we can ask them to do a fashion show before their performance. We can collaborate with big designers. That way we can make money too.”
“Good idea, Jae-Hwa.”
“Thank you, Choi-ssi,” she was on cloud nine. Her idea too went on the board. She looked at Nivritti and smiled at her. Nivritti gave her a thumbs up and smiled back.