When I answered with a smile, the other party would always smile brightly and offer a handshake saying ‘please take care of us’. It was the usual greeting. That’s because, even though they said that, none of them had ever actually set up a meeting to meet outside until now..
“Han Yeoul-ssi, thanks to you, our performance has improved a lot lately.”
“Really? I’m happy to have been of help somehow!”
When I smiled and spoke, the seniors smiled kindly at me too
Everyone was kind to me, to the point where I couldn’t think of them as the people who had talked behind my back when I had just passed my internship.
Society… is a warm place.
It would be so nice if Yoo Seonjae could learn about this warmth of society too.
“Yeoul… does company seem fun?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s a relief. That you’re adapting well.”
But Yoo Seonjae’s expression as he spoke with a smile after work somehow looked depressed. Perhaps because we didn’t have as much time together as before, he had been gloomy often these days.
I wish Yoo Seonjae could be as happy as I am.
“Seonjae.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you want to work at a company too?”
Yoo Seonjae laughed at my half-joking words.
“I already have a company, what company would I go to?”
“Huh? Where do you have a company? You’re still before graduation, and you said you weren’t going to join the Chairman’s company.”
“So I made a company. A one-person business.”
“One-person business? When?”
“After you joined your company.”
So, Yoo Seonjae made a company while I was mindlessly living my intern life? By himself?
“Getting a business license isn’t very difficult. You know that too.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
“What am I supposed to do just playing around? You’re not around either, I’m just bored.”
“What do you mean playing around? You study incredibly hard and you’re so busy with this and that. When I’m with you, I actually get anxious thinking I’m living without doing anything.”
It was true. Yoo Seonjae was always diligent. I couldn’t even count the certifications he had, and he exercised so hard on top of that. Moreover, since entering university, he had never once lost his position as top of his major.
We ate and slept in the same house, but it seemed like Yoo Seonjae had 48 hours in a day. When he was with me, he only focused on the time with me, but I had no idea when he did all those other things. That’s why I always respected, was proud of, and loved Yoo Seonjae.
My shoulders even rose with pride that such an amazing alpha was my man.
That’s why I thought I should become a cool omega too, and gained strength from that.
When I thought I had taken one step forward, you had taken two more steps, Yoo Seonjae. Amazing. You always stand in front of me and lead me. So amazing. I hope you always look at me from in front of me like that.
“Then, are you starting work too? A design company, something like that?”
“Something similar. After all, making designs that can be supplied to ‘Pine Furniture’ was Father’s condition for not joining the company.”
“Our Seonjae will do well.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Really.”
It was true. Just by looking at what Seonjae drew and made, I could tell at a glance what amazing talent he had. It’s not because I’m wearing rose-colored glasses. Probably anyone who looked would think the same, right?
The designs and objects that came from his fingertips—you could tell at a glance that they were all his.
He just didn’t enter competitions because he hated being told he was getting special treatment for being the son of Pine Furniture, but everyone in the industry knew that the potential of the furniture Yoo Seonjae made was tremendous. Nevertheless, the reason no one scouted him anywhere was, again, because everyone knew he was the son of Pine Furniture.
A person whose career path was decided from birth. An extreme dominant alpha who had everything from birth. That was Yoo Seonjae.
“Thank you. If our Yeoul cheers for me, I can do anything well.”
It was Yoo Seonjae’s smiling face that I was seeing after a really long time. And the next day, I sat face to face with him not at home but at the company.
“Seonjae… why are you here?”
“Han Yeoul-ssi, do you know him?”
To the team leader who asked while sitting down with Yoo Seonjae across from him, Yoo Seonjae smiled broadly and said.
“We’re lovers.”
Huh…
To talk about such private matters so casually. At the company too. What on earth is this…
“Ah, those phero… mones?”
“I apologize for the great rudeness. I was worrying too much about our Yeoul, so without realizing it, I seem to have caused inconvenience to everyone here.”
“Oh no, not at all, not at all.”
What is this situation even? Yoo Seonjae, why is he so confidently talking about our private relationship in a ‘public’ setting, and why is the team leader flustered by Yoo Seonjae? And… why is Yoo Seonjae even here in the first place?
“Oh my, we’ve been chatting too long, haven’t we? I haven’t even given you my business card. I’m Team Leader Lee Seung-wook from Patent Firm Seorim. This is our patent attorney Han Yeoul. You must know each other well. Yeoul-ssi, give him your card.”
“Huh? Yes…”
I handed my business card to Yoo Seonjae along with the team leader. What’s going on?
“Nice to meet you. Here’s my business card.”
The business card Yoo Seonjae handed over had simply the company name written on it.
‘YOU(汝)’.
You… yeo…?
“It’s Yoo Seonjae of ‘YOU’.”
“YOU?”
“Ah, I took the ‘yoo’ from my name to make the company name, but I wanted it to have meaning. I changed the spelling to YOU, meaning ‘you’. With the same meaning as the Chinese character in parentheses.”
My face flushed hot. The company name is my name and his name. The Chinese character ‘yeo’ (汝) meaning ‘you’ in the parentheses was the character used in my name. The team leader, who couldn’t possibly know such deep meaning, didn’t spare lip service saying the company name was global from the start.
I looked down at the business card Yoo Seonjae gave me for a long time.
A business card with only the company name, without any position, title, or anything else.
That was so like him.
Because it’s Yoo Seonjae, because it’s Yoo Seonjae, for that one reason alone that Yoo Seonjae presented it, YOU became a brand. He said he made a company, and it’s really true.
The corners of my mouth kept twitching for no reason. I felt like bragging to everyone about how amazing my man is.
“Should I call you Representative Yoo Seonjae, or would Artist be more appropriate? Since you’re an artist after all?”
“Well, whatever’s comfortable.”
“I never imagined Artist-nim would choose our Seorim. After all, Pine Furniture would have its own legal team.”
“I never imagined it either.”
“Pardon?”
“This was a plan for a few years later. But it got moved up a bit. My lover is impatient.”
At Yoo Seonjae’s words, I snapped out of my thoughts. What, why is he staring so intently…
“I see. I was also a bit surprised that the person who won the grand prize at the Italy International Furniture Design Competition this time was Korean, but I was really shocked to learn it was Artist Yoo Seonjae. Especially since I heard rumors that you didn’t enter competitions.”
At the team leader’s words, I was briefly dumbfounded. What? He submitted to a competition? When?
“Well… I believe in starting big so the end can be even bigger. I wanted to start with at least one thing. Things turned out this way unexpectedly.”
“Of course, of course. That’s wonderful.”
Yoo Seonjae smiled and took a sip of coffee. What is all this about?
“But why are you here…”
To my dazed question, the team leader said with a really happy face.
“Why? He came to sign a contract.”
“Contract?”
“You’ll have quite a lot of things to handle from now on—design applications, patents, trademarks, utility models, things like that? He’s saying he’ll entrust all of that to our Seorim, Artist Yoo Seonjae is.”
“What?”
I looked at Yoo Seonjae with a flustered face.
“That’s right. Seorim will handle all patent-related work arising from ‘YOU’. First, starting with this.”
At the very front of the documents Yoo Seonjae presented was a photo of a ‘chair’ he had made. It was a familiar chair. My… chair that I sat in at home every day to read books, take naps, and sometimes share body warmth with him.
“The name of this work is ‘Yeo (汝)’. Since it’s my most cherished work, I wanted to leave its mark on the world first.”
“Of course, of course. We’ll make it well. Right, Yeoul-ssi?”
