“Mamma mia―!”
It was a shout that broke the serene silence. One of the designers, upon seeing Youngguk, screamed out.
She was not at all embarrassed by the exclamation that had slipped out of her mouth. Instead, she had a look of ecstasy on her face.
Just as there is a variety of expressions in Italy, she was shining her eyes as if she were facing gold right in front of her.
“I can’t believe it suits you this well, it’s perfect. I can hardly believe my eyes. Rossellini, if it’s okay with you, I’d like to try on another sample. Is that alright?”
Monica Rossellini nodded briefly. The designers then scrambled to lead Youngguk back into the dressing room.
‘What is this?’
Youngguk was utterly bewildered by the situation. It hadn’t even been five minutes since he came out of the dressing room, and now they were asking him to undress again. He was overwhelmed by the constant trying on of different clothes.
‘Did the outfit not look good on me?’
Hands helping him undress moved busily. They pulled out the pins from the hem of his pants, waist, and shoulder lines, and were trying to take off his top and bottom. Some of the designers were already standing by with other sample outfits.
“I can undress myself,” Youngguk said in English, but the designers just smiled as if they didn’t mind.
In fact, the structure of the outfit made it difficult to undress alone. Pins were tightly sewn in every corner to enhance the fit, so if he tried to undress alone, he would have been covered in bruises.
He didn’t even have time to feel embarrassed. The women had already taken off his clothes in an instant and were putting another sample outfit on him.
“Eliana, how about we tighten this part more?”
“No, considering Mr. Jang’s thigh width, it might be better to loosen it a bit. We tightened it earlier, so let’s try loosening it this time. And how about tightening the line from the waist to the shoulder a bit more?”
“That sounds good. It’s been a while since I felt this kind of satisfaction.”
The designers were conversing in Italian among themselves. It felt like he was being treated like a doll, but he couldn’t even say anything.
Their faces were clearly filled with excitement. Just like drifting in the wind, Youngguk let their hurried hands work on him, as they pinned the outfit again to enhance the fit.
“Giordana, what do you think?”
Monica asked without looking at Giordana. She could feel his emotions strongly even without seeing his face.
Giordana was licking his dry lips with an indecipherable expression. He had thought that hiring an unknown Asian actor as a dedicated model for Desiderio was a huge mistake.
But upon revealing the cards.
“He’s coming out just in time.”
Youngguk walked out from beyond the dressing room just in time. The designers walking alongside him had flushed faces.
Seeing Youngguk in the new sample outfit, Giordana couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration. Monica smiled softly at his exclamation.
Desiderio’s headquarters boasted a campus as large as a university, requiring golf carts to move around.
Not only were there places where samples were stored, but also places where the material of clothes was researched, where perfume ingredients were studied, and even places where past products were displayed.
It felt like a huge fashion valley.
“Alfredo, what is this tree?”
I Bongchun’s mouth dropped open at the sight of the giant ancient tree in front of him. The tree, which seemed to reach up to the sky, was so large that it would take at least three or four adults to wrap around it.
Alfredo answered about the massive tree that looked like it came straight out of a fantasy movie.
“It’s a thousand-year-old tree, la ciero (the sky). When the Rossellini family founded Desiderio, they built the headquarters on this land where the sacred tree called la ciero existed. Therefore, within Desiderio, la ciero is not just an ordinary tree but a sacred guardian, holding a status as high as the sky itself. It has been the guardian since the birth of Desiderio until now. Cielo di Desiderio.”
While I Bongchun was admiring the enormous ancient tree called la ciero, Alfredo added more information as he also looked at the tree.
“Mr. Lee, if you don’t mind, may I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
I Bongchun had become quite friendly with Alfredo. After all, in this foreign land, Alfredo was the only one who spoke Korean.
“What kind of person is Mr. Jang?”
“Youngguk?”
“Yes, I’ve been observing him closely while interpreting, but I can’t get a read on him. Usually, models of his age enjoy nightlife until late when they come to Italy. But Mr. Jang never seems to think about leaving his accommodation. I wondered if I had made any mistakes, so I’m asking you, Mr. Lee.”
At Alfredo’s question, I Bongchun nodded.
“Hmm, I understand what Alfredo is asking. But Youngguk is different from other actors or models. He may be young, but he has an old soul. In Korean, we call him an ‘old child.’”
“Old child?”
“It means he looks young on the outside but is mature on the inside. Youngguk has been like that since he was younger. I didn’t see him during his child actor days, but from what the directors and our CEO who worked with him said, he was like that. This happened in Yeongdo, a city in Busan…”
I Bongchun shared the stories he had heard about Youngguk. Most of them were about his good deeds.
How Youngguk had lived a determined life despite growing up in hardship.
Even when he made a huge profit from a priest’s confession, he donated most of it to a leukemia foundation.
“Youngguk is the most outstanding and deep actor I’ve ever seen. Sometimes, he feels more like a hyung to me.”
After listening to I Bongchun’s stories for a long time, Alfredo nodded briefly.
As expected. He had been monitoring Youngguk under the pressure of his older brother, Giordana, but he couldn’t find any peculiarities.
In fact, wasn’t he quieter than any models he had encountered before?
According to Anders, the butler of Memoria, Youngguk was calm and always seemed to be in deep thought during walks, resembling someone who had lived in the world for a long time. At that moment.
“Alfredo, look at those people?”
While they were admiring la ciero, a large number of golf carts began moving on the road of the headquarters.
The golf carts were heading to the building where sample clothes were stored.
“Has something big happened?”
I Bongchun hurriedly got into a golf cart with Alfredo. At I Bongchun’s question, Alfredo briefly nodded and replied.
“There is only one reason for this.”
Alfredo’s gaze was focused on the building where the sample clothes were stored. His eyes curved with interest. Mr. Jang indeed evokes an inexplicable sense of anticipation.
“It means there’s something spectacular to see.”
Salvatore Rossellini, the founder of Desiderio and the head of the Rossellini family, was walking.
Following behind him were people who looked like attendants, and to an outsider, it might have looked like a procession of mafias.
“Where is Monica?”
Salvatore asked, and his secretary, Anders, who was also the butler of Memoria, answered.
“I believe she is currently on the fifth floor with Mr. Jang.”
“What do you think of him? I heard you’ve been with him for a few days.”
“He is a man whose intentions are hard to read. He didn’t seem like someone trying to exploit Desiderio’s reputation. Rather, he appeared very interested in Memoria’s art. From our conversation about Lucia Sokkani’s works, it was clear that he has deep knowledge.”
“Really?”
Salvatore’s long white eyebrows twitched.
In fact, he had doubts when his granddaughter Monica, the heir to Desiderio, decided to hire an unknown Asian actor as a dedicated model.
Monica had never made a single mistake as a businesswoman until now.
The elders of Desiderio even said that Monica resembled a young Salvatore.
That was why he had appointed her as the heir to Desiderio.
‘In a life-defining moment, did she chase fortune, or was she bewitched by the devil?’
There had been much talk among the elders about Monica’s choice. In business, one must always remain cold-hearted. One had to calculate the balance of profit and loss, and judge what was beneficial and what was not.
In that sense, Monica’s choice was an obvious mistake. So much so that some elders had even come to Salvatore, pleading with him to dissuade Monica from her decision.
‘She’s not a child who would stake her position on a reckless gamble.’
Salvatore had watched his granddaughter closely since she was young.
Her childhood was very similar to Salvatore’s. She lost her parents in a car accident and was raised by her grandparents.
Salvatore had raised Monica to be a thorough businesswoman. Therefore.
“Let’s go up and see.”
He couldn’t help but be curious. What kind of charm did an unknown Asian actor have that made Monica so desperate?
‘It feels like I’m a doll.’
Is this what it looks like when children play with dolls? The designers’ faces were all visibly excited.
He had changed into so many sample outfits that he couldn’t even remember the count. At first, he had found their hands undressing and dressing him burdensome, but now he didn’t feel anything.
“Melissa, we need to tighten this part more. Bring a needle and thread right now. We need to sew it, not just pin it.”
“Eliana, wait. Let me finish my part first and then fix the collarbone area. If we do it now, it will look weird.”
“No, I’m right. Doing it this way will make it look more natural and elegant.”
Now they were even arguing over the design, fiercely debating over the fit. In the end, the designers rushed to sew and pin the sample outfit.
Others were bringing accessories to try on his fingers and around his neck.
How much time had passed? After the commotion in the dressing room, he went outside.
Huh?
The atmosphere outside the dressing room was unusual. Even Giordana, who always seemed irritable, and Monica had taken a step back.
And the person standing at the forefront was none other than an elderly Italian man with white eyebrows.
He looked great in his black suit. If he had a cigar in his wrinkled lips, it would look like a scene from “The Godfather.”
The old man with white eyebrows was just staring at Youngguk, who had walked out of the dressing room.
It felt like the old man’s keen eyes were scrutinizing him from head to toe, almost as if savoring every detail.
The designers, who had been excited until a moment ago, were also startled by the old man’s presence and quickly calmed down. Then.
Suddenly.
The old man took a step closer and touched Youngguk’s body. Although there were pins here and there, it was as if the old man knew their exact positions, skillfully avoiding them as his wrinkled hands brushed past him. Then their blue eyes met.
The old man’s white eyebrows curved with interest as he spoke in Italian.
“Bello (beautiful).”
