Assignment

Once she reached her desk, Su-Jin slowly took off the mask and quickly hid behind her monitor.

"Good morning, Su-Jin. Did you have a nice weekend? How did you..."

Yeon-Ah stopped in the middle of the sentence, staring wide-eyed at her friend.

"What happened to your face?" she cried out worriedly.

"Well..."

Before Su-JIn was able to reply, however, the door to Director Kang's office opened and the Deputy Director appeared in the doorway.

"Meeting in five minutes, people." He announced briskly, then went back inside, closing the door behind him.

"I'll tell you after the meeting." Su-Jin whispered to her friend.

Five minutes later they were all gathered in the Director's office.

Kang Ji-Won sat at the end of the table, looking as serious and grumpy as ever. Seo-Jun sat on his right-side, followed by Jung Seok. On the Director's left side were Su-Jin and Yeon-Ah.

Su-Jn felt uncomfortable with the arrangement, but tried her best to ignore the Director's presence, even if she was sitting so very close to him.

A few seconds after they all took their seats, Su-Jin's desperate attempts at hiding her red cheek were noticed by the man sitting across from her. The instant he laid his eyes on her face, the Deputy Director's eyes flashed with shock.

"Su-Jin, what in heaven's name has happened to your face? You look like someone hit you." Seo-Jun's voice boomed inside the office, startling everyone.

Even Ji-Won raised his head, taken aback by his friend's rather explosive reaction. Following the direction of Seo-Jun's line of sight, Ji-Won slowly turned his head around. As soon as he glanced to his left, he immediately saw that her left cheek was indeed scarlet. He stared for a moment, his eyes watching her expression carefully.

Su-Jin, on the other hand, was feeling overly conscious of everyone's stares, and all that attention was making her really uncomfortable. As a consequence, she ended up stuttering.

"Well… You see, what happened was that… that..."

Su-Jin's words ultimately faltered. She wasn't feeling confident enough to finish her sentence.

'Yes, actually. The floor kind of hit me.' She thought bitterly, unwittingly bringing a hand to her cheek.

The gesture, together with her expression, made everyone start. It looked as though she was trying to avoid answering. No one could have suspected that she was actually feeling too embarrassed to tell the truth.

"Don't tell me someone actually hit you?!" Seo-Jun cried out in outrage, upon seeing her hesitation.

"No, no, of course not." Su-Jin replied hastily.

She panicked, and for some strange reason, her eyes instinctively shifted towards her right. When she did that, she saw Ji-Won staring intensely at her face.

'Would you stop staring at me, you weirdo. You are making me feel even more uncomfortable.' She thought frantically.

With great difficulty, Su-Jin willed her eyes to move away from Ji-Won, and to look straight ahead at Seo-Jun. Afterwards, she proceeded to ignore the black-haired man on her right.

"There was an accident and I fell. That's all." She finally replied with a sheepish smile. Then, upon seeing Seo-Jun's skeptical look, she added hastily. "But it's alright, it doesn't hurt. I assure you, it looks far worse than it actually is."

At these words, Ji-Won frowned slightly, but he remained quiet. After all, it was none of his business what had happened to her. Also, she was a natural-born klutz. Therefore, having an accident in the house was a logical explanation for her appearance.

In the end, Ji-Won cleared his throat, and declared the meeting officially in session.

"Now, if you are all done talking about your personal lives, I have something important to tell you." he said curtly, avoiding to look at anyone in particular.

Su-Jin, however, felt these words most keenly. It caused her to blush in mortification. As a result, now both her cheeks were red.

'You rude, insensitive creature. Let's see you fall down like that. How would your face look then, huh?' She berated him, feeling her face burn hot with shame. But she could only complain in her heart.

A moment later, Ji-Won's deep voice immediately pulled Su-Jin out of her thoughts.

"We have two weeks to submit a fully detailed design for an event. Its purpose is to refresh the company's image. Up until now, Kangji Tourism has worked with high class clients and companies, making it inaccessible to most of the middle-class people. Now, the Board has agreed to give us a chance to create packages that the average salaryman can afford. That way, more people will be able to enjoy our products."

Ji-Won stopped for a moment, looking around the table before continuing to speak in a more serious tone.

"You have until next Friday to give me a list of designs. We will discuss them first, before choosing the best candidate. The chosen event plan will be included in the end-of-the month proposal that I will be presenting to the Chairman."

As he finished his words, Ji-Won took a deep breath, shifting his gaze between the team members. They were all watching him attentively. Even Su-Jin forgot all about her previous mortification and was looking at him intently.

"Jung Seok, you can continue doing the analysis on the budget. We will need it before the end of the month in order to have the final proposal ready. Meanwhile, you three," he addressed the remaining team members. "You make sure to bring me a long list of designs."

"What should the events contain? Can you tell us something more specific?" Su-Jin asked, for the first time sounding professional.

Seeing her proactive attitude, Ji-Won raised an eyebrow in surprise. Yet, despite his doubts, he still replied to her seriously.

"It can be anything ranging from something common like a family event, all the way to a romantic setting. It can even be a corporate outing. In short, you can choose whichever setting you believe will have the best impact. Just remember that it needs to be accessible and affordable to residents from Seoul and its surrounding area. Also, it needs to be something special and fresh, something that would differentiate us from other companies in the branch."

"So, nothing outside Seoul?" Seo-Jun asked while taking notes.

"For now, this will be a local event only. If the idea we present will be received positively by the Managers, then we will be able to plan similar events for other cities as well."

"That means we can just think about what would make people want to travel and enjoy themselves, right?" Yeon-Ah asked in a quiet voice.

"Exactly." Ji-Won nodded. "If you need inspiration, you can check the archive for locations and resorts. But, keep in mind that I want a new concept, something that hasn't been done before."

With that, the meeting was declared closed.