Pleasant Imagines (Jinjoo)

How did 3 become 10?

The skies flocked with pigeons, high rise buildings going into action, and it was once again, the start of another Monday blue.

A girl dragged her feet towards her desk, plopping down with a soft groan. "Minju-ah, Mr Jang called you." Hitomi, her colleague, informed with a phone in her ear, probably a client call. The said girl nodded and stood back up, not even a minute of sitting down since she arrived.

Minju sighed and straightened her attire, knocking on the door, and opening it with permission. "Ah, Kim Minju!" the girl bowed slightly, making her way towards his table.

"Good morning, Mr Jang." She greeted, tone as cold as ever, having a seat in front of him. "How's your team's project going on?"

Minju nodded slowly. "We're still trying to find an artist for the cafe promotion" He looked through some documents. "Haven't found a suitable one?" he asked while she shook her head.

"Many of them said they don't do donations." Minju sighed softly. This project they're working on would be marketing their company's new café. They're supposed to find a suitable barista who could come up with designs for them—preferably someone experienced.

As simple as it sounds, the professional ones don't have time for these little things. They deem to have more important works. "How about this?" Mr Jang shifted a document towards her, showing some designs created by the artist as well as the name of the barista—Kim Haneul.

Minju examined and leaned back into her chair. "How will we find him? He doesn't have a profile except for the designs. It'll be impossible to find him." She said, shaking her head.

"But his works fit our criteria. Cute and simple. Can be quite meticulous if given some time for the designs." Mr Jang commented, looking through the pictures. Somehow, this barista's face isn't found anywhere.

Silent artist, that's what they call these anonymous artists. But their works are well known on Instagram.

"He has a lot of followers too, good for marketing." He added, looking at Minju who inhaled deeply. "Ah...I'm sure you can do it." Mr Jang persisted while Minju had no choice but to do what he says.

"I believe you'll be able to find him. You're one of our most competent employees. Go on." He dismissed the girl while she bowed and left the office.

The moment she reached her desk, she slumped, catching the attention of her team. "What's wrong? Did he say something bad? Was our proposal bad?" Hitomi asked.

She shook her head. "He asked me to find him." Minju lazily handed her the document.

"Wah...this is gonna be hard. No one is able to find these artists. But if you can, I'll give you...my assets." Hitomi joked while Minju chuckled softly. "How long are you given?"

"Next month." Minju stretched her arms, turning on her laptop, propping it properly. "That's in..." Hitomi started counting. "Three weeks." She added.

"I'll just look at the tags. Maybe it'll lead me to some café he probably works at. There's no way he's doesn't own one with those skills of his." Minju mumbled to herself, going online and on other social media platforms to look for this particular artist.

After hours of searching, she wasn't able to get a single lead except for rumours of where this barista works at. It was time for her to head home. But that wasn't until Hitomi reminded her about something.

"Yah, Kim Minju." She popped up over the shelf of her table. "You scared me." Minju frowned, rubbing her eyes lightly, trying to keep awake.

"What?" she asked, packing up her stuff. "You didn't forget about it, did you?" Hitomi queried, making Minju look at her.