15

The Sales Goods Department became so busy with the new product launch looming that there was no time to breathe.

As the senior staff, I was used to it, but the new hires who’d been here only a few months would have it rough. A little sugar helps in situations like this, so I planned to buy some cookies to share.

But the newcomer I saw now looked beyond consolation by mere cookies.

“Nicola, what’s wrong with your face? Are you okay?”

His hollow face and bloodshot eyes were somewhat eerie. I had sent him home as early as possible yesterday, so I tilted my head in confusion.

“Did you not leave yesterday?”

Nicola shook his head. He said he had only gone to wash up for a bit.

I thought: why would a new hire have to pull an all-nighter?

“Did something happen while I was gone? Did someone make you do overtime? It’s okay, you can tell me.”

Thankfully, nothing like that had happened. But after hearing the whole story, I swallowed hard without realizing it.

‘The new hire went this far?’

He had been up all night collaborating with people from other departments to carry out a directive from above. Apparently the leader among them had been obsessively demanding and difficult.

“I-it’s hell……”

This was the first time I’d heard the always bright and positive Nicola say something like that.

‘Just how bad was it, and what were they preparing?’

I was curious, and at the same time embarrassed.

‘The newcomer is brainstorming like this and I’m still far behind.’

As Nicola’s senior, I resolved to learn from this attitude.

The new subordinate was truly admirable. I wondered what that bobbed-haired girl with the cute chubby cheeks had been doing.

I visited the headquarters store for an on-site survey to check the location where we would showcase the cosmetics.

‘Everyone looked like they were exhausted.’

Converting the PPT materials I usually made on the computer into handmade form was by no means easy.

I sorted and organized various data and drew graphs, cut images from newspapers or drew them by hand to aid understanding. If there was a typo, I mercilessly discarded it and rewrote it.

‘If a magic eraser existed, I’d buy it no matter how expensive.’

It was a maddening process.

Even after cutting the content as much as possible, making the materials look good was not easy. Near the end, Pinea seemed to call me a demon, but I must have misheard due to exhaustion.

‘Still, it’s finished, so that’s a relief.’

When I cautiously told senior Yul that I had proposals to present, he kindly scheduled time for me to join the afternoon meeting. The mysterious customer case probably had some influence.

‘I’m a bit nervous since it’s been a while.’

In my previous world, I used to prepare and present proposals and reports all the time. More often they failed than passed, but today’s report could not fail.

“Coco, it’s a disaster!”

After the site check I returned to the administration department. Nicola and Pinea greeted me with ashen faces.

“Our presentation materials are gone!”

It sounded like bolt from the blue.

“What?”

Pinea spoke in a voice as if she might burst into tears.

“The meeting is in a little while, so I put the final materials on the desk to check them, but while I went to fetch Nicola for a second they were gone! No matter how much we searched the area, they’re nowhere to be found!”

I checked the clock on the office wall first. One hour remained until the meeting.

‘Ha, what a bastard……’

Jemini’s words about a whole department being wiped out echoed in my ears. But there wasn’t time to start from scratch.

“Should we postpone the presentation?”

I shook my head at Pinea’s suggestion.

“That excuse won’t fly. They gave us this opportunity to hear newcomers like us. There isn’t much time left, and if we can’t do it today, they’ll probably go with the old method Pinea mentioned.”

Moreover, in such a sensitive time, failing to deliver the presentation on schedule could very well mean packing up and going home.

“Then what do we do?”

Nicola was restless. I closed and opened my eyes to calm myself. There was no luxury of time to ponder.

“We redo it.”

“Redo?!”

We had to enter with at least an abridged version.

“We made it until dawn today, so you remember the content without me saying it, right? I’ll divide the sections. Let’s just organize it enough to grasp the content briefly.”

My head was pounding, but I couldn’t show it to the two who had helped so much. Besides, giving up now would waste the effort of days of hard work, not to mention the special bonus.

“Hey, you two, w-wait!”

Just as I was assigning tasks to the two drained people, Jemina rushed in. He was holding what looked like a bundle of papers.

“Th-this……”

It was half burned but unmistakable. It was definitely the handmade PPT we had made.

“I found it at the incinerator!”

He said this, panting.

“How did the senior do that?”

I looked at him suspiciously; he flinched slightly but explained carefully.

“B-Bator was carrying something and heading somewhere… It had been quiet lately so I felt uneasy. So I followed him and he put this into the incinerator and left. It looked similar to the presentation materials Cornelia had prepared, so I pulled it out right away…”

‘There’s no law that says I have to die.’

“Thank you, senior. I’ll definitely repay this debt.”

I gave orders at once. That useless bastard would live to pay for this after we handled the situation.

“Pinea, the top part didn’t burn, so copy it onto new paper as is. Nicola, cut and paste the images that survived. I’ll handle the bottom part.”

“I-I’ll help too!”

Jemina offered. We could use all the help we could get.

“Thank you, senior. Please!”

“Yes!”

Now that it had come to this, we’d definitely get that special bonus.

“Ready?”

Senior Yul tapped my shoulder to encourage me to relax.

“Coco, do well!”

“Coco, hang in there! We’ll be waiting!”

Pinea and Nicola, who couldn’t come in with me, offered words of encouragement. I nodded silently.

‘I won’t let your efforts be in vain.’

With determination, I opened the conference room door. I was speechless at the unexpected scene.

‘What is this situation?’

Because the merchant guild head, the vice-head, and the heads of each department were all present.

I hurriedly looked for Senior Yul.

“Senior, wasn’t my presentation supposed to be only within our department?”

I asked in a very small voice, but the answer came from elsewhere.

“I called for it.”

It was the vice-head. He rubbed his shaggy beard with his hand as he spoke.

“I heard an interesting story. Three new hires stayed up all night preparing a presentation. And one of them is said to be the mysterious customer proposer.”

The agenda must have been submitted under the department head’s name, so why had my name come up?

“Stop scaring them, vice-head. There have been many opinions, and I’m curious what the newcomers think. Don’t be nervous, present comfortably.”

The merchant guild head laughed heartily.

‘Don’t be nervous, he says, while the merchant guild head is attending a newcomers’ presentation—it is that urgent.’

Actually, it was better this way. If the merchant guild head approved this presentation, things would move swiftly.

I took a deep breath and began calmly.

“Then, I will present the plan for launching a new cosmetics brand.”

I hung a large four-fold presentation board beside me and began explaining, turning each sheet.

“This is not Daijo’s first attempt at launching cosmetics. We tried four years ago but closed the business due to poor sales.”

The executives’ expressions stiffened at the uncomfortable topic.

“Through market research we analyzed the reasons. The cause was that Daijo has a strong image centered on everyday household goods, which is insufficient to draw out the beauty and fantasy associated with cosmetics.”

In this world, cosmetics are luxury items purchased by nobles or wealthy women.

I went through additional shortcomings one by one with data showing unclear target consumers and designs women didn’t prefer. The executives’ faces darkened further.

“There’s no need to publicly criticize a failed business in a setting like this.”

One of the executives finally showed displeasure. I smiled faintly.

“I’m not here to point out past mistakes. I wanted to say that although we failed, those previous efforts were not in vain.”

“Ahem.”

The executives’ expressions softened compared to before.

“If we address the issues discovered through past experience, this cosmetics business has a chance. We propose creating a separate cosmetics brand targeting the 10–20s in age group, who consume the most cosmetics, and designing products accordingly.”

Of course, this alone wasn’t enough. The merchant guild head stared sharply as he prodded.

I met that warning stare with confidence and composure, as if any nonsense would be immediately shut down.

“But no matter how well we make the product, success is difficult if we can’t convey its value. In fact, Daijo’s cosmetics have no quality issues even when I, a woman, tried them. They actually have less fallout and beautiful pigmentation, which are clear strengths.”

“Then what should we do?”

“As I mentioned earlier, the key is to let consumers see a fantasy through our cosmetics.”

“So how on earth do you do that?”

Despite the executive’s exasperation, I unperturbedly turned the page. A glamorous shop image with a tasteful mix of black and pink appeared.

“A pop-up store.”

This was unprecedented here.

Pop-up store.