Our Story - Binjin

Chapter 120: Baeksang (Part 1)

5th June 2020. It was finally the day of the 56th Baeksang Art Awards.

Ye-Jin's Preparation

Ye-Jin stretched as she got out of bed. She took a deep breath and smiled, her primary job for the past week had been to ensure that she would be in her best condition today. It had been hard work to get into "best condition"... very hard work.

Firstly, for the past week, Ye-Jin had been under a strict diet and exercise regime. Exercising wasn't a big problem since Ye-Jin enjoyed her pilates and jogging sessions, although it was less fun when you know you have to do it.

Abstinence from her favorite foods was the one that was driving her crazy. She hasn't had more than a spoonful of carbohydrates per meal for a week (meaning no tteokbokki), she hasn't had a dollop of ice-cream in five days (she caved in briefly on Day 2) and she hasn't had a chip for three days (she again caved in on Day 4 for one tiny chip).

Secondly, she needed to make sure she had her beauty sleep. Does this sound like a perk rather than hard work? Well, not for someone who's favorite past time was binge watching netflix until the wee hours of morning. The fact that she wasn't supposed to stay up late made Ye-Jin want to do it even more.

In summary, for an entire week, Ye-Jin went been going to bed early, hungry and craving her snacks. She grimaced when she thought of the past week - it had really been a royal pain in the ass. People usually saw only the glamour, well, glamour came with a price.

That said, that was behind her and it had been worth it. Ye-Jin was glowing and her body felt light and refreshed. She was all ready.

Later that morning, Manager Kim dropped Ye-Jin at the beauty salon and Lee Yunmi, Mujin and Mijung got to work. Three hours later, three very self-satisfied women stood back and admired their work. Ye-Jin was going to knock them out.

Hyun Bin's Preparation

Unlike Ye-Jin, Hyun Bin did not do any preparation for Baeksang. It wasn't that he didn't care, he was just too tied up with filming and simply didn't have time for anything else. The filming of Bargaining's Korea based scenes was in its final lap. The cast and crew were literally filming day and night to finish on schedule.

Hyun Bin had spent a grand total of ninety minutes discussing his attire for Baeksang - the first thirty minutes with Belma when they decided on his suit, shirt and shoes and another sixty minutes the next day for the fitting session.

As there wasn't enough time for Ralph Lauren to custom-make the suit, Hyun Bin had to settle for an off-the-rack piece. Unfortunately, he was in between sizes. He had bulked up for Bargaining and his usual size was just a tad tight to be fully comfortable. The next size up was loose and did not look crisp enough, not for Baeksang.

Belma hesitated. As Hyun Bin's stylist, her job was to make him look as good as possible. Her honest recommendation was to change the brand. It was clear that Ralph Lauren's off-the-shelf sizing was not going to work for Hyun Bin - not if they wanted it perfect. She made her professional recommendation.

Hyun Bin stared at himself in the mirror and objectively weighed the situation. The fit was not perfect but it was passable, even for Baeksang. If he switched the suit, he's going to need another ninety minutes to identify and fit again. He didn't have that ninety minutes in his schedule, not in the next three days. On a personal front, he would also have to give up his first shot at his little project. He really did not want to.

It was a no brainer. Hyun Bin asked the Ralph Lauren representative if it was possible to adjust the shoulder and chest area, even a slight addition would go a long way to improve the fit. The head tailor nodded, there were some hidden seams they could adjust to get another centimeter or two.