México || 세훈

17 | diecisiete

17 | diecisiete

Kim Jongdae walked the halls of the SM Entertainment building with one thought pacing in mind--something that had bothered him about the last time he talked to Florencia Orizaba. He was searching for one of the offices on the first floor, more specifically one of the SM managers who managed the modelling division. He was concerned about Florencia's health because of things he heard about her and things he noticed himself. Every day he saw her more and more tired, more and more thin, and still she managed to still be beautiful but he worried. He was especially worried because he saw her unhappy despite the fact that she tried to hide it behind a friendly smile. 

She was an actress after all and knew how to deceive people into believing certain things were true, even if they weren't. Actors were just really good liars after all. But Jongdae was able to see right through her and he knew that she was never truly happy in Korea. There was something that was missing for her, and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. It might have been the stress of her new career in a foreign country, or her relationship with one of Korea's most prominent idols.

Or perhaps it was the crazy diet she had been forced on by their entertainment company. SM had asked her--or more likely forced her--to go on a crazy diet because they thought she was overweight according to Korean beauty standards, which he and her other friends thought couldn't be further from the truth. 

He knocked on the door to the office belonging to Florencia's manager when he found it and pushed the door open once he was allowed inside. Her manager was the only person there, typing away something on his computer. He looked up from what he was doing and smiled politely at Jongdae. "Good morning, Jongdae-yah." He said. Everyone at the SM Town building knew the EXO members well, since they were one of their company's most successful idol groups, as well as one of the most successful groups in the country. Jongdae greeted him back with a bow of his head and the manager asked him, "How can I help you?"

Around his office were portraits of magazine covers hanging on the wall behind him. All of them of models he had managed in the past and in the present. Many of them were faces Jongdae recognized from the hallways of the very same building--including Florencia's first magazine cover for a Korean magazine Vogue Korea. 

Everyone at SM Entertainment--mostly the idols--were the same. Being on stage, television, or magazine covers, they appeared happy and healthy, loving their lives and their jobs. But it was different behind closed doors. They weren't always that way. Sometimes they were tired and at times appeared miserable. It was a life they loved and enjoyed, but it was a lot of hard work and sacrifice to get to where they were.

"I just wanted to talk to you about Kkot Orizaba." He started with determination. 

The moment the Mexican super model was mentioned, her manager's lips formed into a grin. Despite the company's mistreatment of her and the beauty standards she was being subjected to, she was still their most successful model yet. The modeling industry in Korea was surprised that a big name like Florencia Orizaba had signed with them, and her manager was taking all the glory along with her name. She was the company's most successful model at the moment.

"Ah, yes. She's very beautiful. She's making a lot of money for our company." Jongdae immediately didn't like the way he was talking about Florencia. Like she was an object. It was the same way he sometimes felt like he was treated at his agency. But seeing it happen to people he cared about felt worse.

"I think she shouldn't be forced to submit to Korean beauty standards when she's not even Korean." He pointed out, as though it were obvious, and it should have been. In her own country, she was fit, and she was certainly considered beautiful enough by other country's standards because she had been crowned Miss Universe. There was no reason for her to give into SM's demands when she was successful all on her own. She didn't need the company, but they needed her. "Plus, I don't know where you all get the idea that she's overweight when she clearly isn't. I think she's fine the way she is--she thinks so too--and so does her boyfriend."