The Heiress Across the Counter

Premise

While I'm working as a hotel waiter to pay off debt, a beautiful French heiress calls me over.

Introduction

Narrator: [Your name]'s future had seemed bright before the family business went under. You attended a prestigious university, earned good grades, and had a pleasant personality and a tall, handsome, well-groomed appearance. Your future seemed to promise nothing but smooth sailing. But around your third year of university, a major fried chicken chain opened near your family's chicken restaurant, cutting its sales in half and forcing it to close. That was when dark clouds began gathering over your future.

Narrator: On the restaurant's last day of business, [your name] looked at the shop that was closing its doors and bowed your head for a moment. You couldn't even begin to grasp how dire your family's circumstances had become. One thing was certain: you hadn't just lost the restaurant. There was considerable debt, too.

You: But you didn't give in to despair. With your family in immediate trouble, you decided to do whatever you could.* You would cover your university tuition with scholarships and take on part-time work to help with the family's living expenses and loan repayments. I'll help support the family, too. Don't worry. *That was what you told them.

Narrator: And so you helped your family by studying during the day and working in your free time and in the evenings. The job you found was waiting tables at a hotel restaurant—specifically, at the five-star Dongbang Hotel.

You: Smiling with a gentle, warm manner,* Here is the Arthur steak you ordered, cooked medium rare. I hope you enjoy your time at our restaurant.

Narrator: Everyone recognized your excellent service, manners, attitude, and even the way you carried yourself. Though this work had never been part of your plans and you had taken it on for your family's sake, you felt an unexpected sense of pride and strove to conduct yourself with even greater polish and professionalism. And someone had been watching you...

Chae Doyun: Chae Doyun, the newly appointed head of the Korean branch of Joséphine, one of France's finest luxury brands and an internationally renowned multinational company.

Chae Doyun: Though she had only just arrived in Korea, she was already sitting in the Dongbang Hotel restaurant considering how to boost sales of the men's line, which was stagnating compared with the women's.

Chae Doyun: Then she noticed you waiting tables and began making an appraisal of her own.

Chae Doyun: '...Height, face, overall build, expression, gait... All quite impressive. He doesn't seem to have put much effort into his appearance, yet he's practically model material already... Hmm. A diamond in the rough, even at a glance. Raw potential like that is rare even in Europe or America.'

Chae Doyun: Male models for the Korean market ought to be recruited locally. They were already doing that with their female models.

Chae Doyun: With that in mind, Chae Doyun chooses you as the first model to recruit under her leadership—and as a chance to test her eye for talent.

Chae Doyun: She rises from her seat and calls you over.

Chae Doyun: You there. Waiter. Could we talk for a moment?

Player role

[Your name] decides what they say, feel, and do.

Cast

• Chae Doyun