An Advertising Genius Falls into the Joseon Era - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 1
Twenty-fourth floor of Yuil Planning Headquarters.
“It’s impossible.”
The Sales Director broke the heavy silence that had settled over the room.
Fifteen people in total sat around the large conference table — twelve executives and the Client Representative.
Scattered across its surface were documents bearing grim sales graphs and inventory reports.
“Three months. You’re telling us to move all two hundred thousand units in that time?”
Despair colored the Sales Director’s voice.
“Surely we could pay penalties to our suppliers and push back the schedule——”
“No. It’s possible.”
Every eye in the Conference Room snapped toward the voice. There sat a woman in her mid-twenties, composed and assured.
“Team Lead Im——!”
Im Ha-yun, Creative Director of Yuil Planning.
The youngest Grand Prize winner in the history of the Korean Advertising Awards, and at twenty-five, already a legend — the youngest person ever to reach the top of the industry.
Not a single project she’d touched had ever failed.
Her arrival had transformed the room’s atmosphere entirely.
“Six weeks is all we need.”
“…… I’m sorry?”
The Sales Director stared back at her, bewildered.
“Listen, Team Lead Im. Even for someone like you, that’s unreasonable. We said three months was impossible, and now you’re cutting it in half — what exactly do you think that’ll accomplish?”
Ha-yun stood her ground, and the Sales Director’s face — weathered by twenty years in the business — flushed crimson.
A faint smile.
Yet Ha-yun didn’t bat an eye.
Instead, she flicked the Tablet PC forward with an air of ease, almost carelessly.
Then came a sharp chime, and a presentation bloomed in the air above the Conference Room table like a hologram.
“You failed for a simple reason: you were trying to sell a product.”
Ha-yun rose from her seat and walked slowly toward the holographic display, her high heels ringing against the polished floor.
“So what do you expect a cosmetics company to sell, if not cosmetics?”
“Desire.”
As Ha-yun gestured, the presentation advanced to the next slide.
“Niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, improved skin elasticity — do you really think consumers read that kind of thing? No. They don’t care, do they?”
She snapped her fingers, and the screen shifted again.
“What they want is to know how special this product makes them.”
“How special……”
The Marketing Director murmured, his eyes flickering with interest.
“It’s not ‘Will I become more beautiful if I use this?’ That’s not it at all. It’s ‘How special am I for owning this?’ That’s the heart of it.”
Confidence rang through Ha-yun’s words.
“Make them want it, make them brag about it, make them desperate to photograph it and post it online — make the consumers themselves become our product’s advertisements.”
Nearly twenty pairs of eyes bore into her, yet Ha-yun remained unmoved. She spoke with quiet conviction.
“Pull every unit currently on the market. All of it.”
“What — what are you saying? Pull the inventory? When we can barely keep up with demand as it is!”
The Sales Director shot to his feet, his voice rising. His face had gone scarlet.
“Director. Calm yourself and hear me out.”
She had weathered this kind of resistance countless times before.
At first, everyone said she was mad. But the results were always success. Ha-yun continued, unruffled.
“Lock all the product in the warehouse for now. Then, a month from now, post an announcement: due to raw material shortages, the item will be available for a Limited Sale — six weeks only.”
“But that——”
“At the same time, launch a Viral Marketing campaign. Distribute samples to influencers — minimal quantities only. And don’t link to any sales pages, not under any circumstances.”
Ha-yun’s fingers flicked, and the screen shifted, revealing detailed marketing strategies one by one.
“Then, one week later, display a timer on the official website.”
[Remaining Stock: 200,000]
“Show the available quantity, and let them watch the numbers tick down in real time.”
“That would——”
The Conference Room stirred with the weight of her strategy.
In eyes that had been desperate moments before, hope began to kindle.
“People don’t look twice at things lying around. No matter how exceptional a product is, they walk right past. But tell them they can’t have it? That’s when the hunger starts.”
Ha-yun’s voice rang with certainty.
“Create urgency. Plant the fear: buy now or miss it forever. That’s the strongest Purchase Motivation the modern consumer knows.”
“Do you really think two hundred thousand units will sell that way?”
“They’ll sell and then some. Or rather, there won’t be enough.”
Ha-yun answered with confidence.
“I’ll stake my name on it.”
Ha-yun’s track record was itself a guarantee.
Three years ago, she was the one who’d lifted an outdoor brand from the brink of collapse to the top of the industry.
Everyone had said the project was impossible, but she’d pulled it off in just four months, and that brand had since become a massive corporation boasting three hundred billion won in annual revenue.
Before that, she’d rebranded an aging regional soju, achieving the number two market share.
Every project she touched became a success. And that legend was still unfolding.
“Well… if Team Lead Im is that confident about it.”
The Client Representative who’d heard the presentation nodded slowly.
“Very good. I’ll trust you on this. In exchange, I’d appreciate a progress report once a week.”
“Of course.”
The moment the Client Representative gave his approval, Ha-yun rose from her seat, grabbed her jacket, and slipped out of the conference room.
Click. Click.
The sound of her heels echoed through the hallway like a victory march.
“Phew.”
Once safely out of the conference room, Ha-yun let out a small sigh.
A flawless presentation. A flawless finish.
But beneath that veneer, a suffocating pressure bore down on her shoulders.
‘I have to succeed. Failure has no place in my career.’
An endless sprint toward success—that was the life of Im Ha-yun, the Advertisement Genius.
***
“Ha-yun, another late night?”
Su-jin, a colleague from the same cohort, asked with concern when they crossed paths by the elevator.
11 PM.
The empty lobby echoed only with the sound of the Cleaning Lady’s mop.
“Yeah. The launch is next week, so there’s no time to breathe. Go on ahead.”
Ha-yun held up the folder in her hands with a bright smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. But that smile was desperately hollow.
“Hey, you’re going to actually collapse at this rate. Work is work, but you need rest too.”
“Once I finish this one, I’ll take a break. Really.”
It was a lie.
Ha-yun knew.
That this time wouldn’t be the last.
Once this project ended, another would be waiting for her.
To maintain the title of Advertisement Genius, she had to prove her success constantly.
Not a single failure would be tolerated.
Or rather, she couldn’t tolerate one herself.
And so Ha-yun perpetually whipped herself forward.
“Next Friday, you didn’t forget, right?”
“Next Friday?”
Su-jin’s words suddenly brought an event rushing back—one Ha-yun had completely forgotten.
“Oh, right! The class reunion.”
“See? You were already forgetting. Are you going to skip it again?”
Since graduation, Ha-yun had never once shown her face at a class reunion.
Ha-yun clasped her hands together apologetically.
“… I’m sorry. I’ll definitely come this time.”
“You really mean it this time?”
“Yeah, I really will. I promise.”
Another lie.
An important meeting was scheduled for next Friday.
But she didn’t want to disappoint Su-jin, her only friend and fellow classmate, with the truth.
Ding!
The elevator that had just arrived whisked Ha-yun away as if she were fleeing.
“I’ll find time to pop by, even if just for a bit. See you then!”
“You have to come!”
With that, the elevator doors closed.
Only then did Ha-yun release the long breath she’d been holding.
“Ugh, I’m really going to collapse at this rate…”
2 AM.
After finishing her late-night work, Ha-yun descended to the Underground Parking Lot and slumped in the driver’s seat, staring blankly ahead.
‘I’m exhausted. So exhausted…’
When did it begin?
This work no longer brought her joy.
When she first entered this industry, everything had felt thrilling and full of promise.
Conceiving new ideas, watching them become reality—
every step of the process had delighted her.
But now?
Now it was nothing but numb struggle, a desperate thrashing to keep from drowning.
Click.
Ha-yun opened the center console in the passenger seat—a gesture so automatic her hands moved without thought.
Inside lay a peculiar Curved Jade Ornament, two pieces fitted together so seamlessly they seemed to be one.
It was the only keepsake her father had left behind, a man who had spent his life collecting antiquities.
“Ha-yun, do you know what this is?”
“No. What is it?”
“A rare treasure, unique in the whole world.”
“But it looks like two pieces, not one.”
“Ah, though it appears as two, it is truly one. These two fit together to form a single whole.”
Just as her father had said, the two pieces of Curved Jade were interlocked with such exquisite precision, like gears of a mechanism, that no force on earth could tear them apart.
As if they had always been one from the beginning.
Ha-yun cherished her father’s only keepsake with infinite care.
“Dad……”
The moment the smooth jade touched her fingertips, her heart inexplicably grew still.
“All right. Let me just go home, wash up, and think this through……”
After rolling the Curved Jade between her fingers for a few minutes more, Ha-yun finally started the engine.
Tomorrow would bring another endless day.
Vroom.
Ha-yun pulled out of the Underground Parking Lot and into the pre-dawn streets.
Seoul in the early morning was silent. Only the glow of streetlights illuminated the empty road.
……
Ha-yun drove with vacant eyes fixed ahead, her mind elsewhere.
Then it happened.
Screeeech—!
A tire’s wail tore through the air, splitting the silence.
“Wh—?”
By the time she heard it, it was already too late.
A massive truck was veering across the center line from the opposite lane, bearing down on her.
The headlights grew closer, brighter.
Bang—!
The impact hit like the end of the world.
The airbag erupted, and shattered glass sprayed in all directions. The seatbelt dug into her chest with a force that felt like it would snap bone.
‘What’s happening?’
Through the fog of consciousness, Ha-yun saw a brilliant radiance pouring from the Curved Jade Ornament.
The light began to envelop her.
‘Am I dying……?’
With the light came something impossible: everything around her moved in slow motion.
Shards of glass hung suspended in the air, even the rain froze mid-fall.
It was as if time itself had stopped.
‘This can’t be happening. I still have so much left to do……’
Even in that impossible moment, Ha-yun’s mind was consumed only with thoughts of work.
Whoooosh—!
Then the Curved Jade Ornament blazed with radiant light, growing brighter until it swallowed her whole.
And when that light faded, Ha-yun was gone.
***
“Wake up now! Wake up! You’ll catch your death of cold sleeping here!”
A muffled voice pierced through the haze. Someone was shaking her shoulder hard.
‘Am I in a hospital? Am I alive?’
Her mouth was parched, and her head throbbed as if it might split open.
Ha-yun forced her eyes open, gritting her teeth against the pain.
“Ugh—what……?”
When her eyes finally opened, Ha-yun stared in bewilderment at the figure standing over her.
Looming above her was a man with his hair tied up in a topknot.
“Phew, you’re awake? I thought you were dead. Thank goodness you’re all right.”
Upon seeing the man’s appearance, Ha-yun was struck by a shock far greater than the traffic accident.
‘Who is this? No, more importantly—why is he dressed like that?’
The man wore clothes that looked as if they belonged in a museum. He even had a carrying frame strapped to his back.
Ha-yun asked with a hoarse, strained voice.
“Where am I……?”
“Where else? Mungyeong Saejae.”
Mungyeong Saejae?
That couldn’t be right.
Ha-yun naturally assumed the man was joking.
It was physically impossible for her to be in Mungyeong Saejae when she’d been in the heart of Seoul just moments before.
But as she looked around, a landscape remarkably similar to the real Mungyeong Saejae spread before her.
Ha-yun’s eyes narrowed.
‘Is this really Mungyeong Saejae?’
Yet almost immediately, Ha-yun shook her head.
‘No. The Mungyeong Saejae I know isn’t like this.’
From the way houses clustered together in the distance, this was clearly an actual inhabited village.
The only problem was that every single house was a thatched-roof cottage.
And nowhere in sight could she find any trace of civilization—no electric poles, no roads.
‘Where on earth is this?’
Sensing that something was terribly wrong, Ha-yun struggled to her feet.
“Ugh……!”
The aftereffects of the crash struck her with delayed force.
Every muscle in her body screamed in protest.
Desperate to call for help, Ha-yun frantically patted her pockets.
‘It’s not there? It’s gone?’
But there was nothing.
No bag, no wallet, no identification, no phone.
Even the Curved Jade Ornament, her father’s legacy, had vanished without a trace.
‘Stay calm. Just stay calm and figure out what’s happening.’
Ha-yun took a deep breath.
Then, composing herself, she looked at the man before her and spoke.
“Um, I’m sorry to ask, but could I borrow your phone?”
“Phone? What’s that?”
The man clearly had no idea what a phone was.
Ha-yun laughed, deflated.
“Come on, don’t joke around. Just lend me one, please. I lost my phone.”
“How can I lend you something I don’t have?”
“You really don’t have one? A phone?”
“Lord, I’ve been tricked my whole life. You’re telling me you really don’t have one?”
From the man’s reaction, it was clear he wasn’t lying.
For a moment Ha-yun panicked, but the thought occurred to her that in a remote enough place, this might be possible.
Ha-yun maintained her composure.
For now.
“Then you must have a telephone at least? Please, just let me make one call. I’m begging you.”
“Telephone? What’s that?”
“You don’t know what a telephone is either?”
Unease began to creep in.
By now, Ha-yun’s voice was trembling.
“Then what about 119? Could you please call 119 for me? I’ll pay you well, I promise.”
“Miss, did you perhaps hurt your head? You keep saying things I’ve never heard of in my whole life.”
“What? You’ve never heard of any of those things before?”
A man who’d never heard of phones, telephones, or emergency services.
And a bizarre landscape devoid of any sign of civilization.
‘Could it be……?’
An ill omen flashed through her mind.
“By any chance, what year is it now……?”
“Let me see…… The current king has been on the throne for thirteen years now, so it’s the Year of the Rooster in the Sexagenary Cycle.”
“The king?”
At the mention of a king, Ha-yun’s heart sank like a stone.
And what in the world was Jeongmiyeon?
It was around this moment that Ha-yun began to suspect something had gone terribly wrong.
“Jeongmiyeon? What year is that, exactly?”
“Good heavens, you don’t know that either? You truly are a peculiar young lady.”
As a modern woman, Ha-yun had no reason to know the Sexagenary Cycle. Grasping at straws, she pressed on with her question.
“Then perhaps… might you know the name of the reigning king? The current ruler?”
“How could the likes of us ever speak His Majesty’s name aloud? We’d be dragged away for lese-majesty if we did.”
The man’s voice dropped urgently.
Instead, he couched his answer for her benefit.
“All we know is that our sovereign is the grandson of the late King Sunjo.”
“Sunjo!”
Ha-yun’s face drained of all color at the reply.
Though her history was rusty, she’d had the good fortune to memorize the entire Joseon dynasty in that famous mnemonic—”Taejong, Sejong, Munjong, Danjong…”—so she knew exactly which king came after Sunjo.
‘Heonjong…!’
The thirteenth year of King Heonjong’s reign.
By the Western calendar, that was 1847.
Roughly two hundred years in the past.
‘This can’t be happening. I’ve fallen into the Joseon dynasty?’
Ha-yun had landed squarely in the heart of the Joseon era under King Heonjong’s rule.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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