Though the family business was kept afloat as usual, Suh Sung-whan was not really happy with its small size and the way everything was done by hand at home. He could not erase the memories of the large market he saw in China. He shared his experience with the rest of family members and got their agreement to change the business name to Pacific Corporation.

Pacific! The vast ocean into which all the rivers of East Asia flow, the source of life, fathomless yet close and always present, that's the Pacific beyond which Suh Sung-whan wished to go.

Changing the business name offered him a momentum to think bigger. With new market entrants springing up everywhere, it was the time that he was feeling pressured by the fierce market competition. But, Sun Sung-whan had confidence with the quality of his products and indeed, his cream and pomade products were a big hit in the market.

But, to Suh Sung-whan who had already experienced the bigger world through a life and death struggle, Kaesong was too small to make his ambitious dream of going beyond the Pacific. With his mother's approval, he moved to Seoul in 1947.

Upon arrival in Seoul, Suh Sung-whan and his family put up a sign 'Pacific Chemical' in their business site in Namchang-dong, Seoul and opened a new office at 109, Hoehyeon-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul in January 1948.

All he cared about from the beginning was quality management. This was because he passionately believed that quality management represented the first step toward winning trust and recognition from customers ??which was the key to sustaining growth over the long-term, rather than chasing immediate profits.

Regarding design, he wanted to have his products presented in a sophisticated and elegant container like all the luxury goods sold at the Kim Jae-hyun Department Store or those in the department store he had seen in Beijing. He scoured printing houses and even Japanese agents to find out the perfect design that could be tied in his high-quality product. The very first product that he came up with through these efforts was Melody Cream.

At a time when market environment was so favorable that any new products were selling off the shelve regardless of design, the fashionable design and good quality of Melody Cream stood out among all products.

However, the stunning sales growth of Melody Cream was cut short by the outbreak of the Korean war that split the Korean Peninsula in half on June 25, 1950, at a time when the country was still recovering from its time under Japanese occupation.

Suh Sung-whan boarded the train to Busan. In his bag, there was a perfume that he brought from his garden where the perfume was buried. He never lost his enthusiasm for making cosmetics, even though forced to stay in a shelter.

He launched Korea's first pomade which was made from 100% vegetable oil, added with luxury fragrance brought from abroad. ABC Pomade became famous for giving natural shine and started a revolution in cosmetics packaging with its modern design.

His bold decision to introduce a new brand was right. ABC Pomade sold so well that he had to expand production facilities just six months after its release to meet the growing customer demand.

He achieved all this in the midst of war. This was truly a triumph of quality, technology and design combined with his frontier spirit and challenging mind.

??This column is extracted from the critical biography of the founder Cosmetics would still be my purpose, even in another life.