Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 29

“It’s going to take about two years,” Woo-jin said.

Jin-tae raised an eyebrow. “Two years for what, exactly?”

“To double your salary, Jin-tae,” Woo-jin replied. “I’m talking about you taking home around a thousand a month, after taxes. Starting in March, two years from now, exactly.”

The number hung in the air between them. It wasn’t just a casual promise; it was a statement of fact.

Jin-tae stared at Woo-jin. This wasn’t some youthful fantasy. This kid was serious.

“Are you trying to set up some kind of gambling den? Or an illegal betting website?” Jin-tae asked.

“Ah, I forgot one thing. I’m only going to do perfectly legal things,” Woo-jin replied.

“What legal thing could you possibly do that would let you give me that much?”

“The thing you always used to do.”

“What? Carpentry?”

“Exactly. Why else would I call you?” Woo-jin confirmed.

Woo-jin began to speak again.

Now that he’d started, it was time to sweeten the deal.

“I’ve already signed a pretty good deal with Chunwoong,” Woo-jin said.

“Besides Chunwoong, I’ve been looking around for other places to get work… and I’ve secured a budget that lets us be independent.”

For an architecture firm to be independent, it meant they would buy land, build houses or buildings, and then sell them directly to customers. This could range from small houses to larger buildings.

Of course, even the smallest construction required a lot of money.

Woo-jin wasn’t being completely honest about the budget. He said he had the money now, but the truth was, he expected to have that much money in a few months. He was confident, but not quite there yet.

Jin-tae spoke again.

“Were you always from a rich family?”

“Um, well, something like that,” Woo-jin answered.

You didn’t have to have a lot of money to be lucky.

Woo-jin thought that having experiences that no one else had was also a kind of luck.

“Bullshit!” Jin-tae exclaimed.

“What is?” Woo-jin asked.

“What do you mean, rich family? I don’t know what country you’re talking about, but at least in this country, rich kids don’t know how to use a nail gun.”

“Heh heh heh.”

Seeing Jin-tae making jokes as if he was confused, Woo-jin smiled and continued.

Woo-jin’s story was getting more and more absurd, but Jin-tae was just listening.

“Okay, that’s all I can say for now,” Woo-jin concluded.

“But I’m saying again, I have no reason to lie to you. You know that, right?”

Jin-tae was silent, slightly surprised by his own feelings. It seemed absurd, but listening to Woo-jin, he kept thinking that it really might happen.

‘This doesn’t make sense, but it also seems to make sense. Am I drunk?’ he wondered.

And now that he had told all the stories he was going to tell, Woo-jin picked up his glass again.

“I’m not asking for an answer right away anyway,” Woo-jin said.

“I guess not,” Jin-tae replied.

“Just give me an answer by the third week of April.”

“If that’s not right away… what is right away?”

“I’m not asking you to answer right now, haha.”

Woo-jin didn’t bring up any more work-related topics.

He knew when to stop talking about these things.

‘There’s no point in adding more to it, from this point on it’ll just look pathetic.’

He had made a strong offer, so now he was waiting for the result.

Jin-tae might not agree, but he could always make a backup plan.

So, the two of them turned the conversation back to everyday topics, chatted for about thirty minutes, and then got up from their seats.

“Auntie, check, please!” Woo-jin called out.

“Yes, coming!”

Jin-tae grabbed his coat and followed Woo-jin as he paid for the meat.

Then Jin-tae, who came up behind Woo-jin, asked in a small voice. “So, what’s the company name?”

Woo-jin, feeling the complex emotions in Jin-tae’s voice, chuckled and replied. “WJ Studio.”

Starting from the day he ate meat with Jin-tae, Woo-jin became even busier.

It wasn’t that the contract with Chunwoong Construction was proceeding immediately.

It took about half a month from the phone call with Park Kyung-wan to Woo-jin signing the contract.

However, Woo-jin was busy preparing WJ Studio.

Aside from Park Kyung-wan’s full support, Chunwoong Construction also had a good impression of WJ Studio.

But he couldn’t sign a contract with Chunwoong with just the workshop that only made models. He had to transform it into an architecture firm capable of interior construction, so there was a lot to do, including paperwork.

‘I don’t have to worry about carpentry, but I need to make some good connections in other areas,’ he thought.

Interior construction usually starts with taking apart the old interior to make it a blank slate, and then adding a new design on top of it.

‘Chunwoong Construction’s Cheongdam PR Center must have been used as a model house before… so I’ll have to start by taking it apart to start the work.’

So, after taking apart the old interior, the next thing to do is usually carpentry.

Carpentry is used to build the frame and create the structure, and electrical work is done at the same time.

‘I can do this myself with four or five people….’

Once the carpentry is finished along with the wiring, the next step is plumbing.

Plumbing work, such as water and fire-fighting facilities, must be done before starting work on design finishes.

So, when the design finishing work, such as painting and tiling, is finished, all the interior construction is finished.

‘I’ll have to supervise and do the finishing myself anyway. In the end, what I need is… demolition, electricity, and plumbing.’

Most small architecture firms rarely have all of these people.

To hire people for all processes on a regular basis requires a lot of employees.

The moment the work stops, the employees’ salaries alone will cost a lot of money, so it’s not something you can handle unless you’re a certain size.

So, Woo-jin was the same.

He only worked directly in fields where he could do well, from carpentry to finishing work.

For the other parts, he found and connected with talented teams.

“Please, Director. I’ll pay as much as possible, so please connect me with a talented team.”

[Okay. I’ll try, but… the good teams are all busy,]

Woo-jin’s connections related to the site are connections from his past life.

Connections made with his hard work, made by working on the site for twenty years.

But just because they were connections from his past life didn’t mean there was no way to use them.

Woo-jin remembered many details about people he knew well, especially what they liked.

Woo-jin decided to be careful and patient this time. He thought this would help him make connections again faster than before.

Of course, among the employment agency heads Woo-jin remembered, there was one decent fellow who knew Kim Jin-tae.

Because of this connection, things went a little easier than he expected. It almost felt like luck.

“Director Kim, you know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. With your connections, finding teams for each department should be easy for you, right?” Woo-jin said with a smile.

Director Kim thought, but he chuckled. “Teams don’t grow on trees, you know!” he said out loud, pretending to be annoyed.

Woo-jin leaned forward a little. “Director, next time, let’s get some grilled tripe and soju with Jin-tae. I found a place that makes incredible *yang daechang*.”

Director Kim was surprised. “Alright, alright,” he said, his voice softening. “You got me. I’ll do my best. Let’s set a date for that tripe.”

Woo-jin quickly checked his phone. “The construction schedule is already out, so we should find a time soon…”

Director Kim laughed, shaking his head.

“Ah, yes! Sorry, Director Kim! Of course, the tripe date first!” Woo-jin said, laughing too.

It was said that you could know almost everyone in the world by crossing just a few bridges.

By that standard, the construction scene in Korea was quite small, so with a little effort, Woo-jin could find his old connections easily enough.

Therefore, Woo-jin intended to make the most of those connections.

‘I need to use everything I can. Still, I have a long way to go.’

Of course, moving so busily meant he inevitably had to miss some classes.

But his close classmates, who took the same courses, covered for him adequately.

Though one friend had a rather unique way of expressing it.

“Hey, Woo-jin. I learned something absolutely amazing today.”

“Hmm? You mean DCG (Digital Space Graphics)?”

“That’s right.”

“What, you’re just continuing what you were working on last week. I already finished the assignment last week.”

“Silly you!”

“I’m not foolish.”

“Then quickly kneel before this Jayden.”

“You said you were having a home party yesterday. Did you eat some bad pizza and get indigestion?”

“I learned an amazing function that you can’t even imagine.”

“Really?”

“So, if you’re curious, quickly kneel….”

“I’m not curious.”

“What?”

“I’ll just ask the professor directly next week.”

“Ahem….”

“Well, I think I’ll go out for lunch?”

“Wait! Just a moment!”

“What is it?”

“I’ve changed my mind a little.”

“……?”

“I’ll tell you even if you don’t kneel. This Jayden is bestowing grace upon a pitiful Korean.”

“…….”

Anyway, after a series of eventful days, the appointed date arrived after a fortnight.

And Woo-jin, as soon as his morning class ended, headed to the headquarters of Chunwoong Construction.

“The promotional hall opening is scheduled for May 20th.”

“That’s tight.”

“Don’t exaggerate. If you do it like you did in Suseo, you can turn it around in three weeks, right?”

“That’s only if the design is already out.”

The 25th floor of the Chunwoong Construction headquarters building. In the reception room with a clear view of Seoul, Woo-jin sat facing Kyung-wan.

“Hehe. I’ve been badgering the design team since last week.”

“Looks like you’ve been grinding them down.”

“Well, something like that. They’ve been working full overtime for almost a week.”

“Oh, dear….”

“Anyway, the design team will email it to you by the end of today.”

“Understood.”

“Can I trust you this time too, CEO Seo?”

“CEO sounds a bit creepy, but rest assured, you won’t be disappointed, Director.”

Meetings with the marketing team and coordinating opinions with the finance team didn’t take Woo-jin long to stamp the corporate seal on the construction contract.

The opinions had been coordinated to some extent in advance, and Woo-jin wasn’t greedy at all.

He could have pushed up the construction unit price at the negotiation table at least once, but he signed the contract with the amount Chunwoong presented.

The contract itself wasn’t bad, thanks to Park Kyung-wan’s consideration, but if you had to say, Woo-jin conceded a bit.

‘I have to look at the long game. The long game.’

There will be many more opportunities to make money in the future, but opportunities to increase recognition are rare, especially for a fledgling company at the level of a small shop like his.

He could complain a few times and raise the construction unit price by a few tens, but Woo-jin judged that the company’s image was more important at this stage.

“So, the groundbreaking starts on May 1st, right?”

“Yes, Director. Depending on the situation, we might bring in materials the week before.”

“Well, the second floor is empty from April, so just let me know in advance. It’s okay to start a little early.”

“Hehe, thank you.”

So, Woo-jin, having neatly stamped the construction contract, left the Chunwoong Construction headquarters in a good mood.

Ding-!

The text message notifying him of the contract completion was a bonus.

[Web발신]

[○○ Bank] 4/22 14:43

8391001**212

Contract Payment

Electronic Funds Transfer

35,250,000

Balance 70,142,275

Usually, the standard ratio for a contract payment is about 10%.

Therefore, the contract payment of about 35 million won that Woo-jin received was also 10% of the total construction cost.

So, the total amount of the contract Woo-jin secured this time was 350 million won.

‘With this much, I can at least order the necessary materials in advance.’

Adding the 35 million won he received for the model outsourcing to the contract payment, approximately 70 million won was now in Woo-jin’s account.

It was quite a large sum, but Woo-jin didn’t smile. He felt tired, but also determined. He knew this was just the beginning.

‘Let’s keep exactly 50 million out of 350 million. The rest, I’m really going to pour it all in without holding back.’

He would need to see the blueprints sent by the design team to get an accurate estimate, but apart from that, Woo-jin already had a rough picture in his mind.

Ever since Park Kyung-wan mentioned the contract, Woo-jin had already visited the Cheongdam promotional hall several times.

‘Jin-tae said he’d give me an answer within this week too… Things are slowly falling into place, aren’t they?’

Woo-jin found a seat by the window on the bus. The bus was noisy with people talking. Outside, the city rushed by in a blur of colors and buildings. He leaned his head against the cool glass, thinking about his plans.

The place Woo-jin was heading to now was Munjeong-dong, Songpa-gu.

Today was the day he stamped the contract with Chunwoong Construction, and at the same time, the day he harvested the seeds he had sown two months ago.

Golden Print