Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 53

The first judging round by SPDC was very fast.

They could not listen to all the presentations from the thirty-six teams.

The judges asked each team member questions about their designs.

The questions went something like this:

“Looking at your floor plan, the physical therapy room and the radiology room are on different floors, the second and third.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Can you explain why you designed it this way?”

“The physical therapy room is used by patients almost every day. The radiology room is used less often.”

“And so?”

“I thought the physical therapy room should be closest to the patient rooms on the second floor to make it easier for patients to get there.”

“Very well, that’s all. We’ll take a three-minute break before questioning the next team.”

“Thank you!”

Each team had only five to seven minutes for questions.

With the break, they moved to the next team every ten minutes.

Even at this speed, it would take 360 minutes to ask all teams questions. That’s six hours. It had to be done.

“Commissioner Kim, let’s try to go a bit faster.”

“Understood. Has it really been this long already?”

The first round of judging started at 9 a.m. and finished around 3 p.m.

Even with a lunch break, it took a very long time.

Some teams were judged in less than three minutes, likely because of two reasons.

“Every way to enter the ward involves stairs?”

“That, that is…….”

“Are you saying people in wheelchairs can’t get in? What do you think?”

“There is a slope leading to the back door of the building. If you go along the slope…….”

“If I were a caregiver, I’d be so sore after a week that I’d quit.”

“…….”

“Let’s move on to the next team.”

This happened when the design had major flaws or was clearly worse than other designs.

Or…….

“You’ve used the parking lot design to deal with the hills and slopes that make the ground uneven?”

“That’s right. With this design, patients will drive up to the higher ground, which reduces the cost of digging for the parking lot.”

“But what about people who need to walk without a car?”

“The path at the back of the building connects to the trail. Also, there’s an elevator next to the parking lot, so patients don’t have to climb the hill directly.”

“Good. Excellent.”

“I have no more questions.”

“Thank you……!”

This happened when a team’s work was so good that they were sure to win from the start.

“This year is truly amazing.”

“Yes. Was it two years ago when it was hard to find good designs?”

“It seems like we’ve already picked the four works for the final review… What do you think?”

“One is uncertain, but the other three are definite.”

Professor Kang Mun-sik, a former professor from K University, felt very pleased.

“Haha. Two of them are from K University. Professor Kang must be feeling great?”

“I appreciate you saying that, Professor Lim.”

“It could be three.”

“Ah, I don’t think it will be three. Even if I want to be biased towards my own university, I don’t think one freshman’s work is the very best.”

“Haha, you’re being modest. I think it’s possible depending on the voting.”

Professor Kang Mun-sik was surprised by the talent of his university’s students.

Kim Ki-tae, a third-year student, did well, and two freshmen also created work that was almost graduate-level.

‘Why are the kids so good this year?’

The fourth-year students’ work was good but not the best, while the freshmen were showing amazing talent.

It was hard to believe.

‘In previous years, Ryu Seon-bin’s team would have been aiming for the top prize.’

Professor Kang Mun-sik felt sorry for Ryu Seon-bin’s team of first-year students.

They had created excellent work, but they might only get an excellence award because they weren’t lucky in the draw.

The most surprising team was Seo Woo-jin’s, also made up of first-year students from K University.

Objectively, their work was good enough to win the top prize.

Freshmen finishing their first semester.

A team of only new students.

‘It’s quite amazing. Haha.’

From the design to the model, everything was excellent.

If a famous architecture firm had submitted this design, Professor Kang Mun-sik would have believed it.

‘If I had to find a flaw, the panel looks a bit like a freshman’s work… But you wouldn’t notice unless you knew.’

Professor Kang Mun-sik finished the judging with a smile.

Afterward, the judges met to choose the winners of the Excellence Award and higher.

“Good. Let’s go with this.”

“If there are no objections, I’ll pass it on to the moderator.”

“Good!”

In about 30 minutes, the results were announced quickly.

“We will now announce the teams that have been chosen for the final review.”

The moderator entered the waiting room, and all the participants waited silently.

Then:

“K University’s third-year student, Kim Ki-tae’s team!”

“Waaah!! Senior! We did it!”

“Senior Ki-tae!”

Each time a winning team was announced, cheers filled the waiting room.

“S University’s fourth-year student, Yoo Ji-sun’s team!”

“Waaah! Sister! Congratulations!”

“W University’s fourth-year student, Go Min-sung’s team!”

“Minsung, amazing work!” someone shouted.

“Congratulations on the Top Excellence Award!” another voice cheered.

Then, the final announcement came.

“And lastly… the winner is Seo Woojin, a freshman team from K University!”

Suddenly, the room went quiet. It was like someone had thrown a bucket of ice water over everyone. The excited buzz vanished.

“A freshman?” a judge whispered, sounding shocked.

“Are you serious? A *first-year* student?” another muttered in disbelief.

The word “freshman” hung in the air, hitting everyone like a sudden clap of thunder.

Ko Seokjin, a judge from the Seoul Design Foundation, had a bad headache all day during the SPDC competition judging.

“[I’m not saying this just because he’s my son, but Ki-tae has worked incredibly hard this time.]”

“[Is that so?]”

“[You’ll see right away, but… it won’t be inferior to the previous year’s grand prize winner at all.]”

In fact, even after the first ten or so works of the first judging had passed, he had a very bright expression.

The quality of the work he would inevitably have to vote for today was at a level that was worthy of receiving that vote.

‘Hmm. Director Kim Jinmyung was so confident… There was definitely a reason for it.’

The quality of ‘that’ work, which came up early in the judging, was clearly outstanding enough to overwhelm the other teams.

“[If he had shown me a design that was completely out of line… I wouldn’t even have made this request.]”

But as the judging moved into the later stages, it was becoming increasingly intense.

Excellent works that were difficult to distinguish from Kim Ki-tae’s were concentrated in the later rounds.

‘Ha, what am I going to do with Kim Jinmyung? I can’t just pretend I don’t know, since I’ve taken something from him….’

If the other good designs were only from students at S University or W University, it would have been easy to choose Kim Ki-tae’s work as the winner.

But absurdly, the biggest problem was the work of the freshman students from K University, the same university as Ki-tae.

There was still the final presentation review left.

If Kim Ki-tae didn’t gain an advantage over Seo Woojin’s team there, it could look strange to give Kim Ki-tae’s team a vote.

‘Since they’re freshmen, they probably won’t be good at presentations, right?’

In any case, Ko Seokjin would vote for Kim Ki-tae’s team.

But if Kim Ki-tae lost even after receiving his vote, Kim Jinmyung, who had influenced his vote, would be furious.

Myungsung Construction was important to him, and this situation could cause problems. He didn’t want that.

‘Damn it. Should I not have agreed to be a judge this time?’

He thought it was a good opportunity to take credit without much effort, but it had become a difficult situation where he might not even break even.

But then, as he was worrying about that.

“This work… it’s really amazing, but it’s hard to believe it’s the work of a freshman student.”

“I feel the same way. But since it’s right here in front of us, how can we not believe it?”

“You know,” Judge Lee started, leaning forward, “I’m just saying… but is it *possible* they… you know… got help?”

Ko Seokjin’s eyes flashed upon hearing those words.

‘That’s right. Why didn’t I think of that?’

He was still seeing it in front of his eyes.

A truly unbelievable high-quality design and model.

He hadn’t even considered such an assumption, so he hadn’t thought of it.

Perhaps such a question was only natural.

‘It’s a work that would be amazing even if a graduating student did it. But a freshman did it? When you think about it, it doesn’t make sense.’

Meticulous design that considers the user’s flow, and a model that is meticulously crafted as if measured with a ruler.

Perfect drawings that could be submitted for construction bidding as is, if a few working-level staff were attached and revised for only a few days.

Once they started to suspect, the suspicion grew quickly, feeding on itself.

‘If three students were working on it, it would take more than a month just to come up with the design. But they created such a realistic model in a month? This definitely smells fishy.’

Ko Seokjin’s thoughts could not be seen as purely subjective.

Even if you take away the premise of it being done by students, it would still take a month to produce a design with this level of perfection.

But here, the model was completed with a quality never seen before, and the story and design philosophy contained within it were also outstanding.

It wouldn’t be strange to judge that this was physically impossible.

In Woojin’s case, it was possible because he had a systematized model-making studio that he directly operated.

But the fact that a freshman student had such infrastructure was a premise that no one could have imagined.

‘Huhu. Thinking about it this way, I feel much more comfortable.’

Ko Seokjin, who had relieved some of the burden on his heavy heart, approached the judge who had raised the question and lent his support to the opinion.

“I’ve been bothered by that part all along… I’m glad that Committee Member Lee brought it up first.”

Another person opened their mouth.

“I sincerely hope that’s not the case, but we should investigate once the judging is all over.”

Because of the opinions raised by a few people, the judges’ waiting room, where about ten people were sitting, began to buzz.

But the next moment.

The SPDC chairman, Ahn Jungmuk’s, gravelly voice swept through the venue.

“What are you all doing now.”

“……!”

“Isn’t this place gathered to do more than just share such stories?”

“But Chairman…….”

Ko Seokjin opened his mouth again, but Ahn Jungmuk immediately cut him off.

“If there is such a problem, our Design Foundation will be at the forefront of uncovering it. But……!”

A heavy glint fell in Ahn Jungmuk’s wrinkled eyes.

“I cannot tolerate looking at works with such tinted glasses from the start.”

Ahn Jungmuk, the chairman of the SPDC judging committee and the chairman of the Seoul Design Foundation.

He was a master who was among the best in the Korean architectural world, and in fact, he was the one who created this SPDC contest.

So no one in the venue could easily object to his words.

“If any unconfirmed subjectivity affects the judging results of the SPDC, I will be very disappointed.”

Ahn Jungmuk’s gaze briefly lingered in the corner of the waiting room as he spoke.

Bruno Sanchez, the only foreign judge, was closing his eyes with a silent expression.

After briefly staring at him, Jungmuk spat out one last word with a stern expression.

“I, Ahn Jungmuk, will not tolerate any unfair circumstances. So I hope that the judges will only look at the works here.”

In the quiet waiting room, the judges silently nodded.

There was nothing wrong with what Jungmuk said.

However, Seokjin’s brow, who had inwardly hoped that public opinion would form, could not help but be deeply furrowed.

‘Hoo. The old man is the only one pretending to be clean.’

Due to the unexpected stories, an awkward silence continued in the waiting room.

And what broke that silence was.

“The final judging will begin soon! Please prepare!”

It was the host’s cheerful voice that echoed in the judges’ waiting room.