Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 64

Gi-tae felt like his head would explode. His hands were shaking, and his vision blurred with anger.

Things were already a mess, and now they were even messier.

Just an hour ago, Gi-tae was smiling, imagining himself holding the grand prize and everyone praising him. He was sure he would beat Seo Woo-jin. But then, the phone rang.

Gi-tae wanted to unleash a torrent of curses at him, but Woo-jin wasn’t the priority right now. First, he had to somehow resolve the crisis of having his Excellence Award revoked.

“Woo-jin, listen, there’s been a mistake. Like you said before, this must be a misunderstanding.”

Woo-jin watched Gi-tae, a little surprised. ‘He’s actually trying to be calm?’ Woo-jin had expected shouting, maybe even a punch. He thought Gi-tae would explode with anger.

So, he decided to provoke Gi-tae a little more.

“Well, senior, like you said to me, I don’t believe it either.”

“Hey! Did you complain about my work to SPDC? Is that why they’re taking away my prize? You wanted to steal it, didn’t you?”

“Hey.”

“Aren’t you ashamed, president of the student group? Before a freshman.”

“Hey, Seo Woo-jin!”

Kim Gi-tae, finally unable to contain his anger, jumped up from his seat. And from Kim Gi-tae’s mouth, the words that Seo Woo-jin had been waiting for finally began to emerge.

“Do you even have a conscience?”

“A conscience?”

“Yeah, you little brat. Do you have some kind of backing? I saw all the evidence of your cheating, how can you act so innocent?”

Woo-jin saw Kim Gi-tae shaking with anger. A smile slowly spread across Woo-jin’s face. He felt like he was winning.

Professor Park Joon-min was just next door. The door was open a little bit, just enough for them to hear everything. Woo-jin knew the Professor was listening.

“You saw evidence of me cheating? What is it?”

Gi-tae opened his mouth, as if spitting out the words, with gritted teeth.

“WJ Studio.”

“…?”

“You shameless bastard… Don’t tell me you’re going to deny knowing even the name of the company after hearing it?”

Woo-jin laughed. He laughed with genuine exhilaration.

“Haha, haha!”

Woo-jin didn’t need to pretend anymore. Everything was going exactly as he planned.

“Haha. I understand now.”

“Are you crazy? Why are you laughing?”

“I’m laughing because it’s absurd, absurd.”

“What?”

Woo-jin smirked at Gi-tae, who was still shaking with anger. He slowly reached into his pocket, pulled out a business card, and tossed it onto the table. *Plop-*

Following that, Woo-jin’s mouth opened again, directed at Kim Gi-tae.

“WJ Studio. There’s no way I wouldn’t know that company.”

“…?”

“It’s mine.”

Kim Gi-tae’s gaze naturally fixed on Woo-jin’s business card. [WJ Studio. CEO Seo Woo-jin]

Kim Gi-tae’s mind stopped. He couldn’t believe what was happening. He just stared, frozen.

Woo-jin sneered at him once more.

“What do you think the WJ in WJ Studio stands for, senior? Hah… I should have just put it on the model in huge letters.”

Kim Gi-tae was still staring at Woo-jin’s business card with a blank expression, and Woo-jin wanted to sneer at Gi-tae even more.

But just as Woo-jin wanted to say more, the door opened. Professor Park Joon-min walked back in, phone in hand, looking serious.

“Kim Gi-tae, you stay here for a bit. Woo-jin, you can go to the lecture hall.”

“Yes, Professor.”

***

After that day.

Woo-jin never once brought up any stories related to Kim Gi-tae to those around him.

Of course, Jayden, who had watched the collaboration between Seok-hyun and Woo-jin from the sidelines, knew the inside story.

“Woo-jin is unnecessarily kind.”

“What?”

“Why are you stopping them from spreading rumors? That kind of jerk needs to be known by everyone.”

So-yeon, who was on the same team, couldn’t help but find out as well.

“Wow, that senior. I really didn’t see him that way…”

“You can say it comfortably, So-yeon.”

“He’s trash. Really.”

“Good heavens. The worst insult you can come up with is just Trash?”

“I thought of about a million different insults, but I just swallowed them, Jayden.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to waste meaningless emotions on something that’s already over.”

But Woo-jin wasn’t quiet because he was kind, like Jayden thought. He knew rumors would spread anyway. By staying quiet, he and his team would actually look better.

“Woo-jin, I heard from Seon-bin that the president of the student society is a real piece of trash?”

“Well, I guess he was upset about having the grand prize taken away by a freshman.”

“Wow… You’re really magnanimous.”

Personally, Woo-jin gained recognition and public sentiment within the department.

“Really, if Gi-tae senior is like this, shouldn’t he quit being the president of the student society?”

“Someone said Gi-tae’s father was a manager at Myungsung Construction. ‘That explains everything,’ someone else said.”

The more Kim Gi-tae was criticized, the more Woo-jin’s skills were bound to stand out.

“Someone asked, ‘Did Woo-jin also stop Gi-tae from giving work to Myungsung Construction and win the prize instead?'”

“That’s what I’m saying?”

“Wow, how can a freshman do that?”

“I heard from some of the freshmen that he worked on-site before coming to school.”

“Ah, really?”

“He’s the same age as the third-year students, too.”

“Anyway, he’s amazing.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Kim Gi-tae remained silent, and about a week passed in the blink of an eye.

Thus, the final results of the SPDC competition were confirmed, and a certain amount of prize money was also awarded.

[Grand Prize – Seo Woo-jin and 2 others] [Prize Money – 30,000,000]

Finally, the design bidding announcement for the grand prize-winning work of the SPDC competition was posted on the SPDC website.

And Woo-jin began to move busily once again.

***

“Hey, congratulations, Seo Woo-jin.”

“For what?”

“What else? I saw the bidding announcement.”

“Hey, do you even know about SPDC?”

“Of course. Was it two years ago? Or three years ago? Anyway, back then, the grand prize-winning work was a multi-complex cultural space built near Hongdae.”

“Yes, I think I know what you’re talking about.”

“Cheonwoong received the bid for that and constructed it. It wasn’t a site I directly managed, though.”

A week later, Woo-jin went to Jonggak Station. It had been a while since he was in this busy area. He was meeting Park Kyung-wan for a drink after work. He was looking forward to talking to his old manager.

“Ah, Cheonwoong has also received bids for SPDC winning works before.”

“Hehe.”

“By the way, what’s ‘of course’ mean? You sound like an old man…”

“I sound like an old man because I am an old man. Don’t pick unnecessary fights, just take a drink. You.”

Kyung-wan clinked glasses with Woo-jin and sipped his drink silently, smiling. Woo-jin, who watched him for a moment, suddenly became curious.

“But, manager.”

“Why?”

“Why do large construction companies like Cheonwoong participate in these small competition bids?”

“Hmm?”

“Actually, there’s hardly any profit left. Are there that few projects these days…?”

Kyung-wan shook his head at Woo-jin’s question. As he said, constructing the winning works of competitions didn’t leave much profit, but that was only in terms of material gains. There were other reasons why companies like Cheonwoong wanted to bid, reasons Woo-jin didn’t understand yet.

“There’s no money left. Not even crumbs.”

“Then why?”

“Instead, there are some intangible benefits.”

“Intangible, as in…?”

“For example, improving relations with the Seoul Metropolitan Government, or increasing the construction company’s external recognition.”

“Ah…!”

Kyung-wan explained that SPDC wasn’t just any competition. It was run by the government of Seoul. So, it wasn’t just about making money. It was also about doing something good for the city and for the public.

The reason Woo-jin met Kyung-wan today wasn’t just to see his face after a long time. Of course, it didn’t end there. SPDC was Woo-jin’s first design, no different from his debut as a designer. As such, Woo-jin wanted to build it properly. To do that, he needed a little help from Park Kyung-wan.

“Then, is Cheonwoong not bidding this year?”

Woo-jin, who picked up a piece of oily fish, carefully asked Kyung-wan.

Kyung-wan laughed heartily and opened his mouth again. It was because he had somewhat seen through Woo-jin’s intentions.

“Why, do you want us to bid?”

“If possible.”

Kyung-wan crunched on the pickled radish he was holding with his chopsticks and continued to speak.

“As a matter of fact, the bidding was discussed this morning.”

“…!”

“But I was against it.”

“Ah, why!”

At Woo-jin’s outburst, which came out reflexively, Park Kyung-wan looked like he was about to die of laughter.

“Entering a bid is also work, you idiot. Cheonwoong’s project sites are already overflowing these days, and there aren’t enough people to run around bidding for SPDC.”

“Haa…”

Kyung-wan gave a meaningful smile as he watched Woo-jin sigh deeply.

“But,” Kyung-wan said, smiling, “there was one thing I didn’t know this morning when we talked about the SPDC bid.”

“What?” Woo-jin asked.

“That the designer of this year’s winning design was *you*, Seo Woo-jin! I had no idea!”

In fact, Kyung-wan had already prepared a draft to submit to the higher-ups for the bidding for the nursing home construction before coming to meet Woo-jin today. However, he was just trying to tease the old-mannered Woo-jin like this.

‘Hehe, This kid is something.’

Rather, Kyung-wan was thinking of asking Woo-jin for a favor (?) similar to a request at this meeting today. Anyway, since Woo-jin was the main designer, he would be able to exert some influence on the selection of the construction company. He wanted to easily win the SPDC construction rights.

“Ha, manager, you’re something else. I almost felt sad today.”

Park Kyung-wan smiled and opened his mouth again towards Woo-jin, who was making a fuss.

“I don’t know if you know this, but this construction is the largest in the history of SPDC designs.”

“Um, I knew it was a bit big, but…”

“Looking at the announcement, it’s almost five times the size of last year’s.”

“Wow, is it that big…!”

“So, this design bid will probably be quite fierce. The design is also known to be quite high quality for an SPDC work…”

Woo-jin couldn’t help but feel good at Kyung-wan’s words. Usually, there were many cases where the construction of the SPDC grand prize-winning design was canceled because there were no construction companies bidding, but at least he didn’t have to worry about that. In addition, he had even heard that his design was known to be of high quality, so it was natural to feel good.

“Anyway, saying you want us to bid means you’re going to push us, right?”

Looking at Park Kyung-wan, who was smiling slyly, Woo-jin couldn’t help but admit that he had been outsmarted.

“Hoo. Damn it. I should have squeezed you for this and that…”

“Is Cheonwoong some kind of chicken leg? To be squeezed.”

“Well, I understand. You’ve helped me a lot, so I’ll especially push for Cheonwoong this time.”

“Don’t act special, you. It’s good for you to work with us anyway.”

“Yes?”

“I knew you were asking us to bid because you were worried that the design would change during the construction coordination process.”

Park Kyung-wan had won this round.