Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 65

The entrant’s involvement in the Seoul Public Design Competition (SPDC) originally concluded once the contest results were announced. To clarify, SPDC is a design competition held by the city of Seoul to improve public spaces.

Since the contest was designed for undergraduate students, it wasn’t realistic for them to be involved in the actual construction.

Because the contest was only for students, they didn’t build the designs themselves. So, the designs were often changed later when getting ready for building. This was okay legally and ethically.

The design belonged to the winner, but the city government of Seoul was responsible for the construction.

How the construction proceeded was the city government of Seoul’s decision.

Woojin spent days rushing between meetings, his shoes worn thin from walking all over Seoul. He was determined to be part of building his design, even if it meant chasing after busy officials and explaining his ideas again and again.

Fortunately…

Ahn Jung-muk, the chairman of the Seoul Design Foundation, who had the final say on SPDC matters, liked Woojin.

Haha, this is a bit… I’m a little surprised, Mr. Seo Woojin. It’s the first time we’ve seen someone take this much initiative,

I am very grateful that you agreed to my request, Chairman,

Well, it’s also good for us, since we can directly entrust the work to the designer,

It makes me feel much better to hear you say that,

Woojin’s job during construction was to be the site supervisor.

He would watch to make sure the building was being built according to the design and plans.

In simple terms, he would oversee the project.

Of course, being a supervisor is not an easy job.

It wasn’t that supervision was easy, so they were entrusting it to Woojin, who was still a student. However, during this design review process, the city government of Seoul learned that Woojin was the CEO of WJ Studio.

They also decided that Woojin was capable enough to supervise the project. That’s why Woojin’s request was accepted.

And there was one more thing.

The fact that Woojin’s presentation on the final judging day impressed Chairman Ahn Jung-muk was also a big reason why things worked out so well.

‘I haven’t seen a presentation like that from an undergraduate in the past 10 years.’

Ahn Jung-muk was planning to put all his effort into building this SPDC winning design.

If they could build a building that closely matched the contest winner’s design, and if that building’s design was excellent…

SPDC’s reputation would become even stronger.

‘If this winning design turns out really well… I might be able to get more money and make SPDC much bigger.’

Because of this, Woojin got more support from the city government of Seoul than he expected.

He was able to move forward as planned.

Things were going so smoothly that Woojin felt uneasy.

‘Things are going too well. I feel uneasy for some reason.’

But that worry didn’t come true.

Even choosing the construction company, which was the final step in the process, went as Woojin had hoped.

[Mr. Seo Woojin, do you have time to talk?]

Yes, Team Leader Woo,

[The construction company bidding that was today has just been cancelled.]

Hearing the SPDC official’s words on the phone, Woojin felt a sudden sinking feeling.

He had expected at least three or four construction companies to bid, but instead, he heard the word ‘cancelled’.

‘What, surely Chunwoong didn’t bid either?’

A construction company selection is cancelled in only two situations.

Either no one bid, or only one company bid, making it impossible to have a competitive bidding process.

If no one bid, all of Woojin’s work would be wasted. If only one company bid, it would be the best possible situation for Woojin.

If that one company was Chunwoong Construction.

‘Please…!’

The situation turned out exactly as Woojin had hoped.

If it’s cancelled…

[Only one construction company bid.]

Is it Chunwoong?

[Huh… How did you…?]

I, I just guessed. Haha,

Woojin, who had blurted out the word Chunwoong without thinking, slapped his own mouth.

If people found out that Woojin knew the bidding results early, the city government of Seoul might suspect him.

But luckily, Team Leader Woo didn’t make a big deal out of Woojin’s slip-up.

[Anyway, as you said, Chunwoong is the only construction company that bid, so we don’t have any other choices.]

A private contract is possible, right?

[Normally, we would have to wait for two cancellations, but because of the contest, we’ll proceed with a private contract right away.]

A private contract means the city could choose Chunwoong directly, without asking other companies.

Woojin clenched his fists with joy, but he didn’t show it to avoid suspicion and said,

What conditions did Chunwoong offer?

[It wasn’t bad. The construction price was also… good.]

We don’t have a choice… we’ll just have to go ahead, right?

[Well, yes. I was just calling to let you know… there aren’t really any other options.]

Thank you for calling, Team Leader,

[You’re welcome.]

Woojin hung up the phone and immediately jumped up from his seat, raising both hands in the air.

‘Hooray!’

He had been worried about how to make things work in Chunwoong’s favor once the construction companies started bidding against each other.

But now that the situation had been resolved so easily, he felt like he was flying.

‘Well, it’s hard to brag about putting in some effort during the bidding process… but that’s not important.’

Now that Chunwoong Construction had been chosen as the construction company, there wouldn’t be any big changes to the design.

But even Woojin, who was happy because everything was going so well, didn’t know about one thing that had happened behind the scenes.

The fact that the construction company selection had gone so smoothly was thanks to Myungsung Construction.

What? Team Leader Lee. What did you just say?

In a tall building in Yongsan, where Myungsung Construction’s headquarters were located, Yoon Youngwoon quickly turned his head at his subordinate’s report.

A, as I just said… Chunwoong Construction was the only bidder for this SPDC,

Chunwoong bid? Chunwoong?

Yes, Director,

At Team Leader Lee’s answer, Yoon Youngwoon tapped his head.

Ha… Oh, my head…

Youngwoon leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes tightly.

Nothing had been going right for him for the past month.

‘Chunwoong definitely shouldn’t have been able to do it… how did this happen?’

The events of the past week flashed through Yoon Youngwoon’s mind.

The events that happened after Kim Kitae’s award was unexpectedly cancelled.

[Uncle…]

[I heard the news. I’m sorry.]

[Haa… I don’t know who it is, but I think I’ve been trapped.]

[…]

[Maybe I should take a break… I might ask my father to send me to study abroad this time.]

[Do you think your father will agree?]

[I’ll have to beg him somehow.]

The first thing Youngwoon remembered was Kim Kitae, his shoulders drooping, visiting Myungsung Construction’s office with a dark, lifeless look.

Kim Kitae, who came to the office that day, was called into the director’s office and scolded for almost an hour.

Kitae’s eyes were shaking with anger when he came out of the director’s office.

[Uncle.]

[Yes, Kitae.]

[Please, help me one more time.]

[How can I help you?]

[Please make sure the SPDC construction company selection is cancelled.]

[…!]

It wasn’t unusual for the winning design of SPDC to be cancelled during the construction company selection stage.

However, this nursing home construction project was the most profitable of all the SPDC projects so far.

So, Myungsung Construction had originally planned to bid as well.

Now that Kitae was in this situation, that would never happen.

[Kitae. That’s…]

Yoon Youngwoon was very worried.

Preventing other construction companies from bidding required more effort than he had thought.

But Kitae was determined.

[Somehow…! Please do it no matter what. I’m begging you, Uncle.]

[…]

[I told my father too. I can handle everything else, but I can’t stand seeing that bastard Seo Woojin’s design being built. Please.]

Youngwoon couldn’t refuse that request.

‘If Kitae is saying this much, it means Director Kim also secretly agrees…’

So, Youngwoon started to act quickly.

He found out which construction companies were planning to bid.

He secretly spread bad rumors about the project site and tried to convince the officials of other construction companies not to bid.

Luckily, there were no problems during the process.

[If Director Yoon says so… there’s no reason to bid.]

[Hmm. How good can the SPDC project site be? I wouldn’t want to bid on a project with bad rumors.]

[I understand, Director. I’ll submit a proposal as soon as I get to work on Monday.]

The company lost some money, but the lobbying went smoothly with Director Kim Jinmyung’s approval.

And until this morning, Yoon Youngwoon was confident that no construction company would bid on this SPDC project.

But in the end, another unexpected result happened.

As Kitae asked, it was cancelled, but…

Youngwoon laughed weakly.

It was better than having a construction company chosen from many bidders.

Even if it was Woojin’s design, it would be built under better conditions if there was competition.

But it was still upsetting.

Because in the end, he couldn’t stop the winning design from being built.

‘Chunwoong didn’t seem interested in SPDC. Why did they suddenly change their mind?’

Chunwoong’s SPDC bid wasn’t a decision made by regular employees.

Park Kyungwan had directly submitted a proposal to the executives and gotten it approved.

So, there was no way for anyone outside the company to know that.

Youngwoon shook his head, frustrated.

In fact, there was an even more shocking truth that he didn’t know.

The situation that Youngwoon had created was exactly what Woojin had been hoping for.

Because of Myungsung Construction’s efforts, Chunwoong Construction’s competitors had been completely eliminated.

Kitae’s anger towards Woojin had accidentally helped Woojin.

Hoo… Well, it can’t be helped. You still worked hard, Team Leader Lee. You can go now,

I understand, Director,

Sometimes, not knowing the truth is better for your mental health.