Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 229

The air in Leeho Design Office crackled with tension. Today was the day.

It was the final presentation day for the year’s biggest design competition – the Seongsu Strategic Maintenance Zone project. This wasn’t just any project; it was a chance to reshape a huge part of Seoul, a project worth trillions of won, a sum that made even Director Kim Junho’s ambitious heart beat faster.

“Everyone, faster!” Junho’s voice cut through the frantic tapping of keyboards. “We have to leave this afternoon, and some of you are still tweaking things?!”

“I’m sorry, Director. I’m trying my best to finish it up……”

“No more work after lunch. Got it?”

“Yes. I’ll fix everything and have it ready.”

In fact, the competition deadline itself had already passed a week ago. The final week of June, a week prior, was the first deadline. Leeho Design Office had passed the first screening very easily. And in principle, all designs should have been completed by then.

The original plan was simple. They would present the design and bird’s-eye view submitted in the first design during the second screening.

However, the reason why the employees of Leeho Design Office were still busy even today was that, for some reason, the rule had changed. The competition organizers had allowed additional modifications until the second deadline.

‘Phew. I would have been in big trouble if it weren’t for Association President Kwon Ju-yeol.’

Kim Junho, the director of Leeho Design Office, recalling a week ago, let out a slight sigh of relief.

If the rules hadn’t changed like this, it would have been a very difficult situation. Junho was undertaking a design request where the construction cost exceeded trillions of won for the first time. He had expanded the design with excessive ambition and failed to meet the schedule properly.

‘Still, it turned out well in the end. The quality is really good.’

Junho, staring at the monitor of the employee working behind him, wore a satisfied smile. On the monitor, the bird’s-eye view of the Seongsu Strategic Maintenance Zone, designed and directed by Junho, was impressively displayed. It was clearly a highly complete work that was sure to catch the eye.

‘The competition win is already as good as confirmed, but still, I won’t have another chance to build something of this scale in Seoul under my name…….’

Junho carefully looked around at the working employees and moved busily to pack the final presentation documents. He even skipped lunch to achieve perfection, even if just a little bit.

Although he was planning to win easily thanks to the connections and power of Association President Kwon Ju-yeol, Junho didn’t want to hear that a guy with no skill or competence had taken such a large competition with the association president’s backing.

‘There will definitely be jealous guys somewhere.’

Of course, it was an ironic way of thinking for Junho, who would have been cut off in the first round if it weren’t for Kwon Ju-yeol.

“Team Leader Song!”

“Yes, Director.”

“Let’s finish packing and leave!”

“Understood.”

“Director Yoon, are you ready too?”

“Yes. I’m ready, Director.”

Junho and the employees of Leeho Design Office, who had finished preparing to the best of their ability until the very end, took the company car and departed for the presentation hall.

And inside that vehicle, Junho’s heart began to pound even faster.

If the construction of this strategic maintenance zone, which began with his design, was completed, Leeho Design Office’s position would be completely different from what it is now. Junho’s heart swelled with the thought of putting the name of Leeho Design Office in the ranks of the best design offices in the country.

Seoul Mayor Gu Yun-kwon hadn’t had a single leisurely day since taking office.

It was natural for there to be a lot of work immediately after taking office, but even considering that, he was buried under a mountain of work. There were several reasons for this, and the two most influential were these: First, the previous mayor had started too many projects until the end of his term. Second, Gu Yun-kwon himself was also a person who started a lot of work.

Yun-kwon was fixing the work that the previous mayor had started haphazardly, while also developing it further and making it his own. He was so busy that working overtime became a daily routine.

However, even in the midst of this busy and hectic schedule, there was one project that Yun-kwon was always paying attention to, and that was the integrated development of the Seongsu Strategic Maintenance Zone.

That was obvious. Yun-kwon had already started many projects since taking office. Among them, the overwhelmingly large-scale development project was the Seongsu-dong Strategic Maintenance Zone project, which included the undergrounding of Gangbyeonbuk-ro.

There was something Yun-kwon always said while encouraging the staff, and that was the following:

“From Yeongdong Bridge to Seongsu Bridge……. Once this area is reorganized with wonderful buildings, the landscape of the eastern part of the Han River in Seoul will be completely revitalized.”

However, while paying attention to this project like this, Yun-kwon had recently had an unpleasant experience once. No, several times.

The Seongsu district project was so large in scale that it could not be carried out solely by the city of Seoul. In the process of communicating with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport regarding the design competition, he had experienced unreasonable situations several times.

The most unreasonable measure he experienced at the very beginning was the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s official letter that was sent without consulting with the city of Seoul.

“Director. Was this official letter really officially issued by the Planning and Coordination Office?”

[Yes, Mayor. Is there any problem…….]

“No, although it is linked to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the organization that is hosting this design competition is clearly the city of Seoul.”

[That’s right.]

“But how can you unilaterally send an official letter without consulting with the city of Seoul?”

[Ah……. I didn’t know that the Mayor would pay attention to the competition process. I’m sorry.]

“No, what on earth……!”

[This is a project that is being carried out on an unprecedentedly large scale in Seoul. I thought that the city of Seoul would not want the costs incurred in this project to go overseas.]

“Isn’t it enough to entrust the construction to a domestic construction company! The design is…….”

[The Vice Minister personally ordered it……. I’m really sorry.]

“Hoo…….”

Gu Yun-kwon is a smart man. Therefore, he knew from the moment he first checked the official letter that some external pressure had been applied to this situation.

The reason why he didn’t overturn it was because of practical issues. If he fought with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport over this level of issue while an important project was in progress, disharmony could arise in the project’s progress itself.

‘Okay. Let’s just move on. Even if overseas design offices can’t participate……. I’ll be able to receive CEO Seo’s design.’

Gu Yun-kwon really wanted to produce the best output possible, as this project was the first project carried out during his term. So he thought it was really fortunate that Woo-jin’s WJ Studio was participating in the competition.

It was a shame that he couldn’t consider the wonderful designs of overseas studios, but he still had Woo-jin, a reliable backup plan.

However, the things that made Gu Yun-kwon feel unpleasant didn’t end here. A while ago, in a conversation with the director of the Urban Management Bureau, which is in charge of this competition, he heard another unexpected story.

“Director. Is today the first deadline?”

“The first deadline……. Ah! You’re talking about the Seongsu Strategic Maintenance Zone, Mayor!”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“The deadline was yesterday. Even now, from today, the department will be reviewing the designs that have been submitted, one by one.”

“Oh ho. How many companies applied?”

“Uh……. I don’t remember exactly right now, but I think it was less than five companies.”

“Pardon?!”

“I think there were four design offices that applied normally……. There’s one place that submitted a little late, and I heard they’re worried about how to handle it now.”

Gu Yun-kwon, upon hearing the director’s story, felt a chill in his mood at that moment.

‘Less than five offices participated in the competition?’

It was a competition with an enormous design fee attached. It was true that it wasn’t a competition that mediocre offices could dare to enter. Even so, a single-digit number of competition participants was an unacceptable level.

It would be understandable if there were five design offices selected after the first screening, but the fact that less than five companies had initially applied was an unthinkable situation.

‘What on earth is going on? How can this be…….’

Yun-kwon immediately told the director to get the list of companies, and he was able to breathe a sigh of relief at the fact that WJ Studio was included.

But in the midst of all this, Gu Yun-kwon even received another unpleasant phone call.

[Mayor, I heard that there were too few participating companies this time.]

“Yes, Vice Minister. I’ve been racking my brains over that.”

[Let’s have all the offices that have applied pass the first screening.]

“Pardon? Even so, shouldn’t we do a proper screening?”

[Isn’t it enough to select the most outstanding design in the final screening anyway.]

“…….”

[So, let’s proceed with flexibility.]

Yun-kwon could be sure with this phone call. Among the design offices that entered this first screening, there was definitely an office with strong backing from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

But since there was nothing he could do right away, his head began to throb.

‘Hoo, I knew something like this would happen…….’

If a vice-ministerial level official was calling directly, then their influence would surely reach even higher up. If it was external pressure at a moderate level, he could just overrule it with the Seoul Mayor’s authority, but if the interests of even higher-ups were intertwined, it would be a complex problem that couldn’t be solved so simply.

So Yun-kwon pondered…….

‘I’ll have to look at all the design levels……. If there’s no design that I like, I’ll even have to consider reopening the competition.’

He desperately hoped that Woo-jin would bring a design that was even more outstanding than he expected.

‘I hope CEO Seo’s design is wonderfully drawn. Then I’ll be able to push WJ Studio to my heart’s content.’

Since even high-ranking officials are included in this relationship, it is impossible to completely block it with Yun-kwon’s power. Identifying which design office participated in the competition using the power of an illegal cartel was also by no means an easy task to get solid evidence.

So Yun-kwon’s head became more and more complicated.

‘I can’t just throw my first project into the gutter like this. To do that, I need a clear justification that no one can deny…….’

The night before the design competition presentation, on Sunday night, Yun-kwon made himself a cold coffee to clear his head and sat on the sofa in his study.

But at the very moment Yun-kwon was about to take a sip of coffee, Yun-kwon’s smartphone, which he had placed on the table, began to vibrate loudly.

Zzzzzing-

He couldn’t help but have a rather surprised expression when he checked the caller.

“……!”

Because the owner of the number on the smartphone screen was someone he had never expected.