Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 108

Bruno Sanzchez came back to Seoul. He had been in Spain, his home country, for about two weeks on vacation.

He had taken a vacation after finishing the construction coordination for the ‘Glacial Tower’ he designed. However, he had to return to supervise when the final touches were being added.

Even so, returning in just two weeks was earlier than planned.

Originally, he had a month to rest, not just two weeks.

There was a reason for his early return: a suddenly scheduled meeting.

The design request he received was for a complex shopping mall in a station area.

‘A complex shopping mall… This is my first time designing one,’ he thought.

It wasn’t certain he would be in charge of the design.

Because this project was so large, the design request wasn’t given to just one person. Bruno was one of several designers who received the request.

Of course, he would get paid for his design ideas, even if they weren’t chosen.

But Bruno didn’t return to Korea early just for that small fee.

This project was something he really wanted to do, no matter the money.

‘Exciting! I can’t believe I’m getting this opportunity in Korea!’

Bruno wanted to win this design contract at all costs.

The complex mall was to be located in Wangsimni, a busy area in Seoul.

If designed well, it could become one of Seoul’s landmarks.

Bruno had been thinking about designing a large mall for a while.

He wanted to design different kinds of buildings to add to his portfolio.

‘There are about 3 days left until the meeting, so there’s plenty of time to prepare.’

Bruno stepped off the plane and into the bright, airy space of Incheon International Airport. A wide grin stretched across his face.

Each time he returned to Korea, he was struck by how modern and beautiful this airport was, better than any he’d seen in his travels. Sunlight streamed through the vast windows, making the polished floors gleam like mirrors.

“Even immigration is quick here,” he murmured to himself, pleased.

After a smooth passage through passport control, Bruno found a seat in the bustling lobby and bought a cup of coffee from a vending machine. The hot, slightly bitter drink was a welcome comfort after the long flight.

He had to wait because someone was picking him up.

Bruno checked the time, shook his head, and muttered.

“I’ve had arrivals delayed before, but arriving 20 minutes earlier than scheduled… This is a first.”

Bruno’s eyes wandered to the large screen in the lobby.

A Korean entertainment show was playing.

“Hmm…”

Bruno didn’t speak Korean well, but he wasn’t completely clueless. Having worked with Korean companies for a long time, he had picked up some of the language. He could have simple conversations and understand most everyday stories.

Bruno sometimes watched Korean TV shows to study, so he started watching the screen.

But after a while…

“Hmm…?”

Bruno frowned slightly, noticing something unexpected.

‘Wait. Why does that guy look familiar?’

Bruno didn’t know many Korean celebrities, so he wondered why the man on the screen looked familiar.

But his confusion didn’t last long.

When the screen zoomed in on the man’s face, Bruno realized who it was.

“Ah! That designer from then!”

Before Bruno went to Spain, this young designer had surprised him at the design contest where Bruno was a judge.

He remembered the face he had forgotten during his vacation.

Bruno even remembered his name.

“Haha. That’s right, it was Woojin.”

He didn’t expect to see Woojin on TV, especially on an entertainment program, but Bruno was happy.

He also remembered a promise he had forgotten.

‘After this meeting, I should invite Woojin and his friends to the office.’

Bruno felt better thinking about meeting young Korean designers again.

Jayden held a home party at his house about once a month.

Really, the home party was just inviting his high school friends, ordering chicken and pizza, and playing games.

But this was an important monthly event for Jayden.

“Wassup Bros!”

“Jayden, I told you to just use either English or Korean if you’re going to use Konglish,” one of his friends said. Jayden often mixed English and Korean words, something his friends called ‘Konglish’.

“Don’t wanna! I’m British Korean!” Jayden replied. “This is my identity.”

“Identity? What’s that?”

“Identity!” Jayden repeated.

“Damn it. You’re pretty good at difficult Korean words. Did you order the pizza?”

“Of course!”

“With extra pepperoni topping and wings?”

“Okay.”

“Good. Perfect.”

With each ring of the doorbell, Jayden’s smile grew wider, chasing away the quiet loneliness of the empty house.

Jayden was a lonely person.

Since his parents moved to England, he lived alone in a surprisingly large house for one person, bigger than most apartments. Perhaps Jayden’s loneliness was inevitable.

Recently, Seokhyun, who had become his best friend, came to Jayden’s house all the time, but that wasn’t enough for Jayden.

“Okay, I said it in advance, but Rosalie is on my team today,” Jayden said.

“Okay. Then I’m on a team with Lucio,” another friend replied.

“Good.”

The three people who always came to Jayden’s home party were friends with British citizenship, just like Jayden.

Some of Jayden’s friends were of mixed race, and some were completely British but lived in Korea.

Jayden had graduated from an international school, so students of various nationalities took classes together.

But he was closest to these three British people in the same grade.

“The team that loses has to go out to buy dessert after dinner,” Jayden announced.

“Okay.”

“What’s the dessert menu today?”

“How about cheesecake?”

“You must be talking about a huge cheesecake?”

“Of course.”

“The biggest size. The losing team pays.”

“Deal!”

Two huge family-size pizzas with lots of toppings and two fried chickens were ordered.

But the energetic British youths still seemed hungry.

“Okay, kick off!”

“Go go!”

They each grabbed a warm slice of pepperoni pizza, the smell filling the air. Then, they settled onto the big, soft beanbags that seemed to hug them as they sank in. Fingers tapping quickly, they started to play. It was their usual game when they were all together: football on the screen. *Tap-tap-tap-tap!* went the controllers. Chewing pizza and focusing on the game, hours flew by like minutes.

“Yes!”

“Goal! Gooooooooooooooal!”

“Shit! Losing a goal to Jayden? That’s embarrassing!”

“Buck up, Lucio. We can’t lose to Jayden.”

“Of course.”

After playing football until the pizza was gone, the four friends went to Jayden’s computer room.

Jayden had five powerful computers in his room. It was like his own small internet café.

Jayden had five computers because the game he liked to play needed five people on a team.

Jayden wished he had ten computers so they could play games with ten people, five against five. But he didn’t have ten friends who played games.

“Jayden.”

“Yeah?”

They were on their way to the computer room.

Lucio asked a quiet question. Jayden acted surprised and waved his arms around dramatically.

“Why on earth! Are you looking for Seokhyun at my house?”

Rosalie, who was next to Jayden, chimed in.

“We just need one super-skilled player to fill the hole that is Jayden.”

Lucio agreed.

“That’s right. Seokhyun can clean up the mess Jayden makes.”

“Oh, friends. I don’t make messes while gaming. I’m not a child.”

“We don’t need your excuses, Jayden. We just need Seokhyun on our team.”

“Hurry up and call our ‘amazing player.'”

“Damn it!”

Jayden grumbled and sat at the computer, turning on the game.

Seokhyun was already logged into the game.

[Korea’sGreatestSwordsman: Seokhyun. We’ll specially invite you to our game.]

[StoneStoneRollingStone: Not that you’re specially inviting me, are you?]

[Korea’sGreatestSwordsman: That’s a misunderstanding, Seokhyun. It doesn’t matter if Seokhyun isn’t here, but we’re calling you very specially.]

[StoneStoneRollingStone: Then I’ll queue up alone.]

Seokhyun left the chatroom. Jayden’s friends started to get angry.

“What are you doing, Jayden?”

“Apologize to Seokhyun right now!”

“Damn it!”

So, Jayden had to open the chat again and apologize in a very humble way.

[Korea’sGreatestSwordsman: Actually, it was a lie, Seokhyun. We really need Seokhyun on our team.]

[StoneStoneRollingStone: I’ll forgive you just this once, specially.]

[Korea’sGreatestSwordsman: Seokhyun is so generous, as always.]

Finally, after some trouble, the team game started.

With Seokhyun joining online, they had a team of five.

“Alright. Now that Seokhyun’s here, it’s over.”

“We’re going to win every game today.”

“Won’t it be difficult with Jayden?”

“True. We’d really win everything if it weren’t for Jayden.”

“Bloody Hell!”

Jayden and his friends were excited to start the game. They even forgot about the box of chicken they hadn’t opened yet.

They won the first game easily.

[- Victory -]

“Heh, as expected of Seokhyun!”

“What are you talking about, this Jayden…….”

“Shut up!”

“You almost made us lose!”

“Damn it!”

Seokhyun was a top player. Jayden’s friends were just regular gamers.

As expected, they were guaranteed to win as soon as Seokhyun joined, no matter how badly Jayden played.

Thanks to that, Jayden’s team won easily until something unexpected happened after the second game.

[StoneStoneRollingStone: That’s it for today, friends.]

Seokhyun, who had been leading the team, suddenly said he was logging out.

[Korea’sGreatestSwordsman: What?! What are you saying?]

[Lucioo: No way! It’s only 8:45!]

[Rosle127: It’s because you’re so bad, Jayden, that Seokhyun is running away!]

[Korea’sGreatestSwordsman: I was wrong, Seokhyun T.T I’ll do better next game.]

Jayden and his friends tried to stop him, but they couldn’t.

Seokhyun was leaving for a simple reason.

[StoneStoneRollingStone: I can’t help it today, bros. Because today is the day the director appears on TV.]

[Korea’sGreatestSwordsman: What?]

[StoneStoneRollingStone: As WJ Studio’s number 2, I have a duty to watch with respect.]

It was Sunday.

And Sunday at 9 o’clock was when his favorite TV show, , was on.

Jayden jumped up and down, but it was no use.

[Korea’sGreatestSwordsman: Liar! You want to see Yuria!]

[StoneStoneRollingStone: Don’t twist my words, Jayden. Then I’ll be going.]

Seokhyun would be upset if he didn’t watch for even one week.

[StoneStoneRollingStone has logged out.]

After Seokhyun left the game…

“Jayden! Jayden! Why on earth there! Kraaah!”

“Holy shit! I wish you’d open your eyes and play the game, Jayden.”

“Surrender. I’m going to surrender, so agree, friends.”

“Damn it. We’ve become bodies that can’t play games without Seokhyun.”

“I agree. When Seokhyun’s not here, we should just kick a ball around.”

Jayden and his friends lost the game badly in just 15 minutes. They weren’t sad about it. They turned off the computers and left the room.

They were angry about losing, and they blamed Jayden for playing badly.

“Hurry up and run out to buy a cheesecake, Jayden.”

“What?! Why me?! You guys lost the football game earlier!”

“That’s separate.”

“That’s right, Jayden. Think about the mess you made just now.”

“Krooh!”

They had won more games thanks to Seokhyun than they had lost, but the mood of the day always depended on whether they won or lost the last game.

Jayden’s friends were not excited about games anymore. They sat on the sofa in the living room and turned on the TV.

Then, they started watching , the show that their idol Seokhyun was watching.