Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 118

Perhaps it was because it was a Friday evening, but the street stall was incredibly noisy.

However, unlike typical street stalls, Seongsu Stall was quite spacious.

The secluded room deep inside was a decent space for enjoying a quiet drink.

It was there that Woojin sat facing two middle-aged men, engaged in conversation.

“So… what you’re saying is, you’ve found a card powerful enough to manipulate the union leader to your liking and block the lobbying efforts?”

“Well, something like that. It’s not so much about forcing them to act, but rather being able to make a kind of deal.”

“A deal, you say…”

“I’ll tell you how to avoid the downpour. In return, adopt a clean bidding slogan and reject all solicitations and lobbying from every construction company.”

“What on earth is it?”

“That’s what I’ve brought you here to explain. I’m getting to it now.”

Ju-hyung, who had followed Kyung-wan to Seongsu Stall without knowing why, was surprised when he first saw the young Woojin.

He had thought Kyung-wan’s reference to a ‘kid’ was a metaphor about his height or appearance.

But the person who appeared before them was a surprisingly young man.

What’s more, he recognized the face.

Just last weekend, he’d seen him on a TV entertainment show.

‘The person I needed to meet was this kid?’ he wondered.

However, it didn’t take Ju-hyung even ten minutes after sitting down to understand why Kyung-wan had insisted on dragging him along to meet a young man in his early twenties.

At first, he had thought the talk of a solution to securing contracts with dirty money was just hot air.

But the more he listened to the stories coming from Woojin’s mouth, the more possible they seemed.

‘How on earth does he know all this? Is he an insider from the Cheongdam Seonyeong Association?’

Nevertheless, Ju-hyung couldn’t completely trust his words. Nothing was proven yet.

But strangely enough, Kyung-wan was smiling as if he had already won the bidding war.

“Hey, isn’t this too much of a losing game? Can’t we just tell them to choose Cheonwoong and be done with it?”

“I wish we could, but unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple.”

“Why?”

“The builder vote isn’t decided by the union leader alone, you know.”

“Ah, hmm. Is that so?”

Kyung-wan nodded in agreement, as if he believed Woojin’s stories were already established facts.

Ju-hyung was confused by his reaction, but he still listened intently to Woojin’s words, not missing a single one.

After all, assuming what he said was true, the stories coming from that young man’s mouth were exactly what Cheonwoong needed right now.

Especially for Ju-hyung himself, the head of Cheonwoong’s sales department.

“Even if the union leader tries to persuade all the members, it’s virtually impossible… so it’s best not to be too greedy.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Just being able to avoid the lobbying war is a huge win.”

The design chosen by Cheonwoong’s WJ Studio required a massive construction cost, more than any other design.

As a result, the member sales expenses allocated to the sales department were relatively tight.

In that situation, Oh Ju-hyung, who had to compete with the sales departments of Jeun Construction, SH Corporation, and Myungsung Construction, was going crazy.

He had to face mammoth construction companies that were difficult to compete with even when sufficient sales expenses were allocated, with even tighter funds than usual.

But according to this young man named Seo Woojin in front of him, the sales department could be freed from its suffering.

It was an ideal playing field where they could compete with the sales departments of other construction companies without spending a dime.

Of course, the cost of creating promotional flyers and booklets would remain the same, but that amount was a pittance compared to the sales expenses they had been considering.

“So, what are you planning to do?”

“First, I need a way to contact the union leader.”

“You, directly?”

“Yes. Can you arrange a meeting?”

“I can. No, I must.”

“The director needs to come with me too.”

“And then?”

“And then, like this…”

As Woojin and Kyung-wan continued their conversation, even the doubts that lingered in a corner of Ju-hyung’s mind quickly disappeared.

The story was too perfectly structured to be a lie.

Moreover, when they talked about the Cheongdam Seonyeong’s emergency committee and other project sites, he seemed even more knowledgeable than Cheonwoong Construction’s sales team.

As a result, Ju-hyung just listened quietly to Woojin and Kyung-wan’s conversation.

He couldn’t interrupt the endless stream of words flowing from Woojin’s mouth.

The more he spoke, the more Ju-hyung admired him inwardly.

‘What on earth am I witnessing right now?’ he thought.

Woojin was explaining the situation of the Cheongdam Seonyeong Reconstruction Association and presenting solutions, as if he were an employee of some kind of private investigation agency.

So, as the story neared its end, Ju-hyung was finally able to speak to Woojin.

And he had no choice but to ask this one question.

“Excuse me, Mr. Seo Woojin.”

“Call him CEO,” Kyung-wan interrupted.

“Ah, right. CEO Seo.”

“Yes?”

Ju-hyung continued, looking very curious.

“How on earth did you find out about these internal association details?”

Woojin grinned and replied.

“Every project site has secrets if you look hard enough.”

“That’s true, but…”

“I just got a little lucky. That’s all you need to know.”

He got lucky. Very lucky.

Woojin certainly thought so.

There was no way he could have returned to the past like this unless he was extraordinarily lucky.

The second week of November arrived.

The employees of WJ Studio, who had gone on a long-awaited vacation, came to work on Monday with refreshed minds.

“Everyone, good morning!”

“My body feels sluggish because it’s been so long since I came to work.”

“Really? I wanted to come to work sooner after resting for a week.”

“Wow, look at you sucking up to the CEO?”

“I’m just saying it as it is.”

“Haha.”

And during the morning meeting, the employees cheered when they heard about the results of the design competition from Woojin.

“Wow, awesome!”

“We did it!”

“I knew we’d win!”

The design, which contained the hard work of the entire staff for a month, had been recognized, so they were happy.

“I feel so good this morning.”

“Wow, our design is being built in a prime location in Cheongdam-dong!”

“Don’t be too sure of success yet, Manager Song. It will only be built if Cheonwoong wins the bidding war.”

“Ah, right. There’s still the bidding war left?”

Woojin had deliberately not told the employees about the competition results in advance because he didn’t want to burden them during their vacation.

“So, we’ll be busy again starting today. I’ve already told Director Jin-tae in advance, but we need to continue communicating with Cheonwoong’s design team and revise and supplement the design.”

“Yes, CEO. Of course!”

“Great! Let’s work hard in November too, everyone!”

And thanks to Woojin’s consideration, the construction design team was motivated from the morning.

Monday and Tuesday passed.

Time passed quickly again.

While everyone was busy with project progress, Woojin was working separately.

The major direction of the design had already been set, so it was running smoothly even without Woojin’s directing.

And one more thing.

Before meeting the union leader of Seonyeong Apartment, Woojin was investigating separate matters with Kyung-wan to ensure that they had solid information when facing the union leader.

[Hey, Woojin. You were right.]

“Really?”

[One of the representatives of the Seonyeong Apartment reconstruction association is related to the chairman of the emergency committee.]

“I knew it!”

[You know that huge galbi-tang restaurant on the first floor of Seonyeong Apartment, right?]

“Yes, of course, I know it.”

[The owner of that restaurant is the one.]

“Ah ha. That place is doing really well, isn’t it?”

[That’s right.]

“It makes sense that they would want to hinder the reconstruction.”

[Well, yeah. The store owners will get a generous distribution when the reconstruction is done, but the lost customers won’t come back.]

“Didn’t the association offer separate compensation plans?”

[Of course, they did. But people’s greed knows no bounds.]

“I see… I understand the situation.”

Woojin and Kyung-wan were now tracking the emergency committee based on the information they had.

It would have been very difficult if they had no information, but since they were tracking from a basically established state, the desired information quickly appeared.

“But Director, you found it faster than I thought?”

[There are over a thousand members in the Cheongdam Seonyeong Association, you know.]

“…?”

[When I looked closely, I found a member among my acquaintances.]

“Ah ha…”

[To be exact, it’s one degree removed, but when I subtly mentioned the story I heard from you, they immediately spilled the beans.]

“You didn’t talk about it openly, did you?”

[Of course not. Do you think I’m an idiot?]

Woojin asked Kyung-wan to investigate the emergency committee, while also accessing the Cheonyeong Apartment Reconstruction Association’s cafe and collecting necessary information from the opposite side.

And after this information gathering was completed on Thursday afternoon, Woojin received a call from Kyung-wan again.

[Woojin, can you free up some time tomorrow morning?]

“Is the meeting with the union leader set?”

[Bingo.]

“What time in the morning?”

[Around 11 o’clock?]

“Yes. That time works for me.”

[Good. Then come to the Cheongdam Seonyeong Association office around that time.]

“Okay. The association office is on the third floor of the shopping center, right?”

[That’s right. See you tomorrow.]

“Okay, Director.”

Thus, on Friday morning, exactly one week after the day Kyung-wan and Ju-hyung drank at the street stall, Woojin headed to Cheongdam-dong instead of the office.

He parked his car at the Seonyeong Apartment shopping center and met Kyung-wan.

“You’re here?”

“Am I late?”

“You came right on time.”

“Of course.”

“Are you ready?”

“What preparation?”

“Did you practice your talking? If you want to win over an old man, you have to be good at talking.”

At Kyung-wan’s question, Woojin smiled confidently.

There was no reason not to be confident when he held all the cards.

“Of course. Just support me well.”

“Well, I trust your mouth quite a bit.”

“Calling it a mouth to a strategic partner is too much, don’t you think?”

“That’s a compliment, you brat. How hard do you think it is to talk? You rascal.”

Woojin exchanged silly jokes with Kyung-wan as always, and slowly walked up the shopping center stairs.

As he entered the old shopping center without an elevator, Woojin was briefly reminded of the handmade sujebi and kalguksu restaurant where his mother worked.

‘Gaepo Jugong also needs to be reconstructed quickly like here…’ he thought.

When they reached the third floor, a dark iron door caught their eye at the end of the hallway.

A faded and peeling nameplate that read was attached to the old iron door.

Kyung-wan approached it without hesitation and knocked on the door.

Knock knock knock-

A moment later, a raspy voice came from inside.

“Come in.”

Woojin and Kyung-wan opened the door and slowly walked inside. Little did Woojin know, the hardest part was still to come, waiting behind that old iron door.