Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 19

Models come in all shapes and sizes. Some are art in museums, others are toys we play with. But Woo-jin was working on a different kind: a model to show people their future homes.

There are many types of models, from three-dimensional art by famous artists to plaster figures molded from clay, and even the plastic models that Seok-hyeon loves.

However, even though they are all called ‘models,’ each one has a different purpose.

The purpose of making a model can change a lot depending on what the creator wants and how the model will be used.

For this architectural model, the goal was simple: to make the apartment building real in miniature, so people could easily see what it would look like.

Instead of focusing on imagination or creativity, the most important thing was to pay careful attention to detail.

Seok-hyeon looked at the complex lines on the large paper. “So, you mean I have to build a whole apartment building… just from these drawings?”

Woo-jin nodded, a confident smile on his face. “Exactly.”

“Wow,” Seok-hyeon breathed, “I never imagined I’d be making a model like *this*.”

“It’s perfect for you,” Woo-jin said.

Seok-hyeon raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? And how do you figure that?”

Woo-jin grinned, a playful glint in his eyes. “Because you love getting lost in the tiny details, just like with your plastic models. You’re a perfectionist about it, aren’t you?”

Seok-hyeon blinked, a little surprised but also amused. “Hey!” he chuckled, shaking his head. He knew Woo-jin was right. He *did* love the details.

“This is going to be a lot of work, isn’t it?”

“It just needs to be done by next Tuesday.”

“Oh, really? That’s plenty of time.”

Woo-jin chose Seok-hyeon, an engineering student, over his classmates because of Seok-hyeon’s skills.

For model work that needed careful copying and detail, Seok-hyeon was better than most designers.

Seok-hyeon was so skilled, he was famous in the plastic model community. People knew his name and admired his work.

“Don’t you think we can do a great job with this?”

Woo-jin searched the internet and showed Seok-hyeon some well-made architectural models.

“About what?” Seok-hyeon asked.

“That we can do a great job.”

“It looks like it…”

“Let’s get every single window frame exactly right, so it looks like a real apartment when you take a picture.”

Seok-hyeon’s eyes showed he was getting excited as he listened to Woo-jin’s plan.

He was now even more motivated to use his skills for model making, not just to earn some money.

But Woo-jin wasn’t going to rely only on Seok-hyeon.

Seok-hyeon might be better at details, but Woo-jin knew more about how to do the work efficiently.

“First, it’s late, so let’s start working tomorrow…”

“Then what are we doing now?”

“Let’s make a schedule.”

“A schedule?” Seok-hyeon looked puzzled.

He didn’t understand why they needed a schedule for their model work.

But as Woo-jin explained, he quickly understood why it was necessary.

“To make architectural models efficiently, we need to use modules, especially for apartment models like this.”

“Modules, you mean…”

“It means the same structure is repeated over and over.”

Apartment buildings have the same structure on each floor, from the first floor to the top.

So, if you make one floor carefully and use it as a module, you can finish the model by stacking it up.

“First, the first step is to work on the blueprints.”

“We already have the blueprints, don’t we?”

“I need blueprints that we can use for model making, not just those drawings.”

“Huh…?”

“In plastic model terms, we need to make blueprints for each part needed to complete one module.”

The new apartment in Ahyeon 3-2 district has four apartments on each floor.

Two A-type apartments face southeast, and two B-type apartments face southwest.

If they complete one floor by putting in two of each module, they can finish the apartment by stacking that floor.

Woo-jin planned to carefully organize the parts for one module while working on the blueprints.

Seok-hyeon, who was quick to understand, got the idea.

“After drawing the blueprints, I’ll just have to cut things out for a while.”

“Cut things out?”

“Once we know how many parts we need, I was thinking of getting model paper and cutting everything out.”

“Haha.”

Seok-hyeon understood Woo-jin’s plan, but he didn’t know much about making architectural models.

Woo-jin wasn’t planning to cut out hundreds of parts by hand.

“If we try to cut everything out by hand, it will take us a week, Seok-gu.”

“Then what?”

“I’m going to draw the blueprints in CAD, take the model paper, and go to Euljiro. For a small fee, the laser cutter will cut everything perfectly.”

“Oh……?! There’s something like that?” Seok-hyeon’s eyes widened in surprise.

A laser cutter uses a laser to cut paper, acrylic, thin wood, etc.

You enter the blueprints into the computer, and the machine automatically moves and cuts the material as drawn. It’s very convenient.

Woo-jin really wanted to have a laser cutter in his workshop, but he couldn’t afford one yet.

The laser cutter he wanted cost well over ten million won.

‘Until I sell the pre-sale rights, I’ll have to go to Euljiro to get things cut.’ Woo-jin thought about the laser cutter and then explained the schedule.

“So, if we draw all the blueprints by today or tomorrow and go to Euljiro for laser cutting around Wednesday, I think we can finish attaching the parts by Saturday and start painting on Sunday.”

Woo-jin wrote notes in his notebook and organized the schedule.

Seok-hyeon stared at him, surprised and impressed.

“Hey, how do you know all this stuff?”

“Did you think I started a business without a plan?”

“Wow……!”

“I did all the research and started because I saw an opportunity.”

Seok-hyeon nodded, believing Woo-jin’s words. But Woo-jin had learned these things through experience, not just research.

He had gone through many trials and errors to make plans so easily.

“Okay, let’s decide how to separate the parts. Then we can go home.”

“Okay.”

The two sat in front of the computer and carefully planned how to work efficiently.

They ended up doing all the blueprint work they had planned for the next day in one sitting, finishing after two in the morning.

“That’s it. This is enough.”

“Agreed.”

“I want to take these blueprints and go to Euljiro right now!”

“Calm down, Seok-gu. It’s one in the morning.”

“Hoo… What time did we say we were going to Euljiro tomorrow?”

Woo-jin smiled wryly at Seok-hyeon’s impatience.

“The original plan was the day after tomorrow.”

“Does the original plan matter? If the work is done, we have to go tomorrow.”

“I guess so.”

“What time?”

“Three o’clock.”

“Okay. I’ll rush over as soon as my class is over. Let’s meet at the station.”

“Okay. Let’s do that.”

Satisfied, they packed their bags and left the workshop.

Woo-jin arrived home well past 3 a.m.

“Why don’t you hurry up a bit?” His mother called from her room.

“I have a lot of assignments…” Woo-jin replied.

“Go to sleep quickly.”

“Yes, good night!”

Woo-jin fell asleep more easily than usual. It had been a long but enjoyable day.

Woo-jin’s schedule was simple.

He only had the five basic courses for freshmen, leaving his timetable mostly empty.

Basic Drafting (3 credits), Spatial Design (3 credits), Digital Spatial Graphics (3 credits), Visual Graphics (3 credits), and Introduction to Spatial Design (2 credits).

Woo-jin had only filled 14 credits, so he needed to add about 4 more during the course change period this week.

He knew that if he didn’t fill his credits in his freshman year, he would have problems later.

“Ha, there’s no good option,” Woo-jin sighed as he checked the course registration page on Seon-bin’s laptop.

The only liberal arts courses available were lectures like ‘Understanding Modern Philosophy,’ which So-yeon was taking.

Seon-bin, seeing Woo-jin’s frustration, suggested, “Hyung, are you good at English?”

“English…? Why?”

Seon-bin pointed to the monitor. “How about this class? ‘Understanding Global Culture’…”

Woo-jin sighed again after reading the title.

He had never seen a liberal arts course with ‘understanding’ in the title that had good reviews.

“Why do all the lecture titles have ‘understanding’ in them?”

“Hehe, I know, right.”

“What kind of class is this?”

“I heard it’s a class where you make foreign friends,” Seon-bin said.

“Foreign…?”

“The professor is a foreigner, so a lot of foreign exchange students take it… And the class is almost entirely in English…”

Woo-jin looked at Seon-bin with disbelief. He immediately understood why the class was still open.

“Hey, why are you recommending that class to me?”

“I heard it’s an easy class if you’re good at English.”

“Hmm…?”

“There’s no exam, and you can just hang out with foreign friends…”

Woo-jin was tempted as Seon-bin continued to explain.

The most appealing thing was that the class was graded Pass or Non-pass.

You could pass just by attending, which wasn’t bad at all.

However, Woo-jin hesitated because of his poor English skills.

‘Ugh… I have an English allergy…’ Woo-jin thought.

English was his biggest weakness, the reason he almost didn’t get into K University.

From Woo-jin’s perspective, ‘Understanding Global Culture’ was just as risky as So-yeon’s ‘Understanding Modern Philosophy’.

“Ha, it’s difficult. It’s difficult.”

Just then, an unexpected voice helped him make his decision.

“Hey, is this the department office?” It was Jayden, the only foreign student in Woo-jin’s class.