Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 210

Long ago, in the Eastern Empire, lived Inseo. She was not just any priestess, but one chosen to serve the Moon God. Her duty was to watch over the night, a guardian of the human world in darkness.

Born with divine power, Inseo was also part human. Because she was part human, unlike the immortal gods, Inseo had a limited life. To keep her divine line going, she was destined to have children and pass on her power.

Until she turned twenty, Inseo lived a quiet life in the temple, much like other priestesses. She helped with ceremonies, learned ancient prayers, and sometimes dreamed of adventures beyond the temple walls. She was kind and thoughtful, but also yearned for something more than her predictable life.

Her fate changed the day she met Seohoo. As the script explained, Seohoo was a pureblood god from the Heavenly God Palace. Unlike Inseo, he possessed complete divine power.

Gods like Seohoo lived forever in the heavenly realm and were never meant to meet humans like Inseo.

But once every thousand years, a path opened between the heavenly realm and the human world through the Heavenly God Tower, north of the Heavenly God Palace. Drawn by curiosity about the world below, Seohoo descended to the human realm.

It was there, near a moonlit lake, that Seohoo encountered Inseo. He was amazed by the vibrant human world and struck by her gentle spirit and the quiet strength in her eyes. Inseo, in turn, was drawn to Seohoo’s kind smile and the sense of wonder he carried, so different from the serious priests she knew. As if guided by fate, they fell in love.

Ha-young leaned forward, eyes wide. “Forbidden love then? Classic!”

The PD chuckled, nodding. “Exactly. The priestess, Inseo, was always meant to marry a mortal man. Destiny, you know how it is.”

The two fell in love, each mistaken about the other’s true identity.

Seohoo thought Inseo was an ordinary woman, and Inseo, in turn, thought Seohoo was an ordinary man.

Seohoo, a god of the heavenly realm, would lose his divine power the moment he had relations with a human, but he didn’t care.

If he could become an ordinary human, share love with Inseo, and then fade away, Seohoo would have no regrets.

But Inseo was not an ordinary human.

The two who shared love received the wrath of the Heavenly God.

As punishment, they were sentenced to lose their memories for a thousand years.

Seohoo, with his divine power, would regain his memories after a thousand years.

But for Inseo, with her finite lifespan like a human, it was a cruel punishment where her memories of Seohoo were essentially erased.

Thus, Inseo lost her memories of Seohoo and ascended to the heavens, while Seohoo lived in the human realm for a thousand years, having lost his memories.

And a thousand years passed.

“In the story, the Heavenly God Tower exists in both the human realm and the heavenly realm.”

“So, it’s the only place that exists at the same time in both the human world and the heavenly realm.”

At actress Ha-young Seong’s question, the PD nodded and answered, “That’s right.”

“Then, is this the place where Seohoo and Inseo first came down to the human realm and met… and also the place where Seohoo meets Inseo again after she is reincarnated a thousand years later?”

The UPPD shook his head.

“It’s the place where the two first meet, but it’s not the place where he first meets the reincarnated Inseo.”

“Then…?”

“This part hasn’t been finalized in the script yet…” The PD paused for a moment before continuing his explanation. “There’s a scene where Inseo regains her memory just before Seohoo returns to the Heavenly God Palace.”

“Ah…!”

“It’s practically the climax of the drama, and that part will be filmed here.”

Seong Ha-young, who was listening to the PD’s explanation, carefully examined the Heavenly God Tower set and exclaimed in admiration.

When she first heard the rough outline of the story, she thought it was a bit cliché.

The cliché of ‘forbidden love that cannot be achieved’ itself was an old setting, so overused that even if you boiled it down to the bones, not a single drop of broth would come out.

But as she began to hear the character settings and details one by one, the cliché was filled with vitality.

As vitality arose, even the cliché no longer felt that way, and it became an advantage instead.

All the parts that felt cliché came across as familiar, which in turn helped with immersion.

That was the reason why Ha-young belatedly joined this drama.

Although she still had some anxiety due to the surrounding evaluations that it was a predictable cliché, she liked the storyline too much.

“It feels even more vibrant when I hear the explanation on the set like this, PD-nim.”

“Haha. Isn’t it? Actually, the completed set is the first time our production team has come to see it today… To be honest, we were also quite surprised.”

“Really?”

“We knew CEO Seo Woo-jin was paying a lot of attention, but we didn’t expect the quality to be this good.”

But the moment she came to the completed set today and encountered the place in the script, Ha-young was able to completely dispel even that remaining anxiety.

The mysterious atmosphere of the set and the magnificent and beautiful sense of space, even the details hidden within and the props in the setting that made even the simple parts feel real and believable.

‘Just by looking at the set, you can feel how much effort went into this drama.’

The places she had only imagined while looking at the script were realized more beautifully and wonderfully than she had imagined.

Just by setting foot in that place, Ha-young felt like she had become ‘Inseo.’

She had filmed countless works so far, and there were several blockbuster-level dramas among them.

But there was definitely not a single set among them that had given her such a special feeling.

‘I really did well to come today.’

So, Ha-young suddenly became curious about the person who designed this amazing set.

She had heard that it was the work of architect Seo Woo-jin, who was gaining popularity recently, but she didn’t really know what kind of person he was.

And her curiosity could soon be resolved.

From the entrance of the ‘Heavenly God Tower,’ two men and women were slowly walking up the spiral staircase.

While designing and planning this Heavenly God Palace set, the part that Woo-jin thought hard about and worked on the most was making traditional buildings look modern.

In the drama’s setting, the Heavenly God Palace was ‘an architectural structure with a traditional feel, yet a sophisticated space even after a thousand years.’

This was easy to say, but creating a design that actually gave this feeling was very hard to do.

Even remembering the drama from his past life didn’t help him much with this particular challenge.

The most common criticism of the hugely popular TV show, “The Millennium’s You,” was its architectural design.

Woo-jin had also been disappointed and had promised himself never to create anything similar.

Therefore, reinterpreting this setting and turning it into a real architectural structure was entirely Woo-jin’s responsibility.

This meant the set built in Icheon was completely the result of Woo-jin’s design skills.

Everyone there gasped when they saw it. Their eyes widened, and they whispered to each other. The set was truly amazing. Woo-jin held his breath, watching their faces. He felt a mix of hope and worry. Did they really like it?

Yoo In-gun, the producer who had managed the entire production of “The Millennium’s You” and understood the drama best, was especially impressed.

What was he so curious about?

Even though it was only their second time meeting, Yoo PD asked Woo-jin question after question very quickly.

“Representative.”

“Yes, PD.”

“How on earth did you come up with such an idea?”

Woo-jin looked confused and asked,

“Pardon me…?”

“If you look over there, at the eaves… well, are they eaves at least?”

“Let’s just say they are.”

“Anyway, if you look at the rafters supporting those eaves, they’re made of metal framework.”

“That’s right.”

“Usually, you think of wooden frames and blue roof tiles for traditional architecture. It’s amazing how you’ve used completely different materials but still captured that traditional feeling.”

Yoo In-gun honestly thought it was almost impossible to design a space that felt like the one described in the script.

Even he, who didn’t know much about architecture, thought it was an impossible request.

He had only expected Woo-jin to create a high-quality set with a traditional feel.

But the set in front of him expressed even more than Yoo In-gun had imagined. It was so amazing, it felt magical.

“It wasn’t easy, to be honest. But after thinking hard, I found a way.”

Woo-jin had imagined and tried many different things to come up with this design.

At first, he tried creating modern buildings using traditional materials and patterns as decorations.

He also tried using the parametric design he had been researching in traditional architecture.

But Woo-jin didn’t like those ideas.

It didn’t feel like a good mix of old and new. It felt messy and wrong.

So, Woo-jin decided to clearly separate the roles.

He used modern materials and building techniques, but the shape and space were based on traditional architecture.

Instead of mixing traditional and modern styles in every part, he changed the design process to fully capture each style in different areas: shape and material.

“The shape of the eaves that curl up at the ends is made by adding shorter and shorter black steel frames upwards.”

“What about those sparkling tiles? What are they made of?”

“The eaves have square tempered glass panels in a specific size.”

“Ah…!”

“They’re not shaped like roof tiles, but they’re placed in a regular pattern, like roof tiles in traditional architecture. So, even though the materials and shapes are completely different, you naturally think of roof tiles.”

This method was the answer Woo-jin was looking for.

The outside of the building clearly had the shape of traditional architecture.

But it was also possible to share the modern feel of modern architecture without changing the shape.

The construction process wasn’t too difficult either.

The initial rules might be hard, but once the pattern was set, all the other structures could be made the same way.

Of course, no one except Woo-jin understood these explanations.

So-jeong had been quietly listening to Woo-jin excitedly explain to Yoo PD. She nodded and said,

“I don’t know what it is, but I know it’s amazing.”

So-jeong smiled and spoke to Woo-jin, who looked tired.

“Isn’t it all that matters if the result is good?”

Woo-jin nodded.

“Well, that’s right.”

“In that case, how about expanding your business in this area in the future?”

“Pardon? What do you mean…?”

“Creating a department that specializes in producing drama sets. Or starting a separate company for that…”

Woo-jin could only smile silently at So-jeong’s suggestion.

He enjoyed this project, and the results were great.

But he didn’t want to do this kind of work again.

The main reason Woo-jin agreed to design the set for “The Millennium’s You” was because of its unique setting that could be reinterpreted architecturally.

Most general drama sets are just copies of existing things.

He didn’t think design and architecture were better or worse, but this was not the direction Woo-jin wanted to go.

This time, art director Gu Hyeong-wook spoke up.

“I was honestly doubtful until the finishing materials were used… You’re really amazing, Representative Seo.”

“Haha, you flatter me.”

“Actually, I didn’t help much as an art director.”

The director of photography was still looking around the set, and the lighting director was walking around and writing in his notebook.

Seong Ha-young, the female lead of “The Millennium’s You,” who would soon be acting on this set, said sincerely to Woo-jin,

“Thank you for creating such a wonderful set, Representative.”

Woo-jin looked a little awkward and replied,

“I may have designed this space, but the production crew and actors here are the ones who complete it.”

Woo-jin winked and added,

“I’m excited to see the Cheonsingu Palace wonderfully completed in the show.”