Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 222

Woo-jin stopped and stared at the paper in his team leader’s hand. “An official letter?” he asked, surprised. “Suddenly?”

He didn’t know much about how the Architectural Association worked with the government ministry. This was completely unexpected.

“This letter,” Woo-jin pointed, “it came today?”

The team leader nodded quickly. “Yes, sir. It arrived while you were in the meeting.”

“Can I see it?”

“Of course, President.” The team leader led him to a desk. “Look here, on the computer.”

Woo-jin leaned closer to the screen and read the official letter from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport.

The letter was sent to all companies who showed they wanted to join the competition. It was an official document with the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport’s seal.

“This project is very important for Seoul’s development plan…”

Woo-jin read the letter quietly, looking like he couldn’t believe it.

‘To help Korean construction and make talking to the government easier, all foreign companies with offices overseas cannot join the competition?’

Woo-jin simply couldn’t believe it.

He thought the letter was almost nonsense.

If the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport really thought this, it felt like they wanted to shut themselves off from the world.

‘The Seongsu project is big, but to block construction and design companies from overseas… how does that help Korea’s economy?’

The part about ‘easy communication’ was even more ridiculous.

They said it politely, but it meant ‘we only want to work in Korean.’ This was ridiculous in today’s global world, not just in the past.

For a big project like this, they could easily pay for translators. So, Woo-jin thought this reason was just an excuse.

‘Who came up with this ridiculous idea?’

Of course, this was very good for WJ Studio, as the team leader said.

Woo-jin respected Korean companies. But if foreign companies were not allowed to compete, winning would be much easier. The competition would be far less difficult.

Despite this good news, a cold feeling settled in Woo-jin’s stomach. Something felt wrong, but he couldn’t say what.

“Sir…?”

“Yes?”

The team leader thought Woo-jin would be happy. He looked worried when he saw Woo-jin’s serious face.

Woo-jin shook his head and said, feeling awkward, “Ah, it’s nothing like that. It just feels a bit strange.”

“Haha, it is strange.”

“But, what’s good is good, right?”

The team leader nodded when Woo-jin said this.

“That’s right. I think it’s really great.”

Woo-jin continued, “Now that this has happened, we absolutely must win this competition.”

“Hehe, I believe in you, sir. If we win the Seongsu project, our company can really grow next year.”

The team leader’s cheerful words and laughter helped Woo-jin push aside his worries. He smiled and felt his mood lift as he walked back to his office.

‘Right. Like I said… what’s good is good.’

He felt that someone was trying to unfairly benefit, just like he had felt when he saw the letter.

Even with his worries, Woo-jin knew this was still good for him.

‘Even if someone is playing games, I can deal with it.’

A year ago, he would have been more worried.

Without strong connections, it was easy to get cheated in the construction business.

But now, Woo-jin had powerful people supporting him: Hwang Jong-ho, who would soon be a top government official, and Koo Yoon-kwon, the Mayor of Seoul, who was in charge of this project.

Woo-jin knew they wouldn’t give him special help. But they would make sure no one treated him unfairly.

‘Let’s just work harder.’

So, instead of worrying about something that might not happen, Woo-jin decided to focus on what he could do now.

He could figure out how to solve the problem when it happened.

Worrying in advance wasn’t Woo-jin’s style.

Creak-

Woo-jin returned to his office and called Suk-hyun.

“Suk-gu, can you come to my office?”

[What’s up?]

“It’s about the Seongsu project. We need to talk about the outside design.”

[Okay. Give me 10 minutes.]

“Okay.”

WJ Studio was good at many things, but they were especially good at digital architecture and 3D design.

Woo-jin decided to spend all his time making the best design possible.

Even though foreign studios were not allowed to compete, Woo-jin worked even harder.

Another hot summer arrived.

The summer of 2012 was very humid, and construction sites were one of the worst places to be in that weather.

WJ Studio mainly focused on design, but after buying the construction company, they had also started working in construction.

So, WJ Studio was working on two projects.

The first project was WJ Studio’s own building in Seongsu-dong.

The main structure of WJ Studio’s building, which started construction nine months ago, was nearly finished.

It was supposed to be finished at the end of September, which was tight, but they could meet the deadline.

Buying and taking over a big company caused some problems, as expected.

But Woo-jin successfully bought the company. And they had almost paid off the debts from the purchase.

The second project was what they had recently won.

The second project was not yet officially under contract.

They had almost agreed on everything. But in business, nothing is certain until the contract is signed and officially approved by lawyers.

Today, Woo-jin was going to get that contract signed.

“Hyung, I’m going to catch some sleep. Wake me up when we get there.”

“Alright.”

Woo-jin was in the passenger seat of Jin-tae’s car. He reclined his seat and closed his eyes, his face tired from staying up several nights because the Seongsu-dong competition deadline was only a few days away.

Even so, he was going in person today because today’s work was very important.

‘Our own building was like practice since there was no client… but now it’s the real deal.’

Here, ‘practice’ didn’t mean practicing the architecture itself.

It was just the first time he was directly in charge of the whole construction, so he called it practice.

He learned how to manage schedules and solve problems on the spot.

It was practice for being in charge.

He knew construction sites very well from before. But being in charge was different. Woo-jin was managing it well.

Knowing the site better than anyone else seemed to help a lot.

‘This opportunity came sooner than expected. Winning the design competition is important, but getting the construction contract is just as important.’

Woo-jin was still thinking about work even with his eyes closed. He fell asleep.

Jin-tae’s car was going to the developer that owned this project.

It was a company called ‘Cloud Partners’ that specialized in buying land and developing office areas.

‘Cloud Partners’ had its sales office in Seongsu-dong, but its main office was in Eunpyeong-gu.

So, it took almost an hour to drive from Seongsu-dong to the main office.

Vroom-

After driving through the city center and onto a main road, the traffic became lighter.

Because they avoided the busiest time of day, Jin-tae drove them there in about 50 minutes.

Screech!

The car stopped suddenly. Woo-jin woke up quickly, stretched, and asked Jin-tae.

“Are we there, Hyung?”

“Yeah, we’re here. Look in the mirror, fix your hair, and let’s go up.”

“Okay.”

Woo-jin opened the passenger seat mirror, smoothed his messy hair, opened the car door, and got out in the parking lot.

He took his smartphone out of his pocket and called someone.

Ring ring-

A cheerful voice answered the phone after a moment.

[President! Have you arrived?]

“Yes, Manager! We just arrived in the parking lot.”

[There’s a cafe on the first floor of our building. Would you like to wait there?]

“We can come up if you tell us where…”

[Ah, no. I should come down to get you. I’ll be right down!]

“Then shall we order some coffee?”

[Great! There’s plenty of time before the meeting, so let’s have coffee together.]

“What kind of coffee would you like…?”

[An Americano is fine. If you say you’re here for a meeting with our company, you don’t have to pay!]

Woo-jin’s voice was loud, so Jin-tae, who was standing next to him, could hear everything.

Jin-tae looked puzzled.

Even though Woo-jin was the ‘president’ of a company, it was hard to understand why someone from a big developer like ‘Cloud Partners’ would treat him so well.

Also, it was clear from his voice that he was very happy to see Woo-jin.

Woo-jin saw Jin-tae’s face and chuckled. He said, “Hyung, you know the office building we’re using now. Seoul Forest IT Tower.”

“The office area we’re using now?”

“Yeah. Our current building.”

“Why are you talking about that?”

Woo-jin saw Jin-tae’s confused face and continued, amused. “Hyung, do you remember who developed Seoul Forest IT Tower?”

Jin-tae tilted his head at Woo-jin’s question.

“Hey. How would I remember that? I didn’t buy it directly…”

But then.

“Wait.”

“Hehe, did you figure it out?”

Jin-tae started to understand. He looked surprised and said, “Are you saying that Cloud Partners developed Seoul Forest IT Tower?”

Woo-jin smiled slyly and said, “Exactly!”

“Then the person you just talked to…?”

Instead of answering, Woo-jin pushed open the glass door and walked into the cafe.

Woo-jin ordered three Americanos and leaned back in a comfortable sofa.

Jin-tae hadn’t gotten an answer yet. He sat across from Woo-jin, looking very curious.

Woo-jin saw his face, smiled, and continued. “When I bought Seoul Forest IT Tower, I bought all the units from one of the employees at the sales office.”

“So that person back then was…?”

Woo-jin smiled pleasantly.

“That’s right. He was a manager back then. He must have done well since then. He was promoted to the main office and became a manager. It seems he has a good job at Cloud Partners now.”