Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 231

It was Monday morning.

Kwon Ju-yeol had been sleeping less lately, so he was waking up earlier than usual. He ate a tasty breakfast, enjoying the quiet start to his day. Then, he decided to take a walk. He lived in Apgujeong, a wealthy area of Seoul, and Hangang Park was very close by. It was just a short walk from his apartment. Because of this, his morning walk always took him to the beautiful Hangang Park.

As usual, Ju-yeol took his dog for a walk. He smiled happily as he watched the Han River sparkling in the morning sunlight.

‘The Han River is always beautiful, no matter when I see it,’ he thought.

Ju-yeol remembered when he first bought a house in Apgujeong about 20 years ago.

Back then, most people didn’t want apartments along the Han River.

Especially in Apgujeong, south of the Han River, apartments had to face north to get a view of the river.

At that time, the view wasn’t considered a big selling point, so even though the apartments were right next to the Han River, they were all built facing south.

As a result, the apartments on the Han River side lost their view. They also had to deal with the noise and dust from the Olympic Expressway that ran along the river.

So, when Ju-yeol bought his apartment in Apgujeong, he chose one closer to Apgujeong Station instead of near the Han River.

But now, things were different.

The noise and dust had been reduced, though not completely.

The new apartments along the Han River had amazing views of the Seoul cityscape, including the river. They had become a dream for many people.

Ju-yeol felt the same way.

For his next home, Ju-yeol was thinking about the Seongsu Strategic Maintenance Zone, which his junior from the association was designing, or the Hannam New Town, which was still being developed.

Ju-yeol’s children had all grown up and gotten married, so he didn’t need to worry about school districts anymore.

He didn’t have any strong feelings about staying in Gangnam.

‘Once they choose the company to build it and construction really starts… I should try to get involved with the association,’ Ju-yeol thought. ‘They’ll have to use my name when they start selling the new apartments to the public. They won’t be able to ignore me easily.’

In Ju-yeol’s mind, the design for the Seongsu Strategic Maintenance Zone was already decided and would be done by .

Ju-yeol’s name was listed as the main advisor for that design.

Because of this, the association or construction company would have to use his name when selling the new apartments to the public.

It was clear that using his name, as someone who had studied with the famous architect Park Moon-joo and was now the president of the Architectural Association, would attract more people than promoting the design of , which wasn’t well-known yet.

If he contacted some important people, he could reach the construction company officials. Even the government ministry in charge of buildings and land would support Ju-yeol.

He could easily get a slightly cheaper price for one of the new apartments being sold to the public.

Of course, this would be done quietly and unofficially.

While he was thinking about these good things, he suddenly remembered something.

“Wait, isn’t today the day they announce the winner?”

He had forgotten the date because he thought the design competition was just a formality.

He realized that today, Monday, was the final presentation day of the design competition.

Ju-yeol thought of his clever junior and immediately took his cell phone out of his pocket.

He started making a call right away.

To give ‘a little’ help.

He wasn’t calling Jun-ho, his junior, who would be giving the presentation that day.

The number he was calling was Kim Ji-hwan, the person in charge at the government ministry in charge of buildings and land, who was in charge of this project.

Ring-

Ju-yeol waited with the phone to his ear as it rang several times.

But Kim Ji-hwan didn’t answer, even after a long time.

[The customer is currently unable to answer the phone…]

Beep- Beep-

Ju-yeol took the phone away from his ear and tilted his head.

“Hmm. Did I call at a bad time?”

Ji-hwan was his junior and usually answered Ju-yeol’s calls right away.

He was surprised that he didn’t answer.

‘Well, he’ll call me back,’ Ju-yeol thought.

Ju-yeol didn’t worry too much. He put his cell phone in his pocket and started walking again.

The weather in July was hot.

Ju-yeol planned to finish his morning walk quickly and return home before the sun got too high.

* * *

PD Gong Jin-young, a TV producer for the show , received a very good call in the morning.

was the show that made her a famous TV show producer very quickly, even though she was just starting out.

She received a call after a long time from a guest who was like one of the original members of the show.

“Oh, CEO Seo! It’s been so long!”

[Haha, I’ve been very busy lately…]

“I told you to visit the set. But you didn’t.”

[If I go to the set, you won’t let me go home until I agree to be a guest for a day.]

“Tsk. That’s right. CEO Seo is too important. I’m trying hard to come up with new ideas for the show these days. It would be great if CEO Seo could be a guest.”

[I’ll definitely be on the show before the season ends. Don’t worry. Hehe.]

“Really?! You promise!”

[Yes. Really, PD.]

“Ehehe. Good!”

Jin-young, who had received a call from Woo-jin after a long time, talked about personal things.

But as she expected, Woo-jin didn’t just call to say hello.

[By the way, PD.]

“Yes?”

[You said you needed new ideas for the show, right?]

“I’m tired of saying it. How many years has this show been running…? It would be surprising if we still had ideas left, wouldn’t it?”

[I know a good idea…]

“No way. You should tell me right away if you have something like that! What kind of idea is it?”

In the middle of their conversation, he suddenly offered an idea that would be great for .

It was an idea that Gong Jin-young would be very interested in.

[You know that Su-ha Nuna bought an apartment in Mapo, PD.]

“Of course, I know. I heard it’s still being built…”

[It’s being pre-inspected next week.]

“Pre-inspected? What is that?”

[It’s when the homeowner can look around to check for any problems before moving into the apartment.]

“Oh, oh!”

As soon as she heard Woo-jin’s words, PD Gong Jin-young started thinking quickly.

“But CEO Seo, if we want to film during the pre-inspection, don’t we need to get permission from the construction company?”

“Of course.”

“Hmm. I wonder if the business department could handle that…?”

“If you wish, I can connect you with the construction company.”

“Really?”

“Yes. The construction company for that apartment is a big construction company, and I’m quite close with them.”

“Jackpot!”

“So, ask Suha about it, but be careful. Just don’t mention that I told you.”

“Oh, okay! Great! Thank you, CEO Seo. This looks like a really good angle.”

Gong Jin-young wondered why Woo-jin was suddenly offering this information, but she didn’t care too much. Footage is footage! Who cares why he’s helping?

She had been suffering a splitting headache from the lack of pre-recorded footage.

The content of main panelist Im Suha acquiring a new home was an excellent subject, enough to fill several episodes quite amusingly.

But Woo-jin’s story didn’t end there.

Woo-jin also had a request.

“In return, PD, could I ask a favor as well?”

“What is it? If it’s something I can do, of course…”

“When you go for the pre-inspection filming, please promote my name as much as possible.”

“Pardon? Promote your name, CEO?”

“I designed the promotional hall and created all the architectural models when it first opened.”

“Oh…! Wow!”

“If you search, there should be quite a few articles from then. Please attach those materials and mention my name a lot.”

From PD Gong’s perspective, Woo-jin’s request was not difficult at all.

After all, the program that first made Woo-jin famous was her popular TV show, and most viewers remembered Woo-jin.

Mentioning Woo-jin as a key figure in the program would actually help generate interest and benefit the program.

‘Looking at the viewers’ bulletin board these days, there are many comments asking when CEO Seo will appear again…’

So, Gong Jin-young immediately nodded.

“That’s not difficult at all. Is that all you need?”

“Yes, that’s all.”

“Hehe. Okay, CEO Seo.”

“Thank you, PD. I’ll treat you to a meal soon.”

“Okay. Great. We’ll set the appearance date while eating, right?”

“Perhaps… that might be the case.”

“Keeuh! Jackpot!”

Gong Jin-young, who was on the phone with Woo-jin, clenched both fists and cheered. Jackpot! This is exactly what I needed! My boss will be so happy!

If Woo-jin made an appearance at the end of the season, it seemed like they could finish it off cleanly.

“Thank you, CEO Seo. Then, see you soon!”

“Well, I have some work to do, so I’ll be going now… I’ll contact you again, PD!”

“Okay, give me a call.”

Click-

However, even until the moment she hung up, Jin-young seemed completely uninterested in why Woo-jin had made such a request.

After hanging up, Woo-jin leaned back in the passenger seat.

Then, Jin-tae, who was holding the steering wheel, asked Woo-jin.

“Who was it?”

“PD Gong Jin-young.”

“From her popular TV show?”

“That’s right.”

Woo-jin was on his way to City Hall with Jin-tae today for the integrated design presentation.

Originally, the presentation venue was set in the auditorium of a high school, but the Seoul Metropolitan Government suddenly changed the location to City Hall.

The other presenters didn’t know the reason, but Woo-jin knew very well. It seems Elder Jongho has made a move.

The plan was to move the presentation to City Hall. They would film it and put it online on Seoul City’s social media. This was to make it popular.

The one who first conceived of that plan was none other than Woo-jin.

And calling PD Gong today was also part of this plan.

“What were you talking about with the PD?”

“Oh, it was nothing much. I just gave her a call to say hello after a long time.”

“It didn’t sound like that kind of conversation…”

“Hehe. It’s a bit complicated to explain now, I’ll tell you everything after the presentation.”

“If you say so.”

Today’s presentation will probably be posted very plainly on the official social media account of Seoul City.

Before Woo-jin left for City Hall today, the Seoul Metropolitan Government had already sent a letter of cooperation to all participating companies.

However, the presenters from other participating companies, except for Woo-jin, would think that this was not a big deal.

Seoul City’s official social media was still small, with only a few thousand followers.

It was clear that these public institutions’ social media were still in a situation where it was difficult to have an impact.

They would just think of it as part of bureaucratic administration.

And if the variable of Woo-jin was missing, there was a high probability that it would actually turn out that way.

‘If I don’t take action separately, it might be buried…’

So, today’s contact with PD Gong was also part of the design to make the embers that Woo-jin was now stoking burn even more fiercely.

The more the name ‘Seo Woo-jin’ was mentioned to the public, the more followers his social media account would gain.

If he directly scraped the Seoul City post and shared it with his followers, that would lead to an impact.

Woo-jin was planning to inform as many people as possible about his designs and plans that he had prepared over the past few months through social media and media.

It was a bonus to promote the works of other companies that would be presenting together.

How superior WJ Studio’s design was compared to them.

Woo-jin’s ultimate goal was to prove that in front of the citizens of Seoul.

‘To do that, the first thing I need to do is give the best presentation I can at today’s presentation.’

Screech-

While Woo-jin was thinking this, the car driven by Jin-tae arrived at the City Hall parking lot.

Then, the employee sitting in the back seat carefully said to Woo-jin.

“CEO, we have arrived.”

“Ah, we’re already here. Let’s get out.”

Woo-jin, who got out of the car, packed the bag containing the presentation materials and slowly began to move. He smiled slightly, his eyes bright and focused. He was confident.

He was confident that he would be able to cleanly clean up the unexpected dirt buried on the plate he had set up, starting with today’s presentation.