Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 235

Mr. Kim, a member of the Seongsu Development Group, went to City Hall today.

He was there to see a presentation of the design for what would become his future home.

Actually, until six months ago, he had been very much against this development project.

Even though it was old, the Seongsu area was where he had lived his life, filled with decades of memories.

The thought of tearing everything down and building new things was hard for Mr. Kim, who was over seventy years old.

So, as someone who lived in District 1, he had been part of the opposition group, constantly fighting against the project until last winter.

That was until he met a man named Kwak Hong-sik.

“Sir, why are you against this development project?”

“Well, I don’t want to see this place, filled with my life and memories, destroyed.”

“Why do you think your memories will be destroyed?”

“…….”

“Replacing the old with the new, and making things more convenient… Couldn’t you think of that as part of your memories too?”

Until then, the people from the association who had tried to persuade him only talked about the money.

They would give examples of other areas that had been developed, and talk about how much Mr. Kim’s house would be worth if it was rebuilt as a new apartment.

Of course, money is important in a development project.

Mr. Kim knew that, and he was also against the project because he felt it was unfair to those with smaller properties.

But more than that, Mr. Kim was disappointed in these people who only cared about the money.

“Eventually, the development will happen, and if you don’t agree, you’ll be the only one who loses out, sir.”

“I don’t care.”

“Are you going to keep refusing until you’re forced to sell your home?”

“I wish you would leave my house.”

So, he had been refusing the development until the end, and he didn’t think that would ever change.

But one day, a man named Hong-sik came and changed his mind.

“Old memories are only yours. You can’t pass them on to your children.”

“Hmm…”

“But if you accept change and new things as part of your memories, it will become another memory for your children.”

“Haha.”

Once he started to open up, he began to listen to the details about how the project would make money.

“Do you know about the famous Cheongdam Seonyeong Apartments across the river?”

“Ah, yes, I know it. I heard they started building it recently?”

“It’s still being built, but if you look at this brochure, they’re building a really wonderful apartment.”

“Heh…”

“And I was in charge of the association for those Cheongdam Seonyeong Apartments.”

“Is that really true?”

“I will make the Seongsu area as wonderful as the Seonyeong Apartments.”

“……!”

“How about trusting me and leaving it to me?”

Maybe it was because Kwak Hong-sik was about the same age as Mr. Kim.

Or maybe it was because he seemed so sincere.

Mr. Kim finally signed the agreement and decided to trust Hong-sik.

Like the new Clio Summit Apartments being built where the Cheongdam Seonyeong Apartments used to be.

He started to hope that the Seongsu area could also be rebuilt into something just as amazing.

That’s why Mr. Kim was here today.

Just as he loved the old Seongsu-dong where he had lived until now.

Now, he also felt excitement for the future Seongsu-dong that would be rebuilt.

In a way, this was a place where he could see the beautiful future Seongsu-dong that Hong-sik had talked about.

‘Seo Woo-jin. That’s the person Director Kwak was talking about.’

Also, since he had heard a little about Woo-jin beforehand, Mr. Kim was really looking forward to the presentation.

And Mr. Kim was seeing even more than he had expected today.

The first picture flashed onto the screen – a view from above. Mr. Kim gasped. It was breathtaking. The new buildings looked like shining towers, but not all the same height. They rose and fell like gentle hills, fitting perfectly with the curve of the Han River and the distant Namsan Tower.

Seo Woo-jin’s voice filled the room, “We made sure that as many homes as possible will have a beautiful view of the Han River. We wanted the buildings to look good not just up close, but also from far away, like part of the city itself.”

Mr. Kim felt a warmth spread through him. This designer had really thought about the people who would live here, about *him*. ‘If it really looks like that,’ he thought, his heart lifting, ‘almost everyone will have an amazing view.’ He could almost picture himself sitting on a balcony, looking out at the river sparkling in the sun.

Of course, when he first heard that the facilities for everyone in the apartment area had to be open to the public, he was a little worried.

“By connecting the Han River Park, which has been made bigger by building a tunnel for the Gangbyeonbuk-ro road, and the land donated by the development association… We’ve created a huge water park, like you only see in big entertainment places.”

However, as he listened to the explanation with good reasons, he had to nod in agreement.

“We will need to discuss it more with the Seoul government, but the water park will be run by the apartment company, but it will cost money to use. Since it’s built on government land, it will be open to all Seoul citizens as well as residents. Of course, it won’t be free. The apartment will need to make more than the cost of running it to make it worthwhile.”

“Some facilities that can be useful in the Han River Park, like bicycle rentals and large cafe lounges, will also be open to the public.”

“And the money made from these facilities can be used to pay for apartment maintenance.”

“Of course, the prices will be relatively low because they will be public facilities. So, it will be hard to make a lot of money to cover all the apartment maintenance costs… But it will help to reduce the amount residents have to pay.”

“If you estimate carefully how much money the complex and the water park will make, you’ll see that each household will pay less than 2,000 won per square meter for maintenance.”

“And I want to say that this is a very careful estimate.”

“Also, residents will be able to use all these facilities at a much lower price than people who don’t live there.”

“Seoul citizens will be happy to use the facilities that are run well by the apartment company at a low price, and residents will be happy to pay less for maintenance. This is a win-win situation for everyone.”

“And the designs I’m showing you now… This is a special design that is only possible because of this special design for the Seongsu area, because they are building a tunnel under Gangbyeonbuk-ro.”

“There has never been a project to rebuild an area that is so open to everyone.”

In fact, apartment residents usually don’t want to share their facilities with anyone.

However, most of the construction site is government land connected to the Han River Park, and the data shows how much money the management will make to help pay for apartment maintenance…

So, people started to agree more.

‘If it’s 2,000 won per square meter… Isn’t that about 60,000 won for a medium-sized apartment?’

Also, Woo-jin’s design doesn’t just focus on making everything public.

If the facilities aren’t efficient when they’re public, they are put inside the complex to protect privacy.

Even the path from the water park to the complex was designed so that outsiders can’t get in, completely blocking them from entering the complex.

“We designed a green bridge that connects the Han River Park directly to Seoul Forest, and we made the path so you can get to it from the complex’s pathway.”

“We designed the route so that the community in the complex and the public facilities in the Han River Park can work together, but the benefits are maximized without affecting the privacy of the residential area.”

Of course, it’s true that ordinary people like Mr. Kim can’t understand all of this design just by listening to Woo-jin’s presentation.

But Mr. Kim was sure of one thing.

He could feel how much the designer Seo Woo-jin had thought, worked hard, and put his heart into designing this space for the people who would use it.

‘If it can really be built like that…’

And Mr. Kim wasn’t the only one who felt this way; the other members did too.

More than a hundred members sitting in their seats were watching Woo-jin’s presentation, completely amazed.

The presentation was so good from the start that they were excited for the next one.

‘The design is this good from the beginning… I’m getting more and more curious about the next presentation.’

‘If all the designs are this good, I don’t know which one to vote for.’

However, while some people were happy and excited, others were worried about other things.

Yoo, an official at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, watched the hour-long presentation, completely focused.

As the presentation was ending, he felt a headache coming on.

The reason was the selection of the design office after today’s event.

‘The director told me clearly to support …’

When he first got this request, he thought it wouldn’t be too hard.

He had selected a design office for this kind of public project several times.

He always felt that any office was just okay.

So, he thought that design offices of similar quality would participate in this project too.

He thought it would be easy to choose the design that the bosses wanted from the okay designs.

However, the moment he heard the first presentation from WJ Studio, Mr. Yoo knew.

Even though the other presentations hadn’t started yet, he knew that no work could be better than Seo Woo-jin’s design today.

Mr. Yoo was an official with a lot of knowledge about the construction industry, so he could definitely tell how good Woo-jin’s presentation was.

‘Even when big building companies compete for projects, I have never seen a presentation this good.’

Mr. Yoo sighed deeply.

“Hoo.”

First, he just hoped that the presentation from would be at least 80 percent as good as WJ Studio’s presentation.

‘If it’s someone the bosses already wanted, they’ll try to support them somehow…’

However, Mr. Yoo’s hope was quickly crushed.

“Designer Seo Woo-jin’s presentation was really great.”

“Haha, thank you.”

“If the Seongsu area is completely rebuilt according to the design shown by WJ Studio, it will be a really wonderful place.”

The next presentation after Woo-jin’s was from …

“Now, the next presentation is Kim Jun-ho, an architect from !”

Kim Jun-ho’s face, who walked onto the stage when his name was called, looked worried.

‘Ha…’

Thanks to Woo-jin’s amazing presentation.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was great, and many people were staring at the stage, not leaving their seats.

Most people were looking at Kim Jun-ho with excitement, hoping to see another wonderful design presentation.

However, Mr. Yoo, who was very close to the stage, was sure.

“It’s going to be a disaster.”

He was sure that the man who was now on the stage would be lucky if he could even finish the presentation normally.