Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 270

Three years is not a short time.

But Woojin had lived those three years faster than most.

He had been at K University for three years. In that time, he had also built WJ Studio into a successful company. It felt like he had been running non-stop.

Woojin drove towards the university, the steering wheel smooth under his hands. It had been a long time since he’d been on campus. A strange feeling washed over him – a mix of familiarity and something new.

“Already my final year,” he thought, surprised. It felt like just yesterday he was a nervous freshman. But since his third year, university had become a place he visited only now and then, his company, WJ Studio, taking up most of his time.

A pang of regret tugged at him. Had he missed out on the real university experience? The easy days, the friendships… he’d been so focused on work, had he forgotten to live this part of his life?

“Looking back, I wonder if I’ve been running too hastily since I was a freshman… I could have enjoyed my school days a bit more.”

For Design students, the idea of a relaxed university life was almost a joke. They were always working hard.

If Woojin’s classmates, who diligently attended school, knew what he was thinking, they would have showered him with curses.

Woojin’s life now was a dream for almost all his classmates.

To other students, Woojin’s thoughts might have sounded like mere whining.

Woojin was going to school around 10 a.m., a little after the rush hour, so the road was relatively quiet.

Having arrived at school earlier than expected, Woojin parked his car and entered the campus.

Today was Monday, March 4th.

It was the first day of the new semester and the day of the freshmen’s entrance ceremony, so the school was quite crowded.

A pleasant smile appeared on Woojin’s face as he spotted the freshmen heading to school with excited faces.

Seeing their bright, hopeful faces, Woojin felt a strange mix of envy and nostalgia. Had he been that excited once? It felt like a lifetime ago.

“Those were the days, those were the days.”

As soon as he arrived at school, the first place Woojin headed to was the office of Professor Yoon Chi-hyung, the head of the department.

Now aware of his fame, Woojin carefully made his way to the department office, trying not to be noticed by the students. The person who greeted him was a senior from the class of ’08, who had become the department assistant this year.

She had been the class representative of the graduating class when Woojin was a freshman.

“Wow, who is this? Isn’t it Woojin?”

“Senior Hyeyeong, you’re a teaching assistant?”

“It just happened. Hee hee. It’s good because I can save on graduate school tuition.”

“Oh, that’s great, Senior.”

“Being a TA is kinda fun, actually. Get to see all the famous faces in the department, you know?”

“Celebrity? Is the professor inside?”

“He went to a department meeting for a bit, but he’ll be back soon. Go on in.”

“Yes, Senior.”

“Shall I make you a cup of coffee?”

“You don’t have to go that far…”

“No, I have to make one for the professor anyway, and I was going to have one too. How about a warm Americano?”

“Sounds good. Thank you.”

Hyeyeong wasn’t a senior that Woojin was particularly close to, but she was the type to be friendly with all the juniors, perhaps because she had been the class representative.

So, Woojin exchanged friendly greetings with her without any awkwardness and went into the reception room next to the department head’s office to sit down first.

Soon, Hyeyeong brought out two cups of warm coffee, and as he took a sip, Professor Yoon Chi-hyung arrived.

“Wow, it’s our Woojin! You look even more handsome than the last time I saw you!”

Professor Yoon Chi-hyung, upon discovering Woojin, smiled brightly, showing his teeth.

Having met one of his most cherished students after a long time, he couldn’t help but feel good.

“Professor, how have you been?”

After exchanging pleasant greetings, the two sat facing each other on the plush sofa.

The reason Woojin came to school on the first day of the semester wasn’t actually because of classes.

After briefly quenching their thirst with coffee, the two soon began their conversation.

It had been quite a while since the two had met face to face like this, so their conversation started with everyday things.

Woojin found it quite interesting to hear about the department’s affairs from Chi-hyung, and conversely, Chi-hyung had many questions about what had been happening to Woojin recently.

“Professor, you must be in a good mood these days?”

“Why?”

“I heard from Seonbin that you won against S University this year?”

“Won? Ah…! The department preference ranking?”

“Yes. Even the younger students preparing for the design department want to come to our school more than S University these days… Haha.”

But those conversations didn’t last that long.

“Anyway, you said you had something urgent. Is it okay for us to just be chatting like this?”

The biggest reason Woojin came to school today was because of Chi-hyung’s call.

Chi-hyung had called Woojin a few days ago, saying he had something important to discuss and asked him to make some time.

“Ah, I was just about to bring it up.”

“What is it?”

“First, before I explain…”

“…?”

“Does your company, Woojin, have any portfolio in exhibition design?”

“Pardon? Exhibition?”

Chi-hyung, pausing for a moment at Woojin’s question, took out a file from the bookshelf next to him and handed it to Woojin instead of answering.

“Take a look at this first.”

And on the cover of the file, the words <2017 International Motor Show> were boldly written.

‘Motor Show…?’

Woojin didn’t like cars as much as Seokhyun or Jayden.

But he was somewhat interested in cars, so he began to be curious about the words .

‘If it’s the 2017 Motor Show… it must be the Seoul Motor Show.’

The largest motor shows held in Korea are the Seoul Motor Show and the Busan Motor Show.

Among them, the motor show held in odd-numbered years was the Seoul Motor Show, so Woojin could guess just by looking at the year.

With half expectation and half curiosity, Woojin slowly turned the file over and began to read the contents.

Professor Yoon Chi-hyung sipped his coffee and quietly watched him.

And Woojin, turning the first page of the file, widened his eyes for a moment.

‘Hmm…?’

From the first page of the exhibition proposal, he was able to find content he had not expected at all.

[Exhibition Location: Newly built exhibition hall at Magok District M-TEC (Magok Trade Exhibition Center). (Scheduled for construction)]

Woojin wracked his brains for a long time to dredge up memories of his past life.

‘Has the Seoul Motor Show ever been held anywhere other than Kintex?’

In Woojin’s previous life, the Seoul Motor Show was, in fact, just the Ilsan Motor Show held at Kintex in Ilsan, only in name.

Of course, the motor show had been held at COEX until the early 2000s, but since 2005, the motor show had always been held in Ilsan.

The reason was nothing else.

Even ten years ago, COEX’s exhibition space was already saturated, and it was especially cramped for exhibitions that required a large area, such as motor shows.

In addition, Kintex, which was closer to Incheon and Gimpo cargo airport terminals, was more convenient in many ways for holding international motor shows, so there was no reason to return to COEX after it was held at Kintex in 2005.

So, Woojin was very unfamiliar with this Magok exhibition hall called M-Tec, which was neither Kintex nor COEX.

No matter how much he searched his memories of his past life, the Seoul Motor Show had never been held at the Magok exhibition hall.

It seemed that the butterfly effect brought about by Woojin’s regression was gradually changing the future flow more significantly.

‘It’s fun… but also a little scary.’

Woojin, more interested than surprised, began to read the file carefully.

Why this proposal came through Professor Yoon Chi-hyung.

And why Professor Yoon Chi-hyung was showing this proposal to Woojin.

He had more than one or two questions, but first, he should read the contents of this file.

And because the contents in the proposal were quite interesting, Woojin read it smoothly.

[ is one of the largest exhibitions among international exhibitions.]

[Therefore, in order to increase international recognition by holding it on a larger scale within Seoul, befitting its name…]

[Since the exhibition capacity of existing exhibition halls in Seoul, such as COEX, SETEC, and AT Center, has reached its limit…]

[By allocating approximately 98,000㎡ of exhibition space to the Magok New Town’s district unit development plan (Special Plan Zone 3), the aim is to disperse the demand for saturated exhibition halls in Seoul.]

The planning file that Yoon Chi-hyung handed over was a detailed plan that included even urban planning blueprints.

The title alone was a proposal for the 2017 Seoul Motor Show, but the document also included the architectural plan for the Magok M-Tec Convention Center.

So, Woojin was quite surprised several times as he checked the contents.

Among them, he was most surprised by the size of this exhibition hall, because it was much larger than Woojin had expected.

‘It’s almost 100,000 square meters? At this size, it’s not small compared to Kintex?’

Woojin knew that COEX’s area was less than 40,000 square meters.

So, he thought that even if they were planning a new exhibition hall in Seoul, it wouldn’t exceed 50,000 to 60,000 square meters at most, but he was naturally surprised that more than 100,000 square meters of land had been allocated.

‘If it’s completed well, it’ll be really cool…’

Woojin became more and more absorbed in the proposal.

It was just a complex business plan that most people would lose interest in after skimming through it for a few seconds.

But from Woojin’s point of view, who could draw a picture just by looking at the rough figures, there was no document as interesting as this proposal.

Woojin, looking at the proposal, was already imagining the building that would be built on the site.

[If the Seoul International Motor Show, which can attract more than 1 million tourists, is held as the first exhibition of the newly established Magok M-Tec, it will greatly help to promote the new convention center internationally.]

[Therefore, the design plan will be finalized by May 13, and the groundbreaking date will be set before winter.]

He hadn’t read the entire proposal, but Woojin had been reading the file for almost 30 minutes.

So, when he had read all the way to the last page,

Woojin’s eyes were already sparkling.

Just as he was starting to get bored, Woojin closed the file, and Chi-hyung opened his mouth towards Woojin as if he had been waiting.

“Did you see it all?”

“Yes, I saw it all.”

Woojin belatedly took a sip of the coffee that had gone cold.

He then began to ask Chi-hyung what he had been curious about.

“Where did you get this, Professor?”

“Where did I get it?”

“It seems like a confidential document that hasn’t even been officially announced yet.”

“That’s right.”

“I’m asking because I’m curious, since I don’t think you’re involved, Professor.”

Chi-hyung smiled and explained at Woojin’s question.

“Woojin, you know that my specialty is in exhibition design, right?”

“Yes, Professor.”

“How many exhibition designs do you think I’ve participated in so far?”

“…”

“As you know, the industry isn’t that big?”

“That’s… right.”

“Maybe by now, other people besides me have received the proposal here and there.”

In fact, until a little while ago, Woojin had been dubious.

Why Chi-hyung showed him this proposal.

He couldn’t know the exact truth.

But now he could be sure.

‘I think he’s trying to give me a chance…’

And at that moment when Woojin was thinking that,

Chi-hyung, who had made eye contact with Woojin, smiled and asked again.

“What do you think, Seo Woojin?”

“Yes?”

“Are you tempted?”

The smile on Chi-hyung’s face began to deepen.