Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 288

Jacob, the design team leader at BlackTales, felt uneasy as soon as he opened his eyes that morning.

“What do you mean, sir?”

[What do I mean? I mean exactly what I said, Jacob. An email arrived early this morning saying our design has been selected as one of the final entries!]

“…!”

[The email was sent while it was night in Korea.]

“Umm…”

[Come to think of it, is it morning or dawn in Korea right now? Hmm… I hope I didn’t wake you from a sound sleep, Jacob. I’m sorry.]

Being selected as one of the final entries meant that they had passed the first round of judging.

So, for Jacob, who oversaw the design for the competition, this should have been good news.

But Jacob didn’t look happy at all, even though he had just received what should have been good news on the phone.

The reason was this:

“So… you’re saying we weren’t selected, but we’re just one of the finalists?”

[That’s right.]

“Ahem… I didn’t expect this kind of result…”

[Haha, are *you* worried, Jacob? *You*, the amazing Jacob?]

What Jacob had been waiting for wasn’t just the result of passing the first round.

For private design competitions like this, the winner is often chosen early on, even before the official final round.

Even if the competition guidelines specified a second round of judging, it was common to proceed with all the steps at once for convenience.

In the first place, the companies participating in the competition were all within the 10 companies contacted by LTK Financial Group.

There was no need to divide it into the first and second rounds; the design deemed most suitable and outstanding was selected internally and decided upon.

So, in what case would a second round of judging take place?

It was a method inevitably chosen when it was impossible to determine superiority in the first round of judging.

In other words, it meant that there was an outstanding entry that was difficult to distinguish from BlackTales’ design.

“I’m not worried, sir. Our team’s design was perfect.”

[Haha, is that so?]

“I was just a little taken aback by the unexpected situation. Well, that doesn’t mean the result will change, though.”

Of course, apart from that, Jacob’s thinking was arrogant.

LTK Financial Group was a global company, and the competing companies selected by such a company were bound to be talented design firms.

Jacob thought, *Our design is definitely the best. No one else can compare.*

But this confidence wasn’t unfounded.

Until now, the BlackTales design team had participated in several design competitions larger than this one, and each time they had succeeded in a sole bid.

Moreover, none of the major design firms that Jacob knew of had bid on this competition.

So, Jacob’s pride was a little dented.

‘I thought the result announcement was taking longer than expected….’

If the other designs were mediocre and BlackTales’ design was overwhelming, the competition result would have been announced quickly.

But the result came out today, more than a month after the expected announcement date, which meant that LTK had been deliberating for a long time.

‘No, LTK wouldn’t have been deliberating. They must have hired an outsourcing company to handle the design review.’

Thinking this to himself, Jacob suddenly became curious and asked over the phone:

“Excuse me, sir.”

[Yes, team leader.]

“Do you know which company was in charge of the directing outsourcing for this competition?”

[Why, are you going to lobby them?]

“No, sir. What do you think of this Jacob….”

[Just kidding, Jacob! I know you wouldn’t. Ah, here it is… the company is ALuna.]

“…!”

Jacob’s eyes widened slightly as he listened to the section chief’s story.

‘As expected of a financial company… they really spared no expense.’

ALuna was a very respected design company. Their name meant that the judging was fair and professional.

And the BlackTales section chief on the other end of the receiver also had an interesting voice.

Information about the company that was in charge of the competition review was treated as top secret in order to prevent irregularities in the competition process.

Therefore, the section chief also confirmed the name ALuna for the first time in the email that had just arrived.

Then why was the name of the company in charge, which had been treated as top secret, revealed in this email?

The reason was simple.

Although it was the result of the first competition, most of the participating companies had to receive a notice of disqualification, so it was necessary to inform the participating companies of the company that had reviewed the competition so that they could fully accept it.

The name of the company ALuna had that much credibility in the industry.

“That’s a relief.”

A chuckle leaked out from over the phone at Jacob’s quiet reply.

[Haha, what’s a relief?]

“At least we won’t be judged by incompetent people.”

[ALuna is definitely a company worth acknowledging.]

“Anyway, thank you for calling, sir.”

[You’re welcome.]

“Is the second round schedule in the email?”

[I sent it to you via MMS.]

“Thank you.”

Jacob hung up the phone with the section chief and immediately opened his smartphone to check the section chief’s message.

‘The last week of October….’

He was initially taken aback by the unexpected result, but now Jacob’s eyes were shining.

If ALuna had conducted the review, the design selected as the final entry along with BlackTales was likely to be a design that deserved it.

As the situation turned out, he began to burn with a desire to win.

‘The process is a final presentation followed by an on-site announcement. The location is the LTK Financial Group’s new headquarters in Sinsa-dong, Seoul… The presentation is up to one hour….’

Jacob’s eyes scanned the announcement details. A slow smile spread across his face, chasing away the morning gloom. He threw back the covers and swung his legs out of bed. *Presentation in Seoul, huh? This just got interesting.*

Now it was time to wash up, go to BlackTales’ temporary office in Gangnam, and share the results with his team members.

Today, Woojin met Minseon after quite a long time.

It had been a while since Woojin and Minseon last saw each other. They’d grabbed a quick meal right after the competition ended, but then work had swallowed them whole.

But now that the competition results were out and it was time to prepare for the final competition, he had to meet Minseon, one of the people who had contributed the most to this project.

He was thinking of getting advice on the final competition, but more than that, he wanted to congratulate Minseon on passing the first round and thank her again for her hard work.

“I heard the news, CEO.”

“Haha. You’re fast.”

“I’m personally very fond of this project. I like the results, too….”

“I’m glad you think so. Let’s eat first.”

“Okay. I’m starving right now.”

The two, who had come to the Chinese restaurant where they had first met Minseon, enjoyed their meal while sharing stories about their daily lives.

Even though they were supposed to be relaxing, their talk naturally turned to design.

“The final review is a presentation, right?”

“Yes. That’s what it said in the announcement.”

“You’ll have no problem winning.”

“Why?”

“I’ve been in the industry for over 10 years now, and I haven’t seen many people who speak as well as you, CEO.”

“… You’re too kind.”

Minseon continued with a playful expression as Woojin made an awkward expression.

“No, I’m serious.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever buttered you up that much in front of you, Minseon….”

Minseon chuckled and opened her mouth again.

“Oh, not in that sense… I saw a video of you giving a presentation a while ago.”

“Oh…?”

“The first time I became a fan of CEO Seo was because of the presentation video.”

“I suddenly feel a little hot in the face. I guess it’s just my imagination…?”

“No, your face is red and looks warm.”

“…”

Woojin’s face flushed at Minseon’s unexpected story, but Minseon was just having fun watching him.

Except for times like this, it wasn’t easy to see Woojin’s shy side.

“Anyway, show me the announcement, CEO.”

“The second round announcement?”

“Yes. I heard about it from the design team leader, but the guidelines seem a bit unusual. I’m curious.”

“Oh, just a moment. I’ll send it to you by text.”

As Minseon said, the second round announcement from LTK was quite unusual.

It wasn’t that they could change the design they had proposed in the first round, but there was one more source added on top of that.

It was the Motor Show.

The source of the ‘Seoul Motor Show’, the first exhibition to be held at this Magok Convention Center, was placed on top of the competition.

[The first exhibition at the Magok Convention Center will be the Seoul Motor Show.]

[Please prepare the final presentation by adding an exhibition plan based on the exhibition to the design.]

In fact, it is rare for this kind of topic to come up in an architectural design competition.

This was like the competition organizers virtually deciding on the type of business that would be located in the building to be built, and asking the participating companies to come up with the interior design for that type of business.

Of course, LTK stated that they would pay for the design fee for this design, so Woojin, as a participating company, was not dissatisfied.

It was just a little strange.

‘It’ll be a little easier to give a presentation if there’s a topic.’

Woojin had no way of knowing what *reason* ALuna had for coming up with this topic.

[I can’t choose just one design, Master.]

[Is it that bad?]

[The pros and cons are so clear, and they’re great designs.]

[Ahem….]

[I think we’ll have to have a second review.]

[Will we be able to come to a conclusion in the second review?]

[If we just have them give a presentation as is, I can’t guarantee it.]

[Then what should we do?]

[Let’s deepen the topic a little more.]

[Deepen it….]

Although it has not yet been announced to the public, only two companies were selected for the final review: BlackTales and WJ Studio.

And what ALuna wanted to see in the second review was how deep the two designers’ understanding of ‘exhibition design’ was.

In fact, this may have been a final verification of WJ Studio rather than BlackTales.

Unlike BlackTales, which was already focused on exhibition design, WJ Studio had no exhibition portfolio to the public.

Nevertheless, ALuna, which could not easily give up Woojin’s design, wanted to verify WJ Studio’s capabilities in exhibition design.

Woojin did not catch this intention, but Minseon, who had been reading the competition guidelines carefully, could feel the intention to some extent.

So, after reading all the messages she had received from Woojin, she put her smartphone down on the table and smiled.

“Maybe I can be of a little more help in this review….”

Minseon was already excited at the thought of planning a virtual exhibition on top of the final design of the Magok Convention Center that Woojin designed and Minseon reviewed.