Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 51

Soyeon’s Story

The sky was turning a soft purple as evening came to K University’s back gate.

It was early evening, but already eight o’clock.

June was ending, making the days feel longer.

“Five servings of tteokbokki, please!” Soyeon said.

“Just tteokbokki?” the shop owner asked.

“Hmm, and three fried snacks, two fish cake soups… oh! And those cheese sticks are so good here. Three of those too, please!”

Soyeon paid and took the bags filled with delicious food. The spicy smell of the tteokbokki was wonderful, making her mouth water. ‘Woojin oppa is going to be so surprised!’ she thought, humming happily as she walked. The air was starting to cool down.

“Ugh. This tteokbokki smell is seriously amazing… I want to eat it so badly,” she said to herself.

The tteokbokki and snacks were too much for one person.

Soyeon wasn’t buying them for her family.

She was going to visit Woojin’s studio, which she hadn’t done in a long time.

‘I haven’t been to his studio since it opened,’ she thought.

Woojin’s studio was near the school, but Soyeon rarely went there.

Woojin never invited classmates, and lately, he wasn’t there much himself.

Soyeon had asked Jayden about the studio once.

Jayden said it was like a “work prison.”

“Woojin’s studio? That place is like a work prison!”

“But why do you keep going there?” Soyeon asked.

“Because I’m a worker ant, and that place is an ant hell. Woojin works us like crazy! But he’s a good boss, really.”

“…?”

“Once you’re caught by Woojin, who makes people work too hard, it’s not easy to escape. Soyeon, be careful too,” Jayden warned.

[…]

Despite Jayden’s words, Soyeon was happy as she walked to Woojin’s studio.

Today, a project her team had worked on for a month would be finished and shown to the world.

It was a model of a nursing home for a competition.

Woojin had said the model would be done today, so Soyeon planned a surprise visit.

She would see it soon anyway, but she was curious and wanted to see it now.

‘Jayden seemed confident… Well, Woojin oppa made it, so it must be good,’ she thought.

Soyeon hadn’t seen the model because she was designing the panels to go with it.

The panels took a lot of work.

Soyeon had worked as hard as Woojin and Jayden.

“It should be around here… Found it!” Soyeon said, smiling as she found Woojin’s building.

The building was old, with paint peeling off the walls and wooden stairs that creaked. There was no elevator, but Woojin’s studio was only on the second floor, so it wasn’t a problem.

Ding-dong-

Soyeon climbed the stairs and rang the bell.

But no one answered.

Soyeon tilted her head and said quietly, “What’s wrong? Did I come to the wrong place…? That can’t be…”

“Hey, Woojin! We’re in big trouble!” Seokhyun ran to Woojin from another room.

“What is it, Seok-gu? I need to finish this, can’t it wait?” Woojin said.

“No, there’s a problem now!” Seokhyun said.

“What problem?”

“A strange person rang the bell.”

“Strange person?”

“If we open the door, they might take our organs! Or sell us to a shrimp boat!”

Woojin looked surprised. “What are you talking about?”

“An unbelievably beautiful goddess rang our bell!”

“…?”

“It must be for a reason. A pretty girl in this dark studio? Isn’t that right, Jayden?” Seokhyun said quickly, looking for Jayden’s agreement.

Jayden answered calmly, “Seokhyun, maybe people know I’m here. Many girls at K University like me. Just yesterday…”

“Sigh…” Woojin shook his head and walked to the door, not listening to Jayden.

Jayden was always like that, but Seokhyun was starting to act like him too.

They had been staying up all night playing games together.

Seokhyun was becoming like Jayden.

They even said they were soulmates.

“Anyway, a pretty girl. Who could it be?”

Clang-

Woojin opened the door without thinking much.

Then he saw a familiar face and sighed.

He had been hoping for a pretty girl, but it was Soyeon, who he had seen just three hours ago.

Soyeon was pretty, but still.

“Hey! Why did you take so long to open the door?” Soyeon asked.

“Hoo.”

“What’s with that attitude? I even bought tteokbokki! And you sigh when you see me!”

Woojin smiled and took the tteokbokki. He led Soyeon inside.

Woojin ruffled Soyeon’s hair as she glared at him. “Someone here called you a goddess,” he said.

“…?”

“Come in. I’ll introduce you. He seems to be your first fan.”

Soyeon didn’t understand at first, then smiled proudly. “Hehe. Someone in your studio knows what’s up, don’t they?”

“There was an idiot who didn’t know anything,” Woojin replied.

“And the first follower? You’re wrong, oppa.”

“…?”

“How many followers do you think I have?”

“No way.”

“It’s time for you to see how beautiful I am.”

“Please don’t talk like Jayden,” Woojin said.

When Woojin said Jayden’s name, Soyeon’s smile disappeared again.

“You can call him a philosopher, but please don’t compare me to Jayden,” she said.

“Oh no. Not another Jayden in my studio,” Woojin said.

“What does that mean?” Soyeon asked.

“It’s nothing,” Woojin replied quickly.

Woojin brought Soyeon into the room and introduced her to Seokhyun.

It was late, and everyone else had gone home, so only the four of them were in the studio.

Seokhyun had been jumping around excitedly just a few minutes ago, but now he was suddenly very quiet, like someone had surprised him.

“Hey Seokhyun,” Woojin said, “A goddess is here! Why are you so quiet?” Woojin turned to Soyeon.

“Soyeon, this is Seokhyun. He thinks you are very beautiful. He was so excited before, he was almost doing somersaults!”

“No, I wasn’t!” Seokhyun said, his face turning red.

“Guys, please stop it,” he mumbled, looking down.

Woojin and Jayden laughed.

Soyeon felt a little sorry for Seokhyun and gave him a small, kind smile.

“They always joke around like this,” she said to Seokhyun. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay… Yes, okay!” Seokhyun replied quickly.

Woojin smiled at Seokhyun. It was funny to see him act so shy.

Seokhyun was a typical engineering student. He had gone to schools only for boys his whole life, then to engineering college.

He was used to being around only men. So, someone like Soyeon probably seemed like a goddess to him.

“Okay, Goddess Soyeon,” Woojin joked. “Just for today, I will call you ‘Goddess’.”

“What are you doing? Why are you acting like this?” Soyeon asked, laughing a little.

“Because you brought tteokbokki at the perfect time! Actually, I was just thinking about getting something to eat.”

Because of Seokhyun, who was still being teased, Soyeon quickly felt comfortable in the studio.

As Soyeon ate the tteokbokki and talked and laughed loudly with them, she started looking around the studio.

She was having fun, but she had come here for a reason.

“By the way, Woojin,” she said, “where is the model?”

“Ah, Soyeon,” Woojin said, smiling. “I wondered why you came so quickly! You came to see it, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I’m really curious,” she said.

“Wait here,” Woojin said. “Come with me.”

Woojin left Jayden and Seokhyun, who were still happily eating and talking, and led Soyeon to another room.

Soyeon followed Woojin, her eyes wide with excitement.

When she stepped into the room, she stopped and stared.

“Wow…” she whispered.

In the middle of the room, on a table, was the model. It was so amazing, her mouth fell open.

“Is this… our model?” she asked.

“Yes, can’t you tell?” Woojin said, grinning. “We designed it together.”

“Unbelievable… It’s incredible…”

Soyeon knew Woojin was good at making models, but she had never seen anything like this before.

This model was made with so much hard work, from Woojin, Seokhyun, and all the studio staff. They had all worked so hard to make it perfect.

It was no surprise she was so amazed.

Woojin spoke again to Soyeon, who was still staring at the model, completely amazed.

“It’s almost finished,” he said. “There are just a few tiny details left, things you wouldn’t even see unless you looked really closely.”

Soyeon shook her head, still looking at the model.

She hadn’t even thought it might not be finished.

“It looks like a real photograph, Woojin,” she said softly.

Woojin smiled. Soyeon seemed almost in a dream.

“I told you before, remember?” he said. “We are going to win the grand prize in this contest.”

“I thought you were just saying that to encourage us,” she replied, still in awe.

“Are you happy now, Goddess?” Woojin teased.

“I was feeling really moved,” Soyeon said, playfully pushing him. “Did you have to ruin it?”

She moved even closer to the model.

She opened her bag and took out a nice camera she had borrowed from a friend.

The design boards she was working on had empty spaces for photos of the model.

Soyeon wanted to put the photos in right away and finish the design file.

“I told you, it’s not completely finished yet,” Woojin said again.

“Just wait,” Soyeon said, already focusing on the model. “You said the little details don’t matter anyway.”

“Well, even those small things…” Woojin started to say.

“Quiet,” Soyeon said, “and help me take pictures.”

Woojin quickly moved some things out of the way so Soyeon could take photos.

Then, to help her get good pictures, he set up a white screen and some reflectors. This was the equipment Woojin used for his studio’s work.

“Perfect!” Soyeon said, even more excited now.

She spent almost half an hour taking pictures, carefully photographing every part of the model, from every angle.

She turned off the studio lights, turned on small lights inside the model, and took many pictures in the dark too.

After looking at the photos on the camera, she smiled at Woojin.

“Okay, Woojin, I’m going home now,” she said.

“Already?” he asked.

“I need to go home and start working on the photos right away,” she said.

“Seokhyun will be sad if you leave so soon…” Woojin said jokingly.

“I can’t help it. I’m busy! Goodbye!”

Soyeon carefully wrapped the camera like it was precious and put it in her bag.

She quickly said goodbye to Jayden and Seokhyun and left the studio.

Woojin was a little surprised when Soyeon left so quickly, but then he smiled.

‘Being passionate is a good thing,’ he thought.

And so, another day, a little more exciting than usual, ended.

Soon, it was almost the end of June.

Woojin and his friends finished their work on time.

Soyeon worked hard on the design board for the contest, and they uploaded it to the SPDC website.

For this first part of the contest, only the design board was needed, not the model itself. So, the model stayed in Woojin’s studio.

But the model was still important, because the design board included photos of it.

On July 7th, the second Wednesday of July, Woojin, Soyeon, and Jayden all got the same text message on their phones at the same time.

[Seo Woojin, thank you for entering the SPDC contest.]

[Congratulations! You passed the first round. Here is information about the next part of the competition.]

[The SPDC main competition will be at the Seoul Design Foundation building……]

They had never thought they might fail the first round.

But it was still good news to be accepted.

‘The main competition… This is where it really starts,’ Woojin thought.

He smiled as he read the message. They wanted to win the grand prize. And Woojin felt sure they could.

Golden Print