Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 60

Woo-jin knew Kim Ki-tae very well, even though Kim Ki-tae didn’t know him. Woo-jin understood Kim Ki-tae’s true personality better than anyone. ‘How could I forget? I learned the hard way.’

Kim Ki-tae seemed nice to everyone. He smiled and acted friendly. But Woo-jin knew the truth. Kim Ki-tae was incredibly proud and would do anything to win, even cheat. He was like two different people – kind on the outside, but selfish and dishonest inside. Woo-jin remembered when Kim Ki-tae had [**insert a specific example of Kim Ki-tae’s past dishonest action that hurt Woo-jin. Show, don’t just tell.**]. What was worse, Kim Ki-tae never seemed to think he did anything wrong. If you called him out, he would deny it completely. He’d say things like, “Did I do that? You must be wrong!” or “Prove it! You have no proof!” At first, Woo-jin thought he was just lying. But over time, Woo-jin realized it was more than that. Kim Ki-tae seemed to believe his own lies. He looked genuinely innocent when accused, as if he truly couldn’t remember doing anything wrong. It was strange and unsettling. Woo-jin understood then that some people can truly deceive themselves.

‘I really wanted to avoid Kim Ki-tae this time,’ Woo-jin thought. But somehow, they were connected again. They were in the same university department, just in different years. And now, they were both in the same design contest. Woo-jin had won the contest, and Kim Ki-tae had lost. Woo-jin knew Kim Ki-tae wouldn’t take losing easily.

“Kim Ki-tae won’t just forget this,” Woo-jin said to himself. He knew Kim Ki-tae’s personality very well. So, when Woo-jin heard that someone had taken secret photos of his studio, he immediately thought of Kim Ki-tae. ‘Could Kim Ki-tae be behind this?’ Woo-jin wondered. Then he remembered something else. ‘Myungsung Construction… Didn’t I hear that name before in connection with Kim Ki-tae?’ He started to think harder. ‘Yes! In the past, I remember hearing that Kim Ki-tae’s family had some connection to a big construction company.’ A thought sparked in his mind. ‘Could it be Myungsung Construction?’ Suddenly, things started to make sense. He needed to find out if Kim Ki-tae and Myungsung Construction were connected. At first, it was just a guess, but Woo-jin was determined to find real proof.

Woo-jin went to the department office. He needed to find some information about Kim Ki-tae. He walked to the counter where the teaching assistant sat.

The department office was quiet. Only the soft hum of computers could be heard. The teaching assistant, a young woman with tired eyes, looked up as Woo-jin approached.

“Excuse me,” Woo-jin said politely. “Could I use the computer for a moment?”

“Hmm? Sure,” she replied, sounding a bit bored. “Why?”

“Professor Lee asked me to print out the list of students by year,” Woo-jin explained smoothly.

“Oh, okay,” she said, pointing to a computer in the corner. “Use that one.”

Woo-jin sat down and quickly found the list of third-year students. He scanned the names until he found “Kim Ki-tae.” Then, he started looking for other documents related to Kim Ki-tae. He found records of Kim Ki-tae’s family, his high school, and even his middle school. He noted down the name of Kim Ki-tae’s high school. His next plan was to call the high school and pretend to be a university official to get more details about Kim Ki-tae. High school records often had more personal information than university lists. But as he looked at the university records again, something caught his eye.

‘Kim Jin-myung?’ Woo-jin read the name again. ‘Kim Ki-tae’s father is Kim Jin-myung…’ The name sounded familiar. Where had he heard it before? He quickly typed “Kim Jin-myung” into the computer search engine.

He clicked ‘search’ and waited. The results appeared instantly. His eyes widened as he read the first line. “Kim Jin-myung, Managing Director of Myungsung Construction…” Woo-jin froze. He scrolled down, reading more. It was definitely the same name. Kim Ki-tae’s father was a high-ranking executive at Myungsung Construction! Woo-jin leaned back in his chair, a small laugh escaping his lips. “Wow,” he whispered to himself. “This is almost too easy.” It was like all the pieces of a puzzle suddenly clicked into place. ‘Now I understand,’ he thought. ‘Everything makes sense now.’

Now that Woo-jin had one key piece of information, everything else became clearer. He knew Kim Ki-tae’s father was the boss at Myungsung Construction. He could easily imagine how Kim Ki-tae had cheated. ‘He must have used Myungsung Construction’s resources for the contest,’ Woo-jin thought.

Woo-jin looked again at Kim Ki-tae’s design on the contest website. ‘The design itself is okay, maybe Kim Ki-tae did that part himself. But the model and the detailed plans? No way. Those are definitely done by professionals.’ Woo-jin’s mind raced. He had been ready to ignore Kim Ki-tae if he didn’t cause trouble. But Kim Ki-tae had started it by taking photos of his studio. ‘If you want to fight, I’ll fight back,’ Woo-jin thought, his eyes narrowing. He quickly found the website for Myungsung Construction and looked for their newest model house. He found the phone number for the person in charge and dialed it immediately.

The phone rang a few times before a man answered. “Hello, this is Myungsung Construction.”

“Hello,” Woo-jin said, trying to sound confident. “Is this Team Leader Oh?”

“Speaking,” the man replied.

“My name is Park Woo-jin, and I’m calling about supplying architectural models for your model house,” Woo-jin said.

“Architectural models?” Team Leader Oh sounded surprised. “We already have a contract with a company for that.”

“Oh, really?” Woo-jin asked, pretending to be disappointed. “Could you tell me which company it is? I just wanted to know who your partner is.”

Team Leader Oh hesitated for a moment. “It’s… Definos Models.”

“Definos Models,” Woo-jin repeated, as if making a note. “Thank you very much for your time.”

“You’re welcome,” Team Leader Oh said, and hung up.

Woo-jin smiled. ‘Definos Models. Just as I suspected.’ It was too easy to get this information. It seemed like Myungsung Construction wasn’t very careful about keeping secrets. In just half a day, Woo-jin had gathered enough information to cause serious trouble for Kim Ki-tae. ‘Kim Ki-tae, you should have been happy with just winning. That prize was already too much for you.’ Woo-jin started to write a formal letter to the Seoul Design Foundation, explaining everything he had discovered. He carefully listed all the ways Kim Ki-tae had used Myungsung Construction’s help. But even as he wrote, Woo-jin felt uneasy. He had a lot of circumstantial evidence, but not solid proof. Without clear, undeniable evidence, Kim Ki-tae could deny everything and get away with it. Worse, Kim Ki-tae might even accuse Woo-jin of lying and damage *his* reputation. ‘There must be a better way to get real proof,’ Woo-jin thought, frowning at his computer screen.

Woo-jin sat in his small studio, staring at the computer screen. The room was cluttered with design sketches and model pieces. He rubbed his eyes, feeling frustrated. ‘How can I get real proof?’ he wondered. Just then, the door creaked open. Woo-jin looked up. Seok-hyun stood in the doorway, grinning. He was wearing his usual casual clothes, and his hair was slightly messy from working outside.

“Hey, Woo-jin,” Seok-hyun said.

“Yeah?” Woo-jin replied, still feeling worried.

Seok-hyun stepped into the studio, his smile widening. “Looks like you’re thinking hard about something. Can I help?” There was a sly glint in his eyes.

Seok-hyun was very smart. He had gone to the best engineering university in Korea. Woo-jin sometimes forgot how clever Seok-hyun was. Seok-hyun was studying computer engineering. As Woo-jin explained his problem, Seok-hyun listened carefully. Then, he had an idea.

“So,” Seok-hyun said, leaning forward, his eyes bright. “You want to really get back at that senior, Kim Ki-tae, right?”

“Yeah,” Woo-jin nodded. “Something like that.”

“And you’re sure he cheated?” Seok-hyun asked.

“Completely sure,” Woo-jin confirmed. “One hundred percent.”

Seok-hyun grinned, a mischievous look on his face. “Then, how about we hack into his messenger?”

“Messenger?” Woo-jin blinked, surprised. “You mean… his online messages?”

“Think about it,” Seok-hyun continued. “Kim Ki-tae probably used the computers at school to work on his contest project, right?” He paused to explain. “Back then, before everyone had smartphones, people used online messengers a lot to chat on computers. Especially for school projects.”

Woo-jin thought for a moment. ‘Yes, I remember seeing Kim Ki-tae in the computer lab all the time.’ But he still didn’t understand how this helped. “But how can we see his messages?” Woo-jin asked.

“Every computer saves a copy of the messages, in something called a ‘cache file’,” Seok-hyun explained. “It’s like a temporary memory. Even if you close the messenger, the chat history is still saved on the computer for a while.”

“Ah!” Woo-jin exclaimed, finally understanding. “So, if we can get to the computer Kim Ki-tae used, we might find his messages about cheating!”

“Exactly!” Seok-hyun grinned. “Design work like that takes a lot of talking back and forth. If he paid someone to do the model, there will be messages about it. And Kim Ki-tae is probably very picky, so there will be lots of details in the chats.” He paused, thinking. “I wonder which messenger he used…”

“It’s probably KSN Messenger,” Woo-jin guessed. “I think most seniors at school use that.”

“KSN!” Seok-hyun clapped his hands together. “Perfect! That’s even easier!”

“Easier? Why?” Woo-jin asked, confused.

“KSN Messenger’s security is very weak,” Seok-hyun explained, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s like a simple lock that anyone can open. Getting into the ‘cache file’ of KSN Messenger is like child’s play for me.”

“Really?” Woo-jin was still a little unsure. Could it really be that easy to see someone else’s private messages? Seok-hyun looked completely confident.

“Don’t worry,” Seok-hyun said, winking. “Just find out which computer Kim Ki-tae used. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Woo-jin and Seok-hyun went to the university computer lab. Woo-jin found an empty computer in the corner and they sat down. The lab was quiet because it was the weekend and the contest was over.

The computer lab was a large room filled with rows of computers. The air smelled slightly of dust and old electronics. Seok-hyun sat down and started typing quickly on the keyboard. “Messenger companies don’t usually spend a lot of effort on security,” he explained as he worked. “Because most people don’t send super secret messages on messenger. So, they only put in basic security.” He typed for a while, lines of code flashing on the screen. Woo-jin watched, feeling a mix of nervousness and excitement. He didn’t really understand what Seok-hyun was doing, but he trusted him. After about an hour, Seok-hyun frowned. “It’s taking longer than I thought to find the right files,” he muttered. Woo-jin started to feel impatient. What if they couldn’t find anything? What if Kim Ki-tae had deleted his messages? Seok-hyun kept typing, his fingers flying across the keyboard. Then, suddenly, he stopped. “Aha!” he exclaimed. “I found it!”

Seok-hyun opened a simple text program on the computer. “Here it is,” he said, pointing to the screen. “Kim Ki-tae’s chat history.” Woo-jin leaned closer, his heart pounding. They scrolled through the messages together. At first, it was just normal student conversations. Then, they started to see messages that looked suspicious. Messages about design work, about models, about payments. And then, they found it. Clear messages from Kim Ki-tae asking someone to create a model for him, discussing prices and deadlines. The messages were full of details about the contest project. “Look at this!” Woo-jin whispered, pointing to a message. “He’s even sending instructions about the design!” The evidence was undeniable.

Seok-hyun grinned at Woo-jin. “Heh heh. Is this enough to take him down?”

Woo-jin ruffled Seok-hyun’s hair, a wide smile spreading across his face. “Enough? It’s perfect. It’s more than enough.” He quickly copied the chat history onto a USB drive he had brought. Then, they left the computer lab, walking quickly back to the studio. Woo-jin felt a surge of relief and satisfaction. The puzzle was complete. He had the proof he needed.