Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 66

For university students, the end of final exams means the start of summer vacation.

And Woojin, like the other university freshmen, was about to enjoy his first summer break.

Actually, Woojin’s vacation was delayed because of his work on a special design project for the city.

His classmates had already stopped coming to school since the beginning of July.

Woojin stretched his arms high above his head. “Finally! Is this really the start of vacation?”

Soyeon rolled her eyes, but smiled. “You’ve been relaxing all week! Don’t pretend you were working so hard.”

Woojin chuckled. “Hey! Don’t criticize my hard work!”

“Whatever!” Soyeon laughed. “It’s finished today! Freedom for you, Mr. Panel Fairy!”

“Yes! Freedom!” Woojin cheered. “No more computer design work for a long time!” He leaned back in his chair, looking truly relieved.

Woojin and Soyeon were still coming to school for the final design coordination for the nursing home project.

The computer design work Soyeon mentioned referred to the detailed drawings and designs they were doing.

Finally, that entire process was finished.

Basically, the design work with all the companies building the nursing home was finished. This included the Seoul Design Foundation and Chunwoong Construction.

Now, Woojin had nothing more to do with the project until construction officially began.

‘Even when one thing ends, I can’t seem to catch a break. There’s a lot of model work to do…’

He wanted to hire a couple more people, but it wouldn’t be possible to put them to work right away.

So, Woojin started to ask Soyeon about her plans.

Even if she wasn’t as skilled as Seokhyun, Soyeon was good enough to be immediately useful in making architectural models.

“Hey, Han Soyeon, if you’re tired of computer work, how about doing some hands-on model making?”

“What are you talking about? I’m going to enjoy true freedom! It’s the start of a happy vacation. Don’t say such scary words like work!”

Woojin shrugged. “Well, I was going to hire you as an intern at WJ Studio… Never mind if you don’t want to.”

“In… tern?”

“Good pay, with lunch and dinner provided. And extra pay on days when we get a model order.”

“……!”

“I think it’s a pretty good deal, but if you don’t like it, I’ll have to look for another part-timer at a cheaper rate…”

Before Woojin could finish, Soyeon quickly took Woojin’s hand in both of hers, holding it tightly.

There was no need to think about it.

The pay Woojin offered was almost 1.5 times higher than her usual part-time job as an art academy assistant, which was the best-paying job she had.

“Mr. CEO, when should I start?”

“Hmm…? I thought you were going to enjoy a happy vacation?”

“What could be happier than making money?”

Since her late teens, Soyeon had always worked part-time.

The support from her father, whom she didn’t even know, wasn’t enough as her younger siblings grew older.

And she had to cover her grandmother’s nursing home expenses as well.

Soyeon had to earn a lot of money every month.

She was planning to take it easy this vacation, just like she told Woojin.

The money she got from the contest was a lot, even after taxes.

‘So I was thinking of taking a break for the first time in a while…’

But the amount Woojin offered made her forget about taking a break.

“But it’s 12 hours of work a day, is that okay?”

“I can do up to 16 hours, Mr. CEO.”

“No, you’ll collapse if you work like that.”

“I can do it, Mr. CEO.”

“No way. I don’t want to lose a great worker bee.”

Soyeon didn’t know exactly how much the extra pay would be, but even without it, 12 hours of work a day meant a lot of money.

‘If I work hard for just one month…’

She could earn a lot of money a month, more than she had ever earned before!

“Anyway, great. When do you want to start?”

“How about next Monday?”

“Okay. Then start on Monday.”

“Yes!”

But this wonderful job had one big problem…

She had to work with Jayden, who never stopped talking.

Soyeon’s happy face suddenly looked a little sad at Woojin’s words.

“Can’t I just… work in peace, Mr. CEO?”

“No. Go back.”

“Hing……”

Woojin smiled at Soyeon, who was making a pitiful face. “Instead, your number one disciple will be there with you, so he’ll protect you from Jayden.”

Working alone with Jayden in the studio was hard because Jayden kept talking without stopping.

Working alone with him meant she had to listen to all of his chatter by herself.

So, having someone there to take over that chatter was more important than she thought.

Soyeon, who had been confused by Woojin’s words, realized what he meant and sighed in relief.

“Seokhyun… Oppa?”

“Bingo.”

“Whew… That’s a relief.”

But Soyeon’s calm was about to disappear again.

“By the way, Han Soyeon, what do you think of Seokhyun?”

“W-what are you talking about?”

“You said you were going to get a boyfriend. Seokhyun is a university student and a follower of you…”

“What?”

Without even realizing it, Soyeon slapped him on the back.

Whack-!

Soyeon’s palm hit Woojin’s thin shirt.

“Ah! Why did you hit me!”

“Oppa, you need to be hit more.”

“Why! No, why all of a sudden!”

Soyeon grabbed one of Woojin’s arms and kept hitting his back.

“Ah, I get it! I get it! I didn’t know you hated Seokhyun that much!”

“What? Looks like the beating wasn’t enough. Let’s hit you more, Seo Woojin.”

“Aargh!”

“Euaaah!”

While So-yeon was very angry with Woo-jin, she was thinking about something else.

‘This won’t do. I need to find someone to introduce to Seok-hyun Oppa. If I want to stop Seo-woo-jin from having useless thoughts, I need to have Seok-hyun Oppa meet him quickly.’ (Oppa is what girls in Korea call an older brother or male friend they are close to.)

So-yeon was especially annoyed with Woo-jin today.

After school, Woo-jin took the same public transport as So-yeon.

So-yeon lived in Seongsu-dong, a neighborhood in Seoul. They usually went home the same way. But today, they went even further together.

“Oppa, are you taking Line 2 all the way today?”

“Yeah. I have some business to take care of.”

“Where?”

“Songpa-gu.”

“What are you going there for?”

“That’s a secret.”

“Ugh, why is he always so secretive?”

So-yeon grumbled and got off first at Seongsu Station.

After saying goodbye to So-yeon, Woo-jin went straight to Jamsil Station and changed to Line 8.

Woo-jin went to Songpa-gu, to Munjeong-dong.

He had an appointment to meet Mr. Kim, the real estate agent in Munjeong-dong, after a long time.

There was a simple reason Woo-jin was meeting Mr. Kim.

“Are you saying a buyer is interested at the price I set?”

“Yes, sir.”

He was going to sell the Seyoung Apartment, which he had bought through Mr. Kim about two months ago.

“Hmm. I didn’t expect a buyer so soon. I thought it wouldn’t sell until August……”

Woo-jin had only listed the Seyoung Apartment with Mr. Kim’s agency, not with any others.

Because Mr. Kim was good at his job, Woo-jin trusted him.

Mr. Kim also thought Woo-jin was a VIP, so he paid close attention to him.

Woo-jin’s deals were not as big as other customers, but his investment skills were better than anyone else Mr. Kim knew.

“So, about that, sir,”

“Yes, Mr. Kim.”

“Even though a buyer is interested, what about waiting a little longer?”

“Until August? Or September?”

“No, until… winter.”

“Why?”

Mr. Kim took out a booklet about the Seyoung Redevelopment Association and began explaining to Woo-jin again.

“The emergency committee is almost gone, so the redevelopment is speeding up a lot, just like you thought.”

“Hmm.”

“I think the decision about how to manage the redevelopment will come out around November… If you wait until then, you can make about four or five ‘small ones’ more.”

Mr. Kim meant about 40 to 50 million won by ‘four or five small ones’ (in Korean money, that means 40 to 50 million won).

Woo-jin had bought the Seyoung Apartment for about 590 million, and the current selling price was 850 million.

If 50 million more was added, the price would be almost 900 million.

He had already made a big profit of 250 million in just two months, but 50 million was still a good amount of money.

But Woo-jin shook his head at Mr. Kim.

He agreed that the price would rise by 50 million more, but he still wanted to sell now.

“You’re right, Mr. Kim, but I’m still going to sell it now.”

“Yes?”

Woo-jin smiled at Mr. Kim, who looked a little surprised, and spoke again.

“The price is already very high, almost at the peak. I don’t need to wait for it to reach the absolute highest point to sell.”

“Hmm……”

“We need to leave some for the next person. The person who buys after me needs to have something to eat, too, don’t they? (It’s like saying you should leave some profit for others, like leaving food for birds.)”

Mr. Kim was speechless when he heard Woo-jin’s words.

His words about leaving some profit for the next investor sounded sincere.

‘He can earn that much anyway, even if he invests in something else.’

Mr. Kim felt Woo-jin’s calm attitude and was impressed.

Woo-jin was one of the most impressive investors Mr. Kim had met in his decades of real estate business, even without considering Woo-jin’s young age of twenty.

‘If I told people that someone made 250 million in two months from Seyoung Apartment… who would believe it?’

The profit of 250 million that Woo-jin had earned in two months would have shocked other investors if they knew.

If the real estate market was doing well, it would be normal.

But now, the market was so bad that some people thought buying real estate was crazy.

Of course, Woo-jin was able to make a big profit because of the special situation of the ‘lawsuit’ against the redevelopment association.

He was able to see how things would go.

“Hmm. If that’s what you want, I will sell it.”

“Thank you.”

“The account is the same as last time, right?”

“That’s right.”

Mr. Kim admired Woo-jin for a moment, then quickly made some calls before sitting down again.

Now, all he had to do was wait for the buyer to contact him and deposit the money into Woo-jin’s account.

“By the way, sir.”

“Yes, Mr. Kim.”

“If you get your money back this time, do you have another investment in mind?”

Woo-jin smiled as he saw Mr. Kim’s excited eyes.

Woo-jin did have another investment in mind, and he was planning to put all the money he got this time into it.

“You’re sharp, aren’t you?”

“Haha. I can tell right away.”

Mr. Kim smiled knowingly and started talking again.

“May I ask where it is? Maybe Duncheon? Or near Sincheon Station……?”

Woo-jin saw Mr. Kim’s hopeful expression, but he couldn’t give him what he wanted.

He wasn’t going to invest in an apartment this time.

“You’re all wrong about where I’m thinking. Haha.”

“Oh, so it’s not Songpa-gu?”

Woo-jin nodded.

“Yes. It’s not Songpa-gu, and it’s not an apartment.”

“Yes……?”

Woo-jin chuckled at Mr. Kim’s confused look and pointed to a place on the map with his finger.

“I’m going to invest in Seongdong-gu, Seongsu-dong this time.”

“Seongsu?”

“To be exact, it’s here… a building called ‘Knowledge Industry Center’ that is being built near Seoul Forest, a park in the city.”

“……?”

Mr. Kim looked at the place Woo-jin pointed to again, but he still didn’t understand.

Woo-jin had expected this reaction and laughed to himself.

Golden Print