Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 68

Vacation meant not having to go to school, which meant Woojin had much more free time.

Not only were class hours free, but also the time spent on assignments.

Woojin now had much more free time.

Woojin felt like he could finally breathe again.

And today…

It was the day of the most important meeting before moving the company to Seongsu-dong.

Woojin felt a buzz of excitement. Today was the day of the big meeting for Café Fresco.

“Jin-tae, are you free today?”

“Well, I have to go for the final inspection of the MMA store, but that can wait until tomorrow. Why?”

“I’ve got a meeting. I’m a bit hesitant to go alone.”

“Okay, okay, if you need me, I’m there.”

“Prepare the portfolio we’ve put together so far. We’ll take my car.”

“Okay, got it.”

The MMA store was a clothing store in a complex mall, the most recent project WJ Studio had undertaken.

It was a project Jin-tae had secured on his own, without Woojin’s help, and it had recently become a rather lucrative cash cow for WJ Studio’s construction division.

While a single business location didn’t generate a huge profit, the MMA brand was a franchise.

Which meant that additional income would continue to flow in each time a new store opened across the country.

It was a clear confirmation that Woojin’s eye for talent in bringing on Jin-tae had been right.

‘I didn’t expect this guy to handle sales too….’

If Jin-tae hadn’t been there, the construction division would have come to a complete standstill while Woojin was preparing for the competition, but Jin-tae had been more active than Woojin had imagined, firmly establishing a solid foundation.

Jin-tae’s success gave me the confidence to focus on bigger things, like Café Fresco.

‘Café Fresco. I have to win this no matter what.’

In 2010, coffee shops were becoming very popular everywhere.

However, in the future that Woojin knew, all these brands would eventually be pushed aside by foreign coffee brands and mostly collapse.

They focused only on competitively increasing the number of stores and growing in size, so the quality control of the franchises was not maintained, and their competitiveness declined over time.

But there were a few brands that maintained their reputation, forming a considerable fan base even until 2030.

Café Fresco was one of those brands.

‘The coffee here was always top-notch.’

The Café Fresco that Woojin knew wasn’t actually that successful of a brand.

As explained earlier, the coffee market in Woojin’s future was a battleground for foreign franchise brands.

Within that, Café Fresco was merely a domestic brand that maintained its presence by targeting niche markets and a dedicated fan base.

But the reason Woojin rated this brand highly was…

It was because this place, among the coffee brands Woojin knew, was the most faithful to the essence.

The most important essence for a coffee shop was, of course, the taste of the coffee.

Woojin thought that the reason Café Fresco hadn’t succeeded greatly was simply a failure of branding.

He thought Café Fresco had great coffee (the content), but its image and style (the packaging) were not attractive enough.

Which meant…

Conversely, if this part could be resolved, it was a brand with the potential to succeed greatly.

Therefore, Woojin was confident that he could provide considerable help with the branding of this Café Fresco.

One of the most important aspects of café branding was the emotional interior design.

‘If the interior was just a bit better, it could have grown at least twice as much.’

Therefore, if Woojin secured the interior design project here.

And if that judgment proved correct, and Café Fresco could be greatly grown into a major franchise brand.

That would directly lead to the revenue growth of WJ Studio, which had monopolized the interior design.

Each time a store was added, WJ Studio could take on the interior design of that branch, so if nurtured well, it would become a goose that lays golden eggs.

So, this meeting today was one of the big pictures Woojin was drawing.

While moving in Woojin’s car, Jin-tae suddenly remembered something and asked him.

“By the way, Woojin.”

“Yeah?”

“Last time, you said you weren’t interested in coffee shop interiors.”

“Ah, Rosa Coffee?”

“Right. Back then, when I told you I went to a meeting there, you told me not to do it.”

“That was then. This is now.”

“Hmm….”

Woojin couldn’t help but laugh inwardly at Jin-tae’s words.

He couldn’t exactly tell him that Rosa Coffee was a brand that would fail without even launching properly.

“But Woojin, when did you learn to drive?”

“Why?”

“You’re only twenty-two, right?”

“That’s right.”

“I think you drive better than I expected. I thought you’d have a license you never used….”

After chatting and driving with Jin-tae for about thirty minutes, Woojin passed Jayuro and soon entered Goyang City.

The location where the meeting was scheduled was near the first Café Fresco store.

Coincidentally, it was near Samsong Station.

Which meant it was near the Goyang KBC building.

‘Should I contact actress Lim Soo-ha after the meeting….’

Screeeech-

Woojin parked in the spacious public parking lot and moved to the meeting location with the prepared materials.

Jin-tae carefully arranged the portfolio, making sure everything is perfect.

And after a while.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Seo Woojin from WJ Studio.”

“Haha, I expected you to be young from your voice, but I didn’t expect you to be this young. I’m Kang Seok-jung.”

Woojin was able to meet Kang Seok-jung, the founder of Café Fresco, a young man in his late thirties.

The Kang Seok-jung that Woojin knew was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

He was the second son of the president of an NA Group affiliate and the grandson of the chairman of W University.

But this wasn’t exactly information that Woojin knew because he was a returnee.

Even now, in 2010, Kang Seok-jung was quite a famous figure.

‘He was famous as the black sheep of NA Group, ruining everything he touched.’

Kang Seok-jung, who graduated from a famous Ivy League university in the United States, was a very peculiar person.

He wasn’t the type to cause scandals or make trouble like other third-generation chaebols.

Unusually, he had a great desire for business, to the point where there wasn’t a business he hadn’t tried.

The problem, however, was that he had ruined every business before Café Fresco.

But that didn’t mean he had lost a huge amount of money.

As if he were running a business as a hobby and abandoning it when he got tired of it.

Kang Seok-jung was a person who repeatedly opened and closed small businesses.

‘Well, that’s only not a lot of money from a chaebol’s perspective… It must be at least in the billions of won.’

So how could Kang Seok-jung, who got bored so easily, operate Café Fresco for almost twenty years?

Before his regression, Woojin had read an interview with Kang Seok-jung in a men’s magazine.

And there was an answer to this question in that interview.

[I’ve done a lot of different businesses in the food service industry, but what I really love is coffee.]

[When I was studying in the United States, I was really obsessed with coffee.]

[I’ve never really talked about this anywhere… but the café business, like other businesses, has had quite a few crises where it almost failed.]

[But because I love coffee so much, I kept persevering and managed to establish it to this extent.]

One of Woojin’s life philosophies was that when starting a business, you must do something you love.

That way, you can maintain consistency and persevere when things get tough.

In that sense, Kang Seok-jung, who started a coffee business, was a CEO with at least the minimum qualifications.

And Café Fresco was a coffee brand with vision.

Kang Seok-jung, sitting across the table from Woojin, asked one question first.

“How did you find out about our company?”

This first question from Kang Seok-jung was something Woojin had already anticipated.

Woojin had called Seok-jung’s office before even opening Coffee Fresco.

And he had first brought up the story that he was interested in the interior of the brand to be launched.

So Woojin naturally brought out the answer he had prepared in advance.

“Didn’t Leon Bakery close down recently?”

“Hmm…?”

“I thought you would be launching the next brand soon. You’ve done that several times, CEO.”

“Oho.”

Leon Bakery was a bakery that Kang Seok-jung had opened just before launching Café Fresco.

But since it wasn’t a well-known brand, Seok-jung couldn’t help but wear a curious expression.

“To know Leon Bakery… That’s interesting.”

“Is that so?”

“Ah, rather than that, it’s interesting that you knew about me in advance.”

Kang Seok-jung stared at Woojin with an intrigued expression for a moment.

And Woojin’s words continued towards such Seok-jung.

“Well, I didn’t do any special investigation. It’s just that Leon Bakery… Every time I come to Goyang KBC, it’s a bakery I always buy bread from.”

“Really? Was it delicious?”

“I don’t know about other breads, but the bread was delicious.”

Woojin continued to lie (?) very casually without blinking an eye.

He had never been to the Goyang KBC building, nor had he ever bought bread from Leon Bakery.

He was just telling some information he knew from the preliminary investigation he had done while preparing for the meeting.

“I was curious about the reason why it suddenly closed. So, as I searched, I learned a little about the CEO.”

There was nothing particularly suspicious in Woojin’s story, so Seok-jung nodded slowly.

The part that he had contacted him expecting that he would launch a new brand was a little fresh, but he didn’t think that it was a far-fetched guess either.

He had launched as many as three brands in a row before Leon Bakery, and that was not exactly a secret.

“Well, anyway… You contacted me at a very amazing timing, CEO Seo.”

“I think I was lucky. Haha.”

But at that time when they were having a pleasant conversation.

A question that Woojin did not expect popped out of Seok-jung’s mouth.

“But CEO.”

“Yes?”

“If you don’t mind, can I ask you just one more thing?”

Towards Kang Seok-jung, who was asking with a curious expression, Woojin nodded without much thought.

“What is the question?”

A meaningful question flowed out of Seok-jung’s mouth.

“By any chance, CEO… Why do you think Leon Bakery failed?”

“……!”

“Well, you can tell me comfortably. I’m not the type to have regrets about a business I’ve already closed.”

“Hmm… That’s…”

Woojin contacted him first, but anyway, Seok-jung is his client.

And the question that Seok-jung is asking Woojin now was very burdensome to answer in front of the client.

I don’t know what Seok-jung’s tendency is, but I could hurt his feelings if I gave him a straight answer.

‘Hmm. What should I say?’

When Woojin seemed to be worried, Seok-jung smiled and waved his hand again.

“Ah, I think I made it too difficult for you. If it’s difficult to answer, you don’t have to.”

But Woojin shook his head with a smile.

In this short moment.

Woojin had already figured out what answer to give.

“No. I was just worried because I was thinking about what answer to give you.”

“Hmm…?”

Woojin smiled and answered towards Seok-jung, who was making an interesting expression.

“Lack of branding.”

“Yes?”

“The brand Leon Bakery… was an unfinished brand in my standards.”

As soon as Woojin’s words were finished, silence fell in the office for a while.

Jin-tae, who was sitting next to him, was embarrassed and his eyes widened.

‘Are you openly criticizing like this?’

Kang Seok-jung, who was waiting for Woojin’s answer from across the street, was also slightly embarrassed.

‘……!’

But this silence was only for a moment.

Soon, a cheerful laugh flowed out of Seok-jung’s mouth.

“Haha, hahaha.”

He seemed to find this situation very interesting.