Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 78

The second Thursday of August.

It was a hot summer night.

Sweat trickled down Ujin’s forehead, which looked stark white under the makeup and bright lights.

“Cut!”

“That’s a wrap!”

Ujin’s first TV shoot ended with great success on this hot summer night.

“Great job, everyone!”

“Wow, it’s already finished! I thought we’d be here until at least 10 PM.”

“That’s because the show came out so well. We didn’t have to re-shoot anything, did we?”

“I heard that’s Director Gong’s style. He tries to film everything in one take and then works his magic in the editing room.”

“Anyway, this show seems to be off to a good start.”

“Exactly! When I first heard the idea, I wasn’t sure, but this is actually fun to film!”

The shoot took about two hours, but the actual show would probably be less than 20 minutes.

According to Gong Jin-young, the scene at Café Fresco was a short clip for the end of the first episode.

Still, Ujin felt incredibly good.

Ujin smiled. A happy feeling bubbled inside him. It was new and exciting to be on TV. He felt proud of himself and the café.

‘Who knew I’d end up on TV? This is fun, really.’

Ujin hadn’t expected much when he first talked to Lim Suha about it in her car.

But in the end, everything happened just as he had hoped.

And so, he finished his first shoot successfully today.

His friendship with the popular stars Yoon Jaeyeop and Yuria was an added bonus.

“Ujin, you were amazing today.”

“Thank you, Ria.”

“Yeah, Ujin was the best. Let’s work together in the future. Haha.”

“Thank you, Jaeyeop. Thanks to you, the shoot was really comfortable.”

Yoon Jaeyeop seemed very happy, laughing and patting Ujin on the shoulder.

Yuria also looked happy, as if she was pleased with the shoot.

Ujin was able to talk even more with Suha, who he was already friends with.

“Director Seo, I thought you were just an apartment expert… I see you in a new light today, really.”

“Haha, I told you I was confident, Actor.”

Suha laughed. “Hey, Director Seo,” she teased, “are you going to keep calling me ‘Actor’?”

Ujin chuckled. “Is it bothering you?”

“A little,” Suha admitted. “You call Jaeyeop and Ria by their names. ‘Actor’ feels a bit… formal, right?”

“You’re right,” Ujin agreed. “It does sound a bit strange. Okay, Suha it is. And you can just call me Ujin, please. ‘Director’ makes me feel old!”

“Alright, sounds good. But you say you’ll call me Suha, and then you call me ‘Actor’ again.”

“Ah, right.”

Ujin chatted and laughed with the cast members he had filmed with, and then thanked each of the other staff members.

And so, in that pleasant atmosphere, the film crew all left.

Now, only the employees of WJ Studio, including Ujin, remained in Café Fresco.

Most of the employees had stayed to watch Ujin’s shoot.

“Wow, our director. You’re really making it big.”

“The director’s on TV… Is WJ Studio going to become a major company now?”

When Jintae approached and joked, Ujin shook his head with a playful grin.

“Hyung, a major company? We’re still a small shop.”

“Then you should work even harder, Director. Didn’t you promise to raise my salary?”

“That’s why I’m doing this! Running around even to broadcasting stations to do business. Have you ever seen a director who goes on TV to get business?”

At Ujin’s exaggerated gestures, Jintae laughed and nodded.

“Haha. That’s true. Anyway, if this airs, it’ll be good publicity.”

“For what? Our company? Or Café Fresco?”

“Both, of course.”

Jintae was genuinely happy about Ujin’s appearance on the show, as if it were his own accomplishment.

Recently, he had been watching WJ Studio grow quickly, and he was becoming very loyal to the company. Showing loyalty through his actions, such as offering to stay late and defending Ujin to others, would make his gratitude more believable.

Helping a small, new company like this grow was exciting for Jintae, who was acting like a director.

“That’s right. It’ll be both, like you said… And that’s all the same thing in the end.”

“Same thing?”

“If Café Fresco becomes famous, WJ Studio’s name will definitely be connected to it.”

“Ah, I see.”

“It’ll probably help a lot in raising our profile. So, let’s watch the timing and try to expand the company’s size all at once.”

Opportunities usually come suddenly.

But the opportunity that WJ Studio was about to receive was one that Ujin had created himself, so he could prepare for it.

It’s obvious that there’s a big difference between an opportunity coming suddenly and having time to prepare.

An opportunity that comes when you’re well-prepared can be used even better.

Therefore, Ujin was planning to be fully prepared before this TV show aired.

He would invest all the money the company had earned so far to create as much infrastructure as possible to increase the scale of construction at once.

He would even use the recognition gained from the TV show as a marketing tool for WJ Studio.

In Ujin’s view, there were no problems.

was a successful TV show from the start, and Ujin’s involvement couldn’t have hurt the show’s entertainment value.

Originally, the expert who would have been chosen if it wasn’t for Ujin was the director of an architectural firm in his 50s.

Ujin was a much more interesting person than that.

‘I can’t really know how much influence it will have… But I should work as hard as I can when the opportunity comes.’

But, against Ujin’s expectations.

One thing went completely differently, beyond what he had expected.

About a week after the shoot, on the weekend that Café Fresco opened after the interior was finished.

It started when Ujin’s phone rang while he was resting at home, with a very excited voice.

[Director Seo, sorry for calling on the weekend.]

“Ah, no, it’s alright, Director Kang. Did you have a successful opening today?”

[Haha, of course. Actually, that’s why I called.]

“Is there… Is something wrong? If you find any problems, please tell me right away. I’ll fix them as soon as possible…”

[Ah, problems? There’s nothing like that at all. Haha!]

“Is that so? Then what’s the matter…”

[If you have time today, could you possibly stop by our store?]

“Pardon?”

[I was hoping to treat you to a meal today.]

In 2010, social media was just starting in South Korea.

It was a time when social media wasn’t popular yet, and many people didn’t even know what it was.

So, most celebrity gossip was spread through mini-homepages or blogs run by the celebrities themselves, or through internet articles.

And the issue about a café that had opened in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, started that way.

[Photo]

The Samsong Station café I visited today.

A café with such a cool vibe has opened near my house…!

Can you see how cool the lobby is, everyone?

The coffee is really delicious too…

From now on, I’m only going to come here!

I mean it!

P.S. If you happen to find me here… Please pretend you don’t know me, everyone. I really want to come here often and comfortably ㅠㅠ

P.S.2. And everyone, this café isn’t open yet. I got in two days before the official opening thanks to a friend’s favor!

Yuria, a singer with a pretty face and figure like an actress, and great singing ability that was recognized with her solo debut, had many visitors to her mini-homepage every day.

The number of daily visitors to singer Yuria’s mini-homepage easily exceeded ten thousand.

Therefore, the post with several photos that she uploaded to her homepage quickly became popular on the web.

└ Unnie! Awesome!! Where is this?

└ I want to go too!

└ Something like this opened in Samsong? Isn’t it all rice paddies and fields there?

└ KBC New Office Building was built near Samsong Station last year, wasn’t it? I think the café opened near there?

└ Wow, I thought it was overseas when I saw the picture. Someone please give me the coordinates.

Yuria’s post, which received over a thousand comments in just half a day, became a great internet news item for reporters.

And those many articles were quickly spread again by netizens.

Thanks to this, Café Fresco was so crowded from the first day of its opening that people had to line up to get in. Café Fresco was bright and modern, with sunlight streaming through large windows. The smell of fresh coffee filled the air, and soft music played quietly.

That was why Kang Seok-jung had a huge smile on his face right now.

“Thanks to Director Seo, our store’s sales today have far exceeded what we expected for the entire week.”

“Haha, I didn’t expect it to become such a big deal either. I didn’t even know Ria would upload photos of the café on her homepage.”

Ujin’s words that he didn’t expect it to become such a big deal were sincere.

Of course, he had expected it to become an issue after the show aired.

But the fact that the issue spread so quickly and people flocked to the café so rapidly, even before the show and with only the café’s completion, was unexpected.

‘Ria asked me to open the café to her friends a little earlier, so I did think she might upload something to her homepage, but…’

From Ujin’s perspective, 2010 was a time when the internet was far behind the 2030s, when he had lived.

Even if everything else was the same, social media wasn’t popular yet.

He had no idea that a single photo uploaded by Yuria would spread so quickly.

But whatever Ujin’s predictions were, the reality was that Seok-jung’s Café Fresco was literally overflowing with people today.

And the fact that this was entirely due to Ujin was also 100 percent true.

The fact that Café Fresco’s coffee and desserts were excellent could influence the return visits of the guests who gathered today.

But it had nothing to do with the crowds that gathered on the first day of opening.

The reason for today’s crowds was only Ujin’s appearance on the show and Café Fresco’s interior design, which Yuria loved.

“Still, aren’t you buying me something too expensive?”

Ujin’s eyes widened at the fancy meal in front of him. The steak was tender and juicy, melting in his mouth.

The restaurant that Seok-jung had taken him to was a fine dining place that cost hundreds of thousands of won per meal, and even to Ujin, who didn’t know the price of the food, it looked incredibly expensive.

“Compared to what we’ve gained thanks to you this time… The price of this food is really nothing.”

“Well, if you think of it that way.”

Ujin, relieved by Seok-jung’s words, began to enjoy the dishes that were being served.

Seok-jung’s gratitude was more believable because of his actions, such as taking Ujin to an expensive restaurant.

His story was true, and Ujin also thought so.

‘Hehe, aside from everything else, this meal for a rich guy is probably no different from me buying tteokbokki.’

Ujin was enjoying the wonderful texture and taste.

These dishes were the most delicious he had ever eaten, even including his past life.

But that didn’t mean that Ujin was just eating without thinking.

For Ujin, a businessman, a private meeting with Seok-jung could be a pretty big opportunity.

Especially if that rich guy was in such a good mood with Ujin.

So Ujin was listening carefully to every word Kang Seok-jung said.

Ujin thought that Seok-jung hadn’t called him all the way here just to say thank you.

Ujin was thinking that when.

Seok-jung, who had been cutting his steak, slowly opened his mouth again.