Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 97

Cheonwoong Construction was not as big as the top companies in the construction business. Companies like Jeun Construction, SH Corporation, and Myungseong Construction were much larger.

Jeun Construction, the biggest company, could build almost twice as much as Cheonwoong.

So, if Cheonwoong tried to compete directly with these three big companies in a fair fight, they would almost certainly lose. Their chance of winning would be very small, maybe less than 5%.

Kyungwan knew this very well.

He thought, ‘If Jeun or Myungseong start cheating, we’re in real trouble.’

That’s why Kyungwan thought carefully before deciding to try for the ‘Cheongdam Seonyeong Apartment Reconstruction Project’. He looked at what was happening in the construction industry, what the biggest companies were doing, and how Cheonwoong Construction was improving.

He thought about all these things. Because of this, he thought his chance of success was much higher.

“Sir, are you really sure about this?”

Kyungwan chuckled at the question from his assistant, Jaejun, and said,

“I’m fine. I’m telling you, I can do this.”

“Even if you didn’t do anything, you would probably become an executive in a few years. Are you working too hard for no reason?”

“I’m trying to become Cheonwoong’s youngest executive, that’s why,”

“What’s the point of becoming an executive so quickly? You might get fired easily as an executive…”

“Go ahead, make fun of me.”

“You know being an executive is like being a temporary worker, right?”

Executives are not like regular employees. They have contracts. Their salaries are decided each year, and they can be fired if they don’t do well. Jaejun was just pointing this out, but Kyungwan laughed.

“Why would they fire someone who’s doing well? I’m going to increase my salary five times in five years and brag to you about it, so you better be jealous.”

“Ugh, you greedy thing…”

“What was that?”

Kyungwan was forty-two years old this year. If he got promoted to executive with this project, he would become an executive in 2011, at the age of forty-three. The youngest managing director in Cheonwoong Construction’s history (not including the owner’s family) was forty-five.

If he became a managing director next year, he would be the youngest ever.

But Kyungwan wasn’t just trying to be the youngest ever. He was excited about the potential he saw.

“By the way, is it really possible, though?”

Kyungwan, who had grabbed a canned coffee from the vending machine as usual, turned to Jaejun and spoke again.

Kyungwan punched the button on the old vending machine, the clunk echoing in the quiet office corner. He pulled out a can of coffee, the metal cold in his hand. He turned to Jaejun, the smell of cheap coffee filling the air, and said,

“Hey, think about it.”

“Think about what?”

“Right now, Jeun and SH Corporation are both in the Middle East, right?”

“Um, that’s true… But didn’t they fail there and are now leaving?”

“Who says they’re leaving?”

“Didn’t Dubai World stop paying its debts at the end of last year? Didn’t all the Korean construction companies leave?”

Dubai was growing very fast using money from other countries. But then the world economy had problems, and Dubai could not pay back its debts. Many construction companies lost money there.

Cheonwoong Construction didn’t have enough money to join in when construction companies were rushing into Dubai, so it was lucky that they didn’t.

Almost everyone in the industry knew this. That’s why Jaejun asked this question. But Kyungwan shook his head and spoke again.

“Dubai failed, but oil money didn’t fail.”

“What does that mean…?”

“Don’t you know that Jeun Construction moved their main office to Abu Dhabi last year?”

“Main office, you mean the UAE branch?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm…”

“SH Corporation is the same… I think Myungseong Construction is probably doing the same thing.”

“I see.”

“So, that’s the first reason.”

“The reason why Cheonwoong can win the bid?”

“That’s right.”

Other companies are using their money and people on many projects, both in Korea and other countries, more than Cheonwoong. But Cheonwoong has finished almost all of its bidding wars as of last month. A jackal that focuses on one target is more likely to succeed than a tiger that tries to hunt many animals at once.

So, Kyungwan thought the timing was perfect.

“Then, is there a second reason too?”

Kyungwan nodded at Jaejun, who looked interested.

“Of course.”

Kyungwan took a sip of the warm milk and continued.

“Did you go to the monthly closing meeting?”

“I did.”

“Then, did you see the Clio brand closing report?”

“Um, I did see it…”

Kyungwan playfully raised his fist at Jaejun, who was hesitating, and teased him.

“Hey, are you not doing your job properly, Woojjaejun.”

“Sir, this is workplace violence!”

“Did I hit you? Did I hit you!”

“I felt threatened, sir!”

“Sigh.”

Park Kyungwan shook his head and sighed deeply.

“Anyway, if you looked at that closing report, you would know that the brand is becoming very well-known very quickly.”

“Very quickly? Is it that much?”

“Yeah. The research might not be perfect, but it’s already close to CW.”

“Really…?”

Jaejun’s eyes widened at Kyungwan’s words. Cheonwoong had been building the CW brand for over ten years, while Clio had only been around for less than three months.

It was hard to believe that the brand was already so well-known.

‘Of course, it’s using the existing awareness of CW, but…’

The growth rate was more important than the current awareness. It had caught up to CW, which was in the top 7, in just three months. It wouldn’t be surprising if it became one of the top brands next month or the month after.

“As you know, we haven’t had any bidding wars since the end of September.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Even so, why do you think the marketing team is spending more money on promoting the brand? They don’t have a lot of money.”

“That’s really crazy. I didn’t know it was this much…”

To be honest, Jaejun still had doubts even when Kyungwan gave the first reason. Kyungwan’s analysis was good, but it wasn’t enough to win the bid. But brand awareness was different.

No matter how good a construction company was, people only saw the brand. And if they could become as well-known as Jeun Construction’s The Village or SH Corporation’s ArtiA…

‘It really might be possible?’

Kyungwan’s plan didn’t seem so impossible anymore.

“Krooo…! That’s good.”

Jaejun watched Kyungwan pretending to drink beer while sipping the canned coffee and asked again quietly.

“Then, what’s the third reason?”

“What? Third reason?”

“Don’t tell me the second one was the last?”

Kyungwan looked surprised and bent his finger slightly.

“The last reason is me, you idiot.”

“Excuse me?”

“I am the reason.”

Jaejun shuddered at Kyungwan’s joke and said,

“Ah, please, sir.”

“Why, what?”

“Aren’t you a little too confident?”

Kyungwan silently drank all the milk in the paper cup and walked away confidently.

Jaejun followed behind and added,

“You little rascal, this is enough. What more do you want?”

“I’m sure it’ll work out. You’re so full of confidence.”

“Yeah. So, when the design deadline is over, get ready to work very hard.”

“Yes, yes. Of course.”

Kyungwan chuckled again as he looked at Jaejun joking around.

He said that this was enough, but Kyungwan had one more thing he believed in.

It wasn’t really a belief, but more of a hope.

‘Seo Woojin. It’s about time this guy contacted me too…’

Kyungwan remembered Woojin confidently saying not to worry about the design.

October was almost halfway over. The sky was very blue and clear. On a Wednesday morning, with warm autumn sunshine, the KBC filming crew was heading somewhere.

“Today’s filming is in Euljiro, right, PD-nim?”

“Yes, Jaehan-nim. We have some time, so you don’t have to rush too much.”

“Yes, I understand!”

The sunlight was shining into the filming crew’s vehicle, and PD Gong looked very happy.

She never looked this happy when she was filming .

PD Gong was so happy because had done better than expected, after she put all her effort into it.

Today was the first day of filming after the successful first episode.

“You all know that we’re having a company dinner after filming today, right?”

“Oh, really?”

“‘Today’? PD-nim, we had a company dinner last time too, didn’t we?”

“That time was for all the cast members. Today is to celebrate the first episode being a hit!”

“Ooh!”

“The director gave us a company credit card, so don’t buy too many snacks!”

“Company credit card! Company credit card!”

“Beef! Beef!”

For some reason, the filming crew started shouting ‘beef’ instead of ‘company credit card’, and they became very excited.

The filming crew soon arrived at their destination in this happy mood.

“But what kind of filming are we doing in Euljiro today, PD-nim?”

PD Gong smiled at the question from the filming assistant next to her.

“I told you, we’re filming the A team’s interior preparation.”

The Jaeyeop team was called the A team, and the Dooyoung team was called the B team.

“I thought we were going to Apgujeong since you said A team’s interior preparation. I thought it was strange that we’re coming to Euljiro.”

The A team was going to do the interior construction at the house of the team leader, Jaeyeop. Jaeyeop’s house was in Apgujeong, so the filming assistant was confused.

‘Well, I don’t really know what kind of scene will come out today either…’

But PD Gong smiled and didn’t give a specific answer.

“Well, you’ll see soon enough.”

“Hmm…”

“Jaehan-nim! Park the car in this public parking lot over here. We have to walk inside.”

“Yes, PD-nim! I understand!”

The filming crew parked the vehicle, took out all the filming equipment, and entered the alleyways of Euljiro.

The filming crew walked for more than ten minutes through narrow alleyways where even cars couldn’t pass, and stopped in front of a container building that looked like a shabby factory.

It was an old building that didn’t even have a sign, even though it was built on a fairly large area.

Creak- Creak-

Thud-!

The filming crew carefully entered the building, from which a heavy and loud sound came.