Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 98

Woojin was headed to Euljiro on a Wednesday morning.

“What? You’re not coming to school today?” Soyeon asked over the phone.

“Yeah. I have to take a day off today, no choice,” Woojin replied.

“You say that every time. Anyone would think you only skip class once in a blue moon. It’s not like you haven’t done this before,” Soyeon teased.

“That’s why I’m asking you, Soyeon,” Woojin said.

“What are you asking me for? I have no idea.”

“Well… you know, about borrowing money for today.”

“We have no money to lend you, sir.”

“Are you going to be so mean?” Woojin asked, half-joking.

“Tch. Fine. But this is really the last time. If the professor finds out, my grades will suffer too!” Soyeon relented.

“Okay, okay. Last time, really!” Woojin promised.

With the secret favor from Soyeon secured, Woojin arrived at the filming location feeling lighter.

The cast and crew weren’t there yet, which he expected. Woojin was almost two hours early.

“Hey, is CEO Seo here?” Woojin asked.

“Yes, Foreman!” came the reply.

“You’re here early, eh?”

“I need to come early and get things ready,” Woojin explained.

“Haha, I enjoyed the show last week.”

“Oh, you watched the live broadcast?”

“Of course, of course. Our CEO Seo was on TV; I had to watch out of curiosity.”

“I wasn’t on the last broadcast, though?” Woojin pointed out.

“I know. It was still fun without CEO Seo.”

“It’ll be even more fun when I’m on,” Woojin said confidently.

“Haha. I look forward to it.”

Today’s filming location for the Jae-yeop team of was a woodworking shop tucked away in Euljiro.

It was a regular client of WJ Studio and belonged to Go Jae-sung, a carpenter with a personal connection to Woojin.

Go Jae-sung wasn’t someone Woojin knew in his past life, but he was quite famous. So, Woojin sought him out first when starting the deal, with Jin-tae making the connection. Go Jae-sung had been one of Jin-tae’s woodworking teachers.

“But what are you planning to make that you bought so much wood?” Jae-sung asked.

“This and that. I need to make a bookshelf, shelves…” Woojin replied.

“And you’re doing all that alone?”

“Well, I’m not alone. If you watched the show, you’d know I have team members. Haha.”

“You don’t mean those celebrities who are supposed to be on your team?” Jae-sung asked skeptically.

“Yes. Of course.”

“Team members, my foot… You’ll be doing all the work while they just watch,” Jae-sung chuckled, shaking his head.

He knew ordinary people who had never handled tools properly wouldn’t be much help, especially with delicate female celebrities in the mix. Woojin would likely have to do everything himself.

Of course, Woojin planned to use his team members somehow. ‘If I do it all myself, there won’t be enough footage for the broadcast,’ he thought.

Woojin took off his coat, hung it in the corner, and began inspecting the tools Go Jae-sung had lent him. Jae-sung watched with interest.

“By the way, how long have you been woodworking?” Jae-sung asked.

Woojin smiled. “Well, roughly 21 years?”

He was joking, but it wasn’t entirely a joke. Jae-sung laughed, taking it as one.

“You must have grabbed a hammer as soon as you started walking.”

“I grabbed a hammer at my first birthday… I think I started using a nail gun around my second,” Woojin quipped.

“Khaha, I feel this every time I see you, CEO Seo, you’re really funny.”

Jae-sung knew Woojin was skilled, but he had never seen him work. He had only heard about it from close carpenters and Jin-tae, who praised him endlessly. ‘Well, if Jin-tae praises him that much… he must be pretty good,’ Jae-sung thought. So, he wanted to see Woojin woodworking for himself.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Jin-tae and the others, but curiosity drove him.

Watching Woojin carefully inspect the tools, Jae-sung’s expectations grew.

‘He seems to have the basics down….’

Then, Woojin began cutting the wood.

Zzzzzing!

Jae-sung’s eyes widened.

Zzzzzing! Thud!

Woojin skillfully placed the wood on the sliding table saw. He easily lifted the large panels and pushed them through. The precisely cut wooden boards fell and piled up next to him without a single mistake.

‘Is he even looking at the blueprints while he’s cutting?’ Jae-sung wondered.

Cutting wood with a table saw wasn’t that hard, even for beginners. The machines were good and easy to use. But to create accurate wooden boards instantly with minimal effort was impressive. Even Jae-sung, with decades of experience, admired Woojin’s skill.

‘It’s not like I couldn’t do it…,’ Jae-sung thought, feeling a strange sense of rivalry.

But his admiration was just the beginning.

“Hmm. 300 by 600 should be enough with this much… Shall we start building the structure now?” Woojin stopped and began changing the table saw’s settings.

Creak! Clack!

Despite being his first time in Jae-sung’s shop, Woojin changed the settings as if they were his own tools. He began cutting again, and this time, something truly amazing happened.

Zzzzzing!

The saw blade screamed as Woojin pushed the wood through.

Jae-sung, who had been watching casually, was shocked. The wood Woojin was cutting was all different sizes.

‘What is he doing?’

Usually, you set the table saw to one size and cut many panels that size. Even skilled people needed a ruler to make accurate cuts. But Woojin was producing panels of various sizes in a row.

He wasn’t cutting without a ruler. He was using the saw’s settings in clever ways to cut different sizes.

There was a pattern to the sizes. Jae-sung realized this and was amazed.

‘If he planned the cutting from the beginning and worked like this… he’s really skilled.’

Woojin’s method was neat and efficient. Jae-sung was more surprised by Woojin’s cleverness than his skill.

“Do you have the blueprints memorized and work from them?” Jae-sung asked.

Woojin shrugged. “Yes, well… Since I drew the blueprints anyway, I remember all the sizes.”

“Youth is good, indeed.”

“Pardon? Why suddenly youth…” Woojin asked, confused.

“I’m old, so I forget the size I checked even a minute ago.”

“Haha. I just have a good memory.”

“Anyway, Jin-tae praised you, so I knew you’d be good… but your skills are much neater than I expected.”

“Thank you.”

“I’d like to hand over my workshop to you instead of my son, who drinks all day long.”

“Thank you, that’s very kind of you to say,” Woojin replied.

Feeling good from Jae-sung’s praise, Woojin organized the wood for the next job. ‘Come to think of it, I’ve had a pretty good memory since my past life…,’ he mused.

Woojin was good with his hands. But other carpenters admired his speed the most. He finished more than 10 pieces when others did about 5. And his accuracy was better. This speed came from his spatial perception and memory.

He could instantly turn a space into a blueprint and remember it well enough to work without looking at it repeatedly. His memory was best when looking at blueprints, thanks to his sense of space. The better he understood the space, the easier it was to remember the dimensions.

While others compared blueprints and workpieces, Woojin worked without hesitation. His amazing speed was on full display.

Zzzzzing!

Jae-sung, who had been watching with a blank expression, suddenly looked puzzled. ‘By the way, when is this friend going to stop cutting?’

There was a pile of wood next to Woojin, enough for at least one piece of furniture. But he kept pushing wood through the saw. Jae-sung wondered when he would start making the furniture.

So, Jae-sung asked, “What kind of furniture are you going to make that you’re cutting such a huge amount?”

Woojin replied casually, “It’s not the amount for making one.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m going to make about five pieces of furniture today, so I’m going to cut everything from the start.”

“Why bother……?”

Jae-sung was even more puzzled. Cutting all the materials for one piece in advance was efficient, but doing it for several pieces could cause confusion. Trying to be efficient might make things worse.

Woojin knew this, but he had a reason. “We can’t just film these boring scenes on the show.”

“What……?”

“If we cut everything in advance and only show the fun work during filming, the show will be better.”

Jae-sung was speechless. ‘What kind of guy is this?’

He thought filming Woojin cutting wood was fun enough. He had been watching with a blank expression for almost an hour.

‘It’s fun now, you monster!’ he thought.

But Woojin kept working, no matter how Jae-sung’s expression changed.

Whirr! Zzzzzing!

About thirty minutes later, the filming crew of began to arrive at the workshop.