Chapter 18

Dozens of trees suddenly piled up in Han Yewon’s studio.

There was such an excessive amount that it would probably be impossible to use all of them in one contest.

“These are the best-quality trees that came in last month.” Director Yoo Seong-jun, who brought them in himself, said in a pleased voice.

They were in good condition, even at a rough glance.

“Wow·····.”

Hanseol was completely absorbed with the quality of the wood to the point where she wasn’t listening at all. Perhaps her head was filled with flowers as she imagined what kind of work could be completed with this.

Falling in love with materials is the fate of the students in the Sculpture Department.

‘By the way…’

I smiled as I watched the two.

‘He really only picked the good items.’

Director Yoo Seong-jun said that he would only send the good ones, and that wasn’t a lie. In fact, every material he picked out was the highest quality possible.

From ebony to teak, mahogany, walnut, ash, and oak— he brought us all the possible materials that we could use. After all, he said that we would need at least a few types of softwood.

Of course, none of it was free.

“Hah, this is the price with a discount?”

“Student. At this price, I’m basically giving it to you for free.”

“That’s right, no matter where you go in Korea, you won’t find this kind of quality at this price.”

“This one knows well. It’s only this cheap because you’re a student, so be thankful.”

It was still a great deal even though the cost was expensive.

Ju Ji-hoon, who had been arguing with him about it, was worried about the professor’s reaction.

Well… the important part was that the professor did scream.

It wasn’t any of my business after that.

I’m not going to put these heavy things back….

‘Well, even if there’s leftover stock, I’ll use it all within my time at Han Yewon somehow.’

Will only the students use it?

Professors are usually the ones who go crazy about raw materials, so there’s no way that they’ll fail to recognize the value of these timbers.

All of this may seem like a lot now, but it will only be a matter of time before it all runs out.

‘What Yoo Seong-jun gave us cheaply… he must’ve considered everything up to that point.’

He said he would give it to us cheaply because we’re students, but his words definitely needed some interpretation.

He is a businessman.

Businessmen do not do favors without a reason.

No matter how many current buyers there are, the industry believes that the more buyers, the better.

Perhaps he even calculated his future gains from this.

Of course, it was true that I benefited from this as well.

I bowed my head, thinking that I should accept Yoo Seong-jun’s favor humbly.

“Thank you for selling us these.”

“No need for thanks”.

Director Yoo Seong-jun smiled.

“I’m more thankful that you purchased these from us. As you said, we don’t know if our goods are the best in Korea, but there will be no shortage of things to make, so use them well.”

“Yes.”

“And·····.”

Director Yoo Seong-jun looked around before slightly tilting his head to my ear and whispered, “You’re absolutely sure that you don’t want to learn our line of work?”

I answered sharply.

“I don’t.”

“Sheesh. I really shouldn’t have given it to you so cheaply.”

Director Yoo Seong-joon grumbled and got back on his truck.

“Then use these well, and when the exhibition design or whatever is over, it would be nice if you could let me see what you’ve all made.”

“I’ll be sure to contact you.”

It was the moment when he started up the truck and was about to leave.

“Wait!”

“Hmm?”

Ju Ji-hoon rushed to the side of the truck and said,

“May I visit your lumber mill again soon?”

“What are you going to do there?”

“I’ll learn how to saw properly.”

He was interested in furniture, so he didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

As a successful businessman in the future, he knows how to keep his connections.

Director Yoo Seong-jun rummaged through his wallet and pulled out a piece of paper from it.

“Take it.”

“What? A business card?”

“Contact me before you come.”

“······ Thank you!”

Just like that, Director Yoo Seong-jun turned his truck smoothly around and left.

Ju Ji-hoon’s gaze lingered on the back of the truck for a long time, with a look of admiration for senior industry men.

‘….I hope I didn’t do anything weird.’

He was worried about his future.

But it wasn’t my business.

*

The real work has begun.

At first, it was a big burden for the three of us to make a model of more than 2 meters by 2 meters, but some unexpected helpers appeared.

“Oh, you chose some really good ones”.

“Where did you get this again?”

They were undergraduates in the Architecture Department, and they took the lead in helping us work on our model.

However, their efforts didn’t seem to be for free.

“You promised to go on a blind date after this, so you better keep it.”

“Look at what you did.”

Ju Ji-hoon had hidden conditions for all of them.

As expected, the power of a popular person is unmatched.

I thought that I  would have to pay for a relationship.

“Isn’t this cheating?”

“What?”

“The limit for official members of a team is three.”

“Oh, that…”

Ju Ji-hoon laughed at my words and said, “Outsourcing is also a skill.”

“······.”

“To be honest, I think you would have to cut off the allowance you get from your parents in order for this to be a fair game.”

“Why?”

“You’re not the one working, they are.”

It seemed like sophistry at first glance, but it was actually a reasonable statement.

And I agreed with that opinion.

‘Cooks participate in cooking contests, but farmers also indirectly participate by providing and growing the ingredients that are used.”

Only the result should be good.

Of course, if the planning and designing of the work were left to an outsider, it would be a violation of the rules.

Anyway, some of the architectural students who gathered here together to help kept asking Hanseol if she was interested in a relationship.

“Who is she?”

“Seol? Why?”

“She’s cute. She’s totally my type—I like girls who are small enough for me to hold in my arms.”

In fact, Hanseol was attractive.

However, Ju Ji-hoon shook his head and said, “Give up”.

“Oh don’t say that.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to introduce her to you, but Seol is a person who only knows sculptures.”

“What?”

“There are many people who have confessed to the students in the Sculpture Department, but they’re all refused, since sculpture students view dating as a waste of work time. Look at her eyes—you’re about to date a living sculpture.”

Sure enough, even now, Hanseol was busy trimming the wood brought by Yoo Seong-jun.

She almost looked like a ghost because she couldn’t concentrate.

‘It needs to be just right…’

She opened her eyes wide and carved the wood very little by very little, and if she messed up even by a tiny bit, it felt like she would split her skull on the spot.

‘It wasn’t a lie to say that she was great with her skills though.’

As she had boasted previously, her skills were excellent—after all, she said that she was the head of the Sculpture Department.

Whenever I took my eyes off of her, small pieces of wood popped out one by one.

Most of them were being thrown away because it didn’t feel right to her.

No, she threw it all away.

All the items that were thrown away by her became mine.

“Noona. Can I take this?”

[TL/N – Noona = older sister (typically used by boys speaking to girls older than them)]

“You can take them all.”

I’ll call this free money.

‘If you sell it later when Seol-noona is out, this is all equivalent to a lump of money!’

I made a small profit.

Anyway, as we entered the actual production process, the role distribution turned out something like this: Ju Ji-hoon was in charge of manpower control and wood processing in a large frame, while Hanseol was in charge of crafts.

And my job…

“······ How are you so good? You didn’t transfer from the Architecture Department, did you?”

“I did not. How many times have you asked that now?”

We were working on a prototype.

“It’s so strange. Where did this guy come from?”

Based on my experience of working at a design company and making hundreds of prototypes over and over again, I was now like a fish in water.

The architecture seniors also seemed surprised to see me like that that day.

“How can a freshman do that? He’s supposed to be in the Department of Visual Design?”

“What did we do back then?””

“I was busy drinking and throwing up.”

“Oh. Thinking of alcohol makes me want to drink.”

“Wanna have a drink after work today?”

That being said, it worked out pretty well.

When it comes to carpentry, the deadline was often cited as the most annoying part, but they solved all of it.

‘How can all of this be so convenient?’

There was no reason to be a Han Yewon student just for everything to be this easy.

I was embarrassed by the feeling of unfamiliar material for a while, and after testing one or two samples, the water quickly rose to a comfortable level.

[TL/N – Think about the level of water as how familiar he is with working with the new materials, like the opposite of a fish out of water]

If you asked for help for something, it’s usually resolved by the time you come back from taking a walk.

‘As expected, he’s good with his hands. I was prepared to waste a week on prototypes, but his application abilities are no joke.’

In conclusion, Ju Ji-hoon and I were able to focus entirely on working.

‘It’s relaxing.’

I was so tired when a genius was my rival, but now that I’m an ally, it feels ridiculously comfortable.

Is this how it feels to have a thousand troops?

[TL/N – Having a lot of people supporting you, it seems]

Meanwhile, I felt a little nervous watching them.

‘The students in my department will soon rise to this level as well.’

That’s right.

There is no reason for students in the Department of Visual Design to be inferior to them.

They are the same Han Yewon students.

Even the Department of Visual Design represents the school.

I’m still a freshman, so I’m only considered immature, but I don’t know how much I would develop if I found my own colors as the years go by.

‘At this time, a fake genius like me may quickly reveal its roots to be at the very bottom and be pushed out as a result.’

If I don’t want to end up like that, then I have work to do.

‘I need to work harder.’

It was an effort.

I believed in this once and failed, but in any case, effort was a useful weapon.

At least you don’t lose money.

“True talent·····.”

“Are you sure you’re a freshman?”

It was also possible for them to admire my fake talent in a way, because of the efforts of my previous life.

So, time passed quickly.

*

[ The date of the exhibition ]

At the art museum near Hyehwa Station, Ju Ji-hoon spoke in a majestic voice.

“Let’s make one thing clear.”

“Yes.”

“We did our best.”

“Of course.”

Hanseol nodded.

“No matter what the outcome of the contest is, you can’t blame others. Got it?”

“Of course.”

“Okay. If you blame others, you will be cursed to never graduate from college. Come on, let’s go in now.”

After making up our minds, we entered the exhibition hall. There were already more than a hundred college students busily wandering around.

‘They’re all art students.’

As we passed by the booth designated for us, we took a small peak at the works the others had prepared.

Most of them were as I expected.

‘It’s not bad, but that’s really all it is.’

It was quite nice.

There were a few differences in design, but the ideas themselves were nothing special.

Exhibition design using recycled rubber.

Exhibition design using corrugated cardboard.

Even a Lego-styled exhibition design.

They tried to put in their own unique twists, but in the end, their ideas were limited.

‘They may seem plausible when you look at it, but it will disappear from your memory after three minutes. Functionally, it is no different from existing designs. Even a deteriorated version would be better at this point.’

Moreover, the quality of the model productions were just like what you would expect of college students.

Those were the results that I had wanted to avoid.

‘It may seem like novelty on the surface, but there’s no reason to abandon the existing design and adopt it.’

By comparison, we had the upper hand.

While others only cared about the exhibition aspect, our idea of combining rest areas and exhibition spaces was still special.

“Let’s hurry up and install it.”

“Yes.”

We took the props out of the boxes we had ordered for delivery in advance and began to assemble them one by one.

By the way, the props were all unique.

“······!”

The look of embarrassment appeared on the faces of the team next to us.

There it is.

If everyone else here is at the level of a model, we’ve brought items that have reached the level of pure art.

The attention that was being focused on me put more strength on my shoulders.

‘This is the power of high-quality materials! This is the power of 100 million future writers!’

My efforts were rewarded.

No matter how excellent the materials and skills are, you will eventually adapt to it when you see them every day.

Then, when an object to compare it to appears, its true value is revealed.

“They’re….”

“The Han Yewon team?”

“I’ve been grinding my teeth since I saw them.”

“Didn’t the professors make it for them?”

Whispering voices could be heard nearby.

They were reactions that I was expecting.

“Hehe.”

That was not my laughter.

Joo Ji-hoon grinned as if he were a villain in a movie.

“Jaeha, I have a good feeling about this. If we do well, I think we’ll win the grand prize.”

Of course.

I prepared it with the intention of winning the grand prize, so I’m going to win the grand prize no matter what.

“Let’s finish quickly and rest.”

Just like that, I was working hard to prepare for the opening of the exhibition hall.

Stomp. Stomp.

I heard footsteps, and three people walked to the space across from us.

The name written on the clothes they wore caught my eye.

[Korean National University of Arts]

It was the Hankook University team.

‘They’re the Hankook University team.’

The white Chinese characters that were written on top of their black baseball jumpers were kind of overwhelming.

I became nervous without realizing it, but Hanseol said next to me,

“Wow… how do you have the courage to dress up like that?”