Chapter 22

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The second storm blew.

[Discussion of the suspension and dismissal of Professor Seo Do-Wook from Korea University]

[Further investigation into the contestants]

[Moral hazard controversy]

[How to lie twice in a university that should be the ivory tower of intelligence]

The situation exploded.

The controversy grew bigger as they made more false statements.

[Announcement: We will do our best to conduct our own investigation]

[Additional cases discovered. Professor Seo’s coercion…]

[Is he really innocent ?]

[(Breaking news) What kind of deal did they make between themselves?]

The controversy continued and did not cease. Hundreds of new comments appeared every time a new entry was made to the internet newspaper.

–

— Honestly, those students who stayed quiet despite knowing about this should also be considered accomplices.

— There’s a possibility that they had no choice but to do it because the professor told them to.

— That’s just nonsense. They were silent because they were beneficiaries. If someone else besides them benefited as well, would they have stayed still?

— That’s right.

— Did you know that everyone else is suffering because they’re all fools?

— I memorized all the names of the participants.

— Why are you judging whether or not Seo Do-Wook did something wrong? You will only know the truth after the investigation results come out.

— Actually, this was pretty much professor vs undergraduate, and only Han Yewon proved their skills.

— I went there and saw them in person. They were actually awesome.

— The organizers did a great job of promoting the contest lol

— It was the perfect amount of publicity, except that the contest might not be held again next year,

— Hey, Hankook University. I have deprived you of your qualifications for being a prestigious university.

[Unauthorized scrapping and distribution of this article is prohibited – XXDaily]

–

It was even being mentioned in the morning broadcasts.

[Disciplinary meetings are being held for the contestants. Currently, an indefinite suspension seems likely, but it is said that more disciplinary action may be taken over the course of the next few weeks.]

[He’s going out strong]

[In my opinion, I think this is an appropriate course of action. When these injustices accumulate little by little, it becomes customary. And when customs accumulate, they become a culture. Then the Korean Art industry will come to an end.]

[I hope this situation will encourage fair competition in the future and raise awareness of why corruption is wrong]

It became so noisy that even I thought it was a little too excessive for a case of corruption in a contest.

‘It’s still going as expected.’

When a person sees any hope of survival, they will try to make excuses to rescue themselves. In that case, if you detonate the bomb a second time, the effect of it will double.

Just like when I uploaded the photos to the internet, I uploaded the full version of the video, and the result is what’s happening now.

“I can’t believe it,” Ju Ji-hoon said while looking at me with a face of disbelief.

“Jaeha, you didn’t expect all of this, did you?”

“Ah… maybe.”

I shook my hands and said with a straight face, “They dug their own grave with their own hands. Who told them to cheat? If they had turned themselves in from the beginning, would the public have reacted like this?”

“……I’m absolutely scared of you now.”

Ju Ji-hoon was terrified, but Hanseol sipped her coffee and said, “Really? I think you still have a long way to go. Jaeha, do you have anything else hidden?”

“······.”

“If you do, take it out.”

Apparently, she had a lot to do with it.

So, my role in this situation has ended.

As the controversy spread even more, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism issued a stern warning.

[Strict internal investigations will be conducted to find out if there are any other additional irregularities. The official awards ceremony will be postponed until then.]

There still seemed to be some time left before we could receive the grand prize.

But…

The award will eventually return to us.

I was certain of that.

*

The situation had calmed down by now.

And I had to admit.

‘The time has come to deal with the tasks that have been delayed for too long.’

It’s been a month and 15 days since I put everything into the contest, and in the blink of an eye, the end of the semester was approaching.

Vacation was coming soon, and the schedule I had in mind was piled up.

‘I can’t postpone it any longer.’

The moment has come to deal with the tasks that had been postponed for the contest.

“Hello.”

The [Environment and Design] class has begun.

Professor Bae Taehwan, who was in charge of this class, walked into the classroom and said, “Last class, we learned about the impact of design on the environment.”

He displayed a video on the screen.

When a picture was hung on the prison wall, statistics showed that the crime rate in the prison decreased dramatically.

“People create the environment, and the environment creates people.”

Several more statistics passed by.

A story about a decrease in crime rate when a beautiful mural was painted in Harlem, USA. A story about the average performance of an entire class soaring after changing one of the lights in the classroom, and so on.

These were literal examples of improving the environment through design.

“Now, we’re going to apply the theory we’ve learned so far into practice.”

I know what he’s going to say next.

“Let’s form groups of three. Then, set up a specific environment with your team and improve it with design.”

The essence and carcinogen of college life.

[TL/N: “carcinogen, a substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue” – Google ]

The time has come to start the group project.

And…

“Jaeha, maybe work with us?….”

“I’ll buy food! So let’s do this project together.”

Is it because of the contest?

The number of people aiming for me has increased significantly.

‘Ah. So this is what popularity feels like.’

Have I ever been so popular with others in my life?

The feeling was new.

Anyone who had ever talked to me at least once tried to get me in their group, and even people who have never talked to me chased after me as well.

‘It must be because having a winner of the exhibition design contest would be beneficial for the task of decorating an environment.’

Although there were rumors that I was carried by talented seniors, it wasn’t particularly meaningful.

I was already famous for my skills in the department, and I just became even more famous.

At least it was clear that I had the option of choosing my own team members.

“Brother.”

“Yes.”

The first member was Park Kyu-tae.

“I’m good at what I do.”

“Okay. Come here.”

“The class is one hell of a blessing.”

Park Kyu-tae is the only student in this life who takes the same classes as me.

He had several advantages.

‘He’s surprisingly meticulous.’

You’d think everything he does will be plain, but surprisingly, there are many details in the corners of his work if you look closely enough. It seems that the performance he showed in the last assignment wasn’t just luck. But aside from that, the best advantage about him was that he was easy to talk to.

When choosing group members, there’s no one better than people who you’re comfortable talking to.

‘Then, the third member of the group is a concern…..’

There was no one else that I was particularly close to in the department.

I was thinking about who I should choose, but someone soon spoke.

“Do it with me.”

“······Call.”

“Call?”

“It means good.”

It was Kim Daewon.

Though we weren’t particularly close, at least he was better than the other students.

Above all, he was sincere about his work.

After being hit roughly with the criticism last time, he woke up and was now submitting his assignments with the momentum of aiming for the head of the department.

‘At least he won’t hold me back.’

Thus, the class ended with the three of us forming a group.

As soon as I left the classroom, Park Kyu-tae said to both of us, “You have time today, right? Since we’re already together, let’s have a quick meeting first and then go home.”

This part was in favor.

This assignment will replace the final exam for the first semester.

Rather than procrastinating because there was still a lot of time left, it was more advantageous to finish it early.

Now is the time to go crazy with studying.

While contemplating where we were going to hold the meeting, Kim Dae-won said, “There’s a cafe that I know well.”

“A cafe?”

Cafe.

Somehow, it was a word that didn’t suit Kim Dae-won at all.

Saying “cafe” with a large size and blunt personality doesn’t really suit an art student, but rather a physical education student.

After 10 years, Korea will become a cafe republic, but cafes at this time still had very noble images.

“You won’t regret it if you go there. It’s a place that’ll be very helpful for this project.”

“Helpful?”

“You’ll understand once you get there.” Kim Daewon said as if he was certain.

There was no reason why we should’ve refused.

*

As I left the back gate of the school and walked beside Kim Daewon, Park Kyu-tae asked, “Where’s Seo Ji-eun these days?”

“Not Seo Ji-eun. Seo Ji-won.”

“Anyway, she didn’t come to class. Do you know anything about it?”

“I don’t. She didn’t even come to the studio.”

“Did you ask the professor?”

“He just smiled without telling me the details. There must be something going on over there. These days, I use my studio alone.”

As we walked, we chatted about various things.

There was a small store five minutes away from the back gate of the school in a deserted alley.

‘There are cafes all over the place. No, is this a cafe?’

It’s like an alley cafe

It looked so gloomy from the outside that I couldn’t even tell it was a cafe.

The name was a little strange, too.

[Heaven’s Door]

Heaven’s Door, aka. Heaven’s Gate.

Why is it that it feels more like a drinking bar than an actual cafe?

It was the moment I opened the door and entered.

‘A coffee house?’

The interior was unique.

Rather than the feeling of a cafe, it had the atmosphere of an old coffee shop that used to add sugar and cream in their coffee.

‘Did I walk into a time machine?’

It was a moment when I was slightly surprised and looked around.

Kim Daewon shouted in a familiar voice, “Uncle. I’m here!”

“….what? Uncle?”

When Park Kyu-tae looked at him with a shocked expression, Kim Daewon said with a new look, “It’s my uncle’s cafe.”

“But why does it look so…bad?”

Park Kyu-tae said what I was going to say.

Rather than getting angry, Kim Daewon just spoke quietly.

“If you say that in front of me, you will get hurt.”

“······.”

Park Kyu-tae was perplexed for a moment, then calmly spoke.

“I’m sorry. I was wrong. I won’t say that again.”

“As long as you know.”

As soon as we sat down, Kim Dae-won’s uncle joined us.

So, the person who was the owner of the cafe came next to me.

“Are you Daewon’s friends? Nice to meet you. Even if Daewon looks blunt, he’s not a bad person. I look forward to your kind cooperation.”

A brief self-introduction.

Kim Daewon explained the task he received today to his uncle in detail.

“So, you mean you want to use this store for your homework assignment.” The owner said as if it were interesting.

This was what Kim Daewon intended.

To use the whole cafe for the task of changing the environment.

“Ah, it’s not confirmed yet, so you can refuse if you feel uncomfortable.”

Park Kyu-tae was going to fix it in case things got awkward, but his uncle said, “No, it’s not. It’s good for me, actually. I was just recently thinking about whether or not I should change the entire interior of the store.”

A familiar term popped up.

Interior.

With that word, I intervened.

“Interior decoration?”

“Yeah. I don’t know if it’s because of the location or for other reasons, but my business hasn’t been doing well.”

The owner began to explain the situation.

He had worked for a company until last year, but after retiring early, he set up a cafe by putting a loan on his severance pay.

Unfortunately, however, the business didn’t seem to be going well.

“Somehow, I can manage to pay the monthly rent, but it’s a business that suffers losses considering my labor costs. Even I think about whether or not I should close this place and get a proper job again.”

So he often complained to Kim Daewon, and he brought us in just in time because it coincided with the assignment.

“Did you say you were Jaeha? I heard that you’re famous in your department.”

“I am, but only a little……”

“Really? I heard you won a famous contest.”

“I was lucky.”

I think Kim Daewon had been praising me behind my back.

I tried to pass it over humbly, but it was hard to completely control the corners of my mouth because I was still a human being.

“By the way, are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“What?”

“If we touch the store a little too freely, it can backfire.”

This part was important.

I didn’t want to hear the complaints later.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. No matter how bad it’ll be, will it be worse than what it is now?” Mr.Kim said, shaking his hand with a smiling face.

“······.”

“There are no customers anyway, so what can I do?”

It was very pessimistic.

“I was thinking about calling a contractor, but if you guys manage to do it well, then there will be no need for that.”

The owner seemed to be happy with this situation.

If so, then there was no reason to refuse.

After all, the person in charge likes it.

And, remodeling the cafe was a very good thing for me, too.

‘While other students fix their own rooms or club rooms, if we can change a store, the feeling will be different.’

There is no better sample than this.

Above all, this job was also connected with my main job in my previous life.

In the past, I worked for a design consulting company, and I could say that cafes were the main focus of our company’s work.

The best cards are in place.

What if I could use this task as a stepping stone instead of just finishing this as a homework assignment?

‘Design is a career and word of mouth. If you solve this one well, it can be a good experience to list on your resume.’

It’s not easy for college students to build a career.

That’s why I participate in contests, but the credibility of the contests were surprisingly unreliable.

At least it was like that among professionals.

This is because contests are mainly for amateurs.

That was the case just before this match.

With a few exceptions, such as Han Yewon and Hankook University, overall, they were far below professionals.

‘The contest is all about undergraduate fights. Even if you do well, it’s still only the process of becoming a professional.’

However, that didn’t mean it was meaningless.

The previous battle has led me to this job.

If I wasn’t the winner of the contest, would Kim Daewon still have brought me?

‘Of course it could’ve still happened.’

But the boss wouldn’t have allowed it so readily. Therefore, I was right to judge that the last contest had helped me.

His career was like my career.

Maybe if I fix this cafe successfully, it will also be my career.

‘Wait, then, rather than just fixing this store in moderation…’

In an instant, an idea came to mind.

“How about trying to hit the jackpot?”

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