Chapter 16. Rigged Go Stop
“Ha… There’s really nothing we can do about this.”
This was what Director Yoo-uk said.
That the son-in-law of Gwangseong University’s president is the director of Mirim Architecture’s Design Headquarters. And on top of that, they are seniors and juniors from the same school.
In the first place, in order to help Gwangseong University shed its outdated image, he said that as a dutiful son-in-law, Mirim Architecture handled the architectural planning for them, and suggested building a large scale sports center to replace the small athletic field.
Since it was a national or public university, Gwangseong University had to take bids for construction of buildings above a certain scale.
Inevitably, they made it look proper by holding a design competition, but for the reasons above, this project was already set to be done by Mirim Architecture.
To put it bluntly, when a father-in-law is giving his son in law some work, how are you supposed to stop it.
Because of that, even the architectural firms with some kind of name pulled out from the start, and they said that one no name company that was, on paper, a subcontractor under Mirim, was brought in as the competing firm…
“Seungjin! How are we supposed to win this? On top of that, the design brief we got was made by Mirim Architecture. It was made to suit their tastes. Honestly, those bastards might have already made the plan and then written the design brief to match it. The order is completely backwards.”
Just an hour ago, Geonshin had thought that somehow, if they did their best, it was an opportunity to secure both Assistant Manager Soomin’s issue and even his own employment.
A gloom settled over his face.
Rigged Go-Stop.
No matter how much of a card shark you are, you cannot win in a fixed game that has been rigged.
A design brief is a kind of manual the client hands out to the competing firms that are bidding. It is a book that kindly explains: the purpose of the building we need is this, the size of the land is this, the program that should go into the building should be about this much, submit this many copies of the design report, the model size is 1/100 of the real scale, and two A0 panels will be enough… If Mirim Architecture made that, does it not say everything?
If you simplify it, it looks similar to the relationship before between KAIST’s Facilities Manager Kim Namhoon and Samin Architecture, but the level of collusion here was different.
The university president, the final decision maker, was the one who had opened the table for his architect son in law. If you carelessly take the hand you are being dealt, you will lose your hand at the wrist.
Geonshin rubbed his own wrist and felt a chill.
Team Leader Mo only stared at his monitor from his seat and did not respond at all to Director Yoo-uk’s lament.
Director Yoo-uk was just as frustrated, wondering what Seungjin could possibly be thinking when he made such a reckless deal.
“And they said there’s no support. Are you and Soomin going to do it all? Once this week passes, do we even have a month left? This makes no sense. How are you going to finish that in a month? Should I draft the drawings too?”
“You have Geonshin.”
“What? Geonshin?”
You accepted this deal trusting one part timer?
Along with Director Yoo-uk’s gaze cooling sharply, even Geonshin, who was listening, was startled. Of course, since the deal also had Geonshin’s hiring test on the line, he could not just sit still, but still, was this something that would be solved just because one more person was added? And besides…
“Geonshin is only coming through this week…”
At Assistant Manager Soomin’s worry, Team Leader Mo glared at Geonshin and said,
“Once the semester starts, classes don’t really run for the first few weeks anyway. Other than the time you spend in class, you can be here the rest of the time, right? If you’re late, you come in at night too. It’s straight into back-to-back overtime anyway. You can’t?”
“Huh? Yes, I can…”
Watching this, Director Yoo-uk shook his head side to side.
‘Come in to work.’
At the words telling him to come to work at Yeongjo Architecture, Geonshin’s heart started pounding.
Then, a status window appeared before his eyes.
[Pritzker Prize Winning Project.]
Goal: 100Lv (3/100Lv)
On receiving the contract: 3Lv
On completion: 3Lv
Mission 2. Win the Gwangseong University Sports Center Design Competition.
Reward: Creativity 10 SP (5/100SP) Skill 10 SP (5/100SP)
Attached: 3 TB Folder Use Coupon x10.
The brilliantly shining text in the status window swept away the gloom from Geonshin’s face.
This was the path that had been set. A mission he had to pass through in order to win the Pritzker Prize.
In an instant, the unavoidable difficulty was erased by the radiant light that lit up Geonshin’s eyes.
‘The folder use coupons have been refilled to ten again.’
Before returning, Geonshin had never participated in a project this big. A scale like this was practically the exclusive domain of companies ranked in the top ten by revenue.
Most of what he did was: when top tier companies turned the plans of projects they had won into drawings, he received those and drew them as detailed construction drawings that could actually be built, the underling work.
In other words, a “CAD monkey.”
If he gave up here because it seemed impossible, then the future waiting for him was a life as a CAD monkey.
Of course, even if he gave this up, it was not as if the depth and knowledge he had from his second life, and the growth system using the system window, would disappear…
But at least inside Geonshin, something was telling him that giving up here before he had even started was unacceptable.
‘I’m never going to do that kind of work again.’
Even if it was impossible, he had to do it.
If you really think about it, returning twenty years into the past was just as nonsensical, and the idea of him winning the Pritzker Prize was, if you judged it by realism, just as impossible to even imagine.
Chewing on that, Geonshin made his resolve again. What was on the line in this project was not only the fate of Division 7, but also the starting line of his second run at life.
“Hey. You’re grinning again. Did you drink a cup and get drunk again? In this situation, you’re laughing?”
At Director Yoo-uk’s roar, Geonshin came to his senses with a jolt.
‘Damn, I did it again.’
Either way, regardless of his will, there was no doubt that it was a mission that would be hard for anyone to challenge. The director of Yeongjo Architecture was already sighing from the start, so that said it all.
“Ha. This is like throwing an egg at a rock. This makes no sense.”
At Director Yoo-uk’s lament, Assistant Manager Soomin also grew gloomy. Since it was because of her that they were about to do something absurd, it was only natural that her spirit would fall.
But…
“If you want to find out whether the rock breaks or not, you have to throw the egg first, don’t you?”
At Geonshin’s sudden words, everyone’s eyes went wide.
What?
“No matter how low the odds are, you have to throw it to create even a little possibility. If you don’t throw it, the rock will never break.”
At Geonshin’s words, Team Leader Mo suddenly formed a faint smile. Because it was something he had heard somewhere before.
The conviction he had shouted nonstop when he first joined Yeongjo Architecture, while being called a cocky new hire. “Have you tried?” “That…” “Try it and talk! Try it!”
What makes the impossible possible is simply the constant act of trying itself.
In Geonshin’s appearance, Team Leader Mo kept seeing his former self.
‘Yeah. We can’t hold out forever as a scrap heap office.’
Director Yoo-uk let out a sigh and looked up at the ceiling.
“Haah…”
Everyone in Division 7 looked only at Director Yoo-uk. In the end, the decision was made by the director, the one responsible.
“Fine. Let’s do it. What else can we do? Tonight, I’ll crack some eggs and eat steamed egg. Let’s try it. What the hell. Mirim isn’t anything special.”
As soon as the director finished speaking, Team Leader Mo stood up and shouted.
“Alright! No time! Geonshin, go to the Management Team, get the design brief, make copies, and hand one to each person. And start the site model right away. The buildings around the athletic field, and even across the road in front of the school. If you can’t finish it all, you can’t go home. Assistant Manager Soomin, start the site analysis. From the president’s history to every single thing you can find out about his tendencies, bring it all. Our livelihoods are on the line!”
“Yes! Understood.”
With Team Leader Mo’s words, Assistant Manager Soomin and Geonshin started running. Like a heart that had stopped began beating again, and red blood brought warmth back to every corner of the body, the office heated up.
Yeongjo Architecture became noisy again because of Division 7.
Because they did not know the inside story. It seemed like they could not understand at all how Division 7 had bitten down on a project that even Division 2 had given up on.
Most of the opinion was people worrying that they might just disgrace Yeongjo Architecture for no reason.
What was the president thinking when he made that decision?
Director Yoo-uk, full of dissatisfaction, came into the president’s office. President Kang Inseong, puffing on a cigarette, smirked as if something was that funny.
“Why did you do it?”
“Because it’s fun.”
“Fun?”
“Director Yoo, that bastard Mo Seungjin also knew everything and jumped in.”
“He did it knowing the office would be disbanded?”
“No. He jumped in knowing I wouldn’t refuse. He made an offer I didn’t need to refuse. That bastard did.”
President Kang Inseong, who had been smirking, suddenly went expressionless and stubbed out the cigarette.
“A guy with nothing to his name… What is he even trusting to come at me asking for a deal like that?”
At President Kang Inseong’s anger, Director Yoo-uk felt puzzled, and Team Leader Mo’s expression came to mind. That strangely worry-free expression of his.
After carefully reading the design brief, Geonshin went to the school website. A somewhat rustic, simple main page appeared. When he entered the school introduction page, a photo of the campus came up on one side.
As he stared closely at the photo, something in Geonshin’s memory began to squirm.
‘What is this familiar feeling. Gwangseong University… Gwangseong University. It’s not like I would have applied there, and why does it feel like I heard about Gwangseong University a lot recently?’
As he looked at the school address, his memory grew clearer and clearer.
‘Nowon-gu, Wolgye-dong. Wolgye-dong… Wait!’
“Ah! That’s right!”
A thrilling memory, as if electricity had run through him, surged up, and Geonshin clapped and sprang up from his seat.
“Ah! You scared me!”
At Team Leader Mo’s bark, Geonshin flinched and quickly sat back down.
“Hey, Na Geonshin! Unless you came up with a breathtaking idea, don’t clap whenever you feel like it. Got it?”
“Yes. Sorry. Haha…”
“Damn, you startled me.”
Sitting there scratching his head, Geonshin covered his face while watching the mood.
‘Yeah. Right. Songi. Kim Song, who worked with me before I returned. Songi was a graduate of Gwangseong University.’
On the last day before Geonshin returned, he remembered employee Kim Song nodding off at the barbecue place on the first floor of the office building.
Of course, it was a small company where most of the work was subcontracting, but when hiring people, you still had to do interviews and hire.
The reason, of course, was not to check skill, creativity, character… nothing like that, but to confirm sturdy stamina and the nerve to see how long they could endure in this field.
Employee Kim Song was someone Geonshin personally hired.
She was also a rare graduate from a four-year university in Seoul for a subcontracting company like theirs, and because she lived in Wolgye-dong, not that far from the company.
With the company finances barely hanging on, even if they could not properly pay overtime, if the last train stopped running, they at least had to hand over a few bills for a taxi. But if someone lived far away, even that became a huge burden.
In fact, even while working, Songi was so clumsy with CAD and lacked understanding of space to the point that Geonshin often doubted, is she really from a four-year program?
Of course, studying and CAD skills are not necessarily proportional, so maybe she got pushed down and pushed down until she ended up under Geonshin, but…
The reason she suddenly came to mind was because whenever employee Kim Song drank, she would curse Gwangseong University like that was her life’s mission.
Once she started getting tipsy at a drinking party, school complaints poured out fluently, and her biggest complaint was the campus.
‘I think she said the campus was suffocating and the worst. It was so small that they even had to keep building additional buildings across from the school. And of all times, in her third year, the architecture department moved to the building across the street, so even to eat, she had to cross the road and come back into campus every time. Right!’
Geonshin immediately opened the system window. The reason was simple. It is hard to obtain data about a design competition from 2002.
In a situation where you print out panels and submit them, it was impossible for those materials to remain as digital data.
But the new building they built across from the school would definitely have come out as a design competition, and it would not be that long.
‘In the folder where I collected design competition materials, there should definitely be materials for that new building. In that rendering, the image of the sports center across the street will definitely be placed together. Then I’ll be able to understand what Songi’s complaint was.’
[Used one folder use coupon. Deducted -1]
Geonshin’s consciousness flowed into the sea of folders.
Then he reached out his hand toward the design competition collection folder that was waiting for him in a bright light.
‘Even if it’s unavoidable. There is always a twist.’
And so, he began searching for the design competition project that would come out in the future at Gwangseong University.
‘Hmm, there were at least two design competitions in the folder. That’s a relief.’
And then he would discover a new fact about Yeongjo Architecture’s future that he had never imagined could be true.
‘…!’
T/N:
Go stop (고스톱) is a popular Korean card game (a modern form of hwatu/hanafuda) where players make sets and decide whether to “Go” (keep playing to raise the payout) or “Stop” (end the round and cash out).
A “rigged go stop” (짜고 치는 고스톱) means the game is fixed from the start because players are colluding or the dealer has stacked the hands, so skill barely matters.
In this chapter, the Gwangseong University “competition” is basically a rigged game.
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