Reset Life with Infinite Talents - Chapter 261

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Infinite Talent Reset Life Episode 261

The mayor’s office at LA City Hall.

Eric Garcetti, LA’s first Jewish mayor who succeeded in reelection, stops his hand that was going through approval documents.

“Is the installation art exhibition proceeding without any issues?”

The disaster that occurred less than two months after his successful reelection – the La Tuna wildfire.

If the wildfire had been extinguished just a little later or had damaged nearby residential areas, the installation art exhibition would have had to be canceled.

‘It’s all thanks to former Mayor Antonio.’

Former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who significantly increased the wildfire prevention and firefighting budget in 2009. Without his foresight, a terrible disaster would have occurred.

‘And Johann Jefferson too.’

Johann Jefferson, the original creator of the “Fire Always Targets Us” mural and the lead actor in the movie, who instilled fire awareness in citizens.

The civic consciousness he changed also played a very crucial role.

“Yes. All artists have finished their installations, and you just need to deliver the memorial speech for the casualties at tomorrow’s opening ceremony.”

The secretary who said this hands over a piece of paper with the memorial speech written on it.

Mayor Eric Garcetti nods his head after reading through the neatly organized memorial speech.

An ordinary elderly neighbor who was the sole victim of the La Tuna fire.

“Did they say the funeral would be held late?”

“His most beloved grandson is currently deployed, so they’re delaying the funeral.”

“I see. Good work.”

“Not at all. And…”

“Hmm?”

“Johann Jefferson has expressed interest in doing an installation art exhibition at the La Tuna fire site.”

Startled!

Johann Jefferson, whom he had just been thinking about.

“What…”

‘He’s not someone who acts thoughtlessly, is he?’

Even though the damage was less than expected, it was a fire with casualties. Using that site would inevitably bring more harm than good.

“This is the blueprint Johann Jefferson proposed.”

“Ah.”

The moment he saw the blueprint drawn on the large paper, Eric Garcetti realized that Johann hadn’t acted thoughtlessly.

“It was a fire prevention campaign…”

The location and scale were also exquisite.

Between the walking trail and the road center, it was a location and scale visible from anywhere on the trail or road.

“…Schedule an appointment.”

“Please wait.”

“Hmm?”

“Calling Johann Jefferson to City Hall is somewhat risky.”

Johann’s recognition had increased even more after paying respects to the sole casualty of the La Tuna wildfire. Calling him carelessly could lead to accusations of being a mayor who thinks of using good people politically.

Of course, having succeeded in reelection with power at its peak, such talk could be easily ignored now, but it could become a hindrance later.

“Tsk. That’s true.”

If Johann were simply a celebrity, there wouldn’t be such concerns.

But there were too many people and forces connected to what Johann had accomplished.

“How much budget does he need?”

“…He says he’ll handle the money himself and just asks for good administrative support.”

“Hah!”

An artist who doesn’t demand city budget, essentially free money.

Quite rare indeed.

“Approve it. Also tell him we hope he can start as soon as preparations are ready.”

“Yes.”

“What’s the next agenda?”

“Jobs for Mexican and minority populations…”

Eric Garcetti, the Jewish mayor. He was also of Mexican descent.

* * *

“Yes, I understand. I praise the mayor’s generous decision.”

-I’ll convey that message. Well then.

Johann, who ended the call, nods toward the people looking at him with expectant eyes.

“The approval came through.”

“…Yeaaaaaaah!”

“Wow! Mayor Eric Garcetti! How cool!”

Professor David Paul and students from all grades taking installation art hug each other and jump around.

Not just them. Larry, Ada, Edward Sherman, Mr. Kellner, and Bane Warner, who agreed to sponsor this project, also smile.

“Then let’s push it through.”

“Please do.”

Edward Sherman waves his hand as if to say not to worry and makes a phone call somewhere, while Professor David Paul approaches.

After seeing Johann’s blueprint, he no longer cared about the response to his work exhibited at the exhibition.

“Hmm. Johann, are you still going to use concrete?”

“I suppose so?”

This project would use concrete, rocks, stones, and rebar to create the framework and add flesh. Concrete would be most convenient for easy molding.

“Why do you ask? Is there something concerning you?”

“No… Hmm. Given the meaning, I think it would be good if it lasted a long time. There will also be difficulties in maintaining the work due to location and environmental conditions.”

An open-type work to be erected between the trekking course and the road.

Vibrations and exhaust from passing vehicles, as well as people, would easily cause damage.

“You mean we should use special concrete rather than regular concrete?”

“That’s right.”

Something hard and sturdy that would last long.

“Hmm. Special concrete…”

‘Still, cracks will form…’

Concrete begins serious corrosion and aging once cracks appear. This would be the same no matter how good the special concrete was.

‘Unless the cracks heal themselves, whatever we use…’

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah…!”

Come to think of it, there is one. A special building material that repairs its own cracks.

Johann looks at Slip, who is smiling warmly at the excited students.

“Mr. Slip, could you also procure volcanic ash and volcanic rock?”

Slip and Professor David Paul’s eyes widen.

“Su-surely you don’t mean ancient Roman concrete?!”

The prototype of modern building materials and the miraculous volcanic ash concrete that allowed ancient Roman structures like the Colosseum and aqueducts to exist even in modern times.

“You know how to make that?”

Although the ratios and components have been restored, only a few people know about it.

“I have a lot of interest in that area. Anyway, how about making it with that? Since volcanic ash is also ash, we can give it meaning too.”

“If it can be made, I’m all for it, but…”

“Then it’s settled.”

When Johann looks at Slip as if asking if he can do it, he nods vigorously.

Perhaps the last supply request of his life.

“I’ll procure it somehow.”

Slip took out his contact book and began flipping through it quickly.

* * *

The downstream of the Danube River where warm sunlight pours down.

A middle-aged man who had been looking at his fishing rod with a peaceful smile, wetting his throat with wine among the randomly grown reeds, opens his mouth.

“So, what’s the reason you brought me here?”

As the chief architect of Emperor Trajan, he has so much to do. It’s too far to call it a simple vacation, and he’s accompanied by faces he doesn’t want to see.

One of those unwelcome faces, a stern-looking middle-aged man in his 50s, clears his throat.

“Apollodorus of Damascus.”

“You don’t need to remind me where I’m from.”

“Ahem!”

The middle-aged man swallows hard as he looks at Apollodorus’s thick forearms.

That body is so large and thick that you’d believe it if someone said he was Hercules from mythology. If hit by those large fists covered in calluses, even his deceased mother wouldn’t be able to recognize his face.

Cold sweat flows from his entire body, but he has no choice.

The Emperor desires it. He has given the command.

He closes his eyes tightly and points to the end of the river.

“Can you see the end of that river?”

“…Ah, let’s not do this.”

Apollodorus’s face turns pale as he realizes what the Emperor wants. His disciples and slaves who came with him are the same.

“Emperor Trajan has commanded it. Connect it.”

“You bastard!”

“Ugh! St-stop him!”

“We’re sorry!”

The Imperial Guards rush in urgently to pin down Apollodorus.

The other unwelcome faces that Apollodorus sees.

Apollodorus grits his teeth.

‘That bastard Emperor, again…!’

He’s demanding the impossible.

He must know this too, which is why he sent the Imperial Guards like this.

‘Those words about letting me leave my name in history…!’

He grabs ten spear shafts pressing down on his shoulders with both hands.

“I shouldn’t have trusted that reliable smile-! Uriaaat!”

“Uaaak!”

“Kraak!”

The Imperial Guards fall down, then quickly get up and reach for their weapons.

“Come at me, you bastards! I’m the one who conquered Damascus with my fists-!”

Just as Apollodorus clashed his fists and was about to charge at the Imperial Guards.

Thud! Crash!

“No, Teacher!”

“You mustn’t, Lord Apollodorus!”

All his apprentice disciples cling to both his legs.

The slaves fidget restlessly with tears welling up in their eyes.

These are the Emperor’s Imperial Guards. The Emperor’s Imperial Guards who have the authority for summary execution.

“…Damn it all.”

“Haha! Good thinking!”

“Just leave the money and orders and get lost. If you keep loitering around, I’ll smash your faces!”

“Uh, ahem! If you need anything, contact us anytime!”

As the middle-aged man and Imperial Guards flee in haste, Apollodorus looks toward the end of the Danube River and rubs the back of his neck.

“How far is that distance, and how deep is the river?”

A distance too far to calculate with the eyes.

A distance that looks to be at least 1 mile passuum, a thousand steps.

Not only that, but calculating everything including water depth, volume, and current makes his head feel like it’s splitting.

Apollodorus looks at his disciples who are relieved that he’s alive.

“What are you doing.”

“…Pardon?”

“Aren’t you going to measure?”

“…Ah, us?”

“Then should I do it?”

“No, no. We should do it. Haha.”

“Of course you should. And half of you go to the market in that city and buy volcanic ash and lime and such. We’ll need to create a new mixture.”

How could construction on land and underwater be the same.

Just figuring out those mixing ratios will take ages.

“Th-that’s something we’ll have to do too?”

“No. I’ll do the mixture calculations, so you just need to mix.”

Until it’s completed.

Until something emerges that can easily withstand hundreds of years even underwater, even with annual floods.

Don’t even sleep.

“Haha.”

The disciples looked at the middle-aged man and Imperial Guards who now appeared like dots.

‘Should we kill those bastards now and attack the capital?’

‘Ah, why did we stop our teacher?’

They seriously considered it.

The slaves, who realized anew that they would ultimately have to do the physical labor, felt the same way.

* * *

Grrrr! Crash!

The excavator digs deep into the earth, carving out the ground along with fire-damaged collapsed trees.

The bulldozer relentlessly pushes through the land swept by flames, and the roller runs over it.

3,000 pyeong of land being cleanly leveled and compacted.

The gazes of people passing by are drawn to the area. Usually when restoring such wildfire scenes, they only remove the burned dead trees and ash.

And the basic formula for post-wildfire forest restoration is to plant saplings and seeds to recreate the forest.

A truck approaches the compacted land under the curious and concerned gazes of passersby.

“It’s here!”

“Wow, we can really make pozzolan concrete!”

“Hey, architecture students back off a bit!”

“Come on. Let’s not fight among UCLA students. It’s good for you to have more workers too, right? Here, try eating this.”

The installation art students frown at the architecture students who are being annoyingly clingy and look at Professor Paul with resentful eyes.

The reason the architecture students are here is because Professor Paul blabbed at a drinking session about making artwork using pozzolan concrete, ancient Roman concrete.

Professor Paul subtly turns his head to ask Johann for help, but Johann looks away and approaches Slip getting out of the truck. This time it’s Professor Paul’s fault.

“Let’s check it out.”

These are materials for pozzolan concrete – volcanic ash and lime directly imported from various provinces in Italy.

What they brought now are just samples; if Johann selects specific regions, they’ll import them in earnest.

“Thank you.”

Johann takes a long skewer from Slip and stabs it deep into the sack before pulling it out.

Pozzolan concrete requires new mixing ratios even with slight differences in color, texture, smell, and taste.

‘Show us your abilities.’

The ancient Roman architects from around the 2nd century BC who first created pozzolan, whose names weren’t even recorded.

And the architect Vitruvius who around the 1st century AD wrote materials that could be called the culmination of Roman architecture, including pozzolan mixing ratios and concrete manufacturing methods.

There are several architects who left achievements related to pozzolan, but there was someone else called the greatest architect of his time.

The ‘Great Architect, Apollodorus’ who best utilized pozzolan to create great architectural works that are still talked about today.

The ‘Great Architect, Apollodorus’ focuses on the sensation at his fingertips.

He examines modern natural materials across 2,000 years of time.

He sharpens all his senses including his nose and tongue.

‘LA doesn’t get much rain. It needs to last over 100 years even under people’s curious and interested touches…’

His brain spins rapidly, calculating all situations.

“For now… this volcanic ash would be good.”

“Oh.”

Slip and the installation art and architecture students’ eyes light up as they quickly write down the origins in their notebooks.

They take out their mobile phones to photograph the actual volcanic ash.

“Sand and gravel from these provinces should work… and this limestone would be good too.”

The faster Johann’s words and gestures continue, the faster people’s hands move. Their gazes become intense.

‘What’s the ratio?’

‘How much are we going to order?’

Under gazes so intense it feels like they could pierce through him, Johann states the required quantities.

Slip clicks his tongue at the enormous amount but nods his head.

“Well, we do need to cover this vast area of land…”

It’s not just about pouring concrete. They also need to create sculptures.

“Huh? That amount won’t be enough to make sculptures too.”

“Is, is that so? Then…?”

“We’ll also use modern pozzolan concrete.”

He hasn’t decided the specifics yet. He’ll make the sculptures with whichever is stronger and more durable, and use the rest for pouring to express the earth.

‘Since we’re doing it anyway, might as well try both.’

Just because something is from the past doesn’t automatically make it better.

Modern developments or improvements could be much better. No, the probability of this being better was much higher.

“So this time it’s fly ash, silica fume, metakaolin…”

‘I’ll have to compare them to be sure.’

At the modern pozzolan concrete materials spilling from Johann’s mouth, Slip’s jaw dropped, and it was the same for the others.

“Oh, but where are the natural materials for fire-resistant coating?”

“Crazy.”

‘Fire-resistant coating too?’

Fire-resistant coating refers to a coating method that applies fire-resistant substances to surfaces to prevent fires from spreading easily.

People finally let out exasperated sounds.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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