The Genius Construction Worker Who Moved to America - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 12

Building a Fortress of Stone

“Huff… gasp… Mister Kang. You’re telling me this is called ‘Nogada’ in Korean? I think my back’s about to give out.”

Leo rolled up his mud-stained shirt sleeves, breathing hard.

The local construction company owner who’d spent his days shuffling papers under office air conditioning now wore a Safety Helmet, drenched in sweat.

“Don’t be such a baby, Leo. You want to earn your keep, don’t you? Go gather those scattered branches over there and tie them up.”

“But why do you keep asking for branches? We barely have enough stones to stack!”

Leo’s frustration was fair. Tamping the mudflat with Quicklime had been fine.

But instead of pouring concrete foundations or stacking boulders on that solid ground, here he was, watching an excavator collect branches and brush knocked down by the storm.

Whirrrr—click!

Kang Joon scooped up a heap of branches with the bucket and spread them neatly across the ground.

To anyone else, it was just debris left behind by the downpour.

“Pay attention, Leo. This is called Fascine Layering—a Korean construction method.”

“Fascine… layering? What’s that?”

“If you try to resist water pressure with concrete alone, the current carves through and bursts it. Like those Blackwood fools downstream.”

Kang Joon gestured downriver with his chin. Blackwood Construction’s excavators were floundering in the mudflat.

They’d driven tens of tons of H-Beams deep into the earth, but without proper ground preparation, the steel beams sank helplessly into the mire like quicksand.

Kang Joon pulled the lever again, spreading soil and gravel over the pile of branches.

“You layer branches like this, then cover them with earth and stone, and repeat. The green wood acts as natural reinforcement—like a Geogrid.”

“Good heavens…”

Leo’s eyes widened.

“When the river swells and pounds the retaining wall, water seeps through the branch gaps and dissipates the pressure.”

What he’d thought was simply burying trash turned out to be a calculated exploitation of nature’s own mechanics. Where reinforced concrete had failed against the storm surge, fallen branches rendered it powerless.

“No time to stand around! Get those branches laid down!”

“Yes, yes! Right away!”

Leo dragged over palm fronds and oak branches without pause.

Thanks to his Craftsman’s Grip Strength, Kang Joon never tired. The Human Protractor’s sense guided the bucket’s descent and the thickness of falling soil with flawless precision.

Layer upon layer—soil, gravel, and branches—rose steadily. The work continued from dawn until dusk, Kang Joon operating the excavator while Leo assisted, their rhythm unbroken.

As the sun was setting.

The foundation tamping and branch backfill work on the fifty-meter stretch had been completed. A solid artificial layer had formed atop the quicklime-treated mudflat.

“Phew… That’s enough for today.”

Kang Joon cut the Mini Excavator’s engine and leaped from the operator’s seat. Beads of sweat clung to his forehead, but his breathing remained steady.

Meanwhile, fifty meters downstream was a war zone.

“Extend that crane boom further! The mud won’t set at this rate! Pour more concrete! Bury it all under volume!”

Site Supervisor Max bellowed, veins straining against his neck.

Despite their brief farce with the excavator sinking into the swamp, they were one of California’s largest construction firms.

With massive capital and heavy machinery, they drove dozens of H-Beams deep into the earth, erected formwork, and poured concrete in relentless succession.

To the naked eye, Blackwood Construction’s work looked impressive. The massive steel skeleton rising through the framework had all the appearance of a legitimate construction site.

But watching it unfold, Kang Joon shook his head and sighed.

Kang Joon crouched down and pressed his palm against the ground.

[Skill Activated: Pulse of the Earth (Lv.1)]

A faint ripple spread outward.

The subsurface of the Blackwood Construction site projected itself into his awareness.

‘Exactly as I thought. They’ve just driven iron stakes into soft ground and poured concrete on top — water’s seeping right underneath.’

The foundation and the retaining wall were working at cross-purposes.

It might stand for now, but the moment that water-logged mud began to shift, that concrete barrier would collapse under its own weight and topple forward.

Of course, it was none of Kang Joon’s concern. He’d long since packed up his equipment and prepared to leave with Leo when Max spotted them and swaggered over, brimming with confidence.

“Hey, you interior contractors. Giving up already? Been playing in the dirt all day, have you? We’re going to work through the night and get this wall standing, no matter what.”

Leo bristled at Max’s provocation, but Kang Joon raised a hand to stop him.

Kang Joon shouldered his tool bag and leveled a pointed remark at Max.

“Do you think driving iron deep into the ground makes it a proper foundation, Supervisor?”

“…What?”

“Concrete alone doesn’t harden the earth. I’m curious to see which way your wall will bow tomorrow morning. You might want to check for water seepage around the base of the pilings.”

“What, wh—? What in the hell are you talking about?”

Even as Max tried to dismiss him, he found he couldn’t let the words go. He hurried back to the site and urgently called over the work foreman.

“Hey! Foreman! Run the scanner over the lower pour section again! Check for any ground settlement!”

* * *

The next morning dawned clear.

Kang Joon arrived at the site riding in Leo’s battered Pickup Truck, just as he had the day before.

“Oh, incredible! The earth has hardened like stone!”

Leo jumped down first, stomping across the foundation with exultation.

The branches, soil, and loose rock that had been stacked yesterday had dried completely overnight. The muddy marsh had transformed into a foundation capable of bearing dozens of tons of weight.

Kang Joon climbed into the Mini Excavator without a word.

“Now that the ground is prepared, let’s build the wall.”

His gaze swept toward the hundreds of stones piled at one corner of the lot—natural rocks that had been swept down by the torrential rains, mixed with boulders Leo had brought in from the quarry.

Vroom—whirrrrr!

The excavator engine roared to life. The bucket began moving with exquisite precision, following the subtle shifts of Kang Joon’s hands.

[Skill Activated: Human Protractor]

A soft shimmer spread across his vision.
Kang Joon’s sight flooded with golden light.

The center of gravity of each natural stone, the protruding grain patterns, the friction where stone met stone, the distribution of weight—all of it materialized before his eyes.

Clang! Thud!

The excavator bucket lowered the first boulder onto the foundation. Then it lifted a second stone and began work of a peculiar kind.

Screech-scrape! Crack-crack!

The bucket’s teeth were scraping and chipping away at the underside of the upper stone—with extraordinary delicacy.

“Wh-what exactly is he doing with that excavator?”

Mayor Scott and the municipal officials who had arrived at the site watched in disbelief.

Grengi-jil.
It was a traditional Korean technique for stone wall construction—shaping the underside of the upper stone to fit the curved surface of the lower stone beneath it.

This was precisely why rural stone walls could withstand earthquakes without crumbling.

Kang Joon was a man who had spent countless jobsites carving boulders with razor precision using nothing but a hammer and chisel. Now the tool had simply changed from chisel to excavator.

Clang! Crack!

Each time the bucket chipped and set a stone, something miraculous unfolded.

Natural rocks weighing hundreds of kilograms locked together perfectly, as if they had always been one. A stone wall built entirely by gravity, friction, and angles.

“My goodness… is he actually a magician or something?”

Mayor Scott shook his head in wonder.

Meanwhile, Max, exhausted from his all-night vigil, stood in troubled contemplation.

“That’s possible? Carving and stacking boulders by eye alone… without even using cement?!”

The Blackwood Construction team continued pouring concrete into their formwork, building up their retaining wall structure.

To the naked eye, it was a smooth, modern concrete barrier. But in Max’s mind, Kang Joon’s warning from yesterday kept circling.

The gap in equipment was tenfold, but the gap in ‘work quality’ had barely narrowed.

* * *

Three in the afternoon.
Kang Joon’s fifty-meter retaining wall section upstream was complete.

Natural stones interlocked as if to withstand any demon of the waters, curving gently along the river’s arc—a fortress built on mudflats, solid and unyielding.

“It’s finished. Good work, Leo.”

Kang Joon climbed down from the excavator and brushed the dust from his clothes. The city officials were just about to approach, clapping.

A system window materialized in the air.

Ding—!
Ding-ding—!!!

[Warning! Warning!]
[In twenty-four hours, a secondary River of Atmosphere deluge will strike the Pasadena region.]
[Rainfall intensity and current velocity are projected at 1.5 times the first storm.]

One of Kang Joon’s eyebrows tensed.

“What? That goddamn rain’s coming again?”

The message didn’t end there.

[Hidden Quest Updated: Repair the Broken Shield]
The proxy’s retaining wall is flawless. But water always finds the weakest point.

▶ Condition: The retaining wall must withstand the incoming deluge without fail. However, you are not responsible for just your fifty-meter section—the entire one-hundred-meter length of the collapsed wall must not experience a single drop of overflow or structural failure.
▶ Time limit: Twenty-four hours
▶ Penalty for failure: If even one meter of the one-hundred-meter section collapses, your proxy status is permanently revoked and you die immediately.

“Damn this cursed system…!”

A Korean curse burst from Kang Joon’s lips.

His own fifty-meter section was flawless. The problem was downstream—that concrete lump Blackwood Construction had built on the mudflats.

If that retaining wall collapsed, he’d die instantly. That was the condition.

He was being forced to clean up after shoddy construction by a company too crude to know better.

“Mr. Kang? Suddenly, what’s wrong?”

Leo, seeing his expression, asked in alarm.

Instead of answering, Kang Joon turned his head and surveyed the Blackwood site below. They’d slathered cement overnight and it looked passable on the surface, but to Kang Joon’s eyes, the time bomb beneath that façade was plainly visible.

Kang Joon dropped to his knees and placed his bare hands against the earth.

[Skill Activated: Pulse of the Earth (Lv.1)]

Beneath the Blackwood retaining wall, river water seeping through gaps in the uncompacted foundation was already carving voids in the soil. When the water pressure from tomorrow’s deluge hit, the entire wall would topple into the river.

How was he supposed to save tens of tons of steel and half-set concrete in such a short time?

Kang Joon’s mind raced. Mechanics, load distribution, leverage principles, and shortcuts.

‘…Right. It’s not impossible. But it’ll be absolute hell.’

Kang Joon rose from his seat.

“Leo, do you have any interest in helping the less fortunate?”

“Pardon? I’m a firm believer in capitalism. Charity that doesn’t turn a profit? No thank you.”

Kang Joon unzipped his tool bag and pulled out a Large Pry Bar and a Maul.

“Right, of course. But those idiots down there making a mess and strutting around—I figure we owe it to them to keep them breathing.”

Click. Kang Joon fastened the chin strap of his Safety Helmet.

“Grab your gear and follow me. We’re going to bring those bastards to their knees.”

Kang Joon strode toward the lower Blackwood Construction site, raising clouds of dust.

Leo followed without any idea what was happening.

The timer before Kang Joon’s eyes was ticking away mercilessly.

[Hidden Quest: Repair the Shattered Shield]
[Time Remaining: 23 hours 59 minutes 58 seconds]

Genius Nogada Worker in America — Episode 12

Author
Kalman
Publisher
Titan
Planning / Editing / Production
Lee Seong-guk
Cover
Studio Inerus

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260819030.0012

ⓒ2026, Kalman

This e-book is protected under the Copyright Law of the Republic of Korea.
No part of this work may be reproduced or modified in any form without the permission of the author and publisher.

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