The Genius Construction Worker Who Moved to America - Chapter 17

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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 17

The Art of Persuasion

The 1,200-block section of Pasadena Elm Street.

Heavy machinery churned ceaselessly across the site as Kang Jun stood before the cordon, arms folded across his chest.

He gazed at the skeletal remains of the old house and the overgrown yard beside it, murmuring to himself.

“A hot spring flowing beneath this land…”

Twenty meters below, he could feel the heat rising. Dig deeper, and scalding spring water would surely gush forth.

‘I need to mold everything on this property with my own hands.’

If he could only secure the property registration, immense wealth would be within his grasp.

Kang Jun swept his gaze slowly across the grounds. Then a small pond left to ruin in one corner of the yard caught his eye.

‘Interesting.’

Heavy rain had collapsed one of the stone walls, and weeds choked the parched bottom where it had been abandoned for years. Yet Kang Jun saw the intact skeleton of its design.

‘The placement of the landscape stones, the angle of the water channels—nothing arbitrary here. Whoever built this understood how to use topography to keep water flowing in a cycle. Someone who could read water.’

It was a pond that had received considerable care. Kang Jun was already calculating in his mind how to restore its foundation.

“Wait just a moment, Mr. Choi! This property is off-limits.”

Tom, the mayor’s chief of staff, came rushing over, his voice urgent.
When he blocked the way, breathing hard, Kang Jun looked up, puzzled.

“Off-limits? You mean I can’t touch just this house?”

For Kang Jun, who needed to hit a ninety percent Contribution Rate, it was like a lightning bolt from clear sky.

Tom flipped through a stack of documents with an awkward expression and explained.

“We’ve got approval forms from all the other homeowners in the restoration program. But Property 1248 Elm Street—we can’t reach the owner to get theirs signed.”

“The building’s about to collapse. Can’t you just push through without their consent? Use your authority.”

Kang Jun pressed, and Tom waved his hand dismissively.

“Mr. Choi. This is America. Unless this building poses a ‘direct and immediate’ threat to public safety, touching it without the owner’s permission is clear trespassing.”

Tom adjusted his glasses and continued.

“We could force condemnation, sure—but that ties up the courts for years. If the owner files for restoration costs later, the city faces astronomical damages.”

“Ugh. It’s that complicated? Frustrating.”

Kang Jun clicked his tongue, swallowing his disappointment—when Tom extended a sheet of paper.

“If you really need this done, try persuading the owner yourself. In your capacity as site manager.”

Tom winked as he handed over the paper. It bore the owner’s personal details and current address.

[Owner: Sophia Miller, 28 years old.
Current address: 202, 158 Alhambra Garfield Avenue]

The moment Kang Jun took hold of the paper.

Ding-! Ding-ding-!!!

A holographic window blazed before his eyes, suffused with blue light.

[Special Quest Triggered!]

[Quest: Unlock the Sealed Door]
To command the hidden flames beneath the earth, you must first confront the land’s rightful master.

▶ Objective: Persuade Sophia Miller, owner of Property 1248 Elm Street, to sign the building renovation consent form.
▶ Reward: Skill [Pulse of the Earth] Level Up (Lv.1 → Lv.2).
Secondary Effect: Detection depth of underground layers expands significantly, and a cooling ability emerges—capable of dramatically lowering ground temperature within a 10-meter radius.
▶ Time Limit: 72 hours
▶ Penalty for Failure: Skill [Pulse of the Earth] Permanent Skill Revocation.

“Damn it…!”

The curse escaped Kang Jun’s lips before he could stop himself.

Skill Revocation. Without the Pulse of the Earth, he couldn’t perceive geothermal energy or water veins underground.

A 90 percent Contribution Rate, registered ownership—every facet of his plan was nothing but illusion without this skill.

If he ever hoped to plant his flag on virgin land, this Quest had to succeed. No exceptions.

Kang Jun spun around and bolted toward the site office.

“Leo! Where are you?”

Leo, absorbed in paperwork, looked up with a start.

“Yes? What’s happened?”

Kang Jun fished the Black Card from his pocket and thrust it toward Leo.

“Go to the bank right now and withdraw every last penny this card will allow. Pack it all in One Hundred Dollar Bills!”

“W-what? Cash?! This isn’t some gangster movie—why all of a sudden? Are you meeting someone important?”

Kang Jun nodded, his expression unyielding.

“There’s someone I need to persuade.”

‘The most reliable persuasion is always money.’

Facing Kang Jun’s resolute gaze, Leo took the card without hesitation and strode out.

* * *

An hour later, in Alhambra.

Garfield Avenue, fifteen minutes by car from Pasadena.

Kang Jun and Leo stood before a shabby, weathered villa tucked down a quiet alley. Peeling paint on the exterior walls and creaking wooden steps told the building’s age.

Unit 202, second floor, end of the hall.
Kang Jun knocked on the door.

Rap-rap-rap.

“Is anyone home? I’m here on behalf of Golden Gate Construction.”

No answer. He knocked again with the same result.

“Mr. Choi, I think we have the wrong place. The unit appears to be vacant.”

Leo shrugged with obvious disappointment. Then Kang Jun’s eyes landed on the garbage bags left outside the door, and he examined them closely.

Inside the translucent bag were pizza boxes and crumpled drink cans, crammed together. The trash looked fresh, placed out moments ago—not a speck of dust on it.

“Based on this garbage alone, someone definitely lives here.”

“Maybe they just stepped out? Then I suppose we wait.”

And so the two of them staked out the pickup truck, waiting for the owner to return.

The bright sky turned red, then dark. Twelve hours of enduring on hamburgers alone.

The time limit in the system window ticked down with merciless precision.

[Remaining Time: 59 hours 23 minutes 40 seconds…]

‘At this rate, I’m going to lose the skill.’

Unable to bear it any longer, Kang Jun pushed open the truck door and stepped out. Urgency burned through him.
He stood before Unit 202 on the second floor once more.

‘Wait—the skill!’

Kang Jun raised his palm and pressed it against the door.

[Skill Activated: Voice of Materials (Lv. 1)]

Whoosh—!

Before his eyes, the door’s thickness, the floor joists within, the structure’s composition and mass all unfolded as translucent holograms.

‘Old plywood flooring. Moisture content normal. Structural integrity intact.’

Beyond the spread of information, Kang Jun focused on the vibrations being transmitted to him.

‘Thump-thump—weight bearing down on the floor at regular intervals. Footsteps!’

Someone was definitely in there. Someone pacing nervously, confined to one spot.

Kang Jun knocked again.

Bang-bang-bang!

“I know you’re in there! Open the door!”

Still silence.

Kang Jun’s frustration reached a breaking point, and he spoke.

“Listen, Sophia! Your house on Elm Street is on the verge of collapse! And the pond in your yard, too.”

Kang Jun’s voice echoed through the hallway.

Click, creak.

The door swung open as the lock disengaged.

“My house… collapsed? The pond too?”

Kang Jun caught the tremor in her voice at the word pond.

The woman looked grave. Her hair lay matted and tangled, her face drained of color, dark circles etched deeply beneath her eyes. Bite marks scarred her fingernails.

She’d cut herself off so completely from the outside world that she hadn’t even known her own house was failing.

Leo flashed an affable smile and spoke. “Oh my, Sophia! You must have missed the flood coverage! The old quarter is in ruins!

But don’t you worry. We’ve been entrusted by the city of Pasadena to oversee disaster recovery! We’ll handle the entire restoration at no cost to you—just sign the consent form here….”

“I don’t need it.”

The moment she turned to shut the door, Kang Jun caught its edge and held it firm.

“What are you doing! I’ll call the police!”

“That pond of yours—it really was lovely. Or I should say, it was. It’s all rubble now.”

Her pupils trembled. Moisture gathered at the corners of eyes that had been dry for far too long.

Kang Jun seized the opening and pressed on.

“I’ll restore it for you. I promise.”

His voice was low and grave.
His eyes held an uncanny assurance.

Sophia opened the door slowly, as if under a spell.

* * *

Inside, despite the daylight, the house lay in shadow. A stale, acrid reek—as if cigarette smoke had seeped into every wall—hung throughout.

Sophia sat in a chair, her eyes never leaving her phone screen. The anxiety was palpable.

Kang Jun swept the room with a practiced eye. Two high-end computer monitors stood out starkly against the worn furniture.

Candlestick charts in red and blue flicked across the screens—the unmistakable setup of a Day Trader.

On one corner of the desk sat a single small frame.
A photograph of her father smiling gently beside a young, guileless Sophia.

The background of that photograph was Property 1248 Elm Street—the backyard pond.

Leo began carefully explaining the current state of the Elm Street property, detailing the extensive repairs the deteriorating house would require.

He withdrew a sheaf of documents from his briefcase and set them on the table.

“This is a Reconstruction Consent Form issued by City Hall. If you look at Section 7, it states that ‘should severe structural damage be discovered,
some of the existing house and land landscaping may need to be demolished and reconfigured for ground stabilization purposes.’ But it’s just boilerplate language, so please don’t worry too much about it….”

After a moment, she wiped her eyes and spoke firmly.

Sophia Miller grabbed Kang Jun’s arm and pulled, but he didn’t budge an inch.

“So, you won’t take the money? No receipt needed—just clear the mortgage right and we’re done.”

The two men, who had been pressing forward with such confidence, fell silent the moment they saw the stack of bills in front of them. They exchanged glances, hastily masking their bewilderment as they shifted their approach.

“Ahem… We’re employees of Apex Financial. There are proper procedures for clearing a mortgage right, so if you come by our office tomorrow, we can process it right away.”

One of the men hurriedly scrawled out a receipt from his briefcase and laid it on the table along with his business card.

“Take the receipt for now. We’ll finalize the formal documentation tomorrow.”

The men swept up the money and bolted from the room as if fleeing a fire.

Bang.

Silence fell over the apartment.

Sophia Miller buried her face in her hands and wept. Kang Jun waited, letting her cry until the tears had run their course.

When her sobs finally subsided, Kang Jun spoke gently.

“Tell me what happened.”

Sophia Miller composed herself and looked up. Then, to the dark-haired man standing before her, she began to unburden herself of the story she had kept buried for so long.

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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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