The Genius Construction Worker Who Moved to America - Chapter 25

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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 25

Born Anew

In the center of the courtyard in front of the U.S. Consulate in Vancouver stood the Maple Leaf Bronze Sculpture, erected as a symbol of goodwill between Canada and the United States.

Late afternoon. As the sun tilted beyond the horizon, the shadow of the sculpture stretched across the outer wall of the Lobby.

And in that moment, everyone standing in the courtyard could not hide their astonishment.

“Huh…!”

Remarkably, the lines Kang Jun had drawn matched precisely with the shadow outline of the sculpture cast upon the outer wall.

Sculptural beauty calculated through light and shadow.

The blackened outer wall of the consulate was being reborn as a work of art.

“How on earth…? You’ve been here before, haven’t you? How could you deploy such a technique on the spot!”

Consul Williams let out an exclamation of wonder.

Sophia too gazed at Kang Jun’s back with eyes full of awe.

‘What kind of world is this man seeing?’

Kang Jun wiped the sweat beading on his forehead and stepped back from the wall.

Outer wall repairs complete. Half the work was done.

“Well, the wall’s dressed in new clothes now. Shall we sweep the ground?”

Kang Jun’s gaze turned toward the ravaged entrance of the courtyard and the Lobby floor.

The state was dire.
Burn marks, powder dust spewed from the broken fire extinguisher, and muddy footprints from fleeing people were all tangled together.

Kang Jun walked to a planter bed arranged on one side of the courtyard and stood before the stone wall surrounding it.

He turned back to Consul Williams and Smith and asked,

“I’d like to tidy up the courtyard floor. Would it be all right if I used these stones?”

The Consul, already completely captivated by Kang Jun’s skill, nodded without a moment’s hesitation.

“Of course! Not just these stones—if you wanted to uproot the consulate pillars themselves, I’d grant it! Do as you wish, Master Kang!”

The moment the Consul gave the signal, Kang Jun smiled faintly and gripped a stone with both hands.

[Passive Skill: Craftsman’s Grip (Lv.1) activates.]
[Skill activated: Voice of Materials (Lv.1)]

‘This time, let’s work the stone a bit.’

Kang Jun drew the Double-headed Hammer and chisel from his waist.

He pressed the chisel against the side of the stone and tapped lightly, tap-tap, carving out a path, then suddenly put his strength into it and drove the hammer down hard.

Crack-crack-crack!

With a sharp snap, the stone sheared cleanly in half. It was only possible because Kang Jun had read the grain of the stone and struck at precisely the right angle.

“What kind of technique is that…? He’s slicing through stone like it’s cheese!”

Smith clapped his hand over his mouth in astonishment.

Kang Jun began laying the cut stone slabs across the courtyard. Each seam between the stones fit together as if they had been a single piece from the beginning.

The front yard, which had been blackened by soot, transformed into an elegant stone floor.

What remained now was the marble floor of the Lobby. The marble had suffered both heat damage and frost cracking simultaneously.

Dark soot seeped through the fissures, making it seem impossible to repair without tearing up the entire floor.

Then Kang Jun withdrew a Hand Grinder from his tool bag.

Whirrrrr!

With a loud whine, the grinder’s blade began scraping away the surface of the lobby marble.

With the Human Protractor skill activated, Kang Jun’s hands moved with flawless precision.
As he ground away the marble surface while maintaining perfect levelness, the dark layer of soot vanished cleanly.

Kang Jun mixed the Quartz Powder he’d collected while cutting stone with Industrial Epoxy to create a resin.

Patter, patter.

He pressed the makeshift resin into the fissures of the cracked marble, then attached a polishing pad to the grinder and began buffing the floor.

As the mixture hardened and the shine returned, the lobby floor took on an even more luxurious appearance than before.

“Phew. All done.”

The entire job had taken just over ten hours.
What’s more, of the two thousand dollars the Consul General had provided, Kang Jun had spent less than half.

Tears had begun to well up in the eyes of both the Consul General and Smith. If the visiting American Ambassador were to witness this scene, he would surely issue commendations rather than disciplinary action.

“Mr. Choi… you’ve saved not just the Vancouver U.S. Consulate, but my life!”

Williams rushed forward and grasped Kang Jun’s hand, bowing repeatedly.

Smith wasted no time in reviewing Kang Jun’s visa renewal. That said, he did not simply approve it without examining the documents—nothing of the sort.

Rather, when he examined the paperwork Sophia had prepared, he was astonished by its meticulous precision.

“My goodness. Did you prepare these documents yourself? I’ve worked here for twenty years, but I’ve never seen an application so logically sound!”

Smith shook his head in wonder and brought his stamp down with a decisive bang-bang on the approval form.

The result was no ordinary work visa. It was the highest-tier visa—the O-1 Visa—granted only to those with exceptional ability in their field.

And the very moment Kang Jun received the approved documents.

Ding-ding! Ding-ding-ding!

As the restoration work was completed, the System’s alarm chimed loudly in Kang Jun’s mind.

A meaningful smile crossed Kang Jun’s face as he read through the message hovering before him.

‘This is a bonus I never saw coming. Hard work really doesn’t betray you.’

Kang Jun closed the window without sharing its contents.

Thanks to Smith and the Consul’s full support and administrative assistance, Kang Jun and Sophia were able to secure the fastest direct flight back to California.

Just three days. That was how long it had taken for Choi Kang Jun—who had been on the verge of deportation as a tourist—to renew his visa.

Now Kang Jun was not only eligible for employment within the United States, but held the status of an ‘O-1 Visa’ specialist, recognized as the executive director of a legitimate company.

* * *

After three hours of flight, Kang Jun and Sophia arrived at the California airport and hurried toward the Pasadena disaster recovery site.

The moment they opened the office door, Leo—looking haggard and worn—greeted them warmly.

“Oh! Mr. Choi! Sophia! You’ve finally returned! I was so worried you might not come back at all.”

Leo’s eyes were hollow, as if he hadn’t slept in days.

“Do you know how much those damnable ICE people have put me through? I’ve been called in for questioning several times! The Blackwood vultures keep threatening to strip the equipment…. I really thought I was going to die!”

Leo grabbed at Kang Jun’s sleeve and poured out his grievances. Kang Jun was just laughing and patting Leo’s shoulder when—

Screech—!
Slam! Slam! Slam!

The sound of tires dragging across pavement mixed with the sharp opening and closing of vehicle doors.

The office door burst open, and a sharp-featured white man in an expensive suit walked in. It was Reynolds, an executive dispatched from Blackwood’s headquarters.

Behind him came four armed ICE agents.

“Good day. I’m Reynolds, an executive from Blackwood headquarters. We gave you plenty of time to run, yet you’ve come back. Either you’re an idiot, or you’ve got nerves of steel.”

Reynolds scoffed and pointed his finger at Kang Jun.

“Arrest that Oriental now. And from this point forward, Blackwood will no longer recognize Golden Gate as our general contractor.”

Kang Jun’s face hardened as he stepped forward.

“Lower that hand. Now.”

Sophia’s eyes blazed as she stepped in front of Kang Jun.

Reynolds flinched at her sudden movement, but Sophia continued in an unwavering voice:

“I said remove your hand. From our executive director here, who has completely legal residency status!”

She pulled a sheet of paper from her briefcase and thrust it against Reynolds’s chest.

What Sophia presented was none other than the approval document for an ‘O-1 Visa’—the highest-tier visa granted only to the world’s most exceptional specialists.

“What, what is this? An O-1 Visa…? This can’t be right! This Oriental got a specialist visa?”

Reynolds and the ICE agents were stunned as they examined the documents.

Just hours earlier in Vancouver, the visa had been approved, and the paperwork had traveled through the system but had not yet been updated in California’s jurisdiction.

They had stormed in with such swagger, convinced that Kang Jun was still on a mere tourist visa.

The ICE agent at the front of the group broke into a cold sweat and pulled out his radio.

As the agent checked the situation with headquarters and the Border Patrol, his face drained of all color.

“Yes…? Yes! Ah, understood!”

The oppressive posture from moments before vanished entirely. The agent bowed deeply toward Kang Jun.

“I’m—I’m truly sorry, Kang Jun! There was a misunderstanding due to a delay in document updates!”

“What is this nonsense? Those documents could very well be forged, couldn’t they?”

Reynolds exploded in indignation, but the ICE agent shoved him aside and spoke with cold finality.

The U.S. Consul General Williams himself, seething with anger, had called the California ICE office directly.

The agent glared at Reynolds and relayed the Consul General’s words verbatim.

“Mister Choi is a lawful holder of an O-1 Visa! Moreover, he has just made a charitable donation of land he owns—the grounds in front of the consulate—to the U.S. State Department! Orders from above are to treat him as a distinguished guest!”

That was it.

The moment Kang Jun finished laying stone and repairing the outer wall of the consulate grounds, the System had sounded an alert, crediting him with a 90 percent contribution rate.

As a result, the deed to the choice parcel of consulate entrance property—fifty square meters in all—had been transferred to Kang Jun’s name.

Kang Jun had graciously declared he would donate that land to Consul General Williams.

The tables had turned completely.
The ICE agents arrested Reynolds on charges of spreading false information and obstructing the execution of official duties. They bound his arms and dragged him out.

“Let go! Do you know who I am? I’m a director at Blackwood! Damn it!”

Reynolds’s protests faded into the distance beyond the office walls.
As the visa renewal was being finalized, breaking news poured across the tablet PC screen sitting on the office desk.

The local newspaper’s headline ran: “Master Choi—The Hero Who Saved Pasadena from Torrential Ruin.”

It was a press release Mayor Scott had prepared and distributed to media outlets in advance, released the moment Kang Jun’s visa renewal was completed.

Blackwood’s sabotage scheme was utterly demolished by Mayor Scott’s media play and the dramatic visa renewal.

Kang Jun poured himself a cup of coffee and leaned against the window.
He turned to Leo and Sophia with a meaningful look and spoke.

“Leo, Sophia. Now that we’ve resolved the awkward complications… shall we undertake some proper development?”

The hot underground water vein sleeping beneath 1,248 Pasadena Old Town.

Golden Gate, which had been nothing more than a neighborhood construction firm, was now stepping into the ranks of a mid-sized builder—a fusion of a genius laborer, a perfectionist accountant, and a resourceful president.

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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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