The Genius Construction Worker Who Moved to America - Chapter 27

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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 27

Any Road Can Lead Somewhere

“A System Error? But you just told me it was possible!”

Sofia’s voice cut sharp as a blade.

[I’m terribly sorry. We checked the warehouse inventory, and all the Carbon Fiber Sheets and Underwater Epoxy are gone. We’ll have to cancel the order.]

“No, sir! You can’t just—”

Click.

The line went dead before she could finish. The voice on the other end had panicked, desperate to hang up.
She set the receiver down hard and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

The material procurement plan she’d spent weeks perfecting had just collapsed in an instant.
She was about to search for alternative suppliers when her phone erupted.

Brrrring! Brrrring!
Ding-ding! Ding-ding-ding!

The phone screamed and the messenger app on her monitor flashed with incoming notifications, one after another.

[Golden Gate? The Carbon Fiber Sheets and Epoxy you asked about earlier—they just sold out. Can’t process that order. Sorry.]

[North LA distributor here. Those materials are out of stock.]

[Automatic cancellation due to insufficient inventory.]

“Damn it all!”

Curse words spilled from Sofia’s lips—she who never lost her composure.

One cancellation could be coincidence. Two, maybe. But every major supplier across the western California coast had simultaneously pulled their orders.

As if coordinated by design.

She was rising from her chair to report to Kang Jun when her mind suddenly shifted into overdrive.

The geographical spread of the calling companies. The timing gaps between cancellations. The concentrated flow of capital targeting those specific materials.
As thought linked to thought, a single question crystallized.

‘Wait. Only those two specific materials are short? I need to double-check this.’

She dialed the supplier back immediately.

[Hello? Ah, yes. Like I said, those materials—]

“No, sir. Not those. What about one hundred tons of H-Beam Steel and two thousand sacks of Portland Cement? Can you fulfill that?”

Sofia had cast her bait. The supplier’s voice brightened instantly through the receiver.

[Of course! We could ship those out this evening!]

“I see. I was just curious, sir. Thank you.”

Sofia hung up the phone without another word.

According to the executive’s story, other materials were in adequate stock. The implication was that even they had been forced into an Exclusive Contract with someone.

Sofia settled back into her chair, drew a deep breath, and began tapping at the keyboard.

First, she scraped together disclosure documents from the B2B Trading Network and traced the flow of money through the system.
The data was limited, but the trail of funds all pointed toward a single source.

Sofia’s eyes gleamed with sharp intensity as she struck the Enter key.

She rose from her seat and headed straight for the site. The person Sofia singled out was Max—not Kang Jun, not Leo.

Max, who had been smoking behind the office, startled at Sofia’s sudden appearance. He didn’t seem angry, but her demeanor cut like a blade.

“Uh…? What brings you here all of a sudden?”

Sofia folded her arms and looked up at Max.

“Director. How often do you send reports to headquarters?”

Max blinked at the sudden question.

“Headquarters reports? Every morning at seven o’clock, I send a one-page report by email. The vice president keeps nagging me about it too—I’m sick of it.”

Max puffed his chest slightly, clearly proud of his diligence.

“When that bridge problem came up yesterday, I submitted a separate report right away, no delay! There’s no site director as efficient as me….”

“Yes, that’s more than enough.”

The crucial clue had tumbled from Max’s mouth. Leaving him to his boasting, Sofia bolted back toward the office.

The materials list Kang Jun had provided had been leaked. And someone who received that information had deployed capital to monopolize those materials.

Sofia paused, stepping briefly away from that thread to examine Blackwood Construction’s recent trajectory of growth.

Explosive expansion over the past few years. Massive flows of capital. And a ruthless strategy of starving out subcontractors before devouring them at bargain prices.

Her gaze fixed on the monitor.

A single figure had appeared at the moment Blackwood began its rise—Julian Blackwood, Vice President of the Blackwood Group.

‘He has to be involved in this.’

Once her investigation was complete, she went straight to find Kang Jun.

* * *

Kang Jun’s eyes grew heavy as he listened to the report at the site. Sofia added urgently once she’d finished her explanation.

“Inspector, should we formally request an extension of the deadline from City Hall?”

Kang Jun closed his eyes and answered as if speaking to himself.

“Blackwood again…. I thought those bastards had learned their lesson.”

Then it happened.

Ding-ding! Ding-ding!

A system alarm chimed in his mind.

[Sudden Quest triggered!]
[Quest: The One Who Bridges the Broken Path]

▶ Objective: Despite material supply shortages, connect the severed B Section and C Section.
▶ Reward: [You shall gain a firm foothold with Golden Gate.]
▶ Penalty for failure: Loss of reputation and control of the affected zone.

Kang Jun stared at the quest window and let out a hollow laugh.

‘Well, finally something to keep me sharp.’

But the reward promised was cryptic.

Kang Jun tilted his head at the final phrase. What exactly did a firm foothold mean?

Given what he’d earned from completing quests before, this one warranted his attention.
He’d never taken a deal that left him worse off.

‘I’ll need to revise the strategy.’

Plan A was useless without materials. That meant crafting a contingency.

Kang Jun closed his eyes again. Memories from fifteen years spent scrambling on construction sites surfaced one by one.

* * *

A day from years past, at a road construction site deep in the mountains of Gangwon Province.

After several days of rain, the work crew prepared to resume operations—only to face catastrophe.
Hundreds of tons of earth had collapsed into the entry path.

With the road obliterated, the trucks carrying materials sat immobilized, trapped.

“Damn it! What the hell is this?”

The site supervisor hurled his hard hat to the ground and bellowed.

“Get every excavator operator here! Clear that mud pile now! You think you’ll pay if the ready-mix sets?”

At the supervisor’s fury, the excavators rushed in and began digging—but it was futile.

The sodden earth crumbled and collapsed with every scoop, becoming worse. In that moment of despair, a younger Kang Jun approached the supervisor.

A younger version of Kang Jun approached the supervisor.

“Sir, a road doesn’t have to be just one path.”

“What? Then what do you suggest? Should we fly through the air?”

At the supervisor’s sharp retort, Kang Jun gestured with his chin toward the side of the mud pile.

“Anywhere you grade and compact becomes a road.”

The supervisor stared at Kang Jun blankly, not following.

“It’s faster to make that shallow ridge into a detour than to clear the blocked path.”

Thanks to Kang Jun’s intuitive proposal, they’d carved out a new access route, and construction was able to resume without incident.

When the path is blocked, forge a new one.

* * *

Kang Jun opened his eyes as the memory faded.

“Inspector… are you alright? Should I prepare an explanation for the mayor…?”

Sofia asked cautiously, but Kang Jun answered with firm resolve.

“An explanation won’t be necessary. We’ll finish the project on schedule.”

“But… we can’t source the materials.”

“If the path is blocked, there’s no need to break through it.”

Kang Jun took the Tablet PC from Sofia and began issuing new instructions.

“Here—place a reorder for the materials I’m about to list.”

A moment later, Sofia’s eyes widened as she reviewed the Tablet PC screen.

“What? Wh-what exactly are you planning to do with these…?”

Kang Jun raised a finger to his lips and made a soft shushing gesture.

“And please recruit four Underwater Diving specialists. Only certified ones.”

Sofia nodded, her expression vacant. She couldn’t begin to guess what blueprint was taking shape in Kang Jun’s mind.

* * *

The next morning.

In front of the bridge connecting B Section and C Section.

“There are only three divers…?”

A man dressed in a Diving Suit spoke with a hint of embarrassment.

“Ah, well… the fourth one hasn’t arrived yet. He’s got solid skills, but the guy’s a real free spirit, you know?”

That’s when it happened.

Vrooom—screech!

A Mustang Sports Car came barreling toward them in the distance, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The vehicle didn’t slow down as it charged forward, grinding to a rough halt just feet away from the group.

Clang. The car door swung open.

A young man with disheveled hair and the look of someone not quite awake stepped out. Eyes still drowsy, he glanced around and grinned, waving at them.

“Hey there—sorry I’m late. Got caught up gaming yesterday and overslept. A dip in cold water will wake me right up, yeah?”

Kang Jun studied the man from head to toe, muttering under his breath.

‘Quite the character, this one.’

Moments later, at Kang Jun’s command, the divers descended into the River, each carrying something in their hands.

About ten minutes passed after they disappeared beneath the surface.

“What are those people doing, exactly?”

Kang Jun said nothing, his gaze fixed on the bridge’s lower supports.

Leo shifted anxiously, checking his watch and tapping his foot.

Splash—!

The four divers broke through the murky water and surfaced. They turned to Kang Jun and signaled that their work was complete without incident.

Kang Jun withdrew an electronic device from his jacket—one fitted with a red switch.

“No, no, no! Mr. Kang! Stop this right now! What in God’s name are you trying to do?!”

Leo gasped in horror as he recognized what Kang Jun held in his hand.

Moments later, emergency evacuation orders blared across the bridge area, and sirens wailed through the surrounding landscape.

“You said you’d repair it! You said you’d fix the bridge!”

Max’s face had gone ashen as he shouted in protest.

Kang Jun, unmoved by the commotion, turned to Sofia and spoke.

“Sofia, you’ve confirmed the Emergency Permit we requested yesterday? The one from Scott for bridge demolition and new construction?”

Sofia exhaled deeply and nodded.

“Yes! The mayor used his executive authority to approve it last night. Since we obtained the explosives based on that documentation, there’s no procedural vulnerability anyone can exploit!”

“Good. That’s all we need.”

A smile spread across Kang Jun’s face.

“If repair is impossible…”

Kang Jun positioned his thumb over the red button of the detonator.

“Then it’s faster to demolish it and build a new route, wouldn’t you say?”

Click.

Boom-boom-boom-boom-BLAST—!!!!
Thunderous rumble—!

A deafening roar accompanied a column of water that shot up dozens of meters into the air.

“Aaaaaahhhhh!”

“Get down!”

Everyone stood in stunned silence, watching the spectacle unfold.

That was when it happened.

Before the reverberations of the explosion had even faded, a thunderous engine roar announced the arrival of vehicles laden with mysterious materials, rolling into the site.

They were the supplies Sofia had painstakingly airlifted through the night—materials for Kang Jun’s Plan B.

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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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