The Genius Construction Worker Who Moved to America - Chapter 29

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

Chapter 29

A Reliable Foundation

[Sudden Quest: You have perfectly cleared ‘Bridging the Severed Connection’!]
[You have acquired vast Experience Points!]
[The Passive Skill ‘Artisan’s Grip Strength’ has increased in level! (Lv.1 → Lv.2)]

A flash of light—

Blue radiance seeped into Kang Junwon’s palms. His forearms tightened, and he felt each bone in his hands grow denser, harder.

Even with just a casual clench and release of his fists, he could sense a grip strength wholly unlike before.

‘At this rate, I could bend reinforcing steel with my bare hands.’

Kang Junwon lifted his head and read through the reward message that followed.

[Reward: You have obtained Golden Gate’s Reliable Foot, ‘Dominic Pierce’.]

‘Golden Gate’s Reliable Foot—Dominic Pierce….’

At a construction site, a “foot” typically referred to mobility and logistical capacity—the dispatch of heavy machinery and personnel.
But what the system had explicitly pointed out was something else entirely: human talent.

‘What kind of person is he, exactly….’

Kang Junwon descended from the driver’s seat with an intrigued expression, surveying the surroundings.

“Hey there, boss!”

A cheerful voice called out from behind him.

When Kang Junwon turned, a young man with his wetsuit peeled down to his solar plexus was approaching. Even at second glance, his physique was remarkable.

The man hastily dried his hands on his wetsuit and flashed a grin before extending his hand for a handshake.

“That was quite a show today. Building a pontoon bridge out of plastic barrels—impressive. I’m Dominic Pierce. Hope you’ll give me a call whenever there’s work.”

Dominic Pierce!
It was precisely the name the system had announced moments before.

Kang Junwon smiled and returned the handshake.

‘So this is the man. The talent who’ll become our company’s foundation.’

The system had granted him this talent as a reward, after all.
Kang Junwon tightened his grip and, without hesitation, went straight for the ask.

“How about you skip the occasional calls and become a full-time employee of our company instead?”

“…I’m sorry? A full-time employee?”

Dominic’s eyes widened in surprise.

He’d done nothing but work as a day-rate diver, taking a few plunges into the water—and here came a sudden job offer. His shock was entirely justified.

“The salary will be competitive, I promise. Let’s work together.”

Dominic’s expression went slack for a moment before he burst into loud, braying laughter.

“Ha-ha-ha! Boss, you’re something else! I like it! Working under you, I’ll never have a dull moment.”

Dominic nodded and accepted Kang Junwon’s offer on the spot.

Leo, who had been watching from behind, stepped forward with an exaggerated cough of disbelief.

“Ahem, Mister Choi! Regardless of circumstances, I am the president of the Golden Gate, am I not? Surely a significant matter like hiring staff warrants at least a heads-up to me first.”

Leo’s tone was plaintive, but he had no real intention of opposing Kang Junwon’s judgment. He’d witnessed Dominic’s prowess firsthand this very afternoon.

“Since Mister Choi has such an exceptional eye for talent, I’ll make an exception this once and handle the paperwork retroactively. Welcome to the Golden Gate, Dominic Pierce!”

Leo flashed a knowing smile and gave Dominic’s shoulder a couple of friendly pats. The impromptu hiring interview was just about to wrap up when—

“Supervisor! Just a moment!”

Sophia, who’d been observing from the sidelines, suddenly tugged at Kang Junwon’s sleeve.

Her eyes glinted with wariness as she leaned close and whispered to him.

“Supervisor, I’m uncomfortable with this. We don’t know anything about that man. What if he’s a criminal or a defaulter? It could create serious problems.”

To Sophia, uncertainty was the gravest risk to avoid.
Bringing in someone whose credentials couldn’t be verified by numbers flew in the face of everything she stood for.

And her concern had merit.

In fact, Kang Junwon himself wouldn’t have hastily brought Dominic aboard if the system hadn’t vouched for him as Golden Gate’s Reliable Foot. The man could have been an unpredictable variable—a loose cannon.

“You’re right, Sophia. Let’s find out more about this fellow.”

Kang Junwon returned to where the others had gathered and made a suggestion.

“We’ve successfully launched the pontoon bridge and welcomed a new member to the team. How about we all grab dinner tonight? My treat.”

And so the Golden Gate’s first company gathering came to pass. Max, the construction site foreman who was caked in mud, joined them as well.

* * *

Eight in the evening. A Texas-Style BBQ Pub in downtown Pasadena.

Five people sat around a circular table tucked into a corner where country music drifted lazily overhead.

Kang Junwon, Leo, Sophia, Max, and the newcomer, Dominic.

The table was laid with massive ribs, frosty mugs of draft beer, and glasses of amber bourbon whiskey.

“Come on, everyone! Let’s raise our glasses first!”

It was Leo, as expected, who opened the festivities. He stood up, fork in hand, and launched into a polished speech.

“Today marks a historic moment for our Golden Gate—we’ve built a miracle bridge! And none of this would have been possible without Mister Choi’s foresight and the sweat and dedication of all of you here!”

As Leo flashed a thumbs-up toward Kang Junwon, the energy at the table soared.

Dominic, the fresh recruit, matched the intensity with gusto, pounding the table with his fist and cheering Leo on.

“I’m telling you, when the Captain drove that dump truck across the bridge, my heart nearly stopped! Captain, you’re a real man’s man!”

Dominic thrust both thumbs up theatrically. Even Sophia relaxed and smiled. Max nodded along and took a swig of beer.

As the mood ripened, Leo, his face flushed, turned to Kang Junwon with a question.

“But Mister Choi—where on earth did you learn such impossible techniques? Come on, be honest. Are you from some prestigious construction family or something?”

Leo’s eyes gleamed as he waited for the answer.

Roofing without a single nail out of place. Carving boulders by eye alone. Building a pontoon bridge in a single day.
Leo couldn’t help but wonder where such craftsmanship came from—a level of skill even elite engineering students couldn’t replicate.

Sophia, Max, and Dominic all fixed their gazes on Kang Junwon with undisguised curiosity.

With all eyes on him, Kang Junwon spoke flatly.

“I’m an orphan. I’ve never even seen my parents’ faces.”

In an instant, the noisy pub fell silent as if doused with cold water.

Max barely managed to swallow the draft beer he’d been about to spray out. Leo’s glib smile froze in place. Sophia, caught off guard, let her gaze drop to the floor.

As the atmosphere chilled, Kang Junwon chuckled softly and waved his hand dismissively.

“No, no—don’t go getting all somber hearing about someone else’s past. It’s just how things are. Come on, your glasses are empty. Everyone, refill!”

Kang Junwon rose and personally topped off everyone’s glass.

“In Korea, when things get awkward, we always make a toast! Everyone, raise your glass!”

Kang Junwon held his glass toward the center of the table.
As they hesitated, someone’s glass came forward and clinked sharply against his.

Ding!

It was Max. Then Leo, laughing awkwardly, clinked his glass. Sophia and Dominic joined in.

“Here’s to us!”
“Cheers!”

As the alcohol went down, the tension melted away.

Kang Junwon drained his glass and continued in the same matter-of-fact tone.

“I was naturally good with my hands from childhood. At the orphanage, whenever something broke, I’d fix it. And for some reason, I could draw perfect right angles without a ruler. That ability made me a name for myself on construction sites.”

His natural talent had only grown more formidable with the system’s aid.

“Ah, so genius really is born, not made! That’s incredible, Mister Choi!”

As Leo threw another theatrical exclamation, the table erupted in laughter again.

“But seriously, where’s the extra barbecue we ordered? How long has it been?”

Leo held up his empty plate in protest.

“Whether it’s a construction site or a restaurant, I hate delays. Delays mean everything falls apart!”

That’s when it happened.
Clatter.

A loud noise erupted from one end of the table—the sound of a glass tumbling against the wooden surface from Dominic’s grip.

“Hey, Dominic? Are you all right?”

Leo asked in alarm, but Dominic didn’t answer. Instead, he brought the whiskey to his lips and drained it in one long pull.

“Hhhhhhh….”

His face flushed crimson—a reaction that seemed disproportionate to his broad frame and a single glass of spirits.

His eyes lost focus, pupils wandering into empty space. It seemed that Leo’s careless remark—a single word, “late”—had flipped some switch deep in Dominic’s mind.

“I… I killed someone.”

The silence that descended was more suffocating than when Kang Junwon had spoken moments before. The pub’s cheerful country music seemed to recede into a distant haze.

Max’s fork clattered onto his plate. Beyond her glasses, Sophia’s pupils trembled.

‘He killed someone? He was hiding such a past all this time?’

Sophia swallowed hard. In that instant, she was about to etch the word “murderer” into Dominic’s profile in her mental database.

“Ugh… I was late… I arrived too late….”

Dominic’s words came in a slurred mumble as tears began to stream down his face.

Kang Junwon watched silently as this man crumbled under the weight of old trauma.
Dominic began to purge the past he had buried so deep.

“My mission was… delivery. Ammunition and supplies…. But the truck overturned, and I ran—I ran all night….”

He wrapped his face in both hands, his voice raw with anguish.

“Because I was late… they all died for nothing… Uggghhhh….”

Dominic belonged to the Special Forces, tasked with delivering critical supplies through some of the harshest terrain on earth.

Beneath every action he’d ever taken lay a trauma born from that single failure—arriving too late.

From the eyes of the powerfully built man, large tears rolled down his flushed cheeks.

“Never again… never again will I be late…. No matter what… I have to deliver on time….”

With those final words, Dominic’s upper body lurched forward, and he collapsed beside the plate of barbecue.
A few glasses of hard liquor had torn open the past, and he fell into a glorious, drunken sleep. Soon, the sound of heavy snoring filled the air.

A strange quiet settled over the table again, the circular surface between them like a moat. But this silence was different from before—softer now, touched with the solemnity of understanding his wound.

Kang Junwon stared at the sleeping man’s broad back and found himself murmuring inwardly.

‘Golden Gate’s reliable foot was an elite courier.’

Treacherous terrain, foul weather, isolation—variables that could arise at any moment on a construction site.

And now he had in his crew a man who could procure materials and equipment by any means necessary when those crises struck; a carrier driven by trauma, one who would never stop running.

Kang Junwon turned his head and met Sophia’s gaze.
Behind her glasses, her eyes gleamed.

‘This site has found exactly the talent it needed.’

Just as Kang Junwon had once gathered him up in that dark room when he was falling apart, another broken cog had now joined Golden Gate.

Sophia suppressed the smile tugging at her lips. Then, slowly and with quiet conviction, she nodded.

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