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“Fire!”
Stab, flash!
The morning was sunny and bright.
Lloyd’s shout pierced the sky while Javier’s longsword flashed at the same time.
Pure white light penetrated the granite and exploded from the inside.
Crack!
Even the granite, which had been standing tall for thousands of years in that place, couldn’t withstand the explosion from within that was calculated elaborately.
Cracks began to appear in one direction and expanded instantly. Then, the rock collapsed under its own weight
Craack!
The granite fell apart after being sliced into giant chunks. Several of these big chunks could very well weigh a few tons.
“Good job, Javier!” Lloyd gave Javier a thumbs-up while Javier wiped the sweat on his forehead with a handkerchief.
So, that was Javier’s job.
Next was the fantasy species’ turn.
“Hey, Ppodong?”
“Ppo-dong?”
“Would you like to eat this red sunflower seed?”
“Ppo-do-dong?”
“I specifically ordered this for you. There’s only one blue and one red sunflower in each set, and it costs 1 RP.”
“Ppo-do-dong?”
“I bought 50 of them yesterday and paid 50 RP for them. But what can I do? Isn’t it this one’s effort in trying to feed you and Bangul with my blood, sweat, and tears?”
“Ppo-do-dong?”
“That’s why, wouldn’t you eat this deliciously?”
“Ppo-dong!”
Ppodong, who was on the palm of Lloyd’s hand, received the red sunflower seed. He immediately put the sunflower seed in his mouth and began to chew.
In the meantime, Lloyd stepped back to create some distance. And then, he watched Ppodong’s transformation.
Boom-!
A 10-meter-big hamster had appeared.
“Ppo-do-dong!”
“That’s right. Well done, Ppodong. There you go, pat pat.”
“Ppo-dong!”
“Aww, there, there. Can you move that for me?” Lloyd pointed to a granite cube.
“Move it to the Orc Village. What do you think? Can you do it?”
“Ppo-dong!”
Ppodong nodded his big round fluffy head vigorously. With his chubby butt jiggling along, he went straight to the granite chunks. He stretched out his adorable paws and opened his dainty mouth. After that, he shoved a chunk of granite into his mouth.
“Ppeu-deung! Ppeu-deu-deung!”
One of Ppodong’s cheeks swelled into the shape of the chunk.
“Well done, Ppodong. What about the other one?”
“Ppeu-deu-deung!”
His other cheek also expanded in the shape of the chunk.
Lloyd climbed on Ppodong’s back.
“Then, let’s go!”
“Ppeu-deung!”
Even with granite cubes that weighed a few tons inside both cheeks, Ppodong still walked with ease. He ran towards the Orc Village, just like a dump truck.
After the granite had been moved to the Orc Village, it was time for the next step.
Lloyd, Arosh the young Orc Warrior, and 20 soldiers were the main characters in the next process.
“The rock is here, oink!”
“Everyone, get ready!”
Clank clank clank!
All of them had been waiting at the planned Seokbinggo construction site.
As if Arosh had been waiting for too long, as soon as the granite arrived, he picked up a hammer and a pickaxe. He then stormed towards the granite that Ppodong spat out.
“I’m going to break it down, oinnkkk!”
“We too, don’t lose!”
“Uwooh!” The soldiers shouted back.
Arosh the orc and 20 soldiers worked hard all day long.
Following the mark Lloyd drew onto the granite, the rock was broken into smaller chunks and trimmed into cubes. This was done to make large granite blocks for the Seokbinggo.
Of course, in the meantime, Ppodong also didn’t take a break.
“Hey, Ppodong?”
“Ppo-dong?”
“Can you dig here for me? From here to here, this large, and seven meters deep.”
“Ppo-do-dong?”
Crack crack!
Lloyd made cracks on the ground with a branch. It seemed like a random gesture when in fact, the lines he made from the cracks aligned exactly with Seokbinggo’s floor plan design.
All thanks to the Floor Plan Display (2D), an optional skill he obtained from his design skill.
“Ah, this is so convenient. A floor plan is displayed on the ground in real-time, and only I can see it.”
All he had to do was prepare Seokbinggo’s previously designed building model.
What would happen if he applied it to the actual terrain?
A floor plan that was only visible to him would be displayed on the ground. Because of this, the lines he drew reflected the actual design of the Seokbinggo. This enabled him to accurately convey the scope, depth, and shape of the ground that needed to be dug by Ppodong.
“Now, please start.”
“Ppo-dong!”
Ppodong raised his paws. Following the lines drawn on the ground, he then began to dig vigorously.
Hwabababat!
Even if the soil in the desert was dry and hard, it didn’t matter. Every time Ppodong clawed on the ground, it got dug up. A massive amount of dust also flew into the air.
However, Lloyd didn’t back down.
Lloyd got closer to Ppodong as Ppodong dug deeper into the ground. He willingly inhaled the dust together with Ppodong who was working for him.
He always made sure to carefully inspect the spot Ppodong had just dug. He checked whether there were any errors with the actual design and whether Ppodong dug too shallow or too deep.
With both his survey and design skills activated at the same time, he thoroughly scanned every corner. And whenever he found a slight error, he picked up a shovel to dig it himself.
Be careful. Don’t underestimate the little things.
In the spot where Ppodong had dug more than necessary, he packed the soil. And then, he dug another to fill the spot.
Every error, even if it was just 1 centimeter wrong, was corrected personally by him.
‘Digging the ground is one of the most important processes in all construction, not only in the construction of Seokbiggo.’
It literally laid the foundation for the building.
If you neglected this process, problems would be bound to arise later.
What if there were many problems with the building?
‘Loss of credibility and widespread bad rumors. If this is the case, then I won’t be able to stay in this business for long.’
The customer’s trust was of the utmost importance. It didn’t matter whether the customer was a human or an orc.
Orc Chief Akush was undeniably a customer as well.
Every entity that had a construction contract with him was a customer. Lloyd intended to think of all of them as such, even if they weren’t human beings or if they were orcs or monsters.
‘Exclusive fine craftsmanship? No. They give you money, and everyone who pays is a customer. The customer is king. The customer is the god!’
Therefore, he had to produce the best result. He had to give it his all.
When he considered the cost of his current construction and the money that would come pouring in the future, it was natural to do so.
That was why Lloyd was willing to work hard until he was beaded with sweat.
Days flew by in an instant. Hectic days became the routine.
Javier blew the granite up into chunks.
Ppodong carried the granite chunks to the construction site.
Arosh the Orc and the soldiers trimmed the granite chunks.
Meanwhile, Lloyd worked hard to refine and inspect the building’s foundation on the site.
Thus, the foundation’s construction was finally completed after 10 days.
“No time to rest! Let’s keep going!” Lloyd shouted.
The rest of them shouted back, “Yeahh!”
Lloyd removed his coat and proceeded to join the soldiers of the Construction Team in carrying the granite blocks.
The blocks were laid in rows above the foundation that had been built before. His past experience in assisting tile setters on-site in South Korea greatly helped.
‘This is far heavier and bigger than the tiles he used to arrange.’
The floor’s finishing also used hard materials to make the floor firmer.
He had already determined the height of the sloping floor beforehand. He then put more hard stones above to carry out his plan. The method was similar to when he filled the gap between the stone tiles.
What was slightly different here was that, instead of targeting the floor gaps, he used mud mixed with lime to waterproof the floor.
By this point, the construction went smoothly.
However, when the floor was finished and they tried to build the walls, problems began to arise.
“Whimper.” A cracking sound from the soldier’s waist accompanied by a weird groan could be heard.
“Hey, are you okay?” Lloyd asked.
“Uh oh
. I think I broke my back.”
“
.”
The soldier, whose back broke when building the stone wall, had to lie down while groaning in pain for several days.
The granite blocks were too heavy to lift.
Other soldiers in the Construction Team were also in similar situations.
As the work progressed day by day, the number of casualties increased; someone tore their wrist ligament and someone else dislocated their shoulder.
Despite the fact that they had been accustomed to manual labor due to building ondol rooms, a paved road, and a coal mine, all these casualties still occurred.
Eventually, Lloyd was the only one left to lift the stone, even though he himself was struggling. Javier needed to rest for a few more days because he had used Mana Blast continuously.
Lloyd’s brows furrowed deeply.
‘This is a little troubling. If only Arosh the orc is here, I could use a little bit of help. Ah, that guy. Why did he go on an expedition to hunt at times like this?’
Unfortunately, Arosh wasn’t in the village. Towards the end of the floor construction, he went on a group hunt with his tribe members. Doing his duty as a warrior.
‘But that doesn’t mean I could make Ppodong transform into a giant right here.’
They had just finished the construction of the floor. The stone that was laid on the ground to make the floor hadn’t settled down yet.
If Ppodong—who weighed several tens of pounds—moved around and stepped on it, there was a possibility that the floor they built with very hard work would be slightly misaligned.
‘Then, what should we do?’
Lloyd pondered the solution. The problem was that the stones were too big and heavy. However, reducing its size wouldn’t do.
‘It should be at least this thick for the insulation.’
Now, the purpose of building a Seokbinggo was to protect the cold air. In order to block the heat coming from the outside, thick stones had to be used as a whole.
‘I guess we don’t have a choice but to wait for the floor to settle and then ask Ppodong to do it.’
Lloyd felt that this was better for the safety of the soldiers.
That same afternoon, when Lloyd was feeling troubled, an unexpected solution came to him abruptly.
“Ooink? You can’t hold it like that, oink!”
From the beginning of the construction of the Seokbinggo, some orcs had gathered together in groups to watch. They used to watch Lloyd and Ppodong digging and packing the ground, and laying stones on it.
Today was no different. Lloyd was building the stone wall all by himself. Of course, it was incredibly heavy. Still, it wasn’t impossible with the help of the Asrahan Core Technique.
At that point, he also thought about doing some muscle training while he was at it. But one by one, the orcs who were just watching began to interfere.
“Human! That’s not how you lift it, oink!”
“Pardon?” Lloyd, whose face was red from trying to lift the block of stone, looked up.
An elderly orc was speaking to him from outside the pit dug on the construction site..
“What did you just say?”
“Exactly that. If you do that, you won’t be able to do the isolation exercise1Isolation exercise: targeting one group of muscles when exercising. For example: bicep curls, sit-ups, shoulder presses, etc. , oink.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You have to keep your back straight and pull your hips back. Open your chest too. You have to take advantage of your ankles’ flexibility to properly stimulate the area of muscles you desire, oiinkk!”
“Excuse me, but I’m not working out right now?”
“I don’t care, oink!”
“
.”
Starting from then on, the other orcs who were watching began to add some advice.
“Squat down further, oink!”
“Breathing is also important, oink!”
“Be faster when you stand up, oink!”
“One more, oink!”
“
.”
Lloyd genuinely felt like he was surrounded by gym-addicted uncles, who appeared as though they were born for exercise and that it was their source of fuel, at the gym when he went to one in his first life.
The situation finally reached the point where the orcs directly stepped up due to Lloyd’s sluggish movement.
“Uaaghh, he’s so frustrating, oink!”
“Why can’t you just do what you’re told to, oiinkk!”
“We’ll show you how to do it, oinkkkkk!”
“Watch and learn, oink!”
About fifteen middle-aged orcs—who flew into rage—came stomping down to the site.
Before Lloyd could stop them, one by one, they hugged a block of granite. Their veins, which looked like anacondas, flared on their backs.
“Heave-ho, oink.”
“Oomph, oink.”
The same block of stone that made Lloyd grunt when he tried to lift it with the help of the Asrahan Core Technique.
The same block of stone that only could be lifted when three to four soldiers of the Construction Team worked together.
But, what about these Orcs?
It really felt like these athletic gorillas stormed into an Olympic weightlifting stadium and then lifted it with ease, easily overturning the table!
“Oh my god.”
The sight made Lloyd’s jaw drop. However, Lloyd wasn’t that surprised. He quickly grasped the core of this absurd situation.
Lloyd quickly said, “My goodness, that’s amazing!”
“Oink! This is nothing, oiinkk!”
“No, really, you’re so amazing. I couldn’t even dream of putting the stone ‘up there’.”
“Up there, oink?”
Lloyd pointed to the wall that had been built halfway. The muscular orc looked around and then smirked.
“That’s the problem with humans. Look closely, oink.”
The orc lifted the stone he was holding above his head at once. He then put it gently—as if he was handling a half-empty box of ramen—to the place Lloyd had pointed.
Kuung!
Along with a heavy reverberating sound, the large granite block settled down. Exactly in the place where it was needed to be for the construction.
“Heuk, heuuuopp! I can’t lift it!” Lloyd said.
“Tsk tsk. Step aside, human! This is what a proper demonstration looks like, oiinkk!”
Swish, kkung!
Another huge block of stone was placed in its intended spot.
A similar process followed after.
Lloyd kept groaning while sweating profusely. His expression—that could very well win the Academy Award for Best Actor—looked troubled, and that touched the orc warriors’ hearts.
Whenever he did that, the orc warriors would work their biceps while shaking their heads out of a surge of pity.
They tried their best to teach the weak and pitiful human the proper posture for exercise. Warm feelings were radiating from their burning bulky muscles and tendons.
Thanks to this, Lloyd was able to build the walls of the Seokbinggo in less than a day!
Still, the work didn’t end there.
“Oh my goodness. It’s harder if I lift it like this! Eup, nggrh”
The following day, Lloyd intentionally exaggerated his grunting. He looked as pitiful as a beginner who went to the gym for the first time, trying to summon the trainers with this method.
Then, more orc warriors than yesterday came over while snorting. Their spirit to teach that unfortunate beginner how to exercise for real was burning.
All thanks to their voluntary help, the pillars of Seokbinggo’s arched ceiling and the arched ceiling itself were taking shape in less than two days!
‘Even if it’s speedy, it’s not flimsy.’
Each orc was like a crane. Because of their strength, they were able to carry and put the extremely huge and heavy stones in the right position.
Literally, ‘long live muscle’ indeed.
The light-speed construction Lloyd had only dreamed of was becoming reality.
Author’s notes: Long live muscle!
Tl/n: Ghahh I’m still a little bit late. No thoughts, head empty. I need to sleep. :’)
1Isolation exercise: targeting one group of muscles when exercising. For example: bicep curls, sit-ups, shoulder presses, etc.