The Greatest Estate Designer

“It feels hot?”

A pair of wrinkled hands caressed the floor. The tavern owner’s mother pressed on it with her palms, then she flipped her hands over to touch it with the back of her hands. An astonished expression soon showed on her face.

When the cushions were put aside, she rubbed her bottom onto the warm floor. A satisfied smile adorned the white-haired old woman’s lips.

“Great. This is very good,” she said. She was an old woman with dementia. That was why she was bound to be more honest.

Hearing the old woman’s words, the tavern owner turned around to look at Lloyd. His face was also beaming with a satisfied smile.

“My mother is very fond of it, Young Master.”

“Right?”

“Yes.”

“I told you so. I said I would really make the ondol room,” Lloyd shrugged his shoulders.

What a relief. The ondol room was a huge success.

This morning was cold because it was in early spring. The air outside was very chilly because the cold snap was in full swing. However, the inside of the ondol room—where the fire was lit—was different. The floor was hot. Even the air felt hot. This even made the tavern owner take off his coat.

“Did you see the fire earlier? You can light a fire in the furnace outside. Once heated properly, the heat will last for a couple of days. It really doesn’t cool down as fast as it looks,” Lloyd explained to the tavern owner.

“A couple of days?” the tavern owner asked in disbelief.

One fire can last for two days. This made the tavern owner’s eyes wide open.

Lloyd laughed and said, “You’ll see if I’m telling you the truth.”

“O-Of course I believe it.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Umm, can I be honest?”

“Go ahead.”

“The truth is, I thought Young Master was scamming me.”

“Me? Scamming you?”

“Yes. Because I never thought you’d actually make it for me.”

…. Well, I suppose so.

In retrospect, Lloyd Frontera had been a shitty human being. He had never helped anyone in his life and hadn’t wanted anything to do with other people’s life. Therefore, even the tavern owner wouldn’t have believed him either.

“But, contrary to my opinion, you really made this wonderful ondol. I swear, I’d never seen anything like this before in my life.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. I don’t know how to thank you but my mother really loves it. All hail the ondol, indeed.”

…. Mother, are you watching? There’s a Korean nationalist¹Here, the author used 국뽕이 which can be read as gukppongi. Gukppong is used to pejoratively describe a Korean nationalist. As a result, the word literally means ‘intoxicated with nationalism’.being over-excited here.

The soaring embarrassment caused Lloyd to suddenly cough, “Hmmm. you don’t have to thank me so much. It’s a contract after all.”

“Oh. A contract.”

“That’s right. A contract.”

Anyway, it was a deal made under a contract. Lloyd would build the ondol room while the owner would write off Lloyd’s compensation for the furniture he had damaged.

“But this ondol room…. I think it’s worth a lot more than the broken furniture. Young Master, please wait a moment,” after he said this, the tavern owner abruptly sprang to his feet, to get what he had in mind.

Soon after, the owner who went inside the tavern had a leather bag in his hands, “Please accept some of this.”

“What is this?”

“A little of my sincerity.”

Clink clink. The leather bag was placed on the floor. A heavy sound of coins came from it. It was money.

“Oh my, why would you do this….” Of course, Lloyd swiped the coin-filled leather bag rather quickly. In return, he gave the tavern owner some golden tips on how to take advantage of the ondol room as a free service.

“Do you see this window here? Open the window slightly on a cold night or at dawn. Let the cold air come inside. Then, heat the ondol with maximum firepower and cover the floor with a blanket. You can roll around in there while eating tangerine, baked potato, or baked sweet potato. Do you know what will happen?”

“What will happen?”

“The air is cold while your buttocks are hot. With this, you’ll understand why when the cold and warm ocean currents met to form a landscape, it formed a golden fishing ground. You’ll also understand how comfortable the fish felt inside there, I guess.”

“….” The tavern owner’s head was tilted because he was confused.

After that, the tavern owner saw Lloyd out of the ondol room.

There were a lot of spectators around. Everyone in this territory was still chattering among themselves while looking at Lloyd’s way. They were displaying some confusion and a considerable amount of curiosity at the same time.

‘Of course, it’s obvious.’

Subconsciously, Lloyd started laughing out of spite. All kinds of recent rumors about himself came to his mind.

The Young Master was going crazy, he was digging a grave for him when he commited suicide, he was blatantly scamming the tavern owner. There wasn’t even a single good rumor.

Needless to say, the ondol room was finished in front of everyone. All of these baseless rumors were negated before their eyes.

‘This would make all of you even more curious. It looks like I built a building, but you can’t even fathom what it’s used for and why the tavern owner loves it so much.’

In fact, Lloyd purposefully sat by and watched the rumors spread. He had no reason to stop the hearsays. No, because it was rather beneficial.

‘Because this is also a form of publicity.’

Advertising was important, publicity was vital, and the contractor was also not an exception. All the more so in Korea.

If you wanted to build an apartment, you would start with advertisement. Broadcast advertisement, flyers, outdoor advertisement, and telemarketing were basics. Viral advertisements on the internet and social media were naturally also an option. They simply did everything they could possibly imagine.

‘As such, I scored a big commercial and dragged out the aggro. Thanks to this, people are flocking like birds on the model house’s opening day. ’

As a result, there was no shortage of new pre-sale construction contracts. It became a so-called business. Lloyd thought that this was the case too right now.

‘Thanks to the rumors, we’ve gathered so many people without paying for an advertisement. Opportunities like this are rare.’

Even now, the residents were still looking over his way. There seemed to be over one hundred people.

In Lloyd’s eyes, they didn’t appear as permanent residents of the territory, but potential buyers, i.e. the ones who would devote their money to him.

‘From now on, the model house is open.’

Lloyd stood before the spectators. Everyone’s eyes were focused on him. He cleared his throat and said, “Aren’t all of you curious? About what I had made?”

“….”

Of course, nobody answered. Everyone just moved their eyes, looking around.

Lloyd grinned.

Not bad. This was an expected response. In that case, there was no need for long words.

“Then, go inside in order and check it out yourself,” Lloyd approached the people with big strides. Then, he grabbed the sleeve of a woman who stood in front. He took the woman, who became pale, inside the ondol room.

‘Because word of mouth started from the ladies in the neighborhood.’

With the consent of the tavern owner, he gave her a tour around the ondol room. The woman’s eyes widened at the heated floor.

After that, everything went smoothly. The crowd of spectators visited and experienced the ondol room one by one.

When they went inside, the doubtful look on their faces turned into admiration. Outside, they were greeted by a table, set up by Lloyd. The table was used to sign contracts for the pre-sale of the ondol room.

“How was the ondol room?” asked Lloyd.

“I-it’s a lot better than I thought.”

“Right?”

“Yes. I don’t think you would have to worry about the cold in the middle of winter.”

“That’s why, I’ve prepared something. Do you want to see it?”

“What is this?”

“This is a simple conceptual map. Kind of a pamphlet.” Lloyd held the paper for the residents to look at. In fact, he actually made the pamphlet last night for this very moment. Two types of ondol rooms were beautifully drawn on the pamphlet.

“Type A, like the ondol room you just saw, is a separate building in the yard. Type B is remodeling the first floor of your existing house. If you chose to buy both, you would get 10% off the price as a service.”

“…..”

“You have children at home, right?”

“Yes, the older one is seven years old while the younger one is five years old.”

“Isn’t it heartbreaking to see your children shivering inside the house in winter, crying and coughing while their eyes were burning, while huddled together in front of the fireplace? My heart ached just thinking about it.”

“….”

“And if you signed a contract right now, five bundles of firewood would be provided free of charge as a special service for the grand opening.”

“….”

“Think carefully about it. This is a rare opportunity.”

“Excuse me, but I don’t think….”

“Why? Don’t want it?”

“….” the man slammed his mouth shut.

Lloyd knew what he was thinking inwardly.

‘Because you don’t trust me.’

No, because he was scared. In a way, it was natural. Even if Lloyd had changed now, people didn’t know. In their eyes, he was just Lloyd Frontera. The bastard of the barony. A scumbag who always acted out whenever he drank even a glass of alcohol.

‘So there’s no way you’d believe out of the blue that I’m going to make a decent ondol room for you.’

Maybe you think all this was a scam. Maybe you think all of this was a joke. That’s why you hesitated to sign the contract.

However, this kind of reaction had been predicted by Lloyd.

“So what? Are you not gonna sign the contract?”

“….”

“Really? Is that so?”

“….”

Lloyd stared into the man’s eyes. The man flinched. The man noticed the message Lloyd had sent with his gaze.

‘If you didn’t sign a contract here, your future in the territory would be in jeopardy. You’ll feel so anxious.’

Lloyd swallowed his bitter smile. It was a bit mean and cheap to exploit the anxiety and fear of the people. But for now, this was also the best way.

‘If I’m hated for being a trash anyway, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to make use of that image. It’s not like I will just take the down payment and not build it.’

The beginning was important. If Lloyd could just manage to sign a contract, somehow, then he was confident it would produce a good word-of-mouth.

So, even if it was a bit low, he thought he should just properly use Lloyd’s notoriety.

“…. Oh, I see.”

A rational determination to not be deceived. A fear of the impending misfortune. The man who had been at odds between the two finally made up his mind. With a reluctant expression, he signed the contract.

The same was true for the next residents. Of course, Lloyd was confident he could change the expression on their face in the future.

‘That’s just how efficient the ondol is in heating up the room.’

This conclusion was made after some research over the past few days. All due to the fireplace’s limitations, the territory’s own heating method.

‘The fireplace is less heat-efficient than it looks. It’s only warm around the fireplace. The air heats up and cools down quickly. The heat doesn’t stay indoors for too long. Plus the ashes, smoke, and soot would make eyes feel like burning during winter. It’s tricky to manage because you can’t just use any type of firewood. Not just that, the person who guards the fire from going out must stay awake and watch the fire all night long.’

Ondol, on the other hand? It can counterbalance most of these shortcomings.

Lloyd was sure about that, so he confidently threatened the residents. Because of this, his business was able to get a better-than-expected number of pre-sale contracts before the end of the afternoon.

There were 32 contracts for type A and 57 contracts for type B. The hefty down payment he got was a bonus.

‘This is amazing.’

Of course, it wasn’t a lot of money. It was far from enough to settle the Baron’s debt right away. But, what was important was what will happen after this.

‘Even though they’ve been forced a little bit to sign a contract, if I could finish the construction of the ondol well within the territory, there would definitely be good rumors. We can even reach other territories from this area.’

Branding as well as running an ondol room business around this territory were Lloyd’s primary plan and goal.

“Sigh.” When Lloyd finished calculating his future plans, he sighed.

Suddenly, Lloyd turned back to look behind him. The sunset made the sky tinged with red. With the sunset behind him, he saw Javier who was following him.

“Hey, you. You’re strong, aren’t you?” asked Lloyd.

“Yes. Somehow.”

“Then, how about being a human excavator or crane?”

“Pardon?”

“You said you’re strong. Can’t you use that strength to dig the ground or heave logs away?”

It was an honest wish. Javier had an enormous level of strength and talent. Naturally, he had the power to go beyond human limitations.

What if Javier played the role of a heavy equipment on-site? Construction would be simpler and faster in the future.

In other words, the efficiency of the construction would increase. More constructions would be possible to be carried out in the same time period. With this, there would be a sharp increase in income.

However, Javier shook his head without even thinking twice, “I refuse.”

“Why?”

“The duty My Lord had given me was to protect Lloyd-nim’s personal safety at all times.”

“So you can’t be a construction worker?”

“That’s correct.”

“But you’ve helped me so far, haven’t you?”

“I think it was knightly to help the tavern owner’s mother.”

“Was it to protect the weak?”

“Yes, but Lloyd-nim’s request just now was different.”

“Are you not going to help my personal business?”

“That’s right.”

“You’re firm.”

“You’re welcome.”

I knew it, he was a person who would flatly refuse²Here, Lloyd said that Javier was like a 단호박 (danhobak). Danhobak is a Korean slang used to refer to someone who usually refuses instantly without considering it for a second..

Lloyd smacked his lips.

‘But we still need heavy equipment.’

The difference between having and not having heavy construction equipment was really big. In severe cases, the construction period might took more than 10 times longer.

No, the type of the construction which could be attempted also depended on the presence or absence of construction equipment. The range of available options would change.

‘If you wanted to make a lot of money, you had to get a large-scale construction job.’

Now, he was satisfied with the ondol room. However, he couldn’t stay on this level forever. There would be a limit to the amount of money earned from the ondol construction project.

‘I don’t want to have to pay the debt until I’m old.’

Then, this would be difficult. In Korea, he was a mess because of money. He would sincerely decline having to experience the same thing until the end of his life here.

‘So, in order to start a proper construction project and pay all of the debts, I have to solve the construction equipment problem.’

While on the way to the mansion, Lloyd’s worries continued to deepen. Unbeknownst to Lloyd, Javier’s icy eyes were watching him. The temperature of the gaze was slightly different than before.

♣

‘I can’t figure him out.’ Javier felt a little confused. He turned his gaze to look at Lloyd’s back.

The eldest son of Baron Frontera, Lloyd Frontera. He was the son of the lord whom he served. He had also been the subject of his escort for the past few months. That was why he was even more confused.

‘Was this drunkard originally like this?’

Lloyd was a total mess. It wasn’t only in his own eyes that were strict in every way, but also in the eyes of ordinary people.

Lloyd had no patience. Nobody expected him to have manners or decency. He was just a rascal who drank alcohol every day and lived uselessly even on the day when the family’s properties were seized.

‘Honestly, I hated him. No, I still am.’

The more I knew him, the less I liked him. Had he not been the lord’s son, I might’ve cut him down, a mortal who was an abhorrent being inside. Literally a human garbage. At least until a few days ago, he certainly was one.

‘But he had changed. All of a sudden.’

Maybe it was from a few days ago, after he made a ruckus at his regular pub. Probably when he woke up the next morning. Javier was still able to clearly remember when Lloyd woke up that morning.

‘I only called him twice and he woke up.’

Before, it was an unimaginable feat. That human jerk even remembered and called his name for the first time, and this was just the beginning.

‘He visited the tavern owner and comforted him. He promised to make an ondol room for him instead of paying for the compensation.’

Until then, Javier thought he was plotting something new. But, he was wrong. Lloyd really built an ondol room and kept his word with the tavern owner.

It didn’t stop with the tavern owner. He also signed contracts to build ondol for the residents who had gathered.

‘To make money? No. Money is just an excuse.’

Somehow, Javier had that feeling. There seemed to be a bigger goal. Of course, he couldn’t guess what his goal was. Nevertheless, what was certain was that his actions didn’t seem for personal gains.

‘It’s as if you’ve become someone else overnight.’

Lloyd’s voice tone changed. His expression and attitude had also changed. He demonstrated an ability he had never learned. He designed a new building and introduced a new heating system.

Javier became even more confused.

Did you really become someone else?

But, no matter how much Javier looked at him or how long he kept observing him, the man who was walking a step ahead of him was clearly the lout Lloyd Frontera.

‘Don’t tell me, you’ve been hiding something like this until now?’

In fact, that was the only way to explain this. It would make sense if this was the case.

‘The Barony had been peaceful, but when crisis struck the family, he showed his real self?’

It occurred to Javier that maybe it was the truth. Of course, it was still too early to reach a conclusion.

‘First, let’s stick to my duties for now.’

And if possible, let’s keep an eye on this scumbag.

Javier Asrahan vowed to do so. Once again, he engraved Lloyd’s back, who walked ahead, to his retina.

At that moment, Lloyd, who was walking ahead, came face to face with an unexpected message that popped into his mind.

♣

Ding dong!

[Javier Asrahan’s favorability towards you has increased by +2!]

[Your current relationship with Javier Asrahan: -29]

[A slight improvement in your relationship with a key character has earned you 36 RP]

[Current RP: 36]

[You can develop your skills by investing the acquired RP.]

‘What the hell is this?’

A string of messages appeared in the air in front of him. Lloyd’s eyes widened as he read them.

• 1

  Here, the author used 국뽕이 which can be read as gukppongi. Gukppong is used to pejoratively describe a Korean nationalist. As a result, the word literally means ‘intoxicated with nationalism’.

• 2

  Here, Lloyd said that Javier was like a 단호박 (danhobak). Danhobak is a Korean slang used to refer to someone who usually refuses instantly without considering it for a second.