The Greatest Estate Developer - Chapter 23: Beasts of the Underground (1)

It was a bright spring day.

This year, the weather was exceptionally clear, more so than in previous years.

Perhaps that was why everything was going so smoothly.

The construction projects in Baron Frontera’s domain progressed without a hitch.

The ongoing installation of ondol rooms was proceeding steadily.

The coverage of ondol rooms, meant to prepare for the coming winter, had already surpassed 30%.

The mining development, which had recently begun, was also making excellent progress.

Thanks to the shield construction method, the workdays passed without a single accident.

At first, the workers had been apprehensive.

But now, they were reassured.

They focused solely on their tasks.

The barony was thriving with energy.

Farmers busily tended to their crops.

Soldiers working in the engineering corps labored tirelessly, drenched in sweat.

Even the women carrying snacks to the laborers were busy.

The children, too, had become unusually active.

Normally, this would be the season when mischievous kids roamed around, catching frogs.

But the frogs in Frontera’s territory were enjoying unprecedented peace this year.

The children no longer hunted frogs.

Instead, they hovered around the mining site.

The kids had one goal: to catch a glimpse of Bangul, the summoned monster Lloyd was using in the project.

“Wow! There it is!”

All day, the children loitered around the construction site, cheering loudly whenever Bangul made an appearance. And whenever Bangul came out of the tunnel for a break, she never failed to entertain them with her “fan service.”

“Bangul! Ppa-Bangul!”

She would take a big bite of dirt near the resting area.

Then, with a dramatic shake of her tail bell, she’d perform her steel-pooping show.

Each time, the children erupted in gleeful shrieks.

Of course, the workers resting outside the tunnel couldn’t let the commotion slide.

“Hey, you kids! How many times do we have to tell you not to mess around near the construction site? It’s dangerous here!”

“It’s not dangerous! We’re fine!”

“You little rascals! If you keep ignoring us, a giant wolf-like ant will come and gobble you up!”

“There’s no such ant!”

“Oh, yes, there is! There are tons of them in the wasteland beyond the mountains.”

“But not here!”

“Why, you cheeky brats!”

And so life bustled on energetically throughout the Frontera estate.

Well, for almost everyone.

There was one exception.

Ppodong.

“Ppodong… Ppododong…”

He yawned wide, bored out of his mind.

It seemed he had slept in again today.

Or maybe he had woken up briefly in the morning, only to fall asleep again.

“Ppododong…”

In truth, even if he got up early, there wasn’t much for him to do.

It had been this way for a while now.

Lloyd hadn’t taken him to the mine.

Instead, Lloyd had left him at the mansion, telling him to relax and play.

The reason was simple.

“Sorry, I don’t have enough sunflower seeds. Just keeping Bangul supplied is hard enough.”

Ppodong needed to eat a red sunflower seed to grow larger and participate in the construction.

But the transformation seed set was limited.

Red and blue seeds.

Each set cost 1 RP to purchase.

That’s why Ppodong was left behind at the mansion.

Bangul was simply more suited for safely digging tunnels.

“I’m also worried about your safety. The tunnels might be too narrow for you. And if anything collapsed, you could get seriously hurt. You understand, right?”

Lloyd had comforted him with those words.

Ppodong felt a bit hurt.

But he couldn’t complain.

He knew Lloyd truly cared about him.

Since then, Ppodong had been enjoying a life of unexpected leisure.

“Ppodong… Ppododong…”

He rolled around lazily from one side to the other.

It was nice to rest.

But it was getting too boring.

No one played with him.

All he did was roll left, then roll right—over and over again.

But after twenty days of this, it became unbearable!

“…Ppodong! Ppodododododo!”

Ppodong shook his round head.

His plump cheeks jiggled like rice cakes.

Suddenly, he felt that he couldn’t continue like this.

“Ppodong!”

He needed to do something.

If he didn’t, he would die of boredom.

So, he decided to go outside.

With newfound determination, Ppodong kicked off the handkerchief covering him and got up.

He climbed down the table legs with a little effort.

Then, he waddled toward the door.

He climbed up the door and grabbed the doorknob with a grunt.

*Click.*

The door opened.

He ventured into the hallway.

“Ppodong?”

It was his first time venturing out alone without Lloyd.

Seeing the long corridor, a mix of curiosity and excitement welled up inside him.

“Ppodong!”

He decided to explore.

He scampered down the hallway.

Whenever he encountered stairs, he climbed down them. When maids passed by, he quietly followed behind them.

He wandered around like this for a while.

Before he knew it, he found himself in the mansion’s courtyard.

“Ppodooong…”

The sunlight was warm.

The scent of grass in the breeze was pleasant.

A sweet floral fragrance drifted in from somewhere.

Following the scent, Ppodong moved along.

And eventually, he found someone looking at him.

“Oh my!”

A gentle voice came from above.

Ppodong looked up.

He saw the source of the voice.

It was none other than the wife of Baron Frontera.

“A mouse?”

“Ppodong?”

“You’re not a mouse?”

“Ppodong!”

Ppodong nodded his head.

The baroness, who had been tending to the flower bed, took off her dirt-stained gloves.

“Ah, I understand now. You must be the big summoned creature my son called, right?”

“Ppodong!”

“But how did you end up in the flower garden?”

“Ppododong? Ppodong.”

“Sorry, I can’t understand what you’re saying. So… did you come to help me?”

“Ppodong?”

“Is that right? You came to help me?”

“Ppododong?”

Ppodong tilted his head in confusion.

A soft smile spread across the baroness’s face.

“How wonderful. I’ve been troubled lately by a few mice ruining the flower beds.”

“Ppodong?”

“Aren’t you related to them?”

“Ppododong? Ppodong?”

“If it’s not too much trouble, could you ask them to stop ruining the flowers for me?”

“Ppodong?”

“Could you do that for me?”

“…Ppodong!”

Without thinking, Ppodong nodded.

Of course, he wasn’t related to the mice.

He didn’t even know if they could understand him.

But the baroness’s warm smile made it hard to refuse.

And besides, if he accepted the task, at least he wouldn’t be bored!

“Ppododong! Ppodong!”

Ppodong stood up confidently on his two feet.

With an air of determination, he patted his chest with his tiny paws, as if to say, “Leave it to me.”

And so, having accepted the baroness’s “quest,” Ppodong dashed energetically toward the grassy field.

—

*Thud-thud-thud-thud!*

“Push!”

*Rumble!*

The powerful chorus of workers echoed through the tunnel.

Strong men moved swiftly, their muscles gleaming under the dim torchlight that flickered in the gloomy passage.

Their muscles bulged, veins snaking along their forearms like earthworms.

The steel shield advanced slowly.

Behind it, a panel of rebar was left in place, supporting the weight of the freshly excavated tunnel.

How many panels had they installed by now?

None of the workers could say.

All they knew was to follow orders and move without hesitation.

Lloyd’s voice rang out toward the blacksmiths and engineers catching their breath.

“Good job, team. Shift change!”

“Shift change!”

“Move fast. Get some rest. Next crew, step in!”

“Step in!”

One group of blacksmiths and engineers withdrew behind the shield, making way for another group to take their place.

“How are you holding up, Lord Lloyd?” a blacksmith asked.

Lloyd smirked. “Worried about me?”

“Of course, my lord…”

“I’m fine. It’s not like I’m breaking my back like you guys.”

“But staying in this heat and stifling air can’t be good…”

“Aw, thanks. That’s real sweet, but I’m fine. Let’s just focus on the task.”

Lloyd waved off the blacksmith’s concern.

The blacksmith, casting one last worried glance, turned his attention back to work.

Truth be told, Lloyd wasn’t doing all that well.

‘It’s so damn hot.’

The heat inside the tunnel was overwhelming.

It felt like being in a sauna all day long.

And the air? Suffocating.

But that was to be expected.

This was the far end of the tunnel, the excavation front, also known as the *face*.

Underground temperatures were naturally higher than on the surface.

The heat from the workers’ bodies compounded the issue.

Proper ventilation was out of the question.

‘If only we had better technology, we could’ve set up a proper ventilation system.’

Ventilation was crucial in tunnel construction.

It was a matter of safety.

Not only was breathing in dust harmful, but low oxygen levels could be life-threatening.

For this project, Lloyd had to rely on a forced ventilation system to get by.

“Hey! Don’t step on the air pipe!” Lloyd barked.

The engineer jumped back, startled.

A thick metal pipe, as wide as a forearm, lay where the worker had nearly stepped.

That pipe was the only lifeline bringing fresh air from outside into the face of the tunnel.

‘That pipe is the reason we can survive down here.’

On the other end of the pipe, outside the tunnel, a group of workers was tirelessly turning a crank.

The crank spun a large fan, forcing fresh air into the pipe and delivering it to the end of the tunnel.

“If that connection leaks, what do you think will happen? The air won’t reach us properly. Be more careful next time.”

“My apologies, my lord!”

“Tch. Let’s stay focused.”

“Yes, sir!”

The heat and exhaustion were starting to wear on Lloyd’s nerves.

But he couldn’t leave the tunnel like the other workers.

‘I need to monitor everything in real-time.’

There was too much to keep track of.

First, the tunnel’s trajectory had to be perfect.

They needed to ensure they were digging toward the coal seam they were after.

‘Good thing the previous lord left detailed records.’

Thankfully, the former baron had hired three expensive wizards to conduct thorough geological surveys. Their reports pinpointed the coal seams with precision.

Navigating the excavation based on those records made things much easier.

But danger still lurked underground.

‘There are countless risks hiding beyond what we can see—like groundwater or methane pockets.’

Groundwater could flood the tunnel if disturbed.

And methane gas? That was even worse.

It was flammable and could cause a catastrophic explosion.

‘One mistake, and it’s game over.’

That was the scariest part of coal mining.

Coal naturally harbored methane-producing bacteria called methanogens, which fed on organic compounds within the seams. As a result, methane gas pockets were scattered throughout coal veins.

‘That’s why I can’t let my guard down, even for a second.’

Lloyd had to use his surveying skill at least three times a day.

He needed to constantly check the five meters ahead of the tunnel’s current position.

And there was another issue to watch for—the tail void collapse between the shield and the installed panels.

‘The shield’s diameter is naturally larger than the panels.’

As the shield advanced, a small gap was left between the shield and the panels.

The ground above this gap could gradually sink.

Even a minor collapse, just a few centimeters, could be fatal.

If they ignored it, they could all be buried alive together in a tragic disaster.

‘Like hell I’ll let that happen.’

Lloyd battled the heat and stifling air, fighting to stay sharp.

He stripped off his shirt to withstand the heat better.

When his head began to feel fuzzy, he pressed his face to the air pipe, gulping down a few breaths of fresh air.

Days passed this way.

The tunnel grew longer.

They were getting closer to their goal—the coal seam.

‘Just a bit more.’

The relentless heat and thick air made it hard to recover from fatigue.

Every morning, Lloyd forced himself to wake up.

But he knew he could endure it.

After all, this wasn’t unfamiliar territory for him.

‘I’ve been through worse!’

Compared to his days living in a cramped study room, this was heaven.

Back then, he couldn’t sleep properly.

He’d collapse from exhaustion in lecture halls during the day.

And after working part-time jobs into the night, he’d bleed from his nose.

Even then, it didn’t end.

He had to find time to finish assignments, no matter what.

The easiest time to cut from his schedule was sleep.

Chronic fatigue became a given.

He lived like a zombie, studying and working through sheer willpower.

‘But now? I only have to push through during construction. I get to eat well and sleep soundly back at the mansion.’

Even the food was incomparable to what he ate back then.

‘Back in the study room, all I had was free rice and kimchi.’

Remembering those days ignited a fire within him.

There was no way he’d go back to that life.

He was determined to make this estate prosperous and abundant.

Fueled by that determination, the construction continued without interruption.

Both Bangul and the workers grew more skilled, and the pace of the project accelerated.

And finally, Lloyd’s surveying skill detected the target— the coal seam.

‘It’s here.’

Using his intermediate surveying skill, he saw it five meters ahead—a black, thick coal seam.

High-quality bituminous coal lay deep underground.

“There it is! Let’s finish this!”

“Let’s gooo!”

“Bangul!”

Lloyd shouted with excitement.

The workers and Bangul cheered in unison.

Even Javier, usually calm and composed, let out a rare cheer.

Everyone could feel it.

The end of the long, grueling project was finally in sight.

Completion was just within reach.

“Ppa-Bangul!”

With a triumphant cry, Bangul took one final bite of the dirt, right in front of the coal seam.