The pub owner and his mother, I'll make them smile for sure... because those smiles will be the foundation of my money-making!
— Lloyd Frontera
Episode 2 is the second chapter of The Greatest Estate Developer Webtoon. For the novel, see Chapter 2.
In this episode, Lloyd Frontera succeeds in getting his first order and completes the construction of an ondol house alongside Javier Asrahan. After word of this spreads through the estate, he happily advertises the same model of house to the townsfolk, only to be caught and interrupted by his father.
Characters in order of appearance[]
- Lloyd Frontera
- System
- Javier Asrahan
- Pub owner & his mother
- Arcos Frontera
- Neumann
Long Summary[]
Picking up immediately after the previous ending, this episode begins with a confused Lloyd Frontera reading a System popup notifying the activation of the RP System. The window explains that they can be earned by improving relationships with key characters, though does not explain how to use them. Turning around, Lloyd looks at Javier Asrahan and sees a screen above his head displaying an approval rating of -30. Believing this to be extremely low, Lloyd smiles and attempts to improve the score by complimenting his looks, only for the knight to coldly reject it and decrease his approval rating by another point. Lloyd swiftly gives up on this course of action and turns back around to continue walking.
After arriving at the pub, Lloyd explains his construction proposal to the pub owner with the conditions that the waived construction fees will cancel out the property damage that he previously caused. The pub owner is initially suspicious and refuses to sign, to which Lloyd plasters on his best hooligan frown and threatens him until he does. The System chastises him for this, calling him absolute garbage, though he does not particularly care and only pockets the signed contract with a grin.
At the construction site, Javier questions Lloyd's intentions and bluntly asks if he is looking to cause more trouble. Lloyd responds by explaining the concept of cognitive distortion, a phenomenon where one wrongly believes that things will happen a certain way based on previous events and one's own negative prejudice. Javier initially refutes this, stating that his beliefs are based on experience and statistics rather than prejudice, and Lloyd swiftly shuts this down as well by reminding that all experiences and statistics are from the past. Javier is left speechless, questioning if he had always been so smooth with his words, and Lloyd turns around to begin shoveling with the promise that he will make the pub owner and his mother smile.
A week later, Lloyd is able to complete the frame and walls of the house using timber from the Frontera Estate's warehouse and clay dug up from the river. Amazed that something is actually being built, Javier wonders where he learned such a thing and whether he truly plans to honor the contract. Lloyd, extremely tired due to his physically weak body, makes a meager attempt to continue cutting wood before nearly falling over and having to be caught by Javier. He asks what needs to be done with the wood and swiftly cuts the logs into several uniform pieces to Lloyd's speechless approval. After this is finished, Lloyd pats him on the shoulder and asks that he helps with the digging next, leading Javier to quickly regret offering his help.
Seeing through him, Lloyd correctly assumes that he is helping out of curiosity and still waiting to see how his plan will end up being a con. He reasons that he'll find the answer once the project is finished, and that the project will be finished faster if the two of them work together. Javier internally acknowledges that Lloyd has indeed changed, though remains untrusting and agrees that the only answer is to hurry up and see for himself how it will turn out. The two work together until the house is completed.
The pub owner is shocked by the warmth provided by the ondol floor. His mother is very satisfied with the results, lying across the floor and happily proclaiming that the heat has relaxed all of her stiff joints. The owner thanks Lloyd from the bottom of his heart, smiling alongside his mother and fulfilling Lloyd's promise to Javier's surprise. While he still doubts the noble's intentions, he cannot deny the reality that the two are happy, and his approval rating increases by two points (-31 to -29) which grants him 36 RP.
A few days later, word of the new house has spread through the town, and a long line of citizens are stood waiting for a chance to test it for themselves. Lloyd has set himself up at a table nearby, advertising two styles of construction: building an annex in the yard and remodeling one's current home to have an ondol floor. Despite his enthusiasm and his 10% discount if they order both, the villagers still do not trust him and are reluctant to accept, leading Lloyd to take advantage of his poor reputation to try and threaten them the same way he initially threatened the pub owner.
While talking to a potential customer, he is interrupted by his father, Arcos Frontera, asking what he is doing. He has an approval rating of -20 and is accompanied by Neumann.