I Will Raise This Family to Greatness - Chapter 103

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

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Chapter 103
September 12, 2003.
My Face Paper was on the verge of exploding.
Birthday congratulations had poured in from countless people whose faces I’d never seen.
Of course, they were all people connected to me through some network or another.
During class, Mark glanced at my laptop and shook his head disapprovingly.
“Sung-guk, I should hurry up and build that relationship status feature Dennis mentioned.”
“I’m a minor, Mark.”
“Sung-guk, no matter where you’re from in South Korea, in America you’re always in a relationship. It’s not wrong, is it?”
“Well, I suppose…”
“Besides, whether you’re in a relationship or not, there’ll be plenty of girls flirting with you going forward anyway, so you might as well get used to it.”
Dennis, sitting beside me, chimed in.
“Sung-guk, today’s the day you go through the Lyan Club initiation, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Mark and I will be waiting in the dorm room drinking beer. You’ve got this!”
[I’m actually getting nervous about this…]
Still, I responded coldly to Mark and Dennis, pretending I wasn’t anxious at all.
“Focus on class.”
Mark and Dennis grinned at each other.
I’d attended Harvard in my previous life, but that was graduate school.
Moreover, it was an MBA program, and once it became known that I was the heir to South Korea’s Samjeon Group, I navigated school without much difficulty.
Most of the students in the MBA program were already prominent figures in their respective countries, but that was also after Samjeon’s corporate value had risen significantly.
But an invitation to the actual Lyan Club social organization was bewildering.
Back at Seoul National University, even drinking makgeolli with friends earned me praise for being humble—”the Samjeon Group heir drinks makgeolli too!”
But this place was like the Serengeti plains to me.
If you stayed still, you’d be devoured.
* * *
As class ended, Jessie came running from the back of the lecture hall.
“Sung-guk, today’s your birthday, right?”
“Yeah. You saw it on Face Paper?”
“We spent three years together in high school—there’s no way I wouldn’t know your birthday. We’re having a party at my dorm tonight. You’ll all come, right?”
Jessie’s gaze swept across me, Mark, and Dennis.
Mark and Dennis were already nodding.
I nudged Mark’s ribs and whispered.
“Mark, didn’t you just say you and Dennis were drinking beer in the dorm room today?”
“That was before I knew about Jessie’s party. Jessie’s dorm parties are the hottest thing among freshmen right now. Her Face Paper is flooded with requests to be invited. Getting invited to that party means we’re as hot as Jessie, doesn’t it?”
“Mark, stop stalking Jessie’s Face Paper.”
Mark shrugged innocently.
“You’ll come too, right, Sung-guk?”
“I have the Lyan Club initiation today, so… Jessie, didn’t you get an invitation from the women’s club?”
“I got the invitation, but my cousin is already a member there, so there wasn’t any special initiation ceremony or anything. And honestly, I’m not that interested in those kinds of things anyway.”
As Jessie swept her blonde hair back, Mark and Dennis were already mesmerized.
I shook my head in disbelief.
“Jessie, next time let’s throw a party at our dormitory.”
At my suggestion, Mark and Dennis’ eyes widened.
Dennis whispered to me in astonishment.
“Sung-guk, is that even possible?”
“There’s something you guys don’t know—if Jessie comes, our dormitory is totally fine.”
“That’s right!”
Mark and Dennis finally clapped their hands together.
Of course, I—Jeon Sung-guk—was the only one who could move Jessie.
Ding.
Just then, a message arrived on my phone.
– This is the Lyan Club. All new members who received invitations must gather in front of the John Harvard Statue by 7 PM wearing suits.
* * *
I pulled out a suit I hadn’t worn in a long time.
It was a designer suit I’d bought to wear to the graduation party.
Dennis, who was watching a movie beside me, whistled.
“Sung-guk, you know you don’t look your age at all, right?”
“I just grew tall, that’s all.”
“Seriously, if I become a film director later, I’m definitely casting you. Make sure you take acting classes next semester.”
“I’m going back to Korea during the break to train as a trainee.”
“A trainee? What’s that?”
“In South Korea, they train boy groups like *NSYNC* from a young age and debut them. The kids who train for that debut are called trainees.”
Dennis’ eyes widened.
“So everyone gathers pursuing their dreams?”
“That’s right.”
“In South Korea, Seoul is where people gather pursuing their dreams. In the United States, I guess that would be Los Angeles with Hollywood, right?”
“Yeah… Los Angeles.”
Dennis suddenly jumped up from his seat.
“Sung-guk, what if we wrote a story about people gathering in Los Angeles pursuing their dreams?”
[Of course it’s good. I already know your entire screenplay anyway….]
But I kept my composure.
“That does sound interesting.”
“Right?”
“Sung-guk, want to write a screenplay with me? A story about young people gathering in Los Angeles, each pursuing their own dreams.”
“What if it were a musical?”
“Jackpot. You know you just thought the exact same thing as me? Like those 1930s Hollywood studio films. Like The Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland!”
“That sounds great. Dennis, let’s talk more about that later. Today I absolutely have to get through the Lyan Club’s hurdle, so wish me luck.”
“Of course!”
Dennis smiled with a slight grin.
* * *
7 PM.
Ten male students in suits loitered in front of the John Harvard Statue.
Some of them I’d seen in class, while others were unfamiliar faces.
All of them were tall and white.
Among the ten, I was the only Asian.
Harvard’s social clubs were notorious for their exclusivity.
I had no idea why the Winklevoss twins had invited me here, but one thing was certain—I absolutely had to get into Lyan Club.
That was because the connections within Lyan Club were absolutely essential to commercialize Face Paper.
Soon, countless phone notifications began ringing.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.
The students all pulled out their phones in unison.
The message read:
– Tonight, we will select new members for Lyan Club based on who collects the most female contacts from parties happening anywhere on Harvard’s campus. The top seven will be accepted. You have until 10 PM.
The male students all exchanged confused glances.
Some looked troubled by the challenge, while others appeared confident.
I adjusted the collar of my suit.
This was a game designed for me.
[Well then, shall we begin….]
* * *
Mark and Dennis stood in a corner, holding beer bottles.
“Dennis, I’ve been a wallflower my entire school life. Why don’t you at least go ask some girls for their numbers? We’re college students now!”
A wallflower was someone unpopular at parties who stood against the wall without a partner.
“Mark, how many people who studied to get into Harvard were actually popular? I was in the same boat as you in middle and high school.”
“Sung-guk was the exception. When he first enrolled, girls went crazy saying he was cute, and by graduation they were all saying he was handsome.”
“But Sung-guk doesn’t even care about girls.”
“That’s what’s strange. I should add a ‘relationship status’ feature to Face Paper soon.”
Just then, the dormitory door opened, and Sung-guk walked in, dressed impeccably in a suit.
Mark and Dennis felt their spirits sink.
“Tonight’s party too—we don’t stand a chance at getting numbers.”
* * *
Jessie’s party was packed with people.
It was a party hosted by Jessie, the most popular person on Face Paper.
I was witnessing firsthand the scalability of Face Paper.
People were starved for connection.
And online, they could befriend someone like Jessie—a popular girl they could never approach in real life—or at least learn what she was up to.
Jessie approached me with a surprised expression.
“Sung-guk, weren’t you supposed to be going to Lyan Club tonight?”
I loosened my tightly knotted necktie and unbuttoned the top of my shirt.
[I thought I was going to suffocate to death….]
At that, the female students’ gazes converged on me.
The mission from the Lyan Club wasn’t about whether I would pass or fail.
It was about whether I would come in first place.
I picked up a water bottle instead of a beer bottle and scanned the crowd. Then I shouted.
“I’m looking for some female students willing to give me their contact information!”
Before my words even finished, female students began rushing toward me in droves.
Seeing this, Mark and Dennis clinked their beer bottles together.
“Maybe we should’ve just stayed in the dormitory drinking beer….”
Jessie had somehow been swept up by the crowd and made her way to Mark and Dennis’s side.
At the same time, the door kept opening as more female students poured in.
“How do they even know to come here?”
“Someone must’ve posted it on Face Paper.”
* * *
“Ninety-nine names?”
Cameron’s brow furrowed.
“That’s way too big a gap from second place.”
“How many did second place get?”
“Thirty-one.”
Tyler shrugged.
“Our goal was to get Sung-guk to join our club anyway.”
“That’s true, but… I never expected him to be this popular.”
Cameron smiled enigmatically.
“Tyler, if we want to acquire Face Paper, we’re going to have to be a bit more generous, aren’t we?”
“You’re sure Face Paper is worth that much?”
“Inside information—Microsoft tried to buy it too. But apparently that kid, Sung-guk, refused and said he’d grow it himself.”
“We should’ve approached Mark instead. That nerd seems like he’d come over to our side if we treated him right.”
Cameron shook his head.
“Sung-guk makes all the decisions. Mark is just a technician. We need to get them to invest with our father’s private equity fund no matter what.”
“Got it. I’ll notify them of the results first, then arrange something for this weekend.”
* * *
Buzz.
My phone vibrated.
I glanced at it while reading, but didn’t pick it up.
Mark, who was upgrading Face Paper at Dennis’s desk while he was out, looked at me.
“Sung-guk, did the Lyan Club results come in?”
“The results are obvious. No one collected more contact information than me.”
“Aren’t you being a bit overconfident? At least check it once.”
“I’ll check it later, what’s the rush.”
Mark looked at me with a puzzled expression.
“Sung-guk, if you’re not even interested in the Lyan Club, why did you accept the invitation? You could’ve just turned it down.”
“The Lyan Club is famous within Harvard for its tight-knit senior-junior relationships. Face Paper keeps growing. There’ll be more investment inquiries coming in, and to handle them more flexibly in American society, I think I’ll need the Lyan Club’s connections. There are investors keeping an eye on us too….”
“Sung-guk, are you really twelve years old?”
[No, well. I’m forty.]
I shot up from my seat.
Then I examined Face Paper, which Mark was in the process of upgrading.
“Mark, about the Winklevoss twins.”
“Oh, those tall, blonde, obnoxious guys.”
“Their father runs a Private Equity Fund.”
“Isn’t Jessie’s father the one running a Private Equity Fund?”
“Yeah. Mark, why would those guys send an invitation to me, an Asian?”
“Well….”
Mark’s eyes wavered.
“Those guys are definitely after Face Paper.”

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

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