I Will Raise This Family to Greatness - Chapter 154

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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 154
Min-guk’s expression was more resolute than ever before.
Or perhaps it was the most serious I’d ever seen him look in all the years I’d known him.
That’s how much he genuinely cared about winning this popularity vote.
[Min-guk, what are you doing? It’s obvious I’ll win this popularity vote. I’m Jeon Sung-guk. Even FromKing is just one person….]
I didn’t want to be the kind of older brother who would crush that determination of his.
Young Secretary Yang looked between Min-guk and me before opening his mouth.
“Min-guk, you don’t need to be so serious about something this small. The purpose of uploading videos is to gauge people’s response and identify what you need to improve on, so you can figure out how to develop further.”
Young Secretary Yang was absolutely right.
But Min-guk showed no signs of backing down.
“I really want to beat my brother just once.”
Min-guk clenched both his fists tightly.
[Min-guk, you’ve already beaten me in IQ….]
But that was truly a secret I’d take to my grave. I kept my mouth firmly shut.
Young Secretary Yang looked at me with a sympathetic expression.
“Sung-guk, try to convince Min-guk.”
“Hmm… let’s do the popularity vote, but Min-guk, let’s lower the penalty a bit. For example, the loser cleans the room every day. Something like that. Honestly, it’s obvious I’ll win right now no matter who looks at it. You’re only twelve, and besides being cute, your face isn’t as good-looking as your older brother’s, and you’re shorter than me too.”
“Sung-guk….”
Young Secretary Yang’s eyes widened in shock.
[People always react like this when you tell the truth. Since I said it, I can’t stop the muttering inside my head!]
“Well, then there’s nothing we can do about it. Chul-soo, I’ll go along with Min-guk’s opinion. I hope Min-guk gets to do things the way he wants.”
“Brother, I’m really confident this time!”
Young Secretary Yang seemed to have given up.
“If that’s what both brothers want, let’s start by filming daily life videos. Since Sung-guk isn’t the main character, how about he just appears in Min-guk’s episodes?”
[Still, it’s obvious I’ll get more attention. But let’s give it a try.]
I deliberately slumped my shoulders.
“Chul-soo, how about we film videos with the concept of a South Korean boy whose dream is to be a singer studying English abroad in the United States?”
“For the title, it would be better if it could grab more attention. How about ‘A South Korean Boy Conquers the Billboard’? Something like that would probably get more views.”
[That’s Secretary Yang for you.]
Young Secretary Yang certainly had a talent for the entertainment business.
“I can film with a camera too, but I think it would be even better if Min-guk films it himself in a self-camera format. If he just talks to the camera casually like he’s chatting with friends, people will feel more comfortable with it.”
“I’m really good at that!”
Min-guk picked up a digital camera and adjusted the angle so his face looked its best.
“Brother, this is what they call the face-flattering angle.”
Click. Click. Click.
Min-guk took several selfies and immediately uploaded them to his FaceNote.
* * *
“Hello, everyone. I’m going to share a day in the life of Jeon Min-guk with you today. So, let me start a day in the life of Jeon Min-guk, who will become a singer conquering the Billboard in ten years!”
Min-guk flashed a bright smile and set down the camera to film his daily life.
“My daily routine starts with waking up in the morning and waking up my older brother who fell asleep late from working.”
Min-guk woke up at the crack of dawn and started shaking me awake.
“Brother, wake up. It’s morning! You need to get to work! Brother!”
I rubbed my bleary eyes and kicked off the blanket, sitting up.
In that instant, Min-guk gasped and suddenly shouted in surprise.
“Brother! That’s cheating! Why are you shirtless!”
I had deliberately gone to bed without pajamas last night, keeping my upper body bare, all for this moment.
“Jeon Min-guk, you’re the one cheating. When did you start waking me up? I’ve always been the one waking you! You can’t just lie and film a video like that. Can you?”
“Seriously! You’re the worst, brother.”
Min-guk turned off the camera.
* * *
As I stepped out of the room, Lim Mi-mi was brewing coffee in the Kitchen.
She glanced at me and let out a snort of laughter.
“Boss, do you really have to win against your own brother like that?”
“In competition, there’s no such thing as older or younger brother.”
“These two brothers really have an insane competitive spirit.”
I pulled out milk from the refrigerator and gulped it down.
Soon Min-guk emerged holding a digital camera in one hand, glared at me, then flashed a forced smile and started filming Lim Mi-mi.
“This is Lim Mi-mi, who works at my brother’s company. Mi-mi is from North Korea. Mi-mi, could you say hello to the camera?”
“Hello everyone! Please show lots of love to our Min-guk!”
Just then, Mark emerged from his room with a disheveled face.
“Mark, look at the camera for a second.”
“Min-guk, don’t film! I look terrible!”
Bang.
Mark shut the door and went back inside.
Min-guk kept chattering at the camera.
“I’m not sure what Mark said, but it sounds like he doesn’t want to be filmed. That’s all! The Dormitory where I’m staying in the United States is shared by people who work at my brother’s company. See you next time!”
Min-guk waved his hand repeatedly at the camera.
I clicked my tongue.
“Min-guk, don’t overdo it.”
“You’re the one overdoing it. Make sure you wear pajamas to bed tonight!”
Min-guk grumbled and headed back to his room.
I shook my head.
Soon Min-guk emerged from his room holding my phone.
“Brother, answer your phone! It’s been ringing all morning, I’m going crazy!”
Min-guk handed me the phone and went back into his room, muttering complaints.
I quickly checked my phone.
It was Elon Musk.
What could this be about?
* * *
Elon Musk spoke in an excited voice, saying he had met another genius and asked me to come to the location he would provide.
With a mixture of doubt and hope, I made my way to the Silicon Valley office that Elon Musk had directed me to.
The building Elon Musk had mentioned was just one of countless venture company headquarters scattered throughout Silicon Valley.
Though Elon Musk was prone to flights of fancy, he wasn’t a criminal, so I approached the office door without much suspicion and knocked.
Elon Musk soon greeted me with an animated expression.
“Sung-guk! Welcome!”
“Elon, what’s this about so early in the morning?”
“Sung-guk! I’ve met someone truly remarkable. I think he’s as much of a genius as you are. That’s why I wanted to introduce you two, so I called you here.”
Who could it be?
I entered the cramped office with a skeptical mind.
The space contained a desk with several computers and one wall that looked like an entire bookstore had been transplanted there.
A few simple chairs were scattered about, giving the place more the feel of a professor’s study than an actual office.
Standing there was a man who seemed both Asian and American at the same time.
He appeared to be around Elon’s age.
The man rose from his seat and extended his hand.
“Elon’s told me a lot about you… I’m James Sakamoto.”
[James Sakamoto? Could it be the founder of Bitcoin?]
The founder of Bitcoin had operated under the name Sakamoto, and no one had ever discovered their true identity.
I froze in place, staring at James with an intensity that could bore through stone.
“Sung-guk, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, no. I apologize. It’s just an unusual name. I’m Jeon Sung-guk. I’m from Korea.”
“Elon mentioned that. I’m American, but my father is Japanese. I separated from my father when I was young, so honestly, I don’t even remember his face. But a surname is a surname, after all.”
James Sakamoto was born to a Japanese father and an American mother.
His mother had fallen in love with his father, a student who came to study from Japan, and they even married and had James. But their marriage couldn’t withstand the clash between his father’s traditional Japanese values and her Western outlook. When James was three years old, they divorced.
His father returned to Japan that very day and never came back to America.
“When people first meet me, they sometimes think I’m a Japanese person who speaks English exceptionally well. But I was born in America and have barely left American soil. The only exception was when I backpacked through Europe during college.”
James Sakamoto shared certain similarities with Elon.
He had been separated from his father in childhood. And he spoke openly about what could be considered his personal vulnerabilities without hesitation. Yet there were differences between them as well.
“By the way, what we discuss here today will probably remain something only the three of us ever know. That’s why I’d like us to sign a contract.”
He then handed a contract to both Elon and me.
[His thoroughness matches mine. James and I are kindred spirits.]
The contract’s terms were as follows:
– All conversations held in this place today shall be kept confidential. Should it be discovered that this information was leaked at any point in the future, the responsible party shall pay damages of one hundred million dollars.
It was essentially a confidentiality agreement.
Elon shook his head in disbelief.
“One hundred million dollars? James, that’s too much.”
“Elon. This is that important.”
“And you haven’t even invented it yet…”
Elon offered a mild protest.
But James had no intention of backing down.
“Once the cryptocurrency I’m currently developing is released into the world, people will be desperate to find me. Then I’ll face countless threats to my life… If it fails, this precaution means nothing anyway, but if it succeeds, I have no choice but to be prepared. This is an unwritten rule among the Cryptocurrency Group.”
I accepted the contract with trembling hands.
“James, if this is the Cryptocurrency Group, then there must be more than just one or two people developing it, right?”
“There are several of us. Most of us don’t know each other’s identities, but we’ve all signed this contract. Later, when cryptocurrency actually spreads throughout the world, people will definitely start investing in it like madmen… and they’ll try to find us developers.”
“But how did you arrange things with Elon?”
“To be honest, I’m very interested in Tesla and Space Z. Autonomous electric vehicles and space travel—if there’s a madman doing things that seem like they belong only in science fiction movies, I thought we’d get along….”
When the cryptocurrency craze swept the world, some speculated that Elon Musk might be Sakamoto, the inventor of cryptocurrency.
This was because Elon frequently mentioned cryptocurrency on Chirp and spoke about it constantly.
Elon glanced at me sideways.
“Sung-guk, I’m definitely going to sign. I want to hear more details about this cryptocurrency from James.”
“James, this contract seems too unfair. Silence comes with a price, doesn’t it?”
James smiled broadly.
“Just as Elon said—a genius indeed. Hmm… as compensation for your silence, I’ll give you 100 cryptocurrency when I invent it. How’s that?”
“Sounds good. Then, James, shall we revise the contract?”
I quickly added a clause to attach to the contract.
– As a confidentiality condition of this conversation, James Sakamoto shall unconditionally transfer 100 cryptocurrency each to Elon Musk and Jeon Sung-guk the moment he invents cryptocurrency.
James Sakamoto smiled faintly.
“Just as Elon said—a meticulous genius. I’m also keeping a close eye on ‘FaceNote.’ I suspect both of you will be among the world’s richest people in about ten years.”
[That’s something I already know…]
James Sakamoto quickly rewrote the contract, and Elon and I signed it.
And from that moment, I was able to hear directly from the founder of Bitcoin the grand story of its beginning.
This was surely a page of history that only Elon, myself, and a select few would ever know.

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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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