I Will Raise This Family to Greatness - Chapter 163

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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 163
A cold wind blew between Jeon Tae-guk and me.
For the first time in my life, I began to regard Jeon Tae-guk as a threat.
[Did Jeon Tae-guk really have this much intelligence?]
I thought he was just going around playing the fool on a global scale, but the truth was he’d been enduring all this time to sabotage Samjeon Group’s investment in FaceNote….
I took several deep breaths and looked at Jeon Tae-guk, suppressing my emotions as much as possible and keeping my face unreadable.
“Brother, you said you don’t like being continuously connected with Chairman Jeon Jae-hyung. What do you mean by that?”
Jeon Tae-guk paused for a moment while drinking his milk.
[Had I been underestimating Jeon Tae-guk all this time?]
I waited in tense silence for Jeon Tae-guk’s next words.
“Sung-guk, honestly, even though I’m not interested in company affairs yet, I’m not completely deaf to the world either. You don’t know our mother, do you?”
[How could I not know the Iron Lady? I know her incredibly well. I’ve been wary of her since kindergarten in this life too.]
I had momentarily forgotten that the Iron Lady stood behind Jeon Tae-guk.
“I’m not sure if I should be airing our family matters to someone as young as you, but Father and Mother haven’t spoken in a long time. They only see each other at family events, and even then, they barely talk. I heard that normally they only exchange messages about important decisions or Secretary Yang acts as a middleman.”
It wasn’t news to me.
In my previous life, the relationship between Chairman Jeon Jae-hyung and the Iron Lady was exactly as Jeon Tae-guk described.
“Mother is just counting down the days until I inherit Samjeon Group. After all, it’s her wish for me, her son, to sit in that position. That’s why she’s always wary of everything around her—people, events, everything.”
[And I’m among those things, aren’t I, Jeon Tae-guk?]
Jeon Tae-guk drank the cold milk in one long gulp.
“Among all of them, she’s most wary of you. Honestly, I’m not sure why. But it seems like whenever your name comes up, Mother becomes uncomfortable.”
[That’s because I’m just too excellent, obviously.]
“Honestly, it’s almost strange how much Mother loses her composure whenever your name comes up. Even after you rejected the Samsung Scholarship Program, she kept saying it was absolutely absurd that Father continues to take an interest in you.”
Jeon Tae-guk stared quietly into the darkness.
[Jeon Tae-guk might be smarter than I thought….]
I probed subtly to discern Jeon Tae-guk’s true intentions.
“Brother, regardless of your mother’s wariness, you can’t afford to fail the presentation, can you? If you fail, Father might hold it against you.”
“That doesn’t matter. I’m the only son of Samjeon Group. There’s no one else who could become the successor but me.”
Jeon Tae-guk answered with composure.
“Hmm… but wouldn’t it be better to be a successor who earns Father’s recognition?”
[In my previous life, I studied and worked so hard to earn Father’s recognition that I broke out in heat rash! Get your act together, Jeon Tae-guk!]
“Actually… Father might not want a successor who’s that intelligent.”
[That’s just your speculation!]
Jeon Tae-guk continued speaking.
“Honestly, a group as large as Samjeon wouldn’t run smoothly just because the owner is smart, nor would it fail just because the owner is foolish. That wouldn’t be a properly functioning enterprise.”
I paused for a moment.
I was slightly taken aback, but I tried my best not to show it.
Jeon Tae-guk was right—it would be absurd for a company as large as Samjeon to be entirely dependent on the owner’s intelligence.
“Our mother told me to just manage my image well and maintain good relationships, and not to waste money. She said she’d fill my surroundings with good people, so I shouldn’t worry….”
The Iron Lady truly understood Jeon Tae-guk well.
“Brother, can the good people your mother has placed around you always remain good? People always change, don’t they?”
Jeon Tae-guk straightened up at my question and looked at me.
“So here’s the thing… Sung-guk….”
“Yes, hyung.”
“I want us to get along well for the rest of our lives.”
[Jeon Tae-guk, what are you talking about? How are we supposed to get along? In my past life, you were constantly stabbing me in the back!]
I looked at Jeon Tae-guk with eyes full of suspicion.
“You’re smarter than me and more accomplished. Plus, your family is really harmonious… and with FaceNote, you’ll probably become even richer in the future than you are now…”
[Those are all facts I already know, Jeon Tae-guk. And I’m going to be even richer than you.]
Jeon Tae-guk’s expression became awkward.
“Sung-guk, what I mean is…. I’ve never said anything like this before, so it feels strange… but I want us to be friends, not business partners.”
[What?]
I was surprised, but I pretended to be calm and gulped down my milk.
“Honestly, I find what you’re doing interesting. Uploading videos of your little brother on YouTube, meeting Scott, things like that. If it were me, I probably couldn’t even dream of doing such things, but you’re making it a reality.”
[Of course. I’m Jeon Sung-guk, after all.]
I added appropriate acknowledgments internally.
“It was fun watching that work from the sidelines, and it was incredibly enjoyable helping through Samjeon. But if I get entangled with you in a business relationship, I’d lose that enjoyment.”
[Jeon Tae-guk, so what you’re really saying is that you won’t invest in FaceNote for the sake of your own life’s enjoyment?]
Jeon Tae-guk extended his hand to me.
“Sung-guk, let’s be lifelong friends. What do you say?”
There was no reason to refuse.
Jeon Tae-guk is, as he says, the sole heir to the Samjeon Group. Whether he’s capable or not, he’ll inherit the Samjeon Group.
And I never had any expectations that he’d do well enough with his presentation to invest in FaceNote anyway.
I was planning to let him do an internship and send him off, but now he’s asking to be lifelong friends first…
When you run a business in South Korea, you can’t ignore your relationship with Samjeon.
The same goes for the entertainment business I’ll be doing for Min-guk in the future.
I readily grasped Jeon Tae-guk’s hand.
“Hyung, whenever there’s something fun to do, I’ll call on you anytime.”
[Thanks for being my global pushover for life, Jeon Tae-guk.]
“I’m really happy about this!”
Jeon Tae-guk laughed with such genuine brightness.
He wasn’t even thinking about tomorrow’s presentation.
* * *
Jeon Tae-guk’s presentation was truly unwatchable.
Young Secretary Yang had prepared high-quality materials, but Jeon Tae-guk barely understood any of it.
As the presentation progressed, Chairman Jeon Jae-hyung’s expression visibly deteriorated.
The executives sitting around Chairman Jeon Jae-hyung were clearly trying not to show their displeasure.
And Jeon Tae-guk remained remarkably stubborn, practically reading directly from the materials.
“We’re almost at the end now. Let me explain the features of FaceNote very simply using my own FaceNote account.”
In that instant, Young Secretary Yang, Mark, Lim Mi-mi, and I were all taken aback.
Young Secretary Yang urgently raised his hand from behind, but Jeon Tae-guk didn’t even look and opened the FaceNote screen.
“This is my FaceNote.”
[Jeon Tae-guk, you really decided to bomb today’s presentation, didn’t you?]
I exhaled a long sigh.
And finally, Jeon Tae-guk’s FaceNote was revealed to Jeon Jae-hyung and the executives of Samjeon Group.
In that instant, the executives began to murmur among themselves.
Jeon Jae-hyung’s FaceNote bio read like this.
– Successor to Samjeon Group.
And number of friends: zero.
Jeon Tae-guk quickly continued.
“The reason I have no friends is….”
In that instant, Chairman Jeon Jae-hyung shot up from his seat and spoke in a low, terrifying voice.
“Stop.”
Then he simply left the office.
The executives exchanged nervous glances before rising from their seats and hurriedly chased after Chairman Jeon Jae-hyung.
In the now-empty office, Jeon Tae-guk scratched his head awkwardly.
“I was just about to show how to send friend requests…”
And today, I truly saw Jeon Tae-guk again.
What Jeon Tae-guk did best was reading the room.
Those words he wrote in his bio.
Successor to Samjeon Group.
Those words explained Jeon Tae-guk better than anything else.
Even if he was foolish and incompetent, he was the successor to Samjeon Group, and that would never change—he had just demonstrated this truth to Chairman Jeon Jae-hyung and the executives.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
I applauded with genuine sincerity.
Mark stopped me.
“Sung-guk, what are you doing? The atmosphere is like this—why are you clapping?”
Jeon Tae-guk would surely understand the meaning behind my applause.
And truly, today I was grateful to Jeon Tae-guk.
With this, Samjeon Group’s attempt to ride on FaceNote’s coattails had completely failed. Thanks to Jeon Tae-guk!
He had resolved in one stroke all the awkward situations that would have arisen if I had rejected Jeon Tae-guk.
[Bravo, Jeon Tae-guk!]
* * *
When I arrived home and opened the door, the aroma of soybean paste stew wafted through the air.
“Mother, is it soybean paste stew today?”
“Yes. Sung-guk, come wash your hands quickly.”
“Okay!”
[Home really is the best….]
Just then, the door opened from behind and Jeon Tae-guk and Young Secretary Yang entered.
Now that his internship had ended, Jeon Tae-guk had to return to Utah, and Young Secretary Yang was planning to stay here and prepare for transfer admission.
“Tae-guk, aren’t you packing? You have to go back to Utah now, don’t you?”
“I told Father that the weather here is nice, so I’m preparing to transfer to a school on this side. Secretary Yang is preparing to transfer too.”
[Secretary Yang’s aiming for Stanford! You don’t have the grades for it!]
Jeon Tae-guk strolled in as if he owned the place.
Young Secretary Yang glanced at me apologetically.
“Sung-guk, sorry. The doenjang-jjigae smells too good.”
The scent of Korea in a foreign land was irresistible.
“Sung-guk, tell the guests to come in. Mark and Lim Mi-mi will be coming too.”
“Sigh…”
I exhaled a quiet sigh.
Jeon Tae-guk, whom I thought I’d finally gotten rid of, had planted himself back at the neighbor’s place under the pretense of preparing for transfer. And Young Secretary Yang along with him.
Right on cue, Mark and Lim Mi-mi appeared together.
“I see these two more often now than when we lived together.”
“Sung-guk, Mother said she’s making bossam again. Sorry.”
“Wow, is that doenjang-jjigae? It smells similar to North Korean cuisine. Restaurant Owner, thank you for the meal!”
Lim Mi-mi licked her lips and headed inside.
I retreated solemnly to the terrace.
[When you’re together, you want to be alone. When you’re alone, you want to be together. That’s family…]
Creak.
Just then, the terrace door opened and Ji-hee came out.
“Oppa! Why are you alone here?”
“Sometimes your oppa wants to be alone too, Ji-hee.”
“I get scared when I’m alone. Weren’t you scared when you were my age, oppa?”
[At your age, I was already well past forty, so the only thing I feared in this world was people.]
I briefly recalled what it was like at Ji-hee’s age.
[I was busy making money and investing while going to kindergarten. Those were good times…]
Ji-hee tugged gently at my pants.
“Oppa, but I’m curious about something.”
“What is it?”
“This…”
Ji-hee opened a book she’d hidden behind her back.
[This is my problem set…]
It was a book I’d seen when I took the elementary school equivalency exam in Korea. It was even advanced-level mathematics.
“Ji-hee, are you studying from this?”
“Yes, oppa! Ji-hee is having a little trouble with this problem. Will you teach me? I asked Min-guk oppa, but he said it was annoying and told me to go away.”
I quickly opened the problem set Ji-hee handed me.
And I looked at her with a face full of delight.
I had been neglecting Ji-hee because of FaceNote work and Min-guk.
I gazed into Ji-hee’s bright, intelligent eyes.
[That’s right, Ji-hee. You’re my study project. So what if your face isn’t the issue! You can succeed through academics!]

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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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