I Will Raise This Family to Greatness - Chapter 193

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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 193
Father’s worried voice came through the phone.
– Sung-guk, listen to me….
[Dad, are you going to nag me again?]
– I really hope you never get involved with politics.
“Dad… I promise you, I will never go into politics, not even if I die and come back.”
[Dad, my dream is to become a tycoon!]
Father’s deflated laughter echoed through the receiver.
– You’re so determined about this. Anyway, your father believes in you, Sung-guk.
“Yeah! Dad!”
Then I suddenly wondered how Mother, Min-guk, and Ji-hee were doing.
“Dad… it’s summer break now. Min-guk doesn’t want to come to America to see his older brother?”
– Your mother is busy with Kim Mi-young producing a food competition show this summer. And Min-guk is a trainee, so it’s harder for him to take time off. But you know they all miss you, right?
[What? I had no idea….]
I felt a sudden pang of resentment.
Everyone was so busy—did they not even think about their older brother working as a foreign laborer in America anymore?
– Sung-guk, come back home for this break. Your father is so swamped with the franchise expansion that I have no time at all.
“I’ll try to take at least a short summer vacation.”
– Yes, Sung-guk. Let’s talk about the vacation later. Oh my, your father has been on the phone too long. The bill will be huge. Sung-guk, I’ll call you again.
“Okay….”
I hung up the phone.
Hearing that everyone was so busy left an empty ache in my chest.
It was good that they were all doing what they needed to do….
But as I grew older, the time I could spend with family would only continue to shrink.
I tapped the floor with my toes for no particular reason.
Just then, I heard a voice calling for me.
“Sung-guk!”
“Yes, Tae-guk?”
Bang—
The moment I answered, the door swung open and Jeon Tae-guk thrust his flushed face inside.
“Sung-guk, do you remember Jung-hee?”
[Ah, Jung-hee, my first love from my past life?]
“I don’t remember her very well.”
I deliberately played dumb.
In this life, I had seen her a few times when I was young, but at such a tender age, it didn’t matter if I claimed not to remember.
“Jung-hee… she’s four years older than you. She’s close with Ye-ri. I heard she’s coming to Ye-jung’s wedding this time.”
“Hyung, where did you hear that news?”
“Dotori World. Jung-hee still doesn’t use FaceNote. Anyway, Jung-hee’s father was desperate to set me up with her… why am I rambling like this?”
What he was saying meant that Jung-hee still lived and breathed in Jeon Tae-guk’s heart.
“Hyung, she’s your first love, isn’t she?”
Of course, it was unrequited love.
“H-how did you know?”
“You wouldn’t ramble on about a woman for that long otherwise.”
“Ah, I suppose. Anyway, Jung-hee is incredibly beautiful. Not in a flashy way like Kim Tae-mi or Kim Hee-sung, but more like a single white lily, if you know what I mean.”
“Hyung… please, just get to the point.”
“If I want to impress Jung-hee, I need to buy new clothes before the wedding.”
“You already have more than enough clothes.”
[So fashion’s true completion isn’t clothes after all—it’s the face. Jeon Tae-guk.]
Jeon Tae-guk stared at me with a serious expression.
“Sung-guk, should I get plastic surgery? I’ve never liked my nose.”
[Just that one thing? That’s the least of your problems.]
I figured I should probably stop Jeon Tae-guk from going through with cosmetic surgery.
“Hyung, Ye-jung’s wedding is in a week. If the swelling doesn’t go down, you’ll look even worse.”
“You’re right.”
Jeon Tae-guk began pacing seriously around my room.
“Anyway, Sung-guk, you need to stay as far away from me as possible that day. If you’re next to me, I’ll just look like a squid.”
[Fine, I can do that.]
“I will. I’ll stay as far away as possible. Good luck with Jung-hee.”
In truth, any lingering feelings I had for Jung-hee had long since faded.
* * *
VIP was reviewing the report that Park Secretary had prepared.
The report spanned thirteen pages of A4 paper, with ten-point font.
VIP smiled faintly after reading it.
“My goodness, Park Secretary must be writing a biography of Jeon Sung-guk. How thoroughly did he investigate….”
“Park Secretary is the all-or-nothing type.”
“That’s certainly true… Anyway, thanks to Park Secretary, I now know this Jeon Sung-guk quite well.”
VIP let out a hearty laugh.
“Is there anything else you need?”
“Hmm… First, I’d like to try the bossam from that bossam restaurant this man’s father runs. And I’d like to meet this friend of mine before my presidential term ends….”
VIP paused thoughtfully before speaking.
“Since the presidential election is right around the corner, we need to be careful about everything. I’d like to meet this friend quietly—see if you can arrange a schedule.”
“Yes, sir.”
* * *
“Sung-guk, Jung-hee is majoring in fashion at New York University.”
[Right, I already know that.]
In my previous life, I’d studied in New York because I followed her there, but it seemed that in this life too, she was majoring in fashion in New York regardless.
“Actually, even though Jung-hee’s father is a fairly wealthy man in construction in Busan, he can’t compare to our Samjeon family. He’s just a nouveau riche at best.”
I already knew that too.
“My mother and Jung-hee’s mother were originally close, so we became close as well. But he exploited that, pretending to be very close to us and name-dropping Samjeon everywhere, which made my father absolutely despise him. Then he even went bankrupt during the IMF crisis. I remember crying my heart out for poor Jung-hee back then….”
[Even if they went bankrupt, it wasn’t like they became destitute. They just moved from a detached house with servants to a sixty-pyeong apartment.]
“So my father gave my uncle a job at Samjeon Construction to help him get back on his feet. In exchange, he told me not to get involved with Jung-hee, but…”
[He said to speak plainly. You two weren’t suited for each other before that anyway, Jeon Tae-guk.]
“You know how it is. When someone tells you not to do something, you want to see them even more.”
[Right.]
“You just end up missing them more.”
[Indeed.]
I finally snapped the newspaper shut.
Then I glanced slightly out the window. White clouds stretched across the view beside us.
Jeon Tae-guk and I were currently in the first-class cabin of an airplane headed to New York.
Over the past week, Jeon Tae-guk had gone on a diet at the thought of meeting Jung-hee, shedding the weight he’d gained, and had been diligently receiving skin treatments.
And from the moment he boarded the airplane until now, he’d done nothing but talk about Jung-hee.
“Hyung….”
“What is it, Sung-guk?”
“Could you please stop talking about Jung-hee?”
“Did I really talk that much?”
“Hyung, from a week ago until this very moment, every time you open your mouth it’s only about Jung-hee.”
“Did I really….”
I raised my hand to call the stewardess. Then I requested a glass of whiskey.
“I apologize, but according to our company regulations, we cannot serve alcohol to minors.”
“Not for me. For the person next to me. He’s twenty-three years old. It should be fine for him to have a drink, right?”
“Yes, I’ll bring it right away.”
Jeon Tae-guk waved his hand dismissively.
“Sung-guk, alcohol isn’t necessary for me.”
“Hyung, tension is the worst thing when you’re anxious. If you meet someone with too many expectations built up beforehand, you’ll get nervous and make mistakes. Please, either take a sedative to calm your mind or just have one glass of the whiskey I ordered. Just one glass, though.”
“Well… now that you mention it, you’re right. Sung-guk, I’ll just have one glass.”
And I already knew that Jeon Tae-guk would never stop at just one.
* * *
“This can’t be happening!”
Jeon Tae-guk woke up with a shriek from the next room and came rushing over.
“Sung-guk, my face is seriously swollen.”
“Hyung, just go run on a treadmill or through Central Park to reduce the puffiness.”
“How much time is left until the wedding?”
“Two hours!”
Jeon Tae-guk left the hotel without another word.
I put on a suit I’d bought long ago and checked the time.
Before coming to New York, I’d received a message from a man.
He introduced himself as someone who works in the VIP Secretarial Office.
After inquiring with the Hyojin Group and investigating, he turned out to be someone who actually works in the VIP Secretarial Office.
He said that people from political circles still visit my father’s restaurant to make their mark.
If that was the case, then this person had clearly come to me wanting something.
* * *
Central Park.
I waited in the shade for the person who had sent me the message.
Five minutes before the appointed time.
A black-haired man wearing sunglasses and carrying a rolled-up newspaper in one hand—the very picture of a tourist—lingered nearby before approaching me.
“Are you… Jeon Sung-guk?”
“Yes, you’re from the VIP Secretarial Office, aren’t you?”
“I’m Park Sung-hee, a secretary at the VIP Secretarial Office.”
“I’m Jeon Sung-guk.”
Park Sung-hee regarded me with a look of admiration.
“Wow… I used to watch that show so much when I was little.”
“You must have been quite young then?”
“Exactly. When I was a kid, my parents would watch it and say things like, ‘That family must be so fortunate, with such a handsome son,’ or ‘Goodness, that boy is earning so much money at such a young age.’ They said it all the time, so it became like a trauma from my childhood.”
Clearly someone without much sense of social awareness.
Park Sung-hee quickly pulled out a business card from her wallet and handed it to me.
“Let me introduce myself properly. I’m Park Sung-hee, Secretary at the VIP Secretarial Office.”
Yet her manners were quite refined.
“It’s a pleasure. I apologize, but I don’t have any business cards with me.”
“That’s fine. Your face is your business card, Sung-guk.”
“I have a wedding to attend in an hour.”
“Are you referring to Koo Ye-jung’s wedding?”
“You investigated that too?”
“Actually, I’m attending that wedding as well.”
I looked at Park Sung-hee with a puzzled expression.
Was she connected to Hyojin Group?
“Ye-jung and I were elementary school classmates.”
“So you didn’t come here just for that?”
“I’m killing two birds with one stone. Shall we walk to the hotel while we talk?”
“Let’s do that.”
We began walking slowly through Central Park.
Park Sung-hee went on at length about how thoroughly she had investigated me, even mentioning that she had gone to the Bossam Restaurant to do so.
Park Sung-hee lacked social awareness but had impeccable manners, and she was quite the chatterbox.
“Secretary, don’t you have something to tell me today?”
“Oh, that’s right!”
Park Sung-hee handed me an envelope.
“It’s not a bribe. It’s an airplane ticket. Why don’t you come to Korea around Liberation Day? The VIP would like to meet with you.”
“I appreciate the ticket, but I’ll pass.”
“What? This is first class though?”
“I have enough money for that myself. And may I set the time for our meeting and contact you about it?”
[I’m not the type of person to come running eagerly just because the South Korean President wants to meet me.]
My base was in the United States, after all.
Of course, there was nothing to gain by appearing dismissive of business opportunities in Korea, but there was equally no reason to seem eager.
Park Sung-hee’s expression grew visibly uncomfortable as she looked at me.
“Ah… this puts me in a difficult position at the office.”
“Tell the VIP I appreciate the gesture of the plane ticket, but I’ll have to coordinate my schedule with the company. We’ll discuss a Korea visit in detail once our schedules align.”
“Understood. I’ll convey that message.”
Before I knew it, we had arrived at the Hotel Lobby.
The Hotel Lobby was, in a word, a microcosm of South Korea’s political and business elite.
I spotted familiar faces from the political and business world, and among them, Jeon Tae-guk—the most familiar of all—acknowledged me with a knowing look.
“Sung-guk!”
“Hyung, we agreed to keep our distance today, remember?”
“Right, right. I’ll catch you later. When I meet Jung-hee, I’ll let you know who she is.”
“Yes, have a great date!”
I could see the surprise written across Park Sung-hee’s face.
“Sung-guk, I discovered during my investigation that you have connections with Jeon Tae-guk, the heir to Samjeon Group. But you two seem incredibly close.”
“We live in the same house. How did your investigation miss that?”
“How exactly do you know and maintain relationships with all the major figures in South Korea’s political and business circles, not to mention the United States?”
[Well, it’s because I’m just that exceptional.]
I gave a slight shrug of my shoulders.
Just then, someone called out my name.
“Sung-guk?”
It was a familiar woman’s voice.
My heart began to race slightly.
[Why is this happening? Could my body still be remembering something…]
I slowly turned around.
There stood.
“Jung-hee!”
At that moment, Jeon Tae-guk’s face lit up with a radiant smile as he called out to Jung-hee.

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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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