I Will Raise This Family to Greatness - Chapter 230

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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 230
Was this the infamous runaway season that every trainee supposedly experienced at least once?
Becoming a trainee didn’t guarantee you’d become a singer, nor did it promise any certain future.
Surviving years under harsh evaluations with nothing but the vague hope of becoming a singer someday—teenagers were simply too young and fragile for that kind of burden.
I understood Min-guk’s feelings intellectually, but!
“Jeon Min-guk, do you have any idea how hard I worked to get you into the trainee program!?”
Exploding in anger first—that was what real family did.
[When Bang Mu-hyuk’s scandal hit the group and I was struggling, when Jeon Tae-guk’s nude photos leaked and I couldn’t sleep fixing that mess and securing investment… and now he wants to throw away his trainee position!]
Jeon Min-guk muttered.
“I knew this would happen. Nobody in this world comforts my heart.”
“When you came to America, wasn’t it hard? Didn’t you suffer? Did you think I’d comfort you? Then stay in Korea!”
As my voice grew louder, Mark tried to calm me down.
“Sung-guk, don’t yell at Min-guk like that. Look, he’s crying.”
“If you had the resolve to come this far, you should practice even harder!”
Min-guk had picked up enough English to understand by now.
“Hyung, that’s not fair! I practice as much as I can. I practice every day, but it’s just not working out. That’s why I’m like this.”
“You need to try harder! Until you succeed!”
Mark stopped me with an alarmed voice.
“Sung-guk, by the way—do your parents know Min-guk ran away?”
Only then did I ask Min-guk.
“Did you at least tell our parents before you left?”
Since there had been no contact, it seemed our parents still didn’t know about this situation.
“Jeon Min-guk, what did you tell our parents when you left home?”
“I said I was going to a workshop for a few days.”
“You little brat, you’re already piling up lies!”
“It’s not a lie! Other people are going to the workshop, and I’m the only one running away to America!”
“That’s exactly what a lie is!”
As I was shouting, it suddenly occurred to me that this scene would be hilarious if I filmed it and uploaded it to YouTube.
I quickly pulled out my iPhone and started recording.
Mark glanced at me with a startled expression.
“Sung-guk, what are you doing?”
“South Korea K-pop Idol Trainee Jeon Min-guk’s Runaway Episode. Now filming.”
“Huh? I’m not doing entertainment anymore! I’m going to study!”
I lowered my phone and stared at Min-guk with serious eyes.
“Jeon Min-guk, say that again. You’re going to study?”
“Yeah! I’m going to study. Mom said my IQ is over 160! Way better than yours!”
[Wait, our parents knew my IQ all along?]
In that instant, I froze completely.
“Your IQ is just barely over 120, right? And with that IQ you studied hard and got into Harvard, so if I set my mind to studying now, I can definitely get into Harvard too!”
[Jeon Min-guk, you just touched your hyung’s pride!]
I stared at Min-guk with the coldest expression I could muster.
“Min-guk, from now on, I’m taking full responsibility for your studies. Are you ready for this?”
“Yeah! I came all the way to the United States with that kind of resolve!”
Min-guk answered without backing down.
* * *
– So Min-guk went to you? Put him on the phone right now.
Mother was clearly furious as well.
Hearing Mother’s angry voice through the phone, Min-guk bolted toward his room in a panic.
“Mother, it’s no use. Min-guk already ran away. Mother, he says being a trainee is too hard and he can’t do it anymore. Instead, he wants to focus on his studies.”
– What studies is he talking about? He’s neglected everything except English since he started as a trainee!
“Mother, let me teach Jeon Min-guk seriously. I’m sure he’ll want to go back to Korea and resume his trainee activities.”
– I trust you, Sung-guk.
“Don’t worry, Mother.”
I hung up the phone and called for Min-guk, who had fled.
“Jeon Min-guk!”
The door opened slightly, and Min-guk poked just his head out.
This large boy, now sixteen years old by Korean age, was acting like a child through and through.
I spoke as gently as I could.
“Let’s make a study schedule together starting tomorrow.”
Only then did Min-guk come scurrying over and sit down.
“Jeon Min-guk, from now on, you must absolutely obey the teaching methods I use. Understood?”
“Yes!”
I slid a piece of paper in front of Min-guk and drew a circle. Then I began drafting a daily schedule like the ones I’d primarily used during school breaks.
“Wake up at 6 AM.”
“Hyung, I’m still dealing with jet lag….”
“Then go back to Korea.”
“No, wait.”
I drew a line across the page.
“From 6 to 8 AM, morning study sessions. Your mind is sharpest then, so focus on math where you’re weakest. Then from 8 to 8:30 AM, breakfast and rest.”
“Hyung, even office workers get an hour for lunch. Thirty minutes seems too short.”
“Jeon Min-guk, are you an office worker?”
“No, I’m not….”
“Then thirty minutes it is.”
After that, I meticulously crafted a study schedule in thirty-minute intervals.
Then I handed it to Min-guk. I could see his eyes widen in shock.
“Hyung, I wake up at 6 AM… but isn’t bedtime at 2:30 AM a bit harsh?”
“That’s the schedule I used to study for Harvard.”
“Hyung, my brain is better than yours, so wouldn’t it be okay if I slept a little more?”
[Sigh… this kid!]
“You started studying later than I did, so add thirty more minutes. Go to bed at 3 AM. Besides, teenagers have plenty of stamina at your age—three hours of sleep should be fine.”
“No, no. I’ll do it this way, hyung.”
“I’ll start you off tomorrow morning, so get some sleep. Jet lag won’t cut it as an excuse. Understood?”
“Yes… hyung.”
Jeon Min-guk headed into the empty room.
* * *
Despite not having adjusted to the time difference, Min-guk woke at six o’clock sharp on his first day as planned, drank a glass of water, and settled at his desk to begin studying mathematics.
I glanced at Min-guk as I prepared for work.
“Jeon Min-guk, come study at the office with me.”
“Study at the office, hyung?”
“Everyone at the company graduated from universities that rank among the best in the United States. If you have questions while studying, ask them.”
“Can’t I just ask you, hyung?”
“If I can’t help, ask the others. You know they only speak English, right?”
In other words, he’d have to use English even to ask questions.
Min-guk’s eyes wavered.
“Jeon Min-guk, isn’t Harvard your goal? At Harvard, everyone lectures in English, speaks in English, and does homework in English. How do you expect to get into Harvard if you can’t even ask questions?”
“Ah… I understand.”
Min-guk nodded, but he was beginning to look increasingly uncertain about his own choice.
* * *
An open workspace where people sat wherever they wanted, regardless of rank, working away.
I seated Min-guk near my own desk.
“Study here.”
“Hyung, I think I study better in quiet places.”
“Min-guk, you need to study in places like this so you can study anywhere, anytime.”
“Ah, I understand.”
Min-guk let out a quiet sigh and opened his book again.
I soon moved my seat closer to him.
YouTube’s core staff had begun reporting to the new office.
I quickly greeted Steve Hurley, who had worked as YouTube’s lead developer the longest.
“Steve, I’m Sung-guk. Looking forward to working with you.”
“I look forward to it as well, Sung-guk. It’s truly an honor to work alongside such a renowned genius.”
“Let’s head to the Conference Room. I’d like you to explain the projects YouTube has been pursuing. Then we can discuss areas that need improvement.”
“Already?”
“Already? I decided to start as YouTube’s president a month ago. Since then, I’ve requested materials for the handover process and a review of the problems that need to be addressed. Didn’t that get communicated?”
“That is… well…”
Steve Hurley looked extremely flustered.
“Sung-guk, I’m sorry. We’ve had a sudden change in leadership, and Google has been treating YouTube like a stepchild, so we’ve been handling Google’s work alongside ours.”
“So you’re saying the preparations aren’t complete yet? Or are you saying you haven’t done them at all?”
“We did prepare, but… we ran out of time.”
“Then how much time would you need?”
“A… a week should…”
“Steve, I’ll give you two days. From what I know, you’ve been a programmer with YouTube since its early days, right?”
“Yes….”
“Then I believe you can organize the materials I need within two days. Of course, if it’s difficult for you alone, you’ll need to work with the staff around you, won’t you?”
“Sung-guk… actually, today is my birthday.”
“Happy birthday, Steve. No one at this company gets special treatment. I also think work-life balance is incredibly important. But you can only talk about work-life balance after you’ve completed the work you’ve been assigned. If it’s not organized within two days, I’ll hold the YouTube staff responsible for it.”
In other words, I meant I’d fire him.
I added one more thing.
“Steve, there are countless people who want to work with me. So make a good judgment call.”
I quickly finished speaking and approached Mark.
“Mark, let’s discuss the new project we talked about last time.”
“I’ve narrowed down a few candidates from the resumes that came in.”
“Have you reached out to the candidates for ‘The Intern’?”
“About three of them are thinking positively about it.”
“Let’s head to the conference room.”
I entered the conference room with Mark and deliberately shut the door with a bang.
Steve Hurley’s face had turned ashen—he’d been publicly rebuked in an open space on his very first day at the new company.
The moment I closed the conference room door, Mark whispered worriedly.
“Sung-guk, wasn’t that too harsh?”
“Steve Hurley was the one being too harsh. He had a month, and he couldn’t even prepare proper handover materials—does that make sense?”
“But Steve has a point too, doesn’t he? Google didn’t provide much support because of YouTube’s losses, and most employees transferred out anyway. Steve Hurley was one of the few who stayed out of loyalty.”
“Mark, if Steve had stayed out of loyalty, he’d complete the work in two days. But what if he’s someone without ability who abuses his seniority toward other staff, and as a result, other employees who wanted to show loyalty to YouTube ended up leaving instead?”
“What?”
Mark asked back with surprised eyes.
Over the past month or so, I’d investigated YouTube’s organization.
Unlike Google, YouTube’s operations were lax, and even updates weren’t happening on schedule.
So I dispatched three interns who didn’t know about each other’s existence to YouTube and instructed them to identify YouTube’s problems during their one-month probation.
I also added the condition that if they did their work properly, they’d be hired as full-time employees at YouTube immediately.
And in less than two weeks, they all started complaining about one cancerous presence.
That was Steve Hurley.
“Mark, three of the new YouTube employees who came this time are interns I planted there. YouTube’s struggles stem from multiple issues, but the organizational problem seemed the biggest. So I told the interns to email me immediately whenever they discovered YouTube’s problems during their probation period.”
“Sung-guk, you really….”
“Impressive, right?”
I shrugged my shoulders.
[I’m Jeon Sung-guk, after all.]
Mark shook his head in disbelief.
“But what does that have to do with how you cornered Steve Hurley like a rat today?”
“Everyone said Steve Hurley was YouTube’s biggest problem. A careless, irresponsible team lead. He dumps work on subordinates who are better than him, ultimately driving them away from YouTube. So only employees he can comfortably exploit remain, which is why there’s no progress. And he takes the highest salary….”
“Sung-guk, how are you going to solve this?”
“Hmm… let’s see in two days.”
I folded my arms.
* * *
Steve Hurley drank his water in large gulps, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Then he vented his frustrations to the employee beside him.
“Is that Sung-guk? That guy’s barely human, isn’t he? I’m several years older than him, and he’s just ordering me around like I’m nothing.”
“Steve, we really didn’t finish the handover materials, though.”
When one of the employees told Steve the truth, he glared at that employee as if he wanted to kill him.
“That happened because I was helping out with Google work! Sam, you have a problem with me, don’t you?”
The employee named Sam decided to keep quiet.
Once Steve started lashing out at people like this, there was no end to it.
Steve grabbed another employee and began hurling insults about Sung-guk.
“He’s so young, yet he acts like he’s something special. Now that I’ve seen him in person, he’s not even that handsome. It was all hype.”
“What did you say?”
At that moment, Min-guk, who had been studying nearby, suddenly stood up from his seat.
Steve looked at Min-guk with an indifferent expression.
“Just focus on your own work. Don’t worry about other people’s business.”
“It’s not other people’s business. It’s my older brother’s business!”
In that instant, the air in the office itself seemed to freeze.

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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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