I Will Raise This Family to Greatness - Chapter 255

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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 255
– Sung-guk, the driving force behind America’s ginger tea craze!
– After FaceNote comes YouTube. Now he’s even made ginger tea skyrocket—a true master of his craft.
– Various Korean dishes featured on YouTube, which Sung-guk operates, are experiencing a massive boom. Kimchi is also trending wildly as people claim it helps prevent novel influenza!
Mark scrolled through the internet before fixing his gaze on me as I sipped my ginger tea.
“Sung-guk….”
“What is it, Mark?”
“Are you really the same tiny kid I used to know?”
“Mark, are you really the same freckle-faced teenage boy I used to know?”
“Anyway… I can’t compete with your words.”
“But why are you asking all of a sudden?”
“People call you an icon of this era, but from where I’m standing, you’re a narcissist of this era.”
I nodded in agreement.
“Mark, Narcissus only became that way because he’d never met anyone better than himself.”
“Anyway… I can’t match you with words.”
Mark shook his head in disbelief.
“Mark… if I end up going to the military, you’ll have to handle all the FaceNote company work completely on your own.”
“Sung-guk, please don’t say such scary things. In South Korea, you can defer military service until you’re thirty if you have a valid reason.”
“But I don’t want to go to the military at thirty and get hazed by juniors ten years younger than me….”
In my past life, military exemption was naturally given, but I’d often heard stories from wealthy friends who’d served.
“Sung-guk, so… are you saying you’ll go to the military early?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll go after FaceNote goes public.”
May 2012. FaceNote lists on NASDAQ.
And it surpasses one billion users.
Three years from now.
And after those three years, I plan to go to the military without hesitation.
“Sung-guk, do you really think we can go public on NASDAQ?”
“At the current rate, it should be possible.”
Mark suddenly looked at me with a proud expression.
“Sung-guk… I have a feeling something truly amazing is about to unfold before our eyes.”
“Mark, it’s not just a feeling—it’s going to happen.”
I was certain of it.
“S-Sung-guk!”
Just then, Ed Crawford approached with a serious expression.
Ed Crawford, who had rescued Britney from a cult, had transitioned from an intern at FaceNote to a full-time employee.
[Though he’d deny it was because of the lifetime McDonald’s voucher….]
“Ed, what’s the matter?”
“Sung-guk, it seems there’s a sex offender among FaceNote users.”
“What did you say?”
“Several users have filed complaint reports saying they’ve received strange messages from a specific person. I think we need to investigate and address this matter during this opportunity.”
Due to the nature of social media, there were inevitably controversies ranging from ghost accounts to fraudulent profiles.
But sex offenders were a different matter entirely.
“Ed, could I see the accounts that people have reported?”
“Yes….”
Ed showed me the FaceNote profile of the man who had been reported.
His name was Edward Dylan.
From the photos posted on FaceNote, he appeared to be a middle-aged man.
“Ed, do you have any evidence confirming this person is a sex offender?”
“This is material sent by someone who reported him. Apparently, in a small town where he lived, he lured young girls, sexually assaulted them, and committed murder. This Edward Dylan was the perpetrator. Though he was young at the time, because the crime was so heinous, he received a 17-year sentence without parole and has since been released, according to the report.”
I reviewed the old news article about Edward Dylan that the user had sent along with the report.
Though many years had passed, traces of his past face remained.
“And these are screenshots of messages that Edward Dylan allegedly sent, which other users captured and submitted. What’s worse is that he sent most of these messages to teenage girls.”
– Anna, you’re really pretty. Uncle will buy you something delicious, so when can we meet?
– Susan, you seem to have a lot on your mind lately, don’t you? Uncle is someone who counsels children at school. Whenever you want to talk about your worries, feel free to contact me.
– Liz, I’m a lawyer living near your neighborhood. It seems you’ve been struggling with bullying issues at school lately, and Uncle can offer you free counseling. However, since this is something I’m providing specially for you, you’ll need to come to my house—what do you think?
[Have you ever seen such a perverted bastard!]
The more I read the messages, the more my anger boiled over.
Ed and Mark felt the same way.
“Sung-guk… I mean, even after serving 17 years, he hasn’t learned his lesson? And now he’s using our FaceNote as a tool for crime!”
“Hmm…. Mark, Ed… I want to bring this issue into the public eye. What do you think?”
“Bring it into the public eye… what do you mean?”
“FaceNote’s primary users are teenagers and people in their twenties—young people who haven’t had much social experience and are still immature in many ways. Especially when they’re in difficult situations, if they happen to meet someone like this, they could end up in serious danger.”
“That’s right, Sung-guk.”
Ed nodded vigorously in agreement.
He was the same Ed who had burned with righteous fury when rescuing Britney from that cult.
I quickly added my thoughts.
“The reason FaceNote is being attacked by the establishment these days is precisely because of these dangers. Honestly, anyone can create a fake profile on FaceNote, and there’s no way for people to verify it.”
Indeed, there were plenty of fraudulent accounts circulating, and it was clear that some people were using them to seduce both women and men.
“Sung-guk… I also think this is absolutely something we cannot tolerate. Legally speaking, it could be considered a violation of personal dignity and might be illegal, but I definitely believe we need to implement strong regulations against this directly within FaceNote itself.”
[Hmm… Mark’s being surprisingly forceful here.]
It seemed the right moment had finally arrived.
“Mark, how about you take charge of this and push it forward?”
“What?”
Mark’s round eyes grew even wider.
“Mark, you can’t hide behind me forever. When I go to the military, you’ll need to run FaceNote for a while anyway….”
“B-but Sung-guk… you know as well as I do that I… I… how do I put it. I have social anxiety… and stage fright….”
“Mark, that’s only because you’ve never stepped forward even once until now. Do you think it was natural for me to stand in front of people from the beginning?”
[Of course, I’ve loved the spotlight since the moment I was born…. But I’m a special case.]
Mark nervously began biting his thumbnail.
I quickly took Mark’s hand.
“Mark… let’s push forward with this.”
“W-wait, Sung-guk….”
“Mark, I’ll support you from behind. Let’s try it.”
“O-okay.”
Mark finally agreed.
* * *
Conference Room.
We were well past the usual end of business hours.
Mark, Lim Mi-mi, Ed Crawford, and I gathered in one place, seriously discussing how to handle sex offenders attempting to join FaceNote.
Mark was leading the discussion.
“I believe we need to block sex offenders from joining in the first place. What does everyone think?”
[Mark, simply declaring something won’t make it happen. The real question is how to do it effectively….]
I, who had remained silent until now, slowly opened my mouth.
“Mark… it’s certainly the right approach for our company to use this opportunity to discourage sex offenders and violent criminals from joining FaceNote or the Instagrim we’re developing. But the biggest challenge seems to be how to announce this effectively and imprint it on people’s minds.”
“Ah… right. That’s what I meant… but thinking about it, if we block this reported person as a representative case and make it public, he’ll definitely try to sue our company for defamation or something.”
[That’s obvious. This is America, the land of lawsuits.]
I nodded and looked at Mark.
“Then, what about targeting a celebrity instead?”
“Targeting a celebrity? What do you mean?”
“By blocking the FaceNote registration of a celebrity with a sex crime conviction, we plant the image in the public’s mind that our FaceNote thoroughly blocks sex offenders and violent criminals.”
Lim Mi-mi raised her hand.
“Is there a celebrity with that kind of criminal record?”
“Yes… one person comes to mind.”
Ed Crawford looked at me with widened eyes, as if thinking the same thing.
“Sung-guk… could it be.”
“Mike Tyson.”
Mike Tyson.
A legendary heavyweight boxing champion.
He reached the pinnacle through natural athleticism and talent, but became more famous as a troublemaker in the ring due to his unfortunate circumstances and unstable temperament.
After he couldn’t endure a headbutt from his opponent during a title fight and bit off his ear, his original nickname of “Iron Fist” was changed to “Iron Teeth,” making him an unlucky star athlete.
Of course, he was also famous for serving time after being convicted of rape during his declining years.
In short, he was a celebrity with a clearly documented sex crime record.
Mark seemed surprised by my unexpected answer.
“Sung-guk… so you’re saying we announce that we’re blocking sex offenders and violent criminals from joining FaceNote… and make Mike Tyson our first case to sanction?”
“Yes… these matters need an example to set a precedent.”
I answered firmly.
Perhaps Edward Dylan, the bastard who seduced and killed a young girl, was even more vicious than Mike Tyson.
But while people don’t know all of Edward Dylan’s crimes, everyone knows Mike Tyson’s.
Mark looked at me with a determined expression.
“Sung-guk… let’s do it.”
“Probably… the media backlash won’t be trivial either. If a private company does something that can’t be legally defined, everyone will start invoking the Constitution, talking about restrictions on personal freedom, comparing it to the beginning of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. There’ll be plenty of noise.”
“Sung-guk… you’ve always been the one taking bullets for public opinion like this. This time, let me take that role instead.”
Mark made the decision with considerable resolve.
“Well, Sung-guk. Mark… now we just need to make the announcement, right?”
“Ed, I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it, Sung-guk?”
“Your parents run a lot of charitable operations, don’t they? Would it be okay to ask for a statement of support?”
“Sung-guk, I was actually planning to tell my parents first thing anyway.”
“Thank you. I’ll also reach out to various social organizations for their support from multiple angles.”
“My parents will gladly agree. So don’t worry about that, Sung-guk.”
Ed Crawford left while calling his parents, and Mark and I exchanged looks with considerably lighter expressions.
“Mark, let’s officially announce this on our FaceNote site tomorrow. The media interview requests will probably pour in like crazy.”
“My heart’s already racing just thinking about it.”
Only Lim Mi-mi still wore a serious expression.
“Lim Mi-mi, what’s bothering you?”
“Boss, if you ask me, guys like that should just be caught and thrown into a labor camp for life, shouldn’t they?”
“North Korea may have labor camps, but America has public scrutiny instead. They’ll carry that label for the rest of their lives, following them everywhere.”
I spoke with conviction.
But then Mark suddenly looked at me with a frightened expression.
“Sung-guk… but here’s the thing…”
“What, Mark?”
“Mike Tyson isn’t going to see our announcement and say he’s going to beat me up, is he?”
“Well… if he does, there’s nothing we can do about it. I’d just have to take the hit.”
“That’s insane! If Mike Tyson hits someone weak like me, I’m dead on the spot.”
“Mark, let’s strengthen our security from now on.”
I tried to comfort the trembling Mark.
“Sung-guk, there’s no way anything will actually happen, right?”
“Mark… do you really think Mike Tyson would actually show up at our office?”
Of course, if he did, it would probably become an even bigger issue.
“Right… that’s right. He probably won’t. Mike Tyson must be busy… how would he even get here?”
Of course, Mark was trying to convince himself through self-hypnosis that such a thing wouldn’t happen.
But no one can predict what people will do.

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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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