I Will Raise This Family to Greatness - Chapter 32

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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 32
Mother took another sip of beer.
“So-young, calm down.”
“I’m just upset. He’s so smart, and I feel like I’m not enough for him.”
[Mother, no parent would ever be enough for me. What do you expect me to do about being this perfect?]
I shrugged my shoulders.
Father glanced at his watch. It was already past 9:30.
“So-young, I’m going to start cleaning up. I’ve got the news on for Sung-guk—he likes it. Just drink a little beer.”
“Okay.”
Mother turned on the news for me to watch.
The broadcast reported that Samjeon Group was considering several locations in Gyeonggi Province as potential semiconductor factory sites.
[Dongtan, of course. And after that comes Pyeongtaek, just below it.]
I gazed down at my short, chubby hands.
[If I were just ten years older, I’d buy up all that land right now….]
Mother sipped her beer while watching me. The alcohol seemed to have eased her expression considerably.
“Sung-guk, do you find the news interesting?”
“Yes, Mother.”
I called out to her with enthusiasm.
“Why?”
“Dongtan.”
[Wait, should I have said Hwaseong instead?]
“Dongtan? What’s that?”
“Mother.”
“Sung-guk is calling for Mother a lot today. Why?”
“Land.”
I spoke to her with an innocent smile.
“Land? Why would you want that?”
“Land. Buy and sell.”
“You want to buy land?”
Father, who had just finished tidying up the kitchen, suddenly froze.
“So-young, did Sung-guk just say he wants to buy land?”
“I think so….”
[It’s not “I think so”—I want to buy land! I know exactly where Samjeon Group is moving! If we buy anywhere near those locations, we’ll strike it rich in no time, Mother and Father!]
I mumbled to myself, but five years old still had its limitations.
Father quickly picked me up.
His expression was bright, unlike before.
“So-young, I was thinking while cleaning the kitchen. I’m pretty sure Sung-guk really is a genius.”
[Obviously.]
“I know you were shocked, but I think we can actually raise Sung-guk really well.”
“Brother, what are you talking about? We only finished high school.”
“That’s exactly it. If we were highly educated people, Sung-guk might not have been able to study freely. When Sung-guk was little, he loved the news, so we played it often for him, and we bought him all the books he wanted to read. Maybe that was actually good education. We just let the child flourish however he wanted.”
“I suppose so….”
Mother looked thoroughly unconvinced.
I wasn’t convinced by Father’s hypothesis either.
All this knowledge and ability of mine was actually born from the harsh, Spartan-style education of the Samjeon Group in my previous life. Of course, none of it would have been possible without my exceptional mind.
But I had to admit—in this life, the fact that Mother and Father had less formal education actually worked in my favor.
What parent buys a mere five-year-old a copy of Mankiw’s Economics?
I nestled into Father’s arms.
Normally I would have squirmed and asked him to play-fight with me in a boxing stance, but today Father seemed worthy of admiration.
[This is a bonus.]
I planted a kiss on Father’s cheek.
I watched Father’s lips curve upward in delight.
“See? Even Sung-guk agrees with me.”
“I suppose… But honey, we still can’t buy land just because Sung-guk asks for it.”
[Mom, I’ll buy it with my own money!]
“If Sung-guk says he’ll buy it with his own money, there’s nothing we can do to stop him.”
[That’s right! Father, you’re actually helpful today.]
I quickly blew Father another kiss.
“So-young, but if Sung-guk really is a genius, shouldn’t we take him to some institution for an IQ test or something like that? These days, they say on TV that gifted children get special education from an early age.”
“I’ll talk to Mi-young and look into it.”
“So-young, isn’t it really amazing?”
“What is?”
“How did a genius like this come from you and me?”
[Tell me about it.]
I shrugged my shoulders.
Father glanced at Min-guk sleeping in the stroller.
“So-young, what if our Min-guk is a genius too?”
[Father! That’s definitely not it!]
* * *
[Hah, this is child’s play.]
The IQ test sheet lay before me.
After Secretary Yang learned that I had taught myself English just by watching TV and could converse fluently in English with Thomas, my native English-speaking tutor, he recommended to my parents that I take a gifted assessment test.
On a day when kindergarten was closed, I came to the testing center with Mother and Manager Kim Mi-young instead of Father, who was at work.
The gifted assessment wasn’t particularly difficult.
At first, I mingled naturally with other children while the evaluators observed and assessed my thinking patterns and reading comprehension abilities. Several evaluations followed, and now the IQ test was finally beginning.
I quickly finished the test and raised my hand toward Mother.
“Done!”
The evaluator came in promptly and collected the test sheet.
“Secretary Yang requested that we expedite the results. Please wait a moment.”
[I don’t even need to see the results. I was 167 in my last life. Did that IQ fly up to heaven or sink into the ground?]
I shrugged my shoulders.
* * *
“Based on my observations of Sung-guk’s behavior and learning abilities today, I must say I was absolutely astounded. Everyone kept saying he must be a genius.”
A woman with long hair swept back from her forehead explained her assessment of me.
Mother looked slightly anxious.
I squeezed Mother’s hand tightly.
[Mom, your son really is a genius.]
“However…”
[What do you mean ‘however’? You just said all those wonderful things, and now ‘however’ means there’s a twist coming…]
The woman slid a test sheet forward.
The sheet displayed various metrics in graph form.
Learning ability, cognition, and reasoning—all of them shot off the charts at maximum levels. But…
“His IQ is quite ordinary. For a child with these other abilities, we’d expect at least 130, but Sung-guk’s is 121.”
[…What? What did you just say? Wait, what? My IQ is 121?]
I stared at the woman in utter shock.
[Woman, say that again. You’re lying, right? I had an IQ of 167 in my past life and was a Mensa member!]
Kim Mi-young looked equally puzzled.
“Teacher, how can everything else be so excellent but his IQ be lacking?”
“121 isn’t bad at all. It’s actually above average. It’s just that Sung-guk’s learning abilities and everything else place him in the top 0.1 percent—so exceptional that it’s almost embarrassing to say—while his IQ is comparatively ordinary by contrast.”
[I can’t believe this.]
I quickly pulled the test sheet toward me.
But the IQ score really was 121.
How on earth did this happen?
The woman patted my head.
“The way you’re acting right now is truly hard to believe for a five-year-old. I suspect Sung-guk was being deliberately evasive during the IQ test. It happens quite often with exceptionally gifted children.”
“That must be it, right?”
Mother finally relaxed.
But I, on the other hand, was devastated.
[Actually… I really tried my hardest. I gave that IQ test everything I had…]
My shoulders slumped.
The teacher showed Mother and Manager Kim Mi-young various metrics and explained them.
“Sung-guk truly stands alone in other areas. Honestly, I was quite amazed—he possesses comprehension and vocabulary skills superior to many adults.”
I stopped hearing anything after that.
[An IQ of 121! Ordinary! Did this life give me a pretty face but forget to include a brain!]
“Sung-guk, we need to head to the next schedule, don’t we?”
[I said I wasn’t going to work, so what schedule?]
“You’re in the same class as Jeon Mi-jin, right?”
Manager Kim Mi-young asked.
“Yes…”
I answered listlessly.
“Secretary Yang said Jeon Mi-jin invited you to her birthday party. Is that right?”
[Ah, I forgot about it. That’s how unimportant it is. I don’t want to go.]
I pushed back my chair and stood up, clasping my hands behind my back as I walked with heavy steps.
“Jeon Mi-jin invited Mom and me too…”
[It wasn’t Jeon Mi-jin who invited us—Secretary Yang must have asked us to come along.]
I paused for a moment and pretended to think things through.
Jeon Mi-jin was certainly an annoying younger sister. At least, she had been in my previous life.
I had no desire to get entangled with her in this life either.
But I knew Jeon Mi-jin’s weaknesses better than anyone. The fact that she was naive and easily swayed.
Moreover, she had a tendency to give her heart and soul to people she liked.
Right now, Jeon Mi-jin was at the very top of the Samjeon Group Kindergarten hierarchy.
As someone handling the lower-class children at Samjeon Kindergarten, it wouldn’t hurt to be in her good graces.
I mustered up the energy and walked toward Mother.
“Mom. We need to buy a gift.”
“Sure, let’s stop by the Department Store on the way and pick something out. But what could a rich girl’s daughter possibly be missing?”
[Don’t worry. I know.]
I pushed open the door and left first.
* * *
“Would you like to buy flowers, Sung-guk?”
“Yes!”
I looked around the Flower Shop and chose pink roses.
I’d never met a woman who disliked roses, nor a little girl who disliked pink.
Jeon Mi-jin was no different from other children in that regard.
Kim Mi-young purchased all the pink roses in the Flower Shop.
“Sister, shouldn’t we buy another gift?”
“I’m not sure what else to buy. I’m not even married myself.”
“I don’t have a daughter either…”
[When I walk in with these flowers, that’s the gift right there.]
And when Jeon Mi-jin received the flowers I handed her, she broke into the widest smile.
“Wow, they’re so pretty.”
“Happy birthday, Mi-jin.”
“Sung-guk, thank you so much. Come here.”
Jeon Mi-jin took my hand and led me to the Annex House on the grounds of their Hannam-dong residence.
Father primarily used the Annex House to entertain guests, but it was also frequently used for the children’s birthday parties and Mother’s gatherings.
In one corner sat all the children from Class A of the Samjeon Group Kindergarten and women who appeared to be their mothers.
I recognized several familiar faces.
Kim Ju-sung’s mother, the grandson of the Prosecutor General, was a cousin of Jeon Jae-hyung, the chairman of Samjeon Group. It was a family that had become independent by managing one of the subsidiaries.
Lee Se-hee’s mother, the granddaughter of the director of Samjeon Hospital, had once been a famous singer.
All people you’d know through one or two degrees of separation.
Jeon Mi-jin hugged the bouquet of pink roses and went to show it off to the Iron Lady.
“Mom, Sung-guk brought this.”
“How thoughtful.”
The Iron Lady glanced at me once, then turned her gaze to Mother.
Her eyes swept slowly from Mother’s head to her feet.
[Why is she looking at her like that? Could it be….]
The Iron Lady pointed to the seat directly beside her and called to Mother.
“Sung-guk’s mother, please sit here.”
“Oh, yes.”
Mother immediately took the seat next to the Iron Lady.
[Hmm…. This feels off.]
The Iron Lady appeared elegant on the surface, but in reality, she divided people strictly by class and distinguished between those she would deign to speak with and those she wouldn’t. Yet she was calling Mother to sit beside her…. Something about it didn’t sit right with me.
I naturally took the seat next to Jeon Mi-jin, which was also very close to the Iron Lady.
It was the perfect vantage point to monitor the conversation between the Iron Lady and Mother.
Jeon Mi-jin handed me cake first, then food, then a drink.
“Sung-guk, eat this.”
“Thank you.”
I could see everyone watching me.
They all must have heard about the commotion at kindergarten over the homemade hamburger. I ate as slowly as possible. I didn’t want to hear that kind of talk again, especially not in front of Mother.
I could hear the Iron Lady speaking to Mother.
“Sung-guk’s father runs a bossam restaurant, I hear?”
“Yes, a small one in the Apartment Shopping Complex.”
At those words, all the other mothers looked visibly surprised.
Then they exchanged glances and whispered among themselves.
The Iron Lady handed Mother a macaron.
“It tastes wonderful with coffee. It’s something I loved when I was in Paris, and I brought back quite a lot this time. You’ve been to Paris, haven’t you?”
“No. I’ve never left the country in my entire life. I haven’t even been to Jeju Island yet.”
At those words, the mothers’ exchanged glances quickened.
The Iron Lady knew everything, yet she was deliberately calling Mother over to ask these questions.
I clenched my fists.
[How dare she touch my mother like this?!]

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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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