I Will Raise This Family to Greatness - Chapter 346
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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 346
Jeon Tae-guk patted my back consolingly, doing his best to comfort me.
“Still, Teacher Lee of Samcheongdong says he has many fleeting connections. I’m envious. Really envious. Marriage is best enjoyed after you’ve had your fun, right? That’s how it should be.”
“Brother, when is the right time to fulfill your responsibilities to family?”
“Well… after I get Min-guk and Ji-hee married off… and then after that, right? Oh, and Baek-dung too. After I get Baek-dung married…”
[I’m the fool for discussing this with Jeon Tae-guk…]
I quickly returned to organizing the presentation materials.
“Brother, we need to get back to TikTok development, so let’s have the meeting this afternoon.”
At times like this, throwing myself into work was the best remedy.
“Ah… Sung-guk, but listen. I’ve got two separation lines in my fortune for next year and the year after. That means I could break up with Lim Jin-seo, right? I’m worried…”
“Hmm… isn’t that up to how you handle it? If you keep not seeing Lim Jin-seo often because she’s busy, like now, then drifting apart is just a matter of time.”
“Sigh… I really need to make plans this week.”
Jeon Tae-guk hurriedly grabbed his phone and left.
* * *
Finally, all the employees at Alpha had begun TikTok development.
The office was silent as a tomb, and Adam had locked himself in his office and hadn’t come out.
6 PM.
I checked the time and quietly stood up from my desk.
As I grabbed my bag, everyone looked at me with puzzled expressions.
Jeon Tae-guk came trotting over.
“Sung-guk, you’re leaving already?”
“William, it’s six o’clock. Quitting time.”
“Everyone at our company knows that fact, but I’ve never seen you actually leave at six.”
“I have an appointment this evening.”
“What?!”
Jeon Tae-guk practically convulsed as he asked again.
“You’re telling me you have plans on a weekday evening that aren’t work-related? That’s impossible.”
“Even I have days like that. William, I should get going.”
I slung my bag over my shoulder and gave the staff a brief farewell.
“Have a good evening, everyone.”
* * *
Jeon Tae-guk immediately rushed to Adam’s office.
“Adam! Adam! Adam!”
“William, please stop calling my name like that.”
“Adam, something’s definitely off about Sung-guk.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sung-guk just left work… and it’s only six o’clock.”
Adam glanced at the clock and bolted upright from his chair.
“Really? This is serious. Did we do something wrong today?”
“No, that’s why I don’t even know the reason.”
“When did he leave?”
“Just now. A moment ago.”
“William, I’ve been watching Sung-guk since the United States, and this is the first time he’s left work this early. Did he say something was wrong?”
“No, he just said he had an evening appointment.”
Adam immediately called Sung-guk.
* * *
Before I’d even stepped ten meters from the Company building, my phone rang.
And the caller was Adam.
What was this about?
“Adam, what’s going on?”
– Sung-guk, are you feeling unwell? Or is something bothering you emotionally?
“I’m perfectly fine on both counts.”
– Then why are you leaving work so early?!
[They complain even when I leave at a reasonable hour….]
I exhaled deeply.
“Adam, there’s really nothing wrong. I just wanted to leave a bit early today.”
Just then, Jeon Tae-guk’s voice came from beside him.
– Sung-guk, is it because Teacher Lee of Samcheongdong said you won’t be able to get married?
[He said my romantic fortune would be delayed, not that I can’t get married at all!]
I drew the character for patience in my mind.
[Don’t get upset at what a dog at a village school says.]
“Everyone, don’t worry. These things happen sometimes. I’m only twenty-one anyway.”
– Sung-guk, take care of yourself… I’ll see you at home tonight.
“Adam, by the way, when can we see the TikTok program?”
– Sung-guk… we just had the meeting today, and you’re already asking for results?
“It’s always good to see results quickly.”
Through the phone, I heard Adam exhale in relief.
– Now that’s the Sung-guk I know. Anyway, I’ll do my best. Don’t worry.
“Yes, Adam.”
I hung up with a satisfied expression.
And I walked quietly toward my destination.
* * *
Ding.
As I opened the door, a bell chimed.
The lighting was dimly lit, and a distinctive fragrance filled the air.
And a woman with heavy makeup greeted me.
“Welcome.”
“Hello. I’m Jeon Sung-guk, with a reservation for 6:30.”
“Yes, please have a seat.”
I sat across from the woman at a table between us.
The woman placed the cards on the table with her red-manicured hand, then studied me carefully.
“What brings you here? What troubles you?”
“I… I wanted to know about my romantic fortune.”
“Hmm… well, tarot readings typically only cover about six months at most. When it comes to marriage fortune, you’d need to look at your entire life, but… we don’t usually do readings that extensive.”
The woman trailed off.
[I came here because people said tarot readings are accurate, but maybe this isn’t the right place either…]
The woman glanced at my expression, then continued.
“Still, let me try. First, let’s see who you’ll meet this year in the short term, and then we can look at your overall life path.”
“That sounds good.”
The woman shuffled the tarot cards skillfully and spread them across the table.
“Please choose six cards that appeal to you. Let’s see who you’ll meet this year.”
“Okay…”
“Now, concentrate… imagine your ideal type with the desire to fall in love, and select your cards.”
I nodded.
I carefully selected six cards.
As the woman flipped each of the six cards, she tilted her head in confusion. Then she looked at me cautiously.
“It’s just… all these cards have trees in them.”
“Trees? What does that mean?”
“Hmm… see, this person here is also carrying a lot of trees?”
“Yes.”
I looked at the cards I’d chosen.
A man was struggling to carry a heavy load of wood on his back.
“That symbolizes work. For romantic fortune to appear, you’d normally see cups… but…”
The woman trailed off again.
Not a single cup appeared in my cards.
“So… I won’t have a romantic relationship this year?”
“Sigh… with your appearance, you could certainly have one if you wanted to. But… you always choose work over romance.”
[Well, I could go a year without dating.]
The woman smiled awkwardly and shuffled the cards again.
“Now let me look at your overall marriage fortune. Concentrate and choose carefully.”
“Okay.”
I focused my mind again.
Teacher Lee of Samcheongdong was skilled, but this tarot shop also had a reputation for being quite accurate.
“Now, please select six cards again.”
I selected six tarot cards with the utmost care.
The woman flipped the cards with a smile, then looked at me with a startled expression.
“Why do you look like that?”
“You’re the eldest son, aren’t you?”
“Yes. Can tarot show that?”
“Look, there’s a family structure here.”
[So tarot cards can show things like this too.]
I was beginning to trust her a little.
“Then, what about my marriage fortune?”
“That’s… the cards are saying it’s still a very distant matter for now.”
“If it’s the distant future, when would that be?”
[I’m only twenty-one. I have no intention of getting married so soon. Still, around thirty would be reasonable, wouldn’t it, Tarot Master?]
The woman smiled ambiguously and continued.
“Looking at your cards, you always prioritize your family first.”
[My woman will come before family, don’t worry.]
I crossed my arms.
“And the care you have for your younger siblings shows like this.”
It was another image of a man carrying a massive tree.
[After all, younger siblings are life’s burden.]
“This is the same as work, as you saw earlier. It seems you’ll only think about your own marriage after you’ve made all your younger siblings independent. You really are someone with tremendous sense of responsibility.”
[What… in the end, it’s the same thing Teacher Lee of Samcheong-dong said.]
As I sighed, the woman smiled ambiguously and continued.
“But there’s something more important than the romance or marriage fortune the tarot reads.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s your own heart. Tarot is ultimately about your own choices, after all. That means you’re already thinking this way in your heart. You’re someone who prioritizes work over romance right now, and you’re always someone who puts family before marriage. So… either accept that heart of yours, or open it up a little.”
[Sigh… in the end, does fate never change?]
I paid with a discouraged expression on my face and left the tarot shop.
* * *
Ding dong.
The moment I pressed the doorbell, Ji-hee greeted me.
Huin-dung-i wagged his tail frantically and clung to my pant leg.
Mother, who was preparing dinner, poked her head out.
“Sung-guk, what brings you here? You didn’t even call.”
“I wanted to eat with the family.”
“Come in. Tonight I was planning to order Chinese food for the first time in a while. Our Sung-guk likes jjajangmyeon, right?”
“Yeah, Mom. I want jjajangmyeon!”
I picked up Huin-dung-i, who was tugging at my pant leg and struggling.
And I looked into Huin-dung-i’s dark eyes.
“Huin-dung-i, don’t get married. Let’s live together forever with your big brother.”
“Brother, Huin-dung-i has to get married too. And brother, to Huin-dung-i, you’re not his brother—you’re his hyung.”
“What?”
[Huin-dung-i, this guy is male?!]
When I brought him from the Stray Dog Center, I had definitely checked his gender, but I’d completely forgotten about it since then.
Since Ji-hee was always with him, I’d thought of him as a younger sister like her.
[Well, I can’t help it then. I need to get Huin-dung-i neutered soon.]
“Mom, shouldn’t we get Huin-dung-i neutered?”
“Sung-guk, Huin-dung-i should meet a female dog, get married, and have puppies too.”
[Mother, I need to send Huin-dung-i away first!]
I cried out internally.
From that moment on, that mutt Huin-dung-i started glaring at me like I’d gone mad.
[Huin-dung-i, Min-guk is an idol about to debut now. Ji-hee is in middle school, so even if she finishes her studies and gets married, we’re looking at a minimum of ten years. So at least you should get neutered and eliminate any possibility of marriage.]
At that instant, Huin-dung-i leaped up and bopped my nose with his front paw.
“Ow! Baek-dung!”
Ji-hee quickly scooped Huin-dung-i into her arms.
“Oppa, you shouldn’t talk like that to Huin-dung-i either. Of course he’s upset when you talk about neutering surgery right in front of him.”
“Right… I’m sorry, Baek-dung. So, Ji-hee… when are you thinking of getting married?”
“Oppa, I’m not getting married.”
Did I mishear what she just said?
“Ji-hee, what? You’re not getting married?”
“I’m a non-marriage advocate.”
My legs suddenly gave out and I collapsed onto the sofa.
[Baek-dung’s neutering is off the table, Jeon Ji-hee is a non-marriage advocate, and Jeon Min-guk does the opposite of whatever I ask him to do…]
I grabbed my head in my hands.
Just then, I heard the sound of jjajangmyeon arriving.
“Sung-guk, let’s eat jjajangmyeon.”
[Right, times like these call for jjajangmyeon.]
* * *
– Hello, this is Kim Ji-yeon, a reporter for Saengsaeng Today. We’re currently at the tarot shop visited by Jeon Sung-guk, the representative of FaceNote who predicted the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Jeon Tae-guk was watching YouTube on the internet when he gasped and shouted to everyone.
“I found out what Jeon Sung-guk did yesterday!”
Adam, who had been mixing coffee, and all the employees working nearby rushed over to Jeon Tae-guk’s desk.
“Look at this. Sung-guk went to get a tarot reading yesterday.”
“Really?”
“Our CEO?”
“Oh my, that’s huge.”
Exclamations erupted from all around.
“Now, let’s see what he asked about.”
Jeon Tae-guk clicked the video again.
– CEO Jeon Sung-guk, who even predicted the Great East Japan Earthquake, what exactly were you curious about when you came here?
– He came to have his romantic prospects and marriage prospects read. When I actually saw him, he was so handsome.
– Did you know it was CEO Jeon Sung-guk?
– He’s such a famous person that I recognized him immediately, but I pretended not to.
– We’re also very curious about CEO Jeon Sung-guk’s romantic prospects. How are they?
– This is revealing heavenly secrets, but… still, since CEO Jeon Sung-guk is a public figure, I’ll tell you. Women who like CEO Jeon Sung-guk can probably put their minds at ease.
– Oh my, what do you mean by that?
– In CEO Jeon Sung-guk’s life, I only see work and his younger siblings.
Jeon Tae-guk and the employees burst into laughter.
“Sung-guk must be worried that he’ll end up getting married really late.”
“My goodness, even CEO Sung-guk is human. Worrying about things like that too.”
“By the way, everyone keep this a secret. Sung-guk has quite a bit of pride, and he’ll be hurt if he finds out we saw this video.”
Jeon Tae-guk made sure all the employees understood.
* * *
Click.
As I opened the door and stepped inside, I saw the employees scrambling back to their desks.
What was going on?
I headed over to Jeon Tae-guk’s desk.
“William, did you prepare the materials to send to Samjeon and Hyojin Group?”
“Uh, well…”
“You haven’t finished yet? We have our mid-term report next week!”
“Uh, I’ll get on it….”
In that moment, Jeon Tae-guk panicked and accidentally pressed play on the video again.
The reporter’s voice echoed throughout the entire office.
– The fact that Jeon Sung-guk, the global entrepreneur who predicted the Great East Japan Earthquake and operates FaceNote and YouTube, is actually a hot-blooded young man curious about romance and marriage has made this tarot shop the place to be. Why don’t you all get a tarot reading this spring to see who you’ll fall in love with? This has been Kim Ji-yeon from Saengsaeng Today.
[What is this?]
Jeon Tae-guk looked at me and waved his hands frantically.
“Sung-guk, I really found this by accident. But… the tarot master did say she only saw your future, right?”
“William!!!”
[I’m not letting that tarot master off easy!!!]
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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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