I Will Raise This Family to Greatness - Chapter 363

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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 363
As Secretary Yang left the table, the jjajangmyeon I’d ordered arrived shortly after.
Jeon Tae-guk had already ordered a bottle of baijiu with characteristic efficiency.
“Sung-guk, will you have a drink with me?”
What was this atmosphere about?
Jeon Tae-guk’s tone was unusually grave, quite unlike his normal demeanor.
[Could it be… that Chairman Jeon Jae-hyung deliberately arranged this meeting between Jeon Tae-guk and me?]
I quietly extended my glass.
Jeon Tae-guk filled my glass to the brim with baijiu.
“It feels like this is almost the first time the two of us have drunk together like this, doesn’t it?”
“It does seem to be the first time at Samjeon Hotel.”
The years I’d spent with Jeon Tae-guk suddenly felt vivid and real.
We’d lived together in the same house for quite a long time, and during that period, we’d often shared a beer or two.
Jeon Tae-guk downed the baijiu in one gulp and exhaled a hot breath.
“Sung-guk, I… I think I’ve learned so much from you. Actually… Father wants me to work for Samjeon Group now.”
I too downed the baijiu.
It was something I’d anticipated to some degree. Honestly, it felt overdue.
“Hyung, your identity is that of the successor to Samjeon Group. It’s better to start your succession training as soon as possible.”
“Yeah… that’s true. The successor to Samjeon Group… Sometimes I think about it… If I hadn’t been the successor to Samjeon Group, wouldn’t I have been able to live more freely, doing whatever I wanted? Something like that…”
[With your face and your head, Jeon Tae-guk, life itself would have been incredibly difficult if you weren’t the successor to Samjeon Group. Get a grip!]
I refilled Jeon Tae-guk’s empty glass.
“From what I’ve seen, hyung doesn’t seem particularly talented at anything else.”
Jeon Tae-guk laughed hollowly.
“Sung-guk, how is it you say exactly the same things as our father?”
[Well, that’s because he was my father in my previous life… so there must be some resemblance.]
“I asked Father to give me the freedom to live a bit more freely, and he told me something. He said that since childhood, he’d enrolled me in all sorts of arts and athletics, but he’d never seen a kid who couldn’t keep up like me. I had no aptitude for studying either, and he said that if I’d been born into an ordinary family, I’d have had an utterly mediocre life—being born as the successor to Samjeon Group was the greatest talent in my life.”
Chairman Jeon Jae-hyung was indeed a master of brutal honesty.
[Not a word of it was wrong…]
I took a small sip of baijiu. The rich, warm liquid traced down my throat with a searing sensation.
“Sung-guk, I… I was so happy working with you, Adam, and Sam.”
“Hyung, you weren’t planning to stay long anyway.”
“That’s true, but… I… I’ve never been happy going to school. Every morning when I woke up, all I could think about was how to avoid going to school. When I did go, everyone knew I was the Samjeon successor, but no one wanted to play with me.”
[That’s because you have a bad personality.]
Jeon Tae-guk gulped down the baijiu.
“But… after working with you… for the first time in my life, going to work became enjoyable. When I woke up in the morning, I’d think about what to eat for lunch at the company, and when I came home in the evening, I’d think about eating samgyeopsal and drinking soju like ordinary people. And the most important thing was the fact that you, Sam, and Adam were there to share it with me…”
“Hyung, are you going to move out of the house too?”
“No…”
“Then you can just eat samgyeopsal with Sam and Adam after work in the evening.”
“I… when I start at Samjeon Group, I’ll have to eat lunch alone at the company… ugh.”
[Really, he’s not even a child… Tsk tsk tsk.]
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
“Brother, there’s Secretary Park, you know.”
“Ugh… Secretary Park and I have completely different tastes. I love kalguksu, but Secretary Park is crazy about pasta!”
Secretary Park Sung-hee, whom I knew, wasn’t the type to adjust her palate just because someone was her superior.
“Sung-guk, that’s why I… told Father I wanted to work at a Samjeon Group affiliate closest to your company. But apparently, those aren’t core departments.”
Currently, Alpha was housed in the same building as the FaceNote Asia branch since the joint investment between Samjeon and Hyojin Group had been decided for operational efficiency.
Jeon Tae-guk looked at me, his eyes gleaming.
“Sung-guk… so I asked Father to relocate Alpha to my future headquarters.”
[Wait, is Jeon Tae-guk seriously saying he’s going to change the company’s location just because of food?]
Jeon Tae-guk drank his baijiu with a noticeably lighter expression.
“Sung-guk, no matter how I think about it, I made the right call, don’t you think? Since I’ll be commuting to the Seocho-dong headquarters, I’m thinking of clearing out one floor of that building. Actually, should I clear out two floors? FaceNote should relocate there too. What do you think, Sung-guk?”
“Brother, our employees are just settling in and working now… if we relocate the company, it’ll be chaos. Moving takes days, and adapting to a new space takes time too.”
“I knew you’d say that.”
Jeon Tae-guk smiled faintly.
“Sung-guk, I have a groundbreaking proposal for you.”
A groundbreaking proposal?
“I’m planning to provide Alpha and FaceNote employees with benefits equivalent to Samjeon Group headquarters staff. You know our company has great benefits. I don’t know the details, but regular people try so hard to get into Samjeon because of it. What do you think, Sung-guk?”
“….”
I drank my baijiu with my lips firmly sealed.
If the benefits matched those of Samjeon Group headquarters staff, no employee would refuse.
There were discounts when purchasing various products from Samjeon, gift certificates on special occasions, health checkups, discounts when using Samjeon affiliates. On top of that, Samjeon headquarters provided all three meals a day.
Suddenly, I looked at Jeon Tae-guk.
“Brother… Samjeon provides all three meals a day anyway.”
“A successor can’t be eating at the company cafeteria every day. And I don’t want to go to the cafeteria alone….”
“Once you enter headquarters, the executives will be dying to eat with you, brother.”
“I hate that kind of thing. I just want to eat comfortably when I’m eating. With Sam and Adam and you….”
Jeon Tae-guk was truly impossible to stop.
“Sung-guk, you’ll think about it, right? No, let’s just do it. Please…. I think I’ll be completely isolated once I enter Samjeon headquarters.”
[Jeon Tae-guk, that’s what the position of successor is really like! There’s no one who will treat you with genuine sincerity!]
I let out a deep sigh.
“Brother… is this something you discussed with Chairman Jeon Jae-hyung?”
“Of course! Father said he doesn’t care about anything as long as it’s an environment where I can focus on work. Honestly, it’s not that difficult for Samjeon to provide benefits to Alpha and FaceNote employees. There aren’t that many people anyway….”
Blood truly ran thicker than water, it seemed.
Seeing how far Jeon Jae-hyung would go for his inadequate son Jeon Tae-guk….
“Brother, then let’s decide this through an internal vote. It doesn’t seem like a decision I should make alone.”
“Yeah! I’m really confident about this!”
I drained my baijiu in one go.
For some reason, I had a feeling this would end in my defeat.
* * *
The relocation of Alpha and FaceNote to Samjeon Group headquarters was decided with 100% employee approval.
I let out a long sigh.
“How is there not a single objection?”
Just then, Adam stepped to the side and handed me a brand new phone.
“Sung-guk, this is called Galaxy, made by Samjeon. It performs just as well as an Apple phone. The camera quality is excellent too. It has lots of features….”
“Adam, is this perhaps…?”
“Hehe. William said this is absolutely not in exchange for approving the company relocation to Samjeon Headquarters. He said it’s just a Chuseok gift.”
[Adam, that’s clearly a quid pro quo gift!]
There was a reason for the 100% approval.
“Sung-guk, and William said he’ll actively incorporate our opinions into the menu at the Samjeon Headquarters cafeteria.”
Jeon Tae-guk was really handing out blank checks left and right.
“We’ll start preparing for the relocation right after the Chuseok holiday ends, so Adam, please pay close attention to security.”
“Of course. Oh, Sung-guk… your mother told us to come have a meal on Chuseok. She said it’s for giving thanks to your ancestors in the morning.”
“In Korea, we call that Jesa.”
“Ah, right. That.”
“I’m going to perform Jesa too, so Sam and Adam, come with me.”
At that moment, Jeon Tae-guk came rushing over.
“Sung-guk, I’m coming too!”
“Didn’t William say he had to go to Hannam-dong?”
“Yeah, not anymore. I told Father I’d be commuting to Samjeon Headquarters. And Father is going to Hawaii.”
Suddenly, Jeon Tae-guk’s expression darkened.
“William, what’s wrong?”
“Mother said she’s going to Hawaii this time too…. I need to tell Secretary Yang right away. If they run into each other at the airport, all hell will break loose.”
And so Jeon Tae-guk vanished in a flash to preserve domestic peace.
* * *
The Chuseok holiday finally began.
Of course, Adam, Sam, and I had no vacation.
We reviewed TikTok’s program again and checked for any shortcomings.
“Sung-guk, but will an SNS that uploads such short videos really take off? Recording videos isn’t easy, you know.”
“It’s true for now, but in the future, recording videos on phones will become much better than it is today. When that happens, people will want videos more than photos.”
Adam scratched his head.
“Adam, just trust me.”
“I always trust you, Sung-guk.”
“Sung-guk, I completely agree with you. After developing YouTube, I realized just how much people want to create videos. But YouTube is really more focused on longer videos, so it requires a lot of time and effort. I think this short-form video format will let people approach it without burden.”
Sam completely agreed with my opinion.
At that moment, Adam looked around.
“Sung-guk… I miss William not being here.”
“William needs to prepare to inherit Samjeon now. He was just learning the ropes with us for a while.”
“I suppose, but… I do miss him. Without William, it’s already past 2 PM and you haven’t even mentioned eating….”
Only then did I check the time.
It really was past 2 PM.
“Adam, I’m really sorry. Let’s go grab some food.”
Is this what it feels like to miss Jeon Tae-guk?
“Adam, Sam. Once we relocate to Samjeon Headquarters soon, William will take good care of you both.”
I offered what comfort I could to Sam and Adam, who seemed to feel Jeon Tae-guk’s absence keenly.
* * *
The Chinese restaurant at Samjeon Hotel.
Today was the appointed day to meet with Chairman Koo Soo-young of Hyojin Group.
And it was also the day I had to give him my answer regarding his proposal.
I adjusted my hoodie and entered the private room where Chairman Koo Soo-young was waiting.
Knock. Knock.
As I rapped on the door, I heard Chairman Koo Soo-young’s warm voice from inside.
“Come in.”
I opened the door, stepped inside, and bowed respectfully to Chairman Koo Soo-young.
“Come, sit down. You like the jjajangmyeon here, don’t you?”
“Yes, Chairman.”
I deliberately didn’t mention that I’d eaten jjajangmyeon here with Jeon Tae-guk just a few days ago.
“You looked hungry, so I ordered ahead.”
“Thank you.”
Chairman Koo Soo-young spoke about the September weather and health matters before suddenly looking at me.
“What did you think about my proposal?”
Chairman Koo Soo-young had asked whether I was interested in inheriting Hyojin Group.
Of course, my answer was already decided.
“Chairman, about that….”
Hearing just that much, Chairman Koo Soo-young broke into a slight smile.
“I don’t need to hear the rest. It’s a rejection, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Chairman. I apologize.”
“What do you have to apologize for? It’s I who was greedy, trying to confine talent like you to Hyojin.”
Chairman Koo Soo-young let out a long sigh and continued.
“To be honest, my two daughters have neither interest nor talent in management. My sons-in-law are the same. Only our son….”
Chairman Koo Soo-young paused for a moment.
For Chairman Koo Soo-young, his son who died young in a traffic accident was always a tender wound.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought that up….”
Chairman Koo Soo-young forced a smile and continued speaking.
“I called you here on your birthday because I wanted to give you a small gift. Perhaps this is a small thread that will keep the connection between us alive.”
Chairman Koo Soo-young handed me a document envelope he had prepared in advance.
“Open it.”
I opened the document envelope Chairman Koo Soo-young offered me.
Inside was a document certifying the gift of 1% of Hyojin Group stock!
“Ch-Chairman….”
“Even if you don’t inherit Hyojin Group, I hope you’ll always watch over our Hyojin. With that much stock, you’ll have some influence at the shareholders’ meeting.”

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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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