I Will Raise This Family to Greatness - Chapter 409

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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 409
After the auditions ended, Dennis Chazelle pulled me into a tight embrace, his face radiant with emotion.
“Sung-guk! I can’t believe it! We’ve finished casting all the major roles.”
I gently pushed Dennis away.
[I’m a Korean man through and through, Dennis. This kind of thing between men makes me uncomfortable.]
Dennis paid no mind, his eyes already glistening with excitement.
I folded my arms and studied him for a moment.
“Dennis, you’re really that happy?”
“Of course I am. My screenplay is finally going to see the light of day. I’ve never given birth since I’m a man, but I have a feeling that when my work comes out, it’ll feel like I’ve brought a child into the world—one that looks just like me.”
[Dennis, don’t overdo it.]
“Sung-guk, my heart is absolutely overflowing.”
“Dennis….”
I called out to him in a measured tone.
“Dennis, I’ve been swamped these past few days announcing TikTok and taking heat from the media. Then I flew straight to Los Angeles and did the auditions for Whiplash.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I got a bit carried away with emotion.”
“Don’t apologize. What I’m saying is that right now, I desperately want to drink a cold beer.”
“The guy who used to drink only milk now wants beer. It’s late anyway—let’s head to my place.”
* * *
Dennis’s place was a small condo in downtown Los Angeles.
It was a modest space with just a bedroom, living room, and kitchen.
The desk in the living room was covered with countless storyboards for Whiplash that he’d sketched.
I carefully flipped through them.
[He put a lot of thought into this….]
Every trace of Dennis’s deliberation in bringing Whiplash to life was spread across that desk.
Dennis pulled a beer from the refrigerator and handed it to me.
“What are you looking at?”
“Your storyboards. Now all that’s left is to actually shoot the film….”
“We still need to coordinate the actors’ schedules. We’ll probably be able to start filming in the second half of the year.”
Filmmaking required far more pre-production work than I’d anticipated.
I gazed at Dennis intently.
Dennis had been my roommate at Harvard.
The guy who used to ruffle his black curly hair while dreaming of becoming a film director was actually becoming one now. It was a moment that moved even me.
“Dennis, you’re going to be a truly great director.”
“Coming from someone who’s already successful in so many ways, that makes me feel good even before my debut….”
“By the way, I’m meeting Steven Spielberg tomorrow afternoon. Want to come along?”
“Can I really come?”
“The interview will take a few hours. After that, Steven’s throwing a small party. It’ll be a gathering of people in the film industry, so it’d be good for you to go.”
Dennis’s eyes sparkled.
“Sung-guk, you’re like someone guiding me into the film world.”
He wasn’t wrong.
[Dennis, you know how hard I pushed you to make that film, right?]
“Dennis, remember how much we deliberated over your second film?”
“Of course. It’s set here. Los Angeles.”
Dennis’s second film would be a musical about the dreams and love of young people set against the backdrop of Los Angeles.
“Dennis, I’m reserving my investment for that second film as well. Once Whiplash succeeds, we can probably expand the scale a bit.”
“Sung-guk, I hope everything turns out the way you say it will.”
At that moment, I set down the beer bottle I hadn’t even taken a sip from.
“Dennis, there’s somewhere I need to go right now.”
“Where?”
“Where are your car keys?”
Dennis handed me his car keys from his pocket.
“Just follow me.”
* * *
Standing atop Griffith Observatory, Dennis and I gazed down at the sprawling night lights of Los Angeles stretching far below us.
Dennis let out continuous exclamations of wonder.
“Sung-guk, this is my first time here.”
“Mine too.”
“But how did you know about this place?”
[I saw it in your future films.]
I gazed quietly at the night cityscape.
“I stumbled upon it while searching online, and I thought—wouldn’t this be perfect for that Los Angeles-set film you mentioned? There’s even Foucault’s Pendulum inside. It seems like the ideal spot for young people chasing their dreams to go on a date, don’t you think?”
“You invest in me, you give me inspiration like this… but Sung-guk, isn’t this too hasty? If the first film flops, it’s a given that getting funding for the second one will be difficult.”
Dennis was right—if the first film underperformed, securing investment for the second would be challenging.
I’d heard that many people endure years of consecutive failures, suffering emotional turmoil, before eventually leaving the industry.
I smiled as I looked at Dennis.
“Dennis, I’m going to invest in your second film no matter what. So don’t worry.”
“Sung-guk… meeting you feels like the greatest stroke of luck in my life.”
[Dennis, meeting you is my good fortune. By the second film, you’ll win plenty of awards and make good money. From the third one onward, things get a bit different though….]
I took in the Los Angeles night view once more.
In my previous life, I’d come here countless times, but always for work.
I’d never had the luxury of standing with a friend, discussing the future while admiring the night sky like this.
“Dennis, I’m grateful to you too.”
“I haven’t done anything for you. What could you possibly be grateful for?”
“You make me feel like I can dream. You….”
Dennis listened to me quietly.
“I’ve never dreamed even once. I’ve only lived thinking about what I could do, about making money. But watching you, it feels like I’m dreaming alongside you.”
“Sung-guk….”
I looked at Dennis intently.
“Dennis, I hope you keep making people dream.”
And I gripped Dennis’s shoulder firmly.
“Dennis, the sentiment is touching, but I just looked at the storyboard—we’re still in the early stages. Don’t you think we need to pick up the pace? You have Steven’s party tomorrow, after all.”
“You’re absolutely right… Yes, investor. Then let’s go home and review the storyboard over some beer.”
Dennis chuckled softly.
* * *
Steven Spielberg greeted Dennis and me with a radiant smile.
“Sung-guk, Dennis. It’s been a while.”
“I hope you’ve been well, Steven?”
“I’ve been doing great.”
Steven Spielberg’s residence sat on the hillside of an upscale neighborhood in Los Angeles, with expansive vineyards stretching below—an impressive sight.
“Dennis, I hear you’ve almost finished casting?”
“Yes, thanks to Sung-guk, we’ve cast actors I’m really happy with.”
“I’m really looking forward to 【Whiplash】 as well.”
We followed Steven Spielberg inside.
As we passed through the spacious living room, Steven introduced me to a screenwriter who was already waiting.
“Sung-guk… this is Aaron Sorkin, the famous screenwriter.”
“Hello, I’m Jeon Sung-guk.”
I quickly shook Aaron Sorkin’s hand.
Aaron Sorkin was renowned as a genius screenwriter in Hollywood.
His screenplay for 【The West Wing】 was considered a masterpiece of political drama and swept the Emmy Awards.
Aaron Sorkin’s eyes gleamed behind his glasses.
“So I finally get to meet the king of social media.”
“I’m a huge fan of 【The West Wing】.”
I laid on the flattery with a touch of exaggeration.
“By the way, this is Dennis Chazelle, my Harvard roommate. I thought he’d be helpful for my interview, so I brought him along. And he’s about to make his directorial debut as well.”
“Ah, so this is the friend Steven mentioned. I really enjoyed reading the 【Whiplash】 screenplay. It was one of the Hollywood blacklist scripts, and now it’s finally being produced!”
“Thanks to having good friends, it looks like we’ll start filming in the second half of the year.”
After a brief exchange, we entered Steven Spielberg’s studio and study.
* * *
The warm afternoon sunlight of Los Angeles streamed deep into the study.
Aaron Sorkin continued to regard me with an intrigued expression.
“Steven once casually mentioned at a party that someone named Jeon Sung-guk from FaceNote was quite fascinating.”
I glanced subtly at Steven.
[Steven, that wasn’t just a casual slip, was it?]
Steven Spielberg had clearly orchestrated this to gauge Aaron Sorkin’s interest.
And Aaron Sorkin had taken the bait immediately.
“FaceNote is an SNS I created an account for but just left dormant. I was curious about who created an SNS that even someone like me, who has no interest in such things, knows about, so I asked Steven about it one by one. And then… he told me you created it with your high school roommate.”
Aaron Sorkin unfolded my life story, adding and subtracting details as he saw fit.
“What first amazed me was that you thought to commercialize this in your teens.”
I nodded.
“What was the second thing that amazed you, Aaron?”
“Some guy who came to study abroad from South Korea… and his connections span the political and business worlds so brilliantly.”
“And the most shocking part… he’s barely twenty years old!”
“Yes, just twenty. In Korean age.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
Aaron Sorkin shook his head in disbelief, then stared at me with eyes that couldn’t quite accept what he was seeing.
“I really can’t believe it even after hearing it.”
“Aaron, relax. I had the same thought when I first met Sung-guk. Everyone thought he was a con artist.”
“He can’t be a con artist. FaceNote is thriving. He’s even the CEO of YouTube and Instagrim. I looked into his background a bit, and he had quite the intense back-and-forth with Sergey Brin from Google.”
“The TikTok he recently launched hasn’t gotten the response we hoped for.”
I deliberately made myself seem a bit lacking.
[A person who’s too perfect isn’t interesting, Aaron Sorkin.]
Aaron burst out laughing.
“Are you only now facing failure, Sung-guk?”
“It’s not quite failure yet. TikTok will become the new future of social media. People just haven’t realized it yet.”
Steven looked at Aaron.
“Aaron, this is the side of him I fell for. His confidence. Isn’t it cool?”
“Wow… when I was twenty, I was busy drinking and getting rejected by girls all the time… Sung-guk, you even dated Emma Watson. You must be incredibly popular with women?”
Dennis chimed in from beside me.
“I can testify to that part.”
“Go ahead! Tell us, Dennis.”
“Sung-guk’s greatest weakness is that he knows himself too well… and loves himself too much.”
At those words, Aaron Sorkin’s expression lit up like a detective who’d found an interesting clue.
“Strong self-love?”
“All geniuses are like that originally.”
Dennis added.
“A genius, with confidence… and a romance with Emma Watson… Steven, even if you made this into a movie based on true events, people would call it fiction.”
“Then… Aaron, would it be alright if I made a proposal?”
I was thinking of making a new proposal to the excited Aaron.
“What kind of proposal, Sung-guk?”
“Instead of just my story… what if it were a movie about me and my friends?”
“You and your friends?”
“And… I’d like the film to be made about ten years from now.”
Steven and Aaron stroked their chins at my words.
“Sung-guk, may I ask why you’re making such a proposal?”
Steven’s voice was serious.
They probably wanted to explore the unique character that I was. But.
“If I hadn’t had friends in my life, I wouldn’t have achieved this success. It’s true that I’m talented, but without Mark, my dormitory roommate, FaceNote would never have existed.”
“Hmm… that Mark guy is unique and interesting too. It’s peculiar that he’s living with a hacker from North Korea….”
Steven had already completed a detailed investigation into me and the people around me.
“But Sung-guk, is there a reason this film has to come out ten years later?”
[In truth, I don’t know much about what came after that either.]
From the day I died onward, there was no way for me to know.
I smiled faintly as I looked at Steven and Aaron.
“Actually… my story is just beginning from here!”

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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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