I Will Raise This Family to Greatness - Chapter 478

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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 478
Elon Musk gazed at the mansion with a wistful expression.
“Sung-guk, this place is truly, truly special to me….”
Elon Musk offered a bittersweet smile.
This house, a ten-minute drive from Mark’s House, featured a living room that opened directly onto a swimming pool.
Nestled halfway up a hillside with an expansive view, it boasted three bedrooms and three restrooms.
The fact that it wasn’t a two-story structure added to its appeal.
The single-level interior, flowing from a grand living room through a secondary living room into the dining room and kitchen, felt far more practical for movement.
The size was more than adequate for living alone.
But there was a problem. The interior design.
“Hmm… the interior definitely needs some work.”
“Sung-guk, you don’t like my taste?”
“Well, I’d call it nouveau riche taste….”
I answered half in jest, half in earnest.
Elon Musk’s home interior unmistakably screamed wealthy bachelor.
Leather sofas and expensive speakers. An entire wall devoted to a whiskey collection. And mysterious animal fur carpeting on the floor….
Elon chuckled.
“The little brat who used to chatter away is all grown up now, calling me nouveau riche… I must be getting old.”
“Elon, by traditional wealthy standards, we’re both nouveau riche. It’s only our children, inheriting our wealth, who won’t be.”
“Sung-guk, you’re impossible to argue with.”
Elon Musk waved his hand dismissively.
Though Elon was outgoing and eccentric by nature, the childhood trauma of bullying occasionally caused him to stammer.
And I had my reasons for wanting to buy Elon’s house.
“Elon, things have been difficult lately, haven’t they?”
There’s a saying that the darkest hour comes just before dawn.
Elon was in exactly that state right now.
Both Tesla and SpaceZ, which Elon had launched, were receiving investment and showing progress, but neither had yet produced a commercially viable model.
While Tesla’s Model A would soon enter commercialization, unlike me who knew the future, others still regarded Tesla with skepticism.
Elon exhaled a quiet sigh.
“Sung-guk, to be honest, this house is my most cherished one. As I went through cycles of marriage and divorce, this was the first house I bought to live alone.”
Elon finished speaking and naturally reached for a bottle of whiskey.
“Sung-guk, you’re an adult now—you’re not still sipping beer like the kids, are you?”
[In my past life, I was a whiskey enthusiast too, Elon.]
“Elon, I’d like a glass as well.”
“I’ll teach you the proper taste of whiskey today.”
Elon retrieved a single malt whiskey I recognized. It easily cost well over a million won.
Elon was about to uncork the whiskey when he suddenly looked at me.
“Sung-guk, you’re going to buy this house, aren’t you?”
“I’m still considering it. I haven’t seen the other properties on the market yet.”
The rule was simple: the more you liked something, the more you had to play hard to get.
The moment I show interest, I lose my bargaining power.
“Sung-guk, just buy my house. You’ll see how much I care for this place. Everything here reflects my taste alone. Not a single touch from any woman I’ve dated. I don’t want to sell a place like this to wealthy families in Silicon Valley, and I certainly don’t want to sell it to rich Chinese businessmen.”
The property was worth roughly 5 billion won.
Since the Lehman Brothers crisis, American real estate prices hadn’t recovered significantly. Silicon Valley was no exception.
Elon Musk held out the bottle of whiskey he’d been about to pour.
“Sung-guk, this is a gift for whoever buys my house. Enjoy good times here with it.”
“Elon… I haven’t made a decision yet.”
“I’ll knock off another 500 thousand dollars from my asking price.”
Another 500 million won off?
In a neighborhood where haggling was rare, a discount of this magnitude was more than welcome.
“Elon, then I have no choice but to buy this house.”
[I was planning to buy it anyway, Elon.]
I accepted the whiskey he offered.
That’s when Elon’s grip on the bottle tightened.
“But there’s a condition, Sung-guk.”
Elon wasn’t someone to be taken lightly.
“What condition, Elon?”
“Let me stay here occasionally when I need to.”
“You’re not saying you’ll never leave the house, right?”
“I’m moving to Texas soon. Both Tesla and SpaceZ are relocating there. So I won’t have much reason to come here.”
“That works. Just give me a heads up beforehand.”
“So, is our deal done?”
“Of course!”
Only then did Elon release his grip on the bottle.
“Let’s toast with a different whiskey.”
Elon poured another whiskey into glasses.
“Here’s to your return to the United States, Sung-guk.”
“Thank you, Elon. For the house too.”
We clinked our glasses together.
* * *
Elon and I were sprawled out by the swimming pool, having nearly emptied a bottle of whiskey.
Elon was slightly drunk, while I remained sober.
The timing to broach the main topic was drawing near.
My purchase of Elon Musk’s house was partly to help him through financial difficulties, but it was also a sort of carrot to propose another deal.
“Elon, how’s Tesla doing these days?”
“Well… it’s always tough. Ups and downs… Your FaceNote is thriving these days. YouTube and Instagrim too… Oh, what was that you announced recently?”
“TikTok.”
“Is that the only one underperforming expectations?”
“Well, you could say that….”
[TikTok will do well soon too!]
I drank my whiskey with a bitter expression.
“Elon, I know Tesla doesn’t aggressively avoid investments.”
Elon Musk, much like myself, had always maintained the maximum possible stake in his company.
“Sung-guk, are you trying to help me because things are difficult?”
“It’s not about helping… I want to invest. I’ve always supported you, after all.”
“But you already hold shares in SpaceZ. I’ve even given you Tesla stock….”
Throughout our long relationship, I had acquired stakes in SpaceZ and purchased considerable Tesla stock. Yet it still felt insufficient.
“Elon, selling this house, moving headquarters to Texas where taxes are lower—it all comes down to money, doesn’t it?”
“That’s true, but….”
“Elon, think about it.”
I couldn’t force this matter.
“Sung-guk… I’d like to experience something called competition with you going forward.”
Elon looked at me with an intoxicated expression.
“Competition?”
“Do you know what my dream is?”
“Moving to Hwaseong?”
“Haha. That’s one of them. But you see, I want to become the richest man in the world. Everyone dreams of that as a child, right? But as people grow up, they forget about it and move on. I want to be the only person on Earth who actually achieves that dream.”
[Elon, you’ll become that.]
I took a sip of whiskey and looked at Elon.
“But why compete with me over this?”
“I think you’re the only person who could stop my dream. So let’s compete with each other. Who becomes the richest person in the world….”
Elon rejected my investment.
But I didn’t feel bad about it.
What Elon wanted wasn’t me investing in his company—he wanted me as a rival to compete with him for the title of the world’s richest man.
And perhaps this would become my life’s goal from now on.
“Elon, I understand. I’ll become your competitor. Let’s see who’s the richest person in the world in ten years.”
“Perfect! Now that I have a rival, I’ll have to focus on real work starting tomorrow.”
Elon smiled brightly.
And I had gained another goal in life.
* * *
The house I bought from Elon Musk underwent interior renovation over the course of a month.
The house had a modern aesthetic overall, so I simply replaced the furniture and redid all the lighting fixtures.
Secretary Kim Mi-so surveyed the transformed house with a radiant expression.
“Chairman, this house looks completely different from when I first saw it.”
“What was it like at first?”
“It looked like a wealthy single man’s home.”
Secretary Kim Mi-so certainly had a discerning eye.
“And now?”
“It looks like a wealthy, tasteful single man’s home, Chairman.”
“That sounds like flattery, but it’s nice to hear.”
I revived my tastes from my previous life and filled the space with furniture from renowned designers, arranging not only the woodblock print I received from Damien Hirst at the Hong Kong Art Fair when I was young, but also works from various artists throughout the home.
It was a gift to myself—a space for someone who had forgotten taste itself while chasing only money all these years.
“By the way, Representative. We received word that Representative Jeon Tae-guk will be visiting this weekend.”
My brow furrowed slightly.
Jeon Tae-guk was coming, so why had he contacted Secretary Kim Mi-so instead of me?
“I haven’t heard anything from him.”
Secretary Kim Mi-so smiled knowingly.
“He said that if he contacted you directly, you would obviously refuse, so he asked me to inform you of this as an official schedule.”
“Sigh… So he’s being demoted and coming here….”
Jeon Tae-guk’s E-Samjeon had ultimately been dissolved just over half a year after its establishment without producing any significant results.
Of course, the timeframe had been too short to achieve results, but when a slush fund scandal erupted domestically, E-Samjeon came under suspicion of concealing Samjeon’s illegal funds, making its dissolution inevitable.
“It appears Representative Jeon Tae-guk is trying to relocate overseas temporarily due to the domestic issue surrounding the president’s unofficial power broker.”
As domestic politics grew more complicated, Jeon Tae-guk, who had been making appearances at various events and handling private matters on behalf of Chairman Jeon Jae-hyung, seemed to have his name circulating in connection with the unofficial power broker controversy as well.
“And of all places, here?”
“It seems Representative Jeon Tae-guk finds the United States most comfortable, and among places there, this is where he spent the longest time. He even asked me to look into houses for him.”
“Secretary Kim, you’re not a Samjeon person anymore.”
“Yes, I’m aware.”
Secretary Kim Mi-so had now officially become an employee of FaceNote.
“However, it doesn’t seem like she’s completely severing ties with Samjeon. I think maintaining some connection will allow me to continue monitoring Samjeon’s movements. And since I haven’t officially started at FaceNote yet, I’m looking at houses for myself while also helping with his search.”
“I see. By the way, Secretary Kim, did you find a house you like?”
“Yes, a two-bedroom condo not far from here came up that would be perfect for my younger sibling and me, so we’re scheduled to sign the contract this afternoon.”
“That’s wonderful.”
I handed Secretary Kim Mi-so a card.
“Even though it’s work, you put a lot of effort into the interior design this time. You must have seen plenty of furniture while looking at mine—purchase something you like.”
“Those are all too expensive. My sibling and I are planning to go to Ikea.”
Secretary Kim Mi-so waved her hand dismissively.
“Think of it as a bonus. When you bring quality furniture into your home, living in a foreign land becomes a bit more comfortable.”
“Well, I’ll accept it then… but I’ll purchase furniture within reasonable limits.”
Secretary Kim Mi-so reluctantly accepted the card I offered.
* * *
Ding dong.
On a quiet Friday night spent alone, the doorbell rang.
I checked the familiar face standing at the door through the intercom and opened it.
“Sung-guk! I’m in the United States too!”
Jeon Tae-guk had arrived in the United States.
“Hyung, weren’t you supposed to arrive tomorrow?”
“The reporters in Korea were so persistent that I just left a day early to escape.”
Jeon Tae-guk surveyed my home with satisfaction, and I began to feel an ominous premonition that cracks would form in this peaceful everyday life.
“Sung-guk, you have a guest room here, right? Let me stay here while I’m looking for a place.”
My ominous premonition was never wrong.

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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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