I Will Raise This Family to Greatness - Chapter 479

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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 479
My own home.
Jeon Tae-guk was my guest room’s first visitor.
Jeon Tae-guk left his modest luggage in the guest room and began exploring every corner of the house.
“Sung-guk, this house is absolutely incredible. You can walk right out from the living room straight to the swimming pool. In Korea, you couldn’t even imagine a place like this. America really is something else. How many bedrooms does this place have?”
“Three. And three bathrooms as well.”
“Plus two living rooms. The kitchen is separate from the dining room too….”
Jeon Tae-guk looked at me and smiled broadly.
“Sung-guk, you really do look like a billionaire now. Should we check out a billionaire’s refrigerator?”
[Why is he being so roundabout about wanting to grab a beer?]
Jeon Tae-guk pulled out a beer from the refrigerator exactly as I’d anticipated, handing it to me like he owned the place.
“Do you do your own grocery shopping?”
“Secretary Kim Mi-so has been handling it for me so far. I’ve been too busy with the company transition.”
“Still swamped, I see…. Meanwhile, I’m unemployed now….”
Jeon Tae-guk trailed off.
“Brother, you’re not unemployed. It’s just a temporary demotion.”
“I was really hoping to make E-Samjeon work this time. Guess I’m just unlucky.”
That was true.
E-Samjeon had become entangled in the scandal involving Samjeon’s slush funds in connection with the influence-peddling incident, raising suspicions that E-Samjeon itself was a front for those funds.
As a result, E-Samjeon vanished from history in an instant.
“Brother, what are you planning to do here?”
“Father said to rest for a couple of months, then work as the San Francisco Branch manager for a while before coming back. Koreans forget everything after six months, no matter how much noise there is. Once things quiet down, I’m supposed to return.”
I took a sip of beer.
For some reason, I didn’t think things would resolve in six months the way Jeon Tae-guk expected.
[This situation won’t settle until the president changes…. Please tell me he’s not planning to stay in America until then?]
Jeon Tae-guk drank several gulps of beer with a gloomy expression before speaking.
“Sung-guk, I also invited Lee Kyung-soo.”
“What? Lee Kyung-soo?”
“Yeah. He was one of the most talented people we recruited for E-Samjeon, and he suddenly became unemployed too. His YouTube channel is still in preparation…. So I asked him to come here, get some fresh air with me, and then we’ll figure out our next moves back in Korea.”
“Brother, you’ll find a place before Lee Kyung-soo arrives, right?”
“Well…. Lee Kyung-soo arrives the day after tomorrow. I got his plane ticket a bit late….”
“The day after tomorrow?!”
“See? I knew you’d jump like that and make that scared face if I told you beforehand.”
“Brother! That’s not the point here. This is my home, and you showing up to stay as a guest wasn’t even discussed—it was just announced. And now Lee Kyung-soo is coming too?”
“Sung-guk, I’ll find a place quickly. I already asked Secretary Park Sung-hee to look for something as close to your house as possible.”
Jeon Tae-guk stood up and dipped his feet into the swimming pool.
“But…. I really do love this house.”
“Brother, one week. After that, go to a hotel or wherever you like.”
“Got it. Sung-guk, in return, let me buy you a gift to celebrate your new home.”
My heart wavered slightly at those words.
When I was a chaebol, I never fell for such things, but in this life, I was truly a commoner down to my bones.
“Looking at this place, I think it would be nice to have a good speaker.”
“We were thinking the same thing.”
“Sung-guk, would that amount work for Lee Kyung-soo and my accommodation?”
“Hmm… exactly one week.”
I set the exact timeframe.
* * *
Jeon Tae-guk found a place in the neighboring house, within walking distance from our home the very next day.
Walking distance meant the house was literally separated from ours by just a fence.
Given the nature of homes in this area, it was more of a boundary than a fence, but it was that close.
“Sung-guk, but it seems like the interior work will take some time. Since we’re only staying briefly, I won’t do anything major, but I think it’ll still take about ten days….”
“Hyung, you said exactly one week.”
“Sung-guk, you must be lonely staying alone.”
“I really want to be alone, please.”
Just then, the doorbell rang loudly.
Who could that be?
“Hyung, Lee Kyung-soo arrives tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah… I got a message earlier. He said he’s heading to the airport.”
I checked the intercom with a puzzled expression.
Mark was standing there.
When I opened the door, Mark was holding Rose in his arms and holding Olivia’s hand with the other.
“Mark… what’s going on?”
“Sung-guk, I think I need to stay here for a few days.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Mi-mi seems to have contracted MERS.”
“What?!”
MERS was one of the epidemics that struck the world this year.
“An employee from Mi-mi’s department went on a business trip to Hong Kong last week. Today when they came to work, that employee developed a fever in the afternoon and went to the hospital… and tested positive for MERS. So Mi-mi went to the hospital right after work to get tested… but she developed a fever while driving, so she’s worried. She told me to take the kids and stay at your place just in case.”
“It’s not confirmed yet, right?”
“It’s not confirmed, but you never know. She could develop a fever tonight, so she told me to come here with the kids.”
Olivia scampered into our home.
Mark’s hand was full of diapers and various childcare supplies.
“Sung-guk, take these for me. The babysitter already left, and Mi-mi’s parents suddenly had business in Korea and left. There’s no one to watch them.”
“Come on in.”
Mark entered the house holding Rose.
Jeon Tae-guk greeted Mark with a rather surprised expression.
“Mark….”
“Tae-guk, I heard you came.”
As the two of them talked, I realized I needed to arrange sleeping arrangements first.
“Hyung, I think it’s best to give the guest room to Mark’s family.”
“Yeah… I guess so.”
“I’ll set up a cot for you in the living room sofa or the study. How does that sound?”
“I’ll sleep in the study.”
I quickly installed the cot in the study.
In the meantime, Mark unpacked his luggage in the guest room.
Mark was exhausted from dealing with his two daughters, but he was deeply worried about Lim Mi-mi.
However, if he himself caught MERS from Lim Mi-mi, it would be difficult to care for his two daughters, so he had no choice but to make this decision.
“Mark, do you think Lim Mi-mi will be okay alone?”
“That’s what worries me. I want to go home and check on her, but Mi-mi said absolutely not to come, just in case.”
“I’ll contact Secretary Kim and have them talk to her regularly.”
“Mi-mi also said if she gets a fever, she’ll call 911 or whatever and go to the hospital right away.”
As Mark unpacked the children’s belongings on the guest room table, he could only think of Lim Mi-mi.
“Sung-guk, our Mi-mi will be okay, right?”
“If it’s detected early, she should be fine.”
“Mi-mi and that employee too—they all need to be okay….”
Suddenly, I clapped my hands together.
“Mark, I think we need to switch to remote work for everyone for a while.”
“Oh, that’s right!”
Mark seemed to have only now grasped the severity of the MERS threat.
“I already switched Mi-mi’s department to remote work starting tomorrow, but I think everyone in the company should do the same, don’t you?”
“We need to send out a notice right now. Have everyone work remotely if possible, and those who absolutely must come to the office should wear masks without exception. And I think we need to install a thermal imaging camera at the entrance too—no one with a fever gets inside. Mark, I’ll post the notice on the company FaceNote site. You contact the security team and tell them to install the thermal imaging camera.”
“Got it.”
I posted a notice on FaceNote’s internal bulletin board about switching to remote work due to MERS.
I also made mask-wearing and temperature checks mandatory.
Fortunately, the employees’ response was positive.
I finally took a breath and sat down on the sofa.
Then Mark came into the living room with a home thermometer.
“Sung-guk and I haven’t encountered the employee who went on the Hong Kong business trip, but we should check our temperatures too. And Tae-guk just arrived from Korea a few days ago.”
“I don’t have a fever.”
“This is something the kids do all the time, Tae-guk.”
Mark brought the thermometer to Jeon Tae-guk’s ear and checked his temperature.
“Normal. Next is Sung-guk.”
I reluctantly had my temperature taken as well.
In a house with children, it was an issue we couldn’t help but be sensitive about.
After taking our temperatures, Mark told us both to go wash our hands in the bathroom right away.
“Both of you wash your hands, and I think we should do a thorough cleaning now. Olivia will be touching everything in the living room. And before you know it, she’ll be putting those hands in her mouth.”
“I’ll do it after I finish this.”
At Jeon Tae-guk’s words, Mark immediately grabbed both our napes and dragged us along.
“Come on, both of you, right now!”
* * *
Fortunately, Lim Mi-mi had no fever and tested negative for MERS, but Mark and Olivia Rose didn’t return home.
The reason was that MERS had an average incubation period of five days.
There was a possibility that during the incubation period, they might show no fever and test negative for MERS.
In the midst of this battle situation, Lee Kyung-soo had just arrived from Korea.
The moment Mark opened the front door, he checked Lee Kyung-soo’s body temperature.
“Your temperature is normal. Sorry to ask, but could you go to the bathroom and wash your hands first? If possible, a shower would be great too.”
“Ah, yes….”
Lee Kyung-soo looked bewildered, but after hearing the situation, he quickly understood.
“I have a kid in kindergarten at home too, so I understand Mark’s feelings completely. When you have children, there’s no helping it.”
After saying this, Lee Kyung-soo rushed toward the refrigerator exactly three hours later.
“Jet lag or whatever—I need a beer right now. Olivia kept asking me to fly the plane, so I did it a hundred times. I’m dying of thirst.”
Jeon Tae-guk, already exhausted and sprawled out, muttered in response.
“I was doing that before you arrived, sir.”
I watched Mark quietly close the guest room door and come out. Then he whispered softly.
“The kids are all asleep. Please keep your voice down from now on.”
Hearing this, Jeon Tae-guk suddenly picked up his phone, went into the study, and closed the door very carefully. After a while, he emerged from the study with a satisfied expression.
“Lee Kyung-soo, I think we can move to our house tomorrow afternoon.”
“Didn’t you say the interior work would take some time?”
“They said it would take about ten days, but I told them I’d live roughly. Still, they said the bedroom is already finished, so we can just move in. We’ll have Samjeon employees deliver food, and we’ll fix things gradually as we live there.”
Jeon Tae-guk looked more relieved than ever.
Just then, Rose’s crying came from the room.
“Waaaaah!”
Mark, looking completely exhausted, gestured for Jeon Tae-guk to be quiet and went into the room.
Jeon Tae-guk shook his head and sat down on the sofa.
“Sung-guk, hang in there for a few more days. Lee Kyung-soo and I will move to our house tomorrow. You can come to our place too if you can.”
“I can’t leave Mark alone. Brother, you’re at least paying for the accommodation, right?”
“Don’t worry, it’s already on the way.”
Jeon Tae-guk drank his beer with a tired face, and I suddenly felt my heart lighten.
* * *
After Jeon Tae-guk and Lee Kyung-soo moved to the neighboring house, only I, Mark, Olivia, and Rose remained at home.
Fortunately, Secretary Kim Mi-so and a babysitter came during the day to look after Olivia and Rose, so Mark and I had no trouble conducting business.
Just then, Lim Mi-mi called.
Mark quickly answered the phone.
“Mi-mi, are you feeling okay?”
– Mark, the kids should be fine now. There’s no sign of fever anymore, and I think everything’s okay.
“Got it. I’ll pack up and head over once I finish work.”
After hanging up, Mark patted my shoulder.
“Sung-guk, you’ve been through a lot.”
“What are you talking about? Thanks to this, the freeloaders escaped quickly.”
I smiled faintly.

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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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