I Will Raise This Family to Greatness - Chapter 48

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 48
I caught a glimpse of Father’s face. His ears had flushed crimson.
[Father, let me handle this.]
The moment I reached for the door, Father grabbed me.
“Shh!”
Father clearly didn’t want to cause a commotion.
“Since Jeon Tae-guk transferred to school in the United States, we should send our Jung-hee there too. She’ll be lonely in a foreign land, but how wonderful it would be if they could lean on each other. I’ll call again.”
Soon, the voice of Jae-hee’s Father ending the call came through.
Even after Jae-hee’s Father washed his hands and left, Father remained quiet for a long while before leaving. The restroom was empty.
Father led me to the sink and stared at me intently.
“Sung-guk, did you hear something bad?”
Seeing Father’s wounded expression, I couldn’t find the words. I shook my head.
Father turned on the water, quickly washed his hands, and began wiping my ears.
“Sung-guk, this is how you forget bad things. Your father and mother getting criticized is fine, but… Sung-guk being criticized because of me is something I truly cannot bear.”
[Father didn’t become an orphan by choice. What’s wrong with me using this face to make a living? Everything I am, all this talent I was born with—it’s all thanks to Father and Mother.]
Instead of countless words, I patted Father’s back.
“Father, cheer up, okay?”
“Father, be strong! Sung-guk is here for you.”
I even hummed a song I’d heard before.
Father forced a smile and lifted me into his arms.
“That’s better. I’ll carry Sung-guk all the way to the restaurant.”
“Father, am I heavy?”
“Later, when Sung-guk becomes heavier than Father, then Sung-guk will have to do this for Father.”
“Okay!”
Father gently pressed his reddened eyes with his hand.
* * *
In a private room within the Korean restaurant, Jung-hee’s family, Mother, and Min-guk were seated.
Min-guk waved at me when he saw me.
“Hyung!”
Father had already greeted Jung-hee’s family with a smile.
“Sung-guk said he urgently needed the restroom. My apologies.”
“All children are like that.”
Jung-hee’s Mother treated Father comfortably.
Jung-hee tapped the chair beside her when she saw me.
“Sung-guk, sit here.”
“Father, can I sit over there?”
“Of course.”
I went and sat beside Jung-hee.
Jung-hee’s Father looked at me with displeasure. It was clear he disapproved of his daughter associating with a child from a family of no consequence.
Jung-hee, who had no younger siblings, treated me like a little brother, even attending to my tableware.
“Sung-guk, eat with this.”
“Okay, Sister.”
Jung-hee melted at the word “sister.”
Jae-hee’s Father’s displeasure was written all over his face. Because Jung-hee’s Mother had a weak constitution and there were no more children after Jung-hee, he was a man who had even fathered a son outside and brought him into the family.
“Care for a drink?”
Jae-hee’s Father suddenly asked Father.
“Yes.”
“Let’s have a bottle.”
Jae-hee’s Father ordered a bottle of soju.
“So, what does Sung-guk’s father do? Our family has been in construction for generations in Busan.”
“I run a small Bossam Restaurant.”
“Do you own several?”
“No. I own just one.”
“So, is business going well?”
Jae-hee’s Father poured soju into Father’s empty glass.
Father quickly accepted the soju and poured it into Jae-hee’s Father’s empty glass.
“Word of mouth has spread, so we’re doing decent sales these days.”
“What did you do before that?”
“I worked at a Bossam Restaurant.”
“As an employee?”
“Yes.”
Father answered honestly.
Jae-hee’s Father downed his soju in one gulp.
“Sung-guk will probably earn more than his father.”
I clenched my fist beneath the table.
[Jae-hee’s Father, are you really trying to start something?]
I knew every weakness of Jae-hee’s Father. And I also knew what would happen to him in the coming IMF crisis.
“My husband only knows how to make and sell Bossam, so I handle Sung-guk’s planning. We also have an actress named Lim Sun-mi and Song Hye-sun at our company—she’s one of the rising stars these days.”
Mother stepped in.
When the names of recognizable actresses Lim Sun-mi and Song Hye-sun came up, Jae-hee’s Father hesitated.
[Mom, nice!]
Jae-hee’s Father downed his soju again.
“If the mother works, then who takes care of the child?”
“I raised Sung-guk until he was three, and after that, an aunt who we consider family has been taking care of him.”
“A child should be raised by his mother. What’s the point otherwise.”
Jung-hee’s Mother fidgeted anxiously.
“Honey, stop it.”
“What! Am I wrong? You married well and stayed home like a flower, raising our beautiful Jung-hee—isn’t that right?”
As Jae-hee’s Father’s voice rose, both Jung-hee’s Mother and Jung-hee went pale. Jae-hee’s Father was a man with a violent temper.
Infidelity and violence.
He was the worst kind of man.
Jung-hee had struggled throughout their relationship because of her father’s behavior.
The room’s atmosphere turned frigid. Jung-hee’s Mother barely touched her food before setting down her spoon, and Jung-hee, noticing her mother’s discomfort, did the same.
Jae-hee’s Father set down his spoon with a displeased expression.
“It seems our family has finished eating. Please, help yourselves to more if you’d like.”
[How could he be so rude! When has a host ever left the table first!]
I glared at Jae-hee’s Father with barely contained fury.
“We’ll take care of the bill. Well, hearing about your family situation, it seems this is your first time at a hotel.”
Jae-hee’s Father continued to look down on us.
“Sir, we’ll pay for tonight’s dinner.”
[Dad?]
I looked at Father in surprise. He regarded Jae-hee’s Father calmly and continued speaking.
“We’ve earned some money by trading on our son’s face, so we can afford a dinner like this. Your wife and daughter barely ate anything, but our sons have healthy appetites. So we should pay. Why don’t you head out? You seem busy.”
“What did you say?”
“And though we grew up without parents, we know that it’s impolite for a host to leave the table first. You’ve had more and learned more than we have, yet your manners tonight have been quite lacking.”
Father drove his point home.
I looked at Father again. He rarely spoke harshly to anyone, and he’d never raised a hand to Min-guk or me even when we fought. For him to say such things—I couldn’t even see Jung-hee sitting across from me anymore.
“Everything’s so irritating. Earning money off your child’s face, is it? Pay up then. Let’s go, Jung-hee.”
Jae-hee’s Father left the room with Jung-hee and her mother.
The moment the door slammed shut, Mother stared at Father and burst out laughing.
“Honey, when did you prepare that?”
“So-young, wasn’t I shaking?”
Father gulped down water.
“Not at all! That was completely refreshing!”
I gave Father a thumbs up.
“Dad, that was awesome!”
“Now let’s eat properly. I feel bad for Jung-hee’s Mother and Jung-hee. I don’t know how much money they have, but they must struggle under a father like that.”
“Since you’re the one paying, you should eat your fill. What’s the cost? We can’t waste a single side dish.”
“So-young, you’ll advance me my allowance, right?”
“Use your emergency fund.”
“So-young~.”
Father pleaded with Mother and fortunately received an advance on his allowance.
I felt a swell of pride in my chest.
Mother and Father, who always seemed so thoughtless and immature, had somehow grown. They could now handle someone like Jae-hee’s Father—someone who looked down on the poor just because he had money—without my intervention.
I filled my spoon with the white rice in front of me.
This expensive meal was bought with Mother and Father’s blood and sweat—I couldn’t waste a single grain!
“Sung-guk, eat slowly.”
“Mom, it’s delicious!”
“So-young, Sung-guk’s palate seems too refined. He only likes jjajangmyeon from Samjeon Hotel. And Korean food too—only from Samjeon Hotel….”
[Dad, I ate a lot of their food in my past life. My taste buds haven’t changed.]
“Honey, we really need to earn a lot of money.”
“So-young, eat plenty yourself.”
“You too, dear.”
Before long, Mother and Father were looking after each other’s side dishes.
I quietly placed some bulgogi on top of Min-guk’s rice.
[Korean beef. Eat up.]
Min-guk now ate rice and meat just as well as I did.
“Big brother!”
Min-guk held out his rice spoon.
“You want more?”
“Yeah!”
I placed more bulgogi on Min-guk’s spoon. Mother quickly popped a piece of bulgogi into my mouth.
“Sung-guk, eat while you take care of Min-guk.”
[Mom, Min-guk’s eating speed is no joke.]
I suddenly wondered if I’d looked after my younger siblings like this in my past life. There was no need or reason to care for them then. Everything was abundant, overflowing even.
Father looked after Mother, Mother looked after me, and I looked after Min-guk—this was our family now.
Always something lacking, yet this kind of scarcity didn’t seem entirely bad….
“Big brother, meat!”
[Min-guk, eat plenty. You’ve got to earn your meal!]
* * *
As we left after finishing breakfast, I spotted Jung-hee also coming out after her meal.
Jung-hee said something to her mother, then rushed over to me.
“Sung-guk, I’m sorry for leaving early yesterday.”
“No, noona. Were you okay yesterday?”
I reassured Jung-hee with the magnanimity of a broad-minded man. She seemed genuinely touched.
“Sung-guk, I’ll write to you when I go to the United States. Can you give me your home address?”
I looked around, then went to the hotel desk and asked for a pen and paper. I wrote down our current address.
“Here you go, noona.”
“Sung-guk, I’ll definitely write.”
Jung-hee quickly took the address and returned to her mother. Jung-hee’s Father was nowhere to be seen.
Jung-hee waved her hand all the way out.
Even if the IMF currency crisis hit, a family like Jung-hee’s would have no trouble continuing her studies abroad. If the dim-witted Tae-guk married into her family, it might not be difficult at all. Tae-guk had no ambitions to begin with anyway. And he’d already fallen far from the position of successor.
I put my right hand in my pants pocket and turned away with a bitter smile.
In this life, I wanted to protect Jung-hee. But my mind remained cold and calculating.
Jung-hee’s Father—a man who relied only on family wealth and conducted business recklessly. On top of that, the very embodiment of the strong preying on the weak.
In this life, what mattered more than the love I couldn’t achieve in my past life was my own family, who cherished and loved me above all else. There was no reason to entangle myself with a family that disrespected my own.
Mother quickly came to my side.
“Sung-guk, Jung-hee really likes you so much.”
[Of course she does. I’m your son, after all.]
I quickly clung to Mother’s skirt.
“I like Mom the best.”
“Sure, Mom’s your favorite now. Let’s see if you still say that in a few years.”
“So-young, I like you the best.”
“Me too!”
The moment Father and Min-guk rushed to embrace Mother, she laughed and gently pushed us away.
“Honestly, you Jeon men are something else. I’d have no regrets if I just had one more beautiful daughter like Jung-hee.”
A chill suddenly ran down my spine.
[Mom, Dad… surely you’re not thinking about having a third child, are you?]
“So-young, I wouldn’t mind having one more daughter either… but you’ve been through so much already.”
[That’s right! Father’s always the rational one. Min-guk just barely pays for himself now, and another sibling would be too much.]
“If our daughter looked like Sung-guk and Min-guk, don’t you think she’d be really smart and beautiful?”
I shook my head.
I was fortunate enough to be born as a son like myself, and Min-guk was a thousand times better than Tae-guk. But a younger sister like Mi-jin? That was absolutely out of the question.
“So-young, let’s think about that slowly.”
“Okay. So where should we take Sung-guk and Min-guk today?”
[Mom, if we’re coming to Jeju Island, we should at least take out a yacht. Sipping champagne in the sea breeze—that’s paradise.]
“So-young, let’s take the kids to the beach. I’ve really wanted to build sandcastles and run toward the waves when they come crashing in.”
“Honey, me too! Sung-guk, Min-guk, doesn’t that sound fun?”
I weakly took Mother’s hand.
[Right, I’ve done it all in my past life, so in this one, I’ll do everything Mom and Dad want to do.]

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————