I Will Raise This Family to Greatness - Chapter 509

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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 509
I asked Jeon Tae-guk for a favor.
To visit Mexico as officially and grandly as possible.
Jeon Tae-guk listened to my request and answered casually.
– Father mentioned there are many issues at the Mexico factory and told me to check it out myself. But… what will you do for me in return?
Jeon Tae-guk had learned to attach conditions to his help.
“Brother, while you’re coming to help me, wouldn’t it be nice if you received state-level treatment in Mexico and had some photos taken? Then articles would come out showing that Jeon Tae-guk, who had disappeared, is actually diligently fulfilling his successor training.”
– Hmm… you called me to use me, but in the end we’re using each other. That’s what you mean by mutual benefit, right?
“In a sense, yes.”
– Well, let’s go to Mexico once. See the factory too… We’ll discuss the details when we get there.
* * *
Jeon Tae-guk’s arrival was as official and grand as I had described.
Samjeon sent an official document to the Mexican government stating that Jeon Tae-guk would visit to inspect the Samjeon factory in Mexico, and he received state-level treatment from the airport onward.
Given Mexico’s unstable security situation, police and military personnel provided extensive protection for Jeon Tae-guk, and his visit made it onto Mexican news.
One channel even deployed a helicopter to broadcast the event live.
– Samjeon’s successor Jeon Tae-guk has visited Mexico. Mexico has maintained long-standing economic ties with Samjeon. This visit is also reportedly due to Samjeon’s investments. Samjeon Group successor Jeon Tae-guk will rest today and enjoy a dinner with the president tomorrow evening.
Daniel and I, watching the news, smiled knowingly.
“CEO, I didn’t realize Samjeon’s influence was this enormous. But… you’re globally more influential than anyone, so why didn’t you appear in the news at all?”
“That’s because I came quietly for business reasons. Tae-guk needs to be in the spotlight like that.”
“CEO, is it because Jeon Tae-guk needs to be treated with such prominence in the news for him to be taken seriously back in Korea?”
“To some extent, yes.”
Samjeon was already investing effort into Jeon Tae-guk’s successor training.
In this context, the Mexico visit, state-level treatment, and dinner with the president were invaluable material.
A commotion began to rise from outside the hotel window.
Jeon Tae-guk had arrived at the hotel.
* * *
Jeon Tae-guk shook his head and loosened his necktie.
“Sung-guk, just one glass of tequila for me.”
“I already prepared Don Julio tequila.”
I handed Jeon Tae-guk a glass of Don Julio tequila.
“Oh, Don Julio! I love this tequila too. I should drink plenty while I’m here in Mexico and buy some to take back.”
Jeon Tae-guk downed the tequila in one gulp.
“Ahh— now I finally feel like I’m in Mexico.”
Then room service dishes began to arrive.
Traditional Mexican cuisine and various other dishes came up. Plus food ordered from a nearby Korean restaurant.
Jeon Tae-guk finished his second glass of tequila and glanced at me subtly.
“Sung-guk, something feels off about this…”
“That strange feeling of yours will be right.”
I answered calmly.
Jeon Tae-guk picked up the spicy stir-fried pork from the Korean restaurant first and continued speaking.
“You said we’d talk details in Mexico. So let’s talk details. What exactly are you doing in Mexico?”
“Well… actually, I came to Mexico to acquire Don Julio.”
“This tequila company?”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
“I’ve barely seen you drink tequila a few times… and now you’re saying you want to acquire a tequila company?”
“I’m not buying Don Julio because I love tequila. The truth is, I planned to buy it and resell it to Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, as a condition for acquiring Twitter.”
Jeon Tae-guk looked at me with confusion written all over his face.
“Do you really need to do that? Just buy Twitter directly. You have more than enough resources for it.”
“Well, that’s true, but….”
[I was trying to buy it cheap!]
I swallowed those words silently.
Just then, Daniel chimed in from beside me without hesitation.
“Jack Dorsey wants to buy Don Julio, so he’s put Twitter up for sale. But after considering various factors, our CEO realized that instead of acquiring Twitter directly, it would be cheaper to buy Don Julio—which Jack Dorsey is desperate to acquire—at a lower price and then swap Don Julio for Twitter.”
“Now that Daniel explains it, it makes sense. The Jeon Sung-guk I know would do any deal to save even a single won.”
[Do I really have that image of being a penny-pincher?]
Jeon Tae-guk smiled faintly as he noticed my eyebrows rising.
“Sung-guk, are you grumbling to yourself right now?”
“Brother, let’s finish the business talk quickly and have a drink.”
“Changing the subject, huh… Fine. Let’s talk business then. What do I need to do in Mexico?”
“You just need to continue receiving VIP treatment as you are now and keep your face in the media. I’ll handle the rest.”
Jeon Tae-guk picked up a piece of kimbap.
“Korean food in Mexico. How touching… Sung-guk, what will you be doing in the meantime?”
“I’m going to corner Don Julio.”
I took another sip of tequila and continued.
“The Samjeon Mexico Factory has a remarkably good reputation even within Mexico, where human rights are often disregarded. The employees have good benefits, and human rights are respected.”
“That’s something any business owner should naturally do.”
“But Mexican companies don’t do that. Don Julio is no exception. Workers often strike or protest, but the company just brings in gangs to suppress them. The media and political circles also take their money, so there’s no sign of improvement in the workers’ situation.”
Jeon Tae-guk nodded.
“That’s why Samjeon is so popular in Mexico, I’ve heard. It’s not just about wages—the benefits are excellent too.”
“Don Julio is a typical Mexican company in that regard. Human rights violations. Blind spots in welfare. Meanwhile, the executives live lavishly. Don Julio is trying to sell the company now, but their real scheme is to receive government subsidies under the guise of being a national company and line their own pockets even more.”
Jeon Tae-guk refilled his empty glass with tequila.
“Bad people. They make money off Don Julio and then try to squeeze the people’s tax money on top of that.”
“Exactly. That’s why I’m going to thoroughly expose Don Julio’s true nature to the Mexican people this time.”
“For that, you need someone the politicians and media can’t easily touch. And that someone is me—the heir of Samjeon, which is making substantial investments in Mexico?”
[Well, well. The fool is finally learning to read the game.]
I nodded.
“Don Julio actually threatened me earlier today. They said they could mobilize Mexican gangs.”
Jeon Tae-guk’s small eyes widened.
“Sung-guk, that scares me too.”
“There’s nothing for you to be afraid of, hyung. You’re receiving state guest treatment right now. If the heir to Samjeon were attacked here in Mexico, it would be an international embarrassment.”
“That’s true, but… would gangsters know something like that?”
“Hyung, look out the hotel window right now. There are easily over a hundred police and soldiers surrounding this hotel.”
“But Sung-guk… even if people knew you were making an official visit to Mexico, you’d receive this level of treatment. You might even receive more state guest treatment than I do.”
“What I want is for no one to know that I’m going to buy Don Julio.”
Because after I buy Don Julio, I’m going to hand it over to Jack Dorsey immediately.
“If people found out that a national enterprise was being purchased by a foreigner—especially a young East Asian like you—and then immediately handed over to a hippie American, the Mexican people would go absolutely mad, right?”
Jeon Tae-guk asked naturally, as if the thought had just occurred to him, while eating Korean fried chicken.
[A dog at a village school—what happened in the few days I wasn’t looking?]
I stared at Jeon Tae-guk for a moment.
Noticing my gaze, Jeon Tae-guk grinned sheepishly.
“Sung-guk, Lee Kyung-soo gave me all the advice. When you said you were desperately looking for me, he said he’d already found your recent activities suspicious, so he mobilized all his economic knowledge to deduce what you were up to and told me to make up my mind and come to Mexico.”
“But why didn’t Lee Kyung-soo come with you?”
“He said Mexico scares him.”
At those words, Daniel smiled slightly.
“Now that I’m here, it doesn’t seem like such a scary country after all.”
“Hmm… we’ll see about that, Daniel. I have a feeling Jeon Sung-guk might make it a scary country.”
“Don’t worry, both of you. If anything dangerous happens, Barack said he’d make one phone call.”
“That’s the way! Better than me.”
Jeon Tae-guk exclaimed in admiration and took a swig of tequila.
While we were exchanging words, my phone rang. It was Diego.
I answered the call quickly.
“Diego, did you find her?”
– Yes, CEO. I found Stephanie Mayor. But… she says she’s afraid to come forward because she lost her baby and her job because of that incident.
I glanced quickly at Jeon Tae-guk.
“Hyung, could you hire one employee at the Samjeon factory?”
“What’s the story?”
“She’s a female employee at the Don Julio factory who was demoted to a dead-end position because she was pregnant and then miscarried. If Samjeon hires her, it would probably improve Samjeon’s image in Mexico.”
“That’s really a good deed for the public. I can’t miss out on something this good.”
I spoke to Diego right away.
“Diego, tell Stephanie Mayor that if she cooperates with us, she can get a job at the Samjeon Mexico Factory right away.”
– Yes, CEO!
* * *
That night, Stephanie Mayor arrived at the hotel late.
Entering the room I had reserved in advance, Stephanie Mayor remained tense.
I tried to ease Stephanie Mayor’s tension.
“My name is Jeon Sung-guk. I’m the co-CEO of FaceNote.”
“CEO, I showed her your photo and explained the general situation.”
Diego appropriately interpreted between me and Stephanie Mayor.
“Stephanie wants to hear exactly from you what she’ll be doing. And how you can protect her.”
I regarded Stephanie Mayor with careful deliberation.
“Stephanie, listen to me carefully. Tomorrow morning, there will likely be an article announcing that Samjeon has hired you. Of course, only if you accept my proposal.”
Stephanie Mayor nodded as she listened to Diego’s interpretation.
Daniel, who couldn’t speak Spanish but understood it well, was meticulously checking Diego’s interpretation from beside him.
“When Samjeon announces the hiring, they will extensively expose Don Julio’s true face to the media as a so-called national enterprise. Your mistreatment at the company, and Don Julio’s scheme to escape its current financial crisis by leveraging its image as a national enterprise. Your role afterward will simply be to appear in a few interviews the media requests and speak about the unfair treatment you suffered at Don Julio.”
Diego promptly interpreted my words for Stephanie Mayor.
“CEO, Stephanie says she has done this several times before, but each time she received threats from local gangs. The media didn’t even run the stories.”
“Diego, tell Stephanie this: this time it absolutely will not happen that way. If she agrees to cooperate now, the content I’ve described will be on the morning news tomorrow. If the morning news doesn’t carry reports about Don Julio’s wrongful termination and the resulting miscarriage, she can leave this hotel whenever she wishes. Isn’t that a fair enough deal?”
As Diego interpreted for Stephanie Mayor, she looked at me with anxious eyes and nodded.
Then she spoke in Spanish.
“I’ll trust you this once.”

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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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