I Will Raise This Family to Greatness - Chapter 86

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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 86
I lingered in the restroom for a while before emerging with a composed expression.
But there was Mark, leaning against the sink.
“Mark?”
“Sung-guk, are you okay?”
Mark’s face was etched with concern.
“Mark, what about Jessie? What are you doing here!”
I burst out in exasperation.
I didn’t voice the thought: What are you doing here when I arranged this opportunity for you? Idiot!
I almost said it.
“Sung-guk, did you deliberately pretend to be sick so Jessie and I could eat alone together?”
“No. My stomach really hurt. But… I did hope you two would have a meal together.”
I spoke with half-truth, half-lie.
Mark approached me with an expression bordering on tears and suddenly embraced me.
“Sung-guk, there’s no one like you. Sung-guk, I swear I’ll never betray you.”
Of all times, my phone was in my pocket.
[I really need to record this…]
I patted Mark’s bony shoulders gently with my palm and asked in a measured voice.
“Mark, you received another proposal from Bill Gates, didn’t you?”
“What?”
Mark stared at me in shock.
I had only pretended to be sick to let Mark and Jessie dine alone. There was no reason for him to say he wouldn’t betray me.
There was clearly a conversation between the two of them that I didn’t know about.
“Mark, it’s fine. I’m ready to hear anything. Of course, my heart will break. I really wanted you and Jessie to succeed.”
“That’s… well…”
Mark stammered.
This guy was definitely nervous.
It’s a habit that emerges when he’s tense.
“Mark, should I just leave? I’m tired and want to go home and rest.”
“I’m sorry, I’ll tell you. Bill Gates promised to make me the CEO of that company if I could convince you to sell Face Paper.”
“How were you planning to convince me?”
“Honestly, I had no plan. And I haven’t answered Bill Gates yet.”
Mark scratched his head.
“Mark, not answering means you were tempted by the offer, doesn’t it?”
“That’s… well, yes. But I wanted to hear your opinion first.”
“What are you talking about? I clearly said I won’t sell.”
“He said it doesn’t have to be right now.”
[Look at that, now it’s Bill.]
Mark was so flustered he didn’t even realize what he was blurting out.
I firmly grasped Mark’s shoulders as he knelt before me.
“Mark. One thing’s clear—I’m not selling Face Paper to anyone, and I plan to grow it further. So stop trying to convince me by watching and waiting.”
“…Ah, I got it. Sung-guk, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
Mark scratched his unruly hair.
[People really don’t change, do they?]
It was well-known that Mark had betrayed both his co-founders and friends when building Face Paper.
“Sung-guk, let’s grab dinner. I’m starving.”
“We’ll eat with Jessie.”
“I thought about it for a moment, but I was worried about you. This is sincere.”
“Mark, thanks. Dinner’s on me. How about hamburgers?”
“Sounds good.”
Mark smiled brightly.
Either way, Mark was still in high school, and he had an innocent side to him.
But our future didn’t seem quite so bright.
* * *
A small hamburger restaurant in New York.
Jessie sat before a hamburger, dressed in an elegant dress.
Mark and I took our seats across from her.
Jessie greeted us with a radiant smile.
“You two’s friendship is so beautiful to watch.”
Jessie took a big bite of her hamburger.
After hearing our story, Jessie had waited for us at a nearby café.
Mark scratched his head, looking embarrassed.
“Sung-guk, are you really going back to Korea? Christmas is just a few days away—spend it here with us. You have a place in New York anyway.”
“Koreans usually spend the end and beginning of the year with family. I miss my mother, father… and my siblings too.”
I couldn’t believe those words came from my own mouth.
I thought of Mother and Father often, but Min-guk and Ji-hee crossed my mind frequently as well.
In my past life, that would have been utterly impossible.
Jessie’s expression grew wistful as she suddenly grabbed my hand.
[What does this mean? You can’t just touch me like that because I’m young, Jessie.]
Mark watched with envious eyes.
“Sung-guk, I’m going to miss you so much.”
“Jessie, I’ll be back soon and take the winter break intensive at school. We can see each other then. Oh! Mark, what are you doing for Christmas?”
I quietly pulled my hand away from Jessie’s grip.
“I guess I’ll just eat with my family and stuff.”
But Jessie said nothing.
This was my limitation.
If I pushed Mark any closer to Jessie, it would only backfire.
At this moment, the most difficult problem I faced wasn’t Face Paper’s future—it was Mark’s love life.
[Mark, I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do about this.]
* * *
“Hyung! Hyung! Hyung!”
Min-guk’s voice echoed all the way through the airport gate.
I had returned to Korea with Ye-jung and Ye-ri to spend the year-end holidays with family.
“Sung-guk, it looks like all your siblings are here.”
“Seems like it.”
“This guy was sulking the entire flight, but look—his face is practically glowing now.”
Ye-jung and Ye-ri took turns teasing me.
I couldn’t even explain why I was acting this way.
I simply wanted to hurry through this gate and finally see the family waiting for me.
As I pulled the luggage cart outside, Min-guk was waving a piece of paper—clearly torn from a sketchbook—exactly as I’d expected.
Written across the sketchbook page were the words “Welcome Hyung!”
Behind him, I could see Father holding Ji-hee, with Mother standing beside them.
The moment they saw me, both of them broke into radiant smiles.
[It’s only been six months, and everyone’s getting all emotional like this. How provincial.]
“Sung-guk, are you crying?”
Ye-ri asked with her usual tactlessness.
[I’m not crying. I just got a yawn, that’s all….]
I ran straight toward Mother and Father.
“Mother, Father!”
“Sung-guk!”
Whoosh.
At last, I was wrapped in their embrace.
* * *
From the kitchen came the clatter of Father cooking.
It was the first time in a while that Kim Mi-young had joined us.
[CEO Kim, it’s been forever!]
Kim Mi-young smiled at me and ruffled my hair.
“You’ve grown even more since I last saw you, Sung-guk. How’s life in the United States? Are your studies going well?”
“Yes. CEO Kim, how’s the company?”
“That cooking competition show we produced with the director from 【Five Men and a Baby Basket】 turned out pretty well, so we’re preparing season two now. Thanks to your idea, things are running smoothly, so your mother and I have been incredibly busy lately.”
Mother was still running SKJ Entertainment, which had been established under my name.
The reality was that if I asked adults too many prying questions about their affairs, I’d be criticized for not acting like a child, so I stopped my questioning at an appropriate point.
Spending a few days together would naturally bring out plenty of stories anyway.
Just then, Min-guk tugged at my shirt from behind.
“Hyung, play with me.”
[Hyung, I still have some business matters to discuss with CEO Kim. Go away, Jeon Min-guk.]
“Hyung, play with me. I even bought a gaming console so we could play together.”
[Games are just for kids.]
Mother wrapped her arms around me and patted my bottom affectionately.
“Sung-guk, Min-guk counted down the days until you arrived. Last night he kept asking when you were coming, saying he’d have you sleep in his room, and he was absolutely beside himself.”
A typical Seoul Apartment of 34 pyeong has three bedrooms and two restrooms.
My room had now become Min-guk’s room, and the remaining one had become Ji-hee’s playroom.
Somehow, it felt lonely.
As if there was no longer a place for me in this home….
Mother noticed this and quickly caressed my cheek.
“Sung-guk, are you upset that Min-guk is using your room?”
“….”
I shook my head.
I shook it firmly and maturely.
This was the life of a firstborn born with a wooden spoon.
I decided to accept it.
“Hyung! Let’s play a game together!”
Min-guk came running at me with unbridled enthusiasm.
“Yeah. Let’s play a game.”
“Yaaay!”
Min-guk threw his arms around me.
“Oppa. Oppa.”
And Ji-hee, whose words had only recently begun to flow, grabbed my pants and kept gazing up at me with a bright smile, drooling quite profusely….
[Sigh, I’ve got another one to take responsibility for.]
I lifted Ji-hee into my arms.
She had grown quite heavy already.
“Ji-hee, let’s play a game with oppa.”
“Yes!”
Ji-hee raised her hands up high.
* * *
“Ugh!”
I let out a short cry and my eyes snapped open.
Min-guk’s foot had struck my abdomen hard.
Min-guk was still sleeping soundly, oblivious to the world.
I carefully lifted Min-guk’s leg and moved it aside, then quietly got up.
Even if they were ten and eight years old, a single bed was too narrow.
Maybe I should go to the restroom.
Just then, I heard Mother and Father’s conversation coming through the slightly open door.
The two of them had set up a small table in the Living Room and were having a beer together.
“Honey, did you see Sung-guk’s report card?”
[You’re just seeing it now?]
I waited for Father’s response with a pleased expression.
My grades in the first semester of high school had placed me in the top one percent.
Even though I had possessed such a brilliant mind in my previous life that I could enter Seoul National University on my own merits, this life was different.
The children at Phillips Academy were prodigies renowned even in the United States, and this was precisely the timing when my previous life’s advantages were beginning to diminish. This grade was truly the result of my blood, sweat, and tears.
“I saw it… but the report card made me a bit sad.”
[Dad, why? Are you upset because I didn’t get first place? I’ll try to get first next semester.]
Father took a sip of beer and continued.
“To get grades like that at a school that’s even difficult to get into in America… I can’t help but feel sorry for how hard that kid must have studied. It breaks my heart thinking about the struggle he went through.”
“I know. Sung-guk has always been so ambitious anyway. He must have worked incredibly hard to not fall behind.”
“I just wish Sung-guk could live as comfortably as we do. It’s not like we can’t earn a living anymore.”
By now, Father and Mother’s income was impressive enough to make most households jealous.
Won Uncle’s Bossam’s sales kept growing, and Father’s restaurant was doing well enough to employ several staff members.
SKJ Entertainment, created together by Mother and Kim Mi-young, was also establishing itself as a production company.
Father and Mother each poured themselves a glass of beer and resumed their conversation.
“So-young, but I don’t think Sung-guk will come back even if we ask him to. He’s too ambitious.”
“Yeah. Let’s just let Sung-guk do what he wants. Teacher Lee of Samcheongdong said that too.”
“So-young, do you still remember what Teacher Lee of Samcheongdong said about you becoming the mother of a great man?”
“You caught me.”
Mother laughed brightly.
[Mom, don’t worry. I’ll definitely become the mother of a great man. But…]
Since I was already up, I thought I’d go to the restroom, but now I really needed to go.
I didn’t want to break the warm, intimate atmosphere between Mom and Dad…
I shifted my weight from foot to foot.
Just then, Min-guk woke up behind me, rubbing his eyes.
“Hyung, Min-guk needs to pee.”
Perfect timing.
I quickly helped Min-guk up.
Then I took his hand and opened the door, rubbing my eyes as if I’d just woken up.
“Sung-guk, Min-guk, you’re awake?”
Mother came over quickly.
“Mom, Min-guk needs to use the restroom.”
“Oh, I’ll take him. Sung-guk, you go back to sleep.”
“I need to go too.”
“Alright. Sung-guk, do you want to go first?”
I gently pushed Min-guk forward.
“Min-guk first. I can wait.”
“Thanks, hyung.”
Min-guk quickly dashed into the restroom.
Mother kissed my face repeatedly.
[Mom, you smell like alcohol.]
“Our Sung-guk has grown up so much. Now act like a proper older brother.”
[Mom. You seem to have forgotten, but it was me who built up this family!]
Father came over and took my hand.
“So-young, you go rest too. I’ll put Sung-guk and Min-guk to bed and clean up here.”
“Thanks, Sung-guk. Mom’s going to bed first.”
“Okay!”
Mother rubbed her sleepy eyes and headed into the master bedroom.
Then Father leaned in and whispered quietly into my ear.
“Sung-guk, let’s have a date with Dad tomorrow. Understood?”
[Just the two of us is going to be awkward, Dad.]

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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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