The Conglomerate Family Became A Villain [EN]: Chapter 135

135. Raise the Sails High (2)

“Are you really getting married?” Sarah asked, her voice bright with a smile.

“That’s how it turned out,” Jenny Olsen replied, lowering her head shyly. Jenny was John Hilton’s fiancée, and John was Sarah’s brother. She had used her family’s influence to help Jung Hyun-woo get into MIT.

“Congratulations,” Jung Hyun-woo said.

John Hilton scratched his head. “I’ve left Jenny alone for too long. I want to be by Jenny’s side now.”

“Are you getting discharged then?” Sarah asked. John Hilton was serving as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force.

“I’m not getting discharged yet, but I’m thinking of transferring back from Europe,” he said. He was planning to leave his European base and work at one in the United States.

“That’s good,” Andrew Hilton said, nodding approvingly at his son’s decision. “You made a good decision.”

There was a lot of good news on Thanksgiving Day in 1984.

“I got promoted too,” Laura Hilton announced.

“You did, sis?” Sarah asked.

Laura Hilton had also succeeded in getting promoted in recognition of her research achievements in the field of applied mathematics.

“I told you I’d get promoted before I turned thirty, right?” Laura said with a smirk.

“Isn’t promotion for a professor a matter of politics?” Sarah asked skeptically.

“It’s not just politics. You have to have achievements,” Laura retorted.

“Is that so?” Sarah said, unconvinced.

Sarah didn’t seem particularly happy about Laura’s promotion, but Jung Hyun-woo knew that this was just how the two sisters interacted.

“How is Sarah doing?” John Hilton asked, changing the subject.

Sarah shrugged. “I’m the same as always.”

Laura interjected, “It’s hard to say that when you haven’t even graduated yet.”

“Laura!” Sarah exclaimed, annoyed.

“It’s not wrong. You’ve been in college for three years; shouldn’t you get a degree now, even if it’s late?” Laura said. She believed that even though Sarah’s business was thriving, she should still finish her degree.

“I don’t have time to leisurely go to college,” Sarah countered.

“Isn’t college a leisurely place?” Laura asked innocently.

Students at prestigious American universities were anything but idle. They studied day and night, leading to the saying that Harvard students were bookworms.

John Hilton sighed at the sisters’ bickering. “I’m glad you’re both doing well.”

Laura raised her right index finger. “John, tell Sarah to buy you a honeymoon home.”

John Hilton frowned. “Sis, enough with the jokes.”

“Why? Sarah is a billionaire now,” Laura teased.

“Sarah becoming a billionaire has nothing to do with my marriage,” John said firmly.

Laura put down her knife. “You have to get a wedding gift.”

“A small gift with sincerity is enough,” John replied. He was likely to succeed his father, Andrew Hilton, and his future wife Jenny’s Olsen family was also quite influential.

Even if Sarah was a billionaire, they didn’t need any financial support.

“John, that’s why you always get taken advantage of by Sarah. You should get as many gifts as possible when you can,” Laura insisted.

Sarah narrowed her eyes. “Is that why you force men to give you gifts?”

“What do you mean I force them? Men unilaterally try to give them to me. If I had received all those gifts, I would have filled several rooms,” Laura said.

There was some exaggeration, but it was true that Laura Hilton often received gifts from men.

Jung Hyun-woo pretended not to notice the sisters’ argument and asked John Hilton, “When are you planning to have the wedding?”

“I think May would be good,” John replied.

“That’s about half a year away,” Jung Hyun-woo observed.

“I’m planning to move my duty station in the meantime,” John said.

“If you change your duty station to domestic, will the aircraft type change too?” Jung Hyun-woo asked.

John Hilton nodded. “You know a lot about the Air Force. Since there are fewer state-of-the-art aircraft here compared to Europe, it probably will.”

It was the mid-1980s, and the Cold War was still ongoing.

The United States deployed its latest fighter jets to West Germany to deter a potential Soviet invasion.

“I heard a little from friends in the military,” Jung Hyun-woo explained.

“Did Charlie have friends in the military?” Sarah asked, surprised. Jung Hyun-woo was still young, so friends his age were unlikely to be in the military.

“My college friends are all older than me,” Jung Hyun-woo clarified.

“Ah, that’s right,” Sarah said, remembering that Yukawa, Ranuz, and Frank, Jung Hyun-woo’s classmates, were all older than him.

Andrew Hilton smiled contentedly as he watched his children. ‘The eldest had some ups and downs, but they are all doing their part.’ It couldn’t be more rewarding for a father to see his children thrive.

* * *

Inside the plane returning to Boston, Sarah asked Jung Hyun-woo, “Did you properly convey your gratitude to Jenny?”

“Of course,” Jung Hyun-woo replied. Before leaving Boston, he had said he would thank Jenny Olsen for Richard Feynman’s letter of recommendation.

“Did everything go as planned?” Sarah asked.

“Do you mean I achieved everything as planned?” Jung Hyun-woo quipped.

“Oh, you can even quote?” Sarah teased. Quoting famous people was a technique to enrich one’s vocabulary.

Jung Hyun-woo shrugged. “I’m still a college student.”

“I’m a college student too,” Sarah reminded him. Jung Hyun-woo was young, but Sarah was the same age as the new employees finishing their internships.

In fact, 30% of the new employees Victoria Corporation hired that year were older than her.

“Come to think of it, Sarah has only one year left,” Jung Hyun-woo mused. ‘If it weren’t for me, Sarah would have graduated as planned and gotten a job at a financial institution.’ His appearance had completely changed Sarah’s future. ‘Maybe she won’t get a college degree and will replace it with an honorary degree in a few years,’ he thought.

Sarah subtly changed the subject. “We talked about Microsoft last time.”

Jung Hyun-woo recalled their visit to Stanford. ‘Microsoft’s Windows system will dominate the computer operating system for more than 30 years.’ If a company developed software, it was difficult to avoid Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

“Don’t tell me you’ve contacted them?” Sarah asked, tilting her head.

“Hmm, was it something I shouldn’t have contacted?” Jung Hyun-woo asked innocently.

“No. I said I’d leave that to Sarah. I just thought Sarah had a lot of other things to do, so it wasn’t time yet,” he clarified.

Sarah lowered her voice and shared the results of contacting Microsoft. “Microsoft said that collaboration with Victoria Corporation is always welcome.”

At this time, Microsoft was a powerful company, but it hadn’t yet achieved monopoly status. So, they accepted Victoria Corporation’s request for cooperation without hesitation.

“‘Always welcome.’ That’s not like Microsoft, is it?” Jung Hyun-woo said, surprised.

Sarah hesitated before answering. “Hmm… What’s like Microsoft?”

The Microsoft that Jung Hyun-woo knew was slightly different from the Microsoft of late 1984.

“Is it a rigid, power-wielding kind of feeling?” he asked.

“Is it because of MS-DOS [Microsoft Disk Operating System]?” Sarah wondered.

“Could it be?” Jung Hyun-woo pondered.

“Developers like Charlie prefer self-developed programs. On the other hand, Bill [Bill Gates] bought and improved the program, so the image may not be good,” Sarah explained. As a manager, not an engineer, she could see Microsoft from a different perspective.

“I understand. I’ll talk to Development Team 3 about the collaboration with Microsoft,” Jung Hyun-woo said. Victoria Corporation’s development team now had four teams, excluding the game division.

Moreover, the number of people in each development team had increased significantly, almost doubling compared to the early days.

“There will be communication problems with the development team alone, so I’ll take charge of that too,” Sarah offered.

Jung Hyun-woo asked with a worried face, “Sarah, are you okay?”

“Are you talking about working hours?” she asked.

“You’re getting a lot of work again,” he pointed out.

Jung Hyun-woo and Sarah had reduced their workload to balance their lives.

But like a yo-yo after a diet, their workload and working hours were silently increasing.

“Isn’t that the same for Charlie?” Sarah countered.

Jung Hyun-woo had been paying attention to Korean affairs recently, so he was getting off work late.

He sighed deeply. “It’s going to be difficult.”

“It can’t be helped for the time being,” Sarah said. She believed that 1985 was the year to make a big move.

‘An IPO [Initial Public Offering] is like a startup’s dream,’ she thought.

Jung Hyun-woo also considered the IPO the most important event.

“I’m going on vacation after the IPO next year,” he declared.

Sarah chuckled. “I wonder if that will happen.”

“Don’t you trust me?” he asked.

“Once the IPO is done, we can see our company’s name on NASDAQ [National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations], but our work won’t be reduced,” Sarah said.

In her case, she had to prepare materials and briefings for the shareholders, so her workload would increase even more.

‘It will be hard for at least 2 or 3 more years,’ she thought, but it was worth it.

Jung Hyun-woo turned his gaze out the window and called her name. “Sarah.”

“Yeah?” she responded.

“Thank you,” he said.

Sarah tilted her head, surprised by his unexpected gratitude. “Why suddenly?”

The timing was too late to thank her for quickly handling the Microsoft matter.

“I feel closer to my family in America than to my family in Korea,” he confessed.

Family in America.

He really felt closer to the Hilton family, including Sarah and Laura, than to the Jung family, including Chairman Jung Woo-sun.

Sarah knew that his thank you wasn’t about business but about family, and she said softly, “You can lean on me anytime if you’re having a hard time.”

Jung Hyun-woo accepted her words without turning his gaze. “I will if it’s really hard.”

He once again thought that he was incredibly lucky to have met Sarah.

* * *

Meanwhile, as the game division was busy with the release of Lambda, Jung Hyun-woo was meeting with Edinburgh, a powerful member of the Republican Party.

“Thank you, Mr. Jung, for your support of our Republican Party,” Representative Edinburgh said. He had come to Boston to see Jung Hyun-woo in person because Jung Hyun-woo had been sending donations even after the presidential election was over.

Republicans valued continuous support from Jung Hyun-woo and Victoria Corporation more than one-time donations for elections, like those from the Daewoon Group.

“I think corporate social contribution is a natural thing,” Jung Hyun-woo said.

Representative Edinburgh smiled with satisfaction at the mention of social contribution. “Our Republican Party has been working for over a hundred years to make a better country.”

The Republican Party in the 2020s had the image of an old and conservative political group, but in its early days, it had taken the lead in making innovative and free claims, such as the abolition of slavery.

“Thanks to that effort, there is the United States now,” Jung Hyun-woo said.

“Good words,” Representative Edinburgh replied.

The two people’s small talk continued for about 30 minutes. Of course, there was nothing particularly special to discuss.

Jung Hyun-woo and Representative Edinburgh were meeting for the first time, and there wasn’t time to build a deep bond.

“If Victoria Corporation has any difficulties, we will actively step in,” Representative Edinburgh offered.

“There is no such thing yet, but if something happens that requires help from the Republican Party, I will carefully consider it and then ask for help,” Jung Hyun-woo said.

The two people’s last conversation was formal rather than sincere.

Jung Hyun-woo parted ways with Representative Edinburgh and headed home instead of returning to the company. As soon as he arrived, he picked up the phone.

“Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs,” he said.

The number Jung Hyun-woo contacted was Heo Moon-young, Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs’ direct line.

“It’s me,” Jung Hyun-woo said.

Senior Secretary Heo Moon-young nodded after hearing Jung Hyun-woo’s voice. “I didn’t think you would call me.”

“Didn’t you say you needed a link?” Jung Hyun-woo asked.

Senior Secretary Heo Moon-young had a headache because of the recently revealed corruption of the President’s family.

It hadn’t yet been released to the press, but the scale exceeded several billion won [Korean currency].

“You mean the link with the Republican Party,” Senior Secretary Heo Moon-young said.

Jung Hyun-woo clicked his tongue inwardly at his lukewarm response. ‘Tsk, I took the time to meet with Representative Edinburgh.’ He slightly raised his voice. “It seems that the Blue House [South Korean presidential residence] is not very urgent.”

Senior Secretary Heo Moon-young sighed. “I couldn’t call because I had a lot of urgent things to do here.”

“Urgent things?” Jung Hyun-woo asked.

“It’s not something I can tell you,” Senior Secretary Heo Moon-young said.

“I understand,” Jung Hyun-woo replied. He didn’t think he needed to know everything about the Blue House, big and small.

‘If I get deeply connected with the Blue House, there will be more bad things than good things,’ he thought. Jung Hyun-woo knew that the current power wouldn’t last long.

‘The President will continue to try to maintain his position, but history will not allow it.’ South Korea was moving towards the future.

“Hyun-woo, I think it would be better to talk about the Republican Party in early next year,” Senior Secretary Heo Moon-young said, suggesting postponing the meeting.

It wasn’t a bad idea for Jung Hyun-woo.

‘This side isn’t very solid with the Republican Party yet,’ he thought. He was planning to align himself with the Republican Party for the time being.

“I understand. If you contact me when you need it, I will schedule it within 2 months,” Jung Hyun-woo said.

Senior Secretary Heo Moon-young tilted his head. “Does it take 2 months to meet with the Republican Party?”

“Isn’t it more than just meeting for 10 or 20 minutes?” Jung Hyun-woo asked.

Senior Secretary Heo Moon-young lowered his voice. “You mean you have to schedule a long meeting in advance.”

“Americans often strictly observe vacations and holidays. We have to consider their culture to some extent,” Jung Hyun-woo said.

This was more of a lie than the truth.

Americans were more serious about work than Europeans. They even worked more than 70 hours a week if necessary. Even for a member of Congress, it wasn’t difficult to add or increase the schedule by an hour or two.

Of course, Senior Secretary Heo Moon-young wouldn’t know this. Jung Hyun-woo, who was doing big business in the United States, said this, so he just nodded.

“I understand. I’ll contact you in advance,” Senior Secretary Heo Moon-young said.

Jung Hyun-woo was about to hang up with a farewell greeting when Senior Secretary Heo Moon-young said, “I have some bad news for you.”

Jung Hyun-woo paused. “What bad news is it?”

“There is a story about you circulating among the upper class and international students in Korea,” Senior Secretary Heo Moon-young said.

Jung Hyun-woo sighed inwardly. ‘The Blue House can block the domestic media, but it can’t block the eyes and ears of people going back and forth to the United States.’ He said in a neutral voice, “I’m not worried about that. I can’t hide the eyes and ears of people going back and forth to the United States.”

“If the rumors grow through them, your identity may be revealed,” Senior Secretary Heo Moon-young warned.

“What I want is for the truth to be known as late as possible, not a complete secret,” Jung Hyun-woo said. He thought it was impossible to keep it completely secret.

‘Once the IPO starts, it will no longer be a secret,’ he thought. The time he could hide his identity was only a few months.

Senior Secretary Heo Moon-young was relieved to put down the burden of managing international students after hearing Jung Hyun-woo’s words.

“I understand. Then I’ll think of it as something that can’t be helped,” he said. He had even been considering ideological education for international students to keep his promise with Jung Hyun-woo.

But this was something that shouldn’t happen in a free democratic country.

At the same time, in a luxury house in Pyeongchang-dong [affluent neighborhood in Seoul], Jung In-hae, the eldest sister, was sitting across from Jung Min-seok, vice president of Daewoon Corporation.

“What’s the matter today?” Jung Min-seok asked.

“Can’t I meet my brother unless I have something to do?” Jung In-hae countered.

Jung Min-seok sighed. “I can’t let my guard down because Min-young is coming up,” he said, meaning that he was working hard to widen the gap with his younger sibling.

“I know that Min-young is moving actively,” Jung In-hae said. As the eldest daughter of Chairman Jung Woo-sun, she also had connections to the Daewoon Group.

“Then do you know that Chief Hong is being connected?” Jung Min-seok asked.

Jung In-hae’s face hardened. “I know. That’s why I called you today,” she said. She thought that if Jung Min-young was aligned with Chief Hong Won-ik, she could never let her guard down.

‘Even if he’s not in power, Chief Hong is one of my father’s close aides,’ she thought. Chief Hong Won-ik couldn’t influence the decision of the successor, but he could influence it.

Vice President Jung Min-seok put his hands together. “I’m glad you know, sister.”

“And there’s one more story,” Jung In-hae said.

Jung Min-seok received her words lukewarmly. “I hope it’s not a request,” he said. Right now, he was struggling just to widen the gap with Jung Min-young.

‘There’s no room to listen to my sister’s request,’ he thought.

However, the story Jung In-hae told wasn’t related to a request.

“It’s about Hyun-woo,” she said.

Jung Hyun-woo.

Vice President Jung Min-seok raised his eyebrows as if he had heard the name of a forgotten lover.