The Conglomerate Family Became A Villain [EN]: Chapter 27

Thanksgiving.

Along with Christmas, it is one of America’s biggest holidays.

One American media outlet conducted a poll to determine whether Christmas or Thanksgiving was the bigger holiday.

Before the vote, the media outlet published the arguments of those who championed each holiday as the best.

The proponents of Christmas argued that the most events and gatherings occur at the end of the year.

They added that celebrating the New Year is a global tradition.

On the other hand, those favoring Thanksgiving argued that it is the biggest American holiday, a time when the whole family gathers.

Thanksgiving sees peak sales in various sectors, including lodging, dining out, and air travel.

Even the famous Black Friday is considered part of the Thanksgiving season.

The results of the vote were…

As expected, Thanksgiving won overwhelmingly.

Americans acknowledged that they meet many people and attend various events during the season connecting Christmas and New Year’s. However, they considered it more important for the whole family to sit down and share a meal together.

‘A holiday is all about having a meal with family.’

The Hilton family was no different.

That day, family members scattered across the United States gathered in one place.

“It would have been nice if Mother were here too,” John Hilton, the eldest son of the Hilton family and Sarah’s brother, said with a short sigh.

Laura Hilton, the eldest daughter, frowned at John Hilton’s words.

“Mother has chosen her own path. We need to respect her decision.”

Sarah’s mother, Ronnie Hilton, relinquished the Hilton name by divorcing Andrew Hilton.

“I know.”

John Hilton was serving as an Air Force pilot, following a tradition for the eldest sons of the family.

Andrew Hilton’s voice grew heavy.

“It’s all my fault.”

Sarah comforted him in a soft tone.

“It’s not just your fault, Father.”

Even without his vast wealth, Andrew Hilton was a gentle and kind father. At first, she couldn’t understand why he and her mother had divorced.

But after hearing Sarah’s story, she could understand the reason for the divorce.

– When I was young, Father was originally a stubborn businessman. It was only after Mother left that Father realized he was wrong.

The story was that he hadn’t always been a gentle person.

‘Still, what’s done is done.’

Laura Hilton lightly tapped the table.

Tap. Tap.

“Okay, let’s stop with the gloomy talk. We’ve all gathered here after a long time.”

Father.

Two daughters and one son.

And two guests were joining them for dinner.

Along with Jung Hyun-woo, the other person invited to the Hilton family dinner was a woman named Jenny Olsen.

She was John Hilton’s fiancée and said to be from the Olsen family.

“Charlie.”

Laura Hilton’s gaze turned to Jung Hyun-woo.

“Is there anything you’re curious about?”

His eyes naturally went to Laura Hilton’s glamorous dress.

‘Who would believe this person is a Stanford physics professor?’

Laura Hilton had such a glamorous appearance that anyone would believe she was a Hollywood actress.

“I heard Charlie is a game developer.”

“That’s right.”

“What kind of games have you developed?”

Jung Hyun-woo answered honestly.

“I developed a game called Zero Space. It’s a game that can be played on the Atari 2600.”

Laura Hilton’s eyebrows moved slightly.

“Zero Space is the game that even had a TV commercial.”

Sarah shrugged at her words.

“How did someone who’s always in the lab see a TV commercial?”

Laura Hilton answered while moving her fork.

“I’m very interested in software.”

In 1982, American universities were eager to secure IT talent.

Stanford was no exception. She was a physics professor, but she had a great interest in IT, software, and networks.

“Charlie, she’s just teasing. My sister only knows numbers and symbols.”

“Sarah, are you trying to make me sound outdated? Some of our researchers are also game developers.”

Sarah tilted her head as if she couldn’t believe it.

“At Stanford Physics?”

“The basis of software development is logic.”

That wasn’t wrong. Development algorithms must be based on logical understanding.

‘The basis of physics is mathematics, and the basis of mathematics is logic.’

Early programmers and computer developers came from mathematics and physics, not engineering.

Jung Hyun-woo thought Laura Hilton’s words were sincere.

‘If she’s as interested in this field as she says, her research area might change.’

Of course, that was unlikely to happen. As far as he knew, there was no one named Laura Hilton making waves in the IT field.

“So, Charlie was a star developer. That’s why Sarah was interested in him.”

Tap.

Sarah lightly tapped her plate.

“Laura.”

As she became serious, Andrew Hilton said.

“Laura, don’t tease Sarah too much.”

Laura Hilton twirled her right index finger.

“I’m just kidding. Just kidding.”

“My sister often goes too far with her jokes.”

Laura Hilton ignored Sarah’s words and turned her gaze to Jenny Olsen.

“When are Jenny and John getting married?”

The two were already engaged, so it wasn’t an uncomfortable question.

“I think the wedding will be possible after John finishes his military service.”

Laura Hilton turned her head to her younger brother, John Hilton.

“John, are you just going to leave such a beautiful bride waiting? Hurry up and get out of the military.”

“Sister.”

“Haa, men only care about their own work.”

As Laura Hilton fanned herself, Andrew Hilton sighed deeply.

“John, don’t make the same mistake I did.”

“Yes, I understand.”

John Hilton was a young man who listened well to his father.

“So, Charlie.”

Jung Hyun-woo thought Laura Hilton was overly enthusiastic.

‘She must be volunteering to be a kind of mood maker.’

Except for her, the Hilton family members were mostly quiet.

Even Sarah, who was so lively during New Year’s, didn’t show that side of herself in front of her family.

Because of that, the eldest daughter, Laura Hilton, was leading the conversation.

Jung Hyun-woo decided to go along with her.

‘It doesn’t cost me anything.’

He slightly raised the end of his sentence, indicating a question.

“Laura, what is it?”

“I heard star developers are tycoons, is that not true?”

A tycoon in front of the Hilton family.

Jung Hyun-woo clicked his tongue inwardly.

‘Tsk, that’s like a firefly trying to show off its brightness in front of the full moon.’

Even so, he couldn’t completely deny her words.

“I’ve earned more money than is appropriate for my age.”

“Really? How much specifically?”

It was a question that wouldn’t be easily asked in Korea.

Sarah also thought she had crossed the line.

“Sister?”

It was when she raised her voice.

John Hilton turned his head to Jung Hyun-woo.

“Charlie, you don’t have to answer if you feel uncomfortable.”

Jung Hyun-woo slowly shook his head and answered.

“I’m not uncomfortable. It might be something many people are curious about.”

Game developers, or rather, IT industry workers, were people working in new occupations that didn’t exist before. It wasn’t strange to be curious about their salaries or income.

“How much did you earn with Zero Space?”

Jung Hyun-woo answered as if he were talking about today’s weather.

“It’ll be about 5 million dollars.”

The total sales of the Zero Space series had surpassed 2.5 million copies.

Even calculating only the royalty of $5 per copy, it was $12.5 million.

But Jung Hyun-woo reduced the amount and answered. Even so, John was greatly surprised and dropped his fork.

“You earned that much money?”

Andrew Hilton was also quite surprised.

“I didn’t know game development made that much money.”

Laura Hilton became even more excited as the topic she had brought up grew bigger.

“5 million dollars? That’s a salary that even Magic Johnson doesn’t get.”

Magic Johnson was a superstar for the LA Lakers who had already won two NBA Finals MVP awards.

The salaries in the NBA at this time were different from the highly commercialized NBA of the 2000s.

His annual salary this year was not even 2 million dollars, let alone 5 million dollars.

“I was lucky.”

Sarah shook her head.

“It’s not luck, it’s skill. There aren’t many developers as talented as Charlie.”

She knew that Jung Hyun-woo had developed Zero Space alone.

“A rising star.”

Laura Hilton’s eyes shone like those of a predator who had found its prey. Sarah immediately caught that look.

“Laura, don’t get any strange ideas.”

Strange ideas from a blonde beauty.

Could it be something scandalous?

It was when Jung Hyun-woo was slightly intrigued.

“Charlie, won’t you come to Stanford?”

A scout offer from a Stanford physics professor.

Sarah raised her eyebrows at Laura Hilton’s words.

“Laura!”

Laura Hilton raised her right hand.

“I’m not saying it as a joke. Charlie is already a star developer. He already has the qualifications to enter Stanford.”

She sincerely wanted to recruit Jung Hyun-woo.

‘Me, at Stanford?’

Stanford University.

The heart of Silicon Valley.

The cradle of IT developers worldwide.

When describing Stanford graduates, they didn’t cite people like Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States and a Harvard graduate.

Instead, they mentioned people like Jerry Yang, who founded Yahoo, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the co-founders of Google, Peter Thiel of PayPal, Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Kevin Systrom of Instagram, and Reed Hastings of Netflix.

In addition, although he didn’t graduate from Stanford, the famous Steve Jobs had an office at Stanford, and Elon Musk quit his doctoral program after only a few days. Stanford was associated with countless famous people in the IT industry.

‘If I enter Stanford now…’

He could stand shoulder to shoulder with the legends of the IT industry.

‘Should I just go this way?’

If he became the founder of Yahoo or Google, he could become a tycoon far surpassing the Hilton family.

‘But that might change the course of history too much.’

Of course, what he wanted to do could also greatly change the course of history.

However, he didn’t want to steal the achievements of geniuses.

‘It would be a problem if Apple didn’t have Steve Jobs or if Google wasn’t born. Besides, Sarah is in Boston.’

Jung Hyun-woo answered in a soft voice.

“I’m sorry, but I’m thinking about another school.”

Laura Hilton’s eyes narrowed.

“Another school besides our Stanford?”

“MIT.”

MIT.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

This side had figures like Richard Feynman, famous for his work on nanomachines and quantum computing, and Lisa Su of AMD.

And MIT had achieved even greater results in the academic field, pushing Stanford to 6th place and rising to 5th in the number of Nobel Prize winners.

“Oh, you’re going to a rival school?”

Stanford’s most famous rival was UCLA in the same region, but as you can see from the Nobel Prize rankings, they were engaged in fierce competition in the academic field.

“Sister, Charlie has the freedom to choose a school.”

“I also have the freedom to recruit students.”

Laura Hilton turned her gaze back to Jung Hyun-woo.

“Is it because of Sarah?”

MIT hadn’t even received his application, but it was already competing with Stanford.

“Excuse me?”

Laura Hilton was sharp. She intuitively guessed that Jung Hyun-woo had chosen MIT because of Sarah.

“You chose MIT because Sarah is in Boston.”

Jung Hyun-woo shrugged.

“The high school I attended is also in Boston.”

“What if we offer a full scholarship from our side?”

As a prestigious university, Stanford maintained high tuition fees. Of course, there was a well-established scholarship system for students with poor economic situations.

“Didn’t I say I earned 5 million dollars last year alone?”

Laura Hilton lightly clapped her hands.

“Right, what was I saying in front of a rising star? Charlie, forget what I just said. But I won’t give up on Charlie.”

After hearing about the 5 million dollar profit, Andrew Hilton looked at Jung Hyun-woo again.

“Were you perhaps the Charlie who met Peter [Peter Lynch, a famous investor] together?”

Sarah nodded at her father’s question.

“Yes.”

“I misunderstood without knowing that.”

Laura Hilton clicked her tongue at the mention that Sarah had met Peter Lynch.

“That guy has too much 허세 [heose – Korean for showing off].”

“Peter is a smart person.”

“He’s just stubborn.”

“Sister!”

“It would have been better to ask me for advice.”

While the two sisters were bickering, Andrew Hilton asked Jung Hyun-woo.

“Charlie, would you mind if I asked again what your relationship with Sarah is?”

It was a question with multiple meanings.

Jung Hyun-woo didn’t think he could just answer that they were teacher and student.

‘Andrew is asking sincerely.’

Then it was right to answer sincerely.

“I’m in business with Sarah.”

It was a strange thing.

To Andrew Hilton, the one word ‘business’ sounded heavier than the word ‘marriage’.

“Please take good care of my daughter.”

At his words, Sarah and Laura’s argument stopped.

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