Being the chairman of South Korea's most substantial business conglomerate was not an easy task for Lee Jaejoong despite ranking 2nd place in Forbes' richest people in the world, accumulating a vast net worth of $140 billion dollars throughout his entire life.
Gunwoo Industries diversified into many areas, with the family's wealth carved from being a trading company to what it is now today; a multinational chaebol.
Unfortunately for him, almost having it all meant wanting it all.
He didn't want to be just in the 2nd place, he wanted to steal that dirty American, Jeff Bezos' spot, even if it meant having to marry off one of his four children; a task that he thought would be so easy that he didn't even bother to think of it for more than two days.
As barbaric arranged marriage was to many people in this modern age, it was not an uncommon occurrence in their families. Children of the rich would get married to other children of the rich to double their wealth — and that was what he wanted to do.
Junmyeon was the sweetest child he had ever seen; from the moment he was born, Jaejoong knew he would be on the path to greatness; the would-be heir of Gunwoo Industries. Then, came his love for music during his early teenage years — he spent his days avoiding conversations regarding the company and pursued a singing career instead; stuck writing in a studio almost everyday. He became Suho of SM Entertainment instead of Lee Junmyeon, the future heir of Gunwoo Industries. Alas, he was now twenty-nine-year old at the highest peak of his career; Jaejoong had to tick him off the box.
His second child was also a boy, who he had named after his great grandfather; Seokjin. He would've been the embodiment of perfection had he not invested most of his inheritance into high-end nightclubs and international casinos, which ended up tying him and the rest of the family into several sex, drug and underworld crime scandals. With the lifestyle that boy was living, it was bound to happen. Jaejoong had to acknowledge that if he had him married off to the heiress of a billion-dollar Australian company, he would be digging a deeper grave for his already troubled son; something that he would never do to his own blood.
The fact that his two sons were clearly unfit to be in an arranged marriage for various reasons (let alone get married if we were being honest) and that the last two of his children were girls practically drove Jaejoong close to madness, had he not been made aware by his staff that Park Chaeyoung, the future heiress of Park Energy Proprietary is also popular with the ladies.
And so, he thought about Jisoo; his third born and first daughter. She was always quiet growing up, preferring to be indoors with a book under her nose rather than being outside. At some point, he even thought that she was interested in being the face of the family business as she had been in the board as soon as she turned eighteen, with her consent, of course. However, for the past few months, he had noticed the decline of her interest within the company. It was clear to him that she no longer desired to run it and as he had recently learned from Seokjin, she has been too occupied from writing her own book. He could not break her heart and ruin the passion that she had just found — he would rather leave her in peace, recognising what the pressure of being the possible heir does to the mind and body.
It was disheartening enough that he couldn't rely on his older children that he had to turn to the youngest one; the one who hasn't lived her life to the fullest, yet. At the age of twenty-three, most of Y/N's achievements were academic-based; not that it was wrong, Jaejoong just wanted her to do more with her life — like travel the world and be romantically involved with more people. As he turned towards his wife, who looked too disappointed and bitter to even acknowledge his presence as she slammed her mobile phone on the glass table, his heart finally shattered.
His lovely Y/N, whose first words were certainly "yes, appa" would be at the receiving end of him and his father's selfishness. He couldn't deny that she was the loveliest out of all of them. Not only did she apply to Harvard Business School without his help, she also chose to apply for three jobs even though she was given multiple debit and credit cards filled with more than ten million dollars in the bank, just in case things got a little too challenging. Unlike the other children, not a single cent was spent on any one of them.
Jaejoong observed that her and the Australian heiress shared a lot of things in common (a quick Google search told him that), making his hopes that they would get along rise; regardless of the circumstances bestowed upon them.
The soft ringing of his phone interrupted him from another intrusive thought; he picked it up, eyebrows creased; ready to yell and possibly fire whoever was it ringing him at such an ungodly hour of one o'clock in the morning. Yet, after seeing Y/N's name on the screen, his face instantly softened as he pressed the phone to his ear. "Hello, my dear."
"Appa, I'm sorry to call at this hour but I had just received a call eomma and I figured you out of all people would know why is she asking me to pause my studies and focus on the business back home on such a short notice. Are you okay? Is halabeoji okay?"
Jaejoong cleared his throat, realising how much he had missed that sweet voice. "Everything is great, my dear, but I fear there is something really important that him and I must tell you and the rest of my children in person."
There was silence from the other end for a bit, as if she was thinking of what to say. "I will let the university know today, though, I must be honest with you."
"What is it, my dear?" he smiled at how much authority her voice held, it almost sounded like his.
"If they offer that I can continue everything online, I will not be refusing it. I am quite interested in applying for a doctoral program under technology and operations management next year."
"That is a wonderful plan, Y/N, I'm glad you're not backing your academic goals down. You will be the first to have a PhD in the family, how does it feel?"
"I feel superior, I mean, of course I can't be as popular as Suho, as good-looking as Jin and as smart as Jisoo, but my future achievements have got to be something," she chuckled whilst he realised how much the arranged marriage could affect their relationship; it would instantly change the way she saw him. "Well, I won't be keeping you any longer. I'd like you to know that I've missed you, appa. I can't wait to see you all back home."
His smile turned into a frown. "I love you, Y/N, see you in a couple of days."
"I love you too, old man."
It frowned upon Jaejoong that he possibly messed their relationship up in more ways than one and in every possible angle. It was never going to recover from this and she, his own child, was going to absolutely loathe him.
Then again, him and his beloved wife, Younghee, were in an arranged marriage at only eighteen years young, and they fell in love with each other the moment they met. It was safe to say that it wasn't an easy path to take, yet, thirty-six years later, they have four beautiful children together and she still manages to make him fall for her even deeper every single day.
Who's to say that Lee Y/N and Park Chaeyoung were going to absolutely hate each other?
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The Élite - Rosé x Reader
फैनफिक्शनWith more than enough money in the bank, the élite society of South Korea had it all; from priceless mansions, million-dollar vacations and luxury yachts - yet in a modern world full of endless gold, Park Chaeyoung finds her world crashing towards L...
