I woke up and opened my eyes in bed. It seemed like Bora hadn’t woken me up, and I had slept deeply for the first time in a while. Lately, I’ve gotten into the habit of waking up early, so it’s become common for me to open my eyes before Bora arrives.
I got out of bed and toddled over to draw the curtains. The morning sunlight poured in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, warming my body. Feeling the cozy sunlight, I rolled around on the floor.
Even though too much sunlight isn’t good, so I usually close the curtains when I sleep, there’s something oddly addictive about soaking in the sunlight first thing in the morning. I felt like rolling around all day.
As I lay there, rolling around for a while, I heard the door open. It was Bora.
“Hi!”
“Hi, Hana~”
After exchanging greetings, Bora rummaged through her bag and pulled out something. It looked like a camcorder and some files.
Curious, I walked over to Bora and asked, “What’s this…?”
“Oh, this is the thing that’s going to make Hana famous.”
“Really…?”
Bora picked up the camera, and I wondered if there was anything worth filming. Was she going to film me? But I couldn’t do anything. To create content, wouldn’t we need some kind of concept?
But Bora didn’t seem to care. She tapped the camera as if it wasn’t working. I stared at her, and sensing my gaze, she patted my head and said, “Hana needs to become famous to be recognized as a person. She still doesn’t have an ID card.”
I guess she was talking about how I, as this creature, wasn’t officially registered with the government. I didn’t really care, but Bora seemed very concerned.
Honestly, I’d forgotten because it was so comfortable here, but I was still treated as a monster. I couldn’t receive any human rights or legal benefits. If I had no abilities, I didn’t even want to imagine how I’d be treated.
“Today, Hana gets to be a princess.”
With that, Bora dragged me somewhere first thing in the morning. Knowing I had no power, every employee we met looked at me with friendly eyes.
Well, even I had to admit I looked like a cute little girl. Anyone who saw me couldn’t help but relax. It was a small perk of being born in this body.
If I’d been born as a disgusting, strange-looking monster, I’d probably be in an isolation room by now.
But today, the preparations felt unusually intense. Normally, I’d get a massage and then rest in my room, but Bora dragged me somewhere.
“Bora, where are we going?”
“We’re going to get Hana’s hair done.”
The research institute had every kind of store imaginable. It felt like the entire place was a complex building. My hair was usually cut every day, so I didn’t really take care of it.
So, my hair was a mess, sticking out in all directions. Some strands were even floating around because I’d just woken up.
I usually just washed my hair and tied it in a ponytail because it was easier, but today was different. Even though it would only last a day, I spent an hour at the salon getting my hair done.
At first, I watched as they worked on my hair, but soon I started nodding off and fell asleep. This body still seemed to need a lot of sleep. It wasn’t that I was particularly sleepy or anything.
Of course, they didn’t cut my hair much. They just applied some expensive oil and trimmed it slightly.
Honestly, my hair was more valuable than my body. In a way, my hair was more precious than me. It was a sad truth, but it was somewhat accurate. I was frustrated that I was losing to my hair, but there was nothing I could do. It’s not like I had the ability to stop my hair from growing.
After getting my makeup done, the reflection in the mirror was completely different from the me who had woken up this morning. My youthful face was still there, but this was a huge improvement.
Seeing my new look, Bora pulled out her camera.
—
“One box per person!!! Please line up and take one!!!”
The supermarkets were in chaos because of Starlight Green Tea. Starlight Food had switched from 100-count boxes to 10-count boxes, increasing the supply, but the number of people trying to buy it was much higher.
Kim Se-jin managed to grab one of the last two boxes and left. The supermarket, filled with people who couldn’t get a box of green tea, was like hell itself.
People were grabbing part-time workers, demanding more stock, and even rummaging through the store, convinced that more was hidden somewhere. If a riot broke out, this would be the place.
It was almost like…
‘This is hell, hell… I’ll have to leave two hours earlier from now on to survive.’
When he saw the sign saying they were open every day, it seemed like this supermarket attracted a lot of customers, so sales were likely to increase. Since he was already at the supermarket, he figured he might as well buy something.
“Hey, Uncle…”
However, Kim Se-jin was carrying the green tea box like a precious treasure on his way home when suddenly someone called out to him from behind.
“Yes?”
The person looked young, and he wondered why someone like that would bother talking to an older guy like him.
“Uncle, I’ll buy that green tea box you’re holding for 20,000 won. Can you sell it to me?”
The person seemed like a student. Their eyes were so pitiful that Kim Se-jin was about to refuse but felt a slight pang of guilt.
So, he handed over the green tea box after receiving 20,000 won. After all, he still had some green tea left at home from before.
The student who received the green tea box from Kim Se-jin happily headed home with it.
‘Huh?’
Come to think of it, the green tea box he bought for 3,000 won had just turned into 20,000 won. It was sold for a whopping 7 times the price, and the buyer didn’t seem to think it was expensive at all.
‘This reselling thing is no joke…’
Kim Se-jin suddenly had that thought as he headed home empty-handed. This time, he gave it away out of pity for the student, but he decided he wouldn’t do it again next time.
————————-
There were several reasons why Starlight Green Tea was selling like hotcakes. First, there were many concentration-boosting drugs. There were psychiatric medications, and even byproducts from monsters caught inside Gates had concentration-boosting effects.
But those drugs had their own drawbacks. Psychiatric drugs that boosted concentration could have side effects for normal people and didn’t guarantee a boost in focus. Plus, many people were reluctant to visit a psychiatrist.
Concentration-boosting drugs from monsters had short durations and were in limited supply. At most, only a few thousand to tens of thousands were available daily. So, these were mainly used by hunters in Gates for smoother hunts. They were too expensive for just studying.
But Starlight Green Tea was different. The supply was relatively sufficient at 400,000 units, and its concentration-boosting effect was definitely noticeable.
Of course, drinking this tea wouldn’t turn a 5th-grade student into a superhuman scoring 1st or 2nd grade. If you drank the tea and took a test, you might go from a 5th-grade score to a 4.8 or 4.9. The effect was real but not overwhelmingly strong.
However, in the upper-tier competition, the story changed. In this cutthroat battle where a single point difference could determine which university you got into, the cheat-like nature of Starlight Green Tea was undeniable.
For long-term study marathons, it boosted concentration without side effects. The price was also incomparably cheaper than similar drugs. And it wasn’t illegal.
Not just students preparing for exams, but also those studying for corporate or national exams would be so grateful they’d cry tears of joy while drinking the tea. Famous academies were already starting their study sessions by serving this tea every morning.
– I gave it to a kid who couldn’t sit still for even a minute, and they stayed focused for 1-2 hours! Sure, they got up and did other stuff afterward, but still, that’s something!
– I drank a cup before taking my civil service exam, and it really helped! Normally, my heart would race, and I couldn’t focus, but today it was much better!
– I’ve been pulling all-nighters for a company project, but I felt relatively less tired. This is the best.
– During an interview, my mind usually goes blank when I get questions, but after drinking Starlight Green Tea, my thoughts were so organized. Of course, I still failed, haha. But at least I said what I wanted to say, so I didn’t feel too bad.
Word of mouth about Starlight Green Tea from exam-preparing moms started spreading online.
