Chapter 28

“Can’t we find the reason why Hana ended up like that?”

Haru came out of the room with Bora for a moment. It wasn’t like Hana couldn’t hear, but it felt a bit awkward to talk about it right next to her. And seeing Hana’s teary eyes made Haru’s heart soften.

It reminded her of her niece. She wanted to cheer Hana up by saying, “Do whatever you want!” but the situation wasn’t great, so she couldn’t. If there hadn’t been people watching, she might have done it.

“Yes. Hana’s body composition is different from ours, so if she takes human medicine, who knows what might happen.”

Even though a doctor from a research institute specializing in treating different species had come, they couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason. Hana’s body was genetically different, so it was natural they couldn’t find a solution. But it still felt off to just leave it at that.

‘What if it gets worse? Should we go abroad?’

Abroad had more Gates, so countries like the U.S. might have more experience managing such life forms. Of course, it wouldn’t be easy to go.

Bora kept talking to the doctor. Haru could only blankly watch. Bora had spent more time with Hana, so it made sense for her to ask the doctor questions.

“Alright, I understand.”

They couldn’t find the exact reason. Outside, a slightly chilly autumn breeze was blowing.

—

“Hehehe.”

I was carried on Haru’s back as we went outside. We didn’t fully leave the research institute, just stopped by the park inside.

Luckily, my condition had improved a lot, and staying in the room felt suffocating, so I asked Haru to take me out. At first, Haru refused, but she eventually gave in to my ultimate move and we made it outside.

“The sun is still shining brightly…”

It was autumn afternoon, and the sky was clear without a single cloud. Looking up at the sky felt refreshing.

I basked in the warm sunlight, healing on Haru’s back. I wanted to stay like this forever.

“Hana, are you happy to be outside?”

Haru asked me. I nodded and said,

“Yeah!”

“Seeing you swing your legs like that, you definitely seem happy. If I knew you liked being outside, I would’ve taken you out more often.”

I stopped swinging my legs unconsciously. If I acted like a kid, they’d treat me like one. I was a fully grown adult, both in body and mind.

Haru gently placed me on a bench. She must’ve been tired carrying me all the way from the research institute.

My weight was heavier than a sack of rice, so for Haru, who didn’t exercise much, it must’ve been exhausting.

I sat on the bench, enjoying the warm sunlight. At first, Bora tried to put sunscreen on me, but she stopped when she realized sunlight was like food for me.

“Hana, are you feeling good?”

“Yeah, Haru, it feels like my pain is flying away.”

“I hope you get better soon~”

Haru sat next to me on the bench and patted my head. I always liked it when someone played with my hair.

We stayed in the park until sunset. My body seemed to be getting better compared to before.

Then, riding on Haru’s back again, I returned to my room. After saying goodbye to Haru, I lay down on the bed. My hair was still cut short.

I stared at the glow-in-the-dark dinosaur on the wall and slowly fell asleep. The next day, when I woke up, Bora was shocked.

“Hana, your hair hasn’t grown back!?”

That’s right. My hair hadn’t returned to its original state. It wasn’t growing back. This had never happened before.

—

Kim Sehee couldn’t close her gaping mouth. It was like a ship sailing smoothly had hit a reef and sunk.

She couldn’t accept this sudden change. Pushing aside the employee, she sipped the green tea with hair in it. She often drank Starlight Green Tea too.

Her office was always stocked with Starlight Green Tea. There was nothing better than sipping it when work got tough.

But…

Kim Sehee, who had tasted the Starlight Green Tea placed on the table, had no choice but to faint. It was because the tea didn’t have any of that special green tea flavor at all. In fact, it tasted worse than the Starlight Green Tea they used to sell, as if they had skimped on the ingredients.

“Get the boss to bed immediately! And call an ambulance!!!”

Seeing Kim Sehee collapsed on the floor, the employees panicked and scattered like startled grasshoppers. Fortunately, before they could actually call an ambulance, Kim Sehee managed to get up on her own.

—

Starlight Food was technically part of a large corporation. Yes, if you go by corporate classification, it was part of a big company, but if you dug deeper, it was worse off than most mid-sized companies.

To put it bluntly, it was a company that only had the shell of a large corporation. This was the karma of Starlight Guild expanding its business like an octopus. The problem was that the karma wasn’t being borne by the headquarters but by Starlight Food…

Thanks to the support from the headquarters, Starlight Food was barely scraping by, and the appearance of Hana was a miraculous turnaround. If Hana hadn’t appeared, the business might have been shut down at some point.

In a way, it was only natural that Kim Sehee ended up with a failing company. She had essentially given up in the power struggle within Starlight Guild, so her siblings weren’t about to hand over the lucrative businesses.

That said, Kim Sehee wasn’t completely out of the game. After all, she was a direct descendant, and the dividends from her shares alone could probably feed her for ten generations. But Kim Sehee, who refused to live as a layabout, took on the failing company with her own hands.

Kim Sehee tried her best to turn things around, but it didn’t go well. For starters, the workforce was severely lacking. The same was true for Starlight Research Institute. Both were barely surviving on the headquarters’ support, so there was no way they had extra manpower.

Both companies were squeezing their employees to the limit, so in a way, it was only natural that something like this would happen. But perhaps because the stakes were too sweet, Boss Kim Sehee knew something like this would happen eventually—she just didn’t expect it to happen so soon.

She didn’t expect defects to appear less than two months after officially selling Starlight Green Tea. She thought it would last at least a year, but betraying her expectations, the green tea didn’t even make it two months.

The two companies, wearing only the shell of a large corporation, were always run in such a haphazard manner.

“Should we send a complaint to Starlight Research Institute? And maybe push them to come up with a solution quickly…”

But the executive’s words didn’t get far. Kim Sehee raised her hand to stop him.

“Our Starlight Food is in the position of the subordinate. If we send such a letter to Starlight Research Institute, they might cut off the support we do have.”

Sending a complaint to Starlight Research Institute right now wasn’t a good idea. But staying silent would make Starlight Food lose too much face.

Since the research institute was responsible for the stable supply of ingredients, you could ask, “Why aren’t you supplying properly?” But the contract stated that the effects of this organism could change at any time, so Starlight Food was in a tough spot.

In fact, the research institute had already sent a notice citing one of the contract’s cautionary points: “Supply disruptions due to the organism’s whims.”

Because of this instability, the profit distribution was skewed in Starlight Food’s favor. It might sting a bit for the research institute, but it wasn’t as bad as it was for Starlight Food. After all, it was Starlight Food, not the research institute, that had to pay the penalty.

“For now, let’s minimize the amount of green tea released to the market to avoid paying penalties and try to find a solution before our reserves run out.”

Fortunately, the stockpiled strand of Hana’s hair was still functioning properly and could be used as is.

Then Kim Sehee said, “I think I need to go to the research institute myself. Whether I have to kneel or bow, I’ll do whatever it takes to resolve this.”

Kim Sehee was truly prepared to kneel and beg to the organism supplying this ingredient. Compared to the value of the green tea, the price of her knees was practically free.