“Wowwwww!”
I ran around the room holding a dinosaur plush. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with dinosaurs. Of course, I still love the Little Magician Lumi, but dinosaurs were just as amazing.
I went on a shopping spree online and bought a bunch of dinosaur plushies to decorate my room. There was even one as big as me. The types of dinosaurs were diverse. I didn’t know their exact names, but just having them around made me feel a sense of awe.
I played with the dinosaur I got from eating a hamburger last time on my desk. Dinosaurs are truly the best. The floor was a mess with dinosaur plushies everywhere. But it didn’t matter. It’s my room, so who’s going to tell me what to do?
But then, someone opened my door and came in.
“Hana!”
It was Haru. Study time was approaching again. The problems were so easy they made me yawn, so I confidently puffed out my chest, ready to study. But Haru brought a workbook with Korean language exercises too. Seeing that, I took a step back.
Haru placed the workbook on the desk and looked around my room. She seemed to sigh. I awkwardly stood there, trying to gauge her mood.
Haru immediately started cleaning my room. The dinosaur plushies and Little Magician Lumi’s doll rolling on the floor found their places. Wherever her hands touched, it became neat.
Before I knew it, Haru clapped her hands and said, “Alright, Hana, shall we start studying now?”
Today, I really didn’t feel like studying Korean. I’d rather do math or something else…
Thinking about it, maybe the gods made me bad at Korean so I wouldn’t be too overpowered when I enter elementary school.
On second thought, going to elementary school didn’t seem so bad. I was confident I could get 100% in every subject except Korean. It suited me perfectly since I love showing off.
“Hana?”
“Yes…”
But since I didn’t feel like studying Korean, I buried myself among the dinosaur plushies. The fluffy dinosaur plushies were big enough to hide me completely.
“Help me, plushies…”
I hid behind the plushies and spoke in a deliberately low voice.
“Hana’s not here…”
Then Haru chuckled and stood in front of the plushie, saying, “Then who are you?”
I heard Haru’s playful voice. I thought of the big dinosaur plushie as Lumi’s companion and named it Runi. From behind Runi, I said, “I’m… Runi. Hana’s friend.”
Then I hid behind it and moved the dinosaur’s head around with my hands. It was a perfect performance. Even a cop would’ve been fooled. I felt a swell of pride in my chest. I could totally be an actor.
“Oh? Do you know where Hana went?”
“She went outside.”
“Really? Then I should go look for her.”
After saying that, I heard Haru’s footsteps fading away. Luckily, Haru didn’t seem to know I was here. I sighed in relief and waited until her footsteps completely disappeared.
“Did she leave…?”
Thinking Haru had left the room, I peeked my head out to check. It seemed like Haru had fallen for my act and left. I slowly tried to step out.
“Boo!”
Haru suddenly appeared right in front of me. I jumped in surprise. I was sure her footsteps had faded, so how did she hide here? I started to think she might be a hunter.
I quickly hid behind Runi again. Then, in a low voice, I said I wasn’t there.
But Haru lifted the dinosaur plushie I was hiding behind.
“Hana, you’re here?”
“Ah… Ahhh!”
My perfect disguise was exposed. I tried to bury myself among the plushies again.
But Haru put Runi’s mouth to her ear and said, “Hana, Runi says let’s study together.”
There’s no way Runi would say that…
“That’s a lie! Runi’s a liar!”
I decided to blame Runi. I had trusted it completely, but the moment Haru caught me, it surrendered. I didn’t like that.
But Haru wasn’t having it. Feeling betrayed by Runi, I had no choice but to study. I thought I’d teach Runi a lesson once Haru left.
—
“Boss, where’s the Starlight Lotion that was here?”
“Oh, that? It’s all sold out.”
“Huh? There were like ten bottles just yesterday.”
“Yeah, well, some guys in sunglasses bought them all this afternoon… They’ll be restocked tomorrow, so you can come back then.”
“Ah, okay.”
The female customer who came to buy Starlight Lotion.
The boss of the cosmetics store, who was also selling, didn’t really care that the Starlight Lotion was sold out. After all, it was coming in tomorrow.
At first, the Starlight Lotion was so cheap compared to its efficacy that people were buying it up like crazy.
But the price went up as much as it could, and the supply became so abundant that you could easily see Starlight Lotion everywhere. Before long, it wasn’t selling out like a regular cosmetic anymore.
Even though 100ml was a small amount, since you only needed to apply Starlight Lotion once a day, for those who used it daily, heavy users could make it last a month, while light users could stretch it to two months.
And for those who only used it on special occasions like weddings or events, it could last over a year. This was why Starlight Lotion’s sales were skyrocketing, but also why they seemed to hit a plateau.
It didn’t make sense that a tiny 100ml lotion was selling for 300,000 won.
Some people even said, “This is just a viral scam!” Of course, those people were just the ones who hadn’t seen the efficacy of Starlight Lotion.
Those who had seen its effects were rushing to praise it. Kim Young-geun, a store owner running a cosmetics shop in a moderately busy area of Seoul, thought the same.
At first, like other cosmetics store owners, Kim Young-geun wasn’t thrilled about Starlight Lotion. A groundbreaking product that improved skin just by applying it meant other skincare cosmetics weren’t selling.
If Starlight Lotion alone was enough to improve your skin, there was no reason to use other cosmetics. In the beginning, half of the store’s sales flew out the window.
But as the price of Starlight Lotion increased and more people started using it only on special occasions, sales of other cosmetics somewhat recovered. Not as much as before, though.
And somehow, the number of tourists coming to buy Starlight Lotion exploded. They didn’t just buy Starlight Lotion—they bought other cosmetics too. So, the initial drop in sales was not only recovered but exceeded.
“Anyway, even getting 50 units recently isn’t enough…”
Kim Young-geun, who ran a small cosmetics store, received 50 units of Starlight Lotion every week. And they would sell out just before the next shipment arrived.
A single cosmetic product was bringing in 60 million won a month. For a typical mid-to-low-priced cosmetic to achieve that, it would have to sell thousands of units a month.
Considering the average sales of a regular cosmetics store was around 300 million won, Starlight Lotion, which brought in over 700 million won a year as a single product, was a cash cow. Add in the sales of other cosmetics, and the numbers soared even higher.
Kim Young-geun thought he needed to increase the shipment to 60 units.
But the next day, when the Starlight Lotion shipment arrived, Kim Young-geun couldn’t help but jump in shock.
“What! Driver! I clearly ordered 50 units, what is this!”
The delivery driver had brought the Starlight Lotion correctly. But the reason Kim Young-geun was shocked was something else.
“What! Sending only 5 units is just unfair!”
Instead of 50 units, the delivery driver had brought significantly fewer.
The delivery driver had something to say too.
“I just got notified today that they’re cutting back on supply due to a shortage of ingredients.”
“What! Only 5 units to sell? This is just too much!”
“Hey, don’t yell at me, take it up with the headquarters.”
And with that, Kim Young-geun could only blankly watch the delivery driver walk away.
—
The cosmetics community was in chaos.
– “What? The Starlight Lotion at my local store dried up.”
– “LOL, I asked the boss, and they said they ordered 50 units but only got 5.”
– “That’s still better, my neighborhood didn’t get any at all.”
As Starlight Lotion dried up, the Starlight Cosmetics headquarters website was in an uproar.
– “Take my money!”
– “Shut up and give me Starlight Lotion, take my money!”
– “I absolutely need Starlight Lotion!”
