Tap tap…
I turned off the TV in the room and focused on the sounds outside. I could feel the office employees laughing and heading to the restaurant.
Sometimes I go out for lunch too, but I prefer basking in the sunlight over eating. So unless I suggest going out for rice myself, I rarely have lunch.
I waited patiently until the commotion died down. After a few minutes, the noise outside completely disappeared. I quietly got up and opened the door. I peeked my head out and looked around.
‘Perfect.’
The hallway was empty. I slowly started walking toward the office, trying not to make any noise. When I arrived at the office, I slightly opened the door and peeked inside. There was no sign of anyone. It was completely empty.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the players are entering.”
I clapped as I said this. It made me feel like I was doing something important. I walked around the office, which looked like a jungle with chairs scattered everywhere.
My target was the pantry. I had brought snacks yesterday, but I finished them all in one day. I had thrown the trash in the company’s shared trash bin, so there was no risk of getting caught by the trash.
“Whoa!”
I couldn’t help but gasp when I entered the pantry. It seemed like someone had organized it yesterday, as snacks were packed tightly everywhere. I barely managed to hold back my drool as I reached out here and there. I grabbed a handful of the most delicious-looking chocolate cookies and put them in a bag.
And the soft-looking jelly too! I didn’t know who was organizing the pantry, but they seemed to know my taste perfectly. I quickly filled the bag with snacks before anyone could come in. My hands moved as fast as a thief’s.
Thud thud…
But then, I heard footsteps outside that absolutely shouldn’t be heard. I froze like ice.
It hadn’t even been a few minutes since I left!
From the sound of it, there were multiple people. I rolled my eyes around, trying to think of a way to escape.
“Come on, brain, do your thing!”
But sadly, even my brilliant brain said there was no way to escape. Then, I noticed a drawer under the pantry desk. Since there was nothing inside, I could squeeze my body into it.
I quickly squeezed in and closed the drawer with a thud. It was the perfect hiding spot. There was no way I’d get caught. After a few seconds in the dark space, the office door opened wide, and people came in.
‘Please, just leave without coming here…’
But I could feel them walking toward the pantry. They stopped in front of it and started chatting.
“Huh? The snacks are gone again today.”
“Yeah. If we catch them, we should give them a spanking.”
It was Bora and Haru’s voices. I wanted to jump out and greet them, but the mention of a spanking made me stop in my tracks like I’d hit a speed bump.
Anything but a spanking!
I hadn’t been spanked in a while, but I had been in the past, so my body naturally tensed up. It didn’t hurt, but it felt like something inside me was being chipped away.
“Should we leave for now?”
“Yeah. I can’t believe someone’s stealing snacks…”
With that, I heard their footsteps walking away. Thank goodness. My perfect hiding spot had saved me. But unlike before, their footsteps sounded heavier. Oh well, it didn’t matter.
I heard the office door close completely, and I slowly prepared to come out. It seemed like the perfect crime. I decided that next time I came to the pantry, I’d only take a few snacks.
Taking too many snacks must have made Haru and Bora suspicious. Being in the dark for so long made me feel scared, so I opened the door wide and crawled out.
“See, I was right?”
“Haha…”
But when I opened the door and stepped outside, Haru and Bora were standing there.
“Huh…”
I was too stunned to speak. I was sure they had left. I heard their footsteps and the door closing…
I tried to run away quickly, but Bora’s hand was faster. I was caught in Bora’s arms, and now I could clearly picture myself getting a spanking. I grabbed Bora’s collar and hung my head low.
“Bora… I just really wanted the snacks…”
I could only speak in a defeated voice. I wanted to say something before getting spanked.
Bora kept a stern face, but after hearing me, she smiled brightly and said,
“Really?”
Next to me, Haru grabbed my cheek and said.
“Hana! If you want snacks, just say so! I thought someone from the office was stealing them!”
“Ughhh…”
“Hana, let’s go to the convenience store! We’ll buy the snacks you want.”
“Really?”
“Of course, I’ll buy you whatever snacks you want!”
“Yay!”
The feeling of my heart almost dropping earlier now felt like a lie. I snuggled into Bora’s arms as we headed to the convenience store in the building. If I had known it would turn out like this, I should’ve just told Bora and Haru earlier.
———————————————-
Kim Sehee took her employees to look at land near the Starlight Research Institute. They quickly secured some land around the institute. Unfortunately, some plots were already occupied, so they couldn’t get as much as they wanted.
“Even this much is already incredibly vast.”
They bought a circular area of 20-30 km around the Starlight Research Institute. Luckily, the institute was located away from the city, so the land wasn’t too expensive.
“We’ll buy as much land as possible now and continue to purchase more in the future. The ultimate goal is to demolish all buildings around the Starlight Research Institute and turn the area into farmland.”
Her secretary explained this to Kim Sehee, who flipped through the documents with a satisfied expression. Since one cherry tomato plant produced far more fruit than usual, they didn’t need as much land.
With just the land they had now, they could easily meet the expected domestic demand.
But since they didn’t know what the future held, buying extra land was like an insurance policy.
Right now, construction was underway in front of Kim Sehee. They had called in a construction company to prepare for growing cherry tomatoes in greenhouses. Since the cherry tomatoes grew extremely fast, they had to start preparations immediately.
Kim Sehee, wearing a straw hat she bought on the street, inspected the construction site. It was much more comfortable for her to see things in person rather than just looking at documents in the office. She needed to see things firsthand to feel at ease.
“So, this will be the production site for our Starlight Food, right?”
“That’s correct.”
Kim Sehee decided that the company would handle farming directly. Since the tomatoes could only grow here, outsourcing wasn’t an option.
They planned to secure as much land as possible and start farming, as they didn’t know what byproducts might come from Hana in the future.
Seeing the company grow like this almost brought tears to Kim Sehee’s eyes. Before meeting Hana, the company had been in such bad shape that she considered shutting it down.
In the past, Starlight Food’s sales were worse than some small businesses in Seoul, and it was only a big company in name. They were barely keeping the Starlight brand alive.
But now, things were different. A company that used to make a few billion won a year was now surpassing trillions. Their Starlight Green Tea, priced at 5,000 won, was selling a million units daily.
Just the Starlight Green Tea alone brought in 150 billion won a month. Other products combined didn’t even reach 10 billion.
Kim Sehee wasn’t satisfied and planned to diversify the business. After conquering the green tea market, coffee was next. She planned to start once they had enough of Hana’s hair.
‘No, I need to focus on this for now.’
Kim Sehee shook her head and focused on the situation in front of her. She had received cherry tomatoes as a gift from the research institute, so she had to make good use of them.
They had already confirmed that the tomatoes would fully grow and bear fruit in just a week, so they could start supplying them nationwide in two weeks. Such fast-growing cherry tomatoes were unheard of.
And since they would wither and die if taken out of a certain range, individuals couldn’t grow them.
Kim Sehee smiled and continued inspecting the construction site. Since they were building greenhouses, they could supply cherry tomatoes even in winter.
