I stared at the balloon scraps on the desk. They were small and pitiful, probably because they hadn’t been filled with air yet.
These balloons were called magic balloons, and it had been a really long time since I’d seen them. I think I last saw them in kindergarten before I started elementary school. I only remember a clown-like person making all sorts of animal shapes with them.
And these balloons didn’t pop easily unless you handled them really weirdly. Even if you did something that would normally break a regular balloon, these magic balloons had the durability to withstand it. Of course, they’d pop if you poked them with something sharp like a needle.
“Alright, everyone, today we’re going to make rabbits with these balloons!”
The teacher skillfully explained how to make a rabbit. Making a rabbit wasn’t too hard. It only took about 4-5 steps. The teacher turned on a looped video of rabbit-making using a beam projector. Then she said:
“I’ll walk around and help, so if you don’t understand something, raise your hand and ask! Okay, let’s begin!”
With the teacher’s signal, the children busily started making their balloons. I also prepared to make a rabbit after seeing the kids. I picked up the hand pump and started filling the balloon with air. The balloon, which looked like a straw, expanded rapidly. It felt like it grew hundreds of times bigger. It was amazing how it didn’t pop even after getting so big. Rubber really is something else.
*Thud thud thud!*
Jiyu and Yumi naturally came over to me. During activities like this, it was almost a rule to push desks together and hang out. Other students were also grouped up with their friends. As I filled the balloon, I said:
“They say it’s super easy to make, so should we try to make as many as we can?”
“Really? Do you think Hana can actually make a rabbit today?”
“I vote she can’t!”
Jiyu and Yumi seemed to underestimate me too much. I knew I wasn’t great at this kind of stuff. Strangely, I had no problem with academic knowledge since I’d already built up a solid foundation. Even my weak Korean skills were now at a high level. Other subjects were a given. The skills I’d honed over decades didn’t just disappear. Unless I got hit in some pressure point and lost all my abilities, that is.
But when it came to creative activities that required hands-on work, my body just wouldn’t cooperate. It felt like my brain was foggy. Even now, I’d managed to fill the balloon with air, but I couldn’t move my hands to the next step. The teacher had explained it kindly, and the video on the projector was still playing, diligently showing the steps.
I decided to do my best to make the rabbit.
—
“Ughhh!”
I was holding the balloon, feeling utterly defeated. It just wouldn’t work out the way I wanted. Jiyu and Yumi had already made a rabbit each. Meanwhile, I was still stuck with a balloon scrap. Seeing me like this, Jiyu and Yumi came over, looking like they had no choice.
“Hana’s good at studying but weak at stuff like this.”
“God is fair!”
After listening to their kind explanations, I tried moving my hands again to make the rabbit.
“You have to twist it here!”
“Ah! It turned into a snake, not a rabbit!”
“Do it like this!”
Thanks to the 1:2 tutoring from my two “teachers,” I finally succeeded in making a rabbit. Jiyu and Yumi practically spoon-fed me the instructions. If it weren’t for their detailed and patient explanations, I’d still be holding a balloon scrap, lost in thought. It was that hard to make. Of course, Jiyu and Yumi made it look easy.
Yumi even made other animals besides a rabbit. She searched for instructions on her phone and made them herself.
I couldn’t help but be shocked seeing Yumi like that. I could barely make a rabbit!
—
Layla was horrified by her boss’s transformation. When he was bald, he was sharp and prickly at work, but after his hair grew back, he became kind.
If he had been kind from the start, it wouldn’t have been so strange, but seeing someone who wasn’t like that suddenly change was unsettling. It made sense why people say bald folks are aggressive. Though, when it came to work related to Starlight Food, he was still kind.
Other tasks had become smoother than before, but there was still a sharpness and prickliness left.
However, it was true that the prickliness and sensitivity had decreased. Layla, being a woman, couldn’t understand how devastating and difficult baldness was for men.
You only truly know something when you experience it firsthand. No matter how handsome or cool someone is, if they don’t have enough hair, they look unattractive and shabby. Only if their skull shape is nice and masculine can they barely break even. That’s how critical and terrible baldness is for men. It’s not for nothing that they spend hundreds of thousands of won a month on hair loss products.
“I wonder what Starlight Food called us for today.”
“What else could it be? Probably something about Tangle.”
“I really hope they’ve increased the supply.”
In the U.S., Tangle was a hot item that sold out instantly. When it first launched, some people even claimed it was a scam. The prevailing belief was that baldness wouldn’t be cured even when all diseases and cancers were.
But no American would believe that a fruit from some remote country could help with hair loss. They thought it was just another scam, one of those pyramid schemes where they collect money through rumors and then disappear.
However, when people started posting proof that Tangle actually worked, it began selling like crazy. One wealthy man living in a mansion even bought 100 million won worth of Tangle, determined to eat it until he died. Though, Tangle does have an expiration date, so eating it until death was impossible.
Tangle’s shelf life was long—lasting several years if not exposed to direct sunlight—but stockpiling it to eat until death was out of the question.
Anyway, you had to line up at Walmart to buy it. Of course, now that the supply has somewhat stabilized, you don’t have to wait in long lines like before. James, with a heart full of anticipation, entered the CEO’s office at Starlight Food. It was only proper to visit in person the benefactor who had cured his baldness.
Considering the company’s size, sales, and other factors, Kim Sehee should have gone to Walmart in the U.S., but that level of courtesy was basic. James wondered what proposal she would make.
——————————————-
“We want to distribute beef through Walmart.”
“Be… beef, you say?”
James was taken aback by the unexpected proposal. He had naturally assumed it would be about Tangle or related food products, so the mention of beef came as a complete surprise. While Starlight Food was famous for its food products, they were all fruits and vegetables. They weren’t a company that directly produced meat.
But with today’s proposal, it was clear that Starlight Food was declaring its entry into the meat market. Beef, along with pork and chicken, was one of the largest meat markets in the world.
However, it wasn’t going to be easy. For starters, the cost of raising beef was significantly different. The U.S. had ridiculously large agricultural lands. The crops produced in the U.S. were so massive that feed costs were much cheaper than in Korea.
And the land for raising cows was much larger and cheaper in the U.S. The costs alone made it incomparable. Plus, the beef raised in Korea was too rich for American tastes. No matter how well the cows were raised, there were bound to be differences in meat quality between countries.
“Walmart will fully support this.”
Kim Sehee and James were chatting in a warm, friendly atmosphere. Layla, who was listening nearby, didn’t look pleased. She wanted to stop her superior, who was charging ahead like a runaway train.
If Walmart were to handle the supply, they’d have to take on massive losses. It felt like her superior was betraying their own company, blinded by the benefits of Tangle. She had to stop this absurd contract.
James, after talking with Kim Sehee, stepped outside with Layla for a moment. He said he needed to contact headquarters.
