“Uwaaang…”
I was about to burst into tears after seeing the dead cake. The situation was perfect. But my crying was stopped by Jiyu and Yumi.
“Ha… Hana! There are plenty of cakes! We can just make another one!”
“Yeah! We’ll help you!”
Jiyu and Yumi came to my side and helped me up.
“Huh?”
Hearing that, I looked at the table. There was enough cake bread to make four or five more cakes. That’s right. There was no need to cry over one dead cake bread. I quickly regained my composure and said to Jiyu and Yumi.
“Got it!”
I returned to the table with a smile on my face. Then, I took out another packaged cake bread. After that, I started spreading whipped cream. Jiyu and Yumi also helped me before going back to make their own cakes.
I was putting all my energy into spreading whipped cream on the cake bread. This time, I succeeded again. Of course, it wasn’t as good as the first cake bread I made, but this was still a masterpiece. I successfully completed the first layer and said with a smile.
“I did a good job, right, Jiyu, Yumi?”
“Hana is amazing as always!”
“Right? It looks so neat!”
“Ahem!”
I was so happy from Jiyu and Yumi’s compliments that I felt like I could fly. Of course, I didn’t make the rookie mistake of showing it. And this time, I didn’t even think about showing off the cake bread to the teacher. I had to finish the cake first.
After successfully building the first layer of the cake tower, I started making the second layer. Since I had done it before, it didn’t take long to complete.
After successfully making it up to the third layer, I carefully placed the first layer of cake bread on the stand. Then, I placed the sliced strawberries on top. When I placed the second layer of cake bread on top, it looked perfect. I completed the three-layer tower and clapped my hands in joy.
Making cakes was really fun.
Jiyu and Yumi seemed to have already finished theirs.
“I wish we had chocolate cake too!”
Unfortunately, we couldn’t make a chocolate cake. Unlike whipped cream, it required a bit more effort to spread. While whipped cream was easy to get, the chocolate needed for a chocolate cake was hard to come by. Melting the chocolate into a liquid form was just too much work.
“Jiyu, Yumi! Look here!”
I showed them the completed cake.
“You did a great job!”
“I should make one like Hana’s!”
Jiyu and Yumi were almost done too. It wasn’t a difficult task—just spreading whipped cream and stacking layers like a tower. The only tricky part was spreading the whipped cream thinly and evenly, but once you got the hang of it, it was quick.
I decided to decorate the cake with whole strawberries instead of sliced ones. Strawberries just suited the cake the best.
“Hmm?”
The strawberries looked familiar. They looked exactly like the ones I grew. I subtly glanced around. Then, I ate one of the strawberries.
It was definitely the strawberry I grew. It seemed like the boss had added some strawberries separately. Maybe they were just looking out for our class?
“I’m done too!”
Jiyu also finished her cake. It looked just like mine. Yumi succeeded not long after Jiyu. We were all sharing our thoughts on the cakes.
Then, the teacher said.
“Alright, everyone! I’ll give you boxes to take the cakes home so you can share them with your parents!”
“Wow!”
We all cheered at the teacher’s words. This delicious cake was definitely meant to be shared. We packed the cakes into the boxes. That’s when I noticed something. A neatly squeezed line of whipped cream.
I secretly scooped up some whipped cream with my finger.
Then, with a look of mischief, I searched for a victim. Of course, it had to be Jiyu.
“Eat this!”
I smeared the whipped cream on Jiyu’s cheek like a birthday cake. Jiyu screamed in surprise.
“Eek! What is this, Hana?!”
Jiyu’s cheek was covered in whipped cream. I laughed so hard I held my stomach.
“A gift!”
“Ugh… Hana!”
Not to be outdone, Jiyu started smearing whipped cream on her hands. I ran away from her. If she caught me, I’d end up with whipped cream on my cheek too!
—
“But there’s a condition.”
“A condition, you say?”
Kim Taepyeong flinched at Kim Sehee’s words. There was a reason the price was set so high. He didn’t know what kind of risk might be lurking behind the word “condition.” In the worst-case scenario, the condition could be so harsh that he’d have to give up this great deal. After all, he was in the weaker bargaining position.
Time was on the buyer’s side, as this aquaculture farm was losing its principal day by day.
“Starlight Food has plenty of money but is short on people.”
“Is that so?”
“So, the condition is that you, Manager Kim Taepyeong, take charge of this aquaculture farm.”
Kim Sehee looked at Kim Taepyeong as she spoke. Having worked at the farm since he was 20, there were few who could match his experience. In this notoriously grueling industry, nearly 30 years of hard labor had already proven his capabilities. If he hadn’t been competent, he wouldn’t have been made manager in the first place.
Investors weren’t fools—they wouldn’t appoint someone incompetent as manager. Yet, Kim Taepyeong was still hesitant after hearing Kim Sehee’s proposal.
“If you, Manager Kim Taepyeong, take charge of the farm, we’ll purchase it under even better terms.”
Kim Taepyeong had no other choice.
—
Kim Sehee took over the aquaculture farm and even retained the existing employees. What Starlight Food lacked wasn’t money—it was people. Money was already flowing like a fountain. The experience of the employees, which couldn’t be bought with money, was far more valuable.
And so, the farm was renamed Starlight Aquaculture. The original investors got their principal back and left with smiles. Of course, there were others who wanted to invest in Starlight Aquaculture, but Kim Sehee declined. Starlight Food wasn’t so strapped for cash that it needed to take money from others.
Not long after the acquisition, the farm was up and running. At that time, Kim Sehee handed Kim Taepyeong compound feed made by a feed factory Starlight Food had acquired, rather than using raw feed.
Kim Taepyeong, flustered, said, “B-Boss, using compound feed for fish farming isn’t a good idea.”
There was a reason 90% of aquaculture farms used raw feed instead of compound feed. For one, the price difference was huge. Raw feed was at least 3-4 times cheaper. Plus, fish fed with raw feed grew faster and tasted much better.
The only advantage of compound feed was that it caused less environmental pollution compared to raw feed. Compound feed floated on water, so fish ate more of it than sinking raw feed.
But aside from that, there were no other advantages. That’s why the government recommended using compound feed but didn’t enforce it. Using compound feed instead of raw feed would not only make the fish taste worse but also drive up prices.
“Don’t worry about that. The compound feed we made at Starlight Food is different from others.”
Kim Sehee looked at Kim Taepyeong as she spoke.
“It’s going to be much better than raw feed. You just focus on raising the fish.”
“Ah… understood.”
Kim Taepyeong realized Kim Sehee had some knowledge about aquaculture. And after all, he was just an employee. If the higher-ups said to do something, he had to do it. If the compound feed turned out to be ineffective, he figured Kim Sehee would switch back to raw feed.
It was a fact that raw feed, made from ground-up fish, was better than compound feed. Unless some miraculous potion was used to make the compound feed, it couldn’t match the efficiency and growth potential of raw feed. That’s why most farms used raw feed despite the environmental pollution.
It was just the natural outcome of a capitalist society.
