Anyway, it was time to eat the boiling ramen. Jiyu and Yumi were holding their chopsticks with a very greedy expression. It felt like our eyes were as intense as soldiers about to go into battle.
Seeing us like this, Maru awkwardly smiled and said, “Hey, kids! I put in 5 packs of ramen, so there’s plenty. And I won’t eat much anyway!”
Hearing Maru’s words, our tension finally eased. Knowing Maru wouldn’t eat much was a bit reassuring. If it were any other ramen, we wouldn’t have been so heated, but it was Starlight Ramen, so Jiyu and Yumi’s eyes were fiercely competitive.
Later, I thought about giving Jiyu and Yumi a few boxes of Starlight Ramen as gifts when we went home. I had tasted it before, so I knew how delicious it was. The difference was, I could eat it whenever I wanted, but Jiyu and Yumi couldn’t.
“Let’s eat!” Maru said, opening the pot lid. Inside, steaming ramen was born. We gulped, filled our plates, and started eating.
“It’s delicious!”
“It’s really good! It’s on a whole different level from the ramen we eat at home!”
“Haha…”
I watched the kids with a warm expression. After all, we had been skating for hours, so it would’ve been weird if we weren’t hungry. And they were still young. There’s a saying that young people can digest nails—meaning they have great digestion.
“Eat your veggies too!” Maru said, and without hesitation, Jiyu and Yumi started eating the vegetables.
I subtly glanced at Maru. I didn’t want to eat the veggies. Luckily, Maru didn’t push further. I smiled and continued eating the ramen. Of course, it’s not like I never ate veggies. Like how people who usually hate veggies eat them when paired with meat, I did the same. I ate veggies when they came with meat.
Maybe it was a leftover instinct from when I was a guy. Anyway, I kept eating the ramen. Since we boiled 5 packs, it felt like no matter how much we ate, it never decreased. It even felt like the ramen was expanding, making it seem like there was more. Maru seemed to notice this and started eating too. These days, ramen portions have gotten smaller, so it’s common for one person to eat 2 packs.
Still, four girls eating 5 packs of ramen was a bit much. And we weren’t fully grown adult women—some of us were just kids.
“I’m so full…”
“Me too…”
Jiyu and Yumi surrendered, unable to eat any more. I still had room in my stomach, so I kept attacking the ramen. But soon, I hit my limit too. I couldn’t eat any more.
“Ugh…”
“Hana! You don’t have to push yourself like that!” Maru said, seeing my state. I decided to listen to Maru today. If I ate any more, my stomach might explode. My stomach was protesting, refusing to take in any more ramen.
I flopped onto the floor. It felt like my stomach would burst if I ate more. But Maru had a wicked plan. While we were resting after finishing the ramen, she called the staff and brought out a table full of desserts.
We could only stare with starry eyes. Even though we were full from the ramen, there’s always a separate stomach for desserts.
We quickly moved to the table. It was filled with fruits, ice cream, and various cakes—sweet desserts galore.
“Wow! So much… chocolate!”
I couldn’t even finish my sentence as I stared at the scene. Jiyu and Yumi were already digging in. I said to them, “Cheaters, eating first!”
“Hana, hurry up and eat too!”
Maru looked like a host determined to fatten us up. But we couldn’t resist. How could we leave with such delicious desserts in front of us? It was an impossible trap for kids.
“I’m so happy…!”
I smiled brightly and ate the desserts. I felt good after a day well spent.
We skated with friends, ate delicious ramen, and now these sweet desserts. After finishing the desserts, I finally headed home.
On the way back, I stopped by a building to grab a box of Starlight Ramen for Jiyu and Yumi.
He handed over boxes. It would take months for an average household to finish all this ramen.
If you were to eat ramen every meal, the calculation might change. But there’s no way you’d eat ramen every single day.
“Ugh…”
I woke up to something poking my cheek. Whoever disturbed my sweet sleep must pay the price! With that determined thought, I opened my eyes. It wasn’t Bora, Haru, or Maru, whom I see every day.
It was Boss Kim Sehee. If it’s the boss, the story changes. I ran to her in my dinosaur pajamas.
“Boss!”
“Hana!”
I hugged her. Her embrace was warm and sweet. If it was the boss who woke me, I could forgive her. But since it was the first time she woke me, I asked with a curious expression.
“Boss, what brings you here today?”
“There’s something very important I need to do with you today.”
“Something important?”
I tried to think about what important thing I had to do with the boss, but nothing came to mind. Plus, my head was foggy from just waking up. I closed my eyes again.
“You can’t sleep, Hana!”
“Ugh…”
The boss picked me up. I wanted to sleep in her arms, but reality wasn’t so kind. She pinched my cheeks and said, “Hana, let’s get dressed!”
“Okay…”
But I had to listen to the boss. If it weren’t for her, I might have been locked up in some dark, desolate place as a test subject. Of course, that’s just my overactive imagination, but who knows?
So, I got ready to go out as the boss instructed.
—
Dressed neatly, I held the boss’s hand and got into the car. It seemed like she was driving herself. Sitting in the passenger seat and buckling up, I asked, “Boss, where are we going today that you had to wake me up?”
It wasn’t a holiday, but it was school vacation, so it didn’t matter how much I slept. Even if I slept all day, it wouldn’t be a problem. Since I didn’t have to go to school, I was free and unrestrained.
“Today is the day you and I become family!”
“Family…?”
The word was unfamiliar to me, as I never had a family. Even when I was a man in my past life, I didn’t have one. It’s been over a year since I became this body of the World Tree. A lot has changed since then. The biggest change would probably be the relationships around me.
I, who had no friends, now have friends, and even though it might sound a bit strange, I also have guardians and older sisters. I’m no longer alone.
If the old me was running through a pitch-black darkness, the current me is walking down a well-lit street.
“You said you wanted to become family with me, didn’t you?”
“Yeah…”
That was true. I played a lot with the boss, and above all, she always took care of me. Bora once said that there’s no other kid in Korea as rich as me. All of that was possible because the boss gave me shares in Starlight Food. I could have just wiped my mouth and pretended not to know, but…
“So today is the day you and I become family!”
“Really?”
“Yes! It took a lot of preparation, but… I finally got permission from my parents.”
“I see…”
It must have been tough getting into a chaebol family. I nodded and listened to the boss’s story.
