Chapter 110

And so, the teacher’s boring explanation of something came to an end. Something about looking forward to working together… and sincerely welcoming us to Starlight Elementary School… just the usual clichés.

I let out a big yawn, grateful that the tedious explanation was over. I looked at the pile of textbooks on my desk and fell into deep contemplation. Surely I don’t have to carry all of these around, right?

Luckily, that wasn’t the case. The teacher gave us a separate explanation.

“You can just put your textbooks in the lockers at the back~ The lockers already have everyone’s names on them, so there’s no chance of getting confused!”

There were lockers at the back of the classroom. Ah, memories… Back then, the lockers were small. Of course they were. There were 40 of us, after all. But now, with only half that number, the lockers were generously large.

They were so big that my tiny body could probably fit inside. If I closed the door, it felt like the perfect crime scene.

“Everyone, please put your textbooks in~ And don’t forget to write your names!”

The teacher clapped her hands as she said that. I picked up about a third of the textbooks and headed to the locker. Carrying them all at once was too heavy. I’d have to make three or four trips to move all 20 textbooks.

“I’ll open the locker for you, Hana!”

“Thanks, Yumi.”

I moved the books with my newly acquainted desk neighbor. Since our lockers were right next to each other, we often opened them for one another. Inside the locker, there was plenty of space, with a divider in the middle to separate the books neatly. And the locker itself was so smooth, as if it had just been made yesterday. Clearly, this was a school with money—even the lockers oozed class.

Back in my day, we used rusty lockers. But I remember laughing and using them anyway.

I stacked the books neatly from the back of the locker. Even after putting them in, there was still plenty of space. Well, the locker was big enough for a person to fit inside, so it wasn’t surprising that a few books didn’t fill it up.

As I was putting the books in, Yumi stood next to me, staring intently. I felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze. Anyone would feel shy being stared at like that. I’m not a celebrity or anything. I looked at Yumi and asked,

“Yumi, why are you staring at me like that?”

Yumi sniffed the air a few times and said,

“Are you wearing some nice perfume or something?”

“Perfume?”

“Yeah. You smell really good. It’s like being in a forest full of trees. It’s refreshing, like breathing in clean air.”

Ah, that. Hana and Bora mentioned it once before. They said I had a natural, pleasant scent, like being in the middle of a forest. It was too complicated to explain, so I just said,

“It’s not perfume, it’s just natural. You know, like Hunters? Think of it as a special ability.”

“Ah, I see! That’s such a cool ability! The scent is so nice, I don’t want to leave your side!”

Luckily, in this world, having special abilities like Hunters or mana wasn’t unusual. If I’d been born in a world without such things, I’d probably be on every TV show by now. Or worse, sold off to some shady research institute to be experimented on every day.

After finishing organizing the textbooks, I sat back down. But something felt off. Could it be…?

“Alright, everyone, since it’s the first day, let’s start with self-introductions! I’ll start with you, my dear students. Please introduce yourselves to the class.”

Oh no…

An alarm bell went off in my head. I was in deep turmoil over what to say. Should I just wing it? But the teacher might say something if I do…

Time flew by, and the students in front had already finished their introductions. I’d watched them, so I had some idea of what to do. I just had to get through it.

“Next student?”

The teacher clapped and looked at me. I swallowed hard and stepped forward. It felt like all the kids’ eyes were on me. Why are they staring so intently now? They didn’t seem to care when the others were up here.

Standing in front of everyone, my heart was pounding. Having all those eyes on me was nerve-wracking.

Introducing myself to others turned out to be harder than I thought. But I had to get through it.

Just follow along, and it should work. I took a deep breath and opened my mouth.

“Hi!”

“My name is Hana. Nice to meet you!”

There wasn’t much of a reaction. Was my introduction that lame? I stood there, nervously twisting my fingers. The sudden silence made me feel a bit scared. Home was definitely more comfortable…

I felt like I was about to cry. But I couldn’t cry in front of the little kids, so I tilted my head up and held back the tears. The kids hadn’t done anything wrong, so I didn’t know why I felt like crying.

No matter how much I thought about it, this tiny body of mine was the problem. It was a cursed body that would randomly feel like crying, no matter the time or place.

Luckily, the teacher noticed my state and wrapped things up nicely.

“Let’s give Hana a round of applause~”

*Clap clap clap*

Thankfully, they clapped. They weren’t bad kids. I felt like I had barely survived. When I returned to my seat, Yumi greeted me warmly. I was glad to have made at least one friend today. At least I wouldn’t have to eat alone.

The introductions were over. Since it was the first day, there were no classes. The teacher said we could head home after a job well done. I packed my bag with my stationery and got ready to leave.

Ah, the first day of school should be like this. Back in college, skipping the first lecture was practically a rule. Whether you went or not, it was the same. If you didn’t like Professor Jung, you could just change your course registration.

Bora was waiting outside. I grabbed her hand and got ready to head home.

—

Thanks to the over 10 billion won spent on advertising—or maybe because people had already tasted Starlight Green Tea—Starlight Coffee sold like crazy after its launch. At 4,000 won, it was pricey for a canned drink, but it was still flying off the shelves.

The premium coffee hadn’t even been released yet, but the market was already swept up in the Starlight Coffee craze. People were hoarding it without even tasting it, and many vendors were wondering if they could somehow scoop up profits like they did with Starlight Green Tea.

Even though Starlight Green Tea had banned hoarding, there were physical limits to handling the hoarding happening nationwide.

But Starlight Food found the solution: flood the market with so much supply that hoarding becomes impossible. They had already grown enough coffee beans to cover the plains from end to end.

So, the domestic coffee demand was somewhat met. Even if someone tried to hoard a hundred boxes, there would still be plenty of coffee drinks left. Hoarders seemed to realize the sheer volume of coffee Starlight Food had, and the hoarding phenomenon gradually decreased.

And so, Starlight Coffee smoothly entered the market. The response on the first day was explosive. It flew off the shelves as soon as it was displayed. Lines of people buying it were common. Walking down the street, you’d see people clutching Starlight Coffee in their hands.

Of course, it couldn’t compare to café drinks. It was only the first day, and word of mouth hadn’t spread yet. But it was still a decent start. Frankly, the last Starlight Coffee had failed so badly that even mice and birds didn’t notice it.

It was a coffee with almost no presence, and the taste wasn’t great either. Kim Sehee herself thought she had been too focused on the future back then, leading to that disastrous move of releasing such a coffee.

But now was different, so she could relax and take a more measured view. All she had to do was wait for word to spread that Starlight Coffee was delicious. Coffee drink enthusiasts tended to share information with each other.

When a tasty coffee comes out, people cheer and enjoy it. And if they like it, they spread the word to those around them, which eventually leads to increased sales.

Time was on Starlight Food’s side.