“Hot!”
As soon as the sunlight hit, my eyes reflexively opened. I must have forgotten to close the curtains last night before going to bed. Today, as usual, I got out of bed still wearing my dinosaur pajamas.
My sturdy tail wagged back and forth. After stretching vigorously, I started doing some exercises. A simple workout was perfect for waking up in the morning.
“Hot-dool, hot-dool!”
I swung my arms energetically, doing exercises to grow taller. I wished there was some music, but it was better to keep the morning workout short and simple.
“Yah!”
After finishing my exercises, I yawned and got ready to head out. I put on my shoes and walked down the hallway. Today, Bora and Haru weren’t around, so I had to eat alone. There were employees around on weekends, but they weren’t close to me.
Still, it was polite to greet them, so I headed to the office.
“Good morning!”
“Hi! Hana, are you up?”
“Yep!”
After a quick and simple morning greeting, I chatted with the employees for a bit before leaving the office. As an adult, moving around alone wasn’t scary or difficult. It was just a fact.
Still in my dinosaur pajamas, I stood in front of the elevator. I pressed the button firmly with my foot. If I were just a bit shorter, I might not have been able to reach it.
Even now, I couldn’t reach the button for the top floor. I had to step on the platform inside the elevator to press it. That’s why I’ve never been to the top floor of the research institute building.
“Ding-dong!”
The bell rang, and the elevator doors opened wide. It was early in the morning, so I didn’t run into anyone. If I took the elevator in the afternoon, it was always crowded…
I stood on my tiptoes and pressed the button for the first floor. I was excited just imagining what food would be served today. In my excitement, I wiggled my hips and wagged my tail. My tail swayed from side to side, as if expressing my mood.
Of course, I didn’t know my actions were being caught on the elevator’s CCTV. If I had known, my face would have turned bright red. It was practically like doing something weird.
When the elevator doors opened on the first floor, I hopped out and headed to the restaurant. The front desk employees were always preparing for work at this time. I waved and gave them an encouraging greeting.
“Hello!”
“Hi, Hana~”
“Are you eating alone today?”
“Yep!”
The front desk employees gladly accepted my greeting. Greeting people really does cover half of social life. Consistent greetings are great for building rapport.
Despite it being early, the restaurant was bustling. When I first started coming, there were hardly any people, but now that the food was delicious, some people even skipped eating at home to eat at the company restaurant. My little restaurant had grown so much.
Still, I didn’t want the restaurant to go back to serving bad food like before, so this change was inevitable.
“Thud-thud.”
As I entered the restaurant, various menus greeted me. My eyes sparkled as I looked over the options. There were three courses, and I chose stir-fried pork with soybean paste stew.
Noodles and fried food were a bit much for breakfast. Korean food was just right for a simple morning meal.
The employees were watching me. I smiled and waved. They smiled warmly and returned my greeting. When in doubt, a greeting always works. I think I understand why celebrities greet people so often.
I picked up a tray and asked the lady serving food to give me a lot. She laughed and piled on the side dishes. I smiled at the mountain of stir-fried pork on my tray.
Company food really is the best. Someone might freak out if they heard me say that, but it was just my own thought, so it didn’t matter.
I looked around with my tray. My eyes landed on a seat labeled “Hana Only.” The chair and table were perfectly sized for me.
Originally, I shared a table with the employees, but when I mentioned the table was a bit big for me when eating alone, they made this for me. So kind. Of course, I didn’t use it much when eating with Bora and Haru, but it was useful when eating alone.
After finishing my meal, my stomach was full, and I headed back to my room. Of course, I stopped by the convenience store to grab some snacks before going up.
It was dumb. Delicious snacks were always delicious no matter when you ate them.
After eating, more people started coming to work. There were also a lot of newbies. I heard that people who are good at making money have come. It seems like our research institute is expanding into other areas while maintaining itself.
I was satisfied with the fact that our research institute is financially well-off. When I was a man, I worked all month and earned about 2 million won, but now, even if I just laze around, I earn billions.
I felt like I had become an incredibly great being. Even just sitting still, I felt my nose rising. This was my prime.
Humming along, I arrived at my room and opened the bag I bought from the convenience store. Inside were a bunch of delicious snacks. I sneakily pulled out my treasure box from under the bed. The box was empty because the snacks had run out.
I poured the snacks I just bought from the convenience store into the box. As the box filled up, I couldn’t help but smile contentedly. Just looking at it made me feel full.
Today was Saturday, so not many employees came to work. But still, the number of people in the cafeteria… Maybe everyone who works at the research institute had gathered.
I jumped onto the bed as if it were familiar. Then I wrapped myself in the blanket. I planned to be a caterpillar for a while. I looked at the latest wall-mounted TV and picked up the remote. The TV had gotten so big that it now took up the middle of the wall.
“Hmm hmm~”
In the morning, I turned off the lights in the room like a movie theater and focused on watching anime as if I were being sucked into it. There was no one to disturb me; it was completely my world. It was just like spending a weekend in the military.
Eat breakfast, free time, eat lunch, free time, eat dinner, free time. Back then, it was either watching TV or going to the computer room, but now I was a free being, liberated from such control. Suddenly, I looked at the clock, and the hands were already pointing to noon.
Maybe because I ate snacks, I wasn’t hungry. I skipped lunch and looked for my backpack. The teachers had given a lot of homework over the weekend. Of course, compared to university, the amount of homework was significantly less. Probably because they were elementary school students.
There were no teachers who gave excessive homework to elementary school students. If they studied too much from a young age, they could burn out before even becoming middle schoolers.
Sitting at the desk, I started studying. Even though I had adult knowledge, studying was essential. For subjects that required memorization, no matter how smart you were, you would inevitably get things wrong if you didn’t have the knowledge. Sometimes, I was surprised at how I could focus like this while eating snacks.
I could focus like this! Of course, focusing while studying is basic, but after entering this child’s body, I felt like I couldn’t control myself well. I would become hyperactive or depressed for no reason.
It felt like dealing with uncontrollable robots. But recently, as time passed, I felt like I was finding stability. Sometimes I still acted weird, but compared to before, it was a huge improvement.
Before I knew it, I finished my homework and walked to the office to get it checked. Of course, I didn’t get anything wrong, but it’s easier to cross-check, right? And time flies when you do that.
Suddenly, while walking down the hallway, I spotted a fire hydrant. My eyes were drawn to the red button on it. It said not to press it unless there was a fire, but that message only tempted me more.
Like someone possessed, I slowly reached out to the button. But then I shook my head and regained my senses. Last time, when I tried to make dalgona, I turned the building into a water park. I couldn’t let that happen again today. I had to prove that I could live well on my own.
So, I resisted the temptation of the fire hydrant and walked to the office. Resisting such temptations made me feel like an adult.
