Chapter 159

Click, click, click.

Today, Gu Jun-yeop was happily being a Salary Thief again. There was a reason he could boldly slack off like this. Because there was literally nothing to do! By 5 PM on Friday, he could confidently bet that all office workers leaving at 6 PM were slacking off just like him.

When he first joined this department, it felt like the world was ending.

[Gu Jun-yeop. Department transfer.]

This wasn’t during the usual personnel reshuffle at the start of the year but in March, after the holidays. It didn’t look good. He suspected something bad had happened to cause this transfer.

[Gaaah!]

The sudden transfer hit Gu Jun-yeop so hard that he considered packing up and quitting. He had gone through such a rigorous hiring process to join the research institute, and now he was thinking of resigning.

He could feel that Starlight Research Institute wasn’t doing well. It was barely surviving on subsidies from other groups.

Of course, the interview he had passed to get in was at a big corporation level.

The department he was transferred to was also quite peculiar. Initially named “Lifeform Support,” it soon changed its name to “Hana Support Department.” It felt like a daycare center, tasked with actively nurturing and raising a child. Gu Jun-yeop thought it was time to quit.

A department in a research institute for babysitting? Such a department probably didn’t exist anywhere else in the world. He even wondered if the higher-ups were too lazy to come up with a proper name for a department meant to gather losers.

It felt like a cruel, silent order to disappear from the company by taking away his desk. But after joining the department, the workload was beyond imagination.

Suffering from overtime, Gu Jun-yeop thought it was somewhat fortunate. At least he wouldn’t get fired if they were making him work this much.

The office’s gender ratio was also just right: 6 men to 4 women.

Offices with too many women had invisible factional fights, and offices with too many men had a rigid, military-like hierarchy, which was uncomfortable.

“Uncle!”

“Ugh!”

Today, Gu Jun-yeop was called “uncle” by Hana again. Even though he was only in his early 30s, being called “uncle” didn’t bother him, but Hana loved getting a reaction. So, Gu Jun-yeop clutched his chest as if hurt and said, “Hana, you should call me oppa!”

“Oppa? You’re totally an uncle!”

As she said this, Hana wandered around the office. Her cuteness boosted the employees’ job satisfaction. Gu Jun-yeop also grew to love her cuteness so much that he wanted to firmly settle in this department.

“Yum!”

Gu Jun-yeop popped a strawberry grown by Hana in the vegetable garden into his mouth. The sweet, juicy strawberries made him love the office even more. An office with such snacks probably didn’t exist anywhere else in Korea.

Because Hana’s strawberries were like golden apples, only for her close acquaintances!

And the astronomical economic value Hana created was jaw-dropping. It was like having a walking conglomerate in the office.

The main purpose of this office was to eliminate anything inconvenient or dangerous for Hana in the research institute. Today, Gu Jun-yeop was happily slacking off again.

The workload, which was heavy at first, had stabilized, leaving just the right amount of tasks.

“Hana! Time to wash up!”

“Waaah!”

While web surfing, Gu Jun-yeop smiled subtly as he saw Hana being dragged back to her room by Maru. If he could have a child like Hana, he’d consider getting married and starting a family right away.

After Hana left, Gu Jun-yeop enjoyed the fresh air and silently praised whoever in HR had assigned him to this department.

——————————————–

“Is this right, son?”

“Well… I guess so.”

The Choi father and son diligently fed the cows with rice straw sold by Starlight Food. As if responding to their expectations, the cows grew rapidly day by day.

“Father! Did they add some growth hormones or something?”

The son clicked his tongue at the abnormal growth rate and asked his father. Unless the rice straw was laced with growth hormones, the cows’ growth speed didn’t make sense.

But the father shook his head.

“If that were the case, other farms would know about it too.”

“Maybe our farm was the first to buy rice straw from Starlight Food. I heard they haven’t been growing rice for long.”

“Is that so…”

The cows seemed to love the rice straw so much that they ignored their regular feed and just chowed down on the straw. That worked out great for the Choi family since straw was cheaper than feed.

“Soon, we need to deliver beef to our clients. Maybe we can use these cows?”

“Yep, yep.”

Of course, they raised the cows like their own children, but to make a living, they had to sell them. You can’t dig up the ground to pay for feed or barn costs, after all. After being in the livestock business for so long, the sadness of selling cows wasn’t as sharp as before.

Sometimes, they felt a bit scared about how numb they’d become, but they had to adapt. It’s like firefighters or cops who gag at first when they see a body but eventually get used to it.

“Let’s slaughter two and send them. And let’s send them to the client from last time. They paid us well, so we should send them good cows. From what I’ve seen, these cows have great texture and flavor.”

“Got it, Dad.”

—

Deoksugung was a premium beef restaurant in Seoul that specialized in Hanwoo (Korean beef). On weekends, their daily sales easily surpassed 10 million won. Even on weekdays, they pulled in a few million.

This was possible because Koreans are obsessed with Hanwoo, and beef prices are sky-high anyway.

To celebrate his first paycheck, Kim Min-soo, a fresh graduate, brought his family to the restaurant.

The first paycheck should be spent on family, right? But as soon as he saw the beef prices displayed at the entrance, he regretted it.

On the first floor, beef cuts were neatly packaged and displayed, as if saying, “Pick your favorite!” The second floor had private rooms where you could grill the beef you chose.

But the prices were no joke. Each pack contained 2-3 servings, starting at 150,000 won.

“150,000 won could buy 8 whole chickens…”

And the portions at beef restaurants were small. You’d need at least two servings to feel full. So, Min-soo calculated that one meal would cost at least 400,000 won, including side dishes.

His salary was 2 million won, and spending 400,000 won on one meal… But he swallowed his tears and decided to treat his family.

“Our son’s all grown up now that he’s got a job!”

“Right?”

Mom and his sibling chatted while waiting for the beef to arrive.

When the beef finally came out on a platter, the family gasped.

“Wow, look at the color! It’s so pretty!”

“It’s totally different because it’s Hanwoo!”

But honestly, to Min-soo, it all looked the same. Maybe he was just insensitive or didn’t eat beef often. Unless you’re an expert, premium beef and regular beef look pretty similar.

But once they started grilling and eating, the reactions got intense.

“Wait, is beef supposed to be this delicious?”

“It just melts in your mouth!”

“Top-tier Hanwoo really is different!”

Watching his family enjoy the beef so much, Min-soo picked up a piece with his chopsticks and took a bite.

As he chewed, the juices exploded in his mouth like fireworks. The rich, savory flavor filled his mouth. This wasn’t just regular beef or even premium Hanwoo—it was on another level.

The family ended up eating way more than planned, blowing past the 400,000 won budget.

But they had no regrets. Beef like this was worth it.

---