Chapter 16

I had no choice but to lie face down on the bed, completely slumped. Maybe it was the burning sensation in my butt, but tears started trickling down.

I couldn’t see my butt in the mirror, but I was sure Bora’s handprint was probably stamped there.

She only slapped me twice, but her hand was so fierce and painful that it left a mark like that.

“Hiiing…”

I looked at Bora with teary eyes. She must have felt my gaze because she glanced at me, then turned her head away again.

She seemed to be trying to revive her laptop. Getting curious about the laptop led to this butt-smacking situation. They say excessive curiosity kills the cat, and it sure hit the mark this time.

I kept staring at Bora. With my sniffling and persistent gaze, she sighed, got up, and came over to me.

“Hana, I’m sorry. I think I went too far.”

Bora hugged me and patted my back. She must’ve realized she hit me too hard.

I buried myself in Bora’s chest and soaked up the comfort for a while. The earlier butt-smacking was forgiven thanks to this level of consolation. Her chest was big and soft, after all.

But forgiving her right away would hurt my pride. So, mid-hug, I turned my body away and looked at her.

“I’m mad!”

I expressed it actively with my body. I knew if I turned my back and stayed silent, Bora would fidget. I planned to poke at her weak spots.

Seeing me like this, Bora grew restless and finally said what I wanted to hear.

“Hana, should we go out for a walk?”

I felt my lips twitch with joy. But showing it would be amateurish. I turned my head with a serious expression and took Bora’s outstretched hand.

I’m sulking, but I’ll generously forgive you this once!

That’s what I expressed with my body. Bora smiled, held my hand, and we headed outside.

Staying cooped up in the room wasn’t good for anyone. Going out for a walk like this was good for both health and mood.

I held Bora’s hand, rubbing my sore butt as we headed out.

Two slaps on the butt for a trip outside? Seemed like a fair trade.

————————————

Next to the Starlight Research Institute, there was a separate exhibition hall showcasing otherworldly creatures, like an aquarium.

Hunters occasionally visited, but most visitors were ordinary people who couldn’t enter the Gates and see monsters firsthand.

Of course, if a Gate went berserk and monsters spilled into reality, they’d see them, but by then, the area would already be a wasteland.

Over time, humanity’s ability to manage Gates improved, so recently, Gate monsters going berserk was as rare as a plane crash.

Minor intrusions happened, but they were so weak they didn’t even make the news.

So, the only place to see monsters, which were usually only in books, was the exhibition hall next to the Starlight Research Institute. Many families brought their kids to visit.

The Starlight Guild succeeded in hunting in the Gates, and among the many monsters they captured, the ones with flashy appearances and no aggression were displayed here.

This exhibition hall was the only place in South Korea where you could see live monsters, so it was always bustling with visitors.

Though you couldn’t touch or feed the monsters like in a zoo.

Even if they weren’t aggressive, getting too close was too dangerous.

There was reinforced glass to safely protect visitors even if the monsters went wild. Beyond the glass, you could see the monsters vividly, so aspiring hunters and students often visited.

The people managing the monsters weren’t ordinary folks but hunters, so if the monsters did anything unexpected, they could handle it themselves.

Hana and Kim Bora stepped into this place.

———————————

Kim Se-jin, a full-time employee at a major corporation—or more like a decades-long corporate slave—had been waiting for today.

Starlight Food had released a game-changing product this time. And Starlight Food had pre-released their green tea to corporations for advertising.

Kim Se-jin was an ardent fan of Starlight Green Tea…

He was a devoted fan. Originally an extreme coffee lover who only drank coffee, but after a colleague’s suggestion, he tried green tea once, and the feeling at that time was indescribable.

The fatigue accumulated from hard labor completely disappeared, and his mind felt as clear as if he had just woken up from a deep sleep. Besides that, there were numerous additional effects.

In the past, he might have mistaken it for something like drugs, but since the Gate appeared, many byproducts of monsters had such effects, so it was somewhat understandable.

Kim Se-jin grabbed his clothes and headed to the neighborhood convenience store. Although he had taken a day off and slept in, since Starlight Green Tea hadn’t been released on the market yet, he thought he could take his time. Today was the first release of Starlight Green Tea in the market.

“Has Starlight Green Tea arrived? Where is it?”

“It’s gone. It’s already sold out.”

“But wasn’t it released today? That’s what I heard.”

“It did arrive today, but it sold out as soon as it was displayed. Anyway, green tea is all similar, so you can just buy one from the green tea section over there.”

The part-timer clearly hadn’t tried Starlight Green Tea yet. Otherwise, there would be no reason to recommend other green teas with such a blank expression.

Rather than drinking other green teas, it was better not to drink at all. Kim Se-jin left the convenience store that recommended other green teas and went to another mart. Since it was the first nationwide release today, if it wasn’t available at this convenience store, he could just buy it elsewhere.

However, after circling the neighborhood, Kim Se-jin’s expression turned serious. Everywhere he went, the situation was the same. They all said it sold out as soon as it was displayed, and then they didn’t recommend other green teas.

“Starlight Green Tea…”

“It’s already sold out. Including you, dozens of people have already asked about it today.”

As soon as he entered the store, the owner seemed to know what he was looking for. Just by making eye contact, everyone said there was no Starlight Green Tea.

But Kim Se-jin didn’t give up and finally succeeded in buying Starlight Green Tea at a corner mart. He almost lost it to the person behind him if he had been a little later. The competition was that fierce.

After barely managing to buy one box, Kim Se-jin returned home. Then, he and his daughter, who was engrossed in studying, took out a tea bag and brewed it in hot water.

“Wow… The smell is really good, and the color is beautiful too. How did dad find out about this?”

“Dad has tried a lot, so he knows. Can’t live without it, right? You remember the promise we made last time, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. You mean getting into the top 10 in school, right?”

“If you drink this, you’ll study much better.”

“By the way, isn’t the color too dark for green tea? Was green tea always this dark?”

The father and daughter were evaluating the visual aspect after brewing the tea. Compared to the green teas sold in the market, the difference was enormous.

After finishing the visual evaluation, the father and daughter started drinking their tea. As soon as a sip entered their mouths and went down their throats, they both opened their eyes wide and looked at each other.

However, Kim Se-jin, the father, already knew the effects of the tea, so he planned to sip it slowly, but his daughter was different. Despite the tea being hot, she blew on it and drank it quickly as if someone would snatch it away.

“Daughter, you don’t have to drink it so hastily. No one’s going to take it away.”

“No, dad, this is amazing. If I, who don’t really like green tea, react like this, those who love green tea would go crazy.”

“It’s already a frenzy. Do you know how many stores I went to to buy this?”

“Definitely worth dad running around for.”

As his daughter kept praising it, Kim Se-jin thought he should savor this tea.

At his company, the green tea was selling like hotcakes without him even getting a chance to drink it, and at home, it was clear that he would have to compete with his family to drink it.

So, as a backup plan, he tried to buy it online, but Starlight Green Tea was already out of stock.