Starlight Food was hiring like crazy due to its repeated business expansions. The fact that the number of employees had gone from hundreds to thousands spoke volumes. Hiring this many people in less than a year was proof that Starlight Food was massively scaling up its operations.
Because Starlight Food had grown too big, they started spinning off individual business units into separate corporations. One of those corporations was Starlight Distribution.
Starlight Distribution handled the distribution of products like cherry tomatoes, coffee, green tea, and other crops produced by Starlight Food or its farms. Back when Starlight Food was smaller, a single department could handle distribution, but with the increasing volume of crops and food, they needed a separate company just for distribution.
They were making so much money that they even bought a building in the heart of Seoul to use as their headquarters.
Starlight Distribution was transporting massive amounts of crops every day. Just the crops mentioned earlier were overwhelming, but with the addition of Starlight Rice being distributed to Japan, their old distribution network from the Starlight Food days couldn’t keep up.
So, after creating Starlight Distribution, they started placing daily orders with a suitable freight carrier. Starlight Distribution became a major client for the freight company.
Even though they were swamped with the same tasks every day, the constant influx of new hires, along with salaries and benefits that rivaled those of other big companies, kept everyone smiling. The company’s growth was visible every single day.
Working at a growing company was definitely better than working at a declining one. At least there was no fear of getting laid off. Of course, opinions might vary.
Then, an order came down from above at Starlight Distribution.
“What kind of order came down?”
“I hope it’s not too difficult. We’re already swamped with work as it is.”
The task Kim Sehee assigned to Starlight Distribution wasn’t that hard.
[The directive is to create a network to continuously distribute Starlight Rice to employees working at the Starlight Guild.]
The order was to set up a separate system to distribute Starlight Rice to employees, as it wasn’t sold on the market. The employees couldn’t help but cheer when they saw the directive.
They had seen Starlight Rice being sold in Japan, and some had even tasted it. They couldn’t forget the flavor. The rice they had eaten before paled in comparison to Starlight Rice.
Honestly, if someone sold rice balls made with Starlight Rice for 2,000 won, people would happily buy them, even though in Korea, rice balls over 1,000 won usually make people frown.
“Is the boss trying to distribute Starlight Rice domestically?”
“Even though it’s been a hit in Japan recently, Japanese people don’t usually eat foreign rice, so it’s better to break into the domestic market.”
“But isn’t there an agreement with the government not to sell it domestically?”
“The idea is to create a loophole by distributing it to the guild. Do you think employees at the Starlight Guild will eat it alone? They’ll share it with their families, and some might even pass it on to others.”
If they couldn’t sell it due to farmers’ opinions, they’d create a channel for the general public to taste it. Half the population still hadn’t tried Starlight Rice, even after it was released from reserves due to a typhoon. The more people who tasted it, the more public opinion would shift in their favor.
If someone didn’t want to eat Starlight Rice, they could pass it on to someone else. Sure, they might charge a small fee, but it’s not like that hasn’t happened before. A famous car company also let employees share their car purchase discounts with others. It was an employee benefit, but people used it to make money.
Of course, since they weren’t selling Starlight Rice but distributing it as an employee benefit, there were no legal issues.
“It shouldn’t be too hard.”
“Right. We just have to distribute Starlight Rice to employees working at the Starlight Guild.”
And so, Starlight Distribution began the task of distributing Starlight Rice to employees at the Starlight Guild. Even though it seemed simple, distributing rice to hundreds of thousands of employees required a lot of hustle.
—
“No!!! Bora, I was wrong!!!”
I clung to Bora’s leg, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Hana…”
Bora was looking down at me with pitiful eyes. Don’t look at me like that… In my room, people started swarming in like a demolition crew, turning everything into chaos. I had become a refugee.
“Stop!!!”
I screamed like a tragic heroine. Bora looked at me and said, “Hana, I told you to clean up by yesterday because we’re doing interior renovations.”
That’s right. My room was a bit old, so they decided to redo the interior. The room was set up for my convenience, but now they were taking everything out, including Lumi’s transformation set.
“Sorry…”
It was actually my fault. I had cluttered the room a lot. Bora had given me a week to clean up, but my mess wasn’t random. There was a system to it. From Lumi’s magic wand within three steps to the bear doll that watched me as I lay in bed!
At a glance, the room looked chaotic, but it had its own logic. Now, uncles were swarming in to clear everything out.
I could only scream in Bora’s arms. Each time a toy was taken out, it felt like my heart was being torn apart. Of course, they weren’t throwing them away. Once the renovations were done, they’d bring everything back.
I saw uncles carrying materials and hurriedly started cleaning up the toys scattered around. It was my fault for procrastinating. But thanks to Bora’s reminder, I didn’t have to clean up too much.
As the room was somewhat organized, the uncles started hammering away. I stared blankly at the scene. This wasn’t originally my room; it was just an empty one. But since there were no other rooms left, I ended up here.
They said they’d clean it, but the old interior was beyond help. There wasn’t enough time for renovations because I had nowhere else to stay. So, they put me in this room and postponed the renovations until they had time.
Still, I had grown attached to this room, and the thought of it changing made me a bit sad. I liked its vintage vibe. There were other rooms, but they were too frilly and princess-like for my taste.
I’m not a little girl, so a room with pink lace wasn’t for me. Some boys wondered why I liked Little Magician Lumi, but Lumi was my life. She was my idol, and nothing could compare.
Watching the uncles work hard, I decided to prepare a surprise. I brought them cold beverages on a tray.
“Thanks, kid.”
“We’ll enjoy it!”
Since they were renovating my room, it was important to make a good impression. If they weren’t happy, they might do a sloppy job. Of course, they were being paid legally, so there was no reason to cut corners, but it’s all about goodwill. Helping each other out made life easier.
I felt proud bringing them drinks. Inspired, I tried to help with the construction materials, but Bora stopped me. She freaked out when she saw me with a drill. The uncles also stopped me.
“Hana! Just staying still is helping the uncles.”
With that, Bora carried me out of the room. I couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed. I wanted to show off my fantastic drilling skills, but I guess that wasn’t happening.
