Hana had to go out today, so she woke up early. Of course, “early” meant after 9 AM. Being on school vacation, Hana was a total sleepyhead. The employees didn’t know she stayed up on her mobile phone until dawn, though.
Sure, she could sleep in as much as she wanted during vacation, but sadly, her surroundings made it tough. Every morning, Haru or Maru would come to wake her up. Even if Hana pretended to sleep, they’d tickle her until she woke up. Not that they cared if she went back to sleep, but feeding her breakfast and putting her back to bed was part of the employees’ job.
Hana was still a kid, so skipping meals wasn’t an option. Parents raising kids her age had a reason for feeding them, even if they threw tantrums. Not feeding them when they complained would just be bad for their health.
Of course, waking up at 9 AM wasn’t exactly a hardship, so Hana didn’t complain much. In fact, she’d usually get up right away when woken. No whining about going back to sleep or anything like that.
“Since we’re going to the real estate office today, you should dress up nicely, right?”
Bora handed Hana a girl’s outfit she’d pulled out from somewhere. Hana’s face had a微妙 smile—or maybe it was a frown? Only Hana knew the answer.
Still, even if she grumbled, Hana would put on the clothes. Her whiny yet obedient attitude was kinda like a tsundere. Seeing her like that made you want to pinch her cheeks—she was that adorable. Is this what it feels like to raise a kid?
Raising a child might be tough, but it seems like you get just as much reward. It makes sense why parents say it’s hard but fulfilling. Once Hana was dressed, Bora took her outside the building.
The Starlight Research Institute’s building, now stripped of its attachments, looked kinda lonely. With all the surrounding buildings demolished, it stood alone on flat ground, giving off a sense of awe. How long would this building last?
As Bora prepared to leave with Hana, the security guards, familiar with Bora’s face, let them out after a quick check. Honestly, the only employees who didn’t know Hana’s face were probably spies from rival companies. Considering how Hana wandered around the building, almost every employee knew her.
Hana’s habit of sneaking off to other floors from the 10th floor was practically a daily routine. Sure, she’d get caught by other employees and brought back with a blank expression, but still.
“Bora, where are we going?”
Hana asked from the passenger seat. She was so short her legs dangled in the air, not touching the floor.
“We’re going to the real estate office. To find a house close to your school.”
Bora replied while driving skillfully.
“Huh? So I’m leaving the building? I don’t wanna…”
Hana liked the building. The food was good, there was a cool vegetable garden in the back, and chatting with the employees was fun.
“Don’t worry, Hana. It’s not like you’re moving out completely. Think of it like a hotel.”
They were planning to buy a house near Hana’s school in case she couldn’t return to the building after school. Staying at random hotels or motels was too risky.
With plenty of money, they decided to buy a second home for Hana. Since the building was quite far from her school, it wasn’t a bad idea to buy a place nearby. Of course, it had to be in a secure, expensive area.
A sketchy apartment complex or a neighborhood with alleyways was a no-go. With so much money, buying a secure apartment was a given. And new constructions were always better than old ones.
Sure, there were rumors about cutting corners when building houses these days, but the popularity of new constructions was still skyrocketing.
———————————————-
Starlight Food and Wellness had one common problem: their factories. Despite having no shortage of people or money, both companies struggled with production. Starlight Food started with a small factory, but as they began producing a variety of products, their issues became glaring.
Meeting customer demand was overwhelming. Sure, they were building more factories, but there was still so much to produce. Factories don’t just pop up overnight, after all.
“I think we need to consider outsourcing production.”
“Our factory alone can’t possibly handle the volume.”
It was easy to think of it like the famous cola—sending the necessary ingredients and having the factories that receive them just do the packaging. Normally, you’d have to risk patent infringement and such, but Tangle was different.
After all, it wasn’t a fruit that could be grown elsewhere. Competitor spies would just be wasting their time. It would grow without Hana, but it wouldn’t bear fruit, and realizing that would cost a lot of money. Of course, some might cling to false hope and keep investing, but that wasn’t Starlight Wellbeing’s concern.
It wasn’t their money being wasted, but the competitors’, so they’d welcome the wasted effort rather than dislike it.
There were plenty of idle factories in Korea anyway. They just had to pick one with good competitiveness and reasonable prices and leave it to them. Tangle was a magical product whose demand would only increase, not decrease.
Of course, there was the downside of increased production costs, but packaging Tangle didn’t cost much. This level of expense was worth bearing.
“But why is it called Tangle?”
“Good question. There are fun names like ‘Grow Hair Grow’ or ‘Lush,’ and they could’ve gone with something else…”
“Oh, that. It means your hair feels bouncy and springy.”
“Really? Whoever came up with it, it seems a bit childish…”
“I heard the boss came up with it himself.”
“It’s a cute name. I really like it.”
“Right?”
Another nameless executive saved their life today.
—
A bald middle-aged man was sitting on a café chair. His sharp and well-defined features suggested he wasn’t Korean but a foreigner. Back when he had hair, he must have been a heartthrob.
Of course, Westerners, even when bald, had features that suited it better than Asians. But it was undeniable that he would’ve looked even better with hair. People who look good bald would look even better with hair.
In front of him was a woman with a slim, model-like figure. A young blonde beauty with blue eyes, sitting with her legs crossed.
Perhaps because of their aura, no one was sitting around them. The two were conversing in English.
“So, this is the magical fruit that’s supposed to cure baldness?”
The middle-aged man looked at the fruit with eager eyes. If this were a drama, lasers might have shot out of his eyes, his gaze was so intense.
“Wouldn’t it be worth a try?”
“I tried it, but it doesn’t seem to have any effect. My hair is still MIA.”
The woman said while reading the instructions. She was bilingual in English and Korean, which was why she could come on this business trip. She was the only one in her department who could speak Korean.
It was natural that not many employees could speak the language of a small, distant country. Americans often don’t feel the need to learn languages other than English. After all, if you can speak English, you can get by almost anywhere in the world.
The majesty of a global lingua franca. Of course, it might not work in Africa or underdeveloped countries, but the same goes for other languages.
“Let’s wait and see. It might just be a baseless rumor.”
They came on this business trip after hearing about a magical fruit in Korea that could cure baldness. It might just be an exaggerated claim, so they came to check it out.
