Summer vacation had finally come to an end. I couldn’t accept this cruel reality. It felt like it had just started, and now it was over…
Of course, it didn’t help that I spent most of it in another world. I basically wasted almost a whole month there. And let’s be real, elementary school vacations aren’t as long as college breaks. Compared to college vacations, it’s like half the length. I found myself missing my college days. I was in denial, lying in bed, but then Maru barged in.
“Hana, time to go to school.”
“Uwaaah!”
I couldn’t help but burst into tears when Maru came in. It wasn’t that I hated school, but my body and mind just weren’t in sync. During vacation, I slept in until 9 AM every day, and now I had to wake up at 7? Brutal. I was still sleepy, and the drowsiness was creeping in.
But Maru was cold-hearted. She scooped me up, blanket and all, and headed to the bathroom. I flailed my legs, but there was no escaping Maru’s grip. My short legs were a tragic disadvantage. Maru plopped me in the bathroom and started washing me. I had no choice but to let her do her thing.
The only saving grace was that she only washed my hair. If she’d tried to wash my body, I would’ve thrown a fit and told her to stop. I could bathe myself just fine, thank you very much. Sure, we used to bathe together at first, but that wasn’t necessary anymore. I’d gotten used to this body.
“Let’s go eat, Hana.”
Maru took my hand after washing up, and we headed to eat. That was the one good thing. I didn’t have to prepare food; I just had to go down to the first floor, and there was a delicious meal waiting. Even though it was morning, the restaurant was bustling with employees. I couldn’t even imagine how early they had to come in. By 7 AM, the place was already packed with tasty food.
I knew they worked in two shifts. Honestly, preparing food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seemed borderline abusive. The morning shift left around lunchtime, and the lunch shift worked until dinner. It might’ve been a waste of money, but the Starlight Research Institute’s budget was overflowing, so it didn’t matter.
And I hoped I’d never have to see that kind of hardship. I wanted the company employees to work comfortably and earn a good living. After all, they were the ones who saved me from the gate. If it weren’t for their rescue—which was almost like a kidnapping—I might’ve ended up as monster food. The gate was a terrifying place filled with monstrous creatures.
“Nom!”
Anyway, with those thoughts in mind, I ate heartily. Maru watched me with a satisfied smile. It felt like I was being treated like a kid, but hey, I *was* a third-grader. And let’s be honest, I looked the part.
After eating, we went back up to the 10th floor to change clothes. I dragged myself along, holding Maru’s hand, and then headed back down. It was time to get in the car and go to school. Even though summer vacation was over, the heat outside was still brutal. I couldn’t help but wish summer break had been longer, ending when the weather cooled down a bit.
“It’s so hot…”
“Just hang in there, Hana. I’ll blast the AC in the car.”
I dragged my melting body into the car, only to find it was even hotter inside.
“Uwaaah! It’s too hot!”
Of course it was. The car had been parked in the blazing sun—what did I expect? Maru, seeing my misery, immediately turned on the AC. After a few minutes, the air inside cooled down. I felt relieved. If cars didn’t have AC, I’d probably melt into a puddle in the summer heat.
“Let’s go!”
With summer vacation over, I was excited to see Jiyu and Yumi again. Seeing how much my friends had changed over the break was part of the fun.
—————————————————–
Walmart
A massive global retail giant that dominated the American market. Just like how you can find a McDonald’s even in the most remote areas of our country, Walmart was everywhere, even in places with sparse populations.
You could see something standing in a place where there was nothing.
It was a company that had achieved the top spot in both sales and employment globally across all industries. In a way, you could say it was the most successful retail company on Earth. However, recently, as the industry transitioned from offline to online stores, a competitor emerged.
A powerful rival called Amazon had appeared. From an American perspective, having a competitor was a good thing. The more these two companies competed, the cheaper things would get for consumers. But while it was great for consumers, it wasn’t such a good situation for Walmart.
At that time, Walmart heard rumors about a unique fruit-selling company in Korea. Although it was a globally active company, it had little interest in small markets like Korea. Still, it was only natural to check it out. They had planned to send an employee next year, but as soon as they heard rumors about a fruit that could cure baldness, they immediately dispatched someone.
“How about Amazon?”
“They’re probably keeping an eye on it too, right? But they won’t be faster than us. If it weren’t for the news about Tangle, which is said to be good for baldness, we would’ve come next year.”
Layla was holding Tangle in her hand. Inside a glass bottle, there were small jelly-like pieces. Eating one of these jellies a day was said to make hair grow—a precious remedy. Officially, it was classified as a fruit, but given the miracles Tangle performed, it might as well have been called medicine.
“At least we’re lucky. We don’t have to worry about Tangle being snatched by that greedy Amazon.”
James imagined Tangle falling into Amazon’s hands. Of course, he would kneel and beg for Tangle. And he’d end up shamefully holding Tangle while paying at a competitor’s store. If it made hair grow, it was a battle James could never win.
“We’ll have to see. The owner of Starlight Food doesn’t seem too interested in inheriting the group, but you never know.”
After arriving in Korea, Layla had grasped the share structure and family tree of the Starlight Group. Even though Starlight Group was a successful company in Korea, globally, only Starlight Electronics ranked within the top 10, while the rest of the companies were outside the top 100. Expanding globally meant facing monstrous companies, and there was no way around it. Korea was a small market of 50 million people, and the presence of North Korea added risks to business operations. While they relied on exports, rising minimum wages and labor costs were slowly turning the tide against them.
You could say they were like a ship gradually sinking under the pressure of cheaper labor from China or Southeast Asia. It was an inevitable phenomenon, considering Korea itself had grown on cheap labor.
“Is CEO Kim Sehee the sixth child?”
“That’s right. Below her, there’s only the youngest, CEO Kim Semin. And while she seems attached to Starlight Food, she doesn’t appear to have much desire to take over the entire Starlight Group. She doesn’t hold much of the group’s shares either. Instead, she’s said to have received more real estate in exchange for shares.”
“That might make things a bit tricky…”
Frankly, Kim Sehee had no ambition to control the group, so if negotiations went south, she could just walk away. Without any desire for the group, CEO Kim Sehee had no real weaknesses. However, Layla brought unexpected information.
“I heard CEO Kim Sehee has a child she adores. It’s not confirmed, but there’s information that she visits the Starlight Research Institute daily because of how much she loves them.”
Upon hearing this, James smirked slyly.
“If negotiations fail, maybe we could kidnap the child…?”
Layla frowned and replied sternly.
“Don’t joke about that.”
“You’re so serious, it hurts my feelings.”
James thought his subordinate, Layla, was hard to handle.
