As we entered the store, the spacious interior greeted us, quite different from how it looked from the outside. Jiyu and Yumi, as if they were regulars, sat down comfortably. Well, since I usually took the car home after school, I hadn’t hung out much with Jiyu and Yumi.
When school ended, I’d get into the car Maru brought and head straight home. Jiyu and Yumi lived in the same neighborhood, so they probably had dinner together and all that.
“Hana, is this your first time trying Malatang?”
Yumi asked, noticing my awkward behavior. I nodded honestly. It was better to ask questions when curious rather than pretending to know and ending up embarrassed. Most accidents happen when you try to gloss over what you don’t know.
“Follow me!”
Holding onto the table, Jiyu and Yumi got up, leaving their bags on the chairs. Jiyu, grinning, dragged me along. We ended up at the vegetable section. Jiyu handed me a pair of tongs and a plate. I blankly took them, unsure what to do. Thankfully, Yumi cleared up my confusion.
“Just pick what you want to eat, Hana!”
I stood in front of the vegetables with the tongs. There were mushrooms, glass noodles, bean sprouts, and other veggies. I glanced at what Yumi and Jiyu were picking. It seemed better to follow their lead since they were regulars here, unlike me.
Jiyu and Yumi were evenly picking mushrooms, noodles, and vegetables. I followed suit, adding ingredients to my plate. I didn’t want to overfill it and end up unable to finish. If I were a guy, I’d probably have taken twice as much, but sadly, my stomach couldn’t handle that much. Of course, I could eat if I had to, but I didn’t feel like overdoing it.
“Done, Hana?”
“Yeah.”
Yumi, holding her plate, asked, and I showed her mine. She nodded approvingly. I must’ve done a decent job. If I’d messed up, she would’ve called me out.
Next was adjusting the spice level. Jiyu and Yumi chose level 1, which was labeled as a comfortable spice level for Koreans. But I, being the ultimate alpha, went for level 2. There were levels up to 4, but 3 and 4 were described as tear-inducing, so I didn’t dare.
“Hana, level 2 is pretty spicy. Are you sure?”
At Jiyu and Yumi’s concerned words, I shrugged.
“I’m fine! I can handle spicy!”
After finalizing our ingredients and spice level, we returned to the table and started chatting. The topic was speculating about the boy who’d put a love letter in my desk drawer. I tried to stop them, fearing the poor guy’s reputation would be ruined, but it didn’t seem to work. Jiyu and Yumi began wildly guessing who it could be.
“I think it was Siwoo! The way he looks at Hana is suspicious.”
“Really? I think it’s Minsoo, the guy sitting in the front row.”
“Ugh…”
I felt even more embarrassed. Jiyu and Yumi chattered away before suddenly turning to me.
“Hana, who do you think it was?”
“Yeah, asking the person directly is the fastest way!”
I couldn’t answer properly. And I didn’t want to. If I named someone, I’d probably never be able to talk to that boy again. It was better to just live in ignorance. At least then, I wouldn’t feel so awkward.
Luckily, I didn’t have to answer.
“Your Malatang is here~”
The employee announced, and Jiyu and Yumi’s heads snapped toward the food.
I picked up my chopsticks as the Malatang was placed on the table. Thankfully, the conversation shifted to the food. Inside the Malatang were the ingredients I’d picked earlier. I was really curious about how it would taste.
—
Around the time Tangle was released and bald men found hope, other companies weren’t just sitting back. Even if Tangle had a monopoly at Walmart, they couldn’t stop people from planting and growing it.
I mean, selling seeds without expecting people to grow them would’ve been weird. Tangle was the divine fruit that cured baldness, after all. And other balding individuals also sought Tangle from other companies…
They hoped to grow it. Because if companies kept competing like this, the prices were bound to drop.
“Beware of imitations?”
But the consumers buying Tangle didn’t really pay attention to the warning about imitations written below the product. Sure, it was clearly stated that only the ones sold at Walmart were genuine, but hey, isn’t it all the same?
There might be slight differences between rice grown in the U.S. and rice grown in Korea, but most people wouldn’t even know that it’s rice from another country, let alone notice any differences.
Tangle would be the same. Whether it’s grown in Korea or the U.S., would there really be any noticeable difference?
This wasn’t just a thought consumers had. Walmart’s competitors gleefully bought Tangle and planted it in very fertile, sunny spots. In Korea, there weren’t many farmlands with such soil, but in the U.S., land was abundant. It was like a cheat map for farming. Everywhere you went, it was just fertile land. It was because they hadn’t done much farming before the Americans settled.
“It’s growing like crazy!”
Tangle grew insanely fast as soon as it was planted. The synergy of fertile soil and intense supervision made it grow noticeably every day. Even the farmers watching were amazed. It was as if it wasn’t an Earth plant, breaking the laws of physics with its growth speed. Soon after planting, Tangle bore fruit. On the surface, there was no difference. Seeing this, the competitor’s representative burst into laughter.
“This is like eating rice cake while lying down.”
A researcher cautiously spoke up after seeing that Walmart hadn’t taken any special measures.
“Don’t you think Walmart knows about planting and selling these seeds separately?”
“So what, should we stop selling them? These are worth more than gold.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
In the end, the people eating Tangle didn’t care where it was grown. No, people buying food rarely cared about the origin. Most just bought based on price, not meticulously checking where it was made.
After all, as long as it was grown on Earth, it was all the same. Sure, plants grown in fertile, good soil might taste a bit better, but unless you were a gourmet, the average person wouldn’t notice the difference.
So-called fake Tangle spread all over the U.S. Everyone, without exception, planted and grew it. Thanks to the oversupply, the price of Tangle dropped to 1,000 won per piece. It was 10 times cheaper than the original Tangle.
Naturally, people who wanted Tangle bought the fake one instead. No matter how much Walmart had saved them with Bald Man, in the face of the realistic issue of price, they had to abandon their loyalty.
“I’ll still eat Walmart Tangle!”
“It doesn’t feel right to betray them after they saved us.”
A very small number of people ate the Tangle from Walmart, but most went for the cheaper fake Tangle. Temporarily, Tangle’s sales dropped by 90%.
“Are you really okay with this, Team Leader?”
James, hearing his subordinate’s concern about the detailed situation of Tangle, smirked and said, “Don’t worry. They’ll come back.”
Just as James said, the people who ate the fake Tangle experienced side effects. No, it wasn’t just side effects—it was the price of betrayal.
“My hair isn’t growing! It was growing when I ate Tangle before!”
“I even lost the hair I had!”
“Wasn’t Tangle supposed to be sweet? Why is this so bitter?”
The so-called fake Tangle became a fruit with no effect. It was like throwing money into the ground. And it didn’t even have the sweet taste of the original Tangle.
The companies selling fake Tangle had to face massive penalties. Consumers eventually returned to buying Tangle from Walmart.
