Squish squish.
Making pizza bread dough was pretty fun. The feeling of the dough being newly created by my hands felt like becoming a god.
“It’s hard, so hard~”
Jiyu was making a weird worm. She must have completely forgotten about making pizza bread. Still, she made a few, so who knows if she was making something else.
Yumi was making a ton of pizza bread dough, looking sharp as ever. I was sure that if we ate all that, we’d be too full to eat anything else.
Then, I noticed the flour sprinkled on the plastic wrap on the desk earlier. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough for the prank I had in mind.
Hehe.
I grinned mischievously. I grabbed some flour in my hand, making sure Jiyu and Yumi didn’t see. The soft, powdery texture of the flour felt nice. Then, I quietly stood next to Jiyu, pretending to look for something.
“Huh?”
Jiyu seemed to sense my presence and looked at me. I smeared the flour on her face. Her cheek turned white.
“Hihihi!”
I laughed and ran away from Jiyu. Realizing her cheek was covered in flour, Jiyu grabbed some flour herself and started chasing me.
“Hana, stop right there!”
Jiyu looked like she was planning to cover my face in flour. I nimbly dodged her, running around. Back in school, I was pretty good at pulling pranks and running away. I easily dodged Jiyu’s chase, but soon I hit a big wall.
“Don’t play with food.”
“Uh…”
The teacher, looking angry, blocked my path. I was so focused on dodging Jiyu’s short-legged chase that I didn’t see where I was going. I was caught by the teacher and sent back to my seat. I guess you have to be careful when playing pranks. Jiyu, sneaking a glance, quietly returned to her seat. Since she was the victim, she didn’t get scolded.
Jiyu’s face was white with flour, but it wasn’t too much, so it washed off with one rinse. Back in our seats, we focused on making bread.
“Make it like this~ and spread the dough wide.”
With the baker’s help, we somehow managed to shape the pizza bread. Looking at the delicious-looking pizza bread, I couldn’t help but drool. I was hungry from using so much energy to make it.
“Okay, I’ll put the bread in the oven. Don’t touch the tray, just stay still. The teacher will do it!”
The teacher went around putting our pizza bread in the oven. The tray was big, so the kids might get hurt if they carried it. But we were in third grade, so we could probably handle it ourselves. Of course, I didn’t say that.
“Hana, isn’t that too much sausage in your pizza bread?”
Yumi commented on the pizza bread I made. It was more like sausage bread than pizza bread with how much sausage I put in. I proudly puffed out my chest and said,
“I love sausage! That’s why I put a lot!”
The teacher and the baker gave us a lot of sausage, so I loaded my bread with it. Even though Jiyu ate some sausage directly, we still had plenty left. For three people, they gave us enough sausage for five. I knew our school was rich, but it was surprising to see it in such small details. I heard the tuition was crazy expensive.
No wonder the school had “Starlight” in its name. Since it was a school made by the Starlight Guild, maybe I could build some connections with the guild later.
Ding!
The oven beeped, and a delicious aroma wafted out. The pizza bread was perfectly baked.
“It’s delicious!”
“I wish we could do activities like this all the time!”
“Right!”
Jiyu, Yumi, and I mumbled as we chewed on the pizza bread we made. The one I made tasted amazing. It was way better than the ones sold at the market. Maybe it was because I made it myself, sweating and all.
———————————————-
Starlight Wine has been released. News of a new product from Starlight Food spread nationwide. The price was around mid-10,000 won. At that price, it was affordable for ordinary people. And since it didn’t cost much to make, Starlight Food had no reason to sell it at a higher price.
Of course, after getting hooked on the taste of Starlight Wine, they could raise the price…
They were planning to release it. Everyone’s got it, right? The usual excuse companies give for raising prices due to unavoidable inflation.
Of course, Starlight Food was still a rookie company that had just entered the wine market, so they needed time to prepare. They had plans to create other products and had also prepared various events. As a latecomer, they were in the process of trying different things to increase their visibility.
At the end of the day, Starlight Food was a beginner in the wine market. There were many obstacles ahead. However, they were confident they could overcome them. The wine’s taste was outstanding, so even without any special measures, it was bound to become popular someday.
There are cases like hidden gem restaurants. Even if they’re not on a busy street but tucked away in a quiet place, people still find them. Starlight Wine was planned to be like that.
—
“Today, we’re reviewing the new release—Starlight Wine!”
Siyun, a wine YouTuber with 30,000 subscribers, was recording his broadcast. While his subscriber count wasn’t huge, among wine YouTubers, it was considered quite high.
The low subscriber count was inevitable. There just weren’t many people who loved wine. If you asked college students about their favorite drinks, beer and soju would undoubtedly take the top spots. Wine was buried somewhere in the deep abyss.
Wine had its inconveniences. For one, it was too expensive for students. The average price of a bottle was around 20,000 won. With the same amount of money, you could buy several times more beer or soju.
Even if you bought soju or beer at a large supermarket instead of a restaurant, the difference became even more stark. The money for one bottle of wine could buy you ten bottles of soju. So, wine had become a luxurious hobby, branded as something high-end. For college students who drank a lot, it had become a niche choice.
“Ahem… ahem…”
Siyun cleared his throat and started recording again. His voice had cracked earlier. That was the advantage of recorded broadcasts. If it were live, a mistake would be the end, but with recordings, you could retry as many times as you wanted. That’s why Siyun preferred to do review broadcasts as recordings.
“The price is 15,000 won, which is similar to other wines! Plus, there’s a 10% discount event for the next month, so buying now might be a good choice. That is, if this wine tastes good, of course.”
Siyun made sure the Starlight Wine label was clearly visible on camera. The elegant design of the label showed that a lot of effort had been put into it. It could hold its own against other high-end brand labels.
Some domestic car companies, even with sleek car designs, ended up looking cheap just by slapping their logo on the hood. That’s how important design is. In that sense, Starlight Wine’s design deserved a passing grade.
“Recently, Starlight Food has been recruiting famous designers, and it shows here.”
Siyun held the wine bottle and turned it around to show it off on camera. He was capturing the overall appearance of Starlight Wine.
“Sure, there are plenty of wines with great designs out there. But the most important thing is the taste of the wine. There’s a saying, ‘All that glitters is not gold.’ No matter how good the exterior looks, if the wine itself doesn’t taste great, it’s all for nothing. I’ve seen a lot of wines like that lately, so I hope this one doesn’t disappoint me.”
After a long spiel, Siyun took a breath. Then, using a corkscrew, he carefully opened the bottle and poured the wine into a wine glass.
“The aroma of the wine is a pass.”
Siyun brought the glass to his nose and spoke. Then, he took a small sip.
“!!!”
Siyun’s eyes widened as if he had tasted something indescribable.
