“Ah, that was delicious!”
“Me too! It’s been a while since I had proper ice cream!”
Jiyu and Yumi came out of the ice cream shop looking satisfied. I also enjoyed it, so there was no way I could complain. However, maybe because I had ice cream, I felt a bit hungry.
It had been a while since lunch, and a child’s body digests food so quickly. My stomach was already growling. The digestion speed of a child is on a whole different level compared to an adult. I finally understood why kids are always craving food.
I suggested to Jiyu and Yumi a way to solve this hunger.
“Hey, let’s go to a snack bar! Aren’t you guys hungry?”
My choice seemed excellent. Jiyu and Yumi nodded eagerly at my words.
“Sure, Hana! I’m so hungry!”
“Me too, me too!”
“Then let’s head to the snack bar!”
I started scanning the nearby shops with hawk-like eyes. Since we were near an elementary school, there had to be a snack bar around. Elementary school kids and snack bars are like inseparable soulmates!
After wandering around, we found a good snack bar. Jiyu, Yumi, and I charged inside. Since it was well past school hours, there weren’t many people inside. If we had come straight to the snack bar instead of going to Baskin-Robbins, we might have seen more kids our age, but it was too late now.
We sat down and started flipping through the menu to choose our snacks. Our opinions quickly aligned. After all, snack bar food is pretty much the same everywhere. It’s not like we were expecting to find a fancy steak at a snack bar.
“Hana, is it okay to order this much?”
“Of course! Just trust me! I’ll eat it all!”
I confidently reassured the girls, but Jiyu and Yumi were looking at me with doubtful eyes. I narrowed my eyes at their unexpected reaction.
“Why… why are you looking at me like that…?”
Yumi sighed as if she sensed my trembling voice.
“I have a feeling we’re going to have a lot of leftovers…”
If only they knew how much room I had in my stomach today, they wouldn’t be saying that! As we chatted, the snack bar lady brought over a ton of food.
I cheered as the snacks were laid out on the table. Sundae, spicy rice cakes, and fried goodies were served one after another. The holy trinity of snack bars: sundae, tteokbokki, and fried snacks. These were foods that no kid could resist. They were practically worshipped by teenagers.
“Let’s eat, let’s eat!”
“Wow!”
I focused on the sundae. Dipping it in salt made it incredibly delicious. Since we were in Seoul, all we had was salt. In Jeolla, they use chojang, and in Gyeongsang, they use ssamjang, but for sundae, salt or tteokbokki sauce is the way to go. No other condiments could compare.
“Hana, eat slowly. You’re going to choke!”
Yumi looked worried as she watched me eat at lightning speed. I gestured for her not to worry, pounding my chest as I inhaled the food. Jiyu, noticing that I might be choking, brought me some water.
The timing was perfect. I was actually choking, so I gulped down the water like it was the elixir of life. After catching my breath, I dipped a fried roll into the tteokbokki sauce. The crispy texture and the chewy glass noodles inside created a whole new flavor. Fried snacks are best dipped in tteokbokki sauce.
The tteokbokki sauce was like a magical harmony that paired well with any food. I wondered how the person who invented tteokbokki came up with such a delicious sauce. It was amazing.
“Haah…”
After eating so frantically, I was already full. I looked regretfully at the leftover food on the table. Just as Jiyu and Yumi had predicted, I couldn’t finish it all. I felt so frustrated. Back when I was a guy, I could have easily eaten this much, but a child’s stomach is just too small. I never imagined I wouldn’t be able to finish this.
Jiyu and Yumi looked at me with “I told you so” expressions.
“Told you.”
“I knew you’d leave some.”
“Ugh!”
I couldn’t help but express my regret over the leftover food.
———————————————
Starlight Food currently operates farms all over Gyeonggi Province. Running a farm in Seoul would cost an astronomical amount. In fact, the land value there would probably increase more than the crops grown on it.
The company address of Starlight Food was in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. The reason wasn’t anything special—it was just because they didn’t have money. Until just last year, Starlight Food was a small-to-medium-sized enterprise with annual sales of only a few billion won. The only reason they could have their own building was thanks to Kim Sehee’s bloodline.
If it weren’t for the real estate Kim Sehee owned, they would’ve had to set up an office made of containers in some remote area. But now, things were different. Annual sales had long surpassed the trillion-won mark, and the operating profit was downright ridiculous. It was hard to believe it was the growth of a company less than a year old. With over 10,000 employees, it was closer to a conglomerate than a small business.
And if you added the subcontractors and contract workers under them, it was like an enormous army had been born. While they ran factories, Starlight Food’s main focus was farm work. Since it was labor-intensive, the number of employees and daily workers they hired was beyond imagination.
To put it into perspective, people working at manpower offices in Seoul preferred going to Starlight Farm over construction gigs. At Starlight Farm, they got plenty of breaks, the food was delicious, and most importantly, there was no danger involved.
The daily wage was close to 200,000 won, and the work intensity wasn’t too hard. Considering working under the scorching sun as tough labor, they worked for 2 hours and then took ample breaks. Plus, farm work was so simple that you could become an expert after just 10 minutes of learning.
After all, it was just picking fruits—what could be hard about that? So, people looking for quick cash or fresh college students mainly came. The biggest factor was that there was no risk of industrial accidents. Farming wasn’t as dangerous as building construction, where you could die.
Reflecting this, logistics centers were struggling to find daily workers. It was so hard to hire daily workers because Starlight Food was scooping them all up. Considering their working conditions, it made sense. Loading and unloading were notoriously known as some of the toughest jobs online.
Anyway, Kim Sehee, who had somehow become the top farming company in Korea, had a recent concern. Whether it was the employees at the headquarters or Hana, there was something she needed to do.
“Isn’t it about time we moved our company headquarters?”
That’s right. She had the desire to move the company headquarters to Seoul. From Paju, Gyeonggi Province, it took over an hour to get to Seoul if traffic was bad. Seeing Hana commute to school by car every day didn’t sit well with her.
So, she was thinking of moving into a building as close to the school as possible. Hana was too mature to complain, but it didn’t make sense for an elementary school student to spend over 2 hours commuting daily. And honestly, Kim Sehee was also tired of commuting from Seoul to Paju every day.
Of course, this would’ve been unthinkable in the past. No money, and buying a building on that expensive land in Seoul? But now, that wasn’t an issue at all. Money was overflowing.
“Then let’s look into buildings in Seoul. And as close as possible to Starlight Elementary School, where Hana goes. So I can see her often.”
It was technically Starlight Research Institute’s building, but since Kim Sehee owned all the shares of the research institute, it didn’t matter whether it was the research institute or the food company. All she needed was to buy one building where Hana could live comfortably.
The research institute employees could stay where they were, and she was considering moving Hana to a building bought by Starlight Food. From Hana’s perspective, it wasn’t a bad idea. Living in a building close to school might be better than commuting 2 hours by car every day. And for a company of Starlight Food’s caliber, owning a building in prime Seoul real estate seemed fitting.
If they bought a building as close as possible, it might take less than 10 minutes by car to get to Starlight Elementary School. Plus, Kim Sehee would get to see Hana’s face more often, which was nice. Right now, since Hana was at the Starlight Research Institute building, she couldn’t see her whenever she wanted.
