“Did everyone bring their swimsuits~?”
“Yes!!!”
I was hoping today’s class wouldn’t happen, but time mercilessly flowed on. Eventually, the time for swimming class arrived.
“Wow!”
The kids were cheering, holding their swimsuits. Surely, since they’re only in the 3rd grade, they wouldn’t make them change clothes in the same classroom, right? Thankfully, my thoughts were correct. The teacher raised her hand to stop the boys who were about to undress.
“Siwoo! Minho! You have to change in the changing room!”
“Okay…”
The boys shamelessly started stripping off their clothes. Under the teacher’s guidance, I headed to the pool. Starlight Elementary School was much bigger than most schools. Maybe that’s why it even had a separate pool. I glanced at the pool through the glass window. It didn’t seem like a shoddily made pool.
“Alright, boys go this way~ Girls, go that way to change~”
The teacher kindly pointed out the changing rooms. I was planning to change in the nearby restroom. No matter how I thought about it, changing clothes with elementary school girls felt like a crime. But my attempt was caught by the teacher. My hair color was too unique—green. I was the only one with green hair; everyone else had black hair.
“Hana, where are you going?”
“Uh…”
I couldn’t give a proper answer. If I said I was going to the restroom to change, I’d probably be treated like a weirdo. Of course, the teacher wouldn’t understand. Why would I change in a smelly restroom when there’s a spacious and comfortable changing room? I had no answer.
“Come on, Hana, don’t cause trouble and go into the changing room~”
“Ugh!”
I was caught by the teacher and dragged into the changing room. I couldn’t resist her strength. Once inside, Jiyu and Yumi greeted me.
“Hana, where did you go?”
“Right! I haven’t seen you for a while!”
“Huh…?”
Thankfully, my earlier protest paid off. Everyone had already changed into their swimsuits long ago. I didn’t have to see any little kids naked. I sighed in relief and finally changed into my swimsuit. But Jiyu and Yumi were staring at me.
“Guys…?”
I couldn’t change with Jiyu and Yumi watching me. They looked at me innocently and said,
“Hana, hurry up and put on your swimsuit! We want to get in the water!”
“Ugh…”
I had no choice but to change in front of the kids, my face bright red. I should’ve just come in and changed quickly. Being an adult afraid of kids’ gazes… it doesn’t make sense.
————————————————————
Amid the noisy kids, Jiyu, Yumi, and Hana appeared. The moment the boys’ eyes focused on them. Jiyu and Yumi were also good-looking, but Hana was the idol of the 3rd-grade boys at Starlight Elementary School.
Hana’s appearance was such that any ordinary boy would fall for her instantly. She had a Korean look with a slight mixed-race vibe, sharp features, and big eyes. She could easily be a celebrity. Some boys had even confessed to her and been rejected.
And it wasn’t just her looks. She was also brilliant. Hana was smart enough to be the top student in the 3rd grade. People say that if a girl is just good-looking, she can pass the hardest exams, but with brains like hers, it was hard to imagine how far she could go.
When she was just wearing regular clothes, it wasn’t as noticeable, but in a swimsuit, her looks stood out even more. Of course, seeing Hana in a swim cap was a fresh sight compared to her usual school appearance. The boys buzzed and made way as she passed.
Even boys from other classes came by just to see her. Of course, being kids, their attempts to approach her were clumsy. From Hana’s perspective, it was like watching little nephews confessing to her. It wasn’t romantic at all—just cute.
—————————————————————
“Isn’t this more than just frost?”
Kim Min-soo said as he looked at the thief he had caught. This wasn’t frost—it was theft. And not just any theft, but a very malicious one. Kim Min-soo first inspected all the temporary workers in the auditorium.
Fortunately, there was no one else who stole with this person.
“There were always people who committed theft, Mr. Min-soo,” said the security officer.
Starlight Food wasn’t foolish either, so they had set up a security system at the logistics center. There were inspection stations to check people hiding items on their bodies before leaving. This was a measure taken because the price of a single Tangle was not insignificant.
Still, there were people trying to steal Tangle. They could catch them all and hand them over to the police, but the fact that this kept happening wasn’t a good sign.
“Hand this person over to the police. We’ve captured everything on camera and have solid evidence, so there’s no way they can escape.”
Kim Min-soo handed the thief, who kept apologizing, over to the police. A thief who stole so blatantly wasn’t worth forgiving. The incidents related to this theft were reported to the upper management because they were serious matters for Starlight Food.
—
“Hmm…”
Kim Sehee read the issues reported by the department managing Tangle at Starlight Food. The content was enough to make her frown. There were cases where part-time workers tried to steal Tangle, and the biggest problem was that Tangle was much easier to steal compared to other plants produced by Starlight Food.
Currently, Starlight Food handled five plants: Cherry Tomatoes, Rice, Grapes, Tangle, and Coffee. Except for Tangle, the other plants weren’t as easy to steal.
For one, their size relative to their price was large. Stealing just one Tangle could amount to millions of won, while stealing other plants wouldn’t even reach 20,000 to 30,000 won. And if you stole more, the volume would make it obvious. But Tangle was different. Stealing just one could be worth at least 5 million won, and its small size made it easy to steal without much trouble.
Fortunately, temporary workers had to pass through security checkpoints like at airports, so those hiding items on their bodies could be caught. However, there were some shortcomings in preventing outsiders from entering. Managing an area with a 20-kilometer radius was too much.
There were also cases where outsiders entered the farm and took Tangle. Unless there were hundreds of thousands of security guards, it was impossible to catch all the thieves in such a vast area. Kim Sehee had to make a decision: should they let the Tangle thieves go, or should they find a way to catch them?
Kim Sehee chose the latter, even if it meant spending a lot of money.
“Let’s build a barrier, no matter how much it costs.”
They decided to erect a large barrier around the farm, similar to those at big corporate factories. It was a sparsely populated area, and all the land belonged to Starlight Food, so it wasn’t unreasonable. Big factories often surrounded their entire premises with huge walls to prevent outsiders from entering. Starlight Food decided to do the same for the area handling Tangle.
Of course, it would take a long time to build a barrier around such a vast area, but it was better than letting thieves keep stealing Tangle. There were dozens of theft incidents involving Tangle every day, and including the unreported cases, the daily losses amounted to hundreds of millions of won.
Even threatening to report to the police didn’t stop people’s greed, as selling Tangle could make them a fortune. And since it was private property, getting police help was also difficult. Starlight Food had to handle it themselves.
The only silver lining was that they only had to worry about Tangle. Other farms might have thefts, but they didn’t cause as much loss. Of course, they still had to catch thieves at other farms. After all, everything was Starlight Food’s property, and no one should be allowed to take it for free.
“Sigh…”
Kim Sehee couldn’t help but sigh at people’s greed. She missed Hana.
