Private schools had no choice but to keep a close eye on the chairman’s mood.
Of course, in modern times, private schools receive a lot of financial support from the government, but the main operator was still the chairman. And that chairman wasn’t just any chaebol—it was the Starlight Group, the number one company in South Korea. And that chairman was the youngest direct descendant of the Starlight Group. In a way, it was like an insurmountable wall.
Kim Semin, though, wasn’t particularly interested in the school. It was well-known that Kim Semin, as the youngest, had stepped away from the management of the Starlight Group. And that was true. He had no interest in power struggles. Instead, Kim Semin’s passion was soccer. He was the chairman of the soccer association.
Thanks to solid and robust financial support, he was cheered by many soccer fans. It was a different approach compared to soccer association heads in other countries who were just cursed at. As the youngest of a major conglomerate, he also had a lot of money.
But Kim Semin got scolded—or something close to it—by his older sister, Kim Sehee. It was only natural that a big change would come to the school under his management. Kim Semin’s reprimand came down hard. Of course, as a grown adult, he only scolded his subordinates to a reasonable extent. Using violence or anything like that was an outdated way of thinking.
He always spoke in a rational and acceptable manner.
But to his subordinates, it wasn’t just a scolding—it was a full-on roar. To put it in military terms, it was like a corps commander casually saying, “Hmm… this division’s training doesn’t seem up to par,” as he passed by. But by the time it trickled down, it got distorted and exaggerated beyond what was originally said.
The division commander, after hearing the corps commander’s scolding, would then tell his battalion commanders:
“The corps commander said our division’s condition isn’t great. Let’s focus harder during the next training.”
At the division commander level, they held key positions in the military, so they’d speak diplomatically. This wasn’t some military from the 1980s where slapping or violent scolding was common. The battalion commanders getting scolded by the division commander were also in their 40s or 50s—middle-aged men. It was a group with some age to it, so they didn’t scold each other too harshly. Unless the division commander was a complete mess, it was normal to speak gently and calmly.
But when it came to the battalion commander’s scolding, it was different.
“You son of a bitch in operations! The corps commander saw our battalion’s training and wasn’t happy! Get your act together!”
The battalion commanders were in their 40s and 50s, but the operations officers they scolded were only in their early to mid-30s. It was an age gap that made scolding easier. And it was an age where using informal language was somewhat acceptable. After all, they were direct subordinates. Still, the battalion commander wouldn’t curse at them.
But when those operations officers, after being scolded, started gathering company commanders, things got messy.
“You f*cking bastards! The battalion commander said our training was a disaster. Do you want to die? This is f*cked up. Our battalion is redoing the training. If it’s a mess again, you’re dead.”
The operations officers would scold the company commanders hard. Some company commanders might have graduated from the military academy, but most were from ROTC or other military schools. They were easy to scold, and there were no hard feelings. They were just there to serve their time and get discharged. So the operations officers’ scolding was brutal.
And then the company commanders would gather their platoon leaders and scold them… and the platoon leaders would gather their squad leaders and scold them, and finally, the veterans would scold the new recruits. This top-down scolding culture was very common and almost default in Korean society. Everyone learned it in the military.
That kind of scolding also fell on Starlight Elementary School. The principal had been scolded so hard by the chairman’s foundation that his soul felt threshed.
In modern society, physical punishment or anything fitting for an old man’s age didn’t happen, but the mental violence was just as severe. With just one word, the school meals at Starlight Elementary began to change drastically.
—
On the frontlines in Africa, at a U.S. military base, there were all kinds of people. After the Gate appeared, civil wars in Africa decreased significantly.
A common enemy—monsters—had emerged. The warlords, who had been fighting each other, felt the crisis. If they kept fighting, they’d be wiped out by the monsters coming from the Gate. So some warlords dramatically reached a truce.
However, human greed knew no bounds. Even as the gates brought devastation, civil wars broke out in Africa. They were so focused on the immediate targets that they couldn’t see beyond them.
Now, these U.S. military units were tasked with protecting civilians in Africa. Inside the unit were villagers who had fled from their original homes, which had become uninhabitable due to the gates.
Anyway, today the U.S. soldiers were preparing to head out for their mission. Their task was to rescue civilians living in areas devastated by the gates. The land was so vast that they had to ride in Humvees to carry out their mission.
Fortunately, there were no rebels or warlords controlling people in this area. Fighting among humans was the most exhausting thing. The monsters from the gates had somewhat predictable behavior patterns, making them relatively easier to deal with. Each monster had a specific way to counter it.
However, before heading out, the soldiers who checked the supplies couldn’t help but sigh.
“Am I seeing this right?”
“Someone up there needs to get shot. They don’t know the field, so they give us this kind of supply.”
“James? You didn’t seriously give me cherry tomatoes instead of combat rations, did you?”
James, in charge of supplies, made an awkward face and said, “I clearly asked for combat rations. But this is what they gave me.”
James strongly insisted it wasn’t his fault. He definitely wasn’t the one to blame. What they saw was a box full of cherry tomatoes. They had run out of combat rations and requested more, but this is what they got.
“Will this fill us up? What’s really going on here?”
“They’ve completely lost it…”
They laughed bitterly as they looked at the cherry tomatoes. They had no idea how many they’d need to eat to feel full. But James had something to say to ease their worries.
“Each of these packs over a thousand calories. It’s high-efficiency food. I didn’t believe it at first either, but after eating one, I felt the effect. Try one. You’ll see the truth.”
They looked at James with doubtful expressions but tried one cherry tomato. If the higher-ups gave them this, there must be a reason. And they were right. Those who ate one were soon amazed by the feeling of fullness.
“Wow, I actually feel full!”
“It’s so easy to eat too. The smell of regular combat rations made it hard to eat, but this has no smell and can be eaten quickly!”
They realized the true value of these cherry tomatoes. As combat personnel working in the field, they understood how revolutionary this was as a combat ration. Those who had been cursing earlier were long gone.
It was understandable to curse at first glance. Asking them to perform intense missions after eating cherry tomatoes didn’t make sense. But after trying them, they understood the higher-ups’ choice.
“This is way lighter and holds way more than regular combat rations.”
“I just packed a whole box.”
They could carry almost a hundred times more than before. Their training radius had dramatically increased. It was almost enough to last a year. Seeing a colleague pack so much, one of them laughed and said, “Are you packing for a whole year? The mission is only a week long.”
“Just packing extra makes me feel at ease. And even with this much, it’s less than half the weight of the old combat rations. It doesn’t take up much space either.”
Thanks to the cherry tomatoes, they could carry more supplies. Soon, they left the unit to carry out their mission. Today, they had to rescue people. There were those waiting for them.
