Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh—!
I was the first to dash in. The cafeteria was super clean and sleek. The interior had clearly gotten a makeover, sparkling like crazy. It wasn’t like the old cafeteria was dirty, but over time, rust and dark stains had started to show. Now, all of that was gone.
“Whoa!”
I grabbed chopsticks and a spoon from the utensil container. Even the utensils were shiny and new, reflecting the fluorescent lights. The old chopsticks used to be bent and awkward, but these? No worries at all.
“Hana, slow down~”
“I’m gonna trip!”
Jiyu and Yumi followed behind me. I walked slowly, picked up a tray, and headed toward the lunch ladies. The trays were new too, totally different from before.
“Eat a lot~”
The staff, wearing hygiene caps and masks, were scooping out just the right amount of food. Jajangmyeon was the main dish, with sweet and sour pork and pickled radish on the side. They even handed out a drink, like they knew we’d get thirsty. I accepted my meal with a satisfied grin.
“Where should we sit?”
That was always the big question. Luckily, not all the grades ate at once, so there were plenty of seats. I found a decent spot, and Jiyu and Yumi plopped down around me.
“This looks so good!”
“Me too! I’ve been eating lunch boxes forever, so this is amazing!”
Jiyu and Yumi seemed to have a grudge against lunch boxes. I didn’t really care, though. Anyway, I ignored them and started mixing the jajangmyeon with my chopsticks. The sauce looked delicious, and the smell alone was a win.
This wasn’t your average Chinese restaurant jajangmyeon. Those places have been dropping in quality lately. I heard Chinese restaurants are tough to run, so chefs avoid them. That’s probably why I haven’t had good jajangmyeon in ages. But the one in front of me? Totally worth the hype.
After mixing the sauce just right, I took a big bite. My eyes widened instantly.
“It’s so good!”
Jiyu and Yumi saw me eating and dug in too. Their reactions were exactly the same.
“No way!”
“This is way better than that dried-up fish we had last time!”
“Way better? More like a thousand times better!”
They seemed just as satisfied as I was. This level of cafeteria food was rare. Usually, mass-produced meals sacrifice quality, like army food. But today’s meal? It broke all the rules. This stuff could compete with restaurant food, no joke.
The jajangmyeon was a solid A+. I turned my attention to the sweet and sour pork. It came drenched in sauce, which was perfect for me since I’m a “pour-sauce” kind of person. Dipping sauce in a crowded cafeteria? Impossible. So, they served it pre-sauced. Smart move.
I poked at the pork with my chopsticks. It looked great, but looks can be deceiving. There are plenty of pretty, flashy dishes out there that taste like cardboard.
I took a bite.
“Whoa!”
An anime BGM started playing in my head. For a moment, the world stopped. This sweet and sour pork was incredible. The coating was crispy, and the meat inside was juicy. Usually, the coating’s too thick or the meat’s dry, but this? Completely different.
“Jiyu, Yumi, try the sweet and sour pork! It’s amazing.”
When I raved about it, they switched from their noodles to the pork. Their reactions mirrored mine.
“No way!”
“Just like Hana said, it’s so good!”
Today’s first cafeteria meal was a total win. If they keep up this quality, I’ll be here every single day.
Back in the day, school meals sometimes tasted so bad that students had to rely on the school store.
Kim Sehee didn’t just jump into livestock farming on a whim. She saw how explosively popular the beef from Kim’s Farm was and decided to give it a shot. Stores selling beef from Kim’s Farm had customers booking orders a month in advance. Kim Sehee tried it herself, and the meat literally melted in her mouth—it was on a whole other level compared to regular Hanwoo beef. As someone who mainly eats beef, she could really tell the difference.
People didn’t know why the beef was so delicious, but Kim Sehee did. She knew the secret: the rice straw from Starlight Rice had some kind of magical, beneficial effect on the cows. If she hadn’t figured that out after being around Hana for so long, she might as well have been a spy.
Usually, when raising livestock, farmers feed them compound feed or other types of feed. Once cows taste compound feed, they tend to avoid rice straw. It’s like they know the straw doesn’t taste good.
But the rice straw from Starlight Rice was different. The cows would literally fight over it, like kids battling over the last piece of candy. Watching them, Kim Sehee couldn’t help but laugh. Even animals, without human reasoning, loved the plants Hana grew. It was no wonder the beef from cows raised on that straw was so delicious.
Raising cows isn’t cheap. On average, a calf costs between 3 to 3.5 million won, and feed costs can run up to 4 to 5 million won. But if Starlight Food entered the livestock industry, the game would change completely. The feed would be almost free. Compared to other livestock farms, Starlight Food could raise a cow without paying for feed. Of course, it wasn’t entirely free—there were costs for producing, fermenting, and transporting the straw—but it was still way cheaper than buying feed.
Starlight Rice sold the leftover straw to farms, but most of it was kept aside under Kim Sehee’s orders.
At first, Kim Sehee debated whether to sell the straw to livestock farms or raise cows herself. In the end, she decided to dive into livestock farming. It seemed more profitable to raise and sell the cows directly.
Plus, just selling feed to livestock farms wouldn’t help her achieve her ultimate goal. If she wanted to distribute beef to the U.S., raising the cows herself was the way to go.
“Finding the right land is a hassle, though.”
“Well, we do have some land the company bought…”
“But that land is for farming crops. To raise cows, we need land suitable for livestock.”
“You’re right, Boss.”
The land they already owned was great for growing crops but not ideal for raising cows. The plants from Hana were resistant to pests and could grow anywhere, even in barren soil, so finding new farmland was easy.
They didn’t need to look for fertile or sunny land—just somewhere with good transportation and plenty of space for crops.
But cows were a different story. They needed proper facilities.
“Let’s search hard. In this vast country, there’s got to be land suitable for raising cows, right?”
Kim Sehee and an expert were scouring Gyeonggi Province, and she was even considering other regions. There was no need to limit themselves to Seoul or Gyeonggi. While Hana’s crops had some geographical limitations, cows didn’t have those constraints.
