“Ohohohoho!”
I let out a bizarre laugh. Lately, I’ve been finding it fun to make weird laughs or dance moves. I don’t know why that is. As I got up from bed, Nabi greeted me.
“Meow!”
Nabi was lying down, spreading her arms wide as if asking to be hugged. Sometimes, Nabi seemed almost human. I hugged her, and she purred contentedly in my arms. Or should I say she was making that “gol-gol” sound? I heard that’s the sound cats make when they’re really happy.
I was getting ready for school today. There wasn’t much to pack since I kept my books and other necessary items in my school locker. My bag had turned into a magical bag filled only with snacks.
As I entered the bathroom, Nabi followed me. I looked at her and said, “Nabi, I’m going to take a shower, so wait outside for a bit. Or do you want to shower with me?”
“Meow!”
Nabi raised her tail and went outside. She stays still when I splash water on her, but I heard she goes crazy when Bora, Haru, or Maru try to bathe her, even scratching with her claws. So, I’m usually the one in charge of Nabi’s baths.
“My hair is so long…”
My long hair was always a hassle. But there was nothing I could do about it. Even if I cut it, it would grow back by the next day. After finishing my shower, I stepped out, put on my uniform, and adjusted my clothes.
Since it’s elementary school, uniforms aren’t mandatory. Many kids wear casual clothes, but I found the uniform comfortable, so I usually wore it. Looking at myself in the mirror, I was the perfect image of a little kid. As I struck a cool pose, it was almost time to leave for school. I picked up Nabi, put on my shoes, and headed out.
In the office, Haru had already arrived for work. It seemed Bora and Maru hadn’t come in yet.
“Good morning, Haru!”
“Good morning, Hana~”
Haru replied, then asked, “Do you want me to take care of Nabi?”
“Yeah. I have school, so please take care of Nabi, Haru.”
“Of course. You can count on me.”
I handed Nabi over to Haru. At first, Nabi would cry when separated from me, but now she seemed used to it and nestled into Haru’s arms without much fuss. I waved goodbye to Nabi.
“See you in the afternoon, Nabi~”
“Meow…”
I left the office. But before I left, I noticed Nabi’s eyes had a mischievous glint, like a little troublemaker. I decided not to worry too much since Bora, Haru, and Maru always said Nabi was doing fine. They were all confident in their childcare skills, after all.
I snorted and headed off to school. The weather was nice today. The autumn sky was clear and vast, with not a single cloud. Just looking at it made me feel refreshed.
—
“Today, we’re going to make cake! The school has prepared all the ingredients, so let’s head to the practice room!”
“Yay!”
The teacher said this and left the classroom. I was super excited and exclaimed, “Cake! I’ve been craving it so much!!!”
Being able to make cake ourselves? There couldn’t be a better hands-on experience. This is why elementary school is great. Maybe it’s because we’re still young, but we get to do all sorts of fun activities. Back in my day, it was all about studying, studying, and more studying.
Honestly, I don’t even know how we survived all that studying. In high school, including night self-study, we spent over 14 hours at school. School was home, and home was just a place to sleep and leave—like a temporary lodging.
Being born in that era, seeing how relaxed school life has become feels a bit strange. But it’s a good feeling, so I turned to Jiyu and Yumi and said, “Let’s hurry to the practice room, guys!”
“Wait for us, Hana!”
I left Jiyu and Yumi behind and ran to the practice room. Every second counted when it came to making cake. As I entered the practice room, the teacher was preparing the ingredients. With the small number of students, the teacher could handle the preparations alone.
On the large table in the practice room…
The round bread for making whipped cream and cake was ready. And the toppings to put on the cake were being placed according to the teacher’s gestures.
I rubbed my hands together and licked my lips. I was thinking of making a very delicious whipped cream cake.
—
Starlight Food’s operating profit margin was extremely high. The operating profit margin of general food companies stayed around 4-5%. Most companies aimed for a dream operating profit margin of 10%.
But this year, Starlight Food’s operating profit margin exceeded 90%. Of course, it was a statistical trap. Most of the profit came from selling apple slices. Although the apples were practically free to make, they brought in a profit of 1 trillion when sold at auction.
Even if you excluded the apples, the operating profit margin was still incredibly high compared to other food companies. It exceeded 50%.
It didn’t surpass 70% like some graphics card companies, but for a farming business, it was insanely profitable. This level of operating profit margin was something you’d usually only see in game development companies.
Online game companies had high operating profit margins because, aside from employee salaries and server maintenance, there weren’t many expenses. But in Starlight Food’s case, their plants were just so easy to grow that their operating profit margin had to be higher than other farming businesses.
All they had to do was plant the seeds, water them, and the plants would grow on their own. Unlike other farming companies, there was no need for pesticides or weeding. Plus, the plants were immune to pests. Starlight Food’s only job was to harvest when the plants were ready.
Every two weeks, they’d gather employees and temporary workers to harvest the crops and plant new seeds. That was it. No other actions were needed. Weeds didn’t even grow around the plants. Such an easy-to-cultivate crop didn’t exist anywhere else in the world.
—
“Very successful.”
An employee handed a report to Kim Sehee. She wore a satisfied expression. With results like this, they could almost certainly enter the market.
“Let’s acquire a suitable aquaculture farm. If that doesn’t work, we’ll just build one ourselves.”
Starlight Food had successfully entered agriculture and livestock farming. Next was aquaculture. They considered following the example of famous canned tuna companies that owned their own fleets, but they changed their minds.
There was no reason to go out to the open sea to catch fish when they had good feed ingredients. Starlight Food had successfully developed a compound feed that fish loved. Originally, aquaculture farms used live feed to raise fish because compound feed was more expensive and slower in growth.
But Starlight Food’s compound feed was different. It contained Starlight Rice and other healthy ingredients, making it cheaper and faster-growing than other compound feeds—even faster than live feed. It was practically a no-brainer to use. Of course, Starlight Food wasn’t planning to sell this feed yet. They had decided to enter aquaculture themselves, so they needed to stockpile the feed for their own use.
Now, Starlight Food’s name was guaranteed to be on every household’s dining table.
They had entered agriculture, livestock farming, and aquaculture. And it was all thanks to Hana. Without Hana, Starlight Food might still be making snacks in a small factory.
Or the company might have already gone bankrupt. But that was a bad ending they didn’t need to worry about anymore. They were in their prime, and there was no need to dwell on the past. A solid path lay ahead.
