“Whoa…!”
I was petting Nabi’s soft head while staring at the TV screen. On the TV, there was a hot spring that looked incredibly warm just by looking at it. Seeing that made me want to go to a hot spring.
And not just any hot spring, an outdoor one!
In the freezing winter weather, there seemed to be nothing better than enjoying an outdoor hot spring. I wanted to feel that contradictory sensation of the cold winter wind on my face while the rest of my body was warm from the hot spring.
“Meow!”
Nabi meowed. Nabi couldn’t come along. Even though monkeys go into hot springs, cats hate water. Well, Nabi didn’t hate water *that* much.
I took out my mobile phone. Whenever I made travel plans like this, I always had friends who would go with me. I sent a message to check with Jiyu and Yumi. Luckily, it was school vacation, so Jiyu and Yumi definitely had nothing on their schedules.
Third graders in elementary school rarely have packed schedules. Adults can’t just take time off because of work, but elementary school kids have nothing like that. In fact, once vacation starts, they just laze around at home every day. There was nothing else to do.
[Ok!]
Jiyu and Yumi also expressed their desire to go on the hot spring trip. I smiled contentedly and got up from the bed. I wanted to sneak off like last time when I went to Gangwon Province without telling anyone, but this hot spring trip required a guardian. It was much more convenient to go by car.
“Maru, I want to go to a hot spring!”
“Huh?”
“Hot spring!”
I showed her my phone screen. A video of people enjoying a hot spring bath was playing. Seeing that, Maru nodded. We couldn’t leave right away because we needed to prepare for the hot spring trip. We needed swimsuits to enjoy the outdoor hot spring.
Sure, you could enjoy the outdoor hot spring naked, but that would severely limit our options. Hot spring resorts were much better. Plus, going naked in a hot spring was a bit too much for me.
“Then, should we go buy Hana a swimsuit? I threw away the one we wore when we went to the beach last time.”
“Ah!”
I tried to run away, but Maru caught me. I was about to go on a hot spring trip but ended up having to buy a swimsuit. I thought I still had the swimsuit I bought last time… I only wore it once, and now it’s gone! It felt like such a waste of money!
—
“Hiiing…”
It would’ve been better if Jiyu and Yumi were here, but unfortunately, only Maru and I came to the department store to buy swimsuits. Jiyu and Yumi already had their swimsuits ready, so they didn’t come.
“Hmm… Where would we find a swimsuit that suits Hana…”
Maru held my hand and wandered around the swimsuit section. We arrived at the kids’ swimsuit corner. The good thing was that kids’ swimsuits were mostly modest and not revealing. Some of them didn’t even look like swimsuits.
To someone who didn’t know, they might just look like T-shirts and shorts. Of course, if you felt the material, you’d realize they were swimsuits.
“Hana, wanna try this on?”
“Uh…”
Maru picked up a cute-looking swimsuit and handed it to me. Her gaze was a bit overwhelming, but I nodded. After all, we couldn’t go to the hot spring without a swimsuit. Going naked was only possible in limited spaces.
I took the swimsuit Maru handed me and went into the fitting room. There was a mirror inside. I saw my reflection with green hair and eyes. It was a sight I still couldn’t get used to. Even though time had passed and my past as a man had faded, I still had that male identity lingering within me. It was like a scar that might never go away.
—
The cold sea breeze was blowing. Robert was anxiously watching the fleet returning from the sea. But after talking to a close friend on the fishing boat, he couldn’t help but feel despair.
“This is insane! Compared to before, we’re catching less than half the fish!”
“What on earth is going on?”
The fish aren’t on strike or anything!”
The anger and sighs of the fishermen filled the harbor. Even the people on the fleet couldn’t help but panic. It was only natural. The fish they were supposed to catch had been halved, meaning their expected profits were cut in half.
Robert watched the scene with a bitter smile. The other aquaculture farmers who followed Robert also wore serious expressions. If they continued at this rate, they would have to downsize their farms. With the current catch, it was impossible to maintain the scale of their operations. They were barely scraping by, even after halving their operations.
When Robert returned home, he immediately started looking for ways to sell the fish from his farm. The sooner, the better. Because not only Robert, but other aquaculture farmers would also be selling their fish. They had all seen the fleet’s catch with their own eyes.
They knew better than anyone that they couldn’t maintain their farms. So, it was much better to sell quickly before the fish died from lack of feed. Surprisingly, the fish from Robert’s farm sold like hotcakes.
The price of feed was skyrocketing, and aquaculture farmers like Robert couldn’t afford it. So, they had to downsize their farms.
As soon as they announced they were selling, the distributors they had contracts with rushed over with refrigerated trucks.
“The fish in the market are drying up.”
“It’s been a while since fish made it to the people’s tables. At this rate, beef is cheaper than fish.”
“Export? No way. We can’t even meet domestic demand, let alone pay expensive tariffs to sell overseas.”
The U.S. fish market was hit with an unexpected punch. The fleet’s catch had nearly halved. The impact wasn’t just on the fleet but also on distributors, fish stores, and ultimately, consumers.
“Isn’t this the time to dump and sell cheap?”
Fish prices were skyrocketing uncontrollably. Yesterday’s fish prices were the lowest. Overnight, fish prices jumped. Countless businesses that used fish were struggling, as supply couldn’t keep up with demand.
Even if they wanted to import from overseas, the situation was the same. Fish catches overseas had also plummeted. It wasn’t like the fish had collectively migrated to the Arctic or Antarctic. They had just vanished into the vast ocean.
—
They couldn’t just sit still. Feed prices were soaring, fish prices were skyrocketing, and various factors were making it barely possible to maintain the scale of their farms. If even one of those factors went wrong, Robert’s farm would collapse.
While tirelessly working, Robert overheard something strange.
“They say there’s a country called Korea that’s raising aquaculture fish at a groundbreaking low price?”
“That’s what I heard.”
“Wasn’t that the country that’s always firing missiles?”
“That country collapsed a long time ago. I’m talking about the country below, not above.”
“Really?”
“The hair loss product you’re using is also made in that country.”
“Is that true?”
Robert was once a bald man. But thanks to Tangle, he now has a full head of hair. He pays 300,000 won every month, but considering the cost of regaining his hair, it’s not a waste at all. In fact, it’s a bargain. The average annual salary in the U.S. is close to 100 million won in Korean currency.
