“Do you need any help?”
I packed all the kimbap into the lunchbox. Maybe that’s why I had nothing to do, so I wandered around. Bora and Haru were busy doing something, and I felt like I was the only one being too comfortable.
When I said that and looked at them, the two exchanged glances and then nodded. Haru stopped what she was doing and hugged me.
“There’s something very important that Hana needs to do.”
Her serious tone made it seem like a very important task. I nodded. No matter how hard or difficult it was, I was confident I could handle it.
But Haru headed toward my room. I looked at her with a puzzled expression.
What could there be to do in my room?
Haru gently sat me down on the bed. I quietly waited to see what Haru would ask me to do. If it was something I could do in my room, it must be something special and cool, right?
Haru connected her phone to the TV and turned it on. The TV was playing an episode of the Little Magician Lumi’s animation.
It was an episode I missed because I went to bed early. If I watch this, I won’t be able to help Bora and Haru with their work!
“Hana, your job today is to watch TV here. It’s a very important task, so don’t sneak out, okay?”
Goodness. Who knew there could be such a comfortable task? But focusing on an animation was a challenge for me, so I understood why Haru said that.
I put on a determined expression and nodded. I decided to pour all my energy into watching TV today, just as Haru said.
As I focused my gaze on the TV, Haru quietly backed out of the room.
—
Bora, Haru, and I went out to play at the park in front of the company. It was still early February, so it was chilly outside. The wind blew, making my long hair fly everywhere.
“Are the cherry blossoms already blooming?”
“Right? Don’t they usually bloom around late March? Is this also because of Hana?”
The trees on the street had already bloomed beautifully. Seeing the pink cherry blossoms blooming everywhere made my heart flutter. And the flower beds were also full of vibrant flowers.
“Bora, I’m hungry.”
My stomach growled. I had only eaten one kimbap this morning and nothing else. Since I hadn’t gotten enough sunlight, I couldn’t help but feel hungry.
“Let’s lay out a mat under a suitable tree and eat.”
Fortunately, Bora didn’t seem like she would wander around the park. Maybe because I complained about being hungry, she quickly looked around to find a good spot.
There were quite a lot of people. Maybe because the cherry blossoms were blooming. Well, it was on the news that this was the only place in Korea where cherry blossoms were blooming, so it made sense to come here. The sunlight was warm for winter.
So, it was common to see people laying out mats and enjoying picnics. Luckily, there was still a spot for us. We settled under a large cherry blossom tree, laid out the mat, and got ready to enjoy our picnic.
The mat Bora brought had Lumi’s illustration on it—a really cool mat. And Haru placed various drinks on the mat. To keep the mat from flying away, she placed water bottles on the corners as a bonus.
I placed the lunchbox I brought on the mat. Bora and Haru said it was heavy and offered to carry it, but I refused. It was heavy, but as the main character of the picnic, I should be the one to carry it, right? The most important item should be carried by me.
It was a whopping 5-tier lunchbox filled with all kinds of food!
I placed the lunchbox with kimbap, sandwiches, meat, and fried food in front of me. The lunchbox with only vegetables was subtly pushed toward Haru’s spot. Bora and Haru were busy organizing the mat and didn’t notice. I took advantage of that.
I absolutely won’t eat that.
“Hana, isn’t it a bit much to push the vegetables aside like that?”
Haru opened the lid of the lunchbox in front of her and spoke. Indeed, Haru’s lunchbox was filled with something resembling a salad.
“Haru, I don’t eat vegetables.”
I said confidently.
“Then shouldn’t you not eat the other stuff either? There are vegetables in the kimbap and sandwiches.”
When Haru pointed out my weakness, I was left speechless. And Haru really looked like she was about to take the food in front of me.
I looked at Bora with pleading eyes. Seeing my expression, Bora gave an awkward smile and defended me.
“Haru, I think Hana isn’t really into full-on vegetarianism. Maybe it’s because her essence is a plant? So forcing her to eat it might be…”
I’m feeling a bit off.”
“Of course, it’s Bora!”
“Well then… I guess there’s no choice.”
Haru was about to say something more, but seeing my expression, she swallowed her words. There was no reason to stir up trouble on such a pleasant picnic day.
With an excited voice, I opened the lunch box lid and exclaimed, “Wow! A whole bunch of delicious stuff!”
The food was made by me, Bora, and Haru this morning! I could barely hold back my drool. I quickly reached out to grab a kimbap.
But Bora grabbed my hand. Why wouldn’t she let me eat?
However, Bora carefully wiped my hands with a wet wipe she brought from somewhere. Then she said, “Hana, eat to your heart’s content. We made this much for you to enjoy.”
With Bora’s permission, I was ready to become a food monster today. I hadn’t eaten breakfast, so there was plenty of room for food.
As I was eating the food from the lunch box, a breeze blew, scattering cherry blossom petals.
The beautiful scene made me forget about eating as I took in the view. It felt like the cherry blossom trees were welcoming me to the park.
“But don’t you think there are way too many cherry blossom petals falling around us?”
“Yeah, it’s strange. There are no petals falling anywhere else, but around us, they’re swirling like crazy.”
I kind of knew why. The cherry blossom petals were coming to see me.
—
Some time later, the bidding for the Army Combat Ration began.
Although it was formal, since it was a military supply, other companies were given the opportunity to participate. Of course, it was just a formality.
Other companies couldn’t meet the requirements set by Starlight Food for the combat rations.
To summarize briefly, the first condition was that the combat ration had to be the size of a notebook and capable of providing 30 days’ worth of food in an emergency, among other things…
There were many other conditions, but they couldn’t even meet the first one. Other combat rations required the size of a notebook just to prepare one meal. And with that one meal, you couldn’t last a week, let alone 30 days.
Still, the existing combat ration suppliers felt relieved after seeing the Ministry of National Defense’s statement.
The Ministry of National Defense considered the combat ration suppliers. Putting all the eggs in one basket was too risky. So, the Ministry decided to distribute the eggs.
The supply of Starlight Food’s cherry tomatoes could be cut off at any moment, and there were relatively many variables. Therefore, the Ministry adjusted the ratio of combat rations to 7:3.
They kept the existing combat rations at nearly 70% and set the new Starlight Cherry Tomatoes at 30%. They planned to start by consuming the existing combat rations with expiring shelf lives during training and gradually increase the ratio of Starlight Cherry Tomatoes.
The Ministry’s ultimate goal was to maintain a 50:50 ratio. They decided to distribute cherry tomatoes during provocations or semi-war situations and use the existing combat rations during regular training.
They weren’t purchasing 30% of cherry tomatoes all at once. As the existing combat rations were consumed, they would replace them with cherry tomatoes. Starlight Food couldn’t provide nearly 30% of cherry tomatoes in one go.
The military ordered 100 million Starlight Cherry Tomatoes over a year.
That’s almost 10 million per month. The Ministry’s annual order amounted to a whopping 400 billion won.
“This… we’ll need to expand the farm size by 3 to 4 times.”
Considering the existing cherry tomato farm’s size, it was already close to being number one in South Korea, but now it was set to overwhelmingly take the top spot.
This was possible because one cherry tomato plant bore fruit abnormally quickly and abundantly.
If it grew and bore fruit as slowly as regular cherry tomatoes, such a quantity would have been impossible.
