Clank clank.
7 am. The sound of metal created by the Protector moving echoed across the quiet Unit 301.
Bom, the protector and Gyeoul were sitting on the floor, flipping sweet potato pieces that were placed on a tray. They were making dried sweet potatoes.
They were easy to make.
A steamed sweet potato would be sliced thinly and placed on a tray. The pieces would then be dried for two days at the veranda which was windy yet void of sunlight. They couldn’t be dried for too long and the timing had to be perfect – they had to retain their chewiness as well as some juice.
“Young lady. Do these things actually get sold?”
“…Yes.”
“Who buys them? The students?”
“…”
Gyeoul looked up at the protector.
“…Why?”
“Well, it’s just that I am curious.”
“…Yes. Classmates.”
Her explanation was like the following:
Since Lair was a superhuman school with high standards and the commuting children were from important families, a lot of the children were strictly forbidden from buying junk food and snacks because of the dignity and face they had to maintain. Thus, dried sweet potatoes which were sweet and chewy despite not being junk food was what made them popular.
“How did you discover such things?”
She explained that she had gotten the idea from how the kids loved it when sugar-glazed sweet potatoes were provided by the school.
“Hoh. As expected, you are very smart, milady.”
“…Nn. Hihi.”
“How much do you charge them?”
“…One pack, for 50 cents.”
“This much is a pack right? That is a very reasonable price as well. It is perfect.”
“…Should I charge more?”
“Wouldn’t that be too expensive then?”
“…What if I add a bit more?”
“Hmm. Good idea. If you increased the amount by 50%, that should be enough to realistically rip off your friends.”
“…Ohh.”
Bom, who was flipping the sweet potatoes and listening to their conversation from the side, giggled. They were very serious with their conversation.
Gyeoul had fairly straight standards for freshness as well. The sweet potatoes that weren’t sold for three days went directly to her own stomach.
Just today, the sweet potatoes that had been cooked two days ago were ready to eat. Bom, the protector and Gyeoul placed them into ziplock bags in right quantities.
Gyeoul carried her bag and bid farewell to Yu Jitae.
“…I’m, going to school now.”
“Yeah. Be safe.”
Walking out the door hand in hand with Bom, Gyeoul glanced back into the house and her eyes met with the protector’s.
1.5 times the quantity but 2 times the price…!
The protector nodded. Seeing that, Gyeoul nodded back with a faint smile.
*
That evening,
Gyeoul’s expression when returning from school was extremely bright.
“Ohh. Young lady. Welcome back.”
“…!”
“Huhu. Something good must have happened. Could you please share your joy with me?”
“…Come here.”
She gestured with her hand. The protector immediately ran up and kneeled on one of its knees. Then, Gyeoul hid her two hands behind her back and asked.
“…Right? Or left?”
“Hmm?”
“…Quick.”
“Right hand please.”
Gyeoul showed what was on her right hand – it was a pack of dried sweet potatoes.
“What is this?”
“…Remaining pack.”
“I see. Then what is on your left hand?”
She brought her left hand to the front with a bright smile. There were a bunch of 1 dollar notes.
“Ohhhh! How much is all this?”
From the eight packs she had brought to school, she had sold seven and had thus earned 7 dollars in total. Carrying a bunch of notes in her hands, she swung them up and down.
“That is amazing, young lady.”
“…Nn.”
Uhihi, she smiled.
Gyeoul went into her room and started writing something down on a notepad with crooked handwriting. The protector sneakily followed her and observed what she was writing down on the book.
+++
Bought: Sweet potatoes, vegetable store. 2.7 dollars.
Sold: 7 dollars.
Earned: 4.3 dollars.
+++
Ahh, it seemed that she was accounting for the cost and income.
At the very bottom of the account book, the protector found a slightly different note.
+++
Goal: 40 dollars
+++
Hohh, does she want to earn 40 dollars and do something with them? The protector’s red eyes bent into a [^^] shape.
Gyeoul carefully crumpled the 1 dollar notes and pushed them into the piggy bank. She had 3 dollars remaining in her hand, which she probably was planning to use in order to buy more sweet potatoes.
“By the way, young lady.”
“…Yes?”
“At this point, how about you make a lot at once and sell a lot of them?”
“…?”
“Aren’t they quite popular? I will help you so that you can produce them in large amounts.”
Gyeoul hesitated. Since she had always been making and selling a set amount of sweet potatoes, she had never even considered making and selling them in bulk.
“…Would it be fine?”
“Of course it would. Why wouldn’t it be fine?”
“…Reallyy?”
“I will do my best to help you.”
Tung tung– the protector beat its own chest.
Gyeoul took out 3 dollars which she had folded for her emergency fund. Adding that to 3 dollars which she hadn’t put into the piggy bank, she bought 6 dollars worth of sweet potatoes. There were so many of them, that both of her hands were full on the way back home.
“Now is the time for me to show off my skills.”
Using the skills it had built up over time, the protector took out a large pot. It was a pot bought so that they could deep fry Chirpy, but recently the atmosphere was quite strange that it had ended up in the corner.
After cooking the sweet potatoes for a long time with steam, the yellowish sweet potatoes were ready to slice and dry. They made six trays full of sweet potato slices.
Perhaps because there were more trays than usual, others who were usually uninterested in them came and observed the food.
“Oh Gyeoul, can I have a piece?”
“…No.”
“Uhh, so mean! They smell amazing though.”
“Chirp?”
“…I’ll give you one.”
“Chirp chirp!”
“What’s with these messy things?”
“…Don’t touch them.”
“You know that makes me want to touch them more.”
“…Please don’t.”
Kaeul, Chirpy and Yeorum came one by one. Last one to show up was Yu Jitae.
“What are they.”
“…Dried sweet potatoes.”
“Why are you making them.”
“…I want to sell them and earn money.”
If Yu Jitae wanted them, she was willing to give up to 2 pieces but he in fact didn’t ask for any.
“Do you need an allowance?”
Gyeoul shook her head in response. After realising that receiving things for free should not be taken for granted, she started refusing his money.
“…I will earn them myself.”
Dreaming of making a fortune, she smiled brightly.
*
However, it happened to be summer.
The humidity after the rain increased the moisture of the steamed sweet potatoes by several fold. Next morning, Gyeoul found mould on the dried sweet potatoes.
“…”
She froze stiff.
Seeing the sweet potatoes with disgusting green dots here and there made her heave a sigh unknowingly.
The issue was that she had bought too much. When Gyeoul turned to the side with a flick, the glittering eyes of the protector flashed off in an instant.
Gyeoul scowled.
When Yu Jitae returned from outside, he found the protector receiving punishment with its head on the floor.
“What are you doing?”
“I am receiving my punishment sir.”
Gyeoul was cleaning something up from the side with a discontent look on her face. He immediately realised that she was unhappy because the sweet potatoes had gone off.
Yu Jitae crouched next to the child and helped her clean up the inedible sweet potatoes.
“Are you alright?”
“…They all went bad.”
“It seems like it.”
“…I made them, with all my money.”
“Oh no.”
With a teary look on her face, Gyeoul gazed up at him and shook her head. A sigh deep enough to blow the ground away left her mouth.
“…Will it continue raining?”
“Probably. Since it’s the rainy season. It will probably continue raining for the next 2 weeks.”
Kwarurung…!
The sound of roaring thunder coincidentally indicated her mood.
“…This can’t be.”
Thanks to Yu Jitae helping from the side, the sweet potatoes were all cleaned up in a flash. Gyeoul cleaned the trays that were dirtied from all the mould with her spell. However, it wasn’t like the sweet potatoes were going to come back with that so Gyeoul was still in a very bad mood, despite being a blue dragon that loved rain.
What could they do though. Life didn’t always go the way they wanted it to. But whatever the case, Gyeoul still had a lot of opportunities more so because Yu Jitae was with her.
“Do you want some help?”
Shake shake.
Even then, Gyeoul refused his help. She stayed collapsed on the living room floor even after cleaning up the sweet potatoes and continued staring resentfully at the downpour.
“…”
That was when something seemingly struck her mind. Gyeoul ran to Bom’s room and hurriedly knocked on the door. Seeing that, he walked outside again.
That night.
Knock knock. Someone knocked on the door of his room. He opened the door but found no-one. No – there was someone lower down. Gyeoul was looking up at him with a nervous look on her face.
“Why are you here.”
“…Hi?”
“Hi.”
Gyeoul cautiously glanced at him before handing him a paper. The A4 paper that was folded twice had something written on it with a crooked handwriting.
[Business Plan]
“…Please lend me some money.”
A business plan… there was no way that Gyeoul would have known of such words so Bom must have helped her come up with it. Yu Jitae opened the folded paper. There was a table of contents at the top with plans about the business written beneath it.
The texts were like the following:
1. Umbrellas will be sold during the rainy season. The rainy season is estimated to continue for the next 2 weeks.
2. Small and cheap umbrellas on the internet cost $1.50 each. According to Bom, a percentage is taken off when buying in a bulk. Using shop points and a discount coupon, 30 umbrellas can be bought for $39.80.
3. Selling each for $2, a profit of $20.20 can be expected. Since there are 1,200 students at Lair Public Elementary School, 30 will be sold without a problem.
Conclusion: Please lend $40. It will be returned within 2 weeks.
Lowering the paper, Yu Jitae stared at Gyeoul. She was nervous like a salesperson waiting for the confirmation of their client. She might even be feeling like a CEO borrowing funds for their business.
He was dumbfounded. He had sent him to an elementary school and yet she was about to become a salesperson.
Of course, it didn’t matter even if she became a salesperson. All that mattered was whether she became happy from that or not. It was just that he was surprised how her dried sweet potato business shifted to an umbrella business from the rain.
“…”
He thought to himself.
If Gyeoul came and abruptly asked for 40 dollars, he would have given her 50 dollars with no questions asked.
But right now, Gyeoul wasn’t his precious child. She could be seen as a businessperson looking at the wallet of their sponsor.
He decided to have a more realistic conversation.
“What you want is this, isn’t it?”
Taking out 40 dollars from his wallet, he showed it to her. Gyeoul nodded.
“But will the kids really buy umbrellas?”
“…Sorry?”
“It’s not like the rain stops and suddenly falls again. It’s the rainy season. It’s a period where the rain continues to fall so who would come to school without an umbrella?”
In fact, Yu Jitae didn’t really know either. Besides, he wasn’t interested in whether they commuted to school with an umbrella or not.
The reason he nonetheless presented an opposing view was because he was curious how Gyeoul would react to a realistic problem.
“…”
It seemed that she hadn’t been expecting a question. Gyeoul glared at Yu Jitae with wide eyes.
Then, she scratched her head before sneaking a glance behind. Standing outside the study was Bom. When their eyes met, Bom slowly shook her head with a smile telling her to do it by herself.
Feeling betrayed, Gyeoul glared at Bom with circular eyes before turning back to Yu Jitae.
“…I can, do it.”
“Do what.”
“…I can stop the rain for a bit…”
“Ahh, you would be able to do that. So will you stop the rain and make it fall again?”
“…Nn nn.”
Did she really understand what she was saying? Interfering with the weather just to sell some umbrellas… Whatever the case, that was up to the ability of the debtor.
“Alright. Good. How will you bring 30 umbrellas to school then.”
“…Umm, I will carry 5 a day, and sell them.”
“Because the rainy season will last for 2 weeks?”
“…Nn.”
He felt amused from how he could spot a trace of confidence from her response. Even then, he accounted for the worst case scenario among worst case scenarios and threw her the last question.
“What if they don’t get sold and you have a bunch of unsold stocks.”
Her reply to the question was extremely intriguing.
“…Umm, refund?”
She was a born salesperson.
Yu Jitae opened his wallet.