– …On the day before?
“Yeah. The day right before the election.”
‘…Uhh, …uhhh.’ Her voice started to dwindle.
Three candidates, out of which two had already given out their speeches. In a situation where the other candidates could no longer change their promises, what would happen if she were to give out the bribes beforehand?
Yu Jitae could sense her small brain working as rapidly as possible.
– … Umm, if I were them… I think I would pick someone else.
“Why.”
– …Because … the burger is already gone.
Good.
As expected, she had a capitalistically logical mindset.
She was right.
People were shrewd. After a small profit, they tend to move for an even bigger profit. Young kids were no different and in fact, they were a little bit more honest to their own greed than adults.
Even individuals would show such tendencies so it was obvious how groups of people would act.
Yu Jitae thought to himself.
What he was going to suggest now was something that he had never introduced before to Gyeoul. However, he soon made up his mind and opened his mouth after some hesitation.
“If you only give out the burgers, then maybe.”
– …Then?
“You can’t end it there. What comes next is more important.”
What candidates gave back when sharing a handshake with a voter wasn’t the warmth of a human hand. It was expectation.
‘I’ am coming all the way even to a place like this to hold your hand. Election campaigns were struggles for an increase in the voter’s expectation by suggesting that they would be the same even after the election.
“After having a taste of it, whatever you promise to do after the election will feel more realistic. Even more so than a pizza or chicken which they have yet to even taste.”
– …Yes.
“Don’t end with just making a promise. Make them have bigger expectations for the future. As long as you can do that, you will have a higher chance at getting the votes.”
An example would be another giveaway after the election.
– …Hmm. Then, …make the burger twice?
“It won’t be easy, would it?”
– …Yess … There are, a thousand students.
“Yeah. Doing it once would be hard enough already. And if you think it’s difficult, then the other candidates as well as the voters will also know how difficult it is. It might even be too difficult for you to do it.”
– …Yes… Nn? Sorry?
“Isn’t that right? You might be trying your hardest but making enough food for a thousand people twice is nothing easy. Due to various inevitable reasons, it might be impossible to do the second giveaway, right?”
After sensing a dangerous idea from his words, Gyeoul lamented, ‘…Aht’.
“Do you understand?”
– …Nnn.
This was key.
By closing the distance and making the reward feel realistic, amplify their expectations and take their votes.
Their expectations would be immense so it would naturally increase her chance of getting elected. But what about after that? Is there a need to answer their expectations?
…No. There was no need to.
To be honest, what came after the election was not important. If election was her goal, then she would have already achieved her goal by then.
“Is your goal to become a school captain? Or being elected to be a school captain?”
– …Being elected.
“Is it for the thousand dollar scholarship?”
Hihih…
A small giggle came after a slight pause. Yu Jitae opened his mouth after carefully choosing the right words to say.
“Gyeoul. If I were you, that’s what I would have done.”
Right now, Yu Jitae was teaching deception and fabrication to the child. This was definitely not a right method for an adult to recommend to a child.
However, it was an appropriate suggestion for a guardian to give to their ward. After all, Gyeoul would not stay a child forever.
“Because you should lay your hands on what you consider is necessary. Regardless of the method.”
On the day he created her room and put an aquarium into it, Yu Jitae began to consider Gyeoul as a ‘person’ that had to be respected. And after hearing about her circumstances from the kids, he realised that Gyeoul would eventually have to become an adult that can stand firmly on her two feet.
That would happen one day,
And that day might not be too far off.
Gyeoul would have no parents to rely on after returning to Askalifa. For her to grow up while only looking at the nice and the beautiful aspects of life, her world outside Yu Jitae’s greenhouse was already pouring with a blizzard.
Just like her name of all things.
“However, that doesn’t mean this is the right method. Some might swear at you and it might hurt your conscience if you consider it a bad thing to do yourself. So do whatever makes you comfortable.”
– …Mhmm.
“There’s no need to be stressed out and it’s fine to choose anything. Go back on your word if you have to. If need be, you can just give up on the election. Okay?”
– …Nn nn.
Soon, he heard someone calling Gyeoul from the other side of the watch. “Aht, I’m going now.” In a hurry, she quickly bid farewell and ended the call.
What would she choose to do?
Regardless of her choice, Yu Jitae would respect that choice and try his best to match and help her.
After a few hours.
He went to the main gates of Lair’s public elementary school and waited for the child. Gyeoul, who was walking out with her friends from a distance, found him and toddled her way towards him.
She reached her arms out, which was quite rare these days, so he immediately lifted her up. Her blue hair rested on his chest as she leaned on his body.
“How did you go.”
“…”
In response to his question, Gyeoul looked up at his face. The smile on her lips appeared rather awkward as well as her small hand that was grabbing onto his sleeves.
“Did you decide to not do it?”
“…Yes.”
She nodded.
“…I’ll just, make, a burger.”
It was different from what Yu Jitae would have done. Although he considered his method to be the most realistic for the election, that didn’t mean it was necessarily the correct answer either.
Respecting another as a person meant acknowledging that each had different values and thoughts. What was important was that Gyeoul had thought and decided by herself.
Even though she was a realistic dragon, she also appeared to be cautious of doing bad things, evident from how she ‘wished for him to be a good person’ in the past.
“Right. Good choice.”
He respected her decision.
That was when Gyeoul added after giggling, ‘Hihi’.
“…If it was 10,000, I would have done it.”
“Are you serious.”
“…A thousand dollars, …is nowhere near enough.”
***
The next day, he got a call from the school.
– I believe we should minimise the possibility of money resulting in votes as much as possible. That is what I think as a teacher.
“Yes.”
– Besides, due to the recent focus at Lair for a safe and healthy culture, we are stricter in this regard than usual.
There was an immense difference between the poor and the rich in Lair. A comparison between Tyr Brzenk with Kim Ji-in and Soujiro was enough to prove it.
– So, we have decided to only permit the hiring of 1 person. Everyone else must sync their watch ID code with the system, so that we know their relationship with the student, how much they worked and how intensive the work was.
This seemed to be the best system the school could come up with after a long discussion.
“Alright.”
It was nothing difficult.
On the other hand, Gyeoul was met with a different crisis.
“…Please help me.”
She couldn’t imagine doing it alone so Gyeoul went to her sisters and asked for their help. However, Yeorum with her arms crossed showed an attitude different from her expectations.
“What. For free?”
“…What?”
“You have to pay me. Who the fuck would do that for free?”
“…Please, help me.”
“Don’t wanna. My time’s expensive but I will give you a discount at least.”
“…How much?”
“Give me 5 bucks an hour.”
Labour costs…!
It had completely escaped her mind. With eyes as if she was begging for a saviour, Gyeoul turned towards Kaeul and Bom who gave wide smiles and said they would do it for free.
5 dollars an hour.
So making her work for 12 hours would cost 60 dollars.
“Oh right, right…! And Gyeoul…! You can’t make the burgers in our house right?”
“…Nn? …Nn.”
“I looked up the cost for renting cooking facilities nearby. Do you know how much it costs?”
“…How much?”
“127 dollars to rent it for a day…!”
“…”
Rent…!
That’s true. They couldn’t make burger sets enough for a thousand people inside the dormitory so they had no choice but to rent a different place.
Gyeoul added the rent fee of 127 dollars to the 60 dollars of Yeorum’s labour cost.
It was already over 180 dollars. Thinking that, Gyeoul heaved a sigh but that was when Bom opened her mouth.
“Ah, and from what I found…”
“…Aht.”
The worst had yet to come.
With a nervous look on her face, Gyeoul gazed at Bom. She had asked Bom an hour ago for advice on how to buy ingredients because she was the best at buying things cheap. That was why Bom had searched up the lowest prices but…
The cost was rather shocking.
“…Nn? …H, how much?”
“Fried chips, coke, bread, lettuce, tomato, minced meat, salt and pepper enough for a thousand people… Altogether it’s 1938.9 dollars.”
“…!?”
That price was after considering all the discounts and card bonuses in addition to the mass purchase prices of the ingredients.
“…A t, t, thousand nine hundred and thirty…”
Gyeoul was stupefied.
She was used to selling apples and things for 50 cents or a dollar so she needed time to process big units of money. Looking back, it was obvious that feeding a thousand people would cost a lot!
There was no reason to add it to the rent or labour costs anymore, because it was already well over a thousand dollars!
“…I, impossible.”
Her face turned dark in real time.
Finding that funny, Bom, Yeorum and Kaeul giggled.
“Little Gyeoul tripped on her own foot.”
“Serves you damn right. You greedy kid.”
“What should we do, Gyeoul? You have to use up all the money you earned until now…!”
They continued mischievously teasing Gyeoul and pushed her to the brink of tears.
“…Huiinng…”
When Gyeoul actually began to sob, they laughed even more. Even Bom was unable to hold it in while Yeorum gasped for breath and Kaeul slipped off the sofa to roll on the floor.
She was so cute that they couldn’t handle it.
“…I’m … done.”
“What?”
“…I quit… Not doing it.”
This much was something they had anticipated but what happened after was outside of their expectations. In the face of 2,000 dollars, Gyeoul began to run away.
“…Don’t, look for me.”
“Huh? Gyeoul where are you going…!”
“…I’m, leaving home.”
Kyahahaha–! They laughed out loud again but Gyeoul dashed towards the entrance as if she would actually leave. Yeorum, who was in the middle of laughter, shouted.
“Oi, oi. Cleaner! Grab her!”
“Aht, yes!”
The protector who had been grinning at the corner ran in response to her words and stood in front of Gyeoul.
“…”
Gyeoul glared at the protector with wide eyes.
“Young miss. Please calm down first.”
“…Step, aside.”
“You cannot leave home like this.”
Tears began to bud on her eyes. Seeing that, the protector hurriedly shook its hands and said.
“It, it’s fine young miss. I don’t cost anything!”
“…I don’t… need.”
“…”
Kung. It felt like something heavy had dropped down on its mind and the psychologically injured protector froze stiff. Finding a gap, Gyeoul once again began to race towards the door.
But that was when the door opened by itself.
“…?”
The teary Gyeoul gazed up at Yu Jitae who had appeared after opening the door. He was carrying an enormous piece of fresh meat that was wrapped several times. It was as big as a whole pig!
Wondering why Bom, Yeorum and Kaeul were on the floor, Yu Jitae asked.
“What’s wrong. Where are you going.”
“…I’m… leaving home.”
“You don’t have time for that.”
“…?”
“I got the meat. Didn’t Kaeul tell you? She rented a kitchen so let’s get to work.”
“…Refund, please.”
“What?”
“…I don’t, have money.”
After listening to Bom’s explanation about the situation, Yu Jitae opened his mouth.
“Gyeoul. Many countries have support funds for elections.”
“…Support, funds?”
“Yeah. It means the government pays for the funds that are required for a legal operation of the election. Meaning, that I will be supporting the cost of your election.”
“…Is that, how it’s always done?”
Otherwise the cost would far surpass the profit so Yu Jitae persuaded Gyeoul.
“Of course.”
“…Ah.”
“Got it?”
“…”
“And you guys get up as well. Let’s get going.”
“Okayy,” they replied and raised their bodies. It was time to end the prank.
*
Yu Jitae opened the door and went outside again as light seeped in and brightened up Gyeoul’s face. Bom, who had been slightly worried about Gyeoul sobbing, sneaked up to check her face and found her down-slanted eyes were now curving in a radiant smile. With a wide smile on her face, Gyeoul wore her shoes.
Her smile was brighter than the midday sun.