The First Day of the University Festival
It was nine in the morning on the first day of the university festival. Students from the Business Administration Department hurried about, preparing the stall assigned to our department. By the time we had finished setting up the tables and installing all the cooking equipment, a truck loaded with strawberries finally arrived.
“Handle them carefully!”
“Yes, hyung!”
Park Jundong, a freshman guy I had supervised during Saeteo, shouted loudly as he got to work. Along with him, unfamiliar male freshmen from the student council executive team moved in unison, stacking the strawberry boxes into neat piles. Beside them sat the sugar, starch syrup, wooden skewers, and disposable cups we had bought beforehand. There were no other ingredients.
The menu consisted of only two items: strawberry tanghulu and strawberry juice, each priced at four thousand won. Rather than offering a messy variety of half-hearted options, we simplified everything by focusing on a single core product. While tanghulu came in many fruit varieties, strawberries were by far the most delicious.
It’s also the most expensive, though.
Other stalls used frozen strawberries to cut costs, but I had decided on fresh ones. Naturally, this choice pushed our cost ratio close to fifty percent. When regular shops aimed for thirty to thirty-five percent, fifty percent was practically a guarantee of bankruptcy.
But.
There are no other expenses, after all.
This was a university festival. No rent for the building, no taxes whatsoever. We accepted only cash, so there were no card fees. Making tanghulu required considerable manpower, yet thanks to students who participated voluntarily—unpaid labor was a phrase I quickly swallowed—the labor cost was zero. Except for the price of the strawberries, every won was pure profit. For small business owners, this place was literally a dream.
Of course, frozen strawberries might have generated even higher margins.
Even if I earn money here, it isn’t going into my own pocket anyway. Might as well use the best ingredients.
Since we had started this, I resolved to create the finest strawberry tanghulu possible.
Once the freshmen had finished sorting all the strawberries, I gave them instructions.
“Here’s what you’ll be doing. Remove the stems, wash them, pat them dry, then skewer four strawberries on each stick. Easy enough, right?”
“That’s simple. Leave it to us.”
It sounded easy when you only described it. But once the count reached ten, then a hundred, then over a thousand… I could only hope they would still be smiling an hour from now. I set up a trash bin for discarded wooden skewers and made a mental note to have someone walk around collecting them later.
All the basic preparations were complete. As I scanned the area to make sure nothing had been overlooked, Choi Seungah—already changed into her maid outfit—walked over.
“Didn’t you order too many strawberries?”
“If any are left, our café will take them at the same price, so don’t worry.”
“Well, if you say so.”
When Choi Seungah stood beside me, my eyes naturally drifted to her maid uniform.
“What do you think?”
“It looks good. Whoever made it did an excellent job.”
“I was worried they might give me something weird since they said they made it themselves, but it turned out really well. If you hadn’t told me, I would have thought you bought it.”
The skirt fell below the knees and the chest exposure had been minimized. It was an ordinary maid outfit that emphasized cuteness over sexiness—a balanced mix of imperial-style and the internet versions I had seen. In truth, I had wanted to dress her in one of those revealing outfits and tease her mercilessly, but since both Kim Eunha and Lee Yujin were also working the stall, I couldn’t allow other guys to stare at them with filthy eyes. The modest uniforms were for the festival; the provocative one remained safely tucked away at home for my personal enjoyment.
“The finishing is neat and the size fits perfectly.”
Choi Seungah playfully lifted the hem of her skirt and spun in a circle. The tantalizing glimpse beneath drew every male gaze in the vicinity—including mine. Park Jundong stared in open-mouthed admiration, his face lit up with pure bliss.
After the maid-outfit fashion show, she hung a signboard around her neck.
She planned to walk around as a living advertisement until opening time.
“Aren’t you embarrassed?”
“Embarrassment lasts a moment, but pride lasts forever.”
I still couldn’t understand what the festival meant to her that she would go this far.
“That’s because you’re not in the student council, sunbae. Do you know how much criticism we received last year after we messed up? For the sake of winning, this is nothing.”
“That bad?”
“Absolutely. Besides, do you know how obnoxious the vice president from the National Affairs side is? It’s like she holds a grudge from a past life. The moment she sees me she starts growling and causing every kind of scene imaginable. If we lose this time, who knows what she’ll pull.”
She clearly did not get along with the opposing vice president. It seemed this bet involved not only departmental pride but personal revenge as well.
“If she’s ugly, you’d think her personality would at least be decent. I’ve never met a girl with worse manners. Ugh.”
“Worse manners? Like Kim Eunha?”
“No way. Eunha is positively charming compared to her. Isn’t her prickly attitude kind of cute?”
It was true. Seeing her call me Master while wearing a maid outfit last time had been genuinely adorable.
When I turned my head, I spotted Kim Eunha standing there in her own maid uniform. She had been forced to participate in the department event because of the previous embezzlement incident. Our eyes met; she had apparently been watching me. Then she quickly looked away without so much as a greeting.
Not even greeting her Master when she sees him? Additional training is clearly required.
I mentally scheduled the next maid education session.
Soon afterward, my junior Lee Yujin appeared wearing her maid outfit as well. She had joined to help once she heard that both I and Choi Seungah were participating. Embarrassed by the costume, she kept her head lowered until I told her it suited her beautifully. Only then did she raise her gaze.
Somehow all three sophomore beauties have gathered in one place.
A stall staffed by three beautiful maids. Unless the food was catastrophically bad, failure seemed nearly impossible.
“Hyung, is this all right?”
Park Jundong and the other freshmen brought over several strawberries they had skewered. They were slightly crooked, but impressive for first-timers. I was about to praise them when Choi Seungah appeared out of nowhere and beat me to it.
“Wow, you did a great job! Just keep going at this pace. Everyone, let’s fight hard today!”
“Yes, Vice President!”
“Aja! Fighting!”
The sight of their vice president in a maid outfit cheering them on sent the freshmen’s morale soaring. I had no idea how long the boost would last, but it was certainly effective right now. She really knew how to handle her juniors.
Once everything was ready, I placed a pot containing mixed water and sugar over the flame. There was still time before opening, but I needed to prepare a sample tanghulu for the university student council’s inspection.
There was a food poisoning incident last year, so this time any violation would result in university-level disciplinary action.
Because of the unpleasant events during last year’s festival, every food vendor now had to submit samples to the central student council for approval. In reality it was little more than a bureaucratic formality.
As soon as I lit the fire, Choi Seungah approached again.
“You’re already making them?”
“Just one for the student council submission.”
“Oh, right. Since you’re making it anyway, could I have one too?”
“How could you forget about that? Give me a moment.”
I infused Sex Power into both the strawberries and the sugar syrup. I dipped a strawberry into the sweetened liquid, rotating it gently to create an even coating, then let it harden. The finished strawberry tanghulu looked like a red gem encased in elegantly shining glass.
Infused with Sex Power
A jewel-like candy coating that shines with elegant translucence. Beneath it rests a fresh strawberry bursting with vibrant flavor. The perfect harmony of sight, sound, and taste.
I handed one to Choi Seungah and took one for myself. The sugar coating cracked crisply between my teeth, releasing a burst of fresh strawberry flesh. It was a flavor frozen strawberries could never hope to match.
Fresh really is best. Thank goodness the festival is in May.
After June, strawberry prices exploded. They became so expensive that famous franchise bakeries started selling strawberry cakes without any actual strawberries. A strawberry cake without strawberries—absurd as it sounded, that was how costly they had become.
Choi Seungah took a bite and let out a delighted gasp.
“Whoa, this is way better than the one I had last time.”
“I did some research.”
After multiple test batches I had discovered the perfect ratio of Sex Power to infuse into the sugar and water. I could confidently declare that no better tanghulu existed in the world. It was beautiful like a jewel to look at, produced a satisfying crisp sound as the coating shattered, and delivered a sweetness that seemed to melt on the tongue. A street food that perfectly satisfied sight, hearing, and taste.
It probably isn’t very healthy… but no one eats street food while worrying about nutrition.
At a festival, deliciousness was forgiveness enough.
“Amazing. Absolutely the best. I was right to ask you, sunbae.”
After eating a second one, Choi Seungah showered me with praise. The flattery was obvious, yet her cheerful personality made it impossible to dislike.
“Thank you for the meal~ Ah! Then I’ll go do some promotion.”
“You’re really going to walk around dressed like that?”
“If it helps us win, I’ll do anything!”
Her idea of “anything” seemed slightly misdirected, but her enthusiasm was admirable. I decided to cheer her on.
“All right, do your best.”
“Yessir! I’m off!”
With the signboard still hanging around her neck, Choi Seungah headed toward the Business Administration building in her maid outfit. She was probably planning to charm the students of our own department first. Watching her go, I picked up the completed strawberry tanghulu and juice and started walking toward the central student council for their inspection.