The Coffee Tree
"Uuugh..."
I looked into the mirror and couldn't help the miserable face staring back. Another tooth was loose. Being a baby tooth, it wobbled far too easily, and every time one was on the verge of disappearing it seemed to stage a little protest, as if demanding I not forget it.
I pinched it lightly between my fingers and gave it a wiggle, then stopped at once when the pain hit. Should I ask Haru again, the way I had last time? Pulling a tooth out by hand was difficult and it hurt, so asking someone else was much more comfortable.
But after what Haru had done to me last time, I went to Bora instead. It was absolutely not because she had sworn she would count one, two, three and then slammed the door shut on two. I was not the sort of person who held a grudge.
I ran to the office and showed Bora how violently the tooth was wobbling. The moment she saw it, she shot up from her chair, scooped me into her arms, and headed for the laboratory. She seemed to know a way to pull it without hurting me.
Carried in Bora's arms, I arrived to find a crowd already gathered—she must have called ahead. I lay down on the operating table and looked around. The surgical equipment clustered there was frightening just to look at. Then someone came over and pulled the loose tooth with practiced hands.
"Hnnngh..."
There was no painless way to pull a tooth after all. I clutched my swollen cheek and put on a tearful face. They hadn't used any anesthetic, and the pain refused to fade. Bora held me and tried to soothe me, and it didn't work at all. Or... maybe it worked a little?
This tooth, too, had a tiny sprout growing from it. The moment they saw it, they planted it in a pot painted with ornate patterns. What kind of plant would come up this time? Another cherry tomato would be no fun at all.
"Th-this is...?"
Past the tight security, Kim Sehee was at last able to see the new plant that had grown from Hana.
In a room roofed entirely in glass, a tree that looked as if it had been growing for decades stood planted squarely in the center. However it had managed to grow, it was far too large for any pot. Faced with a coffee tree hung heavy with fruit, Kim Sehee could only stare in shock.
This is a coffee tree that grew in two weeks?
Plants were supposed to grow slowly. Months, years—that was normal, wasn't it? But the plants that sprouted from Hana's teeth grew at an impossible rate, and they bore at least two or three times as much fruit as ordinary ones.
Unlike the cherry tomatoes from before, this new coffee tree had been transplanted somewhere else. The tomatoes were already under cultivation all around the research institute, so moving them had been out of the question. There was only a single coffee tree, though, and relocating it had cost almost nothing.
Like the cherry tomatoes, the young coffee trees only grew properly when they stayed close by. Plant them too far away and they still grew—but they never set fruit.
So this time they hadn't left the tree at the institute. They had planted it on a quiet stretch of good growing land owned by Starlight Food. Hana had wanted to keep it in her room, of course, but once she saw how large it was getting, even she asked them to raise it somewhere sunny. It was simply too much tree to keep indoors. Farming it in the same fields as the cherry tomatoes would have been a terrible waste of space besides.
"These are beans that can make the finest coffee you could hope for, Chairman."
The employee in charge at Starlight Food said it to Kim Sehee. When it came to making coffee, the beans mattered more than anything—and good ones were nearly impossible to come by. Anything usable, anything truly high-grade, had already been all but monopolized by the famous brands.
"These... the color and the shape are beautiful."
Kim Sehee said it while looking into the box of coffee beans. They seemed to have gathered only the finest. Even at a glance, every bean was beautifully formed, and their fragrance already filled the room. They hadn't even been roasted, and the scent was already this strong. She couldn't begin to imagine how powerful it would become once they were.
"Is there somewhere you've set the defective beans aside?"
If they had boxed up this many supreme, top-grade sound beans, she assumed the defective ones marked for disposal must be piled up beyond imagining. Even fruit from the same plant normally split into the very best beans and the very worst. At her question, though, the employee only smiled.
"Not a single bean from this coffee tree is defective."
"Good heavens..."
It was an impossible claim, and Kim Sehee could only gape. Far more fruit than a normal tree, and every bean of the highest grade? This was truly extraordinary.
"Could I taste it?"
The building had been fitted out as perfectly as a café, so they could brew on the spot.
"Of course, Chairman."
A barista emerged from the direction of the storeroom and immediately began roasting beans from the box. Kim Sehee watched with keen interest as the coffee was made right in front of her. The building had already been thick with the scent of coffee; once the roasting started, the smell seemed to punch straight through a stuffed nose. How good would it be? She was already looking forward to it.
"An americano."
In Korea, it was safe to call it the best-selling drink of all. Cheap and excellent value, it sold to everyone, young and old alike.
Kim Sehee examined the americano set before her. She drank them often herself, so her expectations ran high.
"The color and the aroma are wonderful. Your skill is considerable, too."
"You flatter me."
An americano was only espresso cut with water, and the one set before her was exactly the color Kim Sehee loved. The vivid brown seemed to be staging a protest of its own, sending up a gorgeous aroma as if begging to be drunk at once.
She lifted the elegant cup and drank slowly.
The warm coffee slid smoothly down her throat. Kim Sehee's eyes went perfectly round, and a shiver ran through her. She had braced herself not to be surprised no matter what it tasted like—and it was far more delicious than she had prepared for.
She set the cup on the table.
"Have you tasted this coffee yourself?"
At that, the barista smiled gently.
"Yes, Chairman. Search the entire world, and I doubt you'd find a coffee more delicious than this."
The barista spoke with absolute certainty, and Kim Sehee had no argument to offer. She had tasted the americano herself. With a flavor and aroma like this, there was no telling how it would sell once it reached the market—though only in the best possible sense. The factory they were currently building for hundreds of billions of won could be devoted entirely to coffee drinks and it still wouldn't be a problem. Domestic sales had a ceiling, but coffee this good would fly off the shelves overseas. It was obvious. Put a proper production base in place, and they could rake the money in by the shovelful.
But Kim Sehee had a way to push the aroma and the flavor even further. She took a case from her pocket. When she opened the lid, dozens of green hairs lay inside.
Into the fresh americano the barista had just poured, she slipped one of the hairs. Any restaurant owner who saw it would have been horrified. A hair, in the drink?
But Hana's hair dissolved into the coffee as naturally as sugar. The aroma and the color deepened far beyond what they had been a moment ago. Kim Sehee offered that americano to the barista.
"I've already had a cup. I'm fine."
"Oh my. I just added a special seasoning. You'd really be missing out if you didn't try it."
Busy preparing the coffee, the barista had never seen her put the hair in. At Kim Sehee's words, the barista lifted the cup.
Only then did something feel different. The aroma had already been excellent, but the coffee in hand gave off a fragrance in an entirely different league. Only then did the barista understand what Kim Sehee had meant about adding something remarkable.
"Mm..."
One sip, and the barista forgot to breathe. The coffee with Hana's hair in it was heavenly enough to make a person forget they needed air—so extraordinary that the most famous, most prestigious kopi luwak could have been treated like instant coffee beside it.