Typhoon Warning

Kim Sehee turned the problem over once more. If the crop was rice, the uses were practically endless. Why had she been thinking only of people eating it as a bowl of rice, when there were so many things rice could become?

Liquor, for a start. Every sort of rice cake after that, and tteok, and a whole spread of other delicious foods besides. They could never produce enough for the entire nation, of course, but even if only ten percent of the country ate them, that was still five million people.

Green tea alone was bringing in roughly seventy billion won a month, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and coffee had already cleared a hundred billion this month. The cherry tomatoes, after the military supply contract, were so short on volume that they were still pulling in about fifty billion a month. Selling just those three things, they were already boasting monthly sales of two hundred twenty billion won.

Keep selling at this pace, and in a year they would be a food company with roughly 2.6 trillion won in revenue. When the nation's top food company was posting more than three trillion, Starlight Food's numbers were anything but ordinary.

Unlike the green tea, whose supply was limited, coffee and cherry tomatoes had nowhere to go but up, so taking the title of the country's number-one food company was hardly some distant dream. And whether it was the weight of the Starlight Guild name or something else, not a single company had stepped in to throw a wrench in the works. Or perhaps her older brothers had been shielding the company from behind the scenes. Kim Sehee was not on bad terms with the brothers above her, and their businesses did not overlap.

"Thanks to Hana, I'm making money as easily as swimming with my feet on the bottom. Earning any less than this would be absurd!"

Her passion caught fire. Energy flooded her the way it had when she first inherited the company, and she made up her mind to draw up a plan for turning Hana's rice into all kinds of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠foods and selling them on the market.

"A typhoon? You're saying a typhoon is coming?"

Bora, Haru, and Maru answered as if they could not quite believe what they had just heard. Department Head Kim Jaeman waved it off with an easy, theatrical air.

"Well, gates open in empty air. A typhoon showing up in April isn't exactly impossible, is it?"

"That's true."

Even so, typhoons normally clustered between July and September. Lately, though, the weather had been warm enough that a typhoon no longer seemed out of the question. Global warming, most likely.

"According to the information our Starlight Guild picked up, a fairly powerful typhoon is on the way. You won't forget to prepare thoroughly, will you?"

If it hit hard, they could switch to working from home and handle business without coming in. This office, however, was an exception, because Hana was here. Leave Hana alone, and there was no telling what might happen. Setting a little girl by herself in this enormous building while a powerful typhoon raged did not sit right either. The building would not be completely empty, of course, but Hana was skittish enough as it was. Left on her own, she might cry and raise a fuss.

"The power could go out, so check the generator, and stock up on plenty of food for Hana. Don't forget the gas burner and the butane, either."

"Do we really need to prepare that much, Department Head?"

Bora asked. A typhoon usually blew past if you endured it for half a day, simply because it moved so fast. She had no complaint about someone staying behind on duty, not with Hana here, but hearing Kim Jaeman talk about preparing for everything else made it feel like far too much.

"The Meteorological Administration says this spring typhoon doesn't look ordinary, so being thoroughly prepared isn't a bad thing."

He said it while eyeing the glow-in-the-dark dinosaurs stuck all over the office. Whenever Hana came to play, she plastered them on the walls and ran off, so one whole side of the room was covered in colorful glowing dinosaurs. Turn the lights out, and the dinosaurs shone. It was a spectacle. They could have peeled ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them off, but they never tried, afraid Hana would sulk.

"And it's not as if we lose anything by preparing carefully, right?"

"Yes! We'll do just as you say, Department Head."

Being as careful as possible could not hurt them. Everyone scattered, each moving to get ready for the typhoon on its way.

Whooooooosh.

Wind howled outside, fierce enough that it almost felt as if the building itself were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠swaying.

I watched the street from the safety of home. People were scrambling into buildings in a hurry. The Meteorological Administration must have been blasting typhoon advisories nonstop, and yet there were still people walking around out there. They had some nerve. And here I was, hiding away.

Anyway, on a day when a typhoon was blowing, the smart thing was to hole up and watch television. I had the TV on and was watching anime with everything I had. Not Little Magician Rumi. A different one.

I was deep into it when Bora came into my room.

"Hana, if anything happens, come to the office, all right?"

I nodded at that and said I understood. It wasn't as if I were some little elementary school kid who'd be too scared of a single typhoon to step outside. Bora worried about me far too much. Every time she looked at me, it was as if she were watching a child she had set down at the water's edge.

Shwaaaaaaa.

A tremendous downpour began to hammer the outside of the building. I stopped the anime and stared blankly at the view. Somehow, this typhoon did not look as if it would end easily. Contrary to what the Meteorological Administration was reporting, it seemed ready to tear through the country and leave enormous damage behind.

A typhoon arriving in spring was unsettling from the very start. I prayed it would pass without incident, and that few people would be hurt by it. No damage at all was nearly impossible, so what I wanted, at the very least, was for the harm to be kept as small as it could be.

Whooooooosh!

Outside, a wind so sharp it hurt just to hear it was howling. Maru was fastening the windows against the typhoon. These days, people said securing the sash in the frame worked better than tape or newspaper over the glass.

It was a studio apartment, so there were not many windows to begin with. Until last month Maru had been unemployed, and she had had no reason to live anywhere large. Now she was saving for a place closer to the company.

Something like grains of sand kept rattling against the glass in the wind. Uneasy, Maru prepared for the typhoon with grim thoroughness. She prepared so thoroughly that it nearly matched the preparations made for Hana herself. The seniors looking on had even muttered that surely it did not have to go that far.

But Maru was the newest of the new hires, and preparing could not hurt, so she prepared with everything she had.

She was still at it when an alert chimed on her phone.

"Yes!"

Among all the bad news, this was wonderfully good news. Maru had been carrying a heavy sense of guilt, because compared with what she was paid, there was not much for her to do at the company. Maybe that was why she threw herself into every task. It was also why she was now entertaining the ridiculous thought of whether she ought to wear a suit for a day of working from home.

The first remote workday of her life. There was something heart-pounding about it. Thinking of the salary and bonuses she received from the Starlight Institute, she wondered if she ought to skip working from home and fight her way through the wind and rain to the office. But if the company texted her and told her to work from home, there was nothing she could do.

Giggling, Maru got ready. She logged into the company network, and while she worked she laid out snacks to nibble in secret. Adjusting the laptop camera so the snacks would not appear on screen was a bonus. She ate snacks at the institute too, but eating them while working from home was a different matter entirely, wasn't it?

"Oh, right!"

Maru pulled out her phone and placed a call. The person on the other end was Hana.

Hana's behavior did suit a third grader, but was it really all right for her to say it like that? Still, once Maru had confirmed that Hana was not trembling with fear, she could prepare for work with a lighter heart.