The Watermelon Is Absolutely Delicious
Lately, Hana had thrown herself into farming. The moment she woke, she bolted down breakfast and ran off to play in the vegetable patch, and before long the office staff had developed a habit of trailing after her. Leave her outside on her own and there was no telling what disaster might follow, so they went along—partly to help with the work, and partly just to keep her company in the garden.
"Haru, move this for me!"
Hana pointed at an enormous watermelon as she spoke. She herself was hauling melons behind something that only vaguely resembled a handcart, and beside her Haru had transformed into a day laborer of the fields.
The cool warehouse kept filling with watermelons brought in from the patch. Haru turned to her.
"Hana, what are you planning to do with all these watermelons?"
Even the ones in sight already numbered well over several dozen. If Hana tried to eat them all by herself, it would take a year. At that, Hana thrust out her chest.
"I'm going to share them with the research institute staff!"
The bombshell left Haru covering her mouth, too moved to do anything else. Children that age rarely thought of giving watermelons away, yet Hana treated the institute staff with a strange, generous kindness. The staff weren't mistreating her, of course. Even so, adjusting to a strange new place ought to have been hard enough on its own—and here she was, thinking of other people besides.
Fired up, Haru rolled her sleeves. She had dressed lightly for farm work, but the weather outside was brutally hot. The greenhouse was climate-controlled, so it wasn't quite as bad as the open air; still, a house meant for watermelons had to stay warm, and even a little movement inside left her pouring sweat.
"Haru! You don't have to push yourself so hard!"
Haru worked harder than Hana, like a laborer earning a full day's wage. She threw herself into it so completely that even Hana had to tell her to ease up.
"This is a gift for our institute staff. How could your big sister not step up?"
With that, Haru picked watermelons in earnest and hauled them to the warehouse, and Hana trailed after her, carting melons of her own. The greenhouse was plenty large, and the vines fed on Hana's hair had borne a great many offspring.
Just looking at those lush, tempting melons gathered in one place filled Haru with pride. Somehow, she thought she understood how physical laborers felt. The fruits of sweat-soaked work became a kind of nourishment, something that filled a corner of the heart.
"Hngh—!"
Perhaps from moving so many, though, Hana looked thoroughly worn out. Haru hurried over and lifted the melon for her. It was a bit much for Hana to handle. Even Haru, a grown woman, strained under the weight; an elementary schooler hauling every one of these was out of the question.
And so the watermelons kept piling up in the warehouse.
Assistant Manager Gu Junyeop received a special summer bonus. He had heard that performance pay at the Starlight Research Institute was nothing special, but now that he held it in his hands, it was no joke. The bonus seemed to outstrip what most petrochemical firms paid.
When he had first joined, bonuses like this simply hadn't existed. The fleeting nature of time almost brought tears to his eyes. Watching the company he had chosen flourish filled him with pride—the natural feeling of any office worker.
Company life wasn't something you succeeded at by being good on your own. If personal talent were enough, you started a venture or founded a company; living as a salaried worker wouldn't suit someone like that. But Assistant Manager Gu Junyeop knew his own limits very well, and so he had decided to drive his stake in here and stay.
Looking at the businesses they were running now, they might grow, but there was no reason they would shrink. Frankly, ruining all of this would take an entrepreneur with a spectacularly negative touch. Starlight rolled along just fine even if you merely maintained the status quo. He had even heard, in passing, that they would soon be hiring more new employees.
Hiring new people was proof a company was doing well, so he could look forward to a worry-free career from here on. He was thinking exactly that when something caught his eye more than the bonus money itself: this unidentified watermelon.
He had known Hana was growing them, of course. Seeing the real thing was another matter entirely.
"This is...?"
"One of the watermelons Hana's been growing. They say it's incredibly good. They're handing one out to each of us in the office."
"Ooh..."
Looking at it, Gu Junyeop thought it was something else. Far larger than an ordinary watermelon, and so deeply colored it looked as if someone had dyed it. Anything Hana grew was top-tier, so he was sure this melon would be extraordinary too.
He worked as hard as the bonus deserved, clocked out, came home, and set the watermelon on the dining table. His mother took one look at it.
"Sweetheart. What possessed you to buy a watermelon?"
Sturdy and solid, it clearly hadn't been grabbed at random—that much his mother could feel. Given the eye her son had shown all his life, she couldn't believe he had picked out a melon like this. It looked as imposing as one a true expert had chosen by hand.
"Oh, this? It's from the garden plot. The company gave it to me—Hana said we should eat it."
"Is that so? Go wash up. I'll cut the watermelon."
"I'm counting on you."
Gu Junyeop went off to wash, and the family's attention shifted to the melon. His younger sister, who worked as a nurse, gazed at it and let out a sigh of admiration. Even to her eye, it looked delicious.
"Wow, I didn't know you had it in you to bring home a watermelon like this. You can tell at a glance it's top quality."
Gu Junyeop possessed a tragically poor eye for things, which was why he was the sort of man who hadn't managed a girlfriend, let alone marriage. He worked at a major company and had saved a fair amount, yet he had no idea why he couldn't get a girlfriend. People told him it was still a little early to be dating, but seeing as he was about to leave his thirties behind, it wasn't an early age at all.
Most office workers were dating, or even preparing for marriage, before they ever hit thirty.
His mother came in with a knife and cut the watermelon into generous slices. His sister stuck close beside her, eager to watch the blade go in. When the melon split, brilliant red flesh greeted them—and there wasn't a single seed where seeds ought to have been.
"Isn't this one of those things? A genetically modified watermelon or something!"
His sister fussed as if she were seeing, in the flesh, something she had only ever learned about in a textbook. She knew that producing a seedless watermelon required some special measure. You didn't just grow a melon and get one without seeds.
That speculation was promptly shut down by Gu Junyeop, fresh from the shower.
"What modification? It's just a watermelon from the garden plot. The way they grow it is pretty unusual, that's all..."
"How do they grow it?"
"That's a secret."
The fact that they watered the melons with water in which Hana's hair had been dissolved was a secret. They wouldn't believe him if he told them anyway, and the effects of Hana's hair were still a little too sensitive to reveal. Judging by the fact that they had even told him—a perpetual assistant manager—about her hair, they didn't seem to care much if word got out. Still, there was no harm in being careful.
"Whoa! That looks amazing!"
His sister exclaimed at the neatly cut slices. She had never seen a watermelon with color this fine. She picked one up and took a great big bite, and watching her eyes go wide, Gu Junyeop thought, Just as I thought...
"It's delicious!!!"
Seeing his sister's rave review, Gu Junyeop grew curious about the taste himself. He knew it would be good, but he couldn't quite guess how good. He took a slice, and since there were no seeds, he bit off a huge mouthful.
"Oh... ohh!"
Fireworks were going off in Gu Junyeop's head. The strawberries, and now the watermelons—every plant Hana grew possessed a flavor that was anything but ordinary. He dared to think that if this hit the market, the watermelon industry would be obliterated.
No seeds, easy to eat, and this delicious on top of it? The discussion was already over. Of course, considering what it cost to grow these melons, that would never actually happen.
Ordinary people willing to pay a few hundred dollars for a single watermelon were few and far between. The wealthy, of course, could stomach a steep price and buy one easily enough.
"The flavor on this is really something!"
"Right, Mom? Big brother brought home a good one!"
His sister and mother devoured the watermelon like people possessed. Watching them, Gu Junyeop felt an unaccountable warmth. There was something satisfying about seeing people eat with that much pleasure.