A Warm Partnership
"The lunchboxes are ready. Enjoy your meal."
"Oh… Are you really going to sell them like this?"
"Yes. I'll do my best to keep the composition as consistent as possible."
Today's side dishes at Seona's Restaurant were a little different.
Stir-fried fish cake and stir-fried anchovies.
Along with seasoned laver and Vienna sausages.
The stir-fried fish cake was cut into easy-to-eat pieces, and its long shape somehow resembled the noodles in kalguksu.
The stir-fried anchovies, made with small fish, weren't overly dry and were pleasant to chew.
Seasoned laver needed no explanation.
Even Choi Jin-cheol remembered how, as a child, most people loved it enough to finish an entire bowl of rice with just one pack.
Last came the Vienna sausages.
These were practically the main dish.
They weren't ordinary sausages.
The ones Jungwoo had carefully selected boasted a pork content of nearly ninety-eight percent.
The juicy burst that came with every bite made him wonder if they should simply grill the sausages on their own instead of stir-frying them.
Since most of the sides were sweet and savory, the true main dish was spicy pork stir-fry.
It felt similar to jeyuk-bokkeum, yet the taste was distinctly different.
With its light broth, there was no need for a separate soup.
Sweet, spicy, and savory.
Jungwoo's lunchbox had pinpointed a flavor everyone would enjoy, free of any polarizing notes.
He had worried the portion of rice might be too large, but after pairing one side dish with rice, then the main dish with rice, and finally more rice with the savory broth from the stir-fry, it somehow felt as if there still wasn't enough.
"…Sir. No more rice?"
"More rice?"
The secretary instantly read his superior's intent.
Was the question born of genuine curiosity?
No. The man he knew was not that sort of person.
"Haha. Owner, could we have two more bowls of rice, please?"
"Ahem. You certainly are quick."
"It's why I work in the secretary's office. Haha."
The additional rice vanished in the blink of an eye.
One scoop of the spoon and the rice was gone.
The side dishes disappeared at the same brisk pace, and it took only a few minutes for every plate to be wiped clean.
"It seems even more delicious than last time."
"I agree. It's better than most specialty Korean restaurants."
"To think something like this is sold as a lunchbox…."
At first he had only intended to provide a moderate response because of Park Geon-su's request.
But after tasting the food again today, it appeared he had misremembered the true flavor.
Or perhaps the taste had improved even further in that short span of time.
With the meal finished, it was time to handle the remaining business.
"Sweetie."
"Yeees?"
Seia was blowing on the window and drawing something with great concentration.
At her age it should have been difficult to focus so intently, yet she hadn't spoken a word until the meal was over.
Every small detail felt precious. Choi Jin-cheol offered a faint smile and showed Seia what he had prepared.
"Do you know what this is?"
"Umm… It's a black box."
"Haha. That's right. A black box. What could be inside a black, square thing?"
"Black… and square?"
Though he had not seen Seia many times, Choi Jin-cheol had a decent grasp of her personality.
He had sharpened his eye for people while climbing to his current position, and more than half of his conversations with his own daughter revolved around Seia.
He seemed to recall hearing that she had recently uploaded a video to YouTube or something of the sort.
"Among delicious things."
"Something delicious that's black and square…?"
Her deeply thoughtful expression was so adorable.
He wondered what thoughts were rising and vanishing inside that small head.
"Seaweed?!"
"Seaweed? Haha. Yes, seaweed is delicious too. But here's another hint: it's sweet."
"Ah! Then it's chocolate!"
"Oh ho. You guessed it right away even with the hints. Yes, there's chocolate inside."
At those words Seia approached cautiously.
She clasped both hands politely in front of her and looked up at Choi Jin-cheol.
"Is it… for Seia?"
It was not quite the face of someone asking if it belonged to her.
Rather, it was a look that hoped for confirmation.
In the end he could only chuckle and answer that it was.
"Here. You have to eat it without Dad knowing, okay?"
"Ah, yes!"
At the mention of secrecy, Seia hugged the chocolate tightly to her chest and whispered.
She only needed to lower her voice, yet she shrank her whole body as well, clearly dreaming of the perfect crime.
Of course, the restaurant owner and Seia's father, Jungwoo, was watching the entire scene from above.
"Owner, thank you for the meal. It was far more delicious than I remembered."
"Oh, is that so? Thank you. I plan to pack the lunchboxes exactly like this."
"For that you'll need containers that maintain warmth well. Would you like to see them?"
As the natural flow of conversation drew to a close, Jungwoo, who had nearly finished cleaning, approached the table.
In the meantime the secretary quickly rose and made room, allowing Jungwoo to sit across from Choi Jin-cheol.
On the table sat the lunchbox container that was the purpose of today's visit.
From the outside it looked no different from an ordinary container.
"Is this the container?"
"Correct. Processing one F-rank magic stone yields a total of twenty units."
Considering that a single F-rank magic stone cost around fifty thousand won, each container came to roughly two thousand five hundred won.
"Ah… That's quite expensive, isn't it?"
Adding the rest of the costs would bring it to at least three or four thousand won each.
"The production cost is 3,700 won. Even with the smallest possible margin, we can keep it at 4,000 won."
"Four thousand won…."
The price far exceeded what he had anticipated.
He had known magic stones would be involved, but he had assumed one F-rank stone could produce around fifty units.
Only twenty? It was disappointing.
To himself, that is.
He should have prepared an alternative plan in case he couldn't reach fifty.
"Anything more is difficult."
To Choi Jin-cheol, simply providing the lunchbox containers Jungwoo used would not have been a burden.
How much could it possibly cost?
But Choi Jin-cheol was a businessman.
And simply giving them away would have been charity.
"Hmm…."
Jungwoo pondered for a moment, his mind spinning quickly.
How could he offset that high cost?
"By any chance, can the containers be reused?"
"Yes, if cleaned thoroughly. We have a cleaning company on our side, so we can arrange the connection."
Then the price was not bad at all.
They could implement a system where customers received a partial refund upon returning the container.
Even a fifty-percent recovery rate would be profitable.
And such a system might naturally encourage repeat visits.
He was carefully considering any other drawbacks or additional requirements when a rustling sound came from behind.
Wondering what it was, he turned to see Seia cautiously unwrapping the chocolate she had received earlier.
The rustling came again.
Seia flinched, apparently thinking the sound was too loud, but she did not look their way.
It seemed she believed that avoiding eye contact meant she would not be caught.
Well, Jungwoo was not the type to scold her for eating a bit of chocolate, so in a way she was correct.
Choi Jin-cheol, noticing Jungwoo's gaze, smiled awkwardly.
"I couldn't come empty-handed, so I brought something my daughter likes as well."
At the mention of a daughter, Jungwoo's expression softened.
A senior in the world of fathers raising daughters.
Someone who shared at least that minimal common ground.
"You have a daughter?"
"Yes. You probably know her. The one who comes for tteokbokki."
One person immediately came to mind. The high-school student who had recently brought a friend to film a video.
"Ah, the high-school friend!"
"Haha, yes. She said it was delicious."
"I'm glad."
"Then shall we proceed with this arrangement?"
"Yes, please."
At Choi Jin-cheol's gesture, the secretary handed over the contract.
The initial order was for fifty containers.
It felt like exactly the right number.
Let's set the first goal at selling all fifty.
If the response was good, he could gradually increase the quantity.
Having a fresh goal brought a new kind of energy to his body.
Rustle.
The sound came again.
This time he turned fully toward Seia, who quickly looked away.
"Our Seia, you can't eat it all, okay?"
"Eek! Yes."
Seia answered with an awkward smile, but chocolate was already smeared generously around her mouth.
Melted chocolate and cocoa powder both.
Judging by the variety of smudges, she had already consumed quite a lot.
"I'll have to bring less next time."
"I don't usually let her have much, so she'll probably be shocked if she eats it once."
"I'll have to be careful. You can sign here."
The contract was completed without issue.
Since the items would arrive the next day, informing the shopping district management office would take care of the rest.
It was a program that supported everything necessary.
"I'll prepare some dessert. Just a moment."
"Then I won't refuse."
Having successfully concluded the contract, Jungwoo returned to the kitchen to prepare dessert while Choi Jin-cheol sat quietly, gazing out the window.
"Hmm?"
Something that had been invisible earlier was now visible.
Several cats drawn on the window.
Thanks to the heater, the drawings made by breathing on the glass were faintly reappearing.
"It's a cat family."
A chuckle escaped him.
Some cats wore ribbons, others had four whiskers each.
There were cats with three whiskers as well.
What amused him most was that, except for one cat, all the others had been drawn much lower down.
He could tell how the picture had been created without asking.
The cat at eye level similar to his own was probably Jungwoo's work, and the rest were Seia's.
She draws well too.
Drawing.
For some reason it made him think of his own daughter.
She had loved to draw.
Raindrops, stronger than before, swirled across the cat drawings.
Perhaps because of that, even the ordinary cats seemed to come alive.
Earlier she had been sitting over there drawing something else.
What had she been drawing?
He thought she might be finishing the cats, but when he glanced over he saw she had drawn a house and two people.
Unlike the crooked letters on the signboard, the words "Seona's Restaurant" were neatly written by hand.
The father and daughter stood side by side holding hands, smiling brightly as they proudly guarded the front of Seona's Restaurant.
Raindrops fell on the scene as well, yet strangely they only fell on the restaurant's sign and roof.
The dessert would be ready soon, but for some reason Choi Jin-cheol found himself hoping it would take just a little longer.