The negotiations with Park Jeongtae, the department store’s representative, went remarkably smoothly.

Whenever Oh Hyunseong said something, Park Jeongtae merely nodded without resistance.

That was how they arrived at the astonishing wholesale price of 1.4 million won per kilogram.

It was an enormous sum.

Aside from products such as Disanto’s Black Label, its most exclusive premium line, there were currently no strawberries on the market that commanded such a price.

I could charge much more if I wanted to... but in the long run, this is probably the ideal range.

If he raised the price drastically from here, it would limit the strawberries’ potential.

Instead of becoming a fruit that people sought out and raved about, they would become an ornamental luxury reserved exclusively for the elite.

At the current price, however, he could make more than enough money while maintaining the public attention they had already attracted.

The mere fact that naturally grown fruit could command such a price would be more than enough to shatter people’s preconceptions.

The shift in public perception would also benefit farms growing premium natural varieties, as well as the Yoo siblings.

More importantly, I crammed a ridiculous number of favorable clauses into the contract in exchange for keeping the price a little lower.

The high unit price was not the only crucial aspect of this contract.

Unlike an ordinary business relationship with a department store, its terms laid bare a complete reversal of which party held the power.

Oh Hyunseong could adjust the delivery schedule and quantity whenever he pleased, and the department store was required to accept his decision.

He had also included every provision that benefited him, including promotional rights, a confidentiality clause, and the massive penalties that would follow any breach.

Oh Hyunseong received all the rights, while every obligation fell solely upon the department store.

“Well, this should be enough to conclude our agreement.”

“I-is that so...?”

Park Jeongtae’s face had gone pale.

He looked as though negotiating this contract had aged him by nearly ten years.

“But there’s something I need to make clear before we sign. You must keep the source of these strawberries strictly confidential. There will be no flexibility on this point. The moment even the smallest detail leaks outside, our contract is over.”

“You needn’t worry about that. Our department store always adheres strictly to the terms of its contracts—”

“I’m not talking about basic policy. I’m telling you not to say a word even if one of your department store’s most important clients or a powerful politician comes asking.”

Department stores would do anything for wealthy customers.

They might pretend to follow their principles when dealing with ordinary customers, but if someone influential pressed them, discreetly handing over a phone number through unofficial channels would be nothing to them.

That was why he warned Park Jeongtae in advance.

The moment anything troublesome happened, their dealings were over.

“I-I’ll keep that firmly in mind.”

Park Jeongtae swallowed hard and nodded.

“Wow, is this it? The one everyone’s been talking about?”

People crowded around, whispering among themselves.

At the very center of the food hall in the prestigious Hangyeong Department Store, strawberries from Oh Hyun Farm were prominently displayed on their own.

Even with the additional shipments, the supply fell woefully short of demand.

The retail price had risen significantly along with the higher wholesale price, yet word of mouth had only spread further, bringing in even more customers.

Despite boxes containing only a few strawberries costing hundreds of thousands of won, people lined up in advance and bought out the entire stock in moments.

The department store had even added individually packaged strawberries and limited each customer to one product per day, but it still was not enough.

Under the circumstances, public interest only continued to grow.

Naturally, all that attention benefited the entire department store.

The strawberries drew enormous crowds, sending overall sales soaring. Even the naturally grown food section, which had once been tucked away in a corner, was indirectly benefiting and had been moved closer to the front.

As demand for naturally grown products increased, the formerly tiny section had more than doubled in size.

“Haha... This isn’t a dream, is it?”

A brilliant smile spread across Park Jeongtae’s face.

He had already been the one championing the naturally grown food section, and now he had brought in a product that had become an unprecedented sensation. His standing and influence within the company had changed overnight.

A special promotion was practically guaranteed.

When he had visited the farm owner’s house, the man had stripped him bare in the negotiations. Looking back now, however, Oh Hyunseong had not been a merciless robber but a savior reborn.

Good. Let’s keep this going. We have to make the most of this momentum!

Clutching a stack of documents, Park Jeongtae strode away.

Luxury hotels, fine-dining restaurants, and other high-end food businesses were currently searching everywhere for these exceptional naturally grown strawberries.

There was no way to acquire them without going through Hangyeong Department Store.

Naturally, the department store had no intention of releasing any of its stock to outsiders.

There was, however, one exception.

Some of the strawberries from Oh Hyun Farm were supplied to the lounge café of a luxury hotel owned by a Hangyeong Group affiliate.

They were intended for one specific item: a limited-edition shaved-ice dessert topped with naturally grown strawberries.

“Ugh... What the hell is this thing, and why is everyone on social media making such a fuss over it?”

A woman frowned fiercely as she looked down at the table.

She wore oversized sunglasses to conceal her face, but her exceptionally pale skin and sharply defined nose made her identity difficult to hide.

People nearby had already recognized her and were whispering among themselves.

“Isn’t that Joo Jihye?”

“I think so. I heard she comes to this hotel all the time.”

Joo Jihye was one of Aegis Entertainment’s biggest stars.

She was a top-ranking hunter who operated extensively within the country and a superstar with twenty-six million social-media followers.

She was also a popular actress and model deeply involved in the entertainment industry.

Because she operated only domestically, she was comparatively less well known overseas. Within Korea, however, she was a top star whom virtually everyone recognized.

Her many activities had earned her plenty of critics who asked whether she was really a hunter or merely an attention seeker.

Whenever that happened, however, her formidable record of clearing Gates silenced them completely.

There was a reason people passing through the hotel lobby were making such a commotion.

Joo Jihye paid no attention to those who had recognized her.

She was already accustomed to that kind of attention and could not have cared less what those gnats were buzzing about.

Her gaze remained fixed solely on the shaved ice before her.

“The hotel next door charges eight hundred and ten thousand won for mango shaved ice, but this tiny thing costs nine hundred thousand? Even though they used naturally grown strawberries?”

Thinly sliced strawberries lay atop a small serving of shaved ice drizzled with condensed milk.

In practical terms, it did not even contain more than a few strawberries.

The mango shaved ice served at the other hotel was already notorious for being small enough to fit in one hand, but this one was even more diminutive.

“They bring in something tasteless, call it a new variety, jack up the price, and fleece a bunch of suckers. I’m sure this will be exactly the same.”

She aggressively criticized the strawberry shaved ice.

It was not because she begrudged the money when her bank account was overflowing with it. She simply needed something on which to vent her irritation.

Besides, the price truly was outrageously arrogant.

Even so, she could not pass up the chance to try it.

Click!

She began taking photographs to upload to social media.

As a born celebrity, she could hardly ignore an explosive trend like this.

She must have pressed the shutter button nearly a hundred times.

After finally setting down her phone, she tasted the shaved ice.

She had not expected much.

The moment it entered her mouth, however, her eyes widened.

“What the... It-it actually tastes good?”

Flustered, Joo Jihye stared at the strawberry shaved ice.

The flavor surpassed her expectations so completely that it left her bewildered.

She regularly ate fruit at astronomical prices, yet this did not feel remotely inferior by comparison.

Even though they’re just naturally grown strawberries...

The price she had initially resented now seemed like extraordinary value for money.

Premium synthetic fruit with this level of flavor would cost at least twice as much.

Needless to say, it was easily the best promotional shaved-ice dessert she had ever eaten at a hotel.

So everyone wasn’t making a fuss over nothing?

After devouring the shaved ice in moments, Joo Jihye stared at the empty bowl.

She was satisfied.

So satisfied that it wounded her pride.

For a moment, she wanted more, but that was impossible.

The hotel had extensively promoted the strawberry shaved ice as a daily limited item, and it was available by reservation only.

Competition for those reservations had been fierce, but her top-tier membership privileges had allowed the hotel to set aside one serving for her.

Only one.

She could not suddenly demand another merely because she had enjoyed it.

“Whatever. It’s still just a strawberry.”

Irritated for no particular reason, Joo Jihye scowled.

People without money who have to worry about value might go crazy for it... but the flavor isn’t irreplaceable. I can just eat some other top-tier fruit.

It was merely surprising that naturally grown strawberries could taste this good.

She had no intention of clinging to some pathetically limited fruit that made such a spectacle of its exclusivity.

Putting it out of her mind, Joo Jihye left the hotel.

That evening, she ate a multi-million-won course meal. When she returned home, she had some of the finest fruit piled in her refrigerator for dessert.

Not once did she think of the strawberry shaved ice before lying down to sleep.

Yet for some reason, she slept unusually well that night.

What the hell? Why do I keep thinking about it?

During a break in filming a drama, Joo Jihye pressed a hand to her head and frowned gravely.

She had definitely lost all interest in the strawberry shaved ice that day and had gone about her life without anything unusual happening.

Yet now, several days later, the strawberries she had eaten at the hotel kept returning to her mind.

I feel like shit too... This is so goddamn irritating!

Dark circles hung heavily beneath her eyes.

They were so conspicuous that even makeup could not properly conceal them.

Her severe insomnia had returned.

I thought I was finally getting better these past few days. Ugh, I want to kill every last one of them.

The can in Joo Jihye’s hand crumpled with a crunch.

Filming was scheduled to resume in only a few minutes.

Her condition, however, was so poor that she could not immerse herself in her performance at all.

No matter how powerful a hunter might be, they were still human. If their basic needs went unmet, their entire body would inevitably begin to break down.

In the end, that day’s filming was a complete disaster.

Only a handful of scenes were remotely usable, and even those the production team attempted to salvage were discarded at Joo Jihye’s insistence.

As a result, the entire filming schedule had to be pushed back.

They had only just begun filming the new drama, and she had effectively thrown cold water over the entire production.

Yet no one openly complained about her.

She belonged to Aegis Entertainment, the undisputed dominant force in the industry. She was also an enormously bankable actress and a terrifyingly powerful hunter.

Not even the head writer or director dared confront her.

Only the staff caught in the middle grumbled behind her back as they suffered.

“I’m back!”

“Hey, what took you so long? I told you they’d hand it over immediately if you gave them my name.”

“I’m sorry. Apparently, it wasn’t easy for them to set aside any of the stock, so it took some time...”

“Whatever. Give it here.”

Joo Jihye snatched the Hangyeong Department Store strawberries from her manager.

She returned home and ate them while grumbling.

Once again, she found them reasonably satisfying.

Perhaps it was merely a coincidence.

Strangely enough, however, she quickly fell asleep and slept soundly that night as well.

“...Is it really because of the strawberries?”

Joo Jihye gnawed on her fingernail.

What had begun as a suspicion was gradually approaching certainty.

Every time she ate the strawberries, her terrible insomnia improved, allowing her to sleep properly that night.

Even now, perhaps because she had eaten them the previous evening, she felt well rested and in excellent condition.

She had visited countless hospitals without finding a solution, yet eating strawberries seemed to cure the problem.

It made no sense to her.

But if the strawberries genuinely helped even a little, buying up dozens of tons would not seem excessive to her.

Just then, she encountered a group of hunters in the hallway.

They were rookie hunters who also belonged to Aegis Entertainment.

Ordinarily, they were so far beneath her that she would never have bothered speaking to them. This time, however, Joo Jihye stopped them first.

“Hey, you lot...”

“Yes! It’s an honor to be assigned to your support team! We look forward to working with you on this operation!”

“Shut up. Have any of you tried those strawberries at Hangyeong Department Store?”

“Oh, those? I’ve heard about them, but I haven’t tried them.”

“I have!”

“I was curious, so I paid the resale price to try them too.”

Two of the six raised their hands.

“How were they?”

“What do you mean? I was surprised that naturally grown strawberries could taste that good... I might try them again after the hype dies down.”

“I was completely satisfied. I paid three times the retail price and didn’t regret it at all. They honestly taste much better than Black Label strawberries.”

“No, not that. Did you notice any change in your physical condition? Did you suddenly start feeling better or anything?”

“Physical condition?”

“Nothing like that happened to me.”

The hunters looked baffled.

Joo Jihye questioned them closely about several other possible effects, but they insisted that they had never noticed anything.

Common sense said that eating a few strawberries could not suddenly produce an obvious improvement in someone’s physical condition.

Of course... I must have imagined it. It was probably just a coincidence.

Joo Jihye changed her mind and finished her schedule for the day.

When she returned home, however, she received devastating news.

“What? You couldn’t get the strawberries?”

“I’m sorry. I asked several times, but the department store said there was absolutely no way they could set aside any stock this time.”

“Ha... Unbelievable. First they ration them out one pathetic serving at a time, and now they have the nerve to turn me away?”

A surge of irritation made Joo Jihye consider calling the department store and giving them a piece of her mind.

She soon shook her head and abandoned the idea.

“Fine. I just won’t eat their stupid strawberries. I’ll never touch them again.”

To be honest, she did want them.

Perhaps eating them several times had only made the craving stronger, but thoughts of the strawberries now surfaced intermittently even when she was busy doing other things.

Having come this far, however, her pride would not permit it.

As one of Aegis Entertainment’s most prominent hunters and an arrogant top actress, she could not allow herself to obsess over mere food.

Thud!

Joo Jihye dropped onto her bed and attempted to sleep.

The bed was also a place of dread for someone suffering from severe insomnia, but she had managed to sleep soundly for several nights in a row.

She had briefly wondered whether the strawberries were responsible, but that was merely a superstition born from coincidence.

She was not the sort of person who normally believed in such things, so she lay down with an easy mind.

“...”

Time passed, and morning arrived.

Joo Jihye sprang out of bed without having slept for even a moment. The dark circles that had finally disappeared were back, casting deep shadows beneath her eyes.

“Argh! What the hell is going on?!”

Her arms trembling, she erupted in a furious shout.

Chapter 14

Comments