She was no different from a beast

Chapter 34

—–CROW—– 

Yoon Yerin.

A young flower shop owner near the ferry terminal in Sadong, making a modest living and diligently saving a little money here and there.

With the start of the summer season, tourists and locals alike flocked to the streets.  It was during this time that she had to work hard and tighten her belt so she could break even during the slow winter months.

Her grand dream!

To escape this dreary Ulleungdo, go to the mainland, and proudly open her own flower shop!

And…just a little bit.

Okay, it was a bit selfish, but…going to the mainland alone was scary and daunting.

She’d been trying to find the right moment to talk to a certain child who had offered to help, wondering if she could ask for their assistance.

If it were anyone else, she would have refused outright, saying she didn’t have time to babysit in the middle of her busy season. But that child was different.

‘Today’s sales? That’s important, but…Yuna is more important!’

Yuna was practically a guarantee of success.

She was strong, energetic, tireless, and incredibly efficient.

And on top of that…her ability to attract customers and open their wallets, even during the cold, slow season!

She was like a goose that laid golden eggs!  Someone she wanted to keep around at all costs.

“Hello~ Unnie!”

“Oh my, Yuna! You’re here already? The shop doesn’t open for another 30 minutes.”

“Well~ There’s a lot to do to prepare before opening! Of course, I came early to help!”

See?  She’s already saying all the right things.

Before opening, she turned on the POS system, swept the floor, carefully checked the fresh flowers for any wilting, and finally, moved the items that arrived at the warehouse last night.

This was the hardest part of her day, but with Yuna, it was a piece of cake!

“You two, say hello! This is the unnie who let us have a work experience day!”

“H-hello! Wow… I-I’ll learn and work hard!”

“…Hello. I’ll do my best with anything you ask.”

“…Wow.”

Are all kids like this these days?

I was honestly surprised by the polite bows from the girl with bobbed hair and the calm-looking boy that Yuna brought.

Maybe it’s because they’re Yuna’s friends? They have a different aura than typical elementary school kids.

When I was their age, I was too busy playing outside with friends to help my grandparents with work.

“R-really? Then…come inside. I’ll show you around. Yuna, could you move the items from the warehouse again? Please?”

“Yes!”

I smiled, ushered the children inside, waved to Yuna as she ran to the warehouse, and asked the two children to point out any wilting or discolored flowers on the display.

It was just a work experience, after all.

I wasn’t planning to work them like actual part-timers, and I could afford to relax a bit with Yuna around.

…Or so I thought.

“Yuri noona, is this all?”

“Yes! This is the last one! The stem and petals are a bit droopy compared to the others!”

“…?”

They finished in five minutes.

I watched them closely, worried they might be rushing, but…wow.  What the…?  The girl has such sharp eyes!

“Here you go, owner. I’ll go help Yuna now.”

“Oh, should I go too, Jeongwoo?”

“No. Those boxes looked heavy earlier… Yuri noona, you should help the owner with cleaning.”

What? No! W-wait!!

The items in the warehouse are too heavy for children!

Yuna might be okay since she’s strong, but I should stop the other kids.

I reached out to stop them, but…

“Oh, you’re already done?  Here.  Heave-ho!”

“…These are heavy.  I should move them to that room, right?”

“Yes!  Put them down next to the stack I made.”

“Okay.”

“???”

What? Is this for real?  Do kids these days build muscle at school or something?

Yuna tossed the stacks of boxes, and the boy caught them easily.

Strange.  Those boxes weigh at least 10kg each.

I blinked a few times, stunned.  These kids were on a completely different level than I was at their age.  The girl with bobbed hair, Yuri, I think, gently tugged on my apron and looked up at me.

“If you tell me where the broom and dustpan are, I’ll clean up nicely!”

“O-oh, okay.  Here! They’re inside the counter!”

‘Birds of a feather flock together, or perhaps friends become alike?’

Perhaps because they were Yuna’s friends, they seemed a hundred times more reliable and pleasant than the frustrating part-timers I sometimes saw online.

If they were just a little older, I would have half-jokingly asked them if they wanted a summer job.

“Haa, hoo…”

7:30 p.m.

I usually close at 7, but there were more customers than usual today, resulting in unexpected overtime.  I collapsed onto the counter as soon as I put up the “Closed” sign.

How could this happen?

In the morning, the number of customers was normal, and I thought I’d let the kids go home early. But as lunchtime approached…customers suddenly flooded in.

Yuri and Yuna had been actively attracting tourists from the mainland.

* “Oh, are you here on vacation? Then how about buying a soap flower?  Wouldn’t it be nice to float pretty petals in the bathtub at your hotel?!”

* “Yes! I saw them earlier…they smell amazing!”

It might have looked like forced selling… Well, in a way, it was.

How could anyone ignore such cute kids excitedly hopping around and smiling, asking if you’d like to buy something?

And the funny thing is, people around them, overhearing the kids, were also tempted and entered the store.

So many people came that a line formed in front of the shop.

Seeing the long line, people passing by also joined out of curiosity… I was busy all day.

Whenever I thought, “Should I take a break? I’m going to die…”, the boy would bring me iced coffee at just the right time and offer to handle the POS system.

I couldn’t relax completely, worried that a child might make a mistake with the calculations, so I watched him closely.  But instead of using a calculator like me, he calculated the change mentally.

* “…That’s 15,000 won, and you gave me 20,000 won. Here’s 5,000 won change. Thank you for coming.”

* “Oh, you’d like to buy two more? Bring them over, and I’ll add them to your total.”

* “Here’s 3,000 won change.”

I even thought that once he got used to the POS system, he might be faster at handling transactions than me.

“Haa!  I-I’m tired…”

“Really? I’m okay.  It felt good running around outside for a while!”

“…I almost died following Yuna around.”

Unlike Yuri and me, who were stretching and complaining about being tired, Yuna smiled brightly, looking refreshed and energetic.

She really is full of energy.

She ran around all day with those short legs.

Even after lunch, she didn’t rest, saying she’d go out and get some fresh air and bring in more customers.

“You both worked hard.  Here, drink this. I bought it from the supermarket across the street.  Here you go, owner.”

‘Wow, what a thoughtful kid.’

While the girls were attracting customers outside, this quiet, calm boy…was subtly taking care of things behind the scenes.

He would come and help me whenever I looked tired, or even without being asked, he would memorize the location of items in the store, help customers, and bring coffee or drinks.

Honestly, if it weren’t for Jeongwoo, I might have closed the shop early out of exhaustion.

“So, how was your work experience today? It’s very different from what you learn at school or on field trips, right?”

“Yes! I realized how hard Dad works to earn money. I’m exhausted after just one day, so imagining him working like this every day…I should be nicer to him.”

“It was definitely different from what I expected.  I learned a lot by actually working.  It felt like a valuable experience.”

Oh, right. They weren’t actual part-timers; it was a work experience.

‘…Was it really just an experience?’

At some point, I started treating them like real part-timers.

For a work experience, shouldn’t I have just briefly shown them what we do in the store and let them try a little bit?

From lunchtime onwards, I was too busy with my own work to teach them anything; I just left everything to them.

I felt a pang of guilt.

I quietly opened the cash register and took out fifteen 10,000 won bills.

150,000 won in total.

It was a lot of money, considering you don’t even get paid more than 50,000 won for a day’s work at a construction site, but…considering how much they helped, they deserved it.

“Here you go, kids.  Your reward for working hard today!”

“H-huh?  W-what?! …Eek?!”

“Are you really giving this to us?  We didn’t come here for the money… Oof!”

Yuri was flustered when I handed them the money, and Jeongwoo hesitated, unsure if he should accept it.

Yuna smacked them both on the back and said in a cheerful voice, smiling brightly, “Hey! When the owner offers you money, you say ‘Thank you~’ and accept it! Receiving payment is part of the work experience! Hehe. Thank you~ Unnie!”

“Yes, yes, that’s right~ Thank you all. If you want to work again this summer, come anytime! And…Yuna, could you talk with me alone for a moment?”

“Huh? Me?  Suddenly?”

“Yes.  I want to talk to you about something…important.”

I didn’t know when I’d see Yuna again.

We hadn’t been in touch since we met once last year.

It was better to give her a heads-up while I had the chance.

It might be wrong to force a choice on a child, but it could also be a good opportunity for Yuna.

—–CROW—– 

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