Eungwang Light Nursery was having its busiest Chuseok ever since it was established.
The number of children has nearly doubled, and the size of the nursery has tripled thanks to the remodeling done by Hwangmyeong Construction.
The donations to the nursery have also increased significantly.
‘I never imagined our nursery having more kids.’
Recently, in addition to Eungwang Light Nursery, the Hwangmyeong Foundation is donating to one other childcare center.
The facilities of that center were so underdeveloped, and so the children there were transferred first to the nursery while the foundation is improving the place.
The directors of the two nurseries, who had no prior interaction, became very close to each other.
Now, they’re spending Chuseok together.
Talks of integrating the two nurseries together began to emerge.
“Hani noona, the tigers are here!”
A child with a gentle impression pointed somewhere.
The child, who is in third grade at Gwangil Elementary school where Hani also studied, quickly became close to her.
Aside from Hani, this child followed the four men and women who volunteer at the nursery every day.
He likes to call them “tigers”.
When Hani asked the child why he called the volunteers “tigers”, the group immediately tried to stop the child from talking.
— We played the tiger game last time. I guess he thinks I look like one!
— Yeah… Uhuh, yeah! Rawr!
Hani doesn’t know what in the world a tiger game is, but when the volunteers began to play around, the child liked it so much and so Hani just passed it off.
Anyway, the four soon timidly approached Hani.
“Uhm, hey…”
“We want you to take this…”
The four presented a box big enough to fit a whole watermelon.
The box was wrapped in blue Korean paper, and the blue string had the words “moon rabbit rice cake” written in very small characters.
‘Rice cake? I already had the limited edition songpyeon on Chuseok, but what now…”
When Hani hesitated, the four felt like crying.
Other people at the nursery saw the four cry out of nowhere and commented.
“There must be something going on.”
“I think they’re sick in the heart so we better treat them well.”
Hani immediately took the box before those four could fill the happy holiday with more tears.
“…Thank you.”
“No, we are the ones who are thankful!”
“Please open it!”
The four immediately stopped crying when Hani received the box and they asked her to look at what was inside.
The box had a ddeok cake.
(T/N: Ddeok, or rice cake, cake. Simply a cake made out of rice cake!)
Various types of rice cakes were stacked, starting with the five-colored thick rice cakes, glutinous rice cakes, and flower rice cakes decorated with sugar.
As soon as Hani opened the box, a sweet scent burst out and reached her nose, and Hani’s expression turned bright.
The four saw her expression and they all had big smiles.
“We really want to eat that with you today.”
Hani somehow managed to settle down and ate the ddeok cake with the four.
The taste of the cake made of moon rabbit rice cakes made her happy with every bite.
‘Teacher Gong Cheonghwon is coming this afternoon. I’m going to share this with him!’
Gong Cheonghwon isn’t a fan of sweets like Hani is, but the ddeok cake was delicious enough to recommend to him.
…Though, there were a lot of dried persimmon rice cakes in it.
* * *
Morning of October third.
I visited MITRON early in the morning.
After checking with Ok Toyeon, I confirmed that two ddeok cakes were ordered for the tigers, but both had dried persimmon rice cakes in them.
The cake scheduled to be delivered to the Hwangmyeong Mansion was specially decorated with dried persimmons shaped like tigers.
‘At this rate, White Tiger won’t be able to eat cake at all!”
I will choose the best cake for my main playable character.
“Hello.”
“Welcome.”
The MITRON store usually packed with people only had me and the patisserie today.
When I got Kim Shinrok’s suggestion yesterday, I immediately bought a cake through MITRON’s app.
I got a direct call from the patisserie at MITRON.
He explained that MITRON was supposed to be closed during the holiday, but it seems that the reservation went through by mistake due to an error in the app.
I thought about finding a different bakery when the patisserie asked me something.
— This is a big order though. Is it for an anniversary?
When I said yes, he offered to go to work that day and make the cake just for me.
— Freshmen of Class Zero all visit our store very often, but you, Jo Euishin, are the biggest regular. I’ll make an exception just this once.
Perhaps he remembers my name because I often go here with the other kids, or perhaps it’s because Bbang Shuttle always puts the bread orders under my name.
I didn’t want to bother the patisserie and make him work on a holiday and so I refused his offer, but he only laughed and said he already started measuring the ingredients.
— My hands will get stiff if I rest all throughout the holiday. It’s okay, I can make a cake or two.
He said that as if he were going to make a very simple cake, but the result was the contrary
“Well? What do you think?”
I was at a loss for words as I saw the spectacular cake that was much better than I expected.
I ordered a customized cake to match the image of White Tiger, Hwang Jiho, and Red Tiger, the celebrants of today’s feast at Hwangmyeong Mansion.
I only asked for two things.
First, I wanted the cake to be white, gold, and red.
Second, if it was possible, to have decorations in the shape of tigers put in it.
For the first request, I thought it was easy enough since they could just use whipped cream, caramel, and red beet.
‘I didn’t expect much for the tiger decorations…’
I expected a tiger’s face made with some deformed whipped cream at best.
But what the patisserie showed me was a tiger artwork.
The three-level cake had three tigers — White Tiger, Yellow Tiger, and Red Tiger – made with sugar craft, and they looked alive and lively as if they can suddenly run across the cake’s surface.
I can’t figure out how this masterpiece was created.
“…Did you make this with sugar yourself?”
“I did learn some sugar craft before.”
The patissier drew attention to the framed certificates displayed on the wall.
Following his gaze, I saw a “Patissier and Chocolatier” certificate written in French, and a “Sugar Craft” certificate written in English.
Next to the certificates was a list of awards for all kinds of competitions, including an International Skills Olympics in baking.
‘With this level of skill, he could be a senior patisserie at an air hotel.’
I wonder why he chose to run a bakery near a high school, but I didn’t ask since I guess it’s his craftsmanship after all.
While he was wrapping the cake, he suddenly stopped and began to speak as if he were talking to himself.
“Isn’t it cool? A beautiful and sweet work of art is perfect… Except it melts easily in high temperatures.”
I can see the three-colored cake reflected in his eyes.
I could feel his pride as a craftsman and his appreciation for his work.
“What do you think?”
The patisserie turned his gaze at me.
There’s no need for a pretentious answer.
Every work made by MITRON’s patissier was beautiful and delicious, and it’s especially true when I see my classmates’ happy faces who anticipate every new product.
“I also think it’s cool.”
The patissier was all smiles.
His smile made him look much more humane than the usual smile he has when serving lots of customers.
When he finished packing, he suddenly spoke again.
“This is a gift.”
“Excuse me?”
I was stunned by the sudden offer.
I can’t believe he’s refusing to get paid for work he’s done on a holiday.
The work of art that is the customized cake that he made.
I insisted that I would pay, but he flatly refused.
“Instead, please come more often in the future.”
I couldn’t afford to stay much longer since the appointment time is getting closer, so I promised to visit more often.
‘Maybe I should hang out with the kids somewhere after the midterm exams. I’ll buy snacks from MITRON and…’
While I thought about that, I arrived at the separate building just outside the maze garden of the mansion.
The cylindrical annex was used as a banquet hall, and it was decorated in five colors.
The white, gold, red, blue, and silver insignia and ornaments were noticeably arranged everywhere.
‘Maybe I should’ve ordered five colors on the cake.’
I think it’s a mistake to exclude Blue Tiger’s and Silver Tiger’s colors even though they’re not here today.
“Welcome, Jo Euishin. I’m glad you came.”
Starting with Hwang Jiho, who looked very happy, the other tigers appeared one after another.
Everyone wore colors that symbolize themselves because it was their birthday.
Silver Tiger’s descendants, who were waiting with me at the banquet hall, were also wearing silver robes.
I wasn’t aware of the dress code so I just wore a casual jacket, but I should’ve been more tactful.
“Let’s sing and cut the cakes!”
“Euishin oppa, sing with us!”
The 5000-year-old tigers surprisingly host a feast that’s close to a regular birthday party.
A simple “happy birthday” song was sung in a normal way instead of traditional Korean music or classical music from abroad.
Perhaps the influence of the descendants, who live a life close to human beings, greatly influenced them.
Compared to the colorful decorations, it was an ordinary party with a few people, but the tigers’ birthday party was heartwarming.
Yellow Tiger called out five knives over the ddeok cake.
“Shall we cut the cake together? I, the head of Tiger Clan, will cut Blue Tiger’s share. White Tiger, Silver Tiger’s brother, will cut his share.”
So White Tiger is Silver Tiger’s brother.
I learned another hidden fact at my main playable character’s birthday party.
When the descendants and I applauded, the three tigers cut the cake.
The five-piece cake was cut into several servings, and Red Tiger cut some cake for White Tiger.
“White Tiger, try some of this dried persimmon rice cake. It’s made according to the special recipe in Gosa Sinseo. Alright, son. Here’s your share too.”
Red Tiger handed out piles of dried persimmon rice cakes to White Tiger and Kim Shinrok.
Kim Shinrok, who loved dried persimmons, happily accepted the rice cakes served by his father, but the same wasn’t true for White Tiger.
“…”
White Tiger silently accepted the plate, but his face doesn’t look so good.
It was a subtle change in his expression, but there was no way I’d miss it.
Woof woof!
Olmu hopped at White Tiger’s feet, asking for some food.
It looks like the kind Olmu wants to eat for him.
“It’s a gift.”
The little angel already stepped up ahead of me, but I still offered a gift to save White Tiger from this crisis.
I gave the three-colored cake, and the tigers, fortunately, accepted it with joy even though it wasn’t five-colored.
* * *
As many students returned to their homes, the dormitory became quiet.
However, the Jiikhoe couldn’t rest even during the holiday because there were still some students who caused trouble.
The main cause of this year’s holiday accident was the Year Two Class Zero students.
On the day of Chuseok, more than ten students led by Geum Chansol and Wang Chansol remained in the dorms, saying they would spend the day with Jegal.
They brought a mortar in front of the dormitory building and spent their time pounding rice cakes and making handmade songpyeon.
It looked peaceful at first glance, but some brave kids intentionally put some herbal medicine in the songpyeon as a prank, and of all pieces, Jegal ate one.
— Jegal ssaem, how’s the songpyeon?
— We worked hard on researching the perfect recipe!
— The concept is sweet and salty. The ones in odd numbers are sweet, and those in even numbers are salty. Which one did you have?
— …
Jegal, who’s under an order that makes it impossible for him to lie, can’t tell whether the songpyeon was salty or sweet.
In fact, it wasn’t sweet or salty.
It was just a tasteless herbal medicine.
The students thought it was strange that Jegal wasn’t speaking, but they belatedly realized what had happened.
— Which crazy bastard did this to our Jegal ssaem!
— How annoying… It’s annoying that Jegal ssaem ate the bad ones first!
— Die!
As a result of the persistent investigation of the Class Zero kids, they found out that the culprits were some students from the broadcasting department.
It seems like they were still bitter about the poison-flavored Dacquoise from before.
The angry Class Zero students took revenge by mixing bitter taste test solution and PTC solution into the poor broadcasting department’s water purifier, and that’s when the school fell into chaos.
Park Seunghyun of the Jiikhoe had to deal with the turmoil that arise in the residential area.
Mok Wooram, who listened to Park Seunghyun’s story, nodded and acknowledged his hard work.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Hahaha… It would’ve been real trouble if Gye Idam sunbaenim wasn’t here.”
Park Seunghyun took care of Mok Wooram ever since he entered the dorms.
The two were close enough to greet each other and chat for a while when they run to each other.
“I’m so glad the freshmen Class Zero isn’t like the seniors. Hahaha, honestly I was nervous on the first day of admissions.”
“The first day?”
“Ah, haven’t you heard from your classmates? The freshmen Class Zero kids played a prank in the dormitory building on the first day…”
Park Seunghyun told the story of what happened in the freshmen dormitory building.
He was a witness to the incident of the jump that day, which most people knew as a simple prank.
In the middle of the night, the scene where a long-haired girl suddenly fell out of the window was clearly engraved in his mind.
Mok Wooram’s expression gradually turned gray as the story went on, but Park Seunghyun didn’t notice.
