Peninsula: I run a bed and breakfast on Jeju Island

After cleaning up the dishes and washing her hands, Li Ran prepared to leave.

Lee Ji-eun then prepared to go to her room for another nap.

She, who has a job, is more relaxed than Li Ran, who doesn't.

Li Ran returned to her bedroom and opened the bedside table drawer.

The scratch cards are in the top drawer.

The emerald green card was being held down by a coin, and the corners were slightly curled up.

He picked up the scratch-off ticket, glanced at it to make sure it wasn't damaged, and then put it in his bag.

He brought a canvas bag with him.

My passport and registration card are also inside.

Li Ran had specifically searched online beforehand, and everyone said it's best to bring both of these items when redeeming the prize.

In his past life, he had actually fantasized about what he would do if he won the lottery.

He fantasized that he could live comfortably on the interest from his monthly bonus.

But until before he transmigrated, his biggest prize was ten yuan from a scratch-off lottery ticket he bought in a small shop when he was in elementary school.

Unexpectedly, coming here gave me a chance to win a big prize.

Although it's not the millions or tens of millions of won you might imagine, ten million won still amounts to tens of thousands of dollars.

Winning tens of thousands of yuan is quite an achievement.

He carried the canvas bag and flicked the keys on his index finger.

The key twirled around his index finger.

The guesthouse key and the electric vehicle key are linked together.

Of course, there are spare keys at home.

The advantage of tying all the keys together is that it's more convenient and less likely to be lost because it's more conspicuous.

The downside is that once you lose it, you lose it all.

Because of this painful experience, Li Ran specially made several spare keys.

As soon as he stepped outside, he saw Xiao Hei lying on its side in the yard, sunbathing.

Hearing the noise, it didn't move, but raised its head slightly to look around.

Upon seeing that it was Li Ran, it put its head back down.

"You seem to be having a good time." He raised an eyebrow.

He pulled out the electric scooter and then rode it.

"You take good care of the house," he called out to Xiao Hei.

Regardless of whether it understood or not, Li Ran twisted the handlebars and rode off.

Even in late March, Jeju Island is still a bit chilly in the mornings and evenings, and it only gets a little warmer when the sun comes out for an hour or two around noon.

He rode his bike along the path in front of the guesthouse, with low walls and greenery on both sides. After turning a corner, the view opened up.

The rapeseed flowers along the roadside are in full bloom.

Vast expanses of yellow swayed in the wind.

Occasionally, you can see a few bees perched on it.

At first, Li Ran thought that the honey collected by bees came from flowers such as roses and cherry blossoms.

Later I learned that most honey actually comes from rapeseed flowers, which are common flowers that can be found everywhere by the roadside.

Actually, he doesn't always see rapeseed flowers as flowers; more often he sees them as grass or vegetables.

He would occasionally glance at the rapeseed flowers along the roadside out of the corner of his eye.

After a while, he found a corner and parked his electric scooter.

He suddenly realized that the yellow color of rapeseed flowers was actually quite vibrant.

I wonder if it's because Chinese people automatically awaken their inner blood as they get older.

Li Ran stared into thought as she looked at the photos of rapeseed flowers on her phone.

He just did something that I remember older folks often doing: taking pictures of the flowers and plants by the roadside.

I wonder if I'll be using "Flowers Bloom and Wealth Abounds" or "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies" as my profile picture in a few years.

He shook his head, clearing his mind of the jumbled thoughts.

He took one last look at the bright yellow rapeseed flowers by the roadside, then got back on his electric bike.

The Agricultural Cooperative Bank isn't far; it's just around the corner of a main street.

On the peninsula side, if you win a scratch-off lottery ticket, you have to go to NH Agricultural Cooperative Bank to claim your prize.

Two middle-aged women were standing in front of the bank, chatting in what they thought was a low voice.

When they saw him riding over, they glanced at him, then looked away and started chatting.

As Li Ran passed by, she could hear fragmented snippets drifting into her ears.

One minute Old Jin's youngest son has a boyfriend, the next minute his eldest daughter has a girlfriend...

If it weren't for the fear of being discovered and the desire to collect the bonus as soon as possible, Li Ran would have liked to stand there and listen for an entire afternoon.

Clearly, he happened to arrive just in time for the village intelligence group to exchange information.

He pushed open the door and walked into the bank.

There weren't many people in the lobby.

An elderly man and a young woman were sitting in the waiting area next to them.

People were processing their business at the two windows.

He walked up to the ticket machine, pressed the button, and a small slip of paper came out.

The note had a number and a string of Korean characters printed on it.

He glanced down at the number, 24. He looked up at the electronic screen again; they had just called number 21.

It shouldn't take too long.

Li Ran found an empty seat in the waiting area and sat down.

He put the number slip in his pocket and casually took out his phone to browse through it.

There doesn't seem to be anything interesting to see. And there's no new information either.

He glanced at Choi Jin-ri's chat box.

I don't know what she's busy with; she hasn't replied to my messages all morning.

"Number 024, please proceed to window number 2."

Upon hearing the sound, Li Ran put her phone back in her pocket.

He stood up and walked towards the counter.

Behind the window was a middle-aged woman wearing glasses, her hair tightly tied up, and a standard professional smile on her face.

"Hello, what service do you need?"

He handed over the scratch-off lottery ticket along with his registration card and passport.

"Scratch-off lottery tickets for prize redemption."

The older sister blinked, took the card, and glanced at it.

She scanned the card on the verification machine next to her, and the machine beeped.

She glanced at the screen again, picked up the card again, and examined the anti-counterfeiting label against the light.

The older woman placed the card back on the table. "Congratulations."

She took Li Ran's passport and registration card and began entering information into the computer.

Her fingers flew across the keyboard, occasionally pausing to check the content on the screen.

She then pulled out a form from the side, along with a pen, and handed it out through the window.

"Please fill out this form with your name, resident registration number, contact information, bank card number, and this section for the prize amount and the scratch-off ticket number. The ticket number is on the bottom right of the back of the card."

Li Ran picked up a pen and lowered her head to fill out the form.

His Korean writing was still crooked and messy.

When he got to the resident registration number field, he copied it from the electronic document on his phone, afraid of making a mistake.

He looked at the coupon number twice before writing it down.

After confirming that he had filled it out, he pushed the form back.

The older sister took the form, checked each item one by one, and then typed a few more words on the computer.

"The tax rate for the third prize is 22%. After deducting the tax, the amount you will actually receive is 7.8 million Korean won."

She adjusted her glasses. "The 2.2 million won deducted includes 20% income tax and 2% resident tax. Here is the tax breakdown."

She then handed over a printed form listing the total bonus amount, the percentage of taxes deducted, and the final amount received.

Li Ran glanced at it and nodded.

"The funds will be transferred to the account you provided within three business days. Please check your account at that time." The woman handed back her passport, registration card, and a copy of the winning slip.

"Okay, thank you for your help."

"You're welcome. Congratulations on winning! We hope you have good luck next time."

Li Ran put her things away and glanced at her phone.

It's been exactly twenty minutes since I entered. Much faster than I expected.