The sergeant's wife's cousin sat in a four-story residential building across from the Lehrmar government building. Through the window, he had a panoramic view of the building, including the square in front of it.
He took a small ball from his pocket, peeled away the outer layer of waxed paper, and stuffed the thumb-sized ball inside into his mouth.
This was an oral strength ball. That was its academic name, though people preferred to call it a "mouth-strengthening ball" or "mouth-strengthening gum." It was a product whose place in people's lives was difficult to describe.
Perhaps it counted as a health supplement? Maybe.
It was originally born in the bodybuilding world. Bodybuilders who wished they could bulge a muscle even when curling a strand of hair had corresponding requirements for their facial muscles.
But training one's bite force was not as easy as other forms of training. It was somewhat difficult, and everyone had their own methods.
Until one bodybuilder tried turning the rubber from an old tire into a ball and stuffing it into his mouth!
That was how the oral strength ball was born! Its patent was once named the year's most commercially valuable patent, and it came to be widely used in many fields.
That bodybuilder's physique management soon failed because of his enormous wealth. But perhaps, for him, his current life was what he had wanted all along!
By then, it was no longer used only by bodybuilders. Ordinary people used it too.
Medical groups got many ideas from the oral strength ball. They used medical rubber to make the core mold, then added ingredients that cleaned the mouth.
They even advertised it on television, claiming that chewing one a day could keep one's breath fresh all day and protect one's oral health, among other things.