Mastore 65 - Dumpster

Magic Realm Convenience Store – Ch. 65

Convenience Store Clerk in the Basement (2)

Surprisingly, convenience stores sell toys.

Small stores can’t do that because of their layout, but larger convenience stores occasionally have yoyos, toy fishing rods, or character-themed playsets for young children displayed in a corner. Some stores near elementary schools even sell TCG cards. It depends on the location.

And since this convenience store is set in another world, it’s only natural to think that we might create and sell toys for little kids to play hero. I can see that, but...

“This is supposed to be a toy?”

“Doesn’t Chan’s world have stuff like this?”

"We do, but nothing this realistic."

Even after touching and inspecting it up close, it doesn’t feel like a toy at all. The blade's side has that ambiguous feel between aluminum and metal, and even around the sword handle, something like faint moonlight is leaking out.

“Shouldn’t only people with a sword license be allowed to play with this…?”

"Huh? This is rated for ages 7 and up."

Manager says this while casually pulling out the sword. Gripping the sword handle with one hand, she slowly waved it at the ceiling as if clearing cobwebs.

"As you can see, it's super light, and has almost no lethality."

“Isn’t it kind of weird to even mention ‘lethality’ when talking about a toy?”

"But even Legos can be serious trouble if kids swallow them."

“That’s true, but....”

After swinging the sword a couple more times, Manager turned the sword halfway and extended the handle to me while gripping the blade. As I took it, I realized it was indeed light, and the blade, despite its thickness, felt blunt. I had no idea what material it was made of.

“If you’re curious, you can play with it for a bit.”

“Uh... I’ll pass.”

I’m way past the age for playing with toys. Since I came to work, I'll just work.

Before examining the sword, I asked the obvious question that came to mind.

“Manager, you said this was a Hero Set, right...?”

The only thing I saw was the sword, and there wasn’t any manual or box, so I had no idea what the set included. Manager explained.

“Yep, a set. The sword and the stone come together as a set.”

"This stone is part of the set too? Was it made with sponsorship from the Landscaping Association or something?"

“No, that’s not it. The official name is ‘Hero of Light Adventure Set.’?”

Apparently, about a dozen years ago, an animated film called Hero of Light was released. It was a masterpiece that hit 900 million at the worldwide box office, so various products were released based on iconic scenes.

This adventure set was based on a scene where the hero climbs a treacherous mountain and pulls out a sword at the summit. In a world covered in darkness, when the Light Hero pulled out the sword, the light leaking from the sword cleared away all the world's darkness...

“To pull out a sword, it has to be stuck somewhere, right?”

"Right."

“And since they couldn’t sell an entire mountaintop, they stuck it in a stone and sell it that way.”

The composition of the set seemed to have been influenced by cost and environmental factors. Hearing that, I got a rough idea of how to play with it.

“So, does light actually come out of the sword or something?”

“Technically, it releases sword energy. If you swing it hard, a big energy wave comes out, and if you swing it fast, it goes farther.”

“Sword energy, huh…”

"When you run out of charged magic power while playing, you can recharge it by sticking it back in the stone."

“So, this stone isn’t just a decoration, then.”

“Yeah. It’s a charger.”

Manager explained further that the sword and the stone each have a magic stone embedded in them. The magic stone in the sword charges magical energy and emits light, while the one in the stone converts household electricity into magical energy and stores it.

“If you look at the cost, the stone might actually be more expensive than the sword.”

“Well… I see.”

After hearing all this, I had a rough idea of what my job was. Basically, I needed to test if the magic stones embedded in the sword and the stone were working properly, right?

I’ve done product tests so many times at work that I’m used to it, but I wasn't sure if that experience would apply here. Finally, I said to Manager,

“I’ll give it a shot my way, but I hope you don’t mind if I fumble around a bit.”

"Un."

After that, I looked at the sword and made my own deductions. First off, this is a toy.

I don’t know a thing about magic stones or magic powers, but logically speaking, they wouldn’t make a kids’ toy with a complicated structure. They need to handle after-service and mass production, after all.

So assuming they made it simple. Simple structured products don't have many ways they can go wrong. Either some circuit is broken, or there's a part problem causing improper power circulation.

If I apply that logic to this sword, then power equals magic powers, and the components are the magic stones. I'm not sure what circuits would correspond to, or if they even exist... but it doesn’t seem like a break in the circuit, since the base of the sword is still glowing.

Is this it?

"Manager. Is this switch turned on now?"

“There’s no switch. It’s always on.”

“Okay, I assume it’s on, but it’s only glowing at the base of the sword. I think it might be low output, which is why it’s like this...”

I’ve seen this issue plenty of times before. Since this product came out over a decade ago, it wouldn't be surprising if it had some issues by now. I would need to look at the magic stone to figure out the details, but I need Manager’s permission for that.

"Since Chan's the expert, just do what Chan think is best.”

“I’m just worried I might break it.”

“Don’t worry about that. If anything happens, it’ll be covered as a workplace injury.”

Well, no reason to hold back, then.

Manager said this was a sword with a magic stone embedded, and there's only one place something could be embedded - the handle part. I examined the bottom of the sword handle and noticed a small slot about 1 cm long.

I remembered seeing a flathead screwdriver for sale in the corner of the store, but it seemed wasteful to open a new one just for this. After thinking for a moment, I pulled out an old credit card from my wallet and wedged it into the groove. It fit perfectly.

With a twist, the back panel of the handle popped open, but... huh?

- Hahahaha! Finally, liberation...!

"Hey shit, what's this!!"

Startled, I instinctively swung my fist. I was too shocked not to.

- Kuaaaah....

Then it disappeared with a pain-filled groan, leaving only a shimmer. I stood there, dumbfounded, staring at the spot where it had disappeared until I finally turned to look at Manager. She looked just as dumbfounded.

“Manager, what was that?”

"I saw it too but... what on earth was that?"

"Seems like it was the first time you’ve seen something like that too, Manager?"

“Honestly... Sorry, I didn’t see it well. It happened so quickly.”

"Same here."

It might have been a spirit absorbed by the sword, or it could’ve been something from an old "Hero of Light" animated film.

Manager made several guesses, but before she could even finish a sentence, it had been obliterated by my punch, leaving no way to be certain.

So the identity of that thing remains a mystery, but one thing’s for certain: the sword had a problem. Where the thing had vanished, there was now a pitch-black, soot-like residue left behind.

"This must be a magic stone. It's my first time seeing one in real life."

"Yeah, you're right. It's a magic stone. Though it seems a bit more degraded than usual..."

"I guess it's not supposed to be this pitch black?"

"There aren’t any stones this black in my world except coal, Chan."

When I touched it with my finger, the surface cracked and crumbled, revealing a red, gem-like stone underneath. This must be what a normal magic stone looks like.

Before putting it back in, I thumped the sword hilt on the floor a few times to shake out any remaining dust inside. These were also pitch black. The dust was also pitch black. After putting the magic stone back and closing the lid, moonlight finally spread across the blade.

It was an enlightening practice, showing that even magic stones can deteriorate if left unattended for too long. But this.

"Manager, didn’t you say the specialists come every week?"

"It'll be exactly one week in 20 minutes."

"Then how come this sword was still like this, even after they’ve been here?"

I didn't think there would really be a problem. The specialists came by regularly before me, so I figured they handled everything properly.

But looking at it now, that doesn't seem to be the case. Before answering my question, Manager hesitated briefly.

"...The people who come each week are different. Each of them specializes in different fields.”

The dwarf with a sledgehammer obsession from my exam yesterday came to mind. That dwarf was probably an ace anti-magic specialist on construction sites, so I guess it makes sense that each specialist would have a different specialty.

But still, it doesn’t sit right with me. Regardless of their field of expertise, if they’re getting paid, shouldn’t they prevent things like before it can’t be blocked with sickle?

(An idiom, stop what a hoe can't stop with a sickle. When things are small, you leave them as they are without taking care of them in advance, which leads to a lot of effort later.)

"But you know, they’re all busy, and if there’s a real problem, they’ll come even at night…."

There was a hint of regret in Manager’s voice as she continued to speak. Words suddenly popped into my head and I blurted them out.

"I’ll take care of it, Manager."

"Huh?"

I want to live doing only as much work as I'm paid for, and I think it's natural to get cursed at if you don't. After all, how can it be easy to live off of other people’s money?

But the problem is that the manager isn't someone who would scold or reproach me for doing poor work. Even now, I can see she’s disappointed with the work the specialists have done, but from her tone, it doesn’t seem like she’s ever told them directly….

In this case, I need to do well. I like Manager and Manager seems to like me too, but that's that and this is this.

"Why the sudden decision?"

"Not really. Manager is paying me, right?"

Of course, I didn’t want to make it too obvious, so I tried not to sound too blunt. Manager, who had been looking up at me, suddenly gave me a bright smile and gently patted my waist.

"Of course, I should pay you more. I'm giving you more more work to do."

"Right."

"In return... I'll become a better boss too."

“So suddenly?”

“Not suddenly.”

Why did she suddenly bring up being a good boss?

I kept thinking about this while following Manager up the stairs from the basement storage. It wasn’t until we closed the storage door that I realized the reason.

She noticed that I was being considerate of her. Manager isn’t slow by any means, but she's the type who gets taken advantage of because she's too kind.

* * *

I realized this was something I could manage, and now all that’s left is to finalize my contract renewal.

"What should Chan's title be? Manager?"

“There are only two people working in the store, Manager and I, so I think 'manager' sounds a bit much."

"Hmm... how about assistant manager?"

"Just make it full-time employee."

Convenience store clerk and full-time employee. Though it was a harmony of two words that could never coexist, nothing else came to mind. The job description was unchanged, just with the addition of "storage management."

As for the working hours... well...

"Let's discuss that when we hire more part-timers...."

"Sorry...."

We agreed to discuss it once we had a part-timer for a proper three-shift rotation. It’s true that our contract structure is bizarre enough to make a labor attorney’s shook their head, but I didn’t have any complaints.

Lastly, there was the salary section. As this is the fundamental reason why I’m here, Manager’s voice was serious when explaining.

"I told Chan your starting salary would be 10,000 won per hour on your first day."

"Yes."

“That’s the basic salary, and I'll calculate night shifts, overtime pay, and weekly holiday pay for everything you've worked so far. Storage management will vary monthly so I'll pay that separately—"

She went on about a few other things, but honestly, I didn’t catch most of it. The sunlight was hitting me directly, and I was feeling twice as sleepy as usual.

"Since it might be quite a lot altogether, I'll calculate it and write it down separately later. Any other questions?"

"Well... There is one."

"Yes?"

"Does this world really give all those allowances?"

When I asked, Manager tilted her head sharply and asked back.

"What, they don’t?"

"...uh..."

“Thanks to Chan, I can sleep well at night. Of course, I’ll give the money Chan earned. Anything else?"

“...Other than that, there’s nothing special. I’m just really sleepy."

"I’ll jot this down in pencil for now, and if Chan want to see it later, just ask. Is that okay?"

"Yup. I’m heading out now."

"Okay. Good work, Chan. Sleep well."

After that, Manager teleported the convenience store, and I came out, stretched once, and headed home. It's just a 5-minute walk, but what Manager said earlier kept coming back once, twice, many times.

‘What, they don’t?’

Usually, they don’t. You have to take care of it yourself. I’ve done all kinds of things in my 10 years of career, and the first thing I do when I start working is to punch in the salay calculator. Afraid of getting deceived.

Everyone's words were slick. Wherever you go, places desperate for workers all say the same thing. That they don't deceive with such things, that you can rest assured.

But once you're in, they change their tune as if they never said such things. Like they all have a shared script. ‘When did we say that? If we give out so much, how do we make any profit? where in this world does such a place exist...’

‘Of course, I’ll give the money Chan earned.’

Words are cheap. Manager knows this, probably better than I do. I won’t hit you in the back of the head. Don’t worry. No matter how much they say it, in the end, it all comes down to how the other person perceives it.

I plan to do as I've always done. I trust people only as much as I want to. Which is to say, I’ve never really trusted anyone. I’ve never met anyone I wanted to trust.

'In return... I'll become a better boss too.'

This time, I want to believe. So, this time, I’m going to try to be a good employee too. And there’s one golden rule for being a good employee.

'Good work, Chan. Sleep well.'

Listen to your boss. Enough thinking. Time to get some good sleep.

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