Mastore 75 - Dumpster

Magic Realm Convenience Store – Ch. 75

Convenience Store Clerk and Mystical Counseling (4)

Right after, he added that he doesn't fly because he wants to fly in the sky.

“You mean, your body just floats up on its own?”

Even when forcefully pushing himself into water, he bounces right up like a life raft, making it impossible for him to swim. It’s not that he doesn’t know how to; he just can’t stay submerged at all.

"Then how were you even born?"

―Vrooom.

"Elder says he was normal when young."

Around the age of three. When he surfaced to breathe, just as he always had, his body suddenly floated up into the sky.

Says it was quite troubling at the time. His mother didn’t know what to do, and he couldn’t get back underwater, which was enough to drive him mad.

After struggling for several hours like that, it just said 'Mom, I might as well become independent now' and left.

After suddenly becoming independent, he tried living in the sky in his own way, but that didn't work out well. Mostly because there wasn’t anything to eat.

Blue whales live on krill, but there are no shrimp in the sky. So it would have to catch birds, but whales swim at just over 30km/h.

How would he ever catch a bird? Maybe if one willingly flew right into his mouth.

So, after three weeks of flying around starving above the ocean, he eventually ended up on the shore of this city.

―Vroooom.

“After that, he says there wasn’t much else. He got captured, taken to some facility, had all sorts of tests done on his body, then got taken by city hall, who said they would look after him….”

“That doesn’t sound like ‘not much else’ to me.”

"This humble dog thinks the same, but the way it speaks of it is so indifferent."

Since then, he’s been under city hall’s management, and it’s been 22 years. After listening everything, I asked him:

"You okay sharing all that?"

Seemed like the kind of story you shouldn't hear without drinks. He was turned into a living helium balloon with no explanation, separated from his family, starved while wandering around, only to get captured.

Wondering if I had made a busy guy talk about something painful, the whale made an even more unsettling comment.

―Vrooom.

'I've been talking about it my whole life. It’s just that you guys are the first ones who could understand.'

If this one had arms and legs, I would probably hand it a shot of soju saying ‘Hang in there, buddy’.

―Vrooom.

"Ah. The reason I asked about how you started was... well, this humble dog wondered if there might be a way for me to get a job at city hall.”

The whale raised its eyes, and the doggy continued. He left home too, and has been living hungry since. He's trying to make a living somehow, but it's really hard.

When the doggy finished, the whale responded right away.

―Vrooom.

"You say it's not a job you would recommend?"

―Vrooom.

"Indeed... that would be rather difficult."

“What, they don’t pay well?”

“They do pay well. Said he has never had to worry about food since he started working.”

But the problem is that the job qualifications are pretty tough.

Before joining city hall, this whale said he spent about seven years in a facility as a research subject because he was a mystical creature.

And a Pomeranian's average lifespan is 15 years. If he got a job, he would be heading for retirement as soon as he started. Even putting that aside, there’s a bigger issue.

"Even if you luck out and become a city hall official, what work are you planning to do?"

Harsh as it sounds, apart from being able to talk, this little dog doesn’t have any particular skills. Sure, he heals quickly, but so what? Make him a blood donation ambassador?

No matter how you look at it, I can’t picture any role besides maybe a healing mascot in the civil service center to bring some cheer. When I shared my thoughts, the doggy mumbled:

"This humble dog wouldn't be trusted with paperwork. Being illiterate..."

After muttering quietly, he looked up at the whale a moment later and asked:

“Elder, how did you come to learn the skill of purifying things?”

Finally the conversation's flowing to the topic I wanted.

―Vrooom.

“No. it’s fine. If you don't know, it cannot be helped."

But it seemed like this would wrap up in less than three seconds, so I quickly cut in.

"There must've been some trigger. Like, eating a purification purification fruit or something..."

(If it’s in Japanese, it would be ‘Joka Joka no Mi’ Joka (浄化) as in purification.)

When asked like that, the whale seemed to think for a moment before making a short cry.

―Vrooom.

He said that within a few days of entering the lab, the researchers had this kind of discussion about him: 'What can this thing do besides flying?'

At first, he ignored it, but as time passed, the talk started going in strange directions. Things like just releasing it since there's nothing left to research, or how feeding costs were no joke...

He said he felt a sense of crisis. Though brought there against his will, at least he wasn't going hungry, but if kicked out, he really might starve to death.

It was spring when he decided he had to do something, and there were several cherry trees around the research building. They were scattering their pollen everywhere, causing some of the researchers to suffer from hay fever.

“He thought, ‘Can’t I somehow deal this?’ So he tried this and that. Then it worked.”

It's the story I wanted to hear, but after hearing it, I'm more confused. Did he unlock an existing ability, or did he somehow gain a new one out of nowhere?

If anything's certain, it's that this ability was discovered because the whale desperately wanted it. Otherwihe would have starved to death.

Though if desperation alone gave you superpowers, would anyone starve to death in this world...

"Hmm..."

“Boss. What thoughts occupy you so deeply?"

“I’m thinking I don’t get it.”

It’s the sort of thing that doesn’t make sense to me. Mystical creatures are strange even in a world full of strange things. This is as far as I get with it.

It doesn’t feel like thinking further will get me anywhere, so I switched topics.

"Hey, Whale. Can I ask you something?"

―Vrooom.

"The news earlier said disinfection would take 5 to 7 days."

While asking, I glanced around the street. The road, signs, the food district in the distance, and so on.

Pretty much everywhere in sight is much cleaner than before disinfection. And all it took was a single breath. It didn’t even take ten seconds.

I don't understand why it takes so long for the disinfection with such overspecs guy. It’s not like this guy’s covering the whole city alone… right?

―Vrooom.

"First, it says that is indeed doing it all alone."

"Oh my."

"And the disinfection itself doesn't take long, he says."

If he put his mind to it and work hard, it only takes a day to disinfect the entire city.

But the workload scheduled for today is half the city. After saying this, the whale turned its body to show us its back...

"Damn, what's with your back?"

The sight made me sigh.

Because his back was completely caked with pollen. Compared to his belly and sides, which were still relatively clean, it was so caked on that I couldn’t even tell what his original color was supposed to be.

In this state, one cry:

―Vrooom.

“Oh... Sounds rough.”

“He’s saying he needs to clean his back.”

“Yes. He didn’t say it outright, but he mentioned that it’s really itchy even now.”

I could imagine the process. The whale breathes through a blowhole on his back.

When inhaling pollen through that blowhole, some pollen doesn't get sucked in and sticks to his back instead. That’s how it piled up and turned into this mess.

Right now, it’s bearable, but by the time his shift ends, he says the itchiness will be so bad he won’t be able to see straight. So he has to scrub it off, and that’s what takes five to seven days.

That’s why it’s five to seven days. He does one day of purification, then cleans his back, then purifies the remaining half.

“Is there no way to handle this with magic?”

―Vrooom.

He says he doesn’t know since they’ve never done it for him. He thinks it has something to do with the city budget, but since he just heard about it, he’s not sure himself….

Even the fact that they are scrubbing his back now is a measure that he receives after causing a commotion by scratching his backs to the surrounding buildings.

If he did that twice, he thinks they would really get mad at him, so he doesn’t do it anymore. The more I hear, the more…

“It sounds pretty bleak.”

Now I get why this one's so nonchalant.

From age 3 when taken to the lab until 25. Living unable to say when things were hard, even when they were. Because he literally couldn’t speak.

So, what else could he do? He had to keep all his emotions bottled up. And after bottling things up so long, seems its emotions got buried and hardened too.

The whale turned around again, looked at the little dog in my arms and let out a small sigh.

―Vrooom...

“You said you were envious? Of this humble dog?”

―Vrooom.

"It- It's not such a remarkable ability. After all, only Boss-nim here listen to me..."

'I don't even have that one person.'

Finishing this with a short cry, he fell silent. The doggy had nothing more to say either, just staring intently at the ground.

Or maybe... he realized something.

The two went quiet for quite a while, so I awkwardly glanced at the clock inside the convenience store. About 30 minutes had passed.

“Hey, Whale. It's been about 30 minutes, you okay staying longer?"

―Vrooom.

"Says he should get going now. And, this..."

"And?"

“...He said he was grateful that we listened to his story.”

"No need for thanks."

It was a good experience for me too. How many chances will I get to talk with a blue whale in my life?

Just as he was about to turn around and fly off, I called him back.

“Hey, Whale.”

―Vrooom.

“Let me see your back one more time. I want to try something.”

He stared at me with those huge eyes, then turned around again to show me his back.

“Uh… Come down a little lower. Where I can reach."

"What do you intend to do, Boss-nim?"

"Back scratcher."

The whale lowered himself slowly until he was close enough that I could just barely reach if I stood on my toes. Seeing it up close, I could tell that the pollen was caked on solid.

I looked more closely. Must be soaked with mana, as its entire back, about the size of a basketball court, was shimmering without a single gap.

Just as the whale said, it had hardened completely. It didn’t seem necessary to get into every nook and cranny as I had when I cleaned yesterday.

Taking a small breath, I put my hand on the whale's back.

Then, whoosh. Like snow falling off a roof, all the hardened pollen came crashing down at once.

It landed all over my head and shoulders, and I thought, ‘So this is what it feels like meditating under a waterfall’. This stuff was seriously heavy.

So keeping my head down, I waited about ten seconds for the pollen to settle.

When it seemed to have finally calmed, I looked up and saw the whale’s back clearly. Looks good. Thanks to my body taking the hit, the doggy stayed pretty clean...

“Boss-nim, what did you do?”

“You can tell just by look… no, never mind."

Come to think of it, I haven't told the doggy my story yet.

Briefly, so the whale could hear too, I explained that though amateur, I know a bit of anti-magic, got license with it, and landed this full-time convenience store job.

"Though this humble dog doesn't quite understand... I can tell it's a remarkable ability."

―Vrooom.

“The same goes for Whale Elders.”

"Remarkable my foot, it's all amateur stuff. Anyway..."

Then I asked the whale about his schedule.

"Think you could come back once more later? Before sunrise."

Everything's a mess with pollen, and I can't clean this even if I die. The trauma from shoveling snow off the training grounds during military service would definitely come back.

―Vrooom.

“He says he could.”

"Then leave this for now, and come clear it before you finish work. I'll dust your back off once more."

―Vrooom...

“He’s asking if he can just clean up and leave now.”

“I appreciate the thought, but that’s okay. No need to do twice the work.”

While it's a mess and customers won't be coming, I'm not too worried about that. What customers? There's no one on the streets anyway.

―Vrooom...

“He says he’d like to do it anyway….”

"If you feel that bad, buy a shrimp burger or something. Haven't sold anything for two and a half hours."

―Vrooom.

“He didn’t bring his wallet, he says.”

"Then just go..."

We don’t take tabs.

Wasn't looking for anything in return anyway. I didn’t exactly have no ulterior motive, but still.

The reason the disinfection delayed is because his back is itchy, and it takes 5-7 days to scrub it off his back. Since I did that for him, there’s no more reason for the disinfection to drag on, right?

Streets should be back to normal by then, so finishing disinfection quickly is the best repayment for me. My conscience wouldn’t let me do salary theft.

After explaining my side of things, the whale responded a moment later.

―Vrooom.

“He said, ‘See you later.’”

"Yeah. Take care.”

And then he left.

Silence settled over us again, and my stomach started to feel queasy. Maybe from breathing too much pollen, or hearing the whale's resonating sound dozens of times.

Meanwhile, the doggy muttered.

“...Boss-nim.”

"What."

"That Whale Elder said it envied this humble dog. For being able to speak."

“He did.”

"This humble dog never thought this was an enviable talent. I have encountered situations too often where speaking made no difference."

Well, that's because you've only met troublesome dogs who wouldn’t listen....

I was about to respond, but stopped. He wasn't finished.

"However, after talking with Elder just now... It doesn't seem so bad after all. Even if not as remarkable as what you just did, Boss-nim."

"Hey. Without you translating for them, I couldn't have done what I just did."

Would've just thought 'man, that cry sure is loud’, and left it at that. If this little dog hadn’t been here, I wouldn’t have realized it was a cry tinged with sorrow.

“Am I wrong?”

"...No. You are correct."

“Then it’s a team effort, half-and-half. What’s the point of comparing who’s more impressive?”

If we mix a bit of exaggeration and middle-school syndrome, it was like a convenience store clerk and a furball banding together to protect the ecosystem of the streets.

Sure, that whale's the one working its back off... but honestly, this little dog and I did contribute in our own ways, right?

So I thought his self-esteem would recover somewhat from this, but I guess he’s still got a way to go.

"...I believe I need to think about this."

As frustrating as it was, I suddenly felt that maybe it was better this way. If his self-esteem could recover in an instant, it could crumble just as fast.

“Go ahead and think. Or sleep if you’re tired.”

It’s only 1 a.m. anyway. He’s got plenty of time.





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