Mastore 78 - Dumpster

Magic Realm Convenience Store – Ch. 78

This is Not a Convenience Store, but a Mess

“Are you looking for something?”

“....”

These yangbans didn't respond to my question, but I wasn’t surprised. They didn’t even have vocal cords to speak with. Skeletons in frog-pattern military uniforms.

The problem was, the number of these yangbans was a bit excessive. Five had already entered the store, with about fifteen more waiting outside....

Then what caught my eye was a tour bus parked on the shoulder. Thanks to its lights being on, the interior corridor was clearly visible, with a line stretching from end to end. Isn't that a 45-seater bus?

Counting heads, it was indeed a 45-seater. That’s when it hit me: these skull heads must have been out on a company leave, stopping here to pick up a few things on their way back.

There, by some unfortunate coincidence, this convenience store, or to be exact, I got caught up in—

"Spe-pe-cial-al Re-red..."

“?”

Meanwhile, hearing what seemed like someone looking for cigarettes, I looked at the counter to find a slightly bigger skull-head looking down at me.

Besides the size, its peculiarities included something like badges hanging all over its head and shoulders, with a theme that could be either spooky or grotesque. What’s this now? Was he given a commemorative gift for his discharge? Did it come with a removable vocal cord, too?

“On-one p-pack, ple-ease-ease...."

"Ah... Special Red. Understood."

His tone was straight out of another era. Rather than being dressed up for discharge day tomorrow, this fellow seemed to be the company commander. In other words, a Death Knight.

After I rang up and handed over the cigarettes, he also said something that sounded like an order to one of the surrounding skeletons.

“Che-check k-k-all he-headcounts and… re-report back once al-all are bo-boarded…”

“....”

"Permiss-mission gr-gran-granted..."

Setting aside how they communicate, just what was he permitting....

This I found out quickly, because the skeleton who had received the order clicked his jaw shut and, in sync with that click, each skeleton pulled something out of their hardtack pockets.

Memo papers. Damn it, I'm in big trouble....

“....”

“Yes, let me help you find what you’re looking for.”

When someone in military uniform holds out a memo paper at a convenience store, there's only one purpose. They're planning to buy loads of non-regulation cigarettes to take back.

But, of course, this kind of thing is forbidden in the military. Why? Because soldier wages come from taxpayers. If they spent all that taxpayer money on non-regulation cigarettes, that would basically be like funneling public funds out of the country, right?

If you're going to smoke anyway, let's pollute our beautiful land disgustingly with domestic cigarettes, they say. This is also why they barely allow other non-regulation cigarette products.

They attach these fancy terms like ‘fairness’ and ‘uniformity’ to justify it, but... would you care about those terms if you were treated like kids in the army?

So I too, out of defiance, stubbornly smuggled in non-regulation cigarettes, and most got caught at the guard post entrance. Through numerous trials and errors, I learned two methods.

One, slip the guard a bribe. Two, get the company commander’s approval and walk in with him, hand-in-hand, because even the guard post’s top officer isn’t any higher than a platoon leader. What’s he gonna do, put up a fight?

That 'pe- permit g- granted' just now seemed to be exactly that. Today, the boys can buy cigarettes. It was nice to see the company commander thinking of his subordinates.

All good, but why here of all places? Did someone spread rumors about the cigarettes being good here?

"That'll be 225,000 won. Do you need a receipt?"

“....”

Seemed like they didn't need one, so I tossed the receipt and handed over five cartons of cigarettes. Reading the memo paper the next skeleton handed over, it was seven cartons total.

Seven cartons came to 320,000 won since one was a pricier brand, going for 5,000 won a pack. Sent these two off, and now forty-three skeletons remain....

Can't they buy a reasonable amount? What are we supposed to sell to the next customer at this rate?

With each skeleton I send off, the cigarette inventory space empties by 10%. This convenience store is fairly big so we're barely hanging on, but if it were some other hole-in-the-wall shop, they would have put up a sign long ago. Saying they're sold out of cigarettes for the day.

And most convenience stores prefer to spread out sales among various customers. Partly because you never know who might become a regular, and they can come and go on a whim. It’s a ruthless market that way.

For these reasons, I wanted to save some stock for later sales, but these skeletons are straight-up robbers, just carrying wallets instead of weapons. Since they’re technically not doing anything wrong, I can’t even complain….

"Hey there, young man."

And who might this elder be?

Suddenly, a new face I didn’t recognize had come in. Don't know what race he‘s, but’s short and seemed incredibly old, with white hair and beard covering his whole face and neck.

I thought he might be some monk practicing asceticism— but he’s wearing loose sweats. Probably just came from a light exercise in the park. He came up to the counter and spoke to me, so I answered while continuing to scan cigarette carton barcodes.

"Yes, elder. What are you looking for?"

"You see, I'm looking for gift ca~ards..."

Of all things, you're looking for that?

Convenience stores do carry gift cards like culture vouchers and such. Mostly minors and elderly folks buy them. The reason, well, probably to roll some gacha games.

Also, it’s one of those few items that clerks need to be especially mindful of. The main issue comes when customers bring up several cards, as it’s surprisingly common for them to end up with more than they meant to....

Or the cashier will accidentally scan the wrong amount. since the cards all look identical except for the amount, if you don't keep track, you end up wondering 'Which one did I just scan?'

If you’re unlucky, you end up charging 100,000 won and handing over 120,000 won worth of cards. It’s a mistake that wouldn’t happen if you’re careful, but who makes mistakes like they want to?

“Would you mind checking near the dairy section?”

Since I was on defense duty, I couldn't guide him directly. At my words, the elder vaguely nodded and left, then came back around the time I had sold about 30% of the cigarette inventory.

"Well, there are gift ca~ards... but I can't find the amount I'm looking for."

"What amount are you looking for? 5,000 won?"

Physical gift cards start at a minimum 10,000 won.

I was about to explain that he would need to buy it online for amounts less than 10,000 won and send them on their way, but this elder's intended purchase amount was quite different from what I had in mind.

“No, not 5,000 won.”

“Then 3,000?”

"No~o, 2 million won."

(2 million won equal to around 1454 US dollar.)

"...Pardon?"

"I'm tryin’ to buy a 2-million-won card, but I looked all over and couldn’t find it."

Well, no wonder—since the maximum card amount is 200,000 won.

I know it’s a bit rude, but I couldn’t help it—I honestly thought he might be dealing with some kind of dementia. Why would he need 2 million won in gift cards? Was he mixing it up with gacha game gold or something?

"...Um, Customer-nim. I'm asking just in case, but are you paying by credit card?"

"No? These gift ca~ards, they're cash-only, right? That's why I brought cash."

With that, he lifted his beard, revealing a fanny pack strapped beneath it. He unzipped it, rummaged around, and pulled out something thick, placing it on the counter.

A bundle of 10,000 won bills. Crumpled together with short rubber bands. He knew they were cash-only and had come prepared, so he clearly wasn’t out of his mind. But then, why wrap the bills like this? This would damage the money…

“....”

"...Ah, sorry, Customer-nim. I’ll ring that for you.”

The dissonance made me freeze up for a moment, and I quickly apologized to the skeleton customer.

As I continued checking the skeleton’s memo and scanning cigarettes, I wondered how best to handle this situation. Is it right for me to do this, or should I not?

It's not that I don't want to do it... No, to be honest, it's true that I don’t want to.

One might say 'Isn't it all sales when you sell 2 million won worth?' and that's true. The problem is that the profit margin is only 1%. Selling 2 million won would net 20,000 won in profit.

That's the same profit as selling one jar of candy worth 40,000 won, with a plus of several fold hassle. Since physical gift cards max out at 200,000 won, I would need to swipe 10 cards to sell 2 million won worth.

Up to here is fine. It's fine, but we don't have those 10 cards right now. If I remember right, there are only two 200,000-won cards on display, three 150,000-won ones, and the rest are all smaller amounts.

Can I make up the 2 million with those small amounts? Might work if I clean out the entire display... but I’m not sure.

Even putting aside these reasons, there's one more thing that worries me. After sending off the skeleton in front of me, while receiving the next memo, I asked the elder.

"Elder, what are you planning to use such an amount for?"

There are quite a few elderly people who get scammed with these gift cards.

For example, something like this: 'Mom, it's your son, could you buy a gift card and send me the numbers? I lost my phone so I'm borrowing someone else's—'

Anyone can use it if they know the serial number, and it's not hard to resell either. Just list it on second-hand markets at a lower price. Personally, I don’t know too much about this, since I’ve never been a victim of phishing myself…

I guess I was quick to pick up on this kind of thing. To my question, the elder asked back with puzzlement.

"Do I have to tell you that to buy it?"

"Yes."

There's no actual law requiring this, but I just said so because it was bothersome. The elder, as if it was no big deal, took out their phone, fiddled with it, and held it out to me.

"These days I'm hooked on this ga~ame."

A woman in wuxia-style clothing stood in the middle of the screen, with a loading bar slowly filling up below. So, he wasn’t dealing with a scammer; but hooked on a 2D character….

"They say you get stronger if you spend money, so I want to spend some. Can't I?"

"No reason why not."

It's his money to spend however he want, and as long as I'm not involved in any scams, it doesn't matter. Just think of it as selling 1,000 bottles of soju at 2,000 won each.

While scanning cigarettes, I told the elder.

"Elder. You were looking for a 2 million won gift card, but that doesn't exist. They never made those in the first place. The maximum is 200,000 won."

"Ah, is that so? Nobody told me that. They all just said they didn't have any...."

Seems he has already been troubling convenience store clerks at other shops. I continued.

"So, you would need to buy several cards, which takes a while. Plus, as you can see, I’m a little busy here."

"That’s fine; I’ve got plenty of time. But…."

Trailing off hesitantly, he glanced up at the skeleton standing nearby, then asked me.

"That, could you sell me just one 200,000 won card first? I'd like to try using one first."

Sounds like he’s planning to do a trial 200,000-won round of gacha. He looked at the skeleton because he felt bad about cutting in line, and the skeleton seemed to notice, tactfully stepping back.

“If you bring it here, I’ll ring it up for you right away.”

As soon as I finished speaking, he went to the display rack and brought back a gift card. After canceling the cigarettes I had already rung up, I switched over to the gift card item and processed the payment.

I printed the receipt and handed it over with the gift card, but he just stood there motionless, staring intently at it. After mentally writing the character for 'patience', I asked.

"...Do you know how to use that?"

“Nope.”



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