Mastore 89 - Dumpster

Magic Realm Convenience Store – Ch. 89

It's okay to be friends with a 5 year age gap (4)

After that first customer, there wasn't much progress. Family customers came in sporadically, and most just handled their business and left without much fuss.

“Wow! Doggy—”

“Hey, don’t touch the puppy. We’re going to the pool, remember?”

At around 9:40, a kid and a mother came into the convenience store and said these two lines before leaving. I don't get what touching a dog has to do with going to the swimming pool. Aren't they going to shower before getting in anyway?

"But I've never even rolled in dirt. I only ever walked on grass or pavement..."

This Doggy seemed like he had had enough of this nonsense too. If I kept pushing it, I might end up arranging therapy sessions for him, so I gave up and tucked him under the counter.

Then I asked.

“Hey, Doggy. How do you want to get paid?”

"Paid? What's that?"

“You know, I asked you to work earlier. I’m talking about your paycheck.”

This guy was in the store for about 40 minutes. I could just calculate two-thirds of the hourly minimum wage, but….

"I'm thinking of 10,000 won, how's that?"

"10,000 won... isn't that three hours worth of vending machine time?"

“Also worth four burgers. So, deal or no deal?”

“But, this Doggy didn't work that long. Four is too many, let's make it three."

“Just take the 10,000 won, will you? I’m too lazy to calculate.”

It really was partly laziness, but I also thought if the compensation for his first labor in his dog life was below minimum wage, that might be hurtful in its own way.

It's not like I'm short on money anyway. I've already paid this month's utilities and rent. This house-elf is free! Until next month at least!

(It seems to be Harry Potter reference but I don’t quite get it. I do watch HP but not all movies.)

“Or what, you want to negotiate your wages? You confident?"

"N- No. I’ll humbly accept!”

“Good. Now, do you want it in cash or….”

“Or what?”

"...No. Never mind."

I realized something here too. This is the same dog who, upon finding 50,000 won, wanted to buy out all the convenience store hamburgers. So what if he found 500,000 won?

He would probably storm into a large fast-food restaurant and monopolize all the burgers. Maybe it’s because he’s never earned money himself, but his spending habits are insanely impulsive.

Instead of giving him cash or goods directly, I should probably have someone manage his earnings for him. And even if I were to give him cash, I have no idea how to hand it over to someone with no wallet or bank account.

"I'll just give you one hamburger each time you come, man. Not expired ones. That okay?"

“As long as you keep track.”

After agreeing, I immediately erased it from my mind. This way, I won't have to wrestle with talks of debt or favors when feeding him hamburgers for a while.

“So that’s settled… You hungry right now?”

"Well... I am a bit peckish. After running around the park so much."

“I’ll warm one up for you. Hana, anything you want?”

"I'm okay. Since I ate snacks..."

"You must be thirsty then."

I remembered seeing some high-calcium milk on the display.

I heated up a hamburger and grabbed the milk too, then handed them both out. Doggy nibbled at the burger on the wrapper, and Hana sipped her milk in tiny half-gulps.

I rested my chin on my hand and chewed on some oxygen. While I was doing that, it got to five minutes before 10 o’clock, and the manager arrived.

“Chan-ah, hi.”

“Yes, Manager-nim.”

After exchanging greetings, she clapped once upon seeing the little girl and Doggy in the counter.

"Oh, lots of welcome faces today?"

“There are just two?”

“Chan, Doggy, and this little girl. Three is plenty, right?"

Not sure what's so welcome about faces you see every day. Manager came gently to the counter and asked the little girl while looking down.

"Hi, little girl. Been a while since we've seen each other, right?"

“Hello, Onni.”

(It’s Unnie, but here’s a little of childish speech. Hana did do much more childish speech but I can’t do each one. Sorry for that.)

“What brings you here today?”

“Um....”

At Manager's question, the little one glanced at my face once, then mumbled with an uncertain expression.

“I wanted to see Mister… Is that not okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? How about Doggy?”

"This is our second meeting, Manager-nim. You see, I―”

It seemed Doggy was quite proud of not getting caught in what he claimed was the greatest game of tag in his life. He brought it up again and added,

"After experiencing that, I found myself thinking of Boss' face. That's why I came."

"Hearing this, Chan seems quite popular."

“You can say that again....”

Now even I'm confused about my identity. Last night I was playing anti-magic specialist, and today I'm a daycare center director. Come to think of it, am I kind of capable?

“Looks like the two are getting along well.”

“Yes. They’re playing just fine together.”

"Getting off work might be tough in this situation."

Manager whispered these words so that only I could hear, and I just nodded silently.

To get off work, I need to lock the door, draw the curtains, and teleport the entire convenience store. Can't do that with these two here.

If it were just one of them, I might’ve been able to coax them into leaving, but since both came saying they wanted to see me, it feels wrong to just ditch them.

“There’s always a way around this.”

"What way do you mean?"

"Just watch."

Well, if you say watch, I'll watch.

Manager cleared her throat and crouched down towards the little girl and Doggy.

"Kids. I'm really sorry, but we need to clean up soon."

“If you’re cleaning, I can help!”

“This humble Doggy will also help. Sweeping the floor is a task I can manage, using my tail.”

"That's not it, we need to clean the bathroom. The toilet."

Hearing that word, a shadow fell over the little girl’s face, and the dog instinctively grimaced.

"To...ilet?"

"Yeah. The toilet's clogged, so we need to stick our hands in to unclog it."

"Hands...? Really?"

“Really.”

"Is it blocked because of poopoo?"

“Yeah. Because of poopoo."

Wow, been a while since I heard that word. Poopoo.

Hearing it now, from both Manager and the little girl, I felt like I could hear the sound of my mental image of the world crumpling a little. I thought women didn't use the word poopoo...

"Still, it might be easier if you help. Could you guys maybe help?"

“That’s... Um....”

“That....”

Although these two were quite mature for their age, there was no way they would have the courage to stick their hands into a clogged toilet. They both looked at me with faces on the verge of tears or howling.

Manager looked at me, too. She probably wanted me to play along.

“I can handle it on my own, so you two should go take care of whatever you need to do.”

“Really...?”

“It’s easier for me that way.”

It might look like these kids chose their mental health over friendship, but I had no intention of caring about that. Even if it were regular cleaning, I wouldn’t have made them do it anyway.

“I’ll give some rubber gloves, Chan.”

"Yes. But not small size, right? Small ones don't fit my hands."

"Mister, I'm sowwy..."

“My deepest apologies as well, Manager-nim. This humble Doggy cannot even clean up its own droppings…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t mind it and won’t take it to heart. Manager-nim, when should I start?”

“Right now.”

Hearing this, the two seemed to realize it was time to leave. Each grabbing their milk or holding bread bits in their mouth, they bowed politely to me and Manager.

"Mister, good luck."

“This humble Doggy concurs.”

"Yeah. Be careful on your way."

With that, they left through the front door but stopped outside. Wondering why, I perked up my ears to listen. This was their conversation,

“Doggy, wanna come to my house?”

“This humble one? Are you referring to your home, young miss?”

"Yeah. Our house is big, we can run around and play."

That's news to me. What, is the house like 165 square meters?

However, I couldn’t catch the rest of their conversation as they began to walk away, and soon after, they were out of sight. After confirming they were gone, I asked Manager,

“Do I really need to unclog this toilet?”

“No? It hasn't even been clogged, so don't worry."

The way Manager said it was so natural that I half-believed her for a second.

"Even if not the restroom, I will clean, but I'll do it with magic so Chan should just go home. It's almost 10."

“Yes. But, Manager-nim, there’s something I’d like to ask before I go.”

"What is it?"

I asked directly. What exactly are dragons in this world?

“Something occurred to me after what that kid said earlier, but I think the kindergarten kids are afraid of the little girl. Because she’s a dragon.”

"Ah, really?"

“Yes. But the adult customers think she’s adorable and treat her like it’s no big deal.”

Because in the world I lived in, I had never seen a child being afraid of someone else for no reason. Especially since that little girl isn't big or intimidating.

They're afraid just because she's a dragon, without any actual interaction or communication.

"I guess dragons weren't such frightening beings in Chan's world?"

"They were scary beings. Because they were made to be scary."

Long ago in the West, imaginative storytellers must have thought, ‘I need something scary for my story. What should it be?’ That’s when they came up with fire-breathing, tail-whipping reptiles—the dragon.

Or… maybe they just needed a convenient punching bag. Looking at historical tales, pretty much every king claims to have taken down a dragon at some point.

I don’t know why, whether it was because dragon tails were considered a delicacy or because they were a threat to the kingdom....

"She doesn't seem like a harmful being to me."

“Does Chan remember when I told Chan about the history of this world? On Chan’s first day at work.”

“Uh… if you’re talking about the war….”

The war. I remember the story itself, but not the exact details. Anyway, there was a war, the elves started it, and a lot of humans died. That’s about all I know.

"That's enough, and dragons played the biggest role there."

“Huh....”

“I’m sure anyone who was around back then still remembers. Especially the elderly.”

It probably went something like this: on the battlefield, dragons would tear apart and devour the enemy species, leaving them in sheer terror as they thought, ‘What a horrifying sight!’

After the war, people told their children, ‘Don’t mess with dragons, or you’ll regret it,’ sharing vivid tales of what they had witnessed. Those stories were passed down, twisted and exaggerated over time, and…

Now, dragons had become these witch-like figures who would take misbehaving children away, regardless of the war or anything else.

“I think there’s a bit of Chan’s personal interpretation there, but Chan understand it well enough."

“But… in this world, dragons aren’t imaginary creatures, are they?”

Scaring kids with witches is one thing. If witches felt unfair, they could appear on TV and defend themselves, saying, ‘Stop making fun of me.’

But in this world, dragons attend kindergarten and work at companies as members of society. Is it really right to teach kids early on that ‘dragons are scary!’ when they’re a peaceful, living race?

"About that, well... I'm not sure how Chan will take this..."

“Please tell me.”

"Adult dragons barely care about that. At least, that’s what I’ve heard.”

So they don’t mind being treated like a scary species? Hmm….

“Is it like image-making?”

“If I were to put it simply, yes. Image-making.”

“…I don’t fully get it, but I understand for now.”

The world is really like that. Just when you think you understand it, something strangely twisted pops out one by one. It’s not like they’re colonial-era police officers; what’s so good about being seen as a terrifying presence?

If there’s even one kid suffering because of that image, I can’t see it as anything but a problem that needs fixing. Someday, I would like the chance to talk with an adult dragon about it.

"For someone who says they understand, Chan look unconvinced."

"I am unconvinced, but I'll think about it later. Getting sleepy."

“Do so. Oh, and Chan. Tomorrow make sure to close the front door properly. There's construction outside."

“Outside? As in, the road out front?”

"Yeah. The road in front."

She glanced out the window and added,

"They say dwarves are doing road maintenance."





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