Mastore 94 - Dumpster

Magic Realm Convenience Store – Ch. 94

Fast-track promotion, i'll give it a shot (3)

The money bag was brought into the storage room.

It didn't seem like a good sight to have a convenience store worker fiddling with a 007-style bag on the counter. Especially not for others who might come looking for the money bag.

The officer who entered the storage room turned the money bag over a few times, then tapped near the combination lock and said calmly,

"It's a dial type. Six digits. The serial number is damaged..."

She went on to say that this was a commonly traded model, making it hard to trace, and that she couldn't open it here and would have to ask the investigation department to investigate, then concluded her analysis while shaking the bag near her head.

"Lastly, the contents are packed without any gaps. There's no sound when I shake it."

“Packed tight? With bills?”

“Yes. I’m not sure what denomination, though.”

The bag is roughly 20cm thick. Size-wise, comparable to a high school backpack.

To put it more simply, it's sized to fit 10 bundles of 1,000 bills each, 10,000 bills total. If they’re 10,000-won bills, that’s 100 million won. If they’re 50,000-won bills, that’s 500 million won.

That’s the kind of money I’d have to work for 3 years, or maybe even 15 years, without spending a single penny to even touch. As I stared, unable to grasp the reality of it, the officer slightly held out the money bag and asked me.

"Seems you're curious about what's inside."

"Ah... how about you, officer?"

“I have to look. I need to know the exact amount to figure out how it got here.”

"I... Um... If I can avoid looking, I'd rather not."

Of course I'm curious.

It's stacks of money. At least 100 million, maybe up to 500 million. Don’t all guys want to stack up a pile of cash at least once, just to look at it or even sit on it like a cushion? I know I do.

But my mom always used to say something. Don't carelessly pick up and eat things that fall on the ground.

Isn't it dirty? Whatever circumstances led to these bills, one thing's certain, it's not clean money. If it were clean money, they wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of transporting it through an illegal gambling site.

It’s the kind of money that would make you sick socially, and I want to live a healthy life without any red marks on my ID card. My head knows this, but after seeing the bag's contents, would I still think the same way?

I wouldn’t. I’d probably make some snide remarks about whether there’s any reward or crumbs left for me. That’s why I’d rather not see it at all. I phrased it carefully.

"I might get strange thoughts if I look. Is there anything else I can help with?"

"...There is one more thing I'd like to ask."

She hesitated, as if forcing herself to swallow her words, but I didn’t press her.

"I'd like to ask when this money bag was placed there."

“From what I heard, around 3 p.m. Ah, you want to check the CCTV?”

"Yes. Would that be alright?"

No reason not to. After I answered, she nodded and immediately started rewinding the CCTV computer. She stopped around 2:50 p.m. and played at 32x speed...

She paused at a specific frame and started scrolling frame by frame. In the minutely moving screen, a silhouette holding a garbage bag was captured walking or stepping backward.

The image quality wasn’t great, so the facial features weren’t clearly distinguishable, but the dark-toned skin and small build make it look like a goblin. Anyone can tell just by looking at it...

“Excuse me.”

The officer muttered as he pulled a USB chip from his pocket, plugged it into the computer, waited a few seconds, then removed it and restored the CCTV. Must be copying the video files.

“You’re all done?”

"For now, yes. Thank you for your cooperation."

"No, well. I hardly did anything—"

“You did much.”

Her single statement was utterly resolute. I really can't feel it though.

“For dispelling camouflage magic, it would have taken at least two days to locate an expert. Finding one is difficult as well.”

“Is it that difficult?”

“They’re busy. And rightfully so.”

As if just thinking about the requisition process makes her crave a cigarette, she puts her hand to her mouth and fidgets. She continued talking while still keeping her hand in that position.

"...I also think it's quite novel, the idea of disguising a money bag as a garbage bag and abandoning it on the main street."

I get what she means. People don’t exactly stare at trash bags when walking down the street. Now that it's been discovered, we can say 'only starving street cats would notice this,' but that's hindsight...

Even I had my doubts before actually seeing it in person. It's just that circumstances happened to align well. Not because my thought process is novel.

“Still, it’s thanks to you.”

Looking at how she's talking, she seems like she'll take anything I say as modesty. I decided to change the subject entirely.

“But, Officer, there are two things I still don’t understand.”

“What would those be?”

First is that under that utility pole is absolutely not a safe place.

Sure, there’s a designated trash collection area, but that doesn’t guarantee no one would take it away. A conscientious sanitation worker, or a volunteer.

I only left it there because Manager told me not to move it. If she hadn't told me, I would've thrown it out along with the other garbage at dawn. Either they were confident the bag wouldn't be removed by others, or...

“You’re saying there was a reason why it had to be done this way, even if it meant taking on some risk?”

"Just speculation. And the other thing."

Second is that this was a garbage bag. Not a money bag.

Shouldn't the instructions have been different then? Instead of telling their people to ‘retrieve a lost money bag,’ they should’ve said, ‘Go to the convenience store and check if there’s a trash bag there.’

I can think of reasons for this too. The immediate one being if the convenience store clerk interpreted it as ‘Garbage bags? What size do you need?’.

In my case, I would've answered ‘We don't sell garbage bags, try another store,’ and the people looking for the bag would've stammered ‘Not that kind of garbage bag, I mean—'...

They might've even asked to see the bags of thrown-out garbage, and at this point, any convenience store clerk who's not completely jaded and near retirement would have to be suspicious. Maybe that’s why they did it this way.

"I don't think that was the reason."

"Ah, do you have a guess?"

"Rather, if they said 'I accidentally threw my welfare card away with the receipt in a garbage bag. Could I look for it?' that wouldn't raise much suspicion."

Quite a plausible excuse. I’ve never thrown away a card in my life, so I didn’t think of it…

Wait, why specifically a welfare card? Could it be?

"Officer, have you had a similar experience?"

"Ended up writing an incident report because I couldn't find it."

I tried imagining the elf officer rummaging through garbage bags looking for her government employee card but couldn't quite picture it. I just offered some little consolation.

"Well, these things can happen when you're tired."

“Yes. And personally, I have a hunch too…”

I waited for her to explain this as well, but she just tapped her head and didn't say anything. Then, after glancing through the storage room window, she said,

“I’ll tell you about this later.”

Following her gaze, I saw a burly orc loitering outside the door.

Thinking the orc must be a normal customer, I came out to the lobby with the officer, but the moment the orc made eye contact with the officer, he avoided his gaze and fled at a brisk pace.

I’ve only had five customers since my shift started, and all of them were troublemakers. The officer, staring blankly in the direction the orc disappeared, asked casually.

“This must be very inconvenient for you.”

“Yes… it really is.”

Though we've recovered the money bag they're looking for, they don't know that. So they'll keep coming today, or maybe even tomorrow.

What’s more concerning is that I’ll have to lie to the people who come looking for it from now on. Money bag? The police took it, you know? Saying that would make things easier for me, but—

Wait, no. If I say that, it won’t be the people looking for the money bag who come next, but the people looking for the police who took it. They'll report back to whoever hired them. Looks like I'll need to put on a poker face for the next few days...

"Hmm."

While I was thinking, the officer let out a small sigh and suddenly walked outside. A minute later, a police car smoothly appeared and parked right in front on the curb.

The elf officer got out of the driver’s seat, came back in, and pointed to the parked police car.

“I’ll be on standby here tonight. Is that okay with you?”

"I'd be grateful, but what about you, Officer?"

"It's fine. For emergency vehicles, parking in restricted areas is permitted for purposes such as traffic enforcement..."

If they put up a sign on the windshield saying ‘Traffic Control’, the people coming won’t suspect anything, and even if it’s for traffic control, they won’t come looking for the money bag with the police right there, right?

She was saying such things, but that's not what I was curious about.

“No, you need to get some sleep. You probably didn’t sleep well last night, did you?”

Setting aside the police-civilian relationship, I'm saying this out of human concern.

Most of this elf’s hair was black from exhaustion, and her dark circles were so bad I wondered if she needed bleach instead of cosmetics.

Frankly, it looks like she’d collapse into a deep sleep the moment her head touches something soft. Finding the money bag this time could be considered an achievement, so couldn’t she ask for some sleep as a reward?

Either hand this over to another officer or get some sleep first. I was about to say that, but before I could even open my mouth, she shook her head sharply.

“You’ve cooperated, and it’s been a big help.”

“No, but still—”

“This is my duty, and it’s what I choose to do. You don’t need to worry.”

I was about to say at least dye your hair if you don't want me worrying but stopped. Her eyes were half-closed, and her expression seemed to say she’d arrest me for obstructing official duties if I pressed further.

Figuring further words would be meaningless, I changed the subject.

"Then... could you grant me one favor while we're at it?"

“Yes, go ahead.”

“If you feel like smoking, just do it right out front. Don’t go too far.”

I remembered how she didn’t even seem to have the time to smoke earlier. Given this officer's personality, she'd obviously hold back even if craving one, saying it's not the time to leave her post.

I used to smoke too, so I know how it feels when you want to smoke but can’t. Your mind can't think of anything else then. Even on the subway, you start wondering which station exits might have fewer people.

"That would be a bit..."

“You said I’ve been a big help. Won’t you do this for me? I helped a lot, am I?”

It might seem like I’m encouraging smoking, but I think adults should decide for themselves whether to quit or not. This elf is probably older than me, right?

Moreover, if I were in this officer's position, I probably couldn't quit even if I wanted to. You need fuel to burn stress.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Do what’s comfortable for you. I won’t mind.”

Any smoke that drifts in, well, brief ventilation will handle it. After I softened my words a bit, the officer seemed reluctant to keep refusing, slightly averting her gaze as she answered,

"Understood."

“Cool. Take care.”

After exchanging nods, the officer returned to the police car. I think I’ve done everything I can for now, so next…

I should report this to my superior. I sent a text right away and waited, but there was no reply even after 30 minutes. I tried calling directly, but couldn't get through.

'The number is busy and will be transferred to voicemail. To voice mailbox—'



|Note

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