Mastore 96 - Dumpster

Magic Realm Convenience Store – Ch. 96

Business isn’t going well because the car is too big (1)

A brief situation report: There's a centaur bound to a utility pole with duct tape.

More precisely, from the tip of his head to the upper half of his front legs. To fully tape his lower body, they would need to wrap his horse torso and hind legs around the pole, but that’s impossible due to the structure of a horse’s body.

Still, every part that could be tied was wrapped tightly, leaving no exposed skin except for his two nostrils. If he weren’t tied to a utility pole, I'd have thought they were wearing a half-body cast..

What on earth happened to this guy? When I asked, Manager answered in a bright voice:

“He got into a fight earlier with some folks who looked like his friends, and that’s how he ended up like this.”

"What were they fighting about?"

“He was really teasing them, said their team is just a neighborhood soccer club pretending to be a real team, stuff like that…”

It was about soccer, and Manager filled in the rest of the details. Apparently, there’s a pretty significant rivalry match happening today in this world’s soccer league.

According to Manager's explanation, all sorts of people have gone to bars to watch soccer, emptying beer kegs with all their might. Also, halftime had just ended a moment ago.

"Though I don't watch soccer, so I don't know much."

“Then how did you know the first half ended?”

"Well, if the game was still on, I figured they wouldn't be tied up like that. He would be watching the game, wouldn’t he?”

"Come to think of it, that's true."

Even as we talked, cheers occasionally erupted from the nearby food alley district. The alley is quite a distance away, but judging by how loud the cheer was, maybe someone just scored a comeback goal.

“If Chan’s curious, you can watch the game while working.”

“Not really? I don’t watch soccer either.”

Though I do wonder what positions goblins or dwarves play in soccer….

Who cares about soccer when I need to attend to customers? Anyway, I asked the manager about the handover matters.

“Nothing special, Chan-ah. Except for that person outside.”

“No more customer showed up asking about the money bag?”

"Nope."

"That's a relief. Should we remove the tape from that person outside now?"

Manager asked back with a puzzled look on his face.

“Why would you? Won’t his friends come untie him after the game ends?”

“I’m just worried he might scare the customers. Honestly, even I’m scared.”

It’s not every day you see a centaur taped to a utility pole. If this had happened in the world I used to live in, someone would’ve called the police immediately, reporting, ‘There’s a guy tied up here!’

"Oh, come on. We've barely had any customers for 30 minutes. They're all watching soccer."

“Are you sure it’s not because of that guy out there?”

Manager, who was about to refute this, stopped mid-sentence then muttered a moment later as if suddenly realizing.

"Could that be why they're not coming?"

"Where are the scissors, Manager-nim?"

Better send him off before we lose more business. I took the scissors Manager gave me and went towards the centaur. He must’ve sensed someone approaching because he started making muffled sounds.

"Mmph, mmph!"

Since it seemed like he had something to say, I removed the tape around his mouth first. The adhesive side of the tape was covered in hair. Am I waxing this guy or what…?

Freed from the tape around his mouth, the centaur immediately spoke.

“Who’s winning right now?”

"I don't know. I don't watch soccer."

While cutting off the tape, I realized one thing: this centaur reeked of alcohol. Determined to get him out of here before he caused more trouble, I cut the tape around their eyes then around their left arm, and...

The moment he was free, he ripped off the remaining tape himself and bolted away at what must have been 40 km/h. Isn’t that technically drunk driving?

Manager and I stood side by side, staring in the direction the centaur disappeared.

“You should come in now, Manager.”

"Yeah. Oh, this isn’t handover, but I have a message for you, Chan-ah."

"A message? From whom?"

"Yoonha asked if you could reply to her messages. Says she'll be lonely on duty today."

"Got it."

So Manager left and I'm alone now, but what's this about being lonely? Has Noona hit menopause already at age thirty?

I checked my phone immediately. There were exactly 4 messages per day. 'Working overtime' from three days ago, 'Working overtime' from two days ago, and 'Overtime lol' from last night.

The message that arrived around 9 p.m. today was like this.

[Lee Chan, why am I always working overtime]

[Do you know?]

[Wow, finally a reply. Are there a lot of customers at the convenience store?]

Given how quickly she replied, she seemed just lonely rather than actually busy. As for whether the convenience store is busy, right now there are neither customers nor passersby, but...

[It's quiet now, but might get busy soon]

Because the soccer game will end soon. The second half should have just started.

In exactly 50 minutes, everyone watching TV at the bars will pour out, and won't the streets be a mess? Those whose teams won will go wild because they won, and those whose teams lost will go wild because they lost.

I don't care about them causing havoc in the food district. I’m worried that these guys will come to me drunk and buy me soju for the second and third rounds...

[Is losing a game really worth causing chaos over? I don't watch soccer so I don't know.]

[Me too]

I’ve never cheered for a particular soccer team, nor have I ever eaten fried chicken while watching a Korea-Japan soccer match. If anything, I was on the side of frying chicken at the chicken joint. For money.

So I can only make guesses based on what I’ve seen firsthand, but just 20 minutes ago, a centaur was tied to a pole outside, simply because he was teasing his friends about the first-half results.

I guess soccer matches are a pretty big deal in this world. Or maybe there’s some ‘over-immersion magic’ cast on the bar TVs, or whatever...

[I've got nothing to do either, maybe I'll watch some soccer]

[Noona, weren’t you on duty? Won't the director say something if you watch soccer?]

[I'm all alone here anyway. Just need to answer emergency calls properly]

[What kind of emergency calls happen on a Sunday night at 10:30 p.m.]

[Gotta wake the kids when gates open]

She then added that there was no particular danger to the gate itself.

Though fire-maned hell horses and wolves with palm-sized fangs roam inside, it’s rare for anything to actually escape. The problem comes when gates are left unattended.

[A gate stays open for a few days at most, or just a few hours if it’s short, but there's something called a core inside, right? If this core isn't removed when the gate closes, umm...]

[What happens when it closes]

[Earthquake happens]

After checking this message, I rubbed my eyes twice and asked again.

[An earthquake?]

[Or it could be a fire, or a typhoon, or whatever]

She was saying that what we call natural disasters occur, and to prevent these disasters, hunters are working day and night closing gates. Since no one knows exactly when an open gate will close, someone always has to be on duty.

“Hm…”

My thoughts on this were that it doesn't feel real at all.

In the month I’ve been working at this convenience store, have I heard even a whisper about an earthquake or a typhoon? Nope.

Moreover, I don't remember hearing any mentions of gates from Manager or customers. If they were truly that dangerous, surely someone would’ve brought it up at least once....

[Guess it doesn't happen often]

[I guess? Things are pretty well-managed these days]

She explained that while in the past there was no system in place and people got blindsided, but it's almost non-existent these days. They’ve got plenty of personnel, hunter offices are abundant, and systems are in place.

Even earthquakes only happen maybe once a year and only in remote rural areas. Hearing this, I could guess why Manager hadn't bothered mentioning it. It's rare enough not to need discussing.

[Things are still pretty rough lately though]

[Didn't you say gates rarely open in May, Noona]

[That's right. True, but I've done two this week?]

The last time I saw Noona’s face was five days ago. That means she’s closed two gates in those five days. It also explains why she’s been sending me only one short message per day recently.

[And they're all in urban areas. It's some consolation that they're low-risk ones, I guess]

[That divided into grades again?]

[Yeah, there's that. Anyway, something feels off, so be careful too]

It's good that she's warning me, but you need to know how to be careful before you can choose whether to be careful or not. I was about to type that out and ask, but Noona didn’t reply immediately.

A moment later, two messages,

[Call]

[Talk later]

I replied with an okay. This isn’t an issue that needs to be solved right this second, and I'll need to handle customers soon...

"What's this?"

The area outside the front entrance feels oddly dark?

I stepped closer to check, and I saw two black vans parked on the shoulder road. The length of the two combined was exactly from one end of the window display to the other.

I was only worried about hearing the doorbell chime when the front entrance opened; I hadn’t even considered parking. Coming all the way out to check, these two vans were the only vehicles parked on the shoulder.

There’s a paid parking lot nearby, so it seems they parked here haphazardly to save money and then went off to drink. That part, I can understand.....

The problem is that you can't see this convenience store from outside.

This will hurt sales. People looking for a convenience store from across the street might miss it and pass by, or someone driving by to quickly buy cigarettes might just leave when they can't find parking.

If I were just a part-timer, I might have shrugged it off, but I'm a full-time employee now. Manager gave me the manager title, even if it’s just a formality. I should at least try to live up to it.

I checked the front windshield to look for the driver’s contact info, but there was none. Same for the second van. Of all the wide shoulder space, why right in front of our store?

"Are they testing me or what?"

There’s a CCTV camera attached to the nearby utility pole, specifically to crack down on illegal parking. If I report it now, the police will come and issue parking tickets. Then they'll leave.

But that’s not the point. I want these cars gone, not to start an argument with their owners. And I can’t just call a tow truck without even calling them...

"Is there perhaps something troubling you?"

Uwah shit, that startled me.

Looking toward the voice's source, there was an elderly gentleman with silver hair in a middle-aged suit looking at me. Since he had made absolutely no sound approaching, it took me a moment to recognize him even after seeing his face.

But once I did, a wave of relief washed over me.

“Mister Wolf, it’s been a while.”

"Indeed it has. Have you been well?"



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