Mastore 113 - Dumpster

Magic Realm Convenience Store – Ch. 113

The Gate's effect on convenience store clerk (1)

I replied right away. Even if we're going to work together, shouldn't she at least tell me what we're doing? Got someone to strangle to death?

No response to my reply for two hours. I thought about calling her, but if she couldn’t even check her messages, how would she answer the phone?

With that thought, I didn't contact her further, and just anxiously imagined her touching burning horsemanes or wolf fangs by herself. Morning came.

As always, the morning rush of office workers flooded in, but there was a minor change.

[30 hours after the Gate's appearance, still no signs of closing—]

"Customer, you haven’t handed me your card yet.”

“......”

“Customer?”

"...Ah, sorry. Here."

Everyone was glued to their phones, reading the news. The people rushing off to work, the ones settled at the tables eating sandwiches, even the Salamander waiting at the traffic light outside.

I could see from the counter that they had their phone on the steering wheel and watched the screen. I couldn’t see what was on it, but since everyone else in the store was watching the news, I assumed they were too.

They didn't move even when the light changed, only starting off when the car behind began honking.

Watching all this, I realized something. A gate opening in the Academy District might not be extremely dangerous, but it’s definitely a rare and fascinating event.

The expressions of those watching the news weren’t particularly heavy. It felt more like hearing about a fire breaking out at a distant factory. Anyway, by around 9 a.m., as usual, all the office workers had left

By 10 a.m., Manager arrived. She was about to wave and greet me but stopped and asked,

"Chan, you look gloomy. Did something happen?"

"Nothing yet, but it feels like something will happen tonight…."

When I told her about the short message I received from Yoonha Noona, Manager crossed her arms and muttered worriedly.

“Yoonha must be really busy these days…”

"Haven't you been in contact with Noona either?"

"I haven't even sent a message. Lately, I’ve only been asking her to handle small deliveries. Nothing Yoonha absolutely needs to deliver herself.”

Something feels slightly off. Why ask Noona for simple deliveries she doesn't need to bring?

"You know that horse she rides? The one that flies and snorts really hard?"

“...That, I kind of remember…."

I don’t know how strong its snort is, but I remember Yoonha Noona flying in on that horse on my first day of work. She used it to transport clumped dragon scales, hell horse taxidermy and such.

"That one carries things in its mouth for us. Mainly things that don't break easily."

“It does that on its own?”

“Un. If we used containers, they’d bump into building walls or power lines.”

Seems it can't manage a very delicate flight without Noona's control. Even after finishing speaking, Manager still had a worried expression.

"I wonder if she’s even getting any sleep.”

"I'll ask when I see her. After I get some sleep first..."

Maybe it was because I spent the night imagining what work we might do, but I was unusually sleepy. After a quick handover shift with Manager, she saw me off and I headed home.

I woke up and headed to work around 9:55 a.m., but instead of Noona, a familiar fellow was sitting on the counter.

"Ah, Chan's here?"

“Woof!”

It was Mongmong. I glanced around before saying anything. A dwarf was browsing far away, so I lowered my voice.

“Good to see you, buddy. Manager-nim, when did this guy get here?”

“About 10 minutes ago. There were too many customers, so we didn’t talk much.”

“Did the customers say anything about him?”

"Actually, they found them cute? Probably because he greeted everyone."

“Huff, huff.”

At Manager’s words, Mongmong stuck out its tongue and looked up at me. While this is technically normal, it feels incredibly awkward seeing someone who usually acts completely human suddenly behaving like a dog.

I was curious about what it had been up to, but I didn’t ask right away. Instead, I changed into my uniform and stood at the counter for a bit until the dwarf who had been browsing walked up and placed a can of shaving cream on the counter.

"How effective is it?"

"I'm human, so I wouldn't know, but it sells out pretty often."

"Got it."

He handed me his card, and I processed the payment. He put the shaving cream in his pocket, patted Mongmong's head, and left.

Only once he was gone did Mongmong let out a long-held breath.

"Phew! This one thought he would die trying to hold back what he wanted to say!"

“What do you want to say?”

"Most delighted to see you, Boss. Have you been well?"

I was about to answer, ‘Slightly below average,’ but I stopped. Mongmong asking if I’d been well didn’t seem like he had been doing well himself.

"I've been fine, but you."

"Whatever do you mean?"

“Your tail. Why did it turn out like that?”

This dog is a spirit creature with regenerative abilities. A light scratch on his ear would heal in the time it took for me to glance away.

There were no visible wounds on his tail. But half of the fur was missing. The location and pattern of the missing fur make it look like it was bitten by another dog.

When I asked, Mongmong's wagging tail droops.

"...You are most perceptive indeed. Truly worthy of being that Great Manager's employee."

“I think Manager-nim asked you first.”

"Un. Didn't get an answer though."

"Well, it would likely be quite a long and cruel tale... so I held my tongue. My apologies, Great Manager."

He bowed his head and then started glancing at Manager.

Somehow this dog seems to create an epic saga every time they go out. I wouldn't mind if he just showed up normally, but he always comes back injured in one place or another...

Anyway, since it would be a long story, I checked the time first. It was just past 10 a.m.. I subtly suggested to Manager,

"Head home, Manager-nim. I'll tell you what I hear later."

"Hm? I don’t mind staying?”

“I think he’s a bit uncomfortable. There are other reasons too.”

Hearing that, Manager gave it a moment’s thought before nodding.

“Then I’ll go, Chan-ah. Have a nice talk.”

"Yes. Any handover notes?"

“Nope.”

And with that, she left. After confirming the manager sat at the bus stop bench, I asked Mongmong.

“Hey, Mongmong. Does Manager look very young to you?"

"Is she not young in years? No matter how one looks at her, she seems like a high school student.”

“I agree with that a hundred times over. I agree, but she knows everything. She was a great mage in her prime.”

A few days ago, the little girl and Mongmong came at the same time.

That was when this guy picked up a 5,000 won bill, mistook it for 50,000, and tried to buy every burger in the store. He consistently used the title ‘Miss’ for the little girl.

What I noticed then was that this guy has a somewhat gentlemanly side. His speech is more like a scholar’s, and his gentlemanly side was still only at the level of a sprout that had just started growing...

I thought there was no need to trample on that. There's nothing wrong with being considerate of younger people, right?

"Such...! No, is that truly so?"

“Yeah. And every time someone brings up her age, she gives them a flick on the forehead.”

This was another reason. If this dog had said something like, 'She's older, so it's fine' in front of Manager, he would’ve gotten a flick without mercy.

That's why I deliberately told her to head home. Though she'll probably figure it out on her way home anyway.

"I had no idea. This one has committed quite the discourtesy..."

“She doesn’t care about that kind of thing, so don’t worry too much.”

“...Thank you, Boss.”

He bowed deeply to me, then added with a smile,

"As I always feel, Boss, you understand this one's heart exceedingly well. It's as if you're using mind-reading techniques."

“We’ve known each other for more than a day or two. Let’s drop that for now. What happened this time?”

"Ah. I shall tell from the beginning. First, when I went to Miss Hana's house..."

He mentioned there was a lawn garden. I interrupted him.

“A garden? That little girl has a garden at her house?”

"Indeed. And quite a fine one at that. When this one lies down on park grass, his fur becomes covered in tire dust, but that wasn’t the case there.”

“Wow…”

Must be a single-family home or something. As someone living in a studio apartment, I was a bit curious about the size of the house and the garden, but…

I let him continue for now. While playing in the garden, something unexpected happened.

"I played with sticks with the Miss. When she would throw with all her might, this one would run with all his might to fetch it. However..."

“However?”

"The stick, alas, became stuck at the very top of the garden tree."

The tree in the garden was so tall that neither the little girl clapping her hands nor the dog scratching at the trunk could reach it.

So the two stood there blankly staring up at the stuck stick, and he still can't forget the little girl's expression from that moment.

"It was a most sorrowful expression. She murmured 'Should have thrown more gently,' 'Should have thrown somewhere else'..."

If he had been strong enough to dig his claws into the tree to climb it, he could have fetched the stuck stick back down in his mouth. If he had been agile, he could’ve scaled the tree like lightning.

But he was just a Pomeranian, and there was nothing he could do.

“That, at that time, this one...”

He couldn’t bring himself to continue, sniffling and even shedding a few tears. I asked him while watching the tears soaking into his fur.

"The little girl didn’t say anything to you, did she?"

"Not at all. She was such a kind young lady. She apologized to this one for throwing badly, suggested we play something else instead…”

They ended up playing other things. Counting bricks on the wall, sitting together, and drawing with crayons. While playing, Mongmong made a decision.

“This one thought while watching the young lady. That beyond Boss, there was one more being this one wished to be relied upon. This one wanted to become such as soon as possible."

The problem was how to become someone others could rely on. After spending a whole day curled up and looking up at the sun, Mongmong reached this conclusion.

"Do you, perchance, recall when I spoke of the Black Wind Gang?"

The moment I heard that, I was hit with the overwhelming thought that this guy had done something utterly insane.

"...You mean those gang dogs from your park?"

"Indeed. Whenever this one crossed paths with them, this one always tucked his tail and ran. Because of fear. Fear of having one's ears injured again by those powerful fangs."

"No..."

"This one thought endlessly. How could this one, who only flees in fear, become someone to be relied upon? This fear—This one had to overcome it."

Wiping their still-moist eyes, he spoke in a resolute voice,

"Thus this one intended to issue a challenge. To the Black Wind Gang. The intention was to fight and win, to secure this one's territory. This tail was then..."

“Mongmong.”

He stopped mid-sentence, looked at me, and flinched. I couldn’t help it.

“…Go on.”

"What you did. I... don't think it's something to speak of proudly."

"Uu..."

“I’m not dragging this out, Mongmong. Look at yourself in the mirror. Your tail fur is all patchy. Did you think because your wounds heal quickly, your fur would grow back just as fast?”

Sure, the wounds will heal. He’s got regenerative abilities.

But hearts don't heal. Not this one's, and not mine either.

If he had just asked me once, just once. If he had, I would’ve never let him do something like this. If I had known he would do such dangerous things, I would have looked up proper dog houses in catalogs first.

"When you said you wanted to live on the streets, I thought, ‘I’m human, and you’re a dog. We should live differently, and I should respect that.’ You get that much?"

"I understand..."

“It wasn’t because your body is like a sponge, this rascal. I thought you were the type to avoid danger, not the type to charge headfirst into it like this…”

I stopped midway. Partly because I could feel my voice rising, and...

Because I had doubts. As I said, this one isn't the type to charge in headfirst without thinking. There must have been a reason for him to act like this.

"Th- This one, didn't go entirely without thought..."

“…Then that’s a relief. What were you thinking?”

"My apologies. Still, those Black Wind Gang dogs. Before, one could reason with them. Even when they defeated this one, they would only press down on my head, not openly try to tear me apart. However."

His voice lost all trace of the earlier crying. Instead, his expression was one of sheer bewilderment.

“This time, they… wouldn’t listen.”

“They wouldn’t listen?”

"Indeed. All of them, drooling excessively from their mouths..."




|Note

Huh is it rabies? Or perhaps isekai thing, since the gate appearance and all…

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