Mastore 132 - Dumpster

Magic Realm Convenience Store – Ch. 132

Even Chihuahua can roll (3)

The unmanned commercial area's lights, the streetlight's glow, even the sneakers I was wearing.

Everything I could see had lost its shape. Even the umbrella in my hand had become so distorted that I couldn't tell if I was holding an umbrella or a piece of wet seaweed.

I did hope that something would change. But I never thought this kind of change would occur. How in the world is this...

"...Ugh."

I felt like vomiting. I forced myself to swallow the stomach acid rising in my throat and clenched my teeth. I couldn't last much longer like this. I needed to figure it out quickly.

Until now, I've only seen this kind of distortion in objects with magic cast on them. The mana used in the magic appeared distorted to me.

But right now, every object on this street was uniformly distorted. I couldn't believe the street had always been like this. After all, who would bother casting magic on random trash left by the roadside?

There’s no reason for the shoes I wore from home to be distorted. If it’s not the objects, then maybe the street itself had magic cast on it...

No, that's not it. In a world where even 5-star hotels don't have magic cast on them, why would they cast magic on a food district? There must be another reason.

After a moment of thought, a reasonable method came to mind.

I moved forward. With strides slightly larger than usual, in a straight line. Counting my steps as I splashed through puddles of rainwater. Exactly 120 steps.

I stopped and looked around. The objects that had been so blurry, as if submerged in deep water, were now slightly clearer than before.

The average stride of an adult male is 74 cm, but I took slightly larger steps, about 1 meter. I had walked 120m in a straight line. The magical power concentration is different between this point and 120m back, with the place I had been standing until just now being denser.

“…There's definitely a gate around here.”

It was just like a black hole.

The surrounding space being pulled inward toward a single point. If we assume gates are entities related to magical power, then the center would certainly have the highest magical power. The further from the center, the more diluted the magical power would become.

This matches the situation I just experienced. So far.

“....”

Let’s filter out what needs to be filtered and accept what needs to be accepted. There was likely a gate somewhere near here.

But I couldn't be sure whether it was the core gate or not. I already know that gates take the form of black holes, but I don’t know what the core Gate looks like.

If it has a form other than a black hole, this assumption becomes worse than not making it at all. I needed more evidence. It would be best to ask someone who knows, but...

But it was right to first do everything I could on my own. I switched on my phone to check the time: 11 p.m..

The food district that should be bustling at this hour has become like this, so I think it's safe to assume no customers will come to the convenience store. After pinpointing the second location, I adjusted my umbrella.

Seven locations remained. Once I checked them all, things would hopefully become clearer.

* * *

I returned after checking the remaining seven locations. It was now 4 a.m.

By then, the rain had grown even heavier. The water draining from the street in front of the store looked like a waterfall. I opened the front door, went in, peeled off the absent notice laminate, and tossed it onto the counter.

Then I slumped onto the chair, leaning my back against the cigarette display shelf. I needed a break.

It feels like I've walked a good 10km. Everything below my waist was soaked, and I didn’t even want to check the inside of my sneakers.

After staying like this for about 10 seconds, I placed a sheet of scrap paper on the counter and picked up a pen. I had a few thoughts while checking all eight locations.

I slowly wrote them down. First, it seems like the food district isn’t the only place where something is happening.

There was also a dot marked at the point opposite from the food district. I had walked there and repeated exactly what I had done in the food district earlier, experiencing the same symptoms again.

But in reverse. The further I walked away from the alley, the less distorted objects became, and the closer I got to the alley, the worse it got.

The other dots were the same. All the dots clustered around the store showed that the symptoms eased as I moved away from a central point and worsened as I got closer.

In terms of range, it was the entire circular area with a diameter of 1.5km that I was assigned, from end to end. I don't know yet whether this thing is a gate or something else, but it must be quite huge.

And another thought. Where was the central point of these eight dots?

It was very close to the store. Near the food district, around a four-lane intersection. It’s less than a minute’s walk even now. Realizing this made me feel extremely uneasy.

What was even more frustrating was that even when I actually went to that central point, I couldn't see anything at all.

I looked up at the sky, thinking of the gate that had opened on the clock tower in the academy district, and I also checked inside the darkened store, but I couldn't see even a single mouse let alone the gate.

If there's anything I managed to gain as evidence, it's just one thing. At the central point, I closed my eyes tightly and concentrated all my strength into them. I wanted to know what kind of symptoms would appear in the center point.

For a very brief moment when I tried. The world had crumpled. Not just distorted, but...

"What the..."

The pen wasn't cooperating.

I tried to sketch in the margins of the scrap paper, but there's no margin left. Scribbles, dots, circles—it looked like a mind map drawn by five or six drunk people.

I can't even tell what I wrote myself. After crumpling it and throwing it in the trash can, I made a phone call to the professor.

[The customer you are trying to reach is currently on another call. Please try again later—]

His phone must've been on fire. Then again, since he’s an advisor on the committee, he must be receiving countless calls...

...I continued thinking. Two minutes from the store.

Something is not far away. However, that something is not visible to the eye.

This bothers me. The gate I had seen in the news was clearly visible atop the clock tower, actively pulling space into its center.

It It was an observable phenomenon. This thing now is an unobservable phenomenon. Is it the right judgment to consider these two as the same phenomenon? Not just my wishful thinking?

“...something.”

There’s just one thing missing. I need someone who can verify whether what I've checked is actually a gate or not.

This is something I cannot help. Since the whole world was so distorted that I couldn't see anything. As soon as 9 a.m. rolls around, I’ll call the Magic Bureau or something...

* * *

8:30 a.m.. Not a single customer. Normally, office workers commuting at this hour would bring sales of around 50 to 80 on average.

But now it's 0 won. There hasn't been a single bus for hours. If I were the owner, I would seriously consider relocating or filing a real estate fraud complaint.

Of course, I understand. The raindrops are falling like crazy. Without exaggeration, really

It seemed like rainwater was steadily accumulating on the roads. The display window has become like the windshield of a car driving on the highway during the changing season...

If there’s a company forcing people to come to work in this weather, it’s probably one of those companies with three skulls on their corporate evaluation site.

In this situation, what’s the point of handing over shifts or anything else? After taking out the umbrella stand and the entrance mat, I stared at my phone for about 30 minutes and sent text messages with the same content to every contact I had.

[Something bad might happen at the convenience store]

[Please don’t come until I text you]

Even if I asked them to come, they probably couldn't or wouldn't need to. In this situation where a hole has opened up in the sky, why would anyone specifically come here rather than going to a convenience store nearby?

—Thump, thump.

Yoonha Noona, Elena, and Elder Wolf. After a moment of thought, I also sent a message to Officer Iruel and the Chihuahua.

—Thump, thump, thump.

I didn't want to send a wrong message that might be mistaken for an emergency call and prompt them to dispatch. As for the Chihuahua, it's obvious he'll send back something like ‘What's that got to do with me, you shithead?’

But since I’ve received help, I thought it was right to at least send a message telling them not to come to a dangerous place. Finally, Manager.

...Damn.

[Please call me as soon as you see this.]

The number 1 on the message I sent last night is still there. Is this because the manager is busy with her business, or is she sleeping? Or is there some other problem...?

No. What would this weather matter to a former great magician? Shaking off my worries, I closed the chat window and switched to the dial screen.

The last person I knew. This little girl couldn’t receive texts. A kid’s feature phone wouldn’t have messaging feature—

—Ring...

—ster.

Sir.

What the? Why am I hearing the dial tone and a voice simultaneously?

Turning my head toward the store front door, I saw a small figure wearing a yellow raincoat pressed tightly against the glass door.

Tiny claws were pressed against the glass. I immediately rushed out and opened the door for them.

“Hello.”

“Hey, Hana. Why did you come here in this weather?"

It was the kind of weather that would make even grown men shiver. As I opened the front door, the sound of the intensified downpour hit my eardrums like drumbeats.

It's not the kind of weather a 7-year-old should be outside in. When I asked, Hana pulled up her raincoat and answered while touching her horn with one hand.

"Mister, I came 'cause I missed you..."

"I understand that, but you shouldn't have come out in weather like this. What if you fell and got washed away somewhere?"

"But still..."

Apparently, she had her reasons. She said she had to go somewhere with her mom at noon today.

“Where?”

"I dunno. Mommy didn’t tell me."

Since she didn't seem to know, I tried guessing myself. In less than half a day, the rain had started pouring down like it wanted to swallow up the ground.

I'm not certain about the reason, but I think it's because of the gates. Noona had said we don't know what happens when gates open and then naturally dissipate.

And since the news didn’t provide any clear solutions, parents raising a 7-year-old might think this city is dangerous for their child.

"Where’s your mother now?"

"She's wowking at the company."

She's been working continuously since last night until now, and this child Hana spent the night in the company's childcare room. Was her mother trying to finish things ahead of time to take some leave?

“Mommy said we're going somewhere and that we might not come back for a week or more.”

"Oh."

“So I won’t be able to see you for a long time, Mister....”

That's why she came. She spoke while wiping the rainwater off her face with her hands. Looking down at her legs, I noticed a fresh cut that hadn’t been there before.

It looks like a recent wound. I asked Hana, who was still stroking her horn,

“Did you fall on your way here?”

“...Yea.”

I was about to scold her for doing something so dangerous, but the moment I saw the cut, that thought vanished. I grabbed a first-aid kit from the medical supplies corner and took out some cotton and ointment.

"Mistew. I'm okay..."

“It won’t heal well without medicine. Hold still.”

I wiped the rainwater off the wound with the cotton, applied the ointment, and finished by putting on a waterproof bandage.

"You said you need to go back by noon, right?"

“Yea.”

“It was really nice seeing you again after so long, but let’s stop here for today. I'll walk you back home.”

She had gone back on her own before, so she probably knew the way and I just need to hold her hand so she doesn’t fall again, but Hana shook her head vigorously and replied.

“I’m really fine. I can go back by myself.”

"Then why did you get hurt? How can I let you go alone?"

“Still....”

I can guess what she's thinking. She knows she came to see me on her own initiative, so she doesn't want to cause any more trouble.

Her fidgeting now was likely because she couldn’t think of a good response. She stood silently, biting her lip, scratching her horn softly with the sharp tips of her claws.

I watched her and asked,

“Hana, why do you keep touching your horn? Does it itch?”

“Yea.”

“What, growing pains or something like that?”

“Gwowing pains?”

"Well, um... Since when has it been like that?"

Constantly scratching one spot during a growth spurt could be an early sign of atopic dermatitis. I didn’t know if dragons could actually get atopic dermatitis, but it worried me a little.

When I asked, Hana glanced outside and replied,

“It started itching suddenly on my way here.”

"On your way, so it started today?"

“Yea. From over there, suddenly after I fallen there..."

She stepped under the awning in front of the entrance and pointed with her finger. As I looked in the direction she pointed, I started feeling uneasy too.

The four-way intersection I had wandered around last night, searching hopelessly for the damned gate. That was exactly the direction she was pointing.



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