Mastore 142 - Dumpster

Magic Realm Convenience Store – Ch. 142

Regular customer assembly (5)

Before answering, I glanced briefly at the deep blue sea. Hm...

"Exactly how many meters are we talking about for this dive?"

“500 meters.”

"Hmm......"

"Kid. You scared?"

Saying that, Noona chuckled lightly, seemingly trying to ease my tension. But if I'm not scared, would I be a convenience store clerk? I should be a movie hero, right?

No matter how I looked at it, I kept wondering if this was realistically possible. My last diving record was back in elementary school, measured in the cold pool of our neighborhood bathhouse.

My record then was 80cm. Even if I had some undiscovered deep-sea diving talent that suddenly awakened now and improved my record 100-fold, that would still only be 80m.

Besides, it's obvious that I'll get the decompression sickness, right? Or get crushed by water pressure and turn into dried squid. Sure, Elena’s potions might handle the oxygen part, but still...

(D: Decompression sickness a potentially fatal condition that occurs when gas bubbles form in the body's tissues and blood. It can happen during scuba diving, high-altitude flights, or other activities that involve rapid pressure changes.)

"I know what you're thinking, but that won't happen. Not now."

Noona must have known there was an explanation missing, as she crouched beside me and let water she'd scooped with one hand flow down the edge of her palm.

The way the water flowed was unusual. Instead of falling straight, it dispersed like dry ice fog, slow and weightless.

"This is how the inside of the gate is formed, Lee Chan. Starts as a shapeless mana mass, then gradually materializes physically over time."

"Aha...."

"This ‘seawater’ isn’t fully realized yet. Looks like it, but it’s closer to a mana cluster than actual water."

That's why Noona seemed to argue that I wouldn't end up flattened like a pebble under hundreds of meters of seawater, but as I listened, another question arose.

"If we're diving into a lump of mana instead of seawater, is that completely problem-free?"

"That's why we had a vote. Honestly, I’d rather not do this either..."

“Is there no other way besides this, Yoonha?”

Manager interrupted, and Noona answered sharply.

"That's my thought too, Unnie. Can you see the beach behind that volcano?"

"Yeah, I'm looking at it now."

I hadn't seen it yet. I looked where Managerwas looking, and as Noona said, I could see some rotten mud and stick-shaped palm trees. Behind them was a sewage entrance that looked just like the one we came out of.

“If we had walked in the opposite direction, we would come out from that entrance. Judging from the size, it seems like this is the entire surface of the core gate..."

"So this is our only shot? The rest are just passages?"

"Yeah. And the sooner we decide, the better."

She added that gates are currently appearing in the city at a rate of almost one every 30 minutes. From here on it's speculation, but she also said most of those gates would be generated here.

I understand this to mean that the generation will be completed within 30 minutes at most. After that, it will be teleported somewhere within the city, and another gate will be created again...

"It's unknown what the internal environment of that gate will be like. If we’re unlucky enough to end up in a snowy mountainous area or a jungle, then we'd really have to dig underground to go down."

In that case, it's uncertain if we can go down in time. Noona's final opinion was that it would be better to skip the process of going down underground.

After hearing everything, what I felt was that although this was a crazy thing to do, it was a crazy thing we had no choice but to do. The gentleman Elder who had been quietly looking at the sea murmured.

"I haven’t heard any suspicious sounds yet, Miss Yoonha. But..."

“Please go ahead, Elder Wolf.”

"I’ve been feeling a faint, rhythmic vibration at my feet. At first, I thought it might be tremors from the volcano erupting."

Damn it. Here it comes.

“Is there a possibility that a magic monster exists in that sea?”

“Yes. I’m convinced there is.”

When I first heard magical beasts existed in this world, I had honestly thought, ‘Where the hell would something like that even show up?’ ' Things like horses with blazing manes, or dire wolf fangs.

I never thought about it seriously. They seemed completely unrelated to me. All I had to do was scan barcodes at the convenience store counter, why would I need to see such things with my own eyes?

Now I'm finally about to pay the price for deliberately avoiding that reality. In a sea that’s half water and half mana, where you can’t even see an inch ahead. Still.

Still, I had anticipated this much. I asked to confirm.

“Noona.”

"Yeah."

“There really is no other way. Right?”

I stopped there. Noona would understand what I meant. She answered my question without the slightest hesitation.

“Even if I’m the one who ends up in danger, you won’t. I swear it.”

"Then I'll go."

It’s not like I was ready to die or anything. What’s the point of making grand declarations you can’t even keep? If a robber held a knife to my throat, I’d fold immediately anyway.

But I do at least want to finish what needs to be done and make it back. If I don't do my part, my workplace will be destroyed, my livelihood will be destroyed, and the well-being of the acquaintances I've just begun to know will likewise be destroyed.

So I have to go. What else is there? I swallowed a dry gulp as quietly as I could, then brought up the next topic.

“What about you two?”

“If Boss goes, then of course I should follow.”

"This isn't exactly a must or something..."

“No. It is a given.”

If you’re treating this like some kind of mission, you really don’t have to go that far. I had prepared a response in advance, but the gentleman Elder rolled up his pant legs and said something far from what I expected.

“A young man is showing such courage. How could I possibly sit back and do nothing?”

He must have heard me swallow that dry gulp. Well, yeah, he’s not the kind of guy to say ‘you kids go ahead without me’, no matter what...

“Chan-ah.”

This time, it's Manager. As if she had prepared for this from earlier, she had rolled up her cardigan sleeves twice, exposing her upper arms.

"I have something to tell Chan."

“What is it?”

“Not here. Down there.”

She tucked her socks into the cardigan pocket and looked up, sensing something fleeting pass by. I couldn't be certain, but it was something close to a shadow.

"So I'm going too."

It was a vague statement unlike Manager, but I couldn't ask any more questions because Manager kept his mouth shut. Anyway, the four of us are going now.

Now there were two things left for me to do. First, I slightly unzipped the non-woven fabric bag on my shoulder, then took out the potions gathered in the corner of the bag and laid them on my palm.

After putting all but the calming potion back in, I asked into the slightly open bag.

“Hey, Mongmong. What are you going to do?”

The Elder still didn't know that this little guy could speak. I expected barks or whines, but Mongmong replied plainly.

"This humbe dog is happiest when with Boss. The second most enjoyable thing is walking the night streets."

"Um... Right."

“If I follow Boss now, wouldn’t I be able to solve both problems at once?"

"Maybe?"

“Then I will follow. Though I’m not sure what use this humbe dog will be…"

As if unsure of himself, he trails off, then quickly gathers his thoughts and continues speaking.

"...Ah. To the Elder outside, please convey my proper regards if the situation improves. From what I overheard, he seem quite upright."

With that, he fell silent. I thought for a moment, then tried my best to pretend that it was nothing serious and told the Elder.

"That's what he says, Elder."

The gentleman Elder looked at me with an expression that seemed to ask what on earth was going on, but the expression didn't last long. He gave a hearty laugh and spoke while looking at the bag.

"Very well. We’ll share tea later."

So be it. I uncapped the calming potions, downed it all, then turned to Noona.

"So what now, Noona? Warm-up exercises?”

"The water's not that cold, dummy. But it does seem right to enter slowly. There's no need to announce that we're going down..."

* * *

A brief prep. The five of us shared Elena’s underwater breathing potion. It's the first time since elementary school that I've taken medicine through my nose.

After taking it, the store manager snapped the fingers of his right hand over his head, coughed, and then explained.

"I've made it so we can talk normally even in the water. The radius is about 20 meters."

"Um... is it something like telepathy?"

“It’s not telepathy. If someone isn't used to using telepathy with their psychic, everything from screaming in their mind pops out."

So she said she used magic with the specific condition of 'speaking with the mouth'. I don't know much about magic, but I did wonder if this kind of magic was included in basic magic.

"I just mixed various spells to create a similar effect. Otherwise, I'd get arrested."

"Aha. I guess they were being vague about it."

"Yeah. They oversimplified."

One magic once, multiple magics mixed together once. Both count equally as one time, I suppose. Anyway, that's how it goes.

Next, I rolled up my pant legs and sleeves to my knees and elbows. When I dipped my feet in the seawater, I could barely see just around the top of my foot.

But it was noticeably clearer than before. Just like Noona said, the water wasn't cold. Before distinguishing between cold and warm, it felt lukewarm.

"Do we just go down like this?"

"Yeah. The slope below will be extremely steep, so don't panic."

"Got it."

One last deep breath and then I went into the water. It took six steps to submerge my head.

The underwater scenery was, at least to me, dark. It felt like floating in the night sky.

Perhaps it seemed so because of the inherently murky color of the water. Or maybe because my body was so tightly tensed that it was blocking things I should be seeing, or because I had no magic power in my body.

The other three moved without any hesitation. I couldn't see that either, but the murmuring voices I heard were generally calm.

- It seems fine so far. How is it? Yoonha?

- Seems fine. But Unnie, can our voices be heard far away?

- Not at all. I made sure only we can hear each other.

- Really, Unnie, I don't understand how you can use magic like this...

- If you feel wronged, Yoonha used to be a great mage in her heyday.

- No thanks, Unnie. Just handling my one magic gives me a headache.

It was close to the tone of everyday conversation I had heard until now. Listening to it, I realized that although I knew that Manager and Noona were close, I had never heard how or why they became close.

How did the self-proclaimed eternal 18-year-old and the 30-year-old A-class hunter meet and become friends? I don't know if they met before Manager retired or after...

(D: I thought they were sibling all this time ahahahaha.)

- Everyone, please stop for a moment.

That was the gentleman Elder's voice. Even though he said to stop, I had no immediate way to do so, so I grabbed whatever part of the slope I could reach. It felt like I grabbed some seaweed. Or maybe the edge of a trash bag.

I could vaguely see the Elder a few meters away, but I couldn't tell what he was looking at except that he was looking in one direction. I asked him out of anxiety.

"Something’s there? Elder?"

- Yes. And it seems to be approaching this way. It's not moving fast, but...

If we move right now, we might be able to reach it, so be careful.

I wondered what he meant by that. But shortly after, I immediately understood what he meant.

Something really approached. It was something as thick as a tree trunk, with rough things densely attached to its surface. So, this.

"...Suction cups?"

It looked like an octopus leg. For seafood of the same class, there would be a kraken...



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