Mastore 146 - Dumpster

Magic Realm Convenience Store – Ch. 146

Regular customer assembly (8)

The process of returning to the store itself was uneventful. Noona woke up after resting for exactly 5 minutes and stared blankly at the ceiling. After a while, a part of the ceiling suddenly collapsed.

Looking at the ceiling components that fell to the ground, I noticed thick asphalt with sidewalk tiles almost embedded into it.

“What’s this?”

“The standard weight of U-shaped sidewalk tiles is around 3 kg. I made it a bit heavier so it would collapse by itself.”

"Aha. Then what's Noona’s specification in kg?"

"I don't do kg, but I'll tell you in kg/f right now. Come here for a sec."

I was about to ask if I could go briefly and then run away, but stopped myself. I trudged next to Noona, and she grabbed her shirt and pants belt and asked Manager.

"Unnie, how many spells left? Two?"

"One. Should I use it now?"

“Don’t use it, Unnie. I've carried an entire truckload of eggs like this before.”

I wanted to ask how many eggs broke during that truckload, but Noona cut me off.

"I'll give you a comfortable ride back, so tense up your body. Got it?"

"Ugh, dammit..."

Immediately afterward, my body shot upwards, and I landed feet-first onto the sidewalk outside. It felt exactly like jumping down from a jungle gym.

Clutching my trembling legs, I looked around. While I couldn't see the store, I recognized some nearby buildings. I remember this being about two blocks away from the store.

Next came Manager, Noona with Mongmong, and finally the Elder. Manager approached and lightly punched my thigh a few times.

“Chan, are you okay?”

"Not sure..."

“Can you walk by yourself?”

The gentleman Elder asked this, apparently concerned, but I'm not in such a state that require support. After taking a quick breath and looking up at the sky, I saw that it’s still pitch black, but at least the rain had stopped.

The Elder followed my gaze upward and then lightly patted my back.

"My companion must be pleased."

"Yeah..."

"Thanks to you, Boss."

I simply nodded without a reply. What thanks, we're all just trying to make a living.

From there, we simply walked back. The rain did stop but the water hadn't fully receded, so by the time we got to the store, we had to wade through water that rose up to our knees.

When we reached the front of the store, the police officer had the main door wide open and was moving sandbags outside one by one.

Noticing us, she set a sandbag down and saluted. After lowering his hand, he stared at us for a moment and then asked.

"Did everything go well?"

“Um... so-so.”

"You've worked hard."

“It was nothing. But why are there so many sandbags?”

"I'm in the process of clearing out the ones I summoned with magic that I had piled up in advance."

She briefly explained that from about 30 minutes ago, the dark clouds poured rain like a broken fire hydrant. The rainwater exceeded the level that could be blocked with tables and overflowing enough to submerge a person entirely.

Because of this, she had summoned a large number of emergency-support sandbags beforehand using magic, completely barricading the convenience store’s front door. My impression after hearing this was that things had been quite precarious.

It sounded like if I hadn't eliminated the core, both the store and the customers inside would have all been washed away. Especially considering the rain had intensified during that time.

“Oh, Officer, you worked hard too.”

“It wasn’t hard work. It's something I do often. Anyway…”

She looked down at her water-soaked wrinkled hands and continued speaking.

"Now that the rain seems to have subsided a bit, I'm trying to store the sandbags again."

“Store?”

“Yes. I need to pile them up again so I can put them back into the paper.”

It sounded like she could put sandbags in and out of a notebook page at will, but I couldn't exactly imagine how that would work.

“And the two inside are safe. Miss Elena strained herself while helping to move sandbags, so she's resting in the office. As for Mr. Chihuahua..."

“Hey!! Hey, you damn cop, hey!!”

From beyond the sandbag wall inside the front door, a shout filled with resentment could be heard. Another shout soon followed.

"Stop messing around and clear this quickly!! I feel like I'm going to piss myself!!"

"He's been helping the whole time."

It seems like he's been holding out with Chihuahua-like patience, but it's been over three hours since he came here for the restroom. At that point, shouldn't he get an endoscopy later?

As I glanced toward the inside of the front door with an expressionless face, one eyebrow was slightly raised. I asked out of curiosity.

“You aren’t planning to arrest him, are you? Like for verbal abuse or profanity charges?”

“Verbal abuse alone typically doesn't result in punishment. Charges for insult or intimidation do exist, however.”

"What are you doing!! Fuck!!"

"Is that so?"

"Yes. And in this case, I intend to let it go. It doesn't seem like he's doing it with malicious intent. However..."

She interlaced her fingers once, then looked at me and said.

“I do intend to hear more details about the hacking incident at the Magic Bureau.”

“No, that wasn't a joke?"

“It was a joke. Well, I'll get back to work now.”

With that, the officer walked through the front door and started lifting the waterlogged sandbags. Though I was exhausted from leading the denuclearization effort, I do have some experience from working at construction sites for a few months...

"I'll help that officer a bit, Lee Chan. You rest."

"No, aren't you tired, Noona?"

“I feel better after resting for 5 minutes. Elder, you should rest too. You were smashing quite a few rocks earlier.”

“No, I'm also feeling much better after resting briefly.”

After this exchange, the two of them headed toward the entrance together. They told me to rest, but sitting around while everyone else worked felt... Ah.

“Manager-nim, I’m going to make a quick phone call.”

“Can I come along too?”

"Do you really need to? Just rest.”

“I have something to say. To Chan’s supervisor.”

Seems like she immediately caught on that I was planning to call the professor.

After acknowledging this, I waded through the water to a spot slightly away from the store It occurred to me that the conversation might involve details that weren’t suitable for discussion in front of everyone. Like embargoed information.

I was a bit worried whether the power would come on even if the radio waves were working, but despite having gone down to the bottom of the deep sea and back, the display lit up perfectly fine.

The phone seemed to connect well too. I put the phone to my ear and asked Manager.

"Is this a model with waterproofing magic on it, Manager-nim?"

“Un. Mine’s a regular model, so it broke.”

"Hmm..."

“But I’m not worried. Chan can fix my phone anyway."

That's right. After exactly four ringing tones, busy voices sounded from the other end. Listening carefully, I could roughly make out the following.

[...All of them... came out of...]

[Dispatch… what? Trucks? Why are they underwater―]

Followed by the professor's voice.

[I'll resolve it, just leave those dirt piles as they are. What's the matter?

“Before I explain what happened, what's this about piles of dirt?”

[Thousands of tons of dirt, pipes, and other materials suddenly appeared in the Magic Bureau parking lot. It’s my issue, so don’t worry about it.]

There was a slightly irritated tone in his voice. Wondering what this was about, I glanced at Manager, who suddenly started scratching the back of her head while avoiding eye contact. Don't tell me...

"...Do you have any idea what this is about?"

"Un. I'll explain when the time's right."

[So, what's the issue?]

It seemed best to lead with the good news. After briefly hesitating, I decided to be straightforward.

“We got rid of the core gate. So what do we do now?”

[...What did you just say?]

“I said we got rid of it.”

After that, he demanded a very detailed explanation and I obliged. After being told not to be picky about means and methods, I did my own legwork to find the core gate location, and when I found it, there were exactly 3 hours left.

I tried to report back earlier, but my phone didn’t connect, so I just decided to handle the urgent matter first, went down there, punched the core gate a few times, and got out. That was it.

Even after saying everything, there was no response for a long time, so I uncomfortably continued.

"I had wanted to inform you first, but the radio waves weren't working so I couldn't make a phone call. I did manage to speak separately to the Magic Bureau receptionist somehow..."

[How exactly did you do that?]

“I used every means possible. Did you perhaps not receive the message?”

[I haven't received anything yet. Judging from the circumstances, it sounds like the dirt outside the Magic Bureau is a byproduct of your escape. Am I correct?]

I hadn't mentioned this part, but hearing it confirmed my earlier suspicion. The perpetrator added an excuse.

“To get rid of the dirt, it needed to be moved somewhere else, Chan.”

"Let's assume that's the case. So what now?"

“I couldn’t think of anywhere empty and quiet other than there. The Magic Bureau parking lot is reaaally spacious.”

"There are places like sports fields, right? There won't be any games in this weather."

"...B- But, the field caretaker probably can't use magic."

Her hastily made-up excuse was glaringly obvious, but I decided to accept it as it was.

"Sounds about right. Can we just count this as ‘using every means possible’ too?”

[I asked because I wanted to know if this pile of dirt was an anomaly caused by the gate or not. I wasn't trying to hold you responsible.]

“Then we don’t need to pay any fines for illegal waste dumping?”

[...I'll keep this between us. Now, about what to do next...]

I liked this yangban pragmatic attitude at times like this. Right, it wasn’t important right now how many thousands of tons of dirt piled up or where. Whether our store could open and operate immediately was far more crucial.

[…How did you report this to the Magic Bureau?]

"I used my supervisor's name, said we were going to handle the core gate, begged for whatever personnel they could spare, and asked for some budget."

[Using my name was a good approach. For personnel, please wait until tomorrow morning. Regarding the budget, labor costs, material costs, consultation fees...]

"What fees?"

[Labor costs, material costs, consultation fees, and so on. Write down all the expenses incurred while you were dealing with the core and submit it. We’ll review it and allocate a budget afterward. Anything else?]

There isn't any right now. There isn't any, but is he saying they'll give us money?

[Then should they not?]

"Um..."

[I will come to you separately as soon as this matter is concluded. Oh, and.]

“What is it?”

I waited, expecting him to say something, but instead of words, I heard faint applause through the phone. Six claps.

Afterward, the professor concluded in a flat voice.

[You've worked hard.]

Then the call suddenly ended, and I stared at the screen wondering if I had heard correctly. Did this extremely pragmatic yangban just clap for me to hear? Even though he couldn't see me?

"Seems he was really impressed. That professor."

"Nah, no way..."

"Sounded like it to me?”

This wasn't a topic I wanted to dwell on. Something else bothered me more.

"I think he's saying they'll pay us. Do you think we could claim compensation for the shop being flooded too?"

“I’m not sure. I was only thinking about insurance claims and government relief payments, honestly….”

“Then I'll try requesting that too. Is there anything else Manager-nim need?”

"Let me think about it. Since it doesn't seem super urgent, let's talk inside."

Right. It wasn’t exactly appropriate to stand around chatting while everyone else was hauling sandbags.

When Manager and I returned to the front of the store side by side, the sandbags that had been blocking 2/3 of the entrance had vanished without a trace.

Inside, Noona was slumped against the checkout counter, seemingly drained again, while the Elder was stretching his shoulders which seemed stiff.

I decided to speak to Noona first. It seemed like she was very knowledgeable about this.

“Noona, I just made a call while you were carrying sandbags.”

"Hey, I'm tired, can't this wait a bit?"

“Just lie down and listen. About us eliminating the core, the professor said the government will pay if we submit a claim. How do we handle this?"

After hearing this, Noona slowly got up and spoke briefly.

"We need to ask each person what they need."

“No, this isn’t a blank check, right?”

"It's not, but similar. I think they’ll accept most request unless it’s a really ridiculous amount.”

Maybe because we resolved a significant issue quickly and neatly, or because we hadn’t done anything to upset them.

She listed somewhat subjective reasons, but it sounded like something I would need to experience firsthand. So, setting that aside, if I were to ask... hmm...

"Excuse me, Customers."

The rain wasn’t pouring anymore, so I spoke at a volume just loud enough to be heard clearly inside the store, then looked at each customer and asked.

"The government is going to give us something for what we did. Do you need anything?"

When asked, the Chihuahua answered without a moment's hesitation.

“A chamber pot.”

(D: A chamber pot is a portable toilet used in a bedroom for urination and defecation in the middle ages.)

“No, not that....”

"Then ask for ramen, you bastard. I didn't eat breakfast so I'm starving."

Either starving or stomachache, just do one of the two. Is this guy's stomach really hurting?

Even if he is, it's not like they'll drone-deliver instant ramen. Also, claiming a package of ramen from the government because you skipped breakfast seems rather absurd...

I thought, but then realized I was hungry too. Counting from when we left the hotel yesterday morning, I had been fasting for a full 30 hours.

“…Well…”

Everything was finished anyway, and nothing was urgent. I looked around the store and asked again.

"Would anyone like some ramen? I have some stocked up."

Everyone raised their hands. Well, ramen is perfect for a rainy day.



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