Mastore 149 - Dumpster

Magic Realm Convenience Store – Ch. 149

Everything has a cause and effect (1)

I opened my eyes to the jingle of the front doorbell, and immediately after, I was overcome with a sense of unease. How did I end up falling asleep? And what time is it now?

Because the street outside was filled with a fair amount of fog. Judging by the dim but not completely dark light, it seemed just before sunrise, and the complete lack of pedestrians suggested...

No. There was exactly one pedestrian. Manager.

Standing on the curb at the edge of the sidewalk with her back to the convenience store, she was stretching with her fingers interlocked and arms extended upward.

She must’ve gotten a good stretch because she lowered her clenched fists and lightly patted her thighs. Just watching made me feel refreshed.

Manager turned to head back a moment later and locked eyes with me, who was lying face down with only my eyes open. She stared at me for a bit, then came up to the front window and tapped on the glass with the back of her hand.

I greeted her with a slight nod of my head while still lying down, and Manager responded with a smiling face.

“Chan, sleep well?”

“So-so. But isn’t it cold outside?”

“It’s not that cold, just a bit chilly.”

“That kind of weather makes it easier to catch a cold. Please come inside.”

While Manager was coming in, I quickly turned my head to check the time. It had just passed 5 a.m.. Since I fell asleep when the sun was up, that meant I had been completely knocked out for at least two days straight….

“...Manager-nim.”

“Hm?”

"You must have worked hard."

The store had been completely cleaned during those two days. The muddy footprints that had been all over the floor, the makeshift display stands that had been swept away by rainwater.

Though most of the display shelves were empty, presumably because the damaged products couldn't be sold, but other than that, I couldn't find anything different from when the store was open a few days ago.

I brought it up first because I felt so sorry for just sleeping sprawled out while she did all this, but Manager replied like it was nothing at all.

"This much is nothing? It didn't even take 30 minutes to clean everything up."

"30 minutes? Just that?"

"I got permits for all the necessary cleaning spells long ago. So don't worry about it."

It was a topic that was hard not to worry, but her tone of voice really gave the impression that she hadn't exerted any effort at all. The store must have been in truly terrible shape...

"Well, if Chan feels so unfair about it, Chan could use magic too."

She says this as if deliberately teasing me after seeing my face. If she’s going that far to tell me not to worry about it, then I wouldn't. Instead I asked.

“What happened outside while I was asleep? Is it better now?”

"Right. I was going to watch the news with Chan."

She hurried behind the counter to grab a tablet. Sitting down at the seat beside where I was lying, she propped her chin on her hand and raised the stand, tapping through the screen to pull up a list of videos.

Recorded news clips made up most of the list, and most of the recorded videos were all saying similar things.

[Breaking news. The Magic Bureau has issued an official statement that the core gate has been eliminated.]

[As radio waves have only recently been restored, it will take some time for this to be communicated to all households in the urban area...]

[However, due to concerns about damage from remaining ordinary gates, citizens are advised to refrain from unnecessary outdoor activities—]

“It seems things haven’t been completely resolved yet.”

"Right. It hasn't even been a day."

Between segments of the video, damage situations caused by gate occurrences are being displayed one after another.

For example, a chicken the size of a shipping container climbing onto a fried chicken restaurant with its beak wide open. Or streetlights stabbing through car roofs like forks and flipping them over...

Our store only got half-flooded with some ominous clouds nearby, but apparently far stranger things had been happening around the city these past few days.

One piece of footage supposedly shot a few hours ago showed ginkgo trees bursting into the streets and staging a group protest. They're walking around quite well on those thin roots.

“It’s just ridiculous.”

"Just that much?"

“Yes. Just ridiculous.”

To be precise, I'm only thinking, 'At least a giant octopus as tall as a 20-story building didn't pop out'. What I went through getting rid of the core gate may not be a fond memory, but it definitely beefed up my guts tenfold.

This reminded me of something else.

“Manager-nim. What happen to Mongmong? Is he still sleeping?”

“Um... He woke up during the night, but Yoonha took him home to let him rest.”

“Huh? Noona came by?”

“Right after midnight. Said she forgot to place the store's supply order and came personally."

After finishing her report at the office, she flew here on her horse and took Mongmong when she found him awake. Saying he was covered in dirt and looked terrible, and that she should give him a bath or something.

I was considering calling a taxi if had he returned to the park, but I feel a little bit more relieved since Noona took him. Not completely, but still.

“I wanted to talk with him a bit. Say he worked hard coming all the way down there with me, or that he pulled off something big down below….”

"He said he would feel really sorry if he woke Chan up while sleeping. I told him Chan would understand, of course.”

"Of course I would. That's just his personality."

“Un. And about the thing Mongmong did down below…”

At this point, Manager paused briefly before continuing in a slightly subdued voice.

"He doesn't remember."

“Huh? That happens?”

"I'm not sure about mystical creature, but such thing happens sometimes with magicians. When a mage who’s unfamiliar with their own aptitude happens to use magic that suits them, the backlash can leave aftereffects.”

She says magical aptitude is quite ambiguous. The ability to use exactly the amount of magic you envisioned is one kind of aptitude, but being able to use unexpected kinds of magic at unexpected scales is another.

If the former case means being able to perfectly manifest exactly 100 units of magic with 100 units of magical power, the latter means being able to use 150 or 200 units of magic with 100 units of magical power albeit unstably.

"And in the latter case, when their mana is depleted, abnormal symptoms appear in the body. The most common are prolonged sleep, or temporary memory loss lasting about ten minutes. Probably because it overworks the brain."

"Simply put, it's like overheating?"

“Un. Though that child isn’t a mage so it's not a perfect comparison... but from what I saw, the symptoms were almost identical. Chan experienced something similar, right?”

“Me?”

“I’m talking about how Chan slept soundly for 13 hours. I don’t think that was just because Chan’s body was tired or Chan pulled an all-nighter.”

Now that I heard it, I had also experienced an abnormal phenomenon once, although it wasn't short-term memory loss. When I first touched Hana’s horn with my hand.

After that, I was fine for about 20 minutes, but then my mind started becoming hazy as if I had taken sleeping pills. Then I fell into a deep sleep, and it took a few hours for me to open my eyes.

Hana had mentioned that even a university hospital couldn’t do anything about the horn, and I think the reason is similar to this phenomenon. Maybe there's a backlash effect when an ordinary anti-magic specialist touches it...

"Since Chan isn't a magician either, I'm just guessing this might be the case."

“Still, it does sound plausible. Since it’s about erasing magic, it’s probably not entirely unrelated to the phenomena magicians experience. Anyway, well…”

If he doesn't remember, can't we just tell him? He already has low self-esteem, so if we let him know, he could walk around proudly thinking, 'This humble dog was quite an amazing Pomeranian!'.

"...Um..."

“I haven’t told him yet, so what does Chan think we should do?”

…This is something I need to think through.

This guy already has a history of reckless behavior. He’s the type who once picked a fight with a bunch of frothing mouth Dobermans and came back with half his tail shaved off.

If I tell him about this incident straightforwardly, he might try to use it somehow and do the same thing again. I did warn him before, but just in case...

"I'll test the waters later, Manager-nim."

“Un.”

The conversation started with news about the world and ended with concerns about Mongmong’s safety. I was about to try to get up, but as soon as I put pressure on my legs, they screamed in protest.

"...Oof."

“Chan, feeling pretty stiff?”

“No. I’ll be fine soon, really. I’ve slept like this a few times before.”

The problem is that was 10 years ago when I was studying like crazy. Honestly, my arms and thighs don’t even feel like mine, but if I admit I’m stiff here, isn't that shameless in its own way?

—Snap.

While thinking, Manager raised her right hand while sitting and snapped her fingers. As the sound resonated, the tingling sensation that had filled my entire body disappeared, and a slightly floating feeling rose then subsided.

"Now it will get better faster. How is it?"

"You just used your one remaining magic, Manager-nim."

“Un.”

"Well, you should use it for something better...."

“What could be better than taking care of employee welfare?”

Maybe it’s because I had seen firsthand how useful magic was when going down core gate, but using magic just to fix a tingling arm still felt like a waste.

As I stood there awkwardly, staring at my arm, Manager got up while picking up the tablet and spoke.

"Still, Chan should sleep well after getting off of work. This magic won't last long."

"Is that so?"

"When using this magic, it should be non-addictive, effects lasting 6 hours at most, and it should wear off on its own later. If you don’t do it that way, later on they won’t be able to live without this magic.”

In the past, there were cases where athletes and office workers ruined their bodies by prescribing painkillers because they didn't want to waste time recovering from muscle or back pain.

As a result of this intensifying, the popularity of massage-related occupations and rehabilitation medicine rose vertically for several years, then declined again after related laws were enacted.

"Yesterday, Elena healed her back sprain by taking potion."

“That’s fine. A temporarily strained back, that’s… an accident, after all.”

"The criteria seem somewhat ambiguous."

“Right. It’s so vague that usually people don’t do this kind of thing for each other. If something goes wrong, it’s a huge problem, and if a lawsuit happens, the magic user almost always loses.”

The manager explained there are often cases where you save someone from drowning and they demand your bag, or you try to save someone and end up breaking a bone.

Because of that, there are only two cases where individuals cast this kind of spell on each other. One is to prepare a legally binding contract before the casting. The other is mutual trust.

"So what I was thinking is, Chan know Elena. I just met her yesterday."

“Yes.”

“I thought she was a really good person when I saw her giving potions to Chan. She wouldn’t have made the potion for Chan if she didn’t trust Chan that much, right?”

“Ah... that’s how it is.”

“So I was really worried, but now I think I can feel at ease.”

Saying this, she really relaxes her expression as if relieved about something, but I don't know what she was worried about so it's hard to empathize. Maybe she was worried the potion was made wrong or something?

“There are things like that.”

If she says so, then I guess it does. Anyway, Manager said the magic he cast won’t last long, so I should do something while my body’s still fine.

"...Manager-nim. This is somewhat of a random question."

“What is it?”

“Why do I have this constitution?”

It’s not like I wasn’t curious. I just never said it out loud.

Whether I wanted it or not, this constitution would stay stuck to my body, and I will continue to use this constitution. Thanks to it, I was able to safely send regular customers home.

But after going through something that could’ve made the news, I’ve started wondering differently. Why can I do this kind of thing when I've never specially studied the occult or experienced spirit possession?

This question will probably fade like all the others. It always ends like that. But when Manager heard my question, she stayed quiet for a moment and looked at the wall clock behind me.

So I followed her gaze. It's now 5:20. While looking at the clock, Manager spoke.

“Chan-ah. Now that we’re on the subject, there’s something I want to try.”

“What is it?”

“Can I come over to Chan’s place?”

“…Huh?”

“I want to see the world Chan lives in. Right now.”



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