Mastore 170 - Dumpster

Magic Realm Convenience Store – Ch. 170

Even the Ambiguous Guy Gets Close (3)

What rank does a convenience store part-time job hold in the list of preferred part-time jobs for those in their 20s? It ranks first. For two consecutive years, no less.

There are likely various reasons for this. Maybe because the work isn't too difficult, or perhaps due to the preference for short-term part-time jobs...

"No, why are you suddenly saying you want to work part-time here?"

“Because I want to try it.”

There might be cases where someone does it purely because they want to, but I couldn't quite empathize. Even after seeing those minors having a drunken pajama party just now, you still feel like you want to try it?

“So why do you want to try it?”

“Because it looks fun. Both Oppa and Unnie too.”

Fun, my foot. I was about to retort, but the kid hadn't finished speaking yet.

"Or is there something else required to work here?"

As if there'd be something else needed. The biggest reason convenience stores are preferred is that no special qualifications are required. I didn't even bring a resume.

I was about to say that’s not the case, but I held my tongue. Because she was ever so slightly biting her lower lip. Her hands on her knees were fidgeting just a little.

I stared blankly and realized. This girl is nervous right now. That thing about never having worked before wasn’t a made-up story.

Once I realized that, I also realized something more fundamental. This issue is not something I should meddle in the first place. It was up to Manager.

"...Yuri, you said you want to work here. And the reason is because you want to."

"Yes. Very much."

"Can you come back tomorrow around 10 a.m.? My shift is over now."

Manager was someone who always fretted about not being able to find part-time workers. I thought she would have her sign the contract right away, but her tone right now was unusually calm.

“Ten in the morning?”

“10 a.m. And make sure you’re not late, okay.”

“Um…”

She dragged out the sound and seemed to think for a moment, then stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder. After that, she gave a small bow and said just one thing.

“I’ll be going now. Please take care.”

After that, she dashed out the front door and hurried away at a brisk walk. Looking at the left side of the display window where that kid disappeared, I spoke to Manager.

"I was having a conversation with that kid about the topic of 'what kind of conversation should people who are meeting for the first time have,' Manager-nim."

"Un."

"She just left in the middle of that conversation, that kid. If she was going to do that, I don't know why she even asked that in the first place."

“Because she didn’t want to be late, obviously.”

"Pardon?"

"From what I saw today, that girl is really docile."

Manager immediately shared her thoughts. She said to come by 10 a.m. and not to be late. So, what do you have to do to not be late in the morning? Sleep early and wake up early.

That's why she rushed out, she said. Even after hearing it, I couldn't comprehend it at all, so I decided to interpret it in a way that suited me. At least she won't be late.

"Seeing how well she listens, I think she'll work diligently too."

"Well...."

Whether she'll work well is honestly something we'll only know once we see. There are people who are completely different when working versus in daily life, and that kid could be one of them.

Apart from that, I welcome that kid working here. There’s that saying, right? Keep your allies close, and your enemies closer.

I still haven’t heard how she found out where I’m from. Even when Manager was digging, she never said a word, so it must be a pretty big secret for her.

Since her own secret is involved, she probably wouldn't go around blabbing about this to the whole neighborhood, but I can't help feeling uneasy. If that kid works here, then for the 8 hours or so she's working, I wouldn't have to worry about what she's up to...

"...But, Manager-nim. If that kid comes in, what happens to our work hours?"

"Uh... right. What should we do?"

"I was asking because I thought you might have already decided something, Manager-nim?"

"Well. I only thought about how nice it'd be if a part-timer came, but I haven't thought about what to do once they're in. Chan?"

"To be honest, I haven't thought about it either."

We’ve been working twelve hours each, so with one more person, it’d probably be about eight hours per person—that's all I had thought about. Finally, I'll have something called work-life balance...

I looked at the clock while thinking about when would be good, and it was about 3 minutes past 10 p.m. I looked down at Manager and said.

"Let's start with the handover first, Manager-nim. It's not even certain if that kid will work here."

"She'll definitely work? That kid’s the type of person who can’t see anything else once he gets hooked on something.”

"Then she's not docile, is she?"

“That’s a separate issue. Anyway, nothing much happened while I was working....”

* * *

She says logistics will come in once around 9 a.m.. Since the main customer base has changed from office workers to students, there'll be quite big changes in the convenience store products to match.

“For example?”

"Kids' school supplies, toys, and... anyway, a lots."

There’s too many items to list out verbally, apparently. I just told her I would check the invoice later.

There were no other special matters, and Manager left work as is. While working the dawn shift, I received customers who came in intermittently.

At my old workplace, there were quite a few customers around dawn who seemed to be just heading out for or returning from manual labor jobs, but here, perhaps because it's a place with many kids, there were no such customers.

What I saw instead were n-th year exam retakers absolutely wrecked with fatigue.

Starting from around 5:30 a.m., students began trickling in sporting dark circles as if drawn with permanent marker, with intervals of about 4 to 5 minutes between rushes. It was exactly the same interval as the subway trains.

"Checkout, please..."

"Yes."

When I rang up the coffee a civet cat kobold had placed down, what they held out claiming it was a card was a student ID. The student ID had 'Rain Magic Study' written on it.

I guess this must be this world’s version of a cram school or something. After checking it, I silently glanced up at the kobold's face, and the kid was dozing off while standing.

"Um, Customer."

"...Yes?"

"You're not handing me a card for payment right now, but your student ID."

Rather than feeling annoyed, I just felt sorry for them, so I tried to speak as gently as I could. At my words, they looked down at the card in their hand, shook their head vigorously, then held out the proper card.

“I’m sorry. I’m sleepy....”

"It's fine. Take care, Customer."

It seemed the hell of entrance exams existed just the same in this world. Well, people are people, even in another world.

The visits from that kind of customer started dying down around 7 a.m., when the guys who were going through the most turbulent time of their education came. High school seniors.

“Can you ring this up please?”

“Yes… That’s done. Thank you.”

These ones were fine, and naturally, they had to be. At the most important time in their lives, where would they find the time to cause a scene at a convenience store? They need to study.

The problem was the creatures with plenty of time to act like troublemakers, and they were middle school students. It was as if they had unified the time they went to school, and these guys started coming in wearing all sorts of colorful uniforms...

"Mister! Checkout!"

“Yes, just a moment....”

"Me too, Mister!"

“…Just a moment. I’m in the middle of ringing up right now….”

Middle schooler trait no. 1: They only buy small amounts. Because they have no money. Do these kids know what it feels like to be full?

Little kids living on allowance from their parents can't know the true taste of an 8,000 won convenience store lunch box, nor should they. All they buy is a can of cola, or at most, a triangle kimbap and ramyun.

It wouldn't be so bad if the checkout was at least fast. These kids bring their items over, and only after I tell them the price do they finally rummage through their backpacks or pockets to pull out their cards. Did their schools make this a rule or something?

Still, this much is okay. It's not like they've done anything wrong. The problem is middle schooler characteristic #2: They're at an age where patience is lacking.

"Hey! Hurry up and buy your stuff in front! What are you doing!"

“Ah, hold on! I’m taking my money out right now!”

“Why’s it taking you forever to just pull out some money?”

I've imagined it a few times. If dozens of schools are clustered in one area, that means dozens of student bodies are crammed together too. What do they even think of each other?

That scene is unfolding right now. Maybe because these kids have no business with each other, even at the slightest provocation they cursed at each other. Like right now....

"Ah, can't you just wait a bit, why are you always picking a fight! What school are you from, what's your rank?"

"Our school ranked 3rd in the whole block this time. Why, got a problem with that?"

"Uh... shit...."

Listening to them, there seems to be some kind of strange tension related to their schools' rankings. I'm not sure if the rankings are based on grades or magic....

Thinking a fight might break out, I stopped what I was ringing up and said to the two of them.

“Please don’t fight in the store, or I might call the police.”

"Gasp. Hey, hey. He says he'll call the police."

“....”

Middle schooler trait no. 3: The moment they hear the word ‘police’, they calm right down. And the splash damage that hits the other kids in line is just a bonus.

This was quite cost-effective so I used it repeatedly throughout my shift. While desperately enduring these little kids' defense, it became 8 o'clock, and that kid came.

“I wasn’t late, Oppa.”

“Sure....”

"I did well, right?"

"Yeah. You did well. Now, I need to ring people up, so go stand somewhere else for a bit."

This kid was standing right in front of the register just like last time, but this time, I wasn't in a situation where I could chat leisurely. As I pointed to a table and spoke, the kid looked around at the table and muttered.

"The tables are very dirty."

"...Can't be helped with so many customers."

I had cleared the tables a few times in between ringing people up. About four times.

The office workers from the intersection would at least clean up their ramyun bowls, even if they left behind sandwich wrappers, but these kids, as if accustomed to having their mothers do the dishes, don't even think to clean up.

The little kids occupying other seats didn't seem to care at all whether the tabletops were dirty or not. At my words, the kid staring blankly at the mess suddenly asked.

“Can I take a look around?”

I was busy so I just nodded. The kid immediately took out her phone from her pocket, looked around here and there, then stopped in front of the trash can and stared holes through it.

Then she opened the trash can partition, paused again, closed it, and started looking at her phone again. What on earth is she doing, calling that ‘looking around’?

Curious, I slowed down my pace at the register and watched her. After a moment, I finally understood what she really meant by ‘looking around.’ She began gathering up the leftover ramyun bowls that hadn’t been cleaned up on the tables…

Took them to the trash can, and threw them out one by one in the place for discarding ramyun broth. Stacking the emptied ramen containers, peeling off the lids and placing them beside.

After disposing of all the ramyun like this, she next started picking up the sandwich wrappers on the tables one by one. As I was watching, the customer in front of me asked.

"Mister. Please ring me up quickly, I'm late right now."

"...Ah, yes. I'm sorry."

Just as the kid said, most of the middle schoolers had cleared out, and it was now that time of the morning when they would be late. Two customers left in line.

After ringing them up and sending them off, I checked the tables again, and they were quite neatly cleaned up. Except for the ramyun broth pooled in the corners.

I figured I would just clean up that last bit myself. As I was thinking that, the kid who had been looking around the display shelf had already come up to the register.

Maybe it got on her while cleaning, but her hands were covered in ramyung broth. Holding them up like that, she asked me.

“Oppa. Where's the cleaning cloth? I need to wipe up the ramyung broth."

"...It's fine. I'll clean it."

“It’s okay. Last night, I searched online about what to do on your first day at work―”

"I said I'll clean it. Na Yuri, you go wash your hands and sit down or something. When it gets quiet I'll roughly show you how to work."



|Note

Just a rambling but, here in my country you would have to undergo some training camp before being hired as a clerk in decent convenience stores. A popular convenience store is owned by a big company so you might even be placed to other workplaces than you enlisted. It’s not like there isn’t an individually owned convenience store but the pay or work right, insurance and such are close to nonexistent. So while it might be ‘not a bad job’, it’s definitely not a popular job in the sense that people find it comfortable, definitely not.

Then again, I never worked part-time, so take my rambling with a grain of salt.

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