The Fantasy World Fanatic Wants To Leave Work

25 – Starting the Evening Shift (1)

“I should start heading back soon. Oh, by the way, that woman won’t remember what happened earlier. Perhaps that’s for the best. She’ll recall when needed anyway.”

After tucking away the fear and regret, Sereitini shook hands and left the convenience store.

“Thank you for keeping the photos safe, Mr. Hyunwoo. Well, it’s getting late, so I’ll take my leave now.”

Alesia also woke up shortly after and, after receiving the photos, bid farewell with a bright smile.

As Seretini had said, Alesia couldn’t recall the firefight that had occurred just an hour ago. It seemed like her memory cut off right at the convenience store where she had come to find the photos, and then restarted.

Could this be due to the effects of what they were talking about earlier, like being captured or contaminated?

-Kim Hyunwoo-

[Do you know anything about this, store manager?]

-Store Manager-

“Even if I knew, unless it’s work-related, there’s no reason for me to disclose it. It pertains to U.C. Convenience Store and its relationship with Headquarters and Space-1221. We just need to focus on our assigned tasks and do them well.”

The store manager didn’t seem overly concerned about them.

From what I had heard, it appeared that there might be someone above the store manager, so it might be related to the previous convenience store owners rather than Nana and the store manager.

So, as the store manager said, it might not be related to me, and even if it were, it would be a matter concerning U.C. Convenience Store Headquarters.

In other words, it had nothing to do with me.

Anyway, I’m just an ordinary part-timer.

Moreover, U.C. Convenience Store didn’t seem to play a significant role, and my job was simply selling items from other universes and providing information, just like I had been doing.

-Store Manager-

“And now, it’s closing time. You should have a quick dinner and get ready for the additional 8-hour shift starting today.”

So, I should focus on my work.

As a bonus, Seretini caused a commotion and left, apologizing and giving me two gold coins this time.

Since he couldn’t provide medical treatment like Alesia, he compensated with money. I suppose he has a conscience.

I’ll save this money and use it to buy what I need at Rocket Pang when the time comes.

Now that my headache is almost gone, I should think positively and consider the extra money I earned while passing the time.

Being positive is better than feeling depressed.

†††

For dinner, I had a hearty meal with Baek Sunsaeng’s Gourmet Lunchbox Donkatsu, which I had prepared earlier during the day.

Normally, these lunchboxes don’t keep well, but people in Space-1221 surprisingly didn’t buy fried food often.

To be more precise, they initially bought lunchboxes but stopped because they were cold and soggy, making them taste bad.

-Store Manager-

“It seems that they don’t have microwaves in this universe, which is why. I should include instructions to heat the lunchbox in the product descriptions. When they were at the White Pagoda, these items used to sell quite well.”

Come to think of it, they don’t have a microwave here.

But since the courage is made of plastic, I shouldn’t use it recklessly, and there might be quite a few problems with consuming lunch boxes in this universe.

-Kim Hyun-woo-

[But why is it so intact here?]

I decided to ask the owner before starting my second shift, out of curiosity.

-Owner-

[Shouldn’t it be intact?]

-Kim Hyun-woo-

[No, it’s not like that. We had such a huge fight during the day, but there doesn’t seem to be a single place that’s broken. Considering the intensity of the fight, it’s surprising that nothing collapsed.]

Judging by the way they fought, it would have taken them several days to open the convenience store, but there was no sign of anything being damaged or broken as if there was no fight at all.

There wasn’t even a trace of bullet holes.

-Owner-

[That’s true. Even if there were any damages, it would have been limited to Kim Hyun-woo’s head.]

I wish at least the owner’s head had been cracked.

-Owner-

[Our store is built to withstand shocks during interstellar travel and observation. It is sturdy enough to withstand impacts greater than typical air defense structures. Unless it’s an explosion from a star, there’s no need to worry about the building collapsing.]

I don’t know how powerful a star explosion is, but it seems to mean that it can easily withstand multiple nuclear bombs.

Although it doesn’t appear so, this place seems to be quite solid. At least, it seems like the reinforced steel was well embedded when the building was constructed.

-Owner-

[I hope you have a safe evening shift. There won’t be any special changes compared to the morning shift. I won’t interfere for the same 8 hours, and if there are any issues in the convenience store, most of them can be resolved by pressing the red button.]

-Kim Hyun-woo-

[Understood. There was an incident during the day, so it won’t be relatively calm in the evening, right?]

And it was already 6 PM.

The sun hadn’t completely set yet, but the evening glow was faintly visible. Seeing people still walking along the street, it seemed like there would be customers even in the evening.

However, like any other convenience store, the types of customers varied depending on the operating hours of the store.

Especially for convenience stores near schools, during the day, only students quickly came and went, making it quiet. But later, during dismissal time or after work, it would become bustling.

“Oh! Is this the store I heard about? It seems like they’re open in the evening now!”

Sure enough, a confident and flamboyant voice could be heard.

Soon, the footsteps of three men entered the convenience store.

I greeted them casually while looking at the rocket pops, and they also responded to my greeting and started looking around the convenience store.

The convenience store was a place where tired and exhausted salarymen could find some solace, a place where they could feel a sense of stability being treated as customers themselves.

Usually, these customers could be bothersome, but as long as they weren’t too drunk, things would pass without incident.

The most troublesome cases were when they got noisy while drunk.

“Hmm, is this the beer corner? There are many types, and there are quite a few interesting beers. Which one do you think is good?”

“What about that one? Its design is quite similar to the beer from our hometown. But what about non-alcoholic beer? It’s beer, but without alcohol? Why does that even exist?”

I overheard the conversation between the gentlemen.

If there’s chocolate-flavored milk, what’s the big deal about non-alcoholic beer?

In fact, it’s something favored not so much for its taste, but by those who want to drink beer but either can’t handle alcohol or don’t want to get drunk.

I, too, sometimes drank when I felt melancholic.

“Some good snacks to pair with drinks… Ah, they’re here! Oh, dried squid. If it’s squid, it must be an ingredient that people living near the coast can taste.”

Not long after, three gentlemen approached the counter, each carrying their own items.

“What’s going on?”

So, where are the customers?

The items were placed on the counter, but I couldn’t see the most important customers anywhere.

I wondered if they had gone to look for other products, so I checked the shelves, but they weren’t there either.

Feeling something was amiss, I decided to look for the customers myself.

It didn’t seem like they went to the restroom, and it was strange that they disappeared as soon as they put the items on the counter.

Thud!

“Ouch, be careful. Are you alright, young one?”

“…??”

However, as I was leaving the counter, I bumped into someone and fell backward alone.

From the voice, it seemed like a customer, but they weren’t there just a moment ago. Why did they suddenly appear in front of me?

In a bewildered state, I looked at the customer.

It turned out they didn’t suddenly appear.

“Watch out. Sometimes people on the street don’t see us and bump into us, then end up hitting their heads on the pavement. hahahahaha!”

A bearded, kind middle-aged man with a small stature reached out to me.

He was about as tall as a first grader in elementary school.

He didn’t suddenly appear; he was there from the beginning, but his height was so small that I couldn’t see him.

I thought the customer had disappeared because he was less than 130cm tall and had been obscured by the items on the counter.

“Sorry, if that wasn’t too rude… Are you a dwarf, by any chance?”

“Yeah, I’m a dwarf. Looks like you’ve never seen one before, huh?”

Ah, the height is really extraordinary.

I’ve only heard about dwarves on Tree Wiki, and this is the first time I’ve actually seen one.

But even so, when I grabbed the hand that reached out to lift me, the grip was incredibly strong.

Even though they were wearing leather gloves, it felt like I was holding a hand made of stone.

“What’s wrong, Lagos? Did you run into another human again?”

“Yeah! This makes it the second time today.”

Not long after, the two other customers who had been hidden behind the display shelves appeared.

Because I was reading Tree Wiki, I only greeted them briefly and didn’t see what kind of customers they were, so I didn’t notice that they were dwarves who had just come in.

Even though I’m taller than average, they were so close that I couldn’t see them.

“Sorry again. Can I ask if you’re hurt anywhere?”

“Well, I’m fine! It could happen. It’s a common thing for us, so don’t worry! And I didn’t even feel like I bumped into anything just now!”

Lagos, one of the dwarves, approached and said.

They were even smaller than most elementary school students.

They all brought a full glass of beer that was bigger than their height.

For a moment, I wondered if I should get my identification card.

Just by looking at their faces, they looked older than my father, but when it came to height, they were smaller than the local kids.

[Dwarf (Space-1221)]

[Summary: Elves that have existed in the land for a long time.]

[Characteristics: Dwarves grow thick beards regardless of gender when they become adults. Occasionally, there are dwarves who don’t grow beards even as adults, but in those cases, they usually grow beards in other areas. Dwarves are generally easygoing and laid-back as earth elves, and even if they get drunk, they don’t become violent. Instead, they’re very noisy.]

Luckily, when I looked at Tree Wiki, it didn’t seem necessary to confirm adulthood by the presence of a beard.

Because all of them had very lush beards, or rather, they were clearly not minors in appearance.

But more importantly, did Space-1221 have identification cards?

“We have quite a lot of luggage, would it be okay to put them in a box over there instead of a bag? It looks like we’ll need at least six full bags of plastic bags.”

I quickly calculated and suggested putting them in a box instead of a plastic bag.

This convenience store had a corner where customers could pack items and take them away in boxes.

Roughly speaking, each dwarf brought at least one line of beer, and even the side dishes were full, so there wasn’t enough to put in a plastic bag.

“Oh? We’re going to drink all of it here. Can’t we eat food here too?”

“Ah, then you can go to that table and eat.”

Ah, they’re planning to eat everything here.

Usually, drinking inside a convenience store is not allowed, but I don’t think it’s a big problem.

The place I was in before was a decent place, and if it’s a U.C. convenience store, it should be okay.

Sometimes there were customers who drank alcohol at the convenience store.

You might think that it would be noisy if people drank alcohol at a convenience store, but surprisingly, customers who drank alcohol inside the convenience store were not that noisy.

It was the customers who came in after drinking alcohol who were noisy.

Besides, according to the information on Tree Wiki, dwarves aren’t particularly prone to causing trouble when they’re drunk, but wouldn’t they just be a little noisy at most?

“Oh, the table is a bit high, but it’s wide and nice. I can drink there.”

But at that time, I didn’t know.

There was a reason why Tree Wiki explicitly stated that “Dwarves don’t get violent when they’re drunk, but they are very noisy.”

Honestly, I didn’t want to personally find out about this reason.