“Let’s quickly set up the kitchen first.”
As soon as they returned to the store, Asha swiftly remodeled the space for a kitchen area appeared.
Once the remodeling was finished, Hyejin turned off the time machine and returned to normal time.
The moment she came back, she let out a deep sigh, as if all the tension suddenly drained from her body.
“Why am I so tired all of a sudden…”
Hyejin muttered while kneading her stiff shoulders.
She had been relying on the potions Asha gave her to keep going, but it seemed even those had finally reached their limit.
Fortunately, she could now take turns with part-timers.
The only downside was that both part-timers were SS-rank hunters, but having two part-timers at all was still a pretty good situation.
Hyejin glanced at the time-machine watch ticking nicely on her wrist and let out a small sigh.
“Phew… it’s starting to get tough.”
“Once Suho arrives and gets used to the work, how about going home for a bit and resting?”
“I do want to rest, but there’s still a lot I have to do as the manager, and the store’s only been open a week. It feels wrong to leave.”
“It’s good that you’re responsible, but you can’t do everything yourself. The condition I gave you was to safely run this convenience store for one year.
I told you, didn’t I? A guardian spirit has to think about protecting the hunter’s life too.”
“It’s still weird to think a cat is worried about my life. Right?”
“This isn’t the time for jokes.”
Pushing her fatigue aside, Hyejin carefully rearranged the products once more.
After that, she looked around the store and diligently swept and mopped the places where a light layer of dust had settled.
Even when she was a civilian, Hyejin had always worked as if the convenience store were her own, and that diligence hadn’t disappeared.
“I like it when the store sparkles. It’s a space for customers, so it’s nice when it’s clean.”
Asha watched Hyejin clean, the corners of her mouth curling up.
But when her whiskers poked her cheek, her face instantly went back to its usual blank expression.
Just then, the bells on the door chimed.
Jingle.
Jingle.
Jingle.
“Welcome!”
Right after she finished cleaning, three hunters walked in.
They seemed to belong to different guilds.
In the quiet store, their conversation naturally reached Hyejin’s ears.
“Hey, I heard Blake Guild is recruiting new members again.”
“You’re already in Ismel Guild. Staying there would be better for you. Why would you leave?”
“Dude, don’t come, seriously. Why would you? The vibe in our guild has been weird lately. Ever since that Lee Suho guy left, the whole atmosphere changed. We used to have such a great image, you know?”
One of the hunters continued while staring at the beverage section.
“They kept saying ‘family-like guild’ and all that PR crap. And then yesterday one of our hunters died. In a hidden dungeon, no less. I don’t know the details because he wasn’t in my party, but seriously, who sends a C-rank hunter alone into a hidden dungeon that even SS-ranks struggle with?”
“Whoa, no way. How did he die?”
“How would I know? I’m a rookie who just joined.
I actually wanted to join Zion Guild. The people there seem classy and the atmosphere is calm.
But I ended up stuck with Blake…”
“That sucks. But you’re in the same guild and you don’t know anything?”
“All I know is the association is investigating the incident, and something feels off. Apparently no one ordered that hunter to enter the hidden dungeon.”
“At this rate, every hunter in Blake Guild is going to get investigated. People are saying maybe another hunter killed him, or someone who hated the dead guy did it.”
A collective gasp rose among the group.
“Sigh… complicated. Way too complicated. I’m just gonna stay in Ismel.”
“Let’s stop talking about heavy stuff. It’s not like we can solve it. What are you guys getting? I’m on a diet, so I’m going for a protein bar.”
“You think that’ll be enough in a dungeon? Stamina drains fast in here. Got some secret potions stashed away?”
“What are you talking about? I don’t have anything like that. Man, I wish there was a restaurant in the dungeon too. I really want some warm soup.
By the time I get here after eating at home, I’m starving again.”
“Hahaha, a restaurant? Who’d open a restaurant in a place like this? They’d end up as monster food.”
“Say something that makes sense.”
“Why not? There’s already a convenience store. A restaurant could exist too. Dude, skip the protein bar and just get some gimbap or bread.”
Hyejin was quite shocked listening to them.
She had heard that many hunters were found dead inside dungeons, but a death this suspicious was rare.
And the fact that it happened in Blake Guild, the guild Lee Suho used to belong to, meant Suho would definitely head into that hidden dungeon once he heard about it.
His entire purpose was to save the countless hunters who got isolated and faced death inside dungeons.
If he learned danger was lurking, he would try to enter that hidden dungeon.
“Please ring these up quickly.”
“Ah, yes, right away.”
Hyejin thought about saying something to them but ended up just scanning their items quickly.
“Fat-burning protein bar, 3,000 gold.”
“Ah, you even read out the product names so kindly here.”
Hyejin had unconsciously read the name aloud. She was a little out of it.
Since they were complimenting her, it felt awkward to correct them, so she just gave a faint smile and continued.
“This item is 5,000 gold, customer.”
“Here’s the gold.”
Only after the hunters left did Hyejin slowly exhale and look at Asha.
“Asha, did you hear what they said earlier?”
“What?”
“No, the customers just now… never mind.”
It wasn’t really something she needed to discuss with Asha about, so she quickly shook her head and changed the subject.
Asha narrowed her eyes, examined Hyejin for a moment, then turned her gaze outside the store.
“It’ll be midnight soon.”
“Time really flew. Suho-ssi should arrive in a few hours.”
“Here, drink this potion. You look exhausted.”
“Thanks.”
Just as Asha handed Hyejin a potion, the store door opened again.
Heavy, deliberate footsteps echoed toward the counter.
Hearing the footsteps heading straight for her, Hyejin quickly downed the potion and stood up.
The approaching person was now a fairly familiar face.
“Welcome.”
“Hello. We met yesterday. It’s Suho.”
“Yes. I know.”
Hyejin was startled by Suho’s unexpected early visit.
She unconsciously clasped her hands politely and cautiously asked,
“Why, why are you here so early? Your shift starts at 10 a.m.”
The moment she finished speaking, Suho continued.
“I heard Blake Guild, the guild I used to belong to, lost a hunter. And that hunter happened to be a junior I knew.”
“…Pardon?”
Hyejin covered her mouth in shock.
She never imagined she’d hear the same story she’d just overheard from Suho’s own mouth.
“So I went to investigate that hidden dungeon and came straight here since I have to work anyway.
The faster I learn the job, the better.”
“B-But even so, you must be tired…”
“I’d appreciate it if you could let me leave a little early tomorrow afternoon to make up for coming in early today.”
“That’s fine, but…”
Flustered, Hyejin glanced at Asha beside her, then continued.
“Anyway, welcome. I’ll show you how things work.
I already cleaned most of the store earlier, so you don’t have to worry about that. Since it’s your first day, I’ll start with the simple stuff.”
At her words, Suho took off the suit jacket he was wearing.
Seeing that, Hyejin quickly added,
“You can put your jacket in the staff room for now. The furniture and other things haven’t arrived yet.”
“Understood.”
“The very first thing you do when you arrive is the handover. You check if the register balance is correct.”
“In a normal convenience store you’d need starting cash, but here we use gold, and lately most people pay by card, so we don’t keep much change gold on hand. Since I started working here, the starting cash has always been 100,000 gold. Please check.”
Hyejin printed the daily sales receipt from the POS, then opened the safe underneath and showed him the original starting cash minus today’s sales.
The amount matched perfectly.
“See? That’s how you check the starting cash.
Next, you line up the display products neatly.
Simply put, if the front row is empty, you push everything forward from the back so there are no gaps.”
“It doesn’t seem too difficult.”
Suho nodded as he watched her demonstration. It meant he could do it without issue.
“The job itself isn’t hard, but there are a lot of little things to remember. You also have to wipe down the parasol tables outside. Some customers spill ramen broth or food, so please keep it clean for the next people.”
“Understood.”
“You can find the cleaning tools in the staff-room storage. By the way, do you have a preferred shift? Morning, afternoon, or night? If you’d like to work overnight, you can do midnight to morning as well.”
Suho fell silent for a moment, thinking, then slowly answered.
“I’ll work midnight to morning. It’ll be tiring, but it’ll let me enter the dungeon early in the morning, so that’s better for me.”
“Alright. Then your shift will be midnight to 8 a.m., Lee Suho-ssi.”
“Understood. Actually, I have a question.”
“Y-Yes? A question?”
Suho’s stiff, formal tone made Hyejin stutter a little, but she quickly composed herself and nodded.
“Go ahead.”
“Are there any other part-timers besides me?
I heard most convenience stores are run by three people including the manager.”
“Ah, about that…”
“Yes.”
“I’m interviewing one more person today. I’m not sure yet if they’ll work here.”
“I see. That’s good to hear.”
“May I ask why you wanted to know?”
“Because I’d like the shift change times to be strictly observed so my routine isn’t disrupted.”
“Haha, yes, of course. I understand.”
Wow, if I’m late he might actually might hit me.
Hyejin forced a customer-service smile while her mouth felt like it was going numb.
There really are part-timers this intimidating…
“Ahem! Well then, shall we get started?”
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