“Why would Baekt ae Confectionery try to take this convenience store? You don’t seem to know, but my family has a lot of money.”
Even though Eunwoo immediately countered, Asha continued glaring at him.
Hyejin pondered for a moment between Asha and Eunwoo.
Asha, with a cold face as if angry, was looking at her as if it was no big deal, while Eunwoo wore an indifferent expression.
Seeing Eunwoo humming a tune and pretending not to notice instead of reading the mood, a sigh naturally escaped Hyejin’s lips.
For now, the convenience store urgently needed a part-timer.
Suho, who worked from midnight to 8 a.m., and Seojun, who came only for a few hours after 8 a.m. to sell omelettes, were the entire staff.
Of course, Seojun would help with store tasks once the prepared omelettes sold out.
But they couldn’t entrust all the convenience store duties to him, whose main job was cooking.
His role was that of a chef, after all.
With the start of omelette sales, Seojun had already proven his worth, and it was far more important for him to focus on cooking and develop various menus.
That would help the convenience store much more than him assisting with miscellaneous tasks.
In that case, they should consider Seojun as practically nonexistent.
Since Hyejin couldn’t cover all the time alone, the store needed a part-timer who could work mornings and afternoons, excluding Suho’s shifts.
After pondering for a while, Hyejin uncrossed her arms and spoke to Eunwoo.
“Excuse me, Mr. Yoon Eunwoo. I have a proposal.”
Eunwoo, who had been desperately ignoring Asha, approached Hyejin as if he’d been waiting, his eyes sparkling.
“Yes. Sounds good. Anything.”
“Working as a business partner would be nice, but what this convenience store needs right now—and what I want—is a part-timer. So—”
“That’s right. A part-timer. I’ve always been so curious about working part-time at a convenience store! I really wanted to try it.”
Before Hyejin could even finish asking, Eunwoo nodded enthusiastically, clenching both fists.
“Are you really going to hire this guy?”
Asha looked at Hyejin with a displeased expression, but Hyejin winked and smiled at her.
It meant not to worry.
“If that’s what you want, Hyejin, then fine. But if he pulls any funny business or shows any ulterior motives, I’ll make him regret today.”
“What ulterior motives could a healer with no money have? Haha. I don’t even have anywhere proper to go right now.”
He wasn’t exactly an ideal part-timer, but having Eunwoo around would definitely make things easier for now.
Plus, she could borrow his abilities too.
Hyejin clapped her hands energetically and stepped boldly between Eunwoo and Asha.
“Then, Mr. Yoon Eunwoo, it would be great if you could work from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Suho works until 8 a.m., and we need someone to take over when he leaves. I’m the manager and I’m here, but I can’t stay glued to the store all day.”
“That makes it exactly an 8-hour shift. Well, from what I’ve seen on the news, there are things like overtime allowances.”
Hyejin continued.
“Don’t interrupt and keep listening. I’ll make sure to provide overtime pay and all that. If you have nowhere to go, you can stay in the staff room for a few days. But there’s one condition you absolutely must follow. Don’t bring strange people into the store. For example—”
“Strange people meaning folks like me? Or my girlfriends?”
“Exactly. It’s fine if they come to look around briefly because a convenience store inside a dungeon is novel, but I won’t tolerate calling friends over because you’re bored working alone or inviting romantic interests.”
Such words might sound old-fashioned, but after bad experiences, she had no choice but to warn in advance.
Even in a solo-staffed convenience store, calling friends to chat or seating a romantic partner on the small chair behind the counter wasn’t a good look.
She had seen part-timers at previous stores get fired for similar reasons.
It led to customer complaints, after all.
She hadn’t bothered mentioning it to Suho, but for some reason, she felt the need to with Eunwoo.
She knew not to judge people by appearances, but it was better than something happening because she hadn’t said anything.
What if she didn’t give this warning, and later Eunwoo brought a bunch of acquaintances to the store?
The convenience store would probably turn into a mess.
Hyejin shook her head.
No way.
I absolutely can’t let that happen.
“I also don’t want you posting photos of the store on SNS and spreading them. Customers posting is unavoidable, but while working, I’d like you to focus on the job.”
“Ah, that’s a shame. If we could sell potions, there’s no better promotion than SNS.”
“We can think about that together later when discussing promotion. Anyway, no phones during work hours. We’re a busy store.”
Saying that, Hyejin glanced around the interior of the convenience store.
Being around 30 pyeong in size, it was definitely too much for one person to handle alone.
While handling the register and organizing products, one had to run back and forth.
Plus, being in the special location of a dungeon meant all sorts of unexpected customers would appear.
To deal confidently with such customers, one shouldn’t do anything irritating from the start.
If a customer came and the staff was just staring at their phone, even a good customer could get upset and glare sharply.
Hyejin spoke firmly but looked worriedly at Eunwoo, who kept smiling cheerfully.
To the only son of a chaebol family, this might just look like a tiny hole-in-the-wall shop.
Thinking that made her worried again.
Hyejin opened her mouth toward Eunwoo.
“Really, Mr. Yoon Eunwoo, are you sure you can work as a convenience store part-timer? If it seems too hard, it’s okay to back out now. I need a part-timer who can stay for at least a year. This isn’t child’s play.”
“I know what you’re worried about. I know I’m too privileged to be a part-timer, and I understand that suddenly asking for a job seems suspicious. But I’m curious about part-time work I’ve never tried before, and although I’ve decided to go into the potion business, I’m wondering if I’m suited for business and whether customers will like my potions. I’m taking this seriously, so don’t worry.”
“……”
“To make and sell heal potions, I need to check the situation inside the dungeon too.”
His face looked somewhat serious.
The playful demeanor was gone, and seeing Eunwoo looking at her earnestly, Hyejin slowly nodded.
“Okay. Let’s work together for now and decide later whether to become business partners.”
Hearing Hyejin’s words, Eunwoo’s face brightened, and he quickly pulled out his smartphone and typed something.
Then, with a ta-da, he showed the phone screen to Hyejin.
“All done. Then today is day 1.”
“Huh?”
“I marked on my phone calendar that I start working today. I’ll check how long I can last, and if good ideas come up, I’ll note them down too.”
Saying that, Eunwoo smiled brightly.
He seemed a bit clumsy and innocent for a second-generation chaebol, and the fact that he wanted to work at the convenience store was still puzzling, but Hyejin wanted to trust him.
“I hope you won’t suddenly run away or anything. It would be nice if you don’t come the next day saying you can’t do it after one day.”
At Asha’s words, Hyejin nodded.
She had experienced many part-timers who, finding the job different from what they imagined, called in sick the next day after one shift.
The damage wasn’t just to the manager.
Because of the manager’s desperate plea for someone to work when there was no one, it was common to have to cover double shifts, morning and afternoon in one day.
But now that she was the manager, it wasn’t entirely bad.
If he worked diligently, there wouldn’t be big issues, but if he was going to cause problems, it might be better for him to quit quickly saying it’s too hard.
As Asha was about to say something more to Eunwoo, Hyejin raised her hand to stop her.
“There won’t be any running away. I roughly know how you see me, but I’m not that pathetic of a person. If I had such intentions, I wouldn’t have come here in the first place—I’d have gone to the guild association. But then the guilds would find me too burdensome. There are other complicated issues too.”
Guild association.
At those words, Hyejin turned her gaze to Eunwoo.
If they find him burdensome there, wouldn’t it be even more burdensome here?
What manager would try to hire a chaebol’s son as a part-timer?
His self-esteem is truly top-notch.
Hyejin nodded vaguely.
Anyway, she had ended up as the manager experiencing this absurd situation.
As Hyejin was looking at Eunwoo for a moment, the bell on the convenience store door rang as someone entered.
Jingle.
“Welcome. This is the 24-hour convenience store inside the dungeon.”
Hyejin said with a smile toward the hunter customer.
The customer was a female hunter who appeared to be in her early 20s.
She quickly looked around the store and approached Hyejin with a face full of dissatisfaction.
“I thought it would be okay since it’s big, but the items are just average, and the building is worse than I expected.”
“Huh?”
Just as Hyejin was momentarily flustered by the sudden complaining voice, the female hunter continued.
“Isn’t there too little variety in drinks for a convenience store this size? And it’s inside a dungeon, yet there’s not a single drink for hunters. There’s not even a coffee machine. After a raid, I want a nice iced Americano, but it’s all just instant mix coffee.”
Before Hyejin could respond, the hunter spoke quickly.
“I came in with expectations, but it’s totally disappointing. Seojun chef’s omelettes seem sold out too, and there’s nothing worth buying.”
Then she slammed the door hard enough to make the bell fall off and left.
Like a storm blowing in midwinter.
“What was that? She comes in suddenly and leaves angry?”
Asha said, looking at Hyejin, but without replying, Hyejin stepped out from behind the counter and looked around the store interior.
And she thought.
There’s nothing special except that it’s a convenience store inside a dungeon.
If the timing was good, it was great.
Though something felt suspicious, the customer’s words weren’t wrong.
A convenience store inside a dungeon, but nothing special beyond that.
If it had no unique characteristics, maintaining it for even a year would be hard.
As that thought came to her, Eunwoo approached with an excited face and spoke.
“I think I could help a bit? I feel like I could make something special with Chef Seojun. What do you think? Shall I start working right away?”