“Welcome. This is the 24-hour convenience store inside the dungeon.”
When Hyejin greeted, Eunwoo followed her lead.
At the sound of his voice, the hunters—who had been heading toward the shelves with expressionless faces—paused for a moment.
Now, not only SS-rank Sword Master Suho and SS-rank Cooking Master Seojun, but even SS-rank Healer Eunwoo was working at this convenience store.
And he wasn’t just any ordinary hunter—he was a second-generation chaebol.
“Wow, that guy. No way?”
“Hey, he’ll hear you. Keep it down. No way it’s the Yoon Eunwoo we know. If it were, he’d have bought the entire convenience store.”
“But it’s weird, right? If he bought the whole store, why is he wearing the employee vest?”
“No, it’s definitely not Yoon Eunwoo. If it were, well, he’s always been known as an eccentric, so maybe he bought the store and is doing some job experience thing. But he’s not the type to work part-time at a convenience store.”
“Maybe? Wait, no—it is Yoon Eunwoo! Hold on.”
One of the hunters, who had been whispering back and forth, strode confidently to the counter.
Then,
“You’re Hunter Yoon Eunwoo, right?”
“Yes. That’s me. Nice to meet you.”
At Eunwoo’s smiling response, the hunter backed away with his mouth agape.
No way.
Muttering that, the hunter quickly returned to his friend.
“Hey, see? He said yes.”
“Wow, this is insane. Unbelievable.”
“Now I think I know the secret of this convenience store.”
“What secret now.”
One hunter glanced at Hyejin and Eunwoo at the counter before whispering in a low voice.
“Think about it. Isn’t this convenience store too weird? A store inside a dungeon already doesn’t make sense, but this area is strangely safe. It’s not that the manager has some secret—it’s always been owned by Baektae Confectionery. That explains the SS-rank part-timers and doing business inside a dungeon, right?”
“Yeah, I’ve thought that too. Normally, you can’t install electrical wiring in a dungeon. It’s ridiculous. Would Korea Electric Power seriously set up poles here? But if Baektae Confectionery pulled strings, they’d supply power even underwater.”
“Exactly! This convenience store was definitely made by Baektae Confectionery. It’s a bit weird there aren’t many Baektae products, though.”
“Hey, idiot! Think about it.”
“What?”
“If the store belongs to Baektae Confectionery anyway, and they filled it with only their products, would it be a convenience store? It’d be a Baektae store.”
“Th-that’s true? Yeah! It’s a Baektae Confectionery convenience store! My intuition is spot on, right?”
“Intuition my ass.”
“Why, what’s wrong with my intuition? You agreed when I said it’s Baektae. Anyway, now all the secrets are solved.”
At the hunter speaking like a detective from a comic, his friend snorted and glanced at Hyejin.
“The manager is kinda pitiful. Having to be among those SS-rank hunters.”
“Pitiful? What’s pitiful about it. The manager must have something going on to be wearing the manager badge here. Not pitiful at all—I’d be jealous. If it’s a big corporation’s direct convenience store, how much money would it make.”
Just then.
“Um, customers?”
Hyejin spoke to the two.
They kept glancing at the counter, looking back at the shelves, and whispering, so to Hyejin, they seemed like people searching for something.
“Ah, we didn’t say anything.”
“Huh? No, that’s not—”
“I told you to be quiet! Maybe she’s going to tell us not to spread rumors.”
To the tense hunters, Hyejin said kindly.
“If there’s a product you’re looking for, feel free to tell me. I’ll find it for you.”
“Ah, looking for something? So… what was I here for? No, wait. Right! I came to buy a razor. Hey, then you buy shaving gel. I’ll get the razor. Let’s shave together. We can’t walk around the dungeon with messy beards.”
“Razors are on the shelf right behind you, left end. There are different types, so take your time.”
“Yes.”
“Yeah, gotta buy a razor. Need to stay clean.”
Their tone was awkward, like they were acting in a play, but Hyejin didn’t notice and just smiled brightly.
The two hunters, who ended up buying razors and gel unexpectedly, quickly left the store after paying and said simultaneously.
“Jackpot, gotta post this on the community right away.”
“As expected, it’s Baektae Confectionery’s.”
***
Suddenly looking outside the store, Hyejin felt a chill and hurriedly checked the clock.
Realizing it was already late at night, she looked at Eunwoo in panic.
“Time flew by like this. It’s your first day, so there was a lot to teach, and I didn’t even notice how late it got. Sorry.”
Eunwoo, however, looked completely unfazed.
“I’m totally fine? Getting skilled at the job is good, right? As a healer, I have plenty of stamina, so I can work a bit more.”
“Even so, your shift is over.”
“From what I see, you work alone in the afternoon, right, Manager? Come on, it’s the first day. Let’s work together! With me!”
It was true that the afternoon shift was always frantically busy with Hyejin alone.
Hyejin paused and looked at Eunwoo thoughtfully.
He didn’t seem to be lying about still being fine—he looked exactly the same as when they met in the morning.
“Then let’s work a little more together. If you’re hungry, feel free to grab anything to eat. Got it?”
“Great, great.”
Thanks to Eunwoo, there was actually some breathing room.
Nodding, Hyejin went to the staff room storage to get a broom and trash bag for outdoor cleaning.
“Huh? Manager, what are you doing?”
“Oh, the weeds outside look messy, so I was going to pull some.”
“Pull weeds?”
“Yes. I do it from time to time. They grow really fast.”
As Hyejin finished answering and was about to go out, Eunwoo approached and took the broom and bag from her.
“Ah, then part-timers should do this kind of thing. I’ll handle it!”
“You don’t have to…”
“Then let’s go out together.”
“That works too.”
At Hyejin’s words, Eunwoo held the door open for her to go out first.
Then, as Hyejin stepped out, Eunwoo followed.
“Until now, Suho handled the outdoor cleaning too. Ah, Suho is the one in charge of nights! Thanks to him, I didn’t have to do it separately, but now I see a lot of dead weeds. Need to pull them out.”
“I can handle that much. Watch me.”
Eunwoo confidently pulled weeds and looked at Hyejin with sparkling eyes.
It felt exactly like a puppy wagging its tail—almost as if a tail was slowly swishing in front of Hyejin’s eyes… no, a real tail?!
“Mr. Y-Yoon Eunwoo! There’s something there!”
“Huh?!”
At Hyejin’s startled words, he parted the overgrown weeds with his hand, revealing something unexpected.
Whine…
It was a puppy on the verge of death.
A very small puppy.
“Oh my! Who would’ve thought there’d be a puppy here… How can there be a puppy inside a dungeon?”
Eunwoo clicked his tongue briefly and shook his head.
“Probably abandoned by some hunter. There’s no other way a puppy would be here. I’ve heard this happens sometimes.”
Hyejin recalled a news story she’d seen before while looking at the trembling puppy.
After dungeon gates exploded, police and hunters in each area searched for monsters that escaped outside.
It was news about the only positive effect of dungeons: the number of abandoned pets on roads drastically decreased because police were everywhere.
People couldn’t easily abandon them since they’d be caught immediately.
The problem was that, as a result, some hunters started abandoning pets inside dungeons.
Sneaking them in bags and leaving them where no one would suspect.
Innocent puppies ending their lives lonely in unfamiliar places—such sad stories.
“Why didn’t we notice the puppy until now?”
“No way we could have. It hasn’t been long. They probably carried it in a bag until it was about to suffocate, then dumped it. Otherwise, the puppy would’ve barked and followed its owner. Begging to be seen.”
“That’s so cruel, really.”
Hyejin reached out and tightly hugged the precarious puppy.
Its fur was still soft.
It wore a red collar that read “I’ll always love you. Ddori.”
“It probably waited here for its owner to come back. Without barking. This little one likely thought it was abandoned for barking in the bag.”
Eunwoo gently stroked the puppy in Hyejin’s arms.
The puppy struggled to open its eyes.
Eunwoo continued.
“Isn’t it too young to die?”
“Mr. Yoon Eunwoo.”
“I’ll do it. Hey, whatever!”
You know what to do, right, Manager? I can’t just stand by when I see kids like this—it’s pitiful.
Eunwoo smiled once at Hyejin, then stroked the puppy again.
Healing energy from his hand caused dazzling light to pour from the puppy’s entire body.
Woof!
Soon, the reopened eyes belonged to a puppy whose face had brightened as if it had never been in danger.
When Hyejin set it on the ground, the puppy wagged its tail and looked at Hyejin and Eunwoo.
“Thank goodness. Really, thank goodness. It would’ve been so sad if it died like this.”
“Haha, the best part about being a healer is making it so the dying feel like pain never existed in the first place. Anyway, what do we do with this little one?”
Hyejin fell into thought looking at the puppy.
Even if she put up flyers to find the owner, it would be pointless.
To him, it was just something discarded.
Then.
“We’ll raise it. It’ll live with us in the convenience store staff room.”
“Well, if that’s what you say, Manager, I have no reason to oppose.”
Eunwoo looked at Hyejin, then at the puppy, and continued.
“We’ve got another part-timer. You’ll probably be in charge of security, right? Oh, speaking of—will Asha be okay with something cute? Cats and dogs don’t get along, do they?”
“That’s true, but Asha is a 500-year-old cat—no, a spirit—so it’ll be fine.”
As Hyejin said that, the clock was already approaching midnight.
It was almost time for Suho to start his shift.