“This is really delicious.”
Eunwoo ate the sundae skewer without even caring that the sauce was dripping onto his shirt.
Seeing his childlike appearance, Hyejin smiled warmly and handed him a tissue, and he opened his mouth again.
“It’s sweet yet spicy, and spicy yet savory.”
“There’s a snack bar I used to go to often, and it’s a bit spicier there.”
“Where did you live, Manager?”
“Oh, my university was near Sinchon, but my studio apartment was in Sillim-dong. Have you ever been to Sillim-dong?”
Eunwoo had already eaten more than half of the sundae skewer.
He looked so satisfied and happy.
He looks just like the chaebol male lead in that old drama whose eyes lit up at the sight of fish cake skewers.
While she was thinking that, he replied.
“I’ve heard a lot about Sillim-dong. It’s on Line 2, right? I used to take that subway often. What’s it famous for again?”
“Tteokbokki and white sundae.”
“Yeah, that’s it. I’d like to try something like that sometime.”
“Come with the others next time. When we have some free time.”
Noticing Eunwoo’s regretful gaze at the nearly finished sundae skewer, Hyejin quickly said to the snack bar lady.
“Could we have one more here? He enjoyed it so much that one seems like too little for him to leave with.”
“Yes, of course.”
“And places like this usually have delicious fish cake broth. It’s hot, so take your time.”
When Hyejin handed him a paper cup filled with fish cake broth, he carefully accepted it and replied.
“Thank you, Manager.”
“Here you go. Take it.”
At that moment, the snack bar lady handed Eunwoo another sundae skewer, and as soon as he received it, he took a big bite.
“Finish up at the mart quickly and make sure to clock out after we eat later. Get some good rest.”
Eunwoo stopped eating and looked at Hyejin with curiosity.
“But why did you end up opening a convenience store in a dangerous place like this dungeon? I’ve been wanting to ask for a while. I usually don’t pry into people’s pasts, but I feel like you must have some special reason, Manager.”
“Ah, that…….”
Hyejin hesitated before continuing.
“I need to earn more money. There was a company I was supposed to join, but I couldn’t because of the dungeon gate appearing. And the convenience store has a separate owner. I don’t know more details myself, so that’s all you need to know.”
“Ah, money. My dad is always going on about money, money, money!”
“Whether you’re a chaebol or an ordinary commoner, money is important.”
“If it weren’t for Baektae Confectionery, I wonder what I’d be doing right now. I did awaken as a healer, but I can’t even do what I want properly.”
“You must have a lot of worries too, Eunwoo. I used to think that if I just had a lot of money, I’d have no worries or concerns. I believed I’d be happy from the moment I opened my eyes in the morning, but realizing that’s not true, I guess I just wanted to pretend I didn’t know.”
“I’m happy, though. Living as a chaebol with this face.”
Having neatly finished the newly ordered sundae skewer as well, Eunwoo proudly made a V-sign with his hand.
He really does that just when things are going well. Hyejin shook her head.
“Let’s head to the mart now. That was really good, ma’am!”
“Don’t mention it.”
After settling the bill, the two left the snack bar. Eunwoo stretched behind Hyejin and said.
“Time to work off that meal, I guess.”
***
Once they entered the mart, Hyejin started picking out ingredients and putting them into the cart one by one.
Eunwoo, by her side, added omelet ingredients while continuing to talk to her.
He asked about what other ingredients were needed, if there were more items required for the convenience store, whether to buy large-cut meat for the kimchi jjigae, pork belly, or neck meat, and so on, while pushing the cart for her.
“I’ve heard that carts get full at the mart, and it’s really true.”
“Yeah. We’ve got quite a lot. I’d love to fill it up even more, but my pockets are a bit light right now, so that’s a shame.”
“Ah, pockets……. Um, actually, Manager, there’s something I wanted to eat, but it might be tough…… right?”
Eunwoo glanced at Hyejin hesitantly. He looked quite cute, so Hyejin smiled and asked.
“What do you want to eat?”
“Uh, well…… that, um, sikhye and sujeonggwa?”
That’s when it happened.
Hyejin’s phone, which had been silent until then, started ringing.
It was a call from Seungseok.
She had thought the call would come later since he said it would take two days to talk with the company employees, but it came sooner than expected.
“Then I’ll take the call here for a moment, so go get them. I’ll buy them for you.”
“Whoa, really? No take-backs! I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.”
After hurriedly sending Eunwoo off, Hyejin pressed the answer button on her phone and brought it to her ear.
“Hello?”
Then, along with a hearty laugh, Seungseok’s booming voice rang in her ear.
Ah, is that you, Manager?
“Yes, sir.”
Heh heh heh, I called quickly in case you were waiting.
I got the approval, you know?
Our employees said they’d do it! It’ll take some time to develop the products, but since the idea came up, they said let’s try making a sample lunch box for now.
“A sample lunch box?”
-Yeah, a sample lunch box! The employees got all excited thinking about how to compose a low-priced lunch box. Our company staff is full of enthusiasm.
Goodness.
It had only been a few hours since she mentioned the lunch box idea to Seungseok, and in that time, they’d already made a sample lunch box.
Hyejin couldn’t help but let out a laugh. She was just so thrilled.
“I’m really looking forward to it. The sample lunch box!”
She was already curious about what menu the sample lunch box would consist of.
It would be nice if it had home-style side dishes.
Things like seaweed or anchovy stir-fry, sausage vegetable stir-fry, fish cake stir-fry came to mind. Simple and warm food.
If she had a bit more money to spare, side dishes like braised beef or fish would be good too.
Anyway, I want to show the sample lunch box directly to you, Manager, but I can’t go back into the dungeon right now.
I noticed earlier that the convenience store didn’t have a delivery machine, but there’s one with a teleport function.
Delivery, teleport.
At that moment, Hyejin recalled the manager’s shop.
Specifically, the teleport delivery item, the parcel machine, which she had seen when buying the supercomputer that helps with ordering. It was in the manager’s shop.
“Ah, sir.”
-Huh?
“I’m outside right now, but I’ll head straight to the convenience store. I think I can buy the teleport item right away! You should be able to send the goods directly to our convenience store from there.”
Ha ha ha, how did you know I was secretly hoping for one?
If you have it, I can deliver samples quickly in the future, so that’s great for me! I got such a nifty thing thanks to our hunter employees. I’m a non-awakened, so how would I know about hunters’ items?
I heard that the items you can buy differ slightly depending on your job class, but it’s a relief we can purchase the same one!
So they do have hunter employees after all.
Usually, when someone awakens as a hunter, they switch to a hunter-related job, but were they still working at their original company?
Hyejin became even more curious about Induk Trading.
If the employees were staying loyal and continuing to work at the company even after awakening as hunters, just how amazing must her business partner be?
But right now, the sample lunch box is more important.
She wanted to receive and see the lunch box quickly.
And based on her experience working at convenience stores and living alone, she wanted to seriously evaluate the product’s value.
“Then I’ll contact you again once I’m back.”
-Okay, okay. Oh, and there’ll be soup, so be careful not to spill it when you receive the items.
“Soup, you say?”
-Yeah, I thought about it, and the reason people eat cup ramen with kimbap is because their throat gets dry or something. It’s the same when eating rice. Maybe it’s because I’m old, but I need soup when eating rice. Same for lunch boxes.
“That sounds really great. But I’m a bit worried that including soup might raise the price…….”
-Heh heh, don’t worry. It’s just for the sample anyway. We can decide on the price later after seeing it.
“Yes, I’ll do that! Then I’ll call you back soon!”
After ending the call with Seungseok, Hyejin felt her heart swelling with excitement.
For the first time, she was going to sell something new at the convenience store.
And it was something she had conceived herself.
Of course, the omelets Seojun made were special too, but this was different in that it was a product Hyejin had planned entirely on her own without anyone’s help.
“Ah, it took me a while to find these. Manager, did you wait long?”
“Eunwoo. We need to check out and head back quickly. Something came up. We’re planning to sell lunch boxes from now on, and it looks like I can receive the sample.”
Grabbing Eunwoo’s wrist abruptly, Hyejin headed quickly to the checkout while briefly explaining the situation.
“Wow, our convenience store is really busy. But I’m super curious too.”
“Right? Super busy. The workers to change the signboard will be coming soon too.”
It was so busy.
The first thing to do upon returning to the convenience store was to purchase the teleport item.
Next, tasting the incoming sample lunch box and treating the part-timers to a meal.
Then, confirming the signboard installation, followed by overall store organization and cleaning, and so on.
There was really a lot to do.
“Shall we go, then?”
“Yes. I want to get back and try this sikhye soon.”