Chapter 2: Become an SS-Rank If You Run a Convenience Store Inside a Dungeon?

It had only been a few days ago.

Hyejin heard an unbelievable offer: someone would awaken her from a worthless F-rank hunter into an SS-rank.  

And the one who made that offer was a cat who introduced herself as a spirit.

Before awakening as a hunter, Hyejin had been a senior in the business administration department at a Korean university.  

She was preparing for graduation and job hunting.  

After sending out over twenty résumés to small and medium-sized companies, she finally received a final acceptance from one of them.  

It was only an internship, but still.

At first she hesitated because it was an internship, but her family circumstances left her no choice.

The company promised that the internship period would count as probation, and once she became a full-time employee, she would immediately receive the same salary as any other new hire.  

Hearing that, Hyejin decided to take the job.

Everything was finally settled…  

And then a dungeon appeared.

Not only that, she awakened as a hunter—and of all things, an F-rank.

A completely useless, pathetic F-rank hunter.

When a dungeon gate opened right in the middle of Gangnam, Seoul, every TV channel stopped regular programming and only reported on the dungeon. 

The top real-time search term on every portal site was “dungeon.”  

The next biggest topic was the hunters who had awakened because of it.

F-rank? I didn’t even wish for SS-rank, so why this?!

Like everyone else, Hyejin had once admired SS-rank hunters. 

Just days ago, they had been ordinary people too.  

Of course, even among ordinary people, they weren’t exactly average. 

To awaken as a high-rank hunter, you had to have been in the top 10% of your profession.  

That was the only condition.

I should’ve never awakened at all.

Hyejin had lived a completely different life from them from the moment she was born.  

She trembled at the thought of spending even ten thousand won, and she always worked part-time jobs so she wouldn’t have to ask her parents for money.  

She had been dirt-poor since childhood.  

During university, she never once napped because she was always working part-time jobs.

She thought that once she got a job, life would finally ease up a little.  

The dungeon shattered that modest hope into pieces.

Because of the rifts caused by the dungeon, traffic was paralyzed. 

Entire subway trains full of passengers were swallowed up and vanished.  

No one knew whether the people on those trains were alive or dead.  

The city center turned into pure chaos in an instant, filled with screams.

It was a scene so horrific that hope itself seemed impossible.

<Due to our company’s closure, your scheduled employment has been canceled. We wish you unlimited success in the future.>

The company Hyejin was supposed to join was also near the dungeon, so it couldn’t escape the monster attacks.  

Thus, she lost her job.  

Just like that, with a single cold text message. 

Whether as a hunter or as a civilian, every path forward was blocked.

Several years passed with her unemployed.  

Then one day, as if by miracle, a cat appeared in front of her.  

A completely chance encounter.

A mysterious little cat. 

Her name was Asha. 

The cat who called herself a spirit offered Hyejin a job.  

An absurd job: convenience store manager inside a dungeon.

“If you successfully run the convenience store, I’ll awaken you as an SS-rank hunter.”

“SS-rank hunter?”

“How about it? Pretty tempting offer, right?”

Even hearing Asha say it so confidently, Hyejin thought there was no way a convenience store could exist inside a dungeon.  

But if the cat was telling the truth…

It was an offer too good to pass up.  

No—she was at the point where she would grasp at any rotten rope.

And now, one week later.

“Hunter-nim, that’ll be 4,000 gold.”

“Hunter-nim, plastic bags are 100 gold.”

“Hunter-nim, this item is buy-one-get-one-free. Bring another bottle and it’s free.”

“Thank you for your visit. Hunter-nim. I sincerely hope to see you again.”

In the end, she really became the manager of a convenience store inside a dungeon.  

The job itself wasn’t as hard as she’d feared.  

She had worked every possible shift—morning, afternoon, and graveyard—at regular convenience stores, so experience was on her side. 

The problem was that the workplace was inside a dungeon, meaning she constantly had to worry about her life.

Even though she was inside the store, the roars of monsters and the screams of hunters never stopped coming from outside.  

Listening to those sounds often sent chills down her entire body. 

Pure, instinctive terror.

So Hyejin deliberately installed speakers inside the store and played classical music at high volume.

“I never imagined you’d like this kind of music. Beethoven, Bach… I figured you’d be into something like trot or pansori.”

“What’s wrong with classical music? It’s a hundred times better than listening to the monster roars outside. Who was it that said we should make the hunters feel relaxed?”

At Hyejin’s pout, Asha spun around once in place and continued.

“If working alone is too hard, how about hiring part-timers? I told you from the beginning—running 24 hours straight is tough. Even if you say you’ll stay awake with the potions I give you…”

“Who was the one who said I just had to trust her? I thought you’d cover for me while I slept.”

Asha recalled their first meeting.  

Back then, Hyejin had looked like a tree about to collapse.  

So fragile that if no one caught her, she would simply disappear.  

And when Asha peeked into her heart, there was no will to live left.  

Yet at the same time, desperate cries of someone please save me echoed inside her.  

That was why Asha made the offer.

[If you run the convenience store for more than a year, I’ll awaken you as an SS-rank hunter. How’s that?]

“As you can see, with this body I can’t do your work for you. But I can give you the authority to hire part-timers. You’re the manager, after all.”

After a moment of thought, Hyejin spoke.

“I’d love to have part-timers. But… will anyone actually want to work under an F-rank hunter?”

“Why do you think no one would?”

“Because it’s the truth. This isn’t some normal city area—it’s a convenience store inside a dungeon, and I’m an F-rank hunter whose class isn’t even combat or non-combat. How many hunters would want to work under me? Regular people can’t even enter here.”

“You thought this whole thing was impossible at first too, yet here you are working. So you can’t say for sure no part-timers will come.”

“…Fine. If you’re so confident, tell me—how exactly are you going to find part-timers?”

“I already took care of everything. Even before you became manager, I scouted people who would be perfect for working at this store.”

“So you were planning to force it through no matter what I said.”

“If you really refused, I was going to persuade you. Oh, right—there’s one more thing I should tell you.”

“Something else?”

Asha looked at Hyejin with a triumphant expression and curled her lips.

“Your part-timer interview is today. His name is Lee Suho. He’s an SS-rank hunter.”

“What? Lee Suho? The Lee Suho I know?”

“I don’t know which Lee Suho you know, but there’s only one SS-rank hunter named Lee Suho.”

“The SS-rank Sword Master Lee Suho is coming here for an interview?!”

Hyejin asked in shock.

She couldn’t believe a top-ranker in the entire country was coming—for a convenience store part-time job, of all things.  

If Asha was telling the truth, that would make her—an F-rank—the employer of an SS-rank hunter.  

Which was equally absurd.

From what she’d glimpsed on SNS and hunter community forums, hiring an A-rank or higher hunter required at least 100,000 gold per hour.

Of course, that was for mercenary contracts, not convenience store jobs.  

If even A-ranks cost that much, how much would an SS-rank demand?

“Even if Lee Suho comes, I can’t pay an SS-rank salary. This store can’t afford 100,000 gold per hour no matter how hard we work.”

“Lee Suho isn’t coming for the money. He just wants to work here.”

“That makes no sense! Seriously, if the real Lee Suho walks in, I’ll bow to you a hundred times.”

At that exact moment, footsteps echoed through the quiet store—no hunters around.

Ding-ling.

The door opened.  

The heavy yet light footsteps stopped right in front of Hyejin and Asha.  

The owner of the footsteps looked at them.

“Good day. I’m Lee Suho, here for the interview scheduled today.”

“L-Lee Suho…-ssi?”

“Yes. May I give you my résumé now?”

You said today, but you never said he’d come right this second…!

Hyejin stared at the real Suho in stunned disbelief, alternating several times between him and Asha before finally extending her hand—asking for the résumé.  

Suho, looking slightly nervous, gave a small smile and handed it over.

“Th-thank you so much for coming, Lee Suho-ssi.”

As Hyejin spoke in a dazed voice, Asha whispered.

“Looks like I’ll get to see a human bow to a cat today.”

“Be quiet, Asha.”

Hyejin gritted her teeth at Asha, then turned to Suho with a kind smile.

“Could you please wait here just a moment?”

Suho nodded, and Hyejin hurried into the staff room with careful but quick steps. 

Only after his face disappeared from view did she finally feel a little calmer.

What in the world is going on?

She couldn’t hire him, yet she couldn’t send him away either.  

After agonizing for a long while, she finally looked down at the résumé he had given her.