Chapter 5: The Secret Behind the Convenience Store Goods

Lee Seungseok began hauling plastic crates from the truck into the store. 

The sight wasn’t unfamiliar, but the sheer volume was staggering.

A normal convenience store usually took in three or four crates at most.  

Of course, regular stores got deliveries twice a day—morning and evening—while this one only got them once a week, so the amount naturally differed.  

Even so, the mountain of crates Seungseok was carrying alone was overwhelming.

Hyejin double-checked the printed order list against the incoming goods. 

The list stretched past four pages.

“There’s… this much?”

Hyejin asked with a stunned face.

“Of course! This is nothing. When we first stocked this place, it was way crazier. But that ‘boss’ guy didn’t even blink. Come to think of it, he always had that super calm face.”

“I’m curious about this boss too.”

“What? Manager, weren’t you hired by him? He said he built the place himself but was looking for the right manager separately—said he’d find someone in about a week.”

“Well… I guess I was hired by the boss, technically.”

Hyejin shot another glance at Asha and thought to herself.

She had never heard that Asha could turn human.  

She had always been a cat the entire time they’d been together.  

So who exactly was this “boss”? Asha’s employer?

She puzzled over it for a moment, but no answer came.  

Giving up, she turned back to Seungseok.

“Aren’t you scared coming into the dungeon?”

“Hahaha, scared of what? Living as a powerless civilian is way scarier than entering a dungeon.”

“That’s true.”

Hyejin laughed and added,

“Anyway, Uncle, please take care of me from now on.”

“Sure, sure. I’ve pretty much unloaded everything. If anything’s missing or wrong, just call this number right away.”

He handed her a business card from his wallet.

The company name on it was Induk Trading.  

She had heard it on the news before.  

They had factories in Gyeonggi and Chungcheong provinces and were rumored to be going public soon.

A few months before the dungeon gates appeared, the manager at one of her old part-time jobs had said:

[If only we could get stock from Induk Trading. Their prices are cheap, and they never complain about returns even if we order the wrong stuff. Honestly, I don’t want slow-moving items—if they don’t sell, I end up paying for them myself.]

The president of that very Induk Trading.  

She hadn’t known until she saw the card, but this Uncle Seungseok was a big deal.

So why hadn’t he awakened as a high-rank hunter?

“Induk Trading is pretty famous, isn’t it? You could’ve awakened as a high-rank hunter…”

Hyejin said with genuine regret.  

Seungseok, already preparing to leave, answered casually.

“Famous or not, I guess I just didn’t make the top 10%. The IPO fell through too. Hahaha. Whatever, it’s in the past. I’m happy just doing this job now. See you—take care.”

“Ah, yes. See you in a week. Drive safe!”

“Will do, Hyejin-ssi. Oh, I’ll call you Hyejin-ssi from now on. Next time! Stay healthy.”

Seungseok waved, hopped into his truck, and—vroom—vanished along with it as if he’d never been there.

“Wow… that’s seriously amazing.”

“There’ll be plenty more amazing things from now on.”

Asha, now awake, spoke up.

“Oh, right—I forgot to mention. Once the convenience store levels up more, you can use the gold you earn to buy necessary supplies or any products you want to sell. Check your status window; the store level should be visible now.”

“What?! Why are you only telling me this now?”

Hyejin whined.  

Asha smirked slightly.

“I wanted to test you for a week. I was curious if you could really handle working here.”

“Wow, honored to have passed your test. So… let’s check the store level?”

She opened the status window.  

A new line she had never seen before appeared.

24-Hour Convenience Store Inside the Dungeon – Level 1

“Only level 1? Wait—what’s this? Convenience Store Manager Level? There’s one for me too?”

Below the store level, smaller white text appeared.

24-Hour Convenience Store Inside the Dungeon – Manager Level 1 (NEW!)  

Raised from Level 0 → Level 1 due to hiring a part-timer.

“Is the manager level different from the store level, Asha?”

“Yes. That one judges you personally. If you keep clearing quests smoothly, your manager level will rise too. Now go into the shop.”

“The shop?”

Hyejin looked at Asha in shock.  

She had heard on hunter community forums that hunters with proper classes had access to a personal shop where they could buy items or minor artifacts suited to them.  

But as an F-rank, no matter how much she poked around her status window, she had never seen anything like that.

Yet now she could use a shop.  

A new system message popped up as if proving Asha right.

Congratulations on reaching Manager Level 1.  

You may now use the Manager-Exclusive Shop.  

Open the Manager-Exclusive Shop?  

YES / NO

“See? Told you.”

“Show me the shop!”

Hyejin excitedly tapped the window.

The shop appeared, filled with things any convenience store would need: a water purifier, an all-purpose receipt organizer, a manual book for dealing with difficult customers, a supercomputer that handled ordering, instant-cooking machines for customers, and more.

“Whoa, I really wanted this! A pot that can cook anything?”

Pot That Can Cook Anything  

Allows you to cook and sell dishes at the convenience store.  

Capable of making any type of cuisine.

Requirement: Must have a part-timer capable of using the pot.

“I can cook too, you know.”

“That’s not what it means. You need a hunter who awakened as a chef class.”

Hyejin’s excitement deflated; she pouted.

“Then I can’t buy it right now? It’d be nice to offer soup or simple stew instead of just cup ramen inside the dungeon…”

“You could always hire a chef part-timer.”

“How am I supposed to find one right this second? Ugh, skipping this one… So the only things I can buy now are parasols and plastic chairs?”

In the past week of nonstop work, she had saved roughly 1 million gold.  

She had worried no one would shop here, but hunters kept coming out of curiosity about a convenience store inside a dungeon.  

Plus, she hadn’t slept at all—just worked—so the money piled up with no time to spend.

That was how she’d earned this much in just one week.

Convenience Store Parasol Table + 5 Plastic Chair Sets  

Price: 300,000 gold

“Perfect, buying these! Hunter-exclusive chairs and parasol tables!”

She pressed purchase.  

Clang, clang, clang—sounds came from outside, and in an instant the exact parasol tables and shiny plastic chairs from the shop image appeared.

Hyejin beamed at Asha.  

Asha looked unimpressed.

“Happy now? But we still have to put away the delivery first.”

“Oh, right. Gotta organize everything Uncle left.”

“Suho hunter comes tomorrow, so just push through today. Come on, let’s start.”

“Tch, fine. This much is nothing. If working like this makes me SS-rank, of course I can do it.”

Hyejin declared confidently while staring at the mountain of crates.

But that confidence lasted only a moment.  

Soon she let out a long sigh.

“There’s… seriously way too much. Hey, is there anything in the shop that helps with stocking?”

Too daunted to even start, she gave up and scanned the shop window again.  

Then her eyes landed on one unbelievable item.