Convenience Store Worker From Another World Chapter 52

Episode 52. Practical rehearsal (4)

Hair growth was just the beginning.

At the same time, his entire forearm began to grow larger. The bulging muscles covered the protruding tendons, and his once well-manicured fingernails grew into those of an animal… .

The arm that had stopped changing was too big to be called an arm. He turned his arm covered in stiff silver-white fur over and over, and when he saw my face, he must have thought, “Oh no,” and immediately added,

“Ah. Sorry if I surprised you.”

If there had been a shotgun on the counter, I might have taken it out right away. First, let me catch my breath… .

“Is that… okay? Your arm?”

I asked him if he had been going through severe growing pains, but he just smiled faintly and continued drinking.

“It’s not dangerous. As long as I don’t swing it.”

This wasn’t the answer I wanted to hear, but I figured it was okay. So let’s move on, and since this old man didn’t even recite any spells or anything…

“What you just showed me isn’t magic, is it?”

“Yes. It is my constitution, and I can control it as I wish.”

“Are other werewolves able to do that too?”

“That’s not necessarily true.”

It is said that most werewolves cannot change their arms like this. So, it is only possible for a few with severe ‘symptoms’.

“Nowadays, thanks to the advancement of technology, the severity of symptoms is not a big issue… but in the past, there was no such thing, so some people like me had to work hard to suppress their overflowing nature. This is a byproduct of that effort.”

It’s like the story that I had to put in the effort because I had no choice but to do it, and then I was able to do it. I asked because I thought it would be a good idea to try it if it was the kind of effort I could make.

“What specific efforts did you make?”

“Um. Among the things I used to do… Ah. First, I put shackles on my ankles.”

“Chains?”

“Yes. Something as solid as possible. After that, you hold on to the freshly slaughtered raw meat just within arm’s reach. Until the pain of the chains digging into your skin becomes greater than your boiling instincts.”

“uh….”

I asked for nothing.

“That’s generally how it was, but I don’t think this is a story I should tell the boss… .”

The old man also laughed heartily and squeezed and pulled the hand that had turned into that of an animal a few times. Then, the arm and claws that had grown slowly shrank and returned to their original form.

After that, he filled his wristwatch with his familiar movements and continued speaking.

“With that constitution, what would you like to do, sir?”

“Uh… Are you getting a certificate?”

For now, yes. Let me answer. The old man smiled bitterly and added.

“It’s not about what you have to do, it’s about what you want to do.”

“yes?”

I don’t really understand the meaning. Let’s leave it all aside…

“Does that matter?”

“In my case, it was like that. For example.”

When the old man was young. That is, during the Great War, there was no need to control his constitution. It is said that the fighting power of a werewolf that greeted the full moon was equivalent to that of a company.

“Elder, were you active in the military during the old war?”

“It was a special unit. However, if I were to talk about that time, it would take an entire night. So.”

Anyway, the war ended with the elves’ defeat, and law and order were established, forcing the werewolves to find other ways to relieve their instincts. But how could there be such a thing now that the war was over?

Since there was no one to tear and tear at, they had to find a way to suppress their instincts instead of releasing them. It was also during this time that the old man tried to control his own constitution.

“At first, I also approached it with the determination that ‘I have to do it.’ I have to adapt to a new world, things like that. But… .”

“yes.”

“The more I thought about having to do it, the more difficult it was to control myself. If I had to use a metaphor, I felt like I was actually destroying myself with my obsession.”

It’s not like there were any guidelines for suppressing one’s constitution, so most werewolves suffered greatly during this time. Of course, doing something you’ve never done before isn’t easy.

“But you found a way, sir.”

“Yes. Rather than finding a way… there was an opportunity.”

“What’s the occasion?”

The world has become such that if you rip and tear someone apart, you’re in big trouble, so you shouldn’t do that. I thought that would be enough of a trigger… .

“Because the child was born.”

He added a moment later.

“It was a daughter.”

After hearing it, I couldn’t help but be convinced.

“aha.”

“When I hold my daughter in my arms, this thought comes to me more than anything else. I want to hold her in my arms at all times, not with the arms of an animal, but with my whole arms.”

“Are you that successful?”

“Yes. At the first full moon, it was only the upper body.”

After that, the old man’s constitution improved day by day as his daughter reached 100 days, took her first steps, and looked at him and called him ‘Dad’.

The time when control was completely successful was the full moon of the month when the second child was born. It was a son. The old man who had been speaking up to this point had somewhat sentimental eyes, but he quickly withdrew his expression and ended his speech.

“That was the trigger for me. I wanted to do it, and so I was able to do it.”

“yes….”

“So, if the CEO has the opportunity and something he wants to do, he can do it. That’s what I was thinking when I brought up the story… I’m sorry it was a bit long.”

“What do you have to be sorry about?”

It didn’t feel that long, and it was dozens of times more impactful than the advice that my efforts were lacking. Isn’t it advice based on experience? The problem is how I should take this advice… .

“Ugh, my head… .”

While I was thinking, I heard a weak voice behind me. When I turned around, I saw the girl who had been lying face down, grabbing the back of her neck and shaking her head, and she was getting up awkwardly.

“Are you coming to your senses now?”

“What nonsense are you talking about….”

He muttered with a dazed expression, then looked at Seol-nyeo sitting next to him and immediately distorted his face. As he raised his arm, heat began to spread around his outstretched arm.

The lights were about to break in the flames. It was not a situation where I could hesitate, so I instinctively grabbed his arm.

“Oh, shit! Why are you fighting as soon as you open your eyes?!”

“Don’t interfere! I’m going to pull out this thieving cat’s hair right now….”

I could feel the strength in the arm that was holding me, and I could see him clenching his fist. It seemed like he was trying to fan the flames, but not even a single aura appeared, let alone a flame.

“What, why aren’t you coming out?”

I guess it’s because I’m holding on. I thought, “That’s right,” and put strength into the arm I was holding on to, but he looked at me with a bewildered face and started making noises.

“You, you did it? What did you do to me?!”

“The fire is being put out. If you want to fight, just slap each other or something. Are you really doing this because you want to eat rice and beans?”

“I told you not to interfere?! Let go of this, profit…!”

I struggled as if trying to shake it off, but my strength wasn’t that strong. While I was wondering if it was right to just throw it like that, Seolnyeo, who had come to her senses belatedly, looked up at the two of us struggling.

“you.”

The expression that had been relaxed quickly turned into anger on his face. Hey, you too?

“you…!”

He jumped up from his chair, making it rattle, and quickly created several ice cubes by his head. He then bit his lower lip and aimed the ice cubes at me…

“Please calm down.”

I instinctively looked at the place where the old man had been sitting, but I could only see a vague afterimage. The old man approached Seol-nyeo from behind and touched her neck with the heel of his hand, and Seol-nyeo immediately fell to her knees.

He approached me, holding the snow woman close to his side… … .

“You too.”

He reached out to the girl’s neck and pressed his thumb firmly against her Adam’s apple. The strength in his arm that had been holding her went away, and she fell to her knees with her head bowed.

“Ugh.”

Unlike Seol-nyeo, who had completely fainted, he seemed to still be conscious. The old man knelt down in front of him and spoke in a whisper.

“Youth is a blessing, my lady. But… .”

“what….”

“If you wish to waste your blessings on hurting other races, I may resort to harsher methods. For your sake, too.”

Her expression was kind, but her eyes were so sharp that it was hard to look at them. When the flower girl took a deep breath and nodded, she finally opened her eyes and looked up at me.

“You said you didn’t want to talk?”

“yes.”

There are many things in the world that are much better left ignorant of, and I think that a love quarrel is one of them. He pointed at the flower girl with his finger and asked.

“How many minutes will it take this time?”

“If you’re talking about controlling your body, you’ll be able to walk around fully in 30 minutes.”

I don’t want to leave her alone for another 30 minutes. I don’t want to give her another 30 minutes. I crouch down next to the flower girl and try to speak to her.

“You seem to have difficulty walking. Should I call a designated driver for you?”

The old man nodded silently, as if he had lost his sense of humor. This is the creative economy. The old man nodded as if he understood right away, and the woman hugged him to her side.

“I guess I should go soon.”

“Okay, come here often from now on. I’ll leave some cigarette packs with the pictures still intact.”

“Huh, you don’t have to go that far… .”

“Don’t drink too much. I need to give you some advice too.”

I would like to buy you a box of fatigue recovery supplements, but I don’t think you’ll accept them. Anyway, this is how the old man left… .

I was left alone again. I returned to the counter with the watermelon jelly container I had left on the table, and thought back to the advice I had heard. A clear purpose. A trigger. It could be a small trigger or a grand trigger… .

If there is a chance, there is. Eating well and living well. I have never done that in my entire life.

I’m doing this because I’m afraid I won’t be able to do it. If I can’t do this, I’ll mess up my practical skills, and if I mess up my practical skills, I won’t be able to get a license… If I don’t get a license, it’ll be harder and harder to stay here.

That’s all. I don’t want success or personal glory. I don’t even know what that is. So, can’t you just listen to me and eat it? My body?

I rolled the jelly while thinking, but it just kept rolling. Well, I don’t know what it means to eat well or live well, let alone achieve success or fame.

* * *

No matter how much I think about it, I still don’t know what I want to do and what I should use as an opportunity.

For example, I would submit my resume to the hospital saying, “I’m a counter-magic specialist,” or I would look into my older sister’s hunter work in more detail. Even if I didn’t know what it was, I thought I could at least make a lot of money.

Of course it didn’t go well. If you were so desperate for money that you had to do something you didn’t even know how to do, you should have gone out on a shrimp boat a long time ago. Why would you be doing this here?

I thought about giving up and finding another way, but it didn’t seem like a good idea would come to mind. So I had no choice but to dig one well, and of course, no water came out… .

It’s already 9 o’clock in the morning. Saturday, May 7th.

It was a perfect spring day, and the sun was warm and there was not a single cloud in sight. Since it was the weekend, there were no office workers, so my body was comfortable, but my mind was not at all like that. That was because there was no progress at all.

There’s just one hour left until the store manager comes. There are nine hours until the practical exam.

At this point, rather than thinking about what I wanted to do, I kept thinking of excuses to make to the store manager.

The more I thought about it, the more my head started to hurt, so I just laid down on the counter with my forehead pressed against it. If I rested like this for 10 minutes, something would come to mind… .

“Mister.”

A familiar, clear voice came to my ears. I raised my head and saw familiar amber eyes peering at me. The little girl greeted me first.

“It’s been a while, sir.”