NOTICE: Many of the novels have been removed because they might cause violations, which we were not aware of earlier.
Episode 146. It’s raining now, so let’s all go together (1)
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The process of returning to the store itself was uneventful. My sister woke up after resting for exactly 5 minutes and stared blankly at the ceiling. After a while, a part of the ceiling suddenly collapsed.
Upon examining the fallen ceiling structure on the floor, I saw that the pavement blocks were almost buried in the thick asphalt.
“What is this?”
“The U-shaped pavement block weighs about 3kg. It was made to be stretched appropriately so that it would collapse on its own.”
“Aha. Then, what is your weight in kg?”
“I don’t like kg, I’ll tell you kg/f right now. Come for a moment.”
I was about to ask if I could just run away for a bit, but I stopped myself. I walked over and stood next to my sister. She grabbed my shirt and trouser belt and asked the store manager.
“Sister. How many spells do you have left? Two?”
“Once. Should I use it now?”
“Don’t use it, sis. I used this to carry a whole truckload of eggs.”
I was about to ask how many eggs he broke while carrying that one truck, but my older sister cut me off in advance.
“I’ll make your way there comfortable, so just relax. Got it?”
“Hey, sir… .”
Immediately afterwards, my body shot up and I fell down, feet first, onto the pavement blocks of the street. It felt exactly like jumping off a jungle gym.
I looked around, holding my shaking legs with my hands. Although I couldn’t see the store, I saw some buildings that looked familiar. I remember it was about two blocks away from the store.
After that, the store manager, my older sister, the dog, and the old man escaped in that order. The store manager came to me and started hitting my thigh with his fist.
“Chan-i, are you okay?”
“well….”
“Can you walk by yourself?”
The old man asked me the same thing, perhaps because he was worried, but it wasn’t enough to require support. After taking a quick breath and looking up at the sky, I saw that it was still pitch black, but it wasn’t raining anymore.
The old man followed my gaze and looked up at the sky, then patted my back and spoke.
“Your companion will be happy.”
“yes….”
“Thanks, boss.”
He just nodded without answering. What do you mean by thanks? It’s just something we do to live well together.
From then on, I just walked back. Even though the rain had stopped, the water hadn’t completely drained, so by the time I got to the store, I had to walk through water that reached up to my knees.
When I got to the front of the store, I saw that the policeman had opened the front door wide and was carrying out sandbags one by one from inside.
Then he glanced at us, put down his sandbag, and saluted. After a while, he lowered his hand, looked at us intently, and asked,
“How is work going?”
“Uh… so-so.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“What? Why are there so many sandbags?”
“I’m currently clearing out what I’ve magically summoned and piled up in advance.”
To put it briefly, the rain started pouring down like a broken fire hydrant about 30 minutes ago. The rainwater was overflowing beyond the level that could be blocked by the table, and it even reached over my head.
That’s why they summoned a bunch of sandbags using magic spells prepared in advance to completely block the front entrance of the convenience store. After hearing it, my impression was that the situation was quite precarious.
I heard that if I hadn’t gotten rid of the nuke, the store and all the customers inside would have been washed away by the water. In the meantime, the rain got even worse.
“Oh, you’ve had a hard time too, officer.”
“It’s not hard. I do it often. Anyway… .”
He looked down at his hands, wet and wrinkled, and continued speaking.
“It seems like the rain has let up a bit now, so I’m planning on putting the sandbags back in.”
“Storage?”
“Yes. I need to stack them in one place so I can put them back on paper.”
It sounded like you could just put sandbags in and out of the notebook paper at will, but I couldn’t quite figure out how exactly that would work.
“And the two inside are safe. Lady Elena is resting in the office after spraining her ankle while helping carry the sandbags, and Lady Chihuahua is…”
“Hey!! Hey you salty bastard, hey!!”
A shout full of resentment is heard beyond the sandbag wall inside the main gate. Then a single word is added.
“Stop nagging and clean up quickly!! I think I’m going to die!!”
“You have been helping me since a while ago.”
It seems like he’s been holding out with super patience, but it’s been over 3 hours since he came here to go to the bathroom. Shouldn’t he get an endoscopy later?
He glanced inside the main gate with an expressionless face, one eyebrow slightly raised. I asked him out of curiosity.
“Are you planning on arresting that gentleman? For swearing and abusive language or something?”
“There are no cases of carrying out sentences through verbal abuse. However, there are crimes of insult and intimidation.”
“What the hell are you doing!!”
“is it so?”
“Yes. And in that case, I’m going to leave it at that. I don’t think he’s doing it out of spite. But still…”
After interlocking his fingers once, he looked at me and spoke.
“I would like to hear more details about the hacking incident at the Magic Bureau.”
“No, that wasn’t a joke?”
“I was joking. Well, I’ll get back to what I was doing.”
Then, a police officer enters the main gate and lifts a water-filled bag. Although I am not very strong because I have been leading the denuclearization movement, I have the experience of working in a field for several months…
“I’ll go help that officer, Lee Chan. You rest.”
“No, isn’t it hard, Sister?”
“I feel better after resting for 5 minutes. The old man is resting too. He was breaking a lot of rocks earlier.”
“No. I felt better after taking a short break.”
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After talking like this, the two of them headed towards the main gate together. Even though they told me to rest, it was a bit much to rest when everyone else was working… Ah.
“Manager, I’ll just make one phone call and be back.”
“Can I come with you?”
“Why? Just rest.”
“I have something to say to you too. To Chan-i Sa-su-bun.”
I guess he immediately noticed that I was trying to talk to the professor.
After saying that I understood, I walked a little way away from the store, wading through the water. I thought that there might be things that were difficult to talk about in a crowded place. There might be an embargo, for example.
I was a little worried whether the radio would transmit power or not, but even after going all the way to the bottom of the ocean and coming back, the LCD screen turned on just fine.
The phone seemed to be working fine. I put the phone to my ear and asked the store manager.
“Is this model by any chance a waterproof spell, sir?”
“Yeah. Mine is a regular model, so it’s broken.”
“Ugh… .”
“I’m not worried. Chan-i can fix it on his phone anyway.”
That’s right. After exactly four beeps, I heard some very lively voices on the other end of the line. When I listened carefully, I heard something along the lines of:
[ … all these things… came from there… . ]
[ Dispatch… What? Why is the truck in the water― ]
Next is the professor’s voice.
[ I’ll take care of it, so leave those piles of dirt alone. What’s going on? ]
“Before I tell you what’s going on, what’s that pile of dirt?”
[ Thousands of tons of dirt, pipes, and other things have appeared in the Magic Office parking lot. It’s my job, so don’t worry about it. ]
The tone was slightly irritated. I looked at the store manager wondering what was going on, but he avoided eye contact and started scratching the back of his head. Could this be… .
“… Do you have any guesses?”
“Okay. I’ll tell you when the time comes.”
[ So, what’s going on? ]
It seemed right to start with the good news. After thinking about it for a moment, I just said it straight out.
“I just got rid of the gate hack. What should I do now?”
[ … … What did you say? ]
“I said I got rid of it.”
After that, he asked for a very detailed explanation, so I explained it in more detail. After hearing that I should not be picky about the means and methods, I ran around on my own to find the key gate location, but when I found it, I found that there were exactly 3 hours left.
I tried to report it, but I couldn’t even make a phone call, so I went down there with the mindset of putting out the urgent fire first, punching the gate hack, and then got out. That was the end.
Even after saying everything, I felt uneasy because there was no response for a long time.
“I tried to speak first, but the signal was bad and I couldn’t get through on the phone. I managed to speak to the receptionist at the Magic Agency separately… .”
[ How did you do that? ]
“I did it by any means necessary. Did you not receive the message?”
[I haven’t received it yet. Based on the circumstances, it sounds like the dirt in front of the Magic Office is a byproduct of the escape process. Is that correct?]
I didn’t say anything about this part, but after hearing it, I became convinced that my guess was correct. The person who committed the crime added it as if making excuses.
“If you want to get rid of that dirt, you have to move it somewhere, Chan-ah.”
“Anyway, let’s say that’s the case. So?”
“That’s the only place I can think of that’s deserted and uninhabited. The Magic Agency parking lot is really big.”
“There’s a place like a sports field. We won’t be playing in this weather.”
“… But, but, the playground manager can’t use magic, right?”
It was obvious that it was an excuse that was hastily made, but I guess that’s what it was.
“It seems right. Can’t you treat this as something that doesn’t care about the means?”
[I asked because I wanted to know if this pile of dirt was an anomaly caused by the gate or not. I wasn’t trying to hold you responsible.]
“Then I don’t have to pay a fine for illegal dumping of waste?”
[ … I’ll just keep it to myself. So, I asked what I should do… ]
I like this gentleman’s pragmatic nature at times like this. Yes, it doesn’t matter where thousands of tons of dirt are piled up right now. It matters much more whether our store can do business right now or not.
[ … How did you report to the Magic Agency? ]
“I told him that I was going to deal with the key gate under the name of the shooter, and asked him to help me as much as he could, and asked for some budget.”
[ You did a good job of giving my name. Please wait until tomorrow morning for the personnel. The budget is for labor costs, material costs, consulting costs… ]
“What does it cost?”
[ Labor costs, material costs, consulting costs, etc. Please write down and submit the costs you incurred in removing the nuke as they come to mind. After reviewing, we will set a budget and submit it to you. Is there anything else? ]
There isn’t any right now. There isn’t any, but are you saying you’ll give me money?
[Then you won’t give it to me?]
“uh….”
[ I’ll come see you separately as soon as this matter is finished. Oh, and. ]
“And what?”
I waited to hear what he was going to say, but instead of hearing a voice, I heard a small clap on the other end of the line. Six times.
After that, the professor concluded his speech in a calm voice.
[Thank you for your hard work.]
Then the call suddenly ended, and I stared at the screen to see if I had heard correctly. Was this nitpicking guy clapping for me to see and hear? I can’t even see him.
“I was really impressed by that professor.”
“Hey, no way… .”
“That’s what I heard?”
It’s not a topic I want to think deeply about. There are other things that concern me more than this.
“This guy is offering us our money, so if we ask for the water damage to our store, will he accept it?”
“I don’t know. I was just thinking about the insurance company and the government providing subsidies….”
“Okay, I’ll try to bill you. Is there anything else you need?”
“Let me think about it. It doesn’t seem like it’s that urgent, so let’s go in and talk.”
Well, it’s a bit weird to be acting like this while carrying sandbags.
When I returned to the front of the store together with the store manager, the sandbag that had been blocking two-thirds of the main entrance was gone without a trace.
When I went inside, my older sister was lying down with her back against the counter, as if she had lost all strength, and the old man was in the middle of stretching his stiff shoulders.
First, I spoke to my older sister. It seemed like she was very knowledgeable about this.
“Sister. I was talking on the phone while you were carrying the sandbag.”
“Hey, it’s hard, can we do it later?”
“Just lie down and listen. This time, I got rid of the nukes, and if I ask the country, the professor will give me money. What should I do?”
After hearing this, my older sister slowly got up and spoke briefly.
“I have to ask each person individually. What do they need?”
“No, this isn’t a blank check, is it?”
“No, but it’s similar. I think they’ll accept anything unless it’s a really ridiculous amount.”
We handled the big stuff quickly and cleanly, and we didn’t do anything that would make people look bad.
He gave somewhat subjective reasons, but it sounded like he was saying that I needed to experience this myself. So let’s skip this one, but if you ask me… um…
“Excuse me, guests.”
It wasn’t pouring down rain anymore. I spoke just loud enough to be heard inside the store, then looked at each customer and asked them a question.
“They say the country will give us something for doing this. Do you need anything?”
When asked, the Chihuahua answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“Outline.”
“No, not that… .”
“Then just ask for some ramen, you piece of shit. I’m hungry because I didn’t eat breakfast.”
Either you’re hungry or you’re hungry, just do one of the two. Is this guy really hungry?
Even if it’s true that you have a stomachache, it’s not like they’re going to deliver it to you by drone right away. Also, isn’t it absurd to charge the government for a bag of ramen just because you skipped breakfast?
I wanted to, but when I thought about it, I was hungry too. I hadn’t eaten anything since I left the hotel yesterday morning, so I had been fasting for a full 30 hours.
“…what….”
Anyway, I’m done with work and it’s not urgent. I looked around the store and asked again.
“Is there anyone who would like some ramen? I have some saved up.”
Everyone raised their hands. Well, ramen is perfect on a rainy day.