Convenience Store Worker From Another World Chapter 122

Episode 122. The Last Squirrel Thunder of the 2-Year-Old Rat (3)

* * *

My sister explained that this core gate is not very dangerous. The problem is that it is a gate that calls gates, and it is unclear what form it will take.

“Some cracks are as big as a playground, some have themes that extend beyond the gate, and some just have the gate core sticking out without any internal space… What else is there?”

What is this? Is something big coming? Is something really big coming??

“So, if there’s a volcano inside the gate, could it really erupt outside?”

“If all the different races in that area lose their luck at the same time, then that’s possible. Anyway.”

My sister picked up the pen again, drew a circle around the triangle, and then tapped the pen tip hard as if she was annoyed.

“A gate can come out anywhere inside this circle, and inside that, the core gate can come out. Well, that’s it.”

After finishing her speech, my sister put the pen back in her pocket, took out her smoking pipe, and started twirling it around in her hand. It wasn’t that she had nothing to explain, but rather that she didn’t feel like talking anymore.

Of course I understand. I worked full-time until 10 PM the next day after working all night for five days, and now I have to work all night again starting tomorrow? I also overturned a desk in my office.

“Should I at least try to console you?” While she was thinking about it, the old man leaned over and spoke to her.

“Yoon Ha. You said that the circle you just drew encompasses the academy district, the forest park, and the citizen’s park below.”

“Yes. Do you have any further questions?”

“I have no questions… it’s just that my home is within this circle.”

“ah.”

“My partner must be sleeping by now.”

The house where the old man lives seemed to be somewhere within the circle that my sister had drawn. The old man’s face as he asked my sister was very serious.

There was also some worry. It seemed like he was very worried about his partner. While he exchanged awkward glances with his older sister, he quietly adjusted his hat and stood up.

“I need to stay with my partner tonight. Thank you for letting me know in advance, Miss Yoon-ha.”

“Rather, I should be the one who feels sorry. I made you worry in advance. I could ask another office to keep an eye on you, but would you mind?”

“No. What I have learned is enough.”

He touched the wrist of his suit once more and spoke to me in a subtle way.

“Thank you for today, boss.”

“That’s… yes. Me too.”

Rather, I was going to say, “Thank you for listening to me, little one,” but I stopped myself. I thought the elders would not like me mentioning personal matters in front of my older sister.

My older sister is probably confused too, but I think she’ll get even more confused if she hears something like that.

“I’ll come back later.”

The old man said his final goodbyes and left, leaving me alone with my older sister. When the front doorbell stopped ringing, my older sister asked me.

“How did you meet that old werewolf?”

“Because he’s a regular at our store.”

“A regular? Doesn’t that person seem like a simple civilian?”

In fact, it’s true that he’s not just a civilian. He’s a super civilian.

Looking back, it seems like there aren’t many ordinary people among the regulars of this store. A pharmaceutical company succubus looking for true love, a coding Chihuahua, a pure-blooded dragon kid, and a chronically fatigued elf officer.

Plus, there’s a Pomeranian that’s hard to call a guest or a normal ‘person’… Ah.

“What happened to Puppy? He missed the right time to ask for water because he was watching the store get destroyed.”

“He’s… okay? I made a place for the two of you to talk without worrying about what the other races think…”

Since they left for work early in the morning, I don’t know what they’re doing at this hour. But from my sister’s perspective, it looks like the two of them have a lot to talk about.

“I saw the puppy ask, ‘Master, please teach me. How should I train to fly?’”

“That horse can kick anyone with its hind legs. But the dog didn’t get kicked?”

“That’s not true. He must be surprised that you understand what he’s saying.”

From what I’ve heard, it doesn’t seem like Puppy will ever become a star in the sky or get a horseshoe tattoo. I don’t know how things will turn out, but I hope he doesn’t get hurt.

After talking up to this point, my older sister took her phone out of her pocket and checked it.

He doesn’t show it, but his eyes are half-open and he looks really tired. I think it’s time to wrap things up and send him off.

“Sister. Do you think something will happen around here again?”

“It won’t explode. The gate should have been closed by now. So I don’t think it’ll explode… .”

As he was talking, something came to his mind, and he started to lament his situation as soon as he stretched.

“Oh, I don’t know! Even if it explodes, the other office guys will do it. I really don’t know. I haven’t slept even 10 hours this week.”

“You have a good mind. If you don’t have anything to do, why don’t you just go inside and sleep? You need to sleep, right?”

“Yeah. You should get some sleep now—”

-Wooooow.

Before I could finish speaking, my sister’s phone started vibrating. My sister took the phone out of her pocket, checked it, and frowned.

“… Ha, sir… .”

“What does it say?”

“There’s a fire on the street near my office. The person on duty is crying and making a fuss with emoticons.”

“Isn’t it your job to turn off the lights?”

“That fire is going into the car right now and throwing it away.”

That would definitely be something to cry about. I was going to ask if the car that was thrown was a compact or an SUV, but my sister spoke first.

“They said all the guys from the office are out on site. I guess I should go and check.”

“No, I didn’t know that even 10 seconds ago, and I said I wouldn’t do it… .”

“This is a different office area in name only, but the area in front of my office is really my office area. Anyway, you, Lee Chan.”

After blocking out even the slightest attempt to argue, he continued to speak. My sister’s first words were, “Don’t mention the conversation we had today anywhere.”

“I don’t have anyone who would do it even if I told them to. But why is that?”

“That’s because it’s embargoed. As I said before, it’s all speculation.”

Wow, I’ve really made it. A guy who’s spent his whole life complaining about the news has a good friend who lets him hear embargoed content in advance. I asked him one thing.

“What should I do with the store manager? The store I paid money to open is about to be sucked into a time-space storm. Shouldn’t the person in question know that?”

“… to my sister… .”

My sister’s reaction is that, regardless of the embargo issue, she felt it was difficult to tell the store manager. But she still told him.

“You speak better. I’ll go.”

“One more thing before you go, sis.”

“What kind?”

“Why did you tell me or your elders something that would be embargoed?”

When I asked, my older sister smiled bitterly as if to ask what I was talking about. She seemed to think for a moment with her bitter smile on, and asked me this question.

“Do you prefer to suffer without knowing that something is inevitable, or to suffer knowing that something is inevitable?”

He answered right away.

“Knowing it and not being affected.”

“I said it because I thought it would be like that. We’re not strangers. I’m going.”

Before I could even respond, he got up and left. I followed him, thinking I should at least see him off, but he had already disappeared.

So I was left alone. I briefly wondered how he had disappeared in a street without any taxis or buses, but then I gave up. I guess he must have gone somewhere.

There was also a lot of work to be done right away. I had to finish cleaning up the milk stains that I had just wiped away, and I had to check to see if there were any more broken places…

Gate. Is it okay to call the store manager right now?

I quickly came to a conclusion about this. Wake up someone who is sleeping and say, ‘The store was destroyed once, but I fixed it~’ and see if they can sleep well.

* * *

This time, there were no customers until 7:30 in the morning. It is not ordinary for a record to be broken in two days.

In fact, the street appearance has changed significantly. The number of cars passing by has decreased noticeably, not to mention pedestrians. The streets were always filled with the sound of horns, but now even the sound of car exhausts has become faint.

I checked the reason myself. It was because the number of customers had decreased to the point where I had time to turn on the news during commuting hours.

[The first incident of gate trouble in the school district in years. I went out onto the streets to ask the residents for their opinions.]

[ “I didn’t live here many years ago. To be honest, I feel uneasy… but I still have to work.” ]

[ “This is really a big deal. I have to send my son to a private academy too… ” ]

[ Blocks B to D in the academy district are still temporarily closed, and the Board of Education is considering expanding the school closure to all blocks soon… ]

[Even though the Association and the Magic Agency stated their position, saying, “This is only a precautionary measure,” the citizens’ anxiety is not subsiding at all.]

I turned up the volume of the news with the intention of reducing the volume when a claim came in, but no one said anything. In fact, there were more cases where people listened to the volume of the news.

“The payment is complete, sir. Would you like me to serve it to you?”

“Ah… no. It’s okay.”

Kobold, a retriever who had been listening to the news, answered almost reflexively and ran out carrying about eight bottles of PET drinks. It seemed like he didn’t listen properly and just answered.

I sent it off while paying attention to the customers who were listening to the news in this way… .

At around 9 o’clock, I checked the cigarettes and cash as I always did. It didn’t even take 3 minutes to check everything. I only had two packs of cigarettes, and I paid with cards, no cash.

After finishing, there were about 50 minutes left. I turned on the news again and looked outside.

The news just kept repeating the same story: Everyone be careful.

The streets are still the same. Even after 9 o’clock, there used to be a few cars driving around, but now there’s nothing. There’s only the indifferent sunlight.

And I, it wasn’t the same. The sense of foreboding was building up little by little. It wasn’t a sense of foreboding about when and what truth would come to torment me.

Whether it’s big or small, it feels like something bad is going to happen sooner or later… .

“Chan-ah!”

The store manager appeared with the sound of the front door opening and the front door bell ringing.

“Sorry I’m late, the bus just won’t come no matter how long I wait today!”

As soon as I entered, the store manager came walking briskly and made an apologetic expression. After hearing what he said, I checked the time and it was 10:02. It wasn’t that late, was it?

“Has the bus frequency been reduced? Because of the gate?”

“When I checked the navigation, it said that only 3 cars were running instead of the usual 8. So I took a taxi, but I’m a little late. I’m really sorry…”

“What? I’ll be two minutes late too. Do you want to hand over the work right away?”

“No, let’s get Chan ready to leave work first. It’s late.”

This is roughly how I go about leaving work across the world. After making sure there are no customers, I close the curtains, lock the front door, and then I operate the switch to teleport. That’s it.

It takes about 5 minutes. I don’t care if I get off work at 7 or later, but the store manager looked so apologetic that I just let it be.

So, draw the curtains, close the front door, and lock it.

While the store manager was going inside the counter, I turned my back to the main entrance and just stared at the dairy section. Come to think of it, two cartons of milk had burst during the night. I need to hand over this too.

I waited for a minute like this, but the feeling I felt every time I teleported didn’t come. When I looked back, I saw the store manager just looking down at the bottom shelf where the switch was.

“What’s going on?”

There was no answer to the question at all, but the expression on his face was unusual. It was as if something completely unexpected had happened.

There was a couple more clicks of a switch, and after a while the store manager himself ran out of the store and raised his hand.

-Exactly.

The sound of fingers snapping. But there was no response. The store manager, who had been raising his hand stiffly, slowly lowered his hand and looked back at me.

He bit his lower lip and spoke with a trembling voice.

“… That, Chan-ah.”

“yes.”

“Sorry. I don’t think I can let Chan leave work today….”