Convenience Store Worker From Another World Chapter 14

Episode 14. The 2nd day of the Pyeondol (2)

There is a separate red report button in the corner of the convenience store POS machine. If you press and hold it for 3 seconds, it will automatically report to 112.

Also, I can only guess why the report button is on the POS machine, but I think it’s probably because the least suspicious thing a part-timer can do to a troublemaker is to touch the POS machine. If a guy who’s going to make troublemaker catches a glimpse of a part-timer and sees his hand under the counter, he’ll naturally be suspicious.

This was my first time seeing the report button in use, so I asked the store manager to confirm.

“Did you really call the police?”

“Don’t come. I pressed the button. If you report it as a joke, it’ll be a nuisance to the police.”

“No, I remember drinking before because I thought the real people were cute, so I’d just do whatever I wanted and send them back—when I was interviewing them.”

“Was it so?”

The store manager mumbled something vaguely, glanced at the bald elf’s expression, and answered.

“I can’t say this is cute, even as a joke.”

Me too. The elf’s face turned so red after hearing that the police had been called that it was hard to tell whether he was an elf or a big-eared Hongik human.

“What? Police? Nimmi, what did I do wrong to call the cops?!”

“That’s how it is. Oh, and don’t even think about leaving now. Your cursing and swearing were all recorded on CCTV, so if you leave, things will get worse.”

The elf, who heard the store manager’s sly words, seemed to have forgotten what he was going to say and just stuttered.

I admired it from the side.

Leaving the scene doesn’t make things worse. The police are unlikely to catch the person who caused the trouble and ran away, and they can’t do that.

If you were determined to catch them, you would have to start by looking through all the CCTV footage from the intersection in front of this place, and then draw a montage and spread it around. What police officer in the world would have the luxury of that? If their jurisdiction is an intersection in the city center, they would probably get dozens of calls a day.

That’s why the store manager brought it up on purpose. He said, “There’s evidence right here, so don’t run away.” If you think about it a little, you’ll know that it can’t be evidence, but if you had thought about it a little, you wouldn’t have thought about causing trouble here in the first place.

“You… you, sir… .”

“And you know that racist remarks are also subject to punishment, right? I recorded everything you said, so I’ll play it for the police when they come.”

“When did I say that! And you guys are the ones discriminating, you guys!”

“I guess the police will listen to that and make a decision. Oh, I don’t know. If you don’t get angry anymore and just stay quiet, I might soften my heart a little…?”

Anyone who looked at it could clearly see that he was trying to increase the drug. The elf was so angry that he looked like he was going to knock over the coffee machine behind him, but he didn’t do it.

I asked the store manager without telling the elf who was quietly grumbling.

“When did you finish recording?”

“I didn’t do it?”

Huh.

“I thought you recorded it with some kind of magic or something. It didn’t seem like you touched anything in particular.”

“I used magic.”

“When?”

“I made a drunkard behave with the push of a button. If that’s not magic, then what is?”

That’s right. I guess this neighborhood is also filled with mysterious powers in the three letters of the word ‘public authority.’

“And that elf, Chan, cursed at you.”

“I did.”

“I would have let it go if it had been normal, but I suddenly got angry when I heard that. Chan-i didn’t do anything wrong.”

I thought for a moment and then answered.

“What… It’s not like the trash being thrown into the trash can is the trash can’s fault.”

I, no. Pyeondol is not a drunkard’s emotional trash can.

It’s not that the swindlers don’t know how to curse or how to fight back, so they don’t curse back. The situation won’t get better if they curse face to face, and they have to get rid of the swindlers quickly and take care of other customers.

It’s not that I’m understanding, it’s just that I’m tolerating, but there are always those who see this and feel superior. Hey, I’m the customer and I’m the king! I can control the emotions of the pickpocket! I should throw the trash here!

That must be the way of thinking they’ve developed over the decades of their lives, so how can a mere idiot like me change that? That’s what I have to do.

That’s why I used the trash can metaphor, but the store manager looked really displeased.

“Don’t think like that, Chan-ah. A trash can….”

“I think that’s what the nobles who treat people like.”

“If that kind of customer comes again, well… just verbally reject them. If they bring up my story, tell them it’s the store’s business policy.”

“Really?”

“Then you’re not going to do it? The manager told you to do it.”

This is the same. If the store manager is being rude, the part-timers should be the ones to do it. What can be done?

“Not physically though. Because there’s a red line.”

“I don’t plan on throwing punches at a big Chihuahua or an elf. Would it be okay if I just took a moderate hit without affecting sales?”

“huh.”

After about 3 minutes of this, the police came.

“I have received your report.”

She seemed to be riding a motorcycle, and her helmet was overturned so I couldn’t see her face, but from what I could hear, she seemed to be a woman. Plus, there was a breathalyzer hanging from her waist. She must have come to crack down on drunk driving.

The first to speak was a middle-aged elf. He began to murmur his anger in a raised voice.

“Hey, police officer! These guys were the ones who were wrong first! I was just trying to buy a bottle of alcohol, but these guys won’t sell it to me right away. They said it’s because I’m a noble!”

“When did I ever say I was a nobleman…?”

“Don’t dodge!”

This little punk, putting a sheet of iron on his face is an art.

It seems that he realized on his own that there was no way it could have been recorded. In addition, the middle-aged elf went on and on about how much discrimination he received because he was an elf… .

He said he couldn’t get a job because he’s an elf.

Wherever you go, whenever something happens, you start to doubt yourself. Because you’re an elf.

That’s why life is hard. Because I’m an elf.

“So, uh! It was their fault, if you say it’s my fault, then the cops are being racist too!”

The elf in my imagination wasn’t like this. I tried to ask the store manager why such a sound was coming out of the elf’s mouth, but the manager just looked at the policeman with interest.

So I looked too.

The policewoman had just taken off her helmet, and her face looked very beautiful. What made me not sure was the feeling of being beautiful mixed with a sense of wear and tear.

Her skin was pale, but there were two dark circles under her eyes, and her pupils were green. Her hair color was also unusual; it was half blonde and half black, so it was hard to guess which color her original hair was.

Plus the biggest feature. This cop also had pointy ears.

“I’m sorry, but….”

The elf officer muttered quietly.

“Reverse discrimination is also racial discrimination. So please keep quiet.”

With those words, the middle-aged elf instantly became dumbfounded. The elf officer walked closer to the counter and asked quietly.

“This is Police Officer Iruel. Can I see the CCTV for a moment?”

“Of course. Can I help you with the operation?”

The store manager answered, but the elf officer shook his head.

“Just tell me the location.”

“It’s inside the office over there.”

“Thank you. Please follow me, sir.”

“Why me…?”

“If you do not comply with my request, I will file a case against you for obstructing official duties.”

This is a nominal thing, and probably intended to keep us and the middle-aged elves close.

The middle-aged elf followed the officer into the office with his head bowed as if he were tied up with some invisible rope, leaving only the manager and I in front of the cash register. The bald man was yelling so loudly that all the customers left.

Now I can finally ask you something.

“Store manager. In the neighborhood I live in, elves have an image of being noble and beautiful, but this doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“I guess it’s a very positive image?”

“Not necessarily. There is also an image of them being arrogant or having a bad personality.”

It’s half and half. In some media, it’s rude, and in some media, it’s kind and all.

“Well… it was noble and beautiful. In the old days.”

“I guess there was some kind of trigger.”

“Do you remember when I said there were few people in this world?”

“Yes. I remember.”

It was said that when a war broke out, dozens and hundreds of different races fought fiercely, and in the process, countless people died, so the population decreased.

“It was the elves who started that war.”

“uh….”

The store manager’s explanation afterwards was, as expected, ambiguous.

It was several decades ago that science in this world began to develop. It was humans who led the way, and it is said that most races accepted the technologies developed by the human race without much difficulty.

Because it was convenient. It was easier for the winged races to fly than to fly long distances for days, and the dwarves would have found that the quality of their work was much better in a modern workshop than in an old-fashioned forge.

While all the different races were adapting to the flow of the times, there was one race that didn’t like it, and that was the elves. They cleared the forests to build factories, and they dumped trash in the river, and that was something that the elves, a race that was friendly to nature, absolutely hated.

Eventually, the elves could no longer stand it any longer and decided to destroy everything that was harmful to the environment, including factories. The problem was that there were a lot of these elves.

“There were a lot of elves?”

“Yeah. This is just a guess, but I think there were probably as many as the number of trees planted in the world?”

I wondered if there was some kind of correlation between the two, but I listened to it anyway. Anyway, the elves push forward with their numbers in battles, and they also push forward with diplomatic relations between races with the power that comes from their numbers… .

This situation continued for several years, and the atmosphere became increasingly hostile until war broke out, and many of the different races were forced to choose between two options: either to follow the elves and maintain the status quo, or to follow the humans and develop.

The neon signs outside the intersection are a testament to how I came to that conclusion. Honestly, if I had to choose between a smartphone and a phone as a means of communication, I would definitely choose the former. How can I live without a phone?

“That’s why the elves became a minority while being a war criminal. They were severely oppressed right after the war ended, but recently that trend has lessened a bit. The elves are also reflecting a lot.”

“The elf who just showed his true colors doesn’t seem to be reflecting on his actions.”

“Well… there are some people like that. Since they’ve lived here for a long time, isn’t it hard for them to adapt?”

“I understand, but I don’t agree with it.”

It’s natural for someone who lived in a half-decade apartment to become twisted after being kicked out to a semi-basement. But, isn’t smoking a cigarette because they didn’t let you drink at a convenience store just a personality problem before considering the times?

“I don’t think all elves are like that. There are a lot of elves who try to adapt and change.”

“Like that officer who entered the office?”

“Yeah. I guess it took a lot of effort.”

“You definitely look tired.”

“Your hair color has bleached a lot, it’s black. It’s because you’re so stressed out.”

The question that was lingering for a while has finally been resolved. The default is gold, and when stressed, it turns black. If it gets any worse, you’ll go bald like that real elf.

“Confirmation complete.”

The officer came out of the office as if the CCTV inspection was just finished. The middle-aged elf looked even more mortified, and it seemed that the excuses he made when he went inside were not working.

“For now, we will take these two together. The level of punishment will likely be decided after hearing the circumstances.”

“You must be having a hard time.”

“Otherwise… I will take measures to restrict access.”

After that, he takes out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, looks at them, and closes them again. After sighing softly.

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

He saluted and left with the bald elf. After checking the time, he asked the store manager.

“Manager, it’s time to leave work.”

“Uh… Ah, it’s already 10:10. I forgot to count the money and cigarettes, so I’ll just count those and go.”

“I’ll do it. You must be sleepy.”

Anyway, after I finish my shift, I have to count my money and get a cigarette check. There’s no need to do the work twice.

“Um… Then I’ll leave work for now. If there’s any problem, let me know.”

“yes.”

And then the store manager left work. Now I was left alone in the convenience store.

Oh my, I’m already mentally exhausted because I received the news before work even started. I know the news won’t come, but I hope no weird guys come for at least an hour or two…

As I was thinking about it, my first customer arrived. It was a familiar face.

“f*ck, where’s the toothpaste?!”