Convenience Store Worker From Another World Chapter 150

Episode 150. Everything has a cause and effect (2)

* * *

I chatted with the store manager about this and that while pulling up the window curtains.

“I’ve actually been curious a lot, Chan-ah. Is there really a world where there are no other races besides humans? Is there really no magic? If there really is no magic, how do they live without it? And.”

“yes.”

“There are so many people here, but why is it that only Chan-i can see this place and come and go? Can other people see the store besides Chan-i? Can they communicate with each other?”

“Ugh… .”

“And, also… .”

In fact, it was more like I was quietly listening to the manager’s list of curiosities rather than a conversation. He kept talking nonstop for about three minutes while the curtain was down, and he only finished talking when he went inside the counter.

“It sounds like it would be a lot of fun.”

I can tell you this for sure: It’s not fun.

The world, which was already boring, has become even more boring since Corona covered half of people’s faces. I thought about whether to say this for a moment, but then stopped.

The store manager’s eyes were sparkling like a child whose turn it was to ride a roller coaster. Yeah, there’s no reason to spoil it just because it’s a boring movie…

“If the news is true, there won’t be any customers this morning, so now is the chance.”

“Isn’t it a crisis?”

“They say a great leader is someone who turns a crisis into an opportunity, so I’ll try saying it differently. I’ll press the switch now, Chan-ah.”

I quickly turned my back and looked up at the ceiling. The floor and ceiling of the store shook slightly and then stopped, and a few seconds later, I heard the sound of the blinds being pulled up.

“The weather here is really nice. There’s no fog at all.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. It’s really sunny.”

I turned around and looked outside the store window with the blinds drawn. Just as the store manager had said, it was sunny without a single trace of fog. The sky was a bright blue without a single cloud.

As always, it is a deserted street lined with trees. There is not a single building being built within a 100m radius, and only occasionally do you see a stray car or two wandering around.

To me, it’s just an ordinary countryside, but the store manager is staring out the window with his hand on the front doorknob. What’s so strange about that?

Then he looked up at me and asked.

“Is there anything I should be careful about when going out? Or anything I should prepare?”

“Uh… real estate fraud, voice phishing, and solicitation of membership in a pseudo-religious group?”

“That’s exactly the same as where I live. Is there anything else?”

“Not really. I just came without thinking much about it, and left without thinking much about it.”

“Then I guess I should try it without thinking too much.”

Then, the store manager took two steps back and tried to leave the store naturally, as if he were going to or from work. He pulled the door open and tried to leave the store…

“Ouch.”

I hit my forehead against something invisible.

“Are you okay, manager?”

“Ouch….”

I didn’t hear any sound of impact, but it must have hurt a lot to have hit something like that, so I hesitated and held my forehead with both hands. What the hell was blocking it?

I stretched my hand out the open door, and my hand went in and out without any obstruction. The store manager approached me again with tears in his eyes, and put his palm under the spot where I had stretched my hand.

The store manager’s palm was the boundary line between the inside and outside of the store, and he couldn’t go any further. Even if he put all his weight on it and pushed with his shoulder, it was the same.

“… … .”

The store manager, who had been struggling for a while, took his hand off and muttered while placing both palms on the boundary.

“…What is the reason?”

“Store manager.”

His expression was slightly stiff, as if he was in a mood to joke around. He crossed his arms without answering and looked outside, then immediately took two sheets of paper from the counter.

“I’ll just try this one, Chan-ah.”

“yes.”

As I answered, I immediately crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it outside the front door. The paper flew in a parabolic arc and landed on the sidewalk beyond the open front door.

The store manager, who had been staring blankly at the back of the paper, crumpled up the remaining sheet in the same way and snapped the fingers of his right hand against the ceiling.

Then he threw the paper again, but this time, instead of flying in a parabolic direction, it flew straight. Then, when it reached the boundary line… .

It fell to the floor, blocked by an invisible wall. After picking up the fallen piece of paper, he ran his finger along the invisible wall and told me the results of his experiment.

“It seems like anything with magic power can’t get out of here.”

I see it that way too. The unenchanted side came out without any resistance, while the enchanted side fell down as if blocked by something.

All living beings in this world have magical powers within their bodies. I asked the store manager.

“Can you guess why?”

“well….”

“So it’s not possible to temporarily eliminate the magical power within the body or something like that?”

“Yeah. I can’t do that either.”

“In what way?”

“The less magical power you have, the worse it is for your body. If you lose all magical power, then… .”

The store manager kept talking. I didn’t ask him what would happen next. At the very least, I don’t think I’ll ever invite anyone to my house again.

I was about to quietly go outside to pick up the scrap paper, when the store manager muttered something in a barely audible voice.

“It’s a shame. I wanted to go to Chan’s house once.”

I don’t know what the store manager was expecting from the world I live in. As someone who has lived there for 29 years, I found it to be a boring and ordinary world with no particular characteristics.

But I could tell that the store manager was more disappointed than he could express in words. The atmosphere was awkward, so I quickly changed the subject.

“Do you want to go back?”

“No. Since I’m already here, I’ll stay a little longer and then go.”

He looks at my shoulder as he speaks. He is standing with half of his shoulder sticking out into my world because I stopped while trying to pick up the paper that fell outside.

My body is straddling the line between a world with magic and a world without. As I try to pull myself out, something comes to mind.

“Hey, store manager.”

“huh.”

“Can I hold your hand for a moment?”

He reached out his hand without hesitation at my words. He took my hand and walked cautiously out of the convenience store. The hand of the store manager that he was holding passed through the wall that separated the two worlds… .

Came out.

I took a few more steps, leading the store manager who had a surprised expression. When I walked all the way to the sidewalk and looked back, the store manager’s body was completely out.

Just in case I let go, I grabbed the store manager’s hand with my other hand. The store manager looked around with his hand still held and muttered just one word.

“oh.”

The store manager’s hair swayed in the wind. He looked up at the sky and closed his eyes tightly, as if they were dazzling, and lowered his head again. I tried to explain as clearly as possible why he had attempted such an attempt.

“The manager made me some medicine on my first day on the job. It was a sleeping pill.”

“… Ah. Right. Was the medicine okay?”

“Yes. It was fine. I didn’t think much of it when I brought it out….”

The store manager just threw the paper, and the store manager’s hand was blocked. After seeing this, I had this thought. Maybe my constitution played its role in some way back then.

“Before I left work, you told me this. This constitution allows me to move as I wish, as I wish.”

“I remember that too.”

“So I gave it a try. So, what do you think?”

“here?”

“Yes. It won’t be much different, right?”

If you drive an hour out of the other world, there are plenty of places that look similar to this place. The only difference is that while they’re currently covered in dark clouds, here the weather is clear.

“There’s really nothing in this neighborhood. The place where students hang out the most is the PC room, but there are no people in the neighborhood, so there are only flies flying around―”

“It’s okay. The weather is nice. The air is clear.”

“That’s the only advantage. It’s a rural area.”

“This is fine, I guess.”

I knew it was something I liked. Anyway, I didn’t let go of his hand.

Even if I somehow managed to get past that wall, there’s no guarantee that things will be the same when I let go. The sleeping pill was just a pill, but the store manager is a living person.

So I just held his hand and waited for him to look around enough to satisfy him. Only when the sweat on my hands started to cool did the manager open his mouth.

“… while living.”

“yes.”

“Once, I wished to be in another world. I really did.”

“why?”

“Just. When will I ever get to experience something like this?”

If that’s the goal, I think there are plenty of better guides than me. If I could handle this body a little better, I could take you a little further… .

This is the limit for now. Just walking four steps from the convenience store, I can show you how remote I live.

It’s like this for now, but I’ll go a little further later. I have to grant the wish of my boss who pays my salary, but what can I do?

“Do you still want to go to my house, sir?”

“I want to go. Will you take me?”

“No. I’m so scared I might lose my hand, so please go in first, manager.”

* * *

Back at the store, we re-adjusted what we had already agreed on. Next time, let’s come back more prepared and at a more appropriate time.

“We can’t ride the subway or bus while holding hands, so let’s come back later when we’re sure, store manager.”

“When Chan-i gets better at handling his constitution?”

“Yes. I’m not sure when that will be, but….”

“Anytime is fine. We’ll be seeing each other for a long time.”

As she spoke, she wiped the sweat off her skirt. Even though it was only a three-step outing, the fact that she had come out was important, as the regretful feeling from earlier had completely disappeared.

He grabbed the blind cord and tried to lower it, but then stopped and spoke as if something had occurred to him.

“And, I learned one thing from this experience.”

“Uh… Are you talking about this invisible wall in front of here?”

“Yeah. Chan-i, have you ever erased anything other than magic in your life?”

None. If it was a family overdraft account, I’ve tried to erase it like crazy, but it’s my constitution and if I grind it in a blender, it somehow gets resolved, right?

“I can’t really think of anything… .”

“Then let’s say it’s magic. Chan-i held my hand and we went through that wall together. Then, can’t this also be considered magic?”

It was a somewhat far-fetched conclusion. I think it was something more magical than magical, something that knew the existence of two worlds and had nothing to do…

“If you’re talking about God, I don’t think so.”

“Are you sure about something?”

“If this was something involving God, he would have definitely brought us together sooner.”

“… … .”

“If I were God, I would do that.”

I have been saying this with the utmost seriousness, but I cannot say anything back because I did not think about it as seriously as the store manager. I just accepted it.

“What… What’s the point of meeting now?”

“Does Chan-i believe in God?”

“It’s half and half. I don’t believe it unless I’ve met it in person, but there are so many people around me who say it exists that I think, ‘They probably don’t do that without a reason,’ and I respect them.”

“It’s kind of like Chan. Anyway….”

He mutters as he continues to talk, staring at the invisible wall at the main gate.

“There is not a single element that is essential to magic, and the magical power is not felt at all… but there are many ways to hide it.”

“For example?”

“I’ll tell you when Chan-i comes at night. Go inside for now, Chan-i.”

“Where am I going? Are you telling me to leave work now?”

“Yeah. Chani, if you work now, your biorhythm will be messed up.”

I’m more worried about the store manager than my biorhythm. I slept from 4pm to 7am, and the manager was the one guarding the store during that time.

“Don’t worry about me, hurry up… Ah. Right.”

The store manager, who had returned to the counter after closing the blinds, was fiddling with my phone. Then, his face brightened slightly, and he returned to me, pressing the screen hard.

“The deposit has been made successfully. Chan’s salary.”

“Yaaa …

Finally! Finally!!

I’ve been receiving truths for a month, seen people hustling to get a license, seen people getting washed away in the rain, explored the bottom of the ocean, and seen gate hackers stare at me, but finally!

Finally, my first paycheck arrived. I did it, I did it!

“How much did you get? You worked 12 hours straight for 30 days, and if you take out 3.3% in taxes, roughly―”

“Eight hours of that is night shift allowance. Four hours is day shift allowance, and both are calculated as holiday allowance. Also, I calculated the food expenses that Chan didn’t eat during that time along with the work he did at the warehouse…”

7.53 million won.

There was 7.53 million won in my account. I looked at the store manager, and he smiled and replied.

“I sent 30,000 won separately so that Chan could order chicken.”

“… … .”

“Thanks for today, Chan-ah. See you tonight.”