Convenience Store Worker From Another World Chapter 151

Episode 151. Everything has a cause and effect (3)

* * *

I chatted with the store manager for a few more minutes, grabbed my phone and wallet, and quietly left. After taking a few steps, I glanced back and saw the store manager waving at me.

After bowing my head in greeting, I walked home from work looking straight ahead. When I got home and looked down at the phone in my hand, it was soaked with sweat.

I wiped my hands on my pants and checked my account using my phone. Excluding the thousand digits, there was really 7.53 million won printed on it. I expressed my feelings.

“Hey, what the heck is this…?”

There is no fantasy like this fantasy. Why is the salary of a pickpocket 7.53 million won in the first month?

The store manager explained it to me in more detail right before I left the store. I work 7 days a week, and my working hours are exactly 12 hours, from 10 PM to 10 AM.

In addition, from 10 PM to 6 AM is classified as night work, and an additional 50% of the regular wage is added. Even if you work 8 hours a day for 7 days a week, the wage including the weekly holiday allowance is approximately 4 million won.

If you calculate the remaining 4 hours the same way, it’s about 1.4 million won, and when the store manager looked up how much he should give me for meals, he found that the average meal cost for office workers is about 8,000 won per meal per day.

That’s 30 days, 400 + 140 + 24, so a total of 5.64 million.

In addition, calling in an outsourced anti-mage to organize the underground warehouse logistics costs around 450,000 won per session, and if you calculate that assuming you call them once a week, that’s an average of 4.5 times a month…

When all was added up, it came to about 7.5 million won. He gave this explanation fluently without a single hesitation, and after hearing it all, I mustered up all my remaining mental strength and asked.

“Isn’t it true that additional allowances don’t have to be paid to businesses with 5 or fewer employees?”

“Is Chan’s world like that?”

“There’s no law that says you can’t give it, and I haven’t learned any laws of this world, but still, this is a bit…”

Isn’t that a lot?

It seemed ridiculous to even argue as the recipient, so I couldn’t finish the conversation. However, as if he could clearly see what I was thinking, the store manager smiled and accepted my words.

“If you have any complaints, Chan-i can take care of it.”

At this point, even if I don’t like it, I can’t help but wonder. Is this the store manager’s labor cost?

I don’t know all the store sales, but I remember roughly what the average daily sales are. 250 a day, split 50/50 between the store manager and me.

Even though accidents and incidents that should never happen in one’s life happen on a weekly basis, the location is good and there are many customers. However, as there are many customers, there are also many truths.

Even those salespeople haven’t come in the last few days because of that damn gate. The store manager never mentioned the head office once, so it’s not like they’re paying a commission to the head office…

“…I don’t know.”

It’s not like he’s the kind of person who would accept a salary that’s twice what he expected, and it’s funny to imagine him accepting a salary that’s twice as much as he expected.

After putting the phone down on the nightstand, I rested my arm on my pillow and looked up at the ceiling.

“Seven hundred and fifty.”

The highest I’ve ever put into my bank account in my life was 400 a month. That was barely achieved by working two jobs and doping my lumbar disc into powder.

For people who earn a lot of money, you can just compliment them by saying, “7.5 million? That’s enough to live on.” But not me. I want to go beyond complimenting them and give them a round of applause.

Since I have no ability, I thought that I would have no connection with this kind of money, just like in this world. Naturally, I have no idea how to use it.

At best, it’s just a household appliance. I’ve been using a rice cooker that I bought at a flea market for 30,000 won for 8 years now, so I think I should at least change this one…

“… No. It’s not.”

If this is the way of thinking, I think I’ll soon be thinking, “I finally have some money, so shouldn’t I spend it?” and start changing everything I can get my hands on, including the vacuum cleaner and the wallpaper.

I immediately picked up my phone and transferred all but 1 million won of the 7.53 million won I received to another account. Just enough for the rent, phone bill, living expenses, transportation expenses in case I had to take the bus, and a reserve fund just in case.

One guy comes over again, so I thought I should leave enough money to feed him snacks until he bursts. The same goes for Puppy. I think I should show him a new world since he always eats convenience store hamburgers.

Besides, I owe you a lot, so I’ll give you some cigarette money later. Since Elena always drinks convenience store coffee when she comes to the store, I’ll prepare some branded coffee for her.

As for the police officer, I should at least give him a few boxes of fatigue recovery medicine within the limits of the Anti-Graft Act, and since my sister is insisting on buying me a meal, I should at least have money to buy food…

Charlie. I think I should be careful with the Chihuahua since I know he’ll just get chewed out if I give him the money. With the money I have left, I’d like to have a meal with the store manager.

“It’s good to have a lot of money… .”

Maybe it was because it was June, but the temperature was just right for taking a nap.

I’ll just sleep on it for now and think about it later. I won’t be running away with this money like I’ve always done.

* * *

– Knock, knock, knock.

I opened my eyes to the sound of a knock on the front door. What is it now?

I’ve never ordered anything online, and I’ve never had food delivered. I rubbed my eyes and checked the time, and it was 8 p.m. on my phone screen.

There’s no one to come see me at this hour. All my neighborhood friends have gone to Seoul or the countryside, and I’m the only one left in this neighborhood.

While I was blankly staring at the front door, there was another knock.

– Knock, knock, knock.

– Landlord. I came to talk about rent. Is Mr. Lee Chan inside?

He said he was the landlord, but his voice was different from the landlord’s. For the past 6 years, I’ve always gone there and paid the money separately to the lady, but this time it was a man’s voice. He seemed to be in his early 40s.

After thinking about it, I approached the front door and knocked again. As if this was the answer, I heard the voice of the self-proclaimed landlord through the front door.

– It’s nothing else, this month is your contract renewal month.

“……yes.”

– You’ll have to pay more rent starting this month. About 100,000 won.

“Yes? 100 thousand won?”

I tried to listen as quietly as possible, but as soon as I heard this, the words just blurted out. No, the monthly rent is 300,000 won including the management fee, so why are you suddenly raising it by 100,000 won?

― You’ve been living cheaply all this time. Looking at your contract records, you’ve been paying about the same amount for over 6 years.

“That’s the impression… No, more importantly, who are you? Where did the landlady go?”

― I’m the landlord starting this month. I have a cold right now, so please don’t come out.

Now I can guess who this gentleman is. He’s the son of the landlady. I’ve heard this voice a few times when I went to pay my rent. It looks like he’s inherited his mother’s job.

The reason why he suddenly said he would raise the price by 100,000 won came to mind. This guy has absolutely no experience in real estate.

The rent cannot be increased by more than 5% based on the total deposit. Is this called the ‘contract renewal request right’? Is that the correct name?

Anyway, I just remembered that I could claim this if I was being harassed about rent, and I haven’t forgotten it yet. I’m able to communicate well with the landlady, so I haven’t claimed this yet… .

This guy just took over his mother’s job, so he’s overflowing with enthusiasm and it seems like he just started making claims without even reading the relevant provisions.

– Anyway, now that you know this, do you have anything to say?

I have nothing else to say, but I plan to open the door and barge in.

Don’t come out because you have a cold, that’s obviously just an excuse. He probably came here with the intention of unilaterally informing me and running away because he knows I’m going to do something bad too.

With the coronavirus pandemic in full swing, he’s threatening me that I could infect him. Judging from the tone of his voice, I think he already knows my age…

– If you have nothing to say, then go.

Should I really accept it? Should I bring the contract?

After much thought, a third option came to mind. This was the one I liked the most. When I heard the sound of footsteps taking off, I quickly knocked hard on the door with the back of my hand and asked.

“When do I have to sign the contract?”

– By the end of the month. The sooner the better.

“Yes. Have a nice trip.”

― … He’s so young, and he speaks so rudely.

If you want to take care of other people’s business, you should have taken care of your own business first.

The fierce grumbling voice faded away. After brushing off the dust from my feet, I took a shower and hurriedly put on my clothes.

I still have about an hour and a half left before I go to work, but I plan on going to work a little early today. There won’t be many customers in the store anyway, and it’s an awkward time to do anything.

Finally, I grabbed my phone and wallet and headed out to the store. As I opened the front door and went in, as expected, the store was deserted and only the store manager was standing at the checkout counter.

When our eyes met, the store manager looked at the wall clock with a slightly surprised expression. After a while, he greeted me with a smile.

“Hi. You’re really early today?”

“I woke up a little early because I had some work to do, but I was completely awake when I finished.”

“what?”

“Nothing special. How was your work day today?”

“Yeah, we’re in trouble.”

“oh my.”

When I went into the counter and looked at the POS machine, the sales were less than 100,000 won. It seems like the aftermath of the gate opening and closing is still lingering.

“But since a customer comes every ten minutes, I think things will return to normal after another day.”

“Is there anything else on the news?”

“It came out with similar content, just with a little change. ‘I think I can rest easy now.’ ‘I can rest easy now.’ ‘I can really rest easy now.’ Like this.”

If I compare this to the world I used to live in, it would be similar to the government telling a neighborhood that had just experienced an earthquake to be safe. It’s especially difficult to be safe even when they tell you to be safe.

“That’s good. Manager, is there anything else you would like to discuss with us regarding the handover?”

“Chan-i, that’s an occupational disease.”

“Oh… I see.”

Even though I clearly checked the time, I started asking about the handover details as soon as I got to the store. Isn’t it like I’m now a complete convert to another world, unable to do anything…?

“Then is there anything I can help you with?”

“It’s okay. Since there weren’t many guests during the day, I had to clean the place three times. Let’s chat.”

“Okay, then. Manager, do you have anything to say?”

“I don’t have anything else, but I have a question for Chani. Like what he’s going to do with his first paycheck.”

Oh, this. I was going to bring it up first anyway.

“What do you think you would usually do if you had this much money?”

“I’ll start saving right away. I don’t know what might happen later.”

“You’re just like me. I was thinking of saving up first and worrying about it later, but then…”

I already owe you so much, so is it right to ask you about these things in detail?

I thought about it for a while and just said, “I’ll buy you a meal later with the brokerage fee.”

“Manager, do you know of any one-room apartments in this world?”

“One room?”

“Yes. I’m getting tired of living in the same place, so I’m thinking about moving.”

I’ve lived in that neighborhood for 29 years. It’s time to get out of there.