Convenience Store Worker From Another World Chapter 16

Episode 16. The 2nd day of the Pyeondol (4)

[The mechanical dolls have only recently become independent… and they tend to move in groups.]

The store manager’s voice flowed out from the smartphone.

“What did you become independent from?”

[ Originally, it was more like a servant horse handcrafted by a race that was good at handling machines, but various magics were designed to improve its performance? In the process, for some unknown reason, it developed an ego and began to feel emotions. ]

“Uh… So…?”

[ Afterwards, there was some debate as to whether or not these two should be recognized as an intelligent being. For several years. Then, it was solidified that they were an intelligent being… Ah. Since they haven’t been independent for long, you can think of them as having just adapted to society when they meet the machine dolls. ]

I somehow feel like it’s a mix of I, Robot and Future Tibet – Hope.

As I listened, my questions only grew, but since I wasn’t in a position to talk for long, I decided to ask just one more question.

“Store manager. Lastly, what on earth does suyat mean?”

[ It’s a bit vague, but it means I’m positive. But why? ]

“Because of the current situation at the convenience store. Just a moment.”

After hanging up the phone, I gestured to the automaton in front of me and asked if I could take a picture.

“Suyat.”

I immediately took a group photo of 49 people, including me and 48 mechanical dolls, and sent it to the store manager. The store manager replied with a KakaoTalk message instead of a phone call.

[?]

[???]

[You are here to send money overseas, now I will work]

If I can’t avoid it, I’ll just have to endure it. When in my life will I ever have an experience like this?

First, I received the smartphone of the first machine doll customer and asked while operating the device.

“How much?”

When he spread out two fingers, I thought it was 200,000, so I typed it in and gave it to him, but he shook his head. It must have been 2 million. The amount was a bit large to begin with.

When I tried to input 2 million won, the window border turned red. A line appeared underneath with the number 1 and the number 500,000 written on it.

“I think this is only 500,000 at a time, sir.”

“?”

“Wow… one try, five hundred thousand. Okay?”

“Shoot. Shoot.”

The mechanical gentleman, who had put down a wad of money on the counter with an affirmative gesture, tore off the ribbon, picked up a handful, counted them one by one with his hand, and handed about ten to me.

I received it and did the same thing, counting it twice. This one sheet is my 5-hour hourly wage, and I saw it counted in front of me, so I thought it must be right – and then I moved on, but later one sheet was flat and I couldn’t sleep for 5 days, obviously.

Since the amount of money I received was correct, I manipulated the POS machine and handed over the printed receipt. I did this four times. After putting the money in the cash register, I called the next customer and asked.

“How much.”

“Two hundred and fifty thousand.”

“Yes, two hundred and fifty…”

Several problems arose during this process.

First of all, not all of these gentlemen brought 50,000 won bills. There was even one gentleman who handed over 50 ten-thousand won bills.

In fact, there were more ten thousand won bills. Since the bank would not be open in the middle of the night, they must have taken all this money out of the ATM. It seems that they took out ten thousand won bills because they had already taken out all the fifty thousand won bills in the ATM.

Because of this, wads of cash started to pile up, in common parlance, really really big.

This is, I can’t express it in words other than, it’s really f*cking crazy. I can’t close the POS machine safe, I can’t close it. The ten thousand won note slot was full, so I tried putting in five thousand won notes, and one thousand won notes, but even those were full, so I couldn’t put any money in.

When money piles up like this, it’s usually stored separately in a safe inside the office, but if I went back and forth to do that, I’d definitely be up all night. So I put a wad of money under the cash register and put money in a shopping cart that was rolling around near the cash register.

This created a second problem: it was difficult to accommodate other guests.

“Boss, what… huh?”

As soon as the bell on the front door rang, 48 mechanical dolls all looked at the convenience store front door.

I couldn’t see it right away because I was counting the money, but when I looked after counting the money, it was a Centaur customer. The customer wearing a Baedal Minjok vest.

He stares at the machine dolls in front of the entrance as if he’s lost his mind, then looks at me and opens his mouth wide. It’s definitely an absurd sight. Is it common to see tens of millions of won piled up at a convenience store checkout counter?

He asked in a shouting tone.

“Sir, do you have a card or cash?!”

“Cash!”

“A five thousand won piece?”

“yes!”

Because the store is full of mechanical dolls, the centaur can’t come in, and I can’t leave either. I took a pack of Seven from the cigarette display, scanned the barcode, and handed it to the mechanical doll customer in front of me and asked.

“Can you please hand this to that person? I can’t go over there.”

“Uh… Ah, swoosh. Swoosh.”

The machine doll must have understood what I meant because it took the cigarette and handed it to the person behind it, who then handed it to the person behind it. It was like handing out a midterm exam paper to the person behind it.

So the cigarettes were handed out, and the centaur took out five thousand won and did the same thing in reverse. Now he had to give 500 won in change, so he gave 500 won to the previous customer and repeated the process.

Besides that, the centaur showed signs of wanting to buy something, but he just shrugged his shoulders and said, seeming to lose his motivation.

“I guess I’ll have to go buy the knitting needles somewhere else. Good luck, boss.”

thanks….

Finally, the third problem. My eyes hurt so much.

After sending about 10 people, I roughly calculated the average in my head, and the amount each customer sent was about 2 million won. That means I counted 20 million won.

As I continued to do this, my thumb prints felt like they were going to wear away, and I couldn’t blink my eyes at will. I didn’t want to forget how many I had counted. After finishing with about 25 people, I started to feel dizzy.

As if he had noticed that I was not normal, one of the automata brought me a bottle of fatigue recovery medicine and handed it to me. Thanks to that, the amount of money I was counting was, thirty… thirty-four…? How far did I count?

“Cheer up, Commander.”

If you force yourself to wash, it will be harder to wash. So I won’t use force.

Fortunately, no more guests came after that. It’s not that they didn’t come, but rather that they couldn’t make up their minds after seeing the interior.

So I counted the money without paying any attention and without thinking. 5,000… 7,000… .

After finishing off the last customer, I looked around. There were stacks of bills around the cash register, and it was a mess. The amount printed on the POS machine was a little over 95 million won. If this exceeds 99,999,999 won, will it go back to 0 won?

“Suyat. Suyat, Chief, you really worked hard.”

“Yes… Wait a minute… .”

I accidentally stepped on a 50,000 won bill that had fallen.

After placing it in the lowered position, he gestured to the last mechanical doll and called it to the checkout counter. He placed the smartphone on the counter and pointed to the icon he had to press.

“Heal.”

“Suyat.”

“And here.”

“Shoot. Shoot.”

“Lastly, here’s how much. Fifty, thirty, whatever… and show me this.”

“Yes, sir.”

“If you still can’t do it because you don’t know, you can just come to the counter and do it yourself. This, next time, this, next time…”

I’m nodding along, but I’m not sure if I really understand, and if I even understood half of this, I wouldn’t be kicked out of other places…

Anyway, I can’t do more than this. After I finished explaining, dozens of customers, starting from the very front, kept nodding to me. It seems like they’re all on good terms.

“Sergeant. You’re good, Chakae.”

“Thank you.”

“Boss, please take this.”

Among them, one person who spoke particularly well handed me something, a business card.

“Why this…?”

“Our workshop. I am the foreman.”

“ah.”

I remember someone saying they were doing monster slaughter earlier. This customer seems to be the owner of the workshop, but they all look the same, so you should be able to tell the difference between the employee owners.

I wondered why he was giving me a business card, but I accepted it anyway. The machine doll made a shape of a receiver with its hand, put it to its ear, and spoke.

“Call me anytime, boss. Suyat, suyat.”

“I don’t know if that will happen….”

“We do our job well. Don’t worry.”

“Thank you. Thank you, Chief.”

“Please give me some money, sir.”

They all said hello to me and rushed out of the convenience store.

I stared blankly at the main entrance where the mechanical doll guests had left, then slumped down on my chair. I felt like I was going to get dry eye.

But I still had to get the job done, so I took a picture of the checkout counter and sent it to the manager. He called me right away.

[ Oh. Chan-ah, I saw the picture… ]

“Store manager. It was hard. Really.”

[ You worked hard. Really. But, how much is this in total? ]

“The one in the picture is about 50 million, and there are 45 million more below. But, store manager.”

[ huh. ]

“Does this all fit in the safe?”

The safe is roughly the size of an adult male’s torso, but I didn’t think it would fit everything. The store manager thought about it for a while and then answered.

[ Will it all go in…? ]

“Okay, I’ll put it in now. But can I lock the door for a moment?”

[Huh? Why… Ah. Hey, don’t worry. It’ll be caught on CCTV.]

“I’m saying this because I feel uneasy.”

[ I see. Then do that. ]

I got permission. I locked the door right away and returned to the checkout counter.

First, I divided the money into 1 million won pieces. This is because the safe’s bill slot is less than 2 cm wide, so I cannot put in more than 1 million won at a time.

Still, it was easy up to 50 million won. I tied it with rubber bands here and there. The problem is the remaining 45 million won. The rubber bands all fell off, so I threw them all in the shopping cart. So I have to count again. This is going to be crazy, really.

“Store manager, there are no rubber bands in the store.”

[There will be a rubber band wrapped around the toothbrush near the toothpaste. Open that and use it. And keep a receipt.]

“yes.”

After doing as I was told and replenishing the rubber bands, I pressed the safe deposit button as soon as I counted 1 million won, tore off the paper, and tied it with a rubber band.

A couple of tears flowed down my face in the middle of the conversation, but I couldn’t tell if it was because my eyes were bloodshot from counting money or because I was sad. Is this covered by health insurance for ophthalmology? Yes, it is.

With such difficulty, really difficulty, I managed to put all the money in and when I checked the time, it was 2 AM. Later, I guess I should suggest to the store manager that we install a bill counter.

After that, I sat on the chair with my eyes tightly shut for about 5 minutes, then I heard a knock on the front door. I had even forgotten to unlock the door.

As I approached the door to open it, it was another familiar customer. I managed to straighten my tensed facial muscles and unlock the lock, and the pink-haired succubus stumbled and asked me.

“Boss. Do you have a letter of resignation here…?”

I wonder if it will be there… .