Convenience Store Worker From Another World Chapter 168

Episode 168. Even the Ambiguous Guy Gets Close (1)

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This is my second time meeting this guy, and we’ve only talked for less than 30 minutes. That’s a really short amount of time to get to know a person, but…

“Problem? What problem?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s none of your business.”

“Is this a difficult problem?”

As we were talking like this, I got a little bit of a feel for what type of person this guy is. If he’s into something, he’s the type that has to see the results in some way to feel satisfied.

“It’s not that it’s difficult, it’s really none of your business―”

“I don’t know. I haven’t heard the details yet.”

“Why are you interested in a conversation you couldn’t even hear?”

“You have to hear the content to decide whether or not you’re interested. Right, sis?”

“Huh? Me?”

“Yes, Sister.”

And I don’t feel any distance at all when dealing with people. Even though this is my second time, it’s probably the first time I’ve seen the store manager, but he asks for my opinion as naturally as if I were meeting a friend from high school.

“…hmm.”

The store manager stared at the guy in front of him, wondering if he really intended to answer.

Then, I glanced at the display case, and when I followed my gaze, I saw a customer approaching me with a basket full of items.

The store manager opened his mouth, as if he had finally come up with something to say, but in each word he said, there was a strangeness that was difficult to express in words.

“It’s good to be interested. I’m interested in you too.”

“It’s not interesting enough for me to be interested in.”

“I don’t know. I haven’t heard your story yet, right?”

“That’s true. What are you curious about?”

“Can you wait a moment? We have work to do.”

It seems like half a word was omitted in the middle. As if he liked this conversation, he glanced at the approaching guest and asked again.

“What else?”

“Name? This will do for now.”

“It’s Nayuri. Can I wait here?”

“Is that okay? Go over to the table over there in the window and sit down for a moment.”

I thought he was going to say something, but he just nodded his head slightly at my words and ran to the table, putting his bag down on it.

Then he sat down on the chair and stared at us intently. While I was trying to ignore him and taking things out of the basket the customer had brought, the store manager whispered to me from the side.

“My name is Nayuri, Chan-ah.”

“… That’s right.”

“Is that kid a burden to Chani?”

It’s burdensome. It’s not just because of that guy’s first impression. I’m just burdened by all the things that I can’t understand no matter how hard I try to think about them. That guy is one of them.

As I nodded silently, the store manager continued speaking while scanning the barcode of the item I had received.

“Remember what I said about wizards before? I said they were a bunch of illogical people who pretended to be logical.”

This is what the store manager said when I took the qualification exam, and I remember it well because it was something I experienced while talking with the professor. As soon as I heard this, I could immediately guess what the store manager meant.

“Then that guy must be a natural wizard. He pretends to be logical, but he’s illogical.”

He must be trying to tell me that he’s a wizard. I don’t know how he knew I was from another world, but I knew there had to be something magical about it.

“Yeah. But from what I’ve seen, he’s not a bad kid.”

I honestly agree with this too. He sat there quietly when I told him to. I don’t know why he didn’t even blink an eye…

“…I’ll go and talk for a bit.”

“huh.”

Unless I’m really bad at communicating, I can make excuses. I came to the counter and sat down at the table next to me, and this guy turned around to look at me and asked.

“Don’t you work, oppa?”

“I will. But before that, I will send you home first.”

“Huh? We haven’t finished talking about this morning yet.”

“I’m going to tell you what I was talking about this morning. Did you use a spell on me this morning?”

In this world, using magic to harm others is a felony, and I’m not here to feed this guy organic bean rice. I’m just saying that we should give up and live our lives as we always have.

So I asked in a lowered voice, and this guy answered me right away.

“no?”

“So… did you use magic?”

“yes.”

Of all the people I’ve ever talked to in my life, this guy seems to be the one who doesn’t speak well at all. If you hear something wrong, you should just listen to the context and correct it. What’s the point of saying, “I didn’t use magic on you, so that’s not it”?

“What kind of magic did you use?”

“I won’t say anything. It’s an invasion of privacy.”

“Okay, sir, then don’t say that. Just look at this.”

He took out a notebook from his pocket and placed it on the table. A certificate for a half-wizard. The guy who was looking at the notebook as if it was new muttered as he ran his finger over the logo on the cover.

“Oh, this. I saw that the university was recruiting students for a special lecture. It was really crowded.”

“If you saw it, listen now, Inma. The conversation keeps leaking out.”

I immediately stopped talking because I thought the conversation would get out of hand. I’m the type of person who doesn’t respond to magic.

“That constitution is quite strong. I am not very good at theory, but I am still able to obtain a license from the country.”

“… … .”

In simple terms, this is the story. Your magic and my constitution are in a completely superior-subordinate relationship. Because I am a state-licensed anti-magician.

This is something that everyone in this world knows. Since I got my license a while ago, if I go to the Magic Agency website and search for my name, won’t it come up? After all, it’s a national license.

“If I wanted to, I could block other people from using magic. With this, I could help out with the Hunter side of things, and with the pharmaceutical company side… I was even offered a professorship.”

“… … .”

Since I couldn’t hide it anyway, I packed it in with nitrogen and overpackaged it. It’s no different from bragging about it, saying, “I used to be like that~”

I thought that if I could just give the impression that I wasn’t an easy guy, he’d be more likely to accept it and give up. After saying this, I asked.

“That’s why the magic you were trying to use didn’t work properly. It’s not because you came from another world that didn’t even know if I existed or not… .”

“No, that’s not true.”

“what?”

“It’s not like that.”

It was a tone that seemed to have been cut off with scissors. I stopped talking and looked at the guy’s face. There was only one change in his expressionless face. He shut his mouth tightly.

I think he thinks I’m lying. I look at him and decide to ask him just one more time.

“You’re not going to tell me why?”

“yes.”

“To anyone?”

“yes.”

“Okay then. Do whatever you want.”

After that, I also kept my mouth shut. I thought I’d turn around and go.

If there is a way to find out my origins on my own in this world, I should know it, because I need to know whether it is a method that others can use.

This guy doesn’t seem to want to talk about the method. He just wants to hear what he wants to hear without any communication. Same goes for me. This is parallel lines.

Before listening to the method, I need to find out what kind of guy this is. After keeping my mouth shut for about 3 minutes, the guy opened his mouth first, perhaps because he was frustrated.

“Why don’t you tell me?”

“Because you’re not saying the same thing either.”

“Anything else besides that?”

“… This is only the second time we’ve met. It hasn’t even been a day.”

“yes.”

“Isn’t this the kind of conversation we’re having between people who have only just met?”

As I was talking, I was wondering if this was the right approach. No matter what, this guy is a college student. Should I start from here?

But it was the right answer. In response to my question, this guy asked me back as if he didn’t know English.

“Then.”

“uh.”

“What do people talk about when they just met?”

“… It depends on the situation.”

I answered when asked. For example, on the day of the school entrance ceremony.

The class you will live in for a year is decided, and who you will sit next to or behind you is also decided. It might be awkward for everyone. Or maybe you just want to get to know each other.

Where do we start? First, I’ll ask about their name, where they live, their hobbies, etc. After that, I’ll have to find something in common among them… .

“why?”

“No, how can we become close if we only talk about things we don’t want to talk about? Even when you ask me what kind of magic I used, you don’t answer. Isn’t it because you don’t want to talk about it?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to talk. I just… .”

“Then what is it?”

“…I’ll just pretend I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay. Let’s say you don’t want to talk, but if you do that, the conversation will just end. You don’t talk because you don’t want to talk. So you have to figure out what it is that you both want to talk about.”

Of course, it is not easy to find a topic that fits you perfectly when you first meet. You have to make some sacrifices. People’s tastes may be similar, but they cannot be the same.

In this process, the immature guys will say, “Oh, I don’t like this guy,” and move away, and the guys who can make that sacrifice will become popular. I was bad at this in the past, so I lived as an outcast.

“Then… does your family have a lot of money?”

“Hey, is that what you brought out to use as a common interest?”

“Why? Everyone likes money. I like it too, so I earned a lot of it.”

“Then why don’t you talk about work? If you bring it up the second time, it’ll look like you’re trying to take advantage of me.”

“But, I’ve never talked about work before….”

He kept muttering as he continued to talk, looking towards the main gate, but I couldn’t understand him any more. When you go to college, don’t you naturally talk about things like what you’re going to do after graduating and what kind of part-time job you’re going to do during vacation?

Now, I’m not even sure if this guy is a college student. I was just staring at him, wondering what he was talking about, and his gaze was fixed on the main gate.

“There are a lot of kids, oppa.”

“That’s right. There are a lot of middle and high school students in this neighborhood.”

“I was very drunk.”

“That’s… what? Why are the kids drunk?”

I immediately turned around and looked at the main door. As the guy said, there were about six guests gathered in front of the lobby. The members included two goblins, an orc, a minotaur, and two centaurs.

Since those races were a race with a low face value, I couldn’t tell how old they were, but I could definitely tell that they were drunk.

Because the orc was carrying a centaur on his back. The other one was carrying a minotaur on its back, and it was crawling on the floor of the convenience store, unable to bear the weight.

“Hey, why aren’t we going to the second one? Why are we here?”

“We’re here. We’re here. Sir, there are six of us here.”

“This is a convenience store, you little shi*s….”

One of the goblins, who seemed to be less drunk, looked down at his friends with a pitiful expression, but judging from what he did afterwards, he wasn’t in his right mind either.

He approached the store manager, who was looking at them with interest, took out his wallet and asked for cigarettes.

“Boss, please give me three packs.”

“hmm….”

“Why? Show me your ID?”

“No, I already saw it. High school ID.”

It looks like the goblin took out his high school ID card while trying to take out his card. He looks down at the card in his hand at the store manager’s words, then looks up at the store manager again and asks.

“How much is it?”

“yes?”

“Can I give you more money?”

It seems that none of the other five are in their right minds, as no one is stopping the goblin from doing this. Another goblin was already fast asleep, clutching the newspaper stand.

“I’ll just send them off for a bit.”

“We haven’t finished talking yet.”

“Is this conversation important right now? The store looks like a mess.”

The only one standing on his own two feet is the goblin at the checkout counter, so I guess I just have to trick him into sending him away… .

While I was thinking, I heard a chair rattling behind me. I looked up and saw this guy staring at the messy lobby.

His expression was strangely stern, as if he was quite dissatisfied with the fact that those guys had interrupted his conversation. I was going to tell him to sit down, but this guy cut me off first.

“A notebook… doesn’t seem like it will work.”

As he spoke, he took out his cell phone, held it to his ear, and muttered.

“I need to talk to you for a moment.”