Convenience Store Worker From Another World Chapter 170

Episode 170. Even the Ambiguous Guy Gets Close (3)

* * *

What rank does convenience store part-time work rank in the ranking of part-time jobs preferred by people in their 20s? It ranks first. And it has for two years in a row.

There are probably many reasons for this. It could be because the work isn’t difficult, or it could be because there is a tendency to prefer short-term part-time jobs…

“No, why do you suddenly want to work here?”

“Because I want to try it.”

There may be cases where they do it just because they want to, but I don’t really get it. Do you want to do it after seeing the people drinking and having a pajama party just now?

“So why do you want to try it?”

“I thought it would be fun. Both my brother and sister.”

What the heck. I was going to argue, but the guy wasn’t done talking yet.

“Or is there something else you need to work here?”

What else would you need? The biggest reason why convenience stores are preferred is that no special qualifications are required. I didn’t even bring a resume.

I was about to say no, but I swallowed my words. This guy was biting his lower lip a little bit. He was fidgeting slightly with his hand on his knee.

I stared blankly and realized that this guy was nervous right now. I guess he wasn’t just making up stories about never having done anything.

After realizing this, I realized something more fundamental. This issue is not something I should be talking about in the first place. It’s something that depends on the store manager’s mind.

“… Yuri, you said you wanted to work here. You said it was because you wanted to.”

“Yes. A lot.”

“Can you come back tomorrow around 10am? I’m off work right now.”

The store manager was always the one who was racking his brain about not being able to find part-time workers. I thought he would make people sign employment contracts first, but now his tone of voice is unusually calm.

“At 10 o’clock in the morning?”

“10 a.m. You can’t be late. Got it?”

“hmm….”

He seemed to think for a moment as he continued talking, then he suddenly got up and slung his bag over his shoulder. After that, he nodded and said one word.

“I’ll go. Take care.”

After that, he ran out the front door and ran quickly. He looked at the left side of the window where the guy had disappeared and spoke to the store manager.

“We were talking about what kind of conversation should you have with that guy when you’re meeting him for the first time, store manager.”

“huh.”

“That guy just left during that conversation. If that’s the case, I don’t know why I asked that earlier.”

“Well, that’s because you can’t be late.”

“yes?”

“I felt this when I saw him today. He’s really gentle.”

The store manager immediately told me what he thought. He asked me to come by 10 o’clock and that I couldn’t be late. What should I do to avoid being late in the morning? I just have to go to bed early and wake up early.

So, I heard that he ran away, but I couldn’t understand it at all, so I decided to interpret it as I wanted. At least he wouldn’t be late.

“If you listen to what I say, I think you’ll be good at work too.”

“well….”

I honestly think that you have to try it out to know if someone is good at their job. There are people who are completely different when they work than when they live their daily lives, and that guy could be one of them.

Apart from that, I welcome that guy working here. There’s a saying: Keep your allies close, your enemies closer.

I still haven’t heard how that guy found out about my origins. Judging from the fact that he didn’t say anything even while the store manager was digging around, it must be a pretty big secret for him.

I won’t go around telling the neighborhood about this since it involves my own secret, but I can’t help but feel uneasy. If that guy works here, I don’t have to worry about what he’ll do during the eight hours he works…

“… By the way, store manager. What will happen to our working hours if that guy comes in?”

“Uh… Okay. What should I do?”

“I was asking because I wondered if the store manager had decided on something?”

“That’s it. I just thought it would be nice if a part-timer came, but I didn’t think about what I would do once he came. What about Chani?”

“Actually, I haven’t thought about it either.”

Two people are working 12 hours each, so if one more person comes in, it will only take about 8 hours – I lived with just this thought in mind. I’m finally getting work-life balance…

I looked at my watch, wondering when it would be a good time, and it was about 3 minutes past 10 p.m. I looked down at the store manager and said.

“Let’s start with the handover, Manager. It’s not even certain whether that guy will work here.”

“Is he going to do it no matter what? That kid is the type of person who can’t see anything else once he gets hooked on something.”

“Then isn’t it not mild?”

“That’s a separate issue. Anyway, nothing much happened while I was working…”

* * *

They say that logistics will come in around 9 AM. Since the main customer base has changed from office workers to students, there will be a significant change in convenience store products accordingly.

“For example?”

“There are a lot of kids’ school supplies, toys, and… anyway.”

There were quite a few items on the list, so it was difficult to explain in words. I said I would check the receipt later.

There was nothing special about it, and the store manager left work as it was. While working until dawn, he occasionally received customers who came in.

At my old workplace, there used to be customers who had just left work or came in after finishing work in the early morning, but here, maybe because there are children, there aren’t any customers like that.

Instead, what I saw were repeat test takers who were completely exhausted.

Starting around 5:30 in the morning, students with dark circles under their eyes that looked like they were drawn with a magic marker began to arrive one after another, with the interval between them being about 4 to 5 minutes. It was exactly the same interval as the subway trains.

“It’s a calculation… .”

“yes.”

When I paid for the coffee that a civet cat had placed, he handed me his student ID card, which he said was a card. It said ‘Rain Magic Study’ on it.

I wonder if this is a prep school or something from another world. After checking, I silently glanced up at Kobold’s face, and he was dozing off while standing.

“Excuse me, sir.”

“…yes?”

“You’re not showing me your card right now, you’re showing me your student ID.”

I felt more sorry than offended, so I tried to speak to him as carefully as possible. He looked down at the card in his hand, shook his head, and then handed me the correct card.

“I’m sorry. I’m sleepy…”

“It’s okay. Please take a look, sir.”

It seems that the entrance exam hell exists in this world as well. Of course, it would be no different if people lived in another world.

This type of visitor’s visits began to decrease around 7 a.m., when the guys who were going through the most turbulent time of the school year came. High school seniors.

“Please calculate it for me.”

“Okay… Okay. Thank you.”

They were fine, and they had to be. When is the most important time in your life to be hustling at a convenience store? You should be studying.

The problem was that these guys had plenty of time to do something serious, and they were middle school students. It was as if they had unified the time they went to school, and these guys started coming in wearing all sorts of colorful uniforms… .

“Sir! It’s the calculation!”

“Yes, just a moment… .”

“I’ll calculate it too, sir!”

“…Just a moment. I’m calculating right now… .”

Characteristics of Middle School Students 1. They only buy a little bit of things. This is because they don’t have money. Do these kids know what it feels like to be full?

Little kids who live off of pocket money from their parents can’t and won’t know the true taste of an 8,000 won convenience store lunch box. All they buy is a can of cola, or at most, a triangle kimbap, and ramen.

I don’t know if it would be better if the calculation was faster. These guys bring the items and I tell them the price, and only then do they dig through their backpacks or pockets and take out their cards. Is there a rule at school?

But that’s okay. It’s not their fault. The problem is the second characteristic of middle school students: they are at an age where they lack patience.

“Hey! Buy something quickly in front! What are you doing!”

“Oh, wait a minute! I’m taking out the money right now!”

“Why does it take so long to get the money out?”

I’ve imagined it a few times. If there are dozens of schools, then all the students from those dozens of schools are gathered in one place. What would they think of each other?

That scene is unfolding right now. Maybe because they don’t see each other, they start swearing at each other even when they’re just a little bit different. It’s still like that now… .

“Oh, just wait a minute, why do you keep arguing! What school are you from? What’s your rank?”

“Our school came in third place in the entire block this time. Why, you say?”

“Uh… Mr. Lee… .”

Listening to you, it seems like there’s a strange war of nerves going on with the rankings of the schools you go to. I’m not sure if the rankings are based on grades or if they’re determined by magic… .

I thought a fight was about to break out, so I stopped calculating and looked at the two of them.

“Please don’t fight in the store, or I might call the police.”

“Ugh. Hey, hey. They’re calling the police.”

“… … .”

Characteristics of Middle School Students 3. They become quiet just by hearing the word “police.” Splash damage to the kids standing in line with them is a bonus.

This is pretty cost-effective, so I used it all the time while I was working. While I was holding out against these little guys’ defense, it was 8 o’clock, and that guy came.

“I wasn’t late, oppa.”

“okay….”

“Did you do well?”

“Oh. Good job. I have to pay the bill, so go somewhere else.”

This guy was standing in front of the cash register just like last time, but this time I wasn’t in a position to have a leisurely conversation. When I pointed to the table and said something, this guy turned around and muttered.

“The table is very dirty.”

“… There are a lot of customers, so there’s nothing we can do about that.”

I had to clear the table a few times while they were calculating the bill. About 4 times.

The office workers at the intersection may not know about sandwich wrappers, but they at least clean up the ramen they ate, but these guys seem to have gotten used to their moms doing the dishes, so they don’t even think about cleaning up.

The little kids occupying the other seats didn’t seem to care at all whether the table was dirty or not. At my words, the kid who had been staring blankly at the table suddenly asked.

“Can I take a look around?”

I was busy so I just nodded. The guy who immediately took his phone out of his pocket looked around and stopped in front of a trash can. He stared down at the trash can.

Then he opens the trash can partition, stops again, closes it, and starts looking at his phone again. Why is he doing that when he’s just looking around?

I looked at him, slowing down my calculations in curiosity, and after a while I could see what he really meant by looking around. He gathered up the ramen that wasn’t cleared from the table… .

I took them to the trash can and threw them one by one in the ramen broth disposal area. I emptied the ramen containers and placed them on the side with the lids off.

After I threw away all the ramen, I started picking up the sandwich wrappers on the table one by one. While I was looking at them, the customer in front of me asked me a question.

“Sir, please hurry up and do the math, I’m running late.”

“… Oh, yes. I’m sorry.”

As the little kid said, it was time to be late, as most of the middle school students had already left. There were only two more customers left.

After I finished calculating and sending it, I checked the table again and it was pretty clean. Except for the ramen soup that had pooled in the corner.

I think I just need to clean that up. As I was thinking that, the guy who had been looking around the display case had already come up to the checkout counter.

His hands were covered in all kinds of ramen broth, whether it was from cleaning up the ramen or not. He asked me that.

“Hey, where’s the rag? I need to mop up the ramen.”

“… Okay. I’ll clean it up.”

“It’s okay. I, I was searching online last night on how to do my first job—”

“I told you I’ll clean it up. Nayuri, you, wash your hands and sit down. When I get free time, I’ll tell you roughly how to do it.”