Convenience Store Worker From Another World Chapter 184

Episode 184. Love Comes Back, Like a Boomerang (2)

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There are probably many reasons why a relationship doesn’t work out. Maybe you met someone because you thought your personalities matched, but it wasn’t, or everything else is fine, but there’s one thing you don’t like…

However, it is all in the realm of speculation, and I do not want to think deeply about the circumstances of the gentleman who committed the crime in the first place. After vaguely saying that I do not know, I asked the two to sit down first.

The old man, who had been looking back and forth between Elena and me, looked down at Elena and tried to talk to her first.

“This is the second time I’ve seen you, after the last time I saw you at the store. Was your name Elena?”

“Oh. I… yes. Hello.”

“You must have had a hard time back then. It must have been hard for the young succubus to endure.”

“Oh, no. Other people have had a much harder time….”

At that time, when the store was on the verge of collapse, Ms. Elena was the youngest at 24 years old. However, the way she held on so bravely must have left quite an impression on the elder.

Miss Elena also seemed less shy, perhaps because she remembered meeting her that time. While the conversation flowed naturally from the moment we sat down, I didn’t sit down right away, but deliberately stayed at the counter.

I thought we needed time to introduce ourselves. After counting the number of people outside for about 5 minutes, I saw the two of them, and they turned around to look at me.

There weren’t many people around so I didn’t think it was necessary to keep guarding the counter. When I went to the table, the old man and Ms. Elena looked at each other and said the same thing.

“You are definitely a good person.”

“That’s right, sir. It’s just nice to be together, that’s all.”

I don’t know who it was, but I guess he was talking about a good person. I sat down as if I didn’t hear and spoke to Miss Elena first. I also haven’t asked her how she’s doing yet.

“How have you been since that day? How have you been?”

To my question, Ms. Elena glanced at the main gate and answered brightly.

“Yes, things have gotten a bit hectic, but I’ve been doing well. How about you, Chan?”

“I was in good health, but… I had some work to do.”

I recently moved to this area and was sorting out my housing issues, and a new part-timer just started coming in, so I was kind of distracted by that―

“I was out of my mind because of all that. Well… that’s what it was.”

The words came out without my intention. The youngest person that day was Miss Elena – once I thought about it, I was particularly bothered by the fact that I hadn’t sent her a single text asking how she was doing.

If I were a really good guy, wouldn’t it be right to ask how he was doing at least once, regardless of whether he was out of his mind or not? But the person in question didn’t seem to care at all.

“I’m glad you’re okay. You had a hard time back then… .”

Just hearing that there was nothing wrong made me look extremely satisfied. Looking at his face, I couldn’t help but think that I was far from a good person. Feeling embarrassed, I changed the subject.

“But what do you mean by saying you’ve been really busy lately?”

“Ah, that’s because the gate was open….”

Right after hearing it, I wondered what the relationship between the gate and the love potion was. It couldn’t be that they made a new medicine because there were a lot of injured people. I don’t know the system of the pharmaceutical company…

“After that incident, there was an order from above. For the time being, let’s develop a drug that can be used to determine how much we love each other.”

I think I need to hear more about the circumstances to know. He gave a long explanation after glancing at the main gate, but didn’t something happen in the whole city because of the gate gun this time?

For example, a giant chicken stood on top of a chicken restaurant sign, ginkgo trees jumped out into the street kicking up dirt, etc.

“There are people who were in a lot of danger this time, right? Some had to run away somewhere in a hurry, or were trapped somewhere.”

There are many people who have been put in situations that I would not want to imagine, and quite a few people have been forced to reveal their true colors.

Here’s an easy example: let’s say a couple who haven’t been together for a long time is in a situation where they have to run away somewhere. But what if one of them hurts their leg and is slow to walk?

“I think there were a lot of things like that. There were even posts on SNS saying that people were disappointed in their fiancés and broke up because of this incident.”

But this is a question that is too vague to ask openly. There is a similar question, ‘How far can you go for me?’, but is there anyone who can openly answer this question, ‘I love my life more than myself’? I don’t think there is.

The pharmaceutical company’s executives figured that a growing number of customers would demand honest answers to this question, and as a result, they got busy.

“When I heard the development intention, I honestly felt a bit uneasy.”

I also felt uneasy. The premise itself felt unreasonable. How many people would be able to make rational decisions in a dangerous situation?

After saying this, Miss Elena glanced at the main gate, so I continued speaking.

“So, is the new development going well?”

“Uh… no. I tried hard, but today the agenda itself was scrapped.”

“Yes? Why?”

“The marketing department conducted a survey on the company’s SNS. 62% responded that they would not want to use a magic potion for this kind of thing, 27% did not respond, and 4% said “other.”

7% of people wanted to confirm it even if it meant using a magic potion. Immediately after the results of this vote came out, the higher-ups decided that they wouldn’t be able to make a dent in the initial investment, so they canceled the development altogether. Suddenly, the things that had been discussed diligently for several days were scrapped… .

“Oh, I just turned on the faucet in vain.”

The tone in which she spoke sounded so refreshing that I didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, I asked her a question that slightly changed the subject.

“I think you’re looking towards the main gate for the reason I just mentioned.”

“Uh… Huh. Did I do that?”

“Yes. You’ve been looking back several times since a while ago.”

Since Miss Elena is a natural born lover, she becomes sincere whenever a topic related to love comes up. She must have heard that gentleman say things like, “I’m tired and sick of doing this all the time~”

Maybe it’s because this agenda item, which was said to have been scrapped, has something in common with it, but it seems like he’s still nervous about it. He glances at the old man as if he’s apologetic about my question, and it seems like he feels bad about talking about himself all the time.

He spoke first as if he had been listening to what we were saying, or as if he had not cared at all.

“You don’t have to worry about me. I’m enjoying listening to you.”

“Oh. Really…?”

“Yes. In fact, it’s a very refreshing story for me.”

The old man is a former soldier, and he has been married to a woman he met a long time ago. They seem to be very happy together.

You’ve kept the title of companion until your hair turned white. I’m sure you’ve never felt disappointed or wanted to break up.

So, this must be something that feels refreshing. Miss Elena scratches her head as if embarrassed by the elder’s words and continues speaking.

“That customer who left earlier said that, Chan-i. He said he was tired of fighting and regretted confessing his love.”

“That’s right.”

“You probably didn’t think it would turn out like that at first, right?”

How would I know that? We didn’t ask each other a hundred questions on our first blind date, and we didn’t date based on MBTI scores… Ah. I don’t know.

“I guess you couldn’t have known. After all, you have to start dating.”

I don’t know about anything else, but I wanted to keep quiet about this matter. I didn’t have a proper conversation with him, I just overheard him talking on the phone. I don’t know the full context.

If you continue to pretend not to know until the end, you will definitely not be able to sleep properly at night because you have to think about it. Rather than just letting it be, it would be better to tell me what you know.

Plus, that gentleman is a real person. What do I need to know about the circumstances before and after the real person’s death?

“I heard from the conversation earlier that the reason they fought was because of their friends. He was trying to get permission from his girlfriend to come home after drinking with his friends at night, but she wouldn’t give him permission.”

“uh….”

Miss Elena tilted her head at my words and then carefully expressed her opinion.

“Isn’t it right to not allow that? If you drink at night, it’s easy to fall, and it’s dangerous.”

The reason I don’t give permission is because I’m being very careful. Although our positions are different, I think the conversation will go more smoothly thanks to it.

“On the contrary, I am in favor of giving permission.”

“What about Mr. Chan?”

“You’re an adult. It’s funny how you have to ask permission every time you go out to drink after getting your ID. You’re worried about making a mistake outside, but that means you don’t trust your lover, right?”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, I’m just really worried…”

“We have these differences of opinion right now. How could those two be different?”

But this isn’t a problem of how strong your love for each other is. It’s a problem that arises from overlooking the fact that there are situations where you have to endure each other.

“You’re enduring it?”

“One side has to endure it. If we don’t endure it and talk about this topic, Ms. Elena will say, ‘I’m really worried, so why don’t you just not go?’ and I’ll say, ‘You don’t trust me that much?’ This is just going to happen over and over again.”

“I, I… I think I would say, if I absolutely have to go, then there’s no other way. Because I trust you.”

“If I’m worried like this, I think it would be better for me not to go. I mean, you’re saying this because you’re really worried. Anyway…”

Even if it’s not just this issue, there are plenty of moments where you have to endure, and at first it works out well because you only want to show your good side to each other.

But later, when you get to know each other a little bit and become close, you start to feel comfortable. When you become comfortable, you start to see things you have been enduring, and then you start to wonder, ‘Huh? This person wasn’t like this…?’

“I don’t think that our love for each other has cooled. We just became more comfortable, and because we became more comfortable, we started talking more, and as we talked more, we realized that there were some aspects of each other that didn’t work out for us…”

“hmm….”

“The relationship between the gentleman I mentioned earlier was a bit too much.”

The gentleman had been speaking softly on the phone earlier, but to my ears it sounded like this: ‘I’ve been patient for quite some time now, but do I have to keep being patient?’

Considering that he called his friend without judging it himself, I think he just needed the impetus to break up rather than asking for her opinion. After hearing this, Ms. Elena muttered her own thoughts.

“If we just endure while loving each other, is that… even love…?”

“I wouldn’t just endure it. Even if I endure it because I don’t like something different, I can cover it up with something better, and I can live like a goldfish that quickly forgets.”

There are cases where people break up because they can’t stand something so trivial. One of my old friends broke up with his girlfriend because he didn’t like her drinking from a plastic bottle. That may have been one of the reasons, but…

After that, there was a brief moment of silence between them.

Miss Elena fell silent, as if my answer was far from what she had imagined, and I remained quiet because my throat was sore. It had been a long time since I had spoken much.

While they were quiet, the old man’s phone started ringing in his pocket. He immediately took out his phone, checked the screen, and held it with both hands.

“Excuse me for a moment, sir.”

Anyway, the conversation is over, so why bother? The old man who received the call got up from his seat and answered the phone, but no…

“Yes, my lord. What’s the matter?”

[Honey, I called because I wanted to hear your voice. Are you having a hard time working?]

“It’s hard, but it’s nothing compared to having a companion waiting for you.”

Wow, sir. Dear companion, what am I listening to… .