Convenience Store Worker From Another World Chapter 198

Episode 198. I, Puppy, Have a Dream (3)

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At first, I just listened quietly, and the process of what happened wasn’t all that complicated. After the dog was sitting in the public restroom doing its business, a kid caught it while it was flushing the toilet.

“How did he get in? Was the door not locked?”

“It’s embarrassing to say, but I couldn’t lock it. No matter what I did, my front paws wouldn’t reach the lock…”

Anyway, as soon as the little boy made eye contact with him, he shouted, “Wow! The puppy is sitting on the toilet and pooping!” and started chasing him around, and he felt embarrassed and ran away from the little boy.

After running around for a good 20 minutes, the little boy collapsed on the ground, panting. Seeing this, the dog felt sorry for him and started playing with him. This is how it all started.

“I gave him everything he asked for, including the front paws, the back paws, and the tail. But as time went on, didn’t the child’s requests gradually become more difficult?”

Standing on two feet and walking, folding ears twice, etc.

Later, the little one got so excited that he showed a video of his personal skills on his phone screen, and Mongmongi, with the mindset of finishing what he started, followed along with everything that was shown on the screen until the very end… .

When I came to my senses, there were so many people around me that I couldn’t do anything. The little boy who had caused the trouble had left, saying that his mother was calling him to eat, and the last thing he did was follow the woman’s request to film him.

“Is that the warrior statue behind you holding a sword?”

“That’s right. Anyway… I’m sorry for worrying you both.”

This is the end of the story, Mongmongi bows his head and apologizes. After listening to everything, I felt that he had a lot to say, but he didn’t know where to start.

I glanced at my sister because of the strangeness that I couldn’t describe in words, but she seemed to feel even more strangeness than I did, and she was just looking at the distant mountains. I felt like I had to say something for the conversation to continue.

“Have you been using the park bathroom for business all this time?”

“I only did that when I could. If I went to the bathroom anywhere, wouldn’t that be a nuisance to the sanitation workers?”

“Then when is it impossible?”

“It’s hard when there are a lot of people. People probably don’t like it when you sit on the toilet.”

Although the pint was a little off, I think he fully understands that it is not common for a Pomeranian to use a public restroom in a park. So the next thing I was worried about was… .

“I had a good day today, except for work.”

“I’ve been doing pretty well, boss. It’s only been a few days, but this area is actually a pretty nice place to live. There’s no need to get caught up in territorial disputes either…”

In the park I used to stay at, I had to greet the stray dogs that were the owners of the territory and also watch out for the Black Wind Gang, but in this area, there are no stray dogs at all. To be exact, aggressive dogs are prohibited from entering.

This guy is a cousin of the fierce dog, so he is free, and the other dogs he occasionally meets are all leashed, so he is gentle.

“Even if we meet and talk, we only ask each other how we are doing… Oh. The owners of the people we meet often give us snacks. Like beef jerky or dog gum.”

“Don’t they get angry when that happens? You’re eating what’s theirs.”

“He said it was okay. He said he had something to eat at home anyway.”

In fact, it’s not as if it’s starving. If you stroke its body from head to tail, you can clearly feel that its fur is full. The puppy adds a word while tapping the inside of the shopping bag with its tail.

“Of course, none of them were as delicious as the boss’s hamburger.”

“I see. Anyway, I’m glad you’re doing well.”

The stray dog’s characteristic barking smell still lingered from his body, but he no longer smells like a trash can. As you said, he seems to be making a good living just by getting what people give him on the street.

In fact, if the dog just accepts the snack and bows its head, it would be a reaction that would be worth giving all the snacks to the dog owner. If the dog raises its hand and says hello, it would be the icing on the cake.

Tooni said he would be staying here for the time being, so I guess I can also worry less about this guy. While I was sipping my half-empty drink, my older sister spoke to the puppy while crumpling the can in her hand.

“Puppy. Every time I see you, I always have this thought.”

“What is it, Miss Yoon-ha?”

“Can’t you live a lot more comfortably than living on the streets?”

My older sister, after getting rid of her luck, picks up the shopping bag containing the puppy and sits it on her lap.

“I feel bad for him. Look at this. It hasn’t even been a week since I gave him a bath at home, and he’s already so dirty.”

“Sister, did you give her a bath?”

“I told you to. I bought dog shampoo and washed it once, and I didn’t touch it again. If you stay at someone else’s house, you won’t have to suffer like that from people outside…”

There is a strong sense of regret in every word he says. It seems that he was quite upset about the muscle cramps he complained of in front of everyone earlier.

“You too, Lee Chan. Don’t you feel frustrated when you see him struggling outside?”

“Me? What about me…?”

“Aren’t you frustrated, Jjascha?”

If you ask me if I’m frustrated, I’d say I’m frustrated too. Of all the things this guy says when he comes to the store, not a single one of them was resolved well.

When I hear stories about people digging through trash cans or being ridiculed by street dogs, all I can think is, what crime did a kid who isn’t even a high school student commit to be living like this?

This thought still remains the same, but I didn’t really want to say it out loud. I knew exactly what kind of answer I would get. But since my older sister is showing this much…

“I also get frustrated when I see you struggling, puppy.”

“…squeak.”

“You always start whining when you have nothing to say. Now that we’re on the subject, don’t you want to stay at my house right now?”

“I really appreciate that, but… I’m sorry, sir.”

I knew this would happen. At the puppy’s answer, the older sister immediately pulled the puppy out and started shaking it back and forth at eye level. It wasn’t a child, but a thirty-year-old man sticking out his lips.

“You really.”

“But, but! I have a dream!”

He told me the same thing. He said he wanted to help someone just like I helped him. But then Mongmongi started to hesitate.

“I have a dream that I absolutely must achieve. That dream. That is….”

“What kind of dream is it that makes you take so long?”

“That, that… dream…”

After blinking for a while, he lowered his head and muttered weakly.

“What was my dream?”

My sister must have sensed that the atmosphere was not good, so she put the puppy back in the shopping bag. Then she looked at me, and I was forcibly swallowing the sigh that was about to burst out.

I thought I knew why he was acting like that. I had experienced something similar once. I received a shopping bag from my sister, placed it on my lap, and answered.

“You told me before. You want to help someone else as much as I helped you.”

The puppy just stared at the bottom of the shopping bag as if it didn’t feel real even after hearing what I said. Then he nodded on his own and looked up at me.

“I think so. I think so.”

“That’s right, Inma.”

“But I couldn’t remember that dream. I definitely wanted to be someone who could help someone, but I couldn’t remember a single thing about it.”

“Can you guess why?”

“… I can guess. This is, definitely…”

“You just didn’t have the time. It’s not because you were weak.”

The puppy’s eyes widened. He must have been saying this because he knew what he was going to say so well. He took a deep breath and continued.

“If no one throws anything in the trash can, they go hungry all day, and they always sleep on the cold, bare floor. Even that requires them to be mindful of other dogs, and if they misjudge the situation, they chase after them and bite their tails, ears, and anything else they can get their hands on…”

“… … .”

“How can you have free time when you live like that? And if you don’t have free time, you won’t be able to think of anything, not even dreams or anything. You’ll be so full of worries about making a living that you won’t have any room to complain.”

This is a proposition that includes me as well. In the past, I also lived with a dream that was a little more complete than eating well and living well. That is, until I was in a single room without even a bottle of water or a single pack of ramen, and only had the transportation fee for that month left in my account.

The moment I start to wonder why I am living like this, my mind becomes filled with thoughts that I don’t want to live like this anymore. Then it becomes a dream.

I don’t regret it, because if I hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t be here now.

“If you don’t think about it, then it’s ruined. In your case, well, I’ve never seen anyone in my life who struggled as much as you do… .”

“Do you think so, sir?”

“Oh. If I had lived like you, I wouldn’t have even blamed myself for forgetting that dream in the first place.”

I know it’s pointless to assume something that can’t happen, but right now, this is the best I can do to comfort him. The puppy, who looks down at the floor again at my words, mutters as he asks.

“Then… what do you think I should do?”

“I think my livelihood problem has been solved, so I want to tell him to just rest for a few days and not think about anything… What do you think, sister?”

“me?”

My older sister had been listening to me for a while. She was holding a canned drink handle in her hand, which she had opened at some point. She scratched her head at my words and answered as if she didn’t know.

“I… honestly don’t know. We need to talk about this topic before.”

“Hey. This is where the problem of not having friends at the age of thirty comes into play… .”

“Since we’re already at it, do you want to bust your calf too? And even if I had friends, I wouldn’t have brought this up in the first place―”

“why?”

“It’s because what I’m doing now wasn’t my dream, Tsasha. Just—”

‘I couldn’t do anything else but this.’

After blurting out the words, I shut my mouth tightly. I looked into my sister’s eyes, and it was clear that I had said more than was necessary in the heat of the moment.

Then, my older sister took out her smoking cigar and looked around. If I remember correctly, there were no smoking areas around here. I changed the subject.

“You can smoke cigarettes anywhere without being fined, sis. Because they don’t contain nicotine.”

“It stinks. It’s a nuisance.”

“What is that smell?”

“Peppermint.”

“Then why don’t you just smoke it?”

“Okay, it’s a bad habit. Lee Chan, you punk. When I was a trainee, there was something the instructor told me so blatantly. He told me to make clear what you want to achieve… .”

He spoke at length as if he was trying to forget what he had just said, and I listened attentively. He said that since the job of a hunter involves dealing with magic and often involves getting involved with civilians, his top priority is to clearly set his goals so as not to cause any harm to those around him.

“Once they accumulate enough experience, they say, ‘Oh, work is annoying~’ and start using magic roughly, only hitting the legs of their demons, and even worse, some people hit their colleagues’ toes. So―”

“I get it, sis. Why are you talking about that now?”

“It’s good to help someone. Puppy, I’m not trying to be mean.”

My older sister, who was talking, lifted the shopping bag and placed it between herself and me, then looked inside and asked.

“Helping someone, you’re not going to help everyone in the world, are you?”

“Uh… that’s right.”

“Then, first of all, we need to clarify who we’re going to help and with what profession. Are you going to be counseling the summoners? Or a psychotherapist?”