The Fantasy World Fanatic Wants To Leave Work

28 – Starting the Evening Shift (4)

Elf Diana sat at the table with a glass of suspiciously rich calcium milk from a strange dairy farm.

“So, Diana, you’re an elf, right? But what brings you here?”

Feeling bored and awkwardly silent, I asked Diana why she came here.

As I had read on Tree Wiki earlier, 99.9% of elves are fairies who suffer from social maladjustment, depression, anger management disorder, schizophrenia, dementia, and other mental illnesses.

To be precise, they didn’t start off with these mental conditions, but they develop them as they age.

That’s why elves usually don’t come out into the outside world, but Diana was wandering outside like this.

According to Tree Wiki, only a select few, the top 0.1% minority, live outside.

But Diana didn’t seem like one of those 0.1% elves…

“…”

“If it’s hard for you to talk about, you don’t have to. I was just asking out of boredom.”

Diana made a difficult expression without giving much explanation.

Was there something bad?

“… I was kicked out of my house.”

Oh, was that what happened?

Diana hesitated to answer, but she briefly told me about her situation.

I’m not sure what happened, but if she was kicked out of her house, there must have been something really bad.

“So, you can’t go back home?”

“… I don’t have a home to go back to anymore.”

But it didn’t seem like she had been kicked out by her parents.

Losing a home means it was either taken away or something happened that made it no longer a home.

Let’s not talk about this anymore.

She’s already been exposed to the knights and would look like a poor child who got beaten up and had her home taken away.

Let’s change the subject.

“Did those knights take you and do something to you?”

It may not have been a better question, but it was something I was very curious about.

Can simply hitting a person really heal them so thoroughly?

And considering the talk about the sacred mask and such, it didn’t seem like they just gave her a simple massage.

“Ah-“

“?”

This time, Diana’s complexion turned pale, she started sweating cold sweat, and trembling uncontrollably.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah-!”

Even tears started pouring out more intensely than before, and she began to cry harder.

What did they do to make her react like this?

“Pontifical Inquisition Rule Number 1! Absolutely, under no circumstance, do I speak about what I have seen or experienced…!”

Oh, seeing that, I should probably live a good life.

It rolls off the tongue like some kind of creed.

I don’t know what those knights did just now, but based on Diana’s reaction, it seems mentally healthy to avoid being taken away by the knights of the Pontifical Inquisition.

After all, didn’t they manage to turn that elf with anger management issues into such a state in just an hour?

“Absolutely! Under no circumstance! Do not speak about anything that happened! If you have to speak, seal your mouth shut!”

“You crazy- Hey! Milk cartons aren’t meant to be eaten?!”

I barely managed to stop Diana from putting the milk carton into her mouth.

It is a fact that I discovered later on Tree Wiki, but the Papal State of the Universe-1221 has a lower crime recidivism rate than any other country in this universe.

The recidivism rate in the Papal State was lower than that of the demon country where the black-clad Mausoleum of the black-colored demons instantly executes anyone who commits a folly.

The representative of the Papal State explained this as a miracle made possible by ‘faith’…

…Well, when I saw it, it was definitely not faith.

†††

My first evening shift passed without incident.

Afterwards, as I closed my eyes in the break room, the eerie alarm sound woke me up again, and now I write my journal during the spare time before opening the convenience store while eating breakfast, which has become a familiar routine.

[Convenience Store Survival Journal, Day 4]

-I safely greeted the morning of Day 4 today.

-The elf named Diana continued to cry and stayed at the convenience store until closing time.

-Today’s breakfast started with triangle kimbap, salad, and milk with a banana flavor from a suspicious cow farm.

-The store manager’s son sent me a message as soon as I opened my eyes, giving me chills.

-I wonder how long I can survive in this convenience store?

Although U.C. Mart’s support system has a notepad-like function, it’s best to write these things by hand.

-Store Manager-

[Mr. Kim Hyun-woo, do you mistakenly think that working at a convenience store is a survival game in an apocalypse disaster?]

-Kim Hyun-woo-

[Being an U.C. Mart part-time worker or an apocalypse survival game, there doesn’t seem to be much difference in terms of the difficulty of survival.]

The store manager has been openly reading my personal stories in my notebook.

That’s why I only record simple activities in the store and write important things in the restroom.

If the store manager had at least a minimal amount of humanity, they wouldn’t monitor even the restroom.

The safety of the break room is uncertain as it is still unclear how much surveillance is in place, and there is no place in the store where the store manager’s eyes don’t reach.

…But, they definitely don’t monitor the restroom, right?

-Kim Hyun-woo-

From Noble mtl dot com

[By the way, may I ask how old the store manager is?]

I go to the storage room, using a mop to put back the waste trying to crawl out of the space dumpster, and continue exchanging messages with the store manager, with whom I can always have a conversation.

-Store Manager-

[Why do you suddenly ask about that?]

-Kim Hyun-woo-

[Even the elf I met yesterday, and the Serethinian Angel, are the same. Somehow their appearance and age are completely opposite. When I saw the manager in the warehouse last time, it was clear…]

As a normal person from the universe, it was a part that I truly couldn’t understand.

It is common for people who dislike aging to try to maintain their youth, but it seems more like immaturity rather than just being young.

It was like a green apple that only comes to the convenience store every other day.

In other words, it means it is not fully ripe.

-Manager-

[I won’t answer that. It is not necessary for work and it won’t be helpful even if you know.]

-Kim Hyun-woo-

[It doesn’t matter. Based on the messages I’ve sent so far, I can estimate at least the minimum age.]

I must be older than my grandparents by now.

But even if I age that much and still have a child-like appearance, don’t you feel any guilt?

-Manager-

[To be honest, I now regret not just considering it as a mistake and throwing Kim Hyun-woo away with the waste in that dumpster.]

-Kim Hyun-woo-

[Hey, we’ve been together for four days now. Isn’t it time you start to accept it? Let’s just take those scary words as a joke.]

By the way, all those things happened in just four days.

Subjectively, it feels like two weeks have already passed, and yet it’s only been four days. Moreover, I feel like I’m adapting to this convenience store at a fairly fast pace.

Adding to that, time really doesn’t flow smoothly.

-Manager-

[But aren’t you still not bothered by those wastes even though you’ve seen them already? Weren’t you trembling in fear when you saw them for the first time?]

Even the wastes struggling to get out of this space dumpster, at first they were mentally confusing, but after seeing them a couple more times, they’re just creepy-looking things.

Of course, they still give me goosebumps and I don’t want to deal with them, but I can just see them as part of my everyday life without paying too much attention.

-Kim Hyun-woo-

[Oh, these things? I just think of them as neighborhood cats that used to get tangled in the trash bags at the old convenience store.]

-Manager-

[Cats? You mean those wastes?]

-Kim Hyun-woo-

[Aren’t they both getting tangled in the trash bin?]

Moreover, as the manager said, I couldn’t even hold onto my wrist like before when those wastes were stuck to the entrance of the dumpster.

If I sweep like this with a mop, it will fall directly into space.

“This guy must be the red bean jelly that was discarded yesterday. I’ve tried it before, and it’s a taste that deserves to be thrown away. Forgive me.”

-Store Owner-

[Are you even talking to waste now? Did you also break your head like that elf?]

-Kim Hyun Woo-

[Why did you bring in red bean jelly at the convenience store? Even if you discount it, no one buys it.]

-Store Owner-

[You always buy yanggaeng and never even look at red bean jelly. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?]

Thunk!

While picking his hand, he closed the lid of the space trash can.

With this, the work done while sleeping is finished, and the waste is taken care of. At least during the day, he can just stand in front of the counter and pass the time greeting customers.

-Store Owner-

[Why is he adapting so quickly this time… Whenever the head office does a good job, it’s never a good outcome.]

-Kim Hyun Woo-

[Even if I do a good job, there are complaints. If I don’t do well, I get discarded. How can I be satisfied?]

-Store Owner-

[There are no particular complaints. I just always get stabbed in the back when the head office does a good job. Even if it has nothing to do with Kim Hyun Woo.]

Somehow, it seems like he touched his temples in front of his eyes and let out a sigh.

If the store owner is like this, the U.C. Convenience Store’s head office must really be a place that is extremely corrupt.

Originally, the store manager at a convenience store is just one of the ordinary employees in front of the head office, so even though he receives less interference, he doesn’t receive none at all.

“Oh, it’s opening time now.”

I’m already prepared to greet customers.

I have welcomed angels, gods, and dwarves at the convenience store.

Although there were various things happening, by now, I have confidence that I won’t be surprised no matter who comes.

Ding-dong-

“Oh, welcome, customer.”

I welcomed the lively morning like that.

“Roar!”

The first customer to enter the convenience store was a tiger.

“What the f*ck-“

Ah, it seems that not even a single person comes anymore.