Chapter 23
My day off was coming to an end.
“Days off really do fly by.”
Before I knew it, it was evening.
The dusk was settling in.
I had been thinking of going straight home to rest, but.
“Isn't the manager watching the store alone right now?”
The manager's voice, confidently declaring that I shouldn't worry about the store as she puffed out her chest, echoed in my ears.
-Don't worry about the True Ancestor's domain! I shall personally protect this space while my vassal is away!
There probably wasn't anyone else to cover my shift while I was off.
How was she planning to handle a convenience store that ran twenty-four hours a day all by herself?
‘Considering how she used blood arms to handle the workload of more than three people by herself, it doesn't seem entirely impossible.’
Since I had nothing else to do, I thought I'd at least keep her company.
Time always flew when I chatted with the manager.
Maybe it was because we shared the same hobby.
We even worked at the same place.
You could say she was a good person to vent my work troubles to.
So I stopped by the convenience store on my way back.
The convenience store in front of Hunter Tower.
Where I worked.
One of the convenience stores closest to the enormous Hunter Tower that supported the city.
Even now, the convenience store was bustling with customers coming and going.
Jingle.
“Wel, come, wel, come. Wel, come, to, the, True, Ancestor's, do, main.”
As I opened the door and walked in, a familiar voice came from the counter.
But its intonation was oddly mechanical.
It spoke at a steady rhythm, without any rise or fall.
It wasn't the manager's usual voice.
“Manager? What's wrong with your voice……”
I looked toward the counter as I greeted her, then stopped dead.
A golem who looked like the manager was standing there in a convenience store uniform.
Why was I so sure it was a golem?
“Please, choose, your, items, at, your, leisure.”
Other than the uniform, its entire body was red.
As though it had been made from blood.
“Huh?”
Red golem 1, resembling the manager, was serving customers while scanning barcodes.
Red golem 2 was stocking newly arrived goods on the shelves.
And red golem 3 was telling customers where to find items in response to their questions.
No fewer than three manager golems were serving customers.
“A blood-made, clone……?”
The customers reacted as if this were perfectly normal.
Now I understood why she'd boasted so confidently.
If she could make clones like these, managing the store alone was entirely doable.
“Please, insert, your, card, for, payment.”
The golems were even surprisingly adept at scanning barcodes, accepting cards, and processing payments.
They dealt with the endless stream of customers without taking even a moment's rest.
More importantly, if a clone was working here, where was the real manager?
I'd come to keep her company.
It was then.
“Are you, look, ing, for, some, thing?”
A golem identical to the manager approached me.
It gave me a quick once-over, top to bottom, as if trying to recognize me.
“Employee, Kim Min-cheol, what brings, you, here?”
“You registered me.”
“That is, correct. The master, ordered me to register, all employees, and customers.”
“Where is the manager right now?”
“She is currently, resting. If you wish to see her, please go, to the stockroom.”
Though it had exactly the manager's voice, perhaps because it lacked emotional inflection, or perhaps because it lacked her characteristic excited tempo,
it felt oddly awkward.
“I will, guide, you.”
“It's all right. You're busy, so I'll find her myself.”
I passed the clone and headed toward the walk-in stockroom at the back of the convenience store.
A faint smartphone glow and an urgent voice seeped through the crack in the stockroom door.
“I just need to dodge this pattern! Ngh, I don't have enough damage here! This time, the True Ancestor's name will take first place! Second place is absolutely unacceptable! Retry! I said retry!”
When I opened the door, I saw the manager hunched on a chair in the stockroom, furiously tapping at her smartphone screen as though she were trying to shatter it.
“……Manager, what are you doing here?”
At my voice, the manager jolted and turned her head.
Dark circles hung heavily beneath her eyes, and her already pale complexion looked so haggard she seemed ready to collapse at any moment.
“Huh, huh? My vassal? Why have you come to the True Ancestor's domain on your day off?”
“I thought you might be bored, so I came to keep you company……”
“Thank you. As expected of my loyal vassal! But that isn't the issue right now! The season raid deadline is right around the corner, and that ‘ZI존드래곤’ dares to take first place over the True Ancestor!”
The manager trembled, looking ready to cry, as she clutched her smartphone.
ZI존드래곤?
“Ah.”
I knew who that was.
One of the players who always traded first and second place in the solo raid.
I remembered the ID because it was always at the very top whenever the solo raid rankings were tallied.
It was such an old-fashioned ID that I remembered it, but…….
In Stella's Echoes, the game she was playing, an endgame mode called “Solo Raid” was released once a month.
It was a single-player game with no PvP mode, but this competitive raid mode was the only way players could compete against one another.
Since scores were determined by how well players had developed their characters and how good their controls were, the mode carried surprisingly significant weight among players.
As someone who played casually, I only needed to stay within the top 3% to receive the final rewards, so I always stopped after securing a rank in the top 3%.
But she was competing with ZI존드래곤 for first place.
“Don't tell me you're that ‘Blood True Ancestor’?”
“As expected of my vassal. You know the True Ancestor's ID.”
Of course I did.
She was the player who was always battling ZI존드래곤 for first and second place.
‘The rankers in Stella's Echoes were all from Taepyeong City?’
This was a little shocking.
“This time, I managed to fully unlock and fully enhance Asteria of the Blazing Inferno, and even finished optimizing her dedicated team with endgame gear! But that lizard bastard broke his record right before the raid deadline! So now the True Ancestor is going to somehow reclaim first place…….”
Only then did I understand why she'd made clones to run the store.
‘Competition between rankers is important, but…….’
Her physical condition clearly didn't look good.
“But are you all right? You look like you could collapse at any moment.”
“Hmm, I'm fine. I've done this much plenty of times before…… It is a little taxing to keep several clones standing, but this is nothing to the True Ancestor…….”
At that moment, the manager's body swayed, and she nearly tumbled off the chair.
I hurried over and caught her by the shoulders.
She was as light as a feather.
“Are you all right? Why are you so cold?”
“I-I'm only a little dizzy from a lack of blood. Phew……. Still, perhaps focusing on the game while keeping several clones active was a little too much.”
The manager gasped for breath and gripped my arm tightly.
Her red eyes began to grow glassy and lose focus.
Her gaze latched onto my forearm, then my nape.
“Sssniff……. Haaaah.”
The manager flared her nostrils and drew in my scent deeply.
From between her small red lips, pointed, sharp fangs that were usually hard to see poked out.
“My vassal. You smell very, very sweet…….”
“Manager? Your eyes look a little dangerous right now.”
“Just a little. Yes, just one sip. Like last time, 100,000 won……. I shall pay 100,000 won. If I defeat ZI존드래곤, triple that as a bonus……. There are only thirty minutes left until the deadline……”
The manager smacked her lips as if entranced and slowly moved toward my nape.
It seemed she was being swayed by her vampire instincts.
The manager had never shown me this side of herself before.
To think someone who always controlled her instincts with more composure than anyone else could become this unrestrained.
And all because of a game ranking.
‘I guess that really is like the manager.’
I smiled and said to her,
“Manager, if you drink my blood, you absolutely have to take first place.”
“Of course. The True Ancestor shall show you how frightening she is once recovered.”
I wasn't sure showing it through a mobile game was the right way to do that, though.
I readily offered her my nape.
“Just drink a little. I have to work tomorrow.”
“Do not worry. The True Ancestor has great self-control.”
Her cold lips touched near my collarbone.
At the moist sensation of her lips and the sharp prick,
“Ngh!”
I let out a groan before I knew it.
I felt her fangs pierce my skin and the sensation of my blood being sucked out.
Sluuuurp.
The manager rested her head on my shoulder and focused on drinking my blood for a moment.
Warmth returned to her body, which had been cold.
“Haaaah…….”
When she lifted her face from my shoulder, I heard her sweet, breathy exhale.
“Delicious……. My vassal's blood……. It's hot, and rich.”
Heat colored the manager's languid voice.
Sweat had beaded on the manager's forehead.
Perhaps her body temperature had suddenly risen because she'd drunk blood.
You know how it is.
Like how eating wild ginseng can suddenly send your temperature soaring, leaving your body hotter than usual for the rest of the day.
Maybe drinking blood had caused the same change in the manager.
“Are you all right?”
“I am fine. I feel strength returning to my body. At this rate, reclaiming first place should be possible. I am in perfect condition!”
Her dark circles were gone, and her body was warm again.
As I watched the manager pick up her smartphone, I rose from my seat and said,
“If you're finished, dismiss the clones and go inside to finish your game. I'll look after the store for the remaining time.”
At my words, the manager's round, rabbit-like red eyes grew wide.
“You will look after the True Ancestor's domain? My vassal, do you mean to ease the True Ancestor's burden?”
“Yes. I have nothing else to do anyway, and you need to take first place to get the 300,000-won success bonus. You won't take first if you have to spend your focus on the store. Just make sure I get my overtime pay.”
“Of course! I shall reward you handsomely if we succeed!”
She smiled brightly, clutching her smartphone.
Seeing how broadly she smiled, losing first place must have really infuriated her.
“Then I leave it to you, my vassal! In the remaining thirty minutes, I shall reclaim first place without fail!”
With a resolute expression, the manager climbed back onto the chair and picked up her smartphone.
I let out a deep sigh, closed the stockroom door, and returned to the store.
The blood clone standing outside had vanished cleanly without leaving so much as a red mark on the floor.
“So my day off ends at the convenience store counter after all.”
I casually put on my apron and stood behind the POS terminal.
In the stockroom.
-Aaaah!! The boss has gone berserk!!
Though the manager's scream could be faintly heard through the stockroom door.
“I'll ring you up right away.”
I scanned the barcode without hesitation.
-I've beaten the record! ZI존드래곤! Try topping that!
-Aaaah! That bastard updated it again!!! The True Ancestor will burn bright one last time!
The manager's voice, sounding full of energy again, was loud enough to carry into the store.
Thirty minutes later.
Bang!
“Vassaaaaal!!!!!”
The manager opened the stockroom door and came out.
“I came! I saw! I conquered! The True Ancestor has won this month!!!”
With both arms raised high, the manager performed a victory celebration.
“Wahaha! The True Ancestor shall give a gift to her hard-working vassal! If there is anything you need, tell me anything!”
Anything I need?
Honestly, it would be enough if she just added a blood-drinking fee to the modest overtime pay I earned for my hard work.
“Ah, right! Your old smartphone hasn't been working properly, has it? From what I saw, after you came over to Taepyeong City, only a few apps that use Wi-Fi would work properly.”
“It wasn't. I tried contacting Korea, too, but couldn't get through……”
Most apps had stopped working.
Other than basic functions like the camera and games like Stella's Echoes, nothing even ran.
“Hmm, then as a reward for your hard work today, the True Ancestor shall replace it with Taepyeong City's latest smartphone. There are probably a few apps that can only be used in our city, and you should be able to use them.”
Help out at work briefly and get a smartphone in return.
The manager was the best.
What was wrong with getting invested in her game results?
If anything, she looked more appealing when she was so focused.
There was an old saying that people who devoted themselves to one thing were more likely to succeed, too.
As expected, successful people really were different.
“If you need me to work overtime again later, call me. You need to maintain your rank after all.”
“Next time, I shall drink your blood as well.”
“Of course. I'll provide it.”
“……You really are an unusual vassal.”
The manager looked genuinely astonished at my immediate answer.
“The residents of Taepyeong City dislike being bitten by vampires, you know. The True Ancestor has truly acquired an excellent vassal!”
She exclaimed, puffing out her chest.
“I shall order the smartphone and deliver it as soon as possible! Now go clock out!”
“Yes, ma'am. Good work.”
The manager stared intently as I left the store, then soon looked back at the number-one ranking displayed on her smartphone and smirked.
Whenever she was like that, she seemed more like a little sister than the manager.
And so, my first day off came to an end.