Chapter 24
A pleasant morning on my way to work.
Today, too, I watered the World Tree while breathing in the fragrant scent it released.
Pshht! Pshht!
It seemed to like being sprayed with water from a spray bottle best.
Whenever I sprayed it, it released the strongest fragrance.
After carefully wiping the leaves with a handkerchief and then watering it, the room filled with a pleasant fragrance.
Maybe now I understand why old folks grow orchids.
After washing the World Tree like that, I took a shower too and turned on the news channel.
-[Exclusive] A serial burglar targeting commercial properties around Taepyeong City is on the loose—‘Recipient Unknown’ package alert.
-Recently, a new type of crime involving small packages with no recipient listed has been running rampant. According to the victims’ common testimony, they lost their memories immediately after receiving an unidentified package, and when they came to, all the money in their safes had been stolen. Some speculate that powerful hypnotic magic or an artifact containing a curse may have been used. The authorities urge everyone to be cautious when handling packages with no recipient listed…….
“The world’s a dangerous place. You receive one package, lose your memory, and get all your money stolen?”
That was Taepyeong City for you.
In a city where otherworlders and magic were commonplace, even the methods criminals used were spectacular.
Last time, it had been a doppelganger who copied its target’s memories.
After showering, I roughly dried myself and logged into the convenience store gallery.
Sure enough.
The gallery was buzzing with talk about the suspicious packages mentioned in the news.
[Featured Post: Hey, where’s the guy who posted a few days ago about receiving a suspicious package?]
Author : ㅇㅇ(118.235)
He’d said he was going to open the package, but there hadn’t been any posts since then.
[Comments 12]
Mage Tower Night Shift : That’s right. Come to think of it, no new posts have gone up from that ID.
Newbie Slicer : └Maybe he just quit and ran off? From the looks of it, he didn’t have the face of someone who’d last long.
ㅇㅇ(223.39) : └How can you read his physiognomy when you don’t know what he looks like?
Newbie Slicer : └I can see everything.
ㅇㅇ : └This guy’s Maitreya.
Shonen Manga : Dunno? Isn’t the convenience store that got robbed on the news his store?
ㅇㅇ : What if he was kidnapped?
Stop Buying Giant Cups : This is fucked. ㄷㄷ
Light Cultist : This is when we should band together.
Demon King Fan : └What if the missing gallery user is a member of the Demon King’s army?
Light Cultist : └That’s unfortunate.
One user presumed to be a victim hadn’t even posted a sign of being alive, to the point that several users were worried.
“Looks like there really are a lot of victims.”
If it had made the news, it probably wasn’t just one or two people who’d been targeted.
[Title : I heard that bastard doesn’t just target convenience stores; he hits every commercial property worth money.]
Author : I Love You
If it’s a yellow box with packing tape on it and no recipient listed, don’t touch it under any circumstances. I hear sometimes the store owner’s name is written on it too, but I don’t know about those.
[Comments 1]
ㅇㅇ : If the store owner’s name is written on it, doesn’t that mean the owner is the culprit?
“A package with no recipient listed……”
The fortune I’d received yesterday suddenly came to mind.
To be careful with boxes.
“A package box…… Surely this isn’t what it meant, right?”
Was it because of the fortune I’d received yesterday?
I felt uneasy for no reason.
“I should be careful with this.”
On my way out of the house and to work.
The fortune I’d seen yesterday and the news article kept circling through my head, but once I arrived at work and felt the air conditioner blowing, that uneasy feeling disappeared.
“I’m here.”
“Oh, my vassal, you’ve arrived!”
The manager seemed to be in peak condition today.
It must have been thanks to her victory in yesterday’s raid.
“You look happy.”
“Heh heh, of course. That insolent ZI존드래곤 sent me a message. It was a humiliating message acknowledging their defeat last night. I watched it all night, and it felt like all my fatigue had been washed away.”
She chuckled softly and stretched long and hard.
“Nghhh, now that my vassal has arrived, the True Ancestor shall clock out.”
“Yes, good work. The cash count is all correct, right?”
“Of course. The True Ancestor’s calculations are infallible.”
The manager went back to the stockroom, took off her uniform, and fled the store as though she were running away.
“Ah, right.”
The manager stopped by the door and looked at me.
“A delivery will arrive later.”
“A delivery?”
“Yes. It’s the latest smartphone the True Ancestor ordered for her vassal. Since it’s an item for you, just receive it and check it right away.”
Nice.
As expected of the manager.
She was giving me a smartphone right away?
“Thank you!”
“Then I truly shall be off!”
After the manager left, I changed into my uniform as usual and checked the POS terminal.
I counted the cash, and fortunately, there was no shortage.
Jingle.
A massive orc came stomping into the store.
He wore leather armor over his shoulders and had a ridiculously large ax strapped to his waist—the classic outfit of a Hunter.
He went straight to the refrigerated-food section, then brought five chicken legs, five chicken breasts, and five hot bars to the counter and dumped them down.
“Ring it up.”
It was a routine occurrence.
Throwing down their items and speaking informally to someone they’d just met.
On top of that.
Thud.
“Fifty thousand won. That’s right, so ring it up quickly and give me my change, okay?”
He even tossed his money onto the counter before I’d finished scanning anything.
The orc breathed roughly and glared at me.
I mostly ignored his gaze as I scanned the barcodes.
Beep—. Beep—.
“That comes to 51,700 won, sir.”
“What? Why is it over fifty thousand won?”
If you’re asking me……
“Part-timer, didn’t you scan something wrong?”
“I scanned five of each, all correctly.”
The orc, who had been about to get angry, snorted loudly.
“This tiny hot bar costs three thousand won each? It was definitely only 2,500 won until last week!”
“The discount event ended yesterday, so it’s back to the regular price. Would you like me to remove them if you don’t want to pay?”
The orc’s thick eyebrow twitched.
He radiated such a menacing air that it looked like he might overturn the counter at any moment, but then he clicked his tongue and rummaged through his leather pouch.
“Grrr…… Damn capitalists. Look at these prices going up. Here, I’ve got another two thousand won!”
Two crumpled one-thousand-won bills dropped onto the counter.
“I received 52,000 won. Here’s 300 won in change. Would you like a bag?”
“Obviously. Are you telling me to carry all this in my bare hands? Pack it quickly, human.”
“Yes. Then the bag fee adds 100 won, so you’ll need to give me another 100 won.”
At that, the orc’s hand stopped halfway through taking his change.
His brow furrowed even more fiercely than before.
“……What? A bag fee? You’re charging this great warrior of the Red Axe Tribe for a scrap of plastic?!”
“Yes. It’s required by the Ministry of Environment, so we can’t provide them for free.”
“Don’t make me laugh! I’ve never paid a bag fee at the PC bang up ahead or the supermarket in front of the Hunter Guild! How dare a lowly part-timer try to squeeze money out of me? Just give me one!”
The orc slammed his fist down on the counter while snorting angrily.
That startled me.
I nearly had a heart attack.
I understood that he was angry, but I couldn’t give him one.
“Sir, enforcement has been really strict lately, so I can’t. If you don’t give me the 100 won, you’ll have to carry everything in your hands.”
Honestly, I’d never actually seen anyone come around to enforce it.
It was simply a roundabout way of saying no.
The orc had to know that, too.
“You insolent bastard……!”
“Other customers are waiting, so if you don’t want a bag, please take your items and move aside.”
I cut off the orc and pointed toward the customers waiting behind him.
Honestly, what difference would 100 won make to the store’s sales?
What would I even do with the money from the bag fee?
But if I made an exception for one person, others would come demanding one for themselves, too.
It would mean creating a new nuisance while trying to deal with a single nuisance customer conveniently.
I couldn’t allow that.
A troublesome customer never thinks they’re being troublesome.
If you indulge them, they start thinking that kind of treatment is their natural right.
There’s a reason that saying exists.
“If you keep showing goodwill, people start thinking it’s their right.”
When I made it clear that I had absolutely no intention of giving him one,
the orc put down a coin, still snorting with rage but seeming to have lost his momentum.
“Just you wait. Someday, I’ll make you pay for this humiliation!”
“I received 100 won.”
He snatched the plastic bag away, stuffed the items inside, and stomped out of the store.
“Good grief, what a customer from hell.”
The deer beastkin woman who had been waiting behind him clicked her tongue as she watched the orc’s back.
“Give young people a break. It’s not like people like that are rare. I hear Hunters with nasty tempers have been picking fights all over the place lately because clearing the Tower has gotten harder.”
Beep—. Beep—.
She was a chatty customer.
“That comes to 27,000 won.”
“Young man, I’ve been waiting a long time, so can’t you knock a little off?”
Let me say it again.
A troublesome customer
doesn’t know they’re a troublesome customer.
***
“Hmmm~.”
There were fewer troublesome customers than usual today.
More precisely, the troublesome customers were low-difficulty.
Maybe that was why.
I found myself humming.
“Smartphone~. Latest-model smartphone~.”
On top of that, the latest-model smartphone the manager had ordered was coming.
Today was bound to be a good day.
It was while I was humming and tidying the shelves that it happened.
Jingle.
“Delivery.”
A man wearing a yellow cap approached the counter.
The yellow vest he wore bore the logo of Taepyeong Transport, a famous company in Taepyeong City.
He was holding a single yellow package box in his arms.
“Oh? The delivery driver is different today. Isn’t there usually a separate courier assigned to this place?”
The deliveryman smiled at my question and answered.
“Ah, this is a separately ordered package. The person who usually comes here is the convenience store freight courier, so we’re completely different.”
“Ahh.”
“Please sign for receipt.”
“Yes……”
I accepted the box without suspicion.
It was a small box roughly a handspan in length and width.
A waybill was stuck to the top of the yellowish packing tape wound tightly around it.
[Recipient : Manager Jinjo]
The name the manager always used for herself was written plainly on it.
“A name that suits the manager.”
After signing, I looked at the deliveryman.
He was a man with a blurry presence.
He had a kind face and ordinary features that didn’t stick in my mind after a single glance.
Other than the slight glimpse of green hair beneath his cap, there was nothing remarkable about the deliveryman at all.
Seeing him suddenly reminded me of the gallery post I’d read that morning.
-Never touch a yellow box with packing tape on it if no recipient is listed.
‘But the recipient is clearly written as the manager.’
Besides, hadn’t the manager herself told me before leaving work
that the latest smartphone she’d ordered for me would be delivered, and that I should receive it and check it right away?
-Be careful with boxes, boxes.
The fortune suddenly came to mind.
The fortune I’d received at that suspicious fortune-teller’s shop I hadn’t trusted.
“She told me to be careful with boxes.”
I dealt with convenience-store delivery boxes every day, but this one was a different type.
“Thank you for your work.”
While I was lost in thought, the deliveryman slipped out of the store.
“A smartphone……”
I was curious.
What it looked like.
What functions it had.
Even though I’d received a fortune warning me to be careful, opening it alone felt a little wrong.
And hadn’t there been ominous news related to boxes on the news that morning, too?
“I’ll ask the manager when she comes back later.”
I placed the box in the corner of the counter.
“Welcome~!”
How many more customers had I served?
A very faint, sweet, fruity scent drifted over from somewhere.
“What is that smell?”
Why was there suddenly a fruity scent?
For a moment, my head spun.
Along with a strange sensation that made my hands and feet lose a little of their strength.
Jingle!
A clear chime rang out.
“Vassal! What are you doing? The True Ancestor has arrived!”
When I raised my head, the manager was standing in the convenience store, having entered at some point.
“You left work earlier—why are you here?”