I slept like a baby and didn't even realize how much time had passed. The experiences from last night's shift felt like a distant dream.
It was a plausible inference, really.
I mean, where on earth would vampires and dragons exist?
They only exist in cartoons and animations, right?
But that dream was not a dream.
Definitely not.
Because there was evidence - the potion bottle I drank last night was lying on the floor.
I picked up the bottle and smelled it.
It had a sweet scent.
"...Must've been some heavy stuff."
The last traces of sleepiness had disappeared, so I thought about what to do with the remaining time.
The computer was out of commission due to a graphics card issue, and the laptop I had was a potato that couldn't even run Minesweeper properly.
Going to a PC cafe to play a game or two would've been perfect, but I've quit gaming for a while now...
As I eliminated the things I couldn't do, the only thing left was to go to work.
So, I brushed my teeth, washed my hair, dried it a bit, and headed out.
The late-April night air felt slightly chilly.
I had worn lighter clothes, as I tend to sweat easily working at the convenience store.
It's not like I do physically demanding work, but with all the weird customers around, I end up breaking a sweat quite often.
And another thing - there were hardly any people on the streets.
I live in the metropolitan area, but my neighborhood is particularly empty of people.
The convenience store is located at an intersection that's especially deserted, as a new road has been built nearby, drawing away all the people and businesses.
So, the streets around the convenience store are practically empty.
Not a single pedestrian, just two stray cats leisurely walking on the sidewalk.
I paused in front of the store and thought.
Am I the only one who can see this?
I could ask the store manager, but I had a feeling even she wouldn't have the answers.
Since I have decided to work here, I should at least know how this place appears to the rest of the world.
But there was no one on the street to ask.
The stray cats didn't seem interested either.
The mystery didn't seem immediately solvable, so I went inside.
The store was in a bit of an odd state.
"All of this is just~ if you think about it for a moment~"
"?"
"Oh, Channie came in early?"
The store manager greeted me with a bright smile, but what on earth was that?
"It's like you're a butterfly, in a way~"
"There's a customer singing over there."
Huh, why?
The manager's tone was relaxed, not seeming to care much.
So, I just stayed quiet for now.
Soon, the singing customer, a female harpy with thick fur lining the inside of her ears, came to the counter and bought a can of coffee.
She seemed to have her earphones in.
What's more, this harpy lady had normal, functioning arms - unlike the harpies I saw flying yesterday, who had wings instead of arms.
"Where have you been lately, you who flew away~"
"That'll be 1,100 won. Would you like me to pack it in a bag?"
Even with the harpy singing right in front of her, the manager seemed unfazed.
She put the coffee in a small bag and handed it to her with the card, and she left after briefly touching her earphones.
After confirming the door had closed, I asked the manager.
"She doesn't look drunk, but why was she singing here? This isn't a karaoke bar."
"Harpies can be a bit free-spirited. Probably because they fly around all the time."
"But that customer didn't have wings..."
"Harpies don't always have their wings out. They have to be able to live their normal lives, you know."
"So, they can detach them?"
"Body transformation. It's a mandatory middle school course."
It does seem more practical than Pythagoras' Theorem.
As I was pondering this, the manager looked at me with a slightly concerned expression.
"By the way, Channie, did you have any trouble coming in?"
"Huh? No, no trouble at all. I just walked in."
"People didn't give you any strange looks?"
"There was literally no one on the streets where I live, so no one to give me weird looks."
"I didn't do anything but take a look outside."
I looked outside, and the intersection I had come through was gone.
In its place was the bustling intersection of a different world, with strange creatures roaming around.
"I was just trying to do something around the time you would've been coming in. I'm not sure how well it went, but..."
The manager trailed off as a customer - no, a customer who was a dwarf - arrived.
He looked similar to the group I saw yesterday, but his braided beard was different.
He wouldn't be smoking the same cigarettes, either.
"Give me a cigarette."
First clue: cigarettes.
"Of course, which one would you like..."
"Channie, why don't you just sit down and take a break for a bit? I'll handle this."
The manager interrupted me, glancing at the dwarf's face, then reached into the cigarette display and pulled out a pack.
"How about this one?"
The manager had selected a pack of Golden Leaf, one of the more expensive 6,000 won cigarette brands, though I didn't know the reason behind the high price.
The dwarf accepted it, tilting his head slightly, then held up three fingers.
The manager calmly grabbed two more packs and handed them over, calculating the change as if it were a normal transaction.
I was so bewildered by the scene that I had to ask.
"Manager, how did you know what cigarette that customer wanted? Is that some kind of magic?"
"Hah, why would I use magic? That'd be a waste of magic energy."
"So do you have some kind of special trick then?"
"It's not that big of a trick, but if the customer buying cigarettes is silent, take a look at their eyes once.
What's with the eyes? Are you some kind of a sharp-eyed gambler?
"The customer coming to the counter to buy cigarettes will first look around the display for their cigarettes. If you take a quick peek, you'll see their gaze fixated on a specific spot."
"Yesterday, there was a dwarf customer who didn't even know the name of the cigarette he was smoking. What do you do in cases like that?"
"In cases like that, there's not much you can do. But dwarves tend to have a lot of money, so they usually smoke the more expensive cigarettes. Looking at it more broadly, the thinner cigarettes."
The older customers do seem to smoke a lot of the thinner cigarettes. Guess they are easier to smoke since they're thinner.
Even the soldiers, it seems they can't buy the cheap PX cigarettes anymore when they go on leave, so they just clear out all the imported cigarettes every time they come out.
The store manager suddenly smiled and said,
"Oh, shall we try guessing which cigarette the dwarf customer bought yesterday?"
"Do we really have to?"
"I'm just bored. I've been stuck here for 12 hours straight."
I don't know her age, but she's really silly.
The store manager brought her index fingers up to the sides of her head, pretending to use telepathy, and muttered,
"Special Gold?"
"There were two of them, so what did the other one buy?"
"...But it's not like they only smoke the thin ones... Could it be this one?"
She pointed to the display, and it turned out to be the cigarette they had bought the day before.
"Wow, now I'm really convinced the manager is a wizard."
"I'll smack you if you keep this up."
I shrunk back in fear of getting a beating, but the smiling manager continued.
"And the vampire customers prefer the harsher cigarettes. They seem to not feel much pain, so the strong ones suit them better."
"Ugh..."
"The kobolds also smoke a lot of the uniquely flavored ones, and the goblins just look for the latest products. They seem to think smoking the newest stuff is more profitable."
If I kept listening, it would be a goldmine of tips.
I could generally figure out what kind of people smoke what type of cigarettes my world, but the customers here aren't even human.
While I was thinking about it, another customer came in. Speak of the devil.
"Ah, just the one I was talking about. A goblin customer."
This goblin didn't cause a fuss, bringing 300 coins.
He wasn't here to buy cigarettes either.
He just came in and quietly rummaged through the lunch area, then gathered up a bunch of sandwiches and burgers and placed them on the counter.
Anyone could see it was way too much to carry out without a bag.
The manager scanned all the barcodes and told the goblin,
"That'll be 12,800 won. Shall I bag that for you?"
She asked, but the goblin just silently handed over his card.
The manager asked again, but the goblin didn't respond, so the manager just shrugged and completed the transaction.
Only then did the goblin speak up.
"Bag it for me."
This always happens.
They won't answer when you ask if they want a bag but then demand one after the transaction is done.
In cases like this, it gets really awkward to handle.
There's no way a customer would be carrying around 10-won coins when the bag costs 20 won, and it's silly to pay 20 won by card either, since it'll show up as a 20-won transaction.
It's understandable if they just briefly forgot, but if they don't respond even after being asked multiple times, there's usually some shady intent behind it.
"The bag costs 20 won."
"I don't have any 20-won coins. Can't you just give it to me?"
"You can pay by card if you'd like."
"It's weird to pay 20 won by card. You should have asked me earlier."
"I did ask you, sir. Twice, in fact."
"I didn't hear it."
I was about to get cancer watching this from the side, but the manager kept smiling throughout.
Has she achieved the zen state after working here for so long?
"I did ask you, sir. I heard it myself standing right here."
I chimed in, not wanting to get cancer.
The goblin looked at me with an unclear gaze, then grumbled while clutching his armful of goods.
"Annoying, making a fuss over that 20 won."
Isn't he just being difficult about giving that 20 won? That's how I see it.
After the grumbling goblin left, I asked the manager,
"I thought you wouldn't care much about things like bag fees, manager."
"I normally don't. But that customer was kind of... annoying, you know? Their intentions are so transparent."
"I had the image that goblins are just stingy and unpleasant, but I guess that's not much different in this world either."
Hearing my words, the manager looked quite surprised.
"What, you have goblins in your world too?"
"No, but people do tend to have those sort of stereotypical images, you know? Like goblins being greedy and unpleasant, centaurs being good at astrology and fortune-telling, elves being long-lived and arrogant and beautiful and cool, that kind of thing."
"Wow, that's fascinating."
"It is kind of strange to see it in person. But I guess there's a reason behind those stereotypical images."
"Interesting. Do those images generally hold true here?"
"Not completely, but for example..."
I had to cut off mid-sentence as another customer came in.
This one was the elf from yesterday, and he was starting to repeat the same thing he said yesterday.
"Where's the soju?"
"Why don't you take a look over at the liquor section?"
The drunk elf, that's him.
Seems like he forgot where the liquor section was, even though I told him yesterday.
The manager muttered quietly as he watched the elf stagger around.
"That customer definitely seems intoxicated..."
"I'll take care of it."
Even though I got an earful yesterday, I think I handled it pretty well.
So, this time too, I'll deal with it.
A moment later, the elf came back with a bottle of soju. He placed it on the counter and asked,
"Manager, can I drink it here and go?"
"As I told you yesterday, I can't allow that, sir. It's illegal."
"What do you mean it's illegal? I bought it, so I should be able to drink it and leave!"
"As I mentioned yesterday, this isn't a place just for adults, you know?"
"It's already dark outside. Kids would be coming here at this hour!"
I don't know.
But there could be kids who just got off from their after-school activities dropping by briefly, right?
The elf continued muttering various things, but I just let it slide.
What I did notice, though, was that his speech was quite fluent.
He seemed a bit less intoxicated than yesterday, but hearing the same nonsense coming from a slightly more sober mind just irritated me more.
Elves were the among the better-regarded fantasy races in my mind, but this bald-headed elf was shattering that image.
"Why don't you do what you did yesterday? Take the cup and..."
"No way! You're just ignoring me, aren't you? Because I'm an elf!"
"Why would I be ignoring you because you're an elf—"
"Back in the old days, you pathetic humans wouldn't even dare to breathe, you know?!"
"Huh?"
The conversation seemed to be taking an increasingly strange turn.
After that, the elf started spouting some really bizarre stuff.
Complaining that it was the humans who started the troubles, so why should they be the ones suffering more, saying that people like me should have all died in the war, and so on.
I had no idea why I had to listen to this nonsense, and in my exasperation, I glanced at the manager.
She had her hand on the cash register and seemed to be pressing something.
"Manager what are you doing?"
"Pressing the emergency call button."
"...Huh?"
A moment of silence passed, and the manager responded as if asking what's wrong.
"Why?"