Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I Won the Bid for the Academy Store

Quite some time had passed since I'd adapted to this other world.

Flap!

Right on cue, a carrier pigeon flew over and delivered a sealed envelope to me.

One look at the seal stamped into the wax told me all I needed to know.

"It's here!"

Brimming with anticipation, I tore open the envelope and examined the letter inside.

I skipped the formal greetings.

Quickly scanning the body of the letter, I finally found the words I'd been waiting for.

「Congratulations.

You have blah blah blah...

Therefore, you have acquired the right to operate the Academy store.」

"Yes!"

I shouted in triumph.

I'd finally won the bid to run the Academy store I'd been dreaming of!

'Now that I've actually gotten what I wanted, I'm kind of shaking.'

But nothing is impossible with my ability, 'Online Shopping'!

Sure, it wasn't some outrageous cheat skill that could shake heaven and earth─

And I didn't have the talent to enroll as a proper Academy student─

But who says I have to become some mighty powerhouse in this world?

I could make decent money running a store at the Academy and get acquainted with promising talents who would one day lead the nation...

This was the solution I'd come up with after racking my brain for a way to survive in this world.

"Heh-heh..."

Just you wait, Academy!

I'll blow you all away with the food and manufactured goods from my old world!

Feeling immensely pleased with myself, I clenched my fist tight.

Crinkle.

And in doing so, I crumpled my precious store permit like a losing lottery ticket.

"Ah, fuck."

This wasn't supposed to get wrinkled.

I hurriedly spread the parchment out flat.

But it had been processed at a workshop until it was as thin as papyrus, so there was no way that would restore it to its original state.

*

"Oh!"

As expected of the Empire's premier institution for cultivating talent, the quality of the accommodations was quite impressive.

I was now affiliated with the Academy and couldn't leave the grounds without permission, but I didn't particularly mind.

It wasn't as if I'd have much reason to go outside anyway.

Besides, wandering out carelessly and running into bandits or wild beasts would be a great way to get brutally killed.

'And that's not even mentioning magical beasts.'

If you had to name the safest place in this world, it would undoubtedly be the Academy.

It educated the children of the most powerful families from across the Empire, so nowhere else could possibly have tighter security.

For a commoner like me with neither aura nor mana, there couldn't be a more perfect home.

There wouldn't be any thugs demanding protection money either─

And I wouldn't have to deal with ignorant, uncivilized medieval customers from hell.

Most Academy students were nobles to begin with.

Which meant I could sell my products to those rich kids at high prices!

For me, it was practically paradise on earth!

My life in another world was about to begin anew at the Academy(in a slightly unusual way)!

"...You seem to be in quite a good mood?"

A slender, silver-haired beauty whose age was difficult to guess stared at me as she spoke.

Metal-framed glasses weren't really my thing, but without them, I might have mistaken her for some elegant noblewoman rather than the principal.

That was how captivating she was.

"Of course. I'm so happy to be opening a store at the Academy I could practically fly."

"...For someone that happy, your permit doesn't seem to be in very good condition."

The principal waved the store permit as she spoke. Striped creases that I'd failed to smooth out still covered the parchment.

"Ah, those are proof that I kept folding and unfolding it to check it several times on the way here. That's how excited I was."

"Hmm..."

As the principal, had she dealt with too many students lying to her over the years?

She didn't look particularly convinced.

"Well, fortunately, the official seal is intact. In any case, I sincerely welcome you as a member of the Academy, Mr. Dante."

Dante.

That was the new name I'd given myself after coming to this world.

The reason wasn't anything grand.

It was also the name of an author I admired─

'And it sounds cool, doesn't it?'

Anyway, my name here was Dante, and I had no surname.

I wasn't a noble, so of course I wouldn't have one.

'That aside...'

Calling a mere store owner like me a member of the Academy—what an honor.

"To tell you the truth, I agonized over this quite a bit."

"Agonized?"

I tilted my head.

For some reason, I had a bad feeling about this.

"Your predecessor, Mr. Dante, was an Academy graduate and a high-ranking mage who had even distinguished himself on the battlefield."

Gulp.

I barely managed to keep my mouth from falling open.

But what she said next made that impossible.

"And if you look at the backgrounds of the other applicants for this bid..."

A wealthy merchant who ran a fairly large trading company even by the standards of the west, where skilled businessmen were everywhere.

The second son of a noble family said to have the Empire's liquor distribution network firmly in its grasp.

There was even a retired soldier who had once served as the Imperial Army's chief supply officer...

"Hmm..."

Was it just my imagination, or had my chair suddenly turned into a bed of thorns?

'Fuck, the application requirements didn't mention anything about credentials?'

I'd applied thinking I could somehow make up for everything with the skill I'd received as my special perk, but now I couldn't help wondering.

Why had she chosen me when she hadn't even seen my ability yet?

"That's what you'll have to show me from now on, Mr. Dante."

Her answer made my eyes widen.

"Your predecessor quit before he could even last a month, you see?"

Huh?

I pulled both corners of my mouth down and stretched my upper lip into a stupid expression.

"Running the Academy store isn't quite as easy as you might think."

The principal said it with a bright smile.

'But why?'

Back when I was in school, the person I envied most was the lady who ran the school store.

Sales couldn't possibly be low with kids at the age when they were constantly growing, and she only had to work hard during breaks, so I'd always thought there couldn't be a cushier job.

Even in the military, wasn't the soldier assigned to the PX the guy everyone envied most?

'Wasn't it supposed to be easy money?'

Sure, the Academy wasn't exactly an easygoing place, but still...

"There was no question about his ability, diligence, or sense of responsibility. But even that wasn't enough."

"Ah..."

As I let out a quiet sigh, the principal raised one finger.

"You have one month."

"?"

"By then, prove that you're qualified to continue operating a store at the Academy."

Now I had to prove my qualifications out of nowhere.

It sounded absurd at first, but once I heard what came next, I could understand why.

"There are plenty of other people lined up for the chance to open a store here, after all."

Just as she said, the Academy had absolutely nothing to lose.

Only then did I begin to regret things a little.

'Maybe I shouldn't have done this...'

I regretted not looking into things properly before coming.

But where would I even have gotten that kind of information in the first place?

The Academy was, after all, a key educational institution operated by the state.

Its internal affairs were classified and couldn't simply be disclosed to outsiders.

'No use crying over spilled milk.'

Hell, even if I'd known beforehand, would that really have stopped me from diving in headfirst?

There was a reason I was this confident.

'You can't underestimate my special perk.'

This was more than doable.

*

Let's briefly look back to when I first arrived in this world.

Because of the nature of my profession, I can't go into much detail, but before I died, I happened to be posing as a convenience store owner.

You could call it a sort of cover identity, and that experience played a part in my decision to operate a store here.

Anyway, for certain reasons, I died and ended up dropped into some fantasy world I'd never even heard of.

Maybe my memories from before I died had influenced what happened next.

Ding!

[You have acquired a skill as your special perk in another world!]

[Skill Name: 'Online Shopping']

The ability that awakened within me was related to that as well.

After all, a convenience store owner was still a retailer who bought products and resold them, wasn't he?

At first, I was wondering what the fuck was going on, but I quickly adapted and started making a life for myself in this new world.

Part of that was because I'd been trained to adapt easily wherever I went, but the biggest reason was undoubtedly my ability, 'Online Shopping.'

So what exactly does it do?

Simple.

Basically, it lets me use this world's currency to purchase products from the world I originally lived in.

[You have purchased 'Jjin Ramen Mild(Small Cup)' for 6 silver.]

It's easiest to think of 1 silver as being worth roughly 100 won.

Even back in the real world, a small cup of Jjin Ramen Mild cost around 1,000 won, so once you accounted for the profit margin, it more or less made sense.

On top of that, the products apparently go through some kind of process when crossing into this world, because any explanations written in Korean are either omitted or localized before delivery.

Meaning that even if the students bought the products, they wouldn't struggle to read anything or become suspicious for no reason.

That part was definitely convenient.

Trickle...

I filled the cup with water from the hot-water dispenser and waited three minutes.

While I waited, I purchased one more item.

[You have purchased 'Braised Burdock Triangle Rice Ball' for 10 silver.]

Don't ask me why a triangle rice ball you could finish in three bites cost more than a cup of ramen with noodles and broth that could fill you up for an entire meal.

I'd always wondered the same thing back when I lived in my old world.

'Still, I can't give up the cup ramen and triangle rice ball combo.'

After roughly three minutes had passed, I opened the cup ramen lid and steam billowed out.

"Wow."

Inside were plump, perfectly cooked noodles and clear broth.

"Ahhh, when it comes to ramen, Jjin Mild is the one true answer!"

I lifted a generous bundle of noodles with my chopsticks and put it straight into my mouth.

"Mmm!"

With every bite, I could feel the springy bounce of the noodles.

They were cooked perfectly. Not swollen and mushy, but not undercooked and crunchy either.

"How are they supposed to reproduce this texture here?"

I immediately reached for the triangle rice ball and took a bite.

Each grain of white rice came apart between my teeth, while the crunchy braised burdock added a subtle sweetness and saltiness.

And before swallowing, I took a sip of ramen broth.

I could practically taste the efforts of all those master's and PhD holders at a major corporation who had worked to create that rich umami on a soy sauce base.

"Ah, that's warm."

Even just drinking the broth made my stomach feel pleasantly full.

'No matter how delicious the food they make in this world is, it can't compete with modern cuisine.'

Spread out before me was a feast of flavors that food without MSG could never hope to reproduce.

And I didn't even need to start a fire.

There was no need to prepare ingredients.

I didn't even have to wash the dishes.

Once I finished eating, I could just toss everything in the trash.

'No matter how impressive these people think they are, how could they possibly resist the fruits of civilization?'

I sipped down the last mouthful of broth and nodded in satisfaction.

The principal had given me a one-month deadline, but I wasn't worried in the slightest.

Because I was certain business would be booming.