Chapter 2 · 9 min
Chapter 2
Kimbap
A single green stone, no larger than a finger joint, sat on the checkout counter.
Looking at the green stone, Dohyeon thought.
‘In an instant, I earned 50g of mana stone. That’s worth five hundred thousand won.’
At first, Dohyeon had worried about what he would do if the bottled water did not sell.
No matter how he thought about it, he had believed that 1g of mana stone, worth ten thousand won, was far too expensive for 500ml of bottled water.
But judging by the hunters’ reactions, it apparently was not expensive at all.
‘I’m sure of it. Supply bases sell it for far more than the convenience store.’
As proof, before leaving, the hunters repeatedly thanked Dohyeon.
If the bottled water sold at the convenience store had truly been expensive, they would not have reacted that way.
‘This Convenience Store Owner trait. It might be even more incredible than I thought.’
Hope swelled in Dohyeon’s chest.
At first, he had wondered what use there was in having a convenience store appear in the middle of the Tower.
He had thought it was not a combat trait and was completely useless for escaping the Tower.
But now, he thought differently.
‘If I gather enough mana stones, I can hire other hunters to escort me!’
No, beyond that, it might even be possible to amass a fortune in mana stones through the convenience store.
Escaping the Tower was important, but he had, after all, been summoned all the way to the 10th floor.
Because it was so far from the surface, the value of the convenience store would be much higher.
Dohyeon was not foolish enough to throw away an opportunity like this and immediately escape the Tower.
‘I’ll earn as many mana stones as possible here, then escape.’
Dohyeon’s goal was set.
‘To do that, I need to figure out what hunters need most.’
Dohyeon desperately tried to recall the information about hunters he had seen on NewTube.
‘Come to think of it, they said hunters crave normal food because they live on preserved foods...?’
Electronic devices did not work inside the Tower.
Naturally, there was no way refrigerators could function properly.
Hunters carried things like jerky, hardtack, or preserved foods specially manufactured to have long shelf lives.
Naturally, they were not as tasty as the food eaten outside the Tower.
Among hunters who climbed the higher floors, there were even cases of people becoming so homesick that they could no longer properly eat preserved food and gave up on climbing.
Dohyeon looked through the product list.
‘Then the next product I should choose is...’
Something nutritious and tasty.
Dohyeon selected one item from the product list.
_____________
‘There’s a convenience store on the 10th floor of the Tower?’
‘Come on, have you spent your whole life being fooled or something?’
“Convenience store, my ass.”
Lee Junhyeok, who had just reached the 10th floor of the Tower after passing through the 9th floor, frowned.
While coming up from the 9th floor, he had encountered Yoon Taegyeong, a member of the same guild.
Their happiness at seeing each other was short-lived, as Taegyeong soon began telling Junhyeok something incomprehensible.
‘I’m telling you, they were selling real bottled water.’
‘...For 1g of mana stone?’
‘Yeah, and it was cold enough to have condensation on it.’
‘How are they supposed to sell cold bottled water in the Tower when even refrigerators don’t work properly?’
‘Ah, this is frustrating. I don’t know how they managed it either, but they really were selling cold bottled water.’
When Junhyeok refused to believe him, Taegyeong, apparently frustrated, even told him the location of the convenience store.
According to Taegyeong, a convenience store was sitting all alone in the middle of the forest on the 10th floor.
“What the hell did he eat to make him spout nonsense like that?”
Junhyeok clicked his tongue.
It seemed Taegyeong had become homesick and started seeing things.
At that moment, the vice-captain walking beside him spoke.
“But Captain. If it really is nonsense, why are we currently heading toward the place where that convenience store is supposed to be?”
“...”
Junhyeok closed his mouth.
Junhyeok did not believe Taegyeong, but somewhere in the back of his mind, the thought, What if? What if it really is true? refused to leave him.
That was how badly Junhyeok wanted to drink cold bottled water again after so long.
Junhyeok cleared his throat.
“Well, even if only to report it to the guild, it would be best to investigate first.”
“...I see. Understood.”
The vice-captain narrowed his eyes.
Clearly, he did not believe Junhyeok’s excuse.
How long had they walked silently toward the middle of the forest?
When the convenience store still did not appear no matter how far they walked, Junhyeok gradually began to grow irritated.
‘Yoon Taegyeong, you bastard. What convenience store? All I can see are trees.’
The members were growing tired as well, their breathing becoming increasingly rough.
Continuing the search for the convenience store seemed pointless.
Eventually, Junhyeok stopped walking.
“Stop. We’re ending the search for the convenience store and changing course for the 11th floor...”
“C-Captain. Look at that!”
At that moment, the vice-captain shouted.
“Why? What’s over there...?”
Junhyeok looked toward where the vice-captain was pointing, and his eyes widened.
A bright light was leaking through the trees.
Light itself was not strange, but that was not what mattered.
‘F-Fluorescent lights?’
Because a kind of light that should have been impossible inside the Tower was visible through the trees.
Junhyeok and the members began walking toward the fluorescent light like moths drawn to a flame.
Before long, a rectangular building came into view, and Junhyeok’s mouth fell open.
‘Tower Convenience Store - Main Branch’
“A-A convenience store!?”
A neon sign hung at the top.
Bright fluorescent lights shone from inside the convenience store.
Slap!
Junhyeok slapped his own cheek.
He wanted to make sure he was not hallucinating from homesickness.
But even after slapping his cheek and rubbing his eyes, the convenience store did not disappear.
‘I-It was real?’
A convenience store sitting all alone in the middle of the forest on the 10th floor of the Tower.
Taegyeong had been telling the truth.
“C-Captain. What should we do?”
The vice-captain looked back at Junhyeok.
His eyes were filled with the desire to hurry inside and check the convenience store.
Junhyeok looked at the members.
Like the vice-captain, their gazes were filled with impatience.
After pondering for a moment, Junhyeok spoke with a stern expression.
“Everyone... From this moment on, we search the convenience store.”
“Understood!”
Junhyeok and the members cautiously approached the convenience store.
When they entered, a man behind the checkout counter greeted them.
“Welcome! Welcome to the Tower Convenience Store.”
‘Is this the man Yoon Taegyeong told me about?’
Taegyeong had said there was one man working at the convenience store.
Junhyeok’s gaze went to the man’s chest.
‘Kim Dohyeon.’
That was the name written on the name tag of his uniform.
“Did you perhaps hear about this place from someone else?”
“...! How did you know...!”
“Well, there’s no way hunters would come all the way to such an out-of-the-way place for no reason.”
Dohyeon was right.
The convenience store was hidden deep within the forest even by the standards of the 10th floor, making it difficult to find.
If Taegyeong had not told him about it, Junhyeok would never have thought of coming all the way here.
Junhyeok cleared his throat.
“Ahem. Yes. That’s right. I heard you sell bottled water here...”
“Yes. That’s right. There’s bottled water inside that refrigerator.”
There was a refrigerator where Dohyeon pointed.
With condensation coating its exterior, the refrigerator looked cool just from looking at it.
Junhyeok calmed his pounding heart and approached the refrigerator.
[Bottled Water 500ml: 1g of Mana Stone]
A bottle of water covered in condensation, cold to the touch.
‘I-It really is cold bottled water!’
“V-Vice-captain! Get over here right now and take some of these bottles out.”
“...”
“Vice-captain! What are you doing? Hurry up and come here!”
Junhyeok turned around irritably.
The vice-captain was staring blankly at one side of the convenience store.
Junhyeok frowned and approached him.
Thwack!
“Hey, you bastard. Can’t you hear me calling you?”
“C-Captain...”
Even after Junhyeok smacked him on the back of the head, the vice-captain’s gaze did not move from one spot.
“O-Over there... That...”
“What the hell have you been staring at this whole time...”
Junhyeok turned his head to follow the vice-captain’s gaze, and his body froze.
There was a display shelf on one side of the convenience store.
And when he saw the cylindrical products filling one corner of that shelf, he could not speak for a while.
‘K-Kimbap!?’
[One Roll of Kimbap: 5g of Mana Stone]
Kimbap that would cost around three thousand won outside was being sold here for fifty thousand won, but that was not what mattered.
“They’re... selling kimbap inside the Tower...?”
It was common knowledge that kimbap had a short shelf life.
In summer, kimbap could spoil in less than a day.
And yet there was kimbap on the 10th floor, a place that took nine weeks to climb to, inside a Tower where refrigerators did not even work properly?
Junhyeok approached the display shelf and picked one up with a trembling hand.
Then he went to the checkout counter and said,
“I-I’ll buy this.”
“Yes. That will be 5g of mana stone.”
[You have purchased one roll of kimbap.]
[5g of Mana Stone will be deducted.]
Junhyeok hurriedly tore open the packaging.
It would have been even better if he could heat it in a microwave, but he was in no position to be picky about that.
Junhyeok brought his nose close to the unwrapped kimbap.
‘...It hasn’t spoiled at all.’
Far from being spoiled, it gave off only a savory aroma.
Junhyeok swallowed hard and took a bite of the kimbap.
Munch, munch.
The chewy texture of the rice, the savory scent of sesame oil, the perfectly seasoned seaweed, and even the tangy pickled radish.
A harmonious feast of flavors unfolded in Junhyeok’s mouth.
‘I-It’s delicious!’
“C-Captain... What about us...”
At that moment, the vice-captain approached.
Junhyeok spoke to the vice-captain, who was cautiously watching his reaction.
“From this moment on, everyone... buys kimbap. Bring every last one of them over here!”
“Understood!”
The members rushed to the display shelf and brought the kimbap to the checkout counter.
The shelf was emptied in an instant.
Holding two rolls of kimbap each, the members stood in an orderly line and waited to pay.
“Ugh! I can’t believe I get to eat kimbap inside the Tower!”
“Damn it. I didn’t even like this stuff that much outside the Tower, so why does it taste so good here!?”
“Hey, you bastard. Why are you taking mine!”
“Ah, I said I’ll pay you back double later!”
“Everyone, freeze.”
At Junhyeok’s sudden order, the members stopped moving.
No matter how blinded they were by kimbap, the captain’s authority was absolute inside the Tower.
The members’ eyes darted around.
‘W-What is it? Did we do something wrong?’
‘Did he find out I secretly bought three rolls of kimbap?’
Junhyeok looked at the members and said,
“What if you choke because you’re eating too fast? Everyone grab a bottle of water and eat it together! Move!”
“...! Understood! Moving!”
“Moving! Thank you, Captain!”