WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Convenience Store Clerk the Rankers Are Obsessed With ◈
Chapter 1: The Factory I Worked at Went Under
──────
-Closed Down-
A single sign hung on the factory door.
I barely noticed the smaller print saying it was no longer in business.
I couldn't tear my eyes away from the two characters announcing that the factory had closed.
“Fuck.”
The curse slipped out.
I couldn't help it.
A few of my coworkers were screaming and pounding on the door beside me.
“Get out here right now, you bastard!”
“You said we weren't going under! You fucking asshole!”
“Hey!!!!”
The company I worked for had gone under.
There had been warning signs.
For the past few months, our pay had been a month behind.
The boss had said business was bad.
I'd let it slide at the time.
Orders had gradually slowed down.
A few employees had quit.
They'd left to find other work, saying the place would go under soon.
Just as they'd said, there had been less and less work.
I'd thought, surely not.
Surely it wouldn't go under?
And then that “surely not” had become reality.
When they owed me two months' pay last month, I should have demanded my money.
I should have quit then.
“I'm fucked.”
We forced the door open and went inside. The factory was a mess.
There was nothing left.
It was as if the boss had skipped town in the middle of the night.
“We're not getting a penny out of this.”
“Those fucking bastards! They sure worked us to death while they could!”
“Fuuuuck!!”
The employees' screams pierced my ears.
“Haaaah…”
Rent was due tomorrow.
With two months of unpaid wages, I didn't even have enough money to pay tomorrow's rent.
What was I supposed to do?
It wasn't as if I could find the boss right away.
I wanted to track the bastard down and take everything he had, but I had no way of knowing where he'd gone.
In the end, I took out my phone and opened JobX.
When you're thirsty, you have to dig your own well.
-[Conversion to Permanent Employment / New Hires Welcome]
-[Mass Hiring / Newly Built Factory / Top Pay]
-[High Income Guaranteed]
-[High-Paying Part-Time Work]
The app was full of job openings.
Their conditions looked good at first glance, but a closer look showed they were practically slave labor.
No matter how desperate I was, taking the wrong job could leave me in serious trouble.
If I'd had time to spare, I wouldn't have given these jobs a second look.
They seemed even less reliable than the factory I'd been working at, so I hesitated.
But even those jobs…
“Sorry. The position's already been filled.”
“You're twenty-eight? Hmm… That's older than we expected. Sorry.”
“Oh, we hired someone but forgot to take the ad down. Sorry about that.”
They all turned me down, saying the positions were filled.
As for the openings that were still available…
“It's a factory in Jeolla Province. Do we provide accommodation? Oh, no, we can't do that.”
“If you're willing to work on a farm in Gangwon Province, you can start right away. We do provide accommodation, but in that case, we'd deduct it from your hourly pay…”
Just listening made my blood boil.
Fuck.
Some didn't provide accommodation at all, and the places that did took the cost out of your hourly pay.
That meant the jobs didn't even pay minimum wage.
They expected people to do backbreaking work for less than minimum wage? What kind of bullshit was that?
“Does anything ever go right in my life?”
Twenty-eight wasn't even that old. Why the hell…
Then one ad caught my eye.
-[High Pay / Day Shift / Urgent] Staff Wanted at the Taepyeong City Hunter Tower Branch.
“Taepyeong City?”
The job ad listed a place I'd never heard of.
-Hourly pay: 25,000 won.
“25,000 won an hour?”
The pay immediately caught my attention. It was more than twice what a normal convenience store paid.
It was even much higher than what I'd earned at the factory.
I wondered if it was a scam.
But then…
-Due to our location, this convenience store gets a lot of difficult customers, so we offer a higher hourly rate. We are looking for a trustworthy employee.
-Meals and accommodation provided.
-Humans receive preference.
Humans received preference?
What the hell did that mean?
Normally, I would have dismissed an ad like this as a joke.
It looked like something a weird cult might post to lure someone in.
But with no workplace to go to and no money for rent, I couldn't easily ignore it.
Besides, hadn't every other job already rejected me?
Gulp.
“I can just call and check.”
If anything seemed strange, I could hang up.
I called right away.
Brrring.
The standard ringback tone sounded a few times.
“Hel~looo~.”
A woman's low, drawn-out voice came through.
She sounded as if she'd just woken up.
“I'm calling about the part-time job ad.”
“Uuugh… Wait a moment…”
I heard rustling on the other end.
The sun was high in the sky, and she'd been sleeping?
Was this really okay?
Clothes rustled.
Then I heard her swallow something.
“Uuugh… That drink brought me back to life. Speak again. Why have you called the True Progenitor?”
“I'm calling about the part-time job ad.”
“…The True Progenitor must not have had enough sleep. A call about the job ad? That can't be right.”
“I said I'm calling about the part-time job ad.”
Silence.
“Really!?”
I thought my eardrums would burst.
“At last, someone has called about the job! You have no idea how long I've waited! Hahaha! The True Progenitor's patience has paid off! I knew this would happen! No wonder my horoscope was so good today.”
“Hello?”
She didn't seem like a scammer.
“Ahem. My apologies. I got too excited. Part-time workers have been terribly scarce lately.”
That was worrying.
Every warning bell in my head was screaming at me to stay away.
Then my eyes landed on the hourly pay of 25,000 won.
“It really is 25,000 won an hour, right?”
“Of course! The True Progenitor does not lie! As I mentioned in the ad, we get so many difficult customers that no one can endure it unless I pay well.”
“…Then when can I come in for an interview? I'd like to start as soon as tomorrow, if possible.”
“Ah, I could weep. Such an eager worker. You are more than worthy of becoming my trusted retainer.”
She was weird.
What kind of character was she trying to play?
No, why was a convenience store manager acting like this…
“I haven't asked the most important question. What is your species?”
Species?
Apparently, this woman was really into her roleplay.
Was this what they called a walking red flag or whatever?
If I wanted to make money, I had no choice.
I'd have to play along.
I couldn't let such a sweet gig slip away.
“…I'm human?”
Thud!
Something fell on the other end of the line.
“H-h-human? Are you truly human?”
“…Yes.”
“H-how could a human… You're not one of the catfolk or wolffolk calling yourself human, are you?”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“Ah, nothing! A human would be even better!”
Ah, fuck.
Maybe I shouldn't go.
“If you're human, I'll raise your pay to 30,000 won an hour! I'll provide meals and accommodation too! All free!”
30,000 won an hour.
Even if I only worked seven hours a day, that was 210,000 won.
Work twenty-five days like that, and I'd make 5.25 million won a month.
A convenience store clerk could earn 5.25 million won?
And meals and accommodation were free?
Scratch that.
I was going.
I absolutely had to go.
“Can I start tomorrow?”
“Hehe. Of course! The True Progenitor shall await her new retainer tomorrow.”
She was a strange woman.
But the money was far too good to turn her down over that.
“If I get there and the place is weird, I can just run away.”
I was in pretty good shape compared to most people.
With the stamina I'd built up working at the factory, I could at least make a good getaway.
I'd wear lightweight sneakers tomorrow.
* * *
It was the busy morning commute.
“So I'm supposed to go this way?”
I'd searched for Taepyeong City.
But no matter how much I searched, nothing came up.
-Location not found. Did you mean “Pyeongtaek City”?
-Taepyeong City (“City of Great Peace”)… a golden age of peace and prosperity, when a wise ruler governs the country well and the people live in peace…
All I got were strange results.
I'd wondered if the ad had been a prank.
“Come to this location.”
But the address the manager sent had a clear pin on the map.
Apparently, I was supposed to turn into this alley.
“But this is Seoul…”
Why was she calling this alley Taepyeong City?
I rounded the corner into the alley and followed the directions she'd sent.
“…Huh?”
Something about my surroundings seemed different.
Until just a moment ago, this had definitely been a street full of ordinary office workers.
A middle-aged person in a suit, wearing glasses and looking at a smartphone.
A female student in revealing clothes, with a handbag over her shoulder.
High school kids chatting among themselves.
And exhausted office workers.
Until just a moment ago, they'd definitely been human.
“What the hell?”
Was that…
An orc?
A muscular man with hideous tusks walked down the street, wiping away sweat.
A small, blue-skinned goblin in a suit was talking to someone on the phone.
A lamia with a snake's lower body was smoking in revealing clothes.
I rubbed my eyes without thinking.
Then I looked again.
Nothing had changed.
The people passing by had become a little…
No, a lot stranger.
‘Have I finally gone crazy?’
Had the factory going under and the pressure to pay rent finally driven me insane?
People said that happened sometimes, didn't they?
A sudden shock could make someone lose their mind.
Right.
That had to be it.
Let's not worry about it.
Following the manager's directions, I spotted a convenience store.
-24-Hour Convenience Store. Hunter Tower Branch.
This was it.
I'd finally arrived.
Jingle.
“Welcome.”
A familiar voice greeted me as I opened the door and stepped inside.
“I'm here about the part-time job ad.”
Then I saw her.
A woman with silver hair and red eyes, wearing a large white hoodie.
Her skin was so pale that she looked as if she never saw the sun, and she was dazzlingly beautiful.
If I'd seen her on the street, I would have stared for a long time.
Even her shabby clothes couldn't hide her beauty. The moment she saw me, her eyes widened.
Her mouth hung open blankly, and she gulped.
“A-an actual human…”
Excuse me. Why are you licking your lips?
Uh, what's with that look?
Should I run?
“You're hired!!!”
And at that moment…
Ding.
[Congratulations. You have been hired at a convenience store in Taepyeong City.]
[You have qualified.]
[Entering the Convenience Store Gallery.]
Huh?
What the hell was this now…
A translucent window appeared before my eyes, looking exactly like an online forum.
[You are a member of a special species employed at a convenience store: Human.]
[You gain an additional ability.]
[You can grant additional effects to convenience store products.]
My brain couldn't keep up.
While I stood there blinking blankly, one post in the gallery caught my eye.
[Title: Fuck, can't someone do something about these knife-eared bastards?]
Posted by: Anon(118.235)
(A picture of an elf in a dust-covered safety vest, holding a soju bottle at the counter and pointing angrily while making a scene.)
Drunk and causing trouble again today. FFS.
If you've been doing construction work, just wash up and go the fuck to bed. Why take it out on some poor convenience store clerk?
This bastard keeps throwing 100-won coins at me and demanding “true elven ale.” I seriously want to crack that skull open.
Can't get through to them at all, either.
If I call the Tower Guard, will they drag this asshole away for disrupting business? Ha, I seriously want to ditch this job.
[26 Comments]
Anon(223.39): Average knife-ear lmaoooo
Anon(14.52): “Elven ale” and shit lol. Is this a pub? It's a convenience store. Tell them to drink some fucking Tess.
Anon(118.235): └ I gave them Tess earlier and they spat it onto the counter, calling it piss. Fucking hell.
NoobShredder: Put up with it. Knife-ears are strong. Get smart with them and you'll die. Just scan the barcodes.
Anon(37.49): I don't understand why people are always insulting elves.
NoobShredder: └ Go to bed, Grandma.
Anon(37.49): └ ?? You don't even know how old I am, and you're calling me Grandma? I'll have you know I'm still in the bloom of youth.
Anon(59.10): That face in the pic is so real lmao. Saving this.
Anon(118.235): └ Don't laugh, you bastard. I'm serious. I think I'm fucked. They just broke the bottle.
Anon(118.235): └ Uh? This bastard's pukign. Hlep mee, asdj klsajdf.
What…
Was this?
Footnotes:
“Gallery” is a term used for topic-based boards on Korean online forums.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried