episode_0008

“Me? I’m working part-time. Can’t you tell?”

Lee Hayoon replied while slouching in a rather arrogant posture—unusual for a part-timer.

Even with a customer right in front of her, she sat with her legs crossed in a way that was hard to comprehend from a normal perspective, but I decided to let it slide.

It wasn’t because I was being a stickler for manners—it was just that Hayoon was the kind of woman whose distance in intimacy could shift drastically based on just two things:

1. Whether you’ve had a conversation with her. 2. Whether you haven’t.

So, the way she was acting in front of me was probably because she considered me a “close junior” and let her guard down.

…Well, I could accept that much.

But given that Lee Hayoon was the part-timer at this convenience store, wasn’t there one thing that didn’t quite add up?

“…Want me to give you some expired stuff? Why are you just standing there like an idiot?”

“…….”

“You like tuna mayo? Let’s see… Oh, there’s also Jeonju-style bibimbap.”

…Robbery.

How the hell did she even hear that?

8

“What time does your shift end?”

“11. Got an hour left.”

Since I had time to kill anyway, I planted myself in the convenience store for a while and chatted with Hayoon.

At first, the conversation was tough—topics like cosmetics and grueling training sessions were hard to keep up with—but food talk was manageable.

Hayoon’s food preferences were useful information for me, after all.

“I’ll eat any kind of noodles… Yeah.”

“As for me… Red bean bread! Cream-filled red bean bread!”

“…?”

“You don’t know it? It’s delicious.”

“…I’ll try it next time.”

Mid-conversation, she brought up this unheard-of “cream-filled red bean bread,” so I mentally filed it away for later.

Though her guard was already completely down, steadily building favor would expand my options.

As I looked down at Hayoon’s beaming smile while she chirped about “59 minutes left,” I averted my gaze before she could grow suspicious.

Outside the convenience store, it was eerily quiet—boringly so.

The convenience stores near my studio apartment usually had at least a couple of customers even at this hour.

But here, shockingly, there hadn’t been a single passerby for about 20 minutes. And this was a store sandwiched between residential areas, too.

At the very least, there should’ve been someone coming in to buy cigarettes. Was this a neighborhood with a lot of early-to-bed, non-smoking elderly folks?

After a brief hesitation, I asked Hayoon.

“Is it always this empty here?”

“Hmm… Pretty much? Around this time, yeah?”

Streeetch. Hayoon yawned as she tore open a carton of cigarettes and neatly arranged them on the shelf.

“I’ve been working here for about half a year, but weirdly, this time slot’s always dead. No clue why.”

“…….”

“Last time, not a single customer came in for a whole week? Between 10 and 11. Exactly this time.”

Humming some incomprehensible tune, she continued organizing.

…Maybe it was because of the T-shirt clinging to her body, still damp from the rain hours earlier.

A baggy hoodie. Even with the convenience store uniform layered over it, I could roughly imagine what lay beneath.

Not the time.

Quietly—so Hayoon wouldn’t hear—I swallowed the saliva pooling in my mouth.

“Noona.”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll head out soon. I came out for a run and ended up here.”

“…Didn’t you come here to buy something? Just leaving?”

“Ah…”

Now that she mentioned it, I hadn’t even thought about what to buy.

If the part-timer hadn’t been Hayoon, I probably would’ve just browsed and left.

After a brief pause, I grabbed a throat lozenge from the display right below the counter.

Beep, beep. The machine’s sounds rang out.

Just as I was about to pull out my card, Hayoon’s card slid out of her wallet before mine.

It had a weird animal illustration on it… Well, it was memorable, at least.

“Here. Payment for keeping me company.”

Hayoon grinned, pulling up the corners of her mouth as always.

Briefly recalling how she often brought up money, I thanked her and left the store.

I lightly jogged about 200 meters, as if heading home.

Was I being watched?

Could I sense any hidden presence around me?

After roughly checking my surroundings and circling a few corners, I waited for three seconds.

Then, in one swift motion, I turned 180 degrees and started heading back to the convenience store.

About a minute. That should be enough time for any lurking criminal to attempt their move.

Waiting endlessly gets you nowhere. You have to strike decisively when the opportunity arises.

So, if there was a criminal hiding nearby, they would’ve crossed the store’s automatic doors by now.

If it was a knife-wielding robber… Well, an evolved being like Hayoon wouldn’t be in much danger from an ordinary person’s blade.

Still, I was a little worried—what if the robber was another evolved being?

I could heal her, but I’d prefer if she didn’t end up smelling like someone else.

As I neared the store again, I muffled my footsteps to avoid messing things up.

From a distance, the convenience store still glowed brightly. Nothing seemed different.

Thankfully, the residential area was packed with parked cars, creating plenty of cover. I slipped between them, moving carefully before stopping at a spot where I could see the store clearly and hiding myself.

…Unfortunately, nothing had happened yet.

The only thing visible was Hayoon counting the money inside the register before her shift ended.

Hmm. Maybe the criminal hadn’t made a move because I was inside earlier. Was it all just my imagination?

Or maybe they’d given up after seeing me stay in the store for so long.

Popping the lozenge into my mouth, I scanned the area intently.

The alleyways to the left and right.

The diagonal alley across the street.

No signs of life anywhere.

It was unsettling—like a ghost might appear at any moment.

“…….”

Roughly 50 minutes.

I’d stick around until Hayoon’s shift ended.

If it was someone else, I wouldn’t care much even if they got stabbed.

Pulling my neck warmer up a bit higher, I kept watch over the alley while the lozenge dissolved in my mouth.

10 minutes passed.

Rustle. A faint sound of footsteps reached me.

My vigil over the alley, like some stalker obsessed with Hayoon, ended here.

I immediately shifted my gaze toward the source of the noise.

There, a woman who looked slightly nervous was cautiously making her way through the alley.

Around 170 cm—pretty tall for a woman.

Her most notable feature was the thick glasses she wore.

Her build was average. No signs of being toned from exercise, but not too skinny or overweight either.

If she’d been walking normally—or even smoking a cigarette—I wouldn’t have paid her any mind.

But her chest heaved with deep breaths, and she kept glancing behind her. Suspicious behavior that naturally led my thoughts in one direction.

That’s the one. The robber.

But, how should I put it?

The fact that she was a woman, combined with her gentle appearance, made it hard to imagine her boldly committing a robbery.

As I kept watching, the woman abruptly changed direction.

Straight toward the convenience store.

Ding-dong. The store’s door chimed as she entered.

Unlike when I went in, Hayoon’s cheerful “Welcome!” rang out clearly.

So far, so good. The woman didn’t suddenly pull a knife from her pocket—she just slipped between the store’s shelves like any other shopper.

Maybe I’d judged her too quickly based on appearances.

Just as I was reconsidering my assessment of her—

As if steeling herself, the woman shrugged her shoulders once, then took off her glasses and stuffed them into her pocket.

There are evolved beings like that.

The kind who can only use their abilities under specific conditions.

Or the kind who deliberately limit their powers with self-imposed restrictions.

A bad feeling crept up on me as I cautiously stepped out of the shadows.

I should’ve positioned myself closer.

Because I’d been watching from about 15 meters away, the woman—now holding a snack—reached the counter much faster than I could.

With a visibly tense expression, she stared straight at Hayoon’s face.

Even as Hayoon scanned the barcode.

Even as she took the card to process the payment.

Even as she tried to hand the card back after finishing the transaction.

Even as Hayoon tilted her head, puzzled by the woman’s stillness.

Stare.

The woman kept her eyes locked on Hayoon’s face.

…Well, if she were just a die-hard fan of the rookie hero Lee Hayoon, that’d be one thing.

Ding-dong.

“Hey.”

“…?”

But the way Hayoon suddenly collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut suggested otherwise.

Thud.

Human heads make a surprisingly crisp sound when they hit the ground—as long as they don’t crack open.

Grabbing the woman’s head, I slammed it into the store’s floor. As she writhed like a bug, I turned to Hayoon.

For now, she just seemed to be asleep.

But given how magic-based abilities could be tricky until fully revealed, this might be something more complicated.

For example, a powerful ability that put the victim in an eternal sleep unless the caster lifted it.

Or maybe the sleep wasn’t the main ability—what if it was actually hypnosis?

Either way.

I doubted this woman had come to the store just to buy a single snack.

She was here to either rob the cash register.

Or haul away the unconscious girl like some kind of organ harvest.

That had to be it.

After briefly adjusting Hayoon into a more comfortable position on the floor, I approached the woman I’d just subdued.

She was still twitching. A small bloodstain suggested her head might’ve cracked a bit from the impact, but as long as she could communicate, it didn’t matter.

“Fff…ck… you…”

“Lift the spell.”

“Can’t… dumbass… takes… an hour…”

Cough, hack— She drooled as she weakly waved her hand.

I grabbed her hair and yanked her up to eye level.

She clawed desperately at my arm, but that was all she could do.

Her toes strained pitifully against the floor, trying to find purchase.

“You’re serious?”

“Why… would I… lie…?”

Though I wasn’t a frontline fighter, I’d learned a few things from watching villains—especially from Yozora’s perspective.

One of them was that people were more honest than you’d think.

Especially when their life was on the line.

So I—

Thud.

—slammed her head into the floor again.

Since her feet weren’t touching the ground this time, the sound was louder.

“Haaah…”

Maybe it was because I hadn’t exerted myself in a while, but I was sweating.

After tossing my neck warmer onto the counter, I placed my hand on the woman’s head and quickly healed her wounds.

As my magic coursed through her body, the disgusting gurgling sounds from earlier faded fast.

But what I got in return was an extremely displeased glare.

A look full of rage—I’ll kill you no matter what.

Seems she wasn’t being honest yet.

Thud.

This time, blood and some unidentifiable fluid splattered across the floor.

I must’ve misaligned the angle—her nose was broken now.

Sighing, I healed her again.

The gurgling stopped, and this time, her gaze was different.

Dull and unfocused, like a fish left out of water too long.

Finally ready to talk, huh?

“The spell. Lift it.”

“…….”

A brief silence.

Then, with trembling hands, she pulled out her glasses and put them on. The same thick ones from before.

Hayoon opened her eyes immediately after.

“……Huh?”

Her bright jade-green eyes blinked, completely at odds with the violent scene moments earlier.

“…Wha—?”

She groggily got up, then walked over to us with a blank look.

Alternating between me—standing perfectly fine—and the woman kneeling on the floor, shaking uncontrollably, Hayoon spoke.

“…Customer. Did you fall?”

“…….”

Very on-brand for Hayoon.

So why did I feel like sighing?

“Uhh…? Why does my head hurt…? Woojin, why are you here again?”

“Noona. Call someone first.”

“Call? Who?”

“112. And where’s the CCTV footage?”

“112? Uh, the computer’s in the back room…”