You Take a Sip
Tiririririri————!!!
For some reason, it felt like that kind of game BGM had started up.
And at the same time—
I could practically see one of those retro message windows pop up right beside it. If this world were a game, I would have swung on him bare-knuckled and started chewing through the drunk's HP then and there. But this wasn't a game. It was the real world.
"Look here, miss. When a customer asks you something..."
The second I just stood there, the drunk's face pinched into a scowl.
"...I'm sorry. The alcohol is on the shelf over there."
I gave him that much of an explanation, flat, with no particular feeling in it. Even a drunk, as a rule, didn't make a real problem out of something this small. And besides, this much was my job. I was the one on the shift.
But.
"Hic— hey. You're real bad at this."
"..."
"Miss. A customer asks you something, you're supposed to walk over with him and show him, aren't you?"
...Son of a bitch.
I had a bad feeling about this. Still, I was the part-timer on the clock. If a customer told me to show him, showing him was about all I could do. But something... I could feel it coming. Really. The way he talked was enough.
Even so, like I said, I was a part-timer. He'd asked to be shown, so I'd show him.
"This way."
I went to the liquor shelf. The customer with the bad feeling followed and stopped in front of it. I'd done the guiding, anyway, so I turned to leave.
But.
"Hey, miss."
"Yes?"
"See, I just don't know which drink tastes better."
"...So?"
"Take a sip."
"Sorry?"
What even was this. I'd had people ask which bottle tasted better. Being told to drink one, in the middle of a shift, was a first in my life. While I stood there thrown, the drunk jabbed a finger at me.
"Didn't you hear me? I said drink it, so you can figure out which one's better. Huh?"
The bad feeling climbed past fifty percent and kept going, all the way to eighty, ninety. I wasn't a bartender. I wasn't a sommelier. Was I supposed to stand here drinking and rating the merchandise? No. This was obviously some bastard who'd guzzled himself blind and decided a convenience store was a cocktail bar.
So I answered him by the book.
"I'm sorry, but drinking isn't part of the job, so I don't think I can."
"What?"
"Sorry. Please pay at the counter."
I said only that, and turned my back. Of course the drunk started running his mouth at it. I walked off like, and what do you want me to do about it. Don't like it? Then square up. With that in mind, I went back to the register and waited.
And once I had—
"...Ring me up."
He came back wearing the most I am pissed expression a face could manage. I held out my hand, and he flicked the card at me anyway. I smiled and rang him up as if nothing at all were wrong. Getting angry here would only cost me. So I finished the sale and handed the card straight back.
And then.
"...Hey, miss."
"Yes."
"I've got a few years on you, so I'm gonna say this. That's not how you do a job. Huh?"
...Fuck. I'm screwed.
Rule two of the problem customer: the lecture. In some ways, worse than the ones who scream and throw a fit. Why? Because no matter how many times the part-timer says I see, yes, you're right, they do not stop talking. Like now.
"A customer walks in, huh? You've gotta work with some pride in the craft. You think working like that's gonna fly?"
"..."
"And listen. I'm the one buying it anyway, so you could stand to take a sip for me, couldn't you. Am I right, or am I wrong. Huh?"
"..."
"And—! I'm old enough to be your father, if you think about it. Is that how you treat somebody old enough to be your father? Yes or no. Huh?"
Fuck, I genuinely cannot listen to this. The huh he tacked onto the end of every single sentence pissed me off beyond belief. Fuck, just pay and get the hell out. My patience was starting to fray. But there was nothing I could do. If the store had at least been busy, somebody behind him might have snapped at him in my place — but today, of all days, there wasn't a single custom—
Brrreee————
Right then. A customer, with perfect timing.
But...
"...Checkout."
A man who'd grabbed whatever bread was sitting on the shelf closest to the register. He slipped in between me and the drunk like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Excuse me. If you're not going ahead, would you step aside so I can pay first?"
"..."
The drunk didn't like it, but he fell back as if he had no choice. He was probably planning to get the man out of here fast and go right back to being a nightmare.
I was about to ring up the bread he'd brought when—
"...Excuse me, how much is this gum?"
"Ah, I'll scan the barcode and let you know."
I knew the price. I said it to stall. And if my hunch was right, this man was also...
"...What time does new stock come in?"
"Mm, could I ask why you want to know?"
"I want to come by then and buy triangle kimbap. Every time I show up, the one I want is gone."
"Mm, then I'll tell you. The time is..."
And so the stalling, his and mine, unfolded.
"And the snacks...?"
"Over there."
"And hot water...?"
"Would you like me to show you?"
One minute. Then two. The longer it went, the harder the drunk's expression set.
Then.
Brrreee————
Other customers started coming in. At a glance, five or six of them. Inside, I crowed. Okay!! There were people now, so I figured the drunk couldn't pull anything else. Put enough eyes on a person and they tend to discover something called tact. At least, that's what I thought.
But.
"...Hey. You two. You screwing with me right now?"
"Sorry?"
"This— you're dragging it out 'cause I'm being a huge pain in the ass, aren't you——!!!"
However many customers were standing there, the drunk led with his volume. Only then did it hit me. This... I might actually have to call it in. And that instinct landed dead on.
"You two know each other, don't you. Huh?"
"Sir, if you do this here..."
"Shut your mouth!! A grown adult is asking you something!!"
Did he only feel better once he'd gotten his way, no matter what it took?
...Haa. I couldn't take any more. This couldn't go on, and my hand found the emergency button under the register almost on its own. The station was close. The police would be here in a few minutes at most.
"Y-you disrespectful little shits, this is why kids these days are hopeless. Looking at an adult like he's just—"
"Excuse me."
Right then. The man spoke to the drunk, and his voice had gone cold.
"That's enough."
"W-what?"
"I said that's enough."
The moment the man looked straight at him, the drunk faltered a step back. The man didn't miss the opening.
"Right now, this is disrupting business."
"Wh-what?! Disrupting business?"
"Keep going and I really will call the police."
He took out his phone like he meant it. The drunk bellowed even louder.
"Fuck, put the phone down when an adult is talking——?!"
...Ah, fuck.
I want to go home.
I really do.
For a second I considered cracking that drunk across the head and just leaving.
But.
"I'm reporting this."
"What?"
"I said I'm reporting it."
He reported it without a moment's hesitation.
But.
"...Ah. You're saying you're already on the way?"
...??
"Yes. Understood."
He put the phone away. Then he said it.
"They've already headed out. Oh— the police car's here."
Red and blue, crossing over each other. The lights on a cruiser. Only then did the drunk seem to come back to himself.
"Uh, th-that's..."
He rushed to say something to us.
But.
Brrreee————
The door opened, and the electronic chime spread through the store. The two officers took one look at the customers pointing our way, read the situation at a glance, and came over. Then they saw me, and nodded.
"Working hard again today, Haneul."
"It's nothing, really. You two have it worse, coming out at dawn."
The same two, here without fail to help me again today. As if I'd only just remembered, I held out two triangle kimbaps I'd pulled for disposal a moment ago.
"At least eat these."
"You dumping the write-offs on us?"
"I'd love to buy you a drink, but buying one right this second is a little awkward."
"Fair enough."
The mood was downright warm. And watching that warmth, the drunk jabbed a finger.
"Wh-what is this. You know the cops or someth—"
"It's not that we know her. This convenience store gets so many problem customers that we officers have gone and memorized the part-timer's name. That's how bad it is."
"..."
"Anyway, come with us. Don't give yourself anything more to be embarrassed about."
It was over in a flash. The police led the drunk out like they'd done it a hundred times, and left in the store were the customers who didn't know where to look, me, and the ma— no.
It was Choe Seohyeon.
"...You've had a rough time today, too."
"It just ended up this way."
I smiled and held a discarded one out to him as well. Choe Seohyeon didn't take it. He only set down the bread he'd picked earlier.
"Just the bread."
"All right."
I kept it businesslike. The sale ended, and he turned away. He didn't say anything more to me. I didn't go out of my way to speak, either. Because right now, the two of us were nothing but a customer and a part-timer.
Yes. In the real world, this was as far as we went.
Brrreee-ree————
The chime sounded, the glass door of the convenience store shut, and he vanished into the dark somewhere far off. I watched him go for a long time. Then I rang up another customer's things.
The next day.
Maybe because of yesterday, the boss had told me to rest today and tomorrow.
"Well. If he says rest, I rest."
It was the boss's order, so this vacation was legal. With that thought, I flopped flat on the bed.
But.
"..."
Yesterday's him came back to me. Choe Seohyeon. The undisputed number one male streamer. Gameplay at the very top. A handsome face, on top of all that. Right. A man like that lived around here.
"...It really is strange."
I hadn't known, at first. There'd been a cheap room for monthly rent nearby, and I'd ended up here almost by accident — and who would have thought Choe Seohyeon lived in the area too.
"...Hmm."
Without really thinking, I picked up my phone. Then I opened the streaming app.
Did he really have that much to talk about? Well, he'd said he wanted to be careful with his wrist, so for the time being he was sticking to talk streams.
...Wait. This story.
"..."
"..."
My story ended. He moved on to the next one. It was a talk stream, and he seemed to cover all sorts of subjects. Among them, from what I could tell, was something like advice.
"..."
The standard shape of advice. And yet, for some reason, it seemed to lodge deep in my chest. Maybe because I was living a life that ran completely counter to it.
Tick— tick—
All that came with the sound of the second hand was Choe Seohyeon's voice, thin through the phone speaker. What I could see was just as plain. A cramped one-room. One woman lying on a mattress, killing time with nothing else to do. Yes. All I could see was a woman with no aim in her life, scraping by one shift at a time, doing nothing but staying alive.
"...Haha."
A laugh slipped out of me. Really. Was there anyone with less of a future than me? A woman who lived off convenience-store shifts, and spent whatever time was left watching streams.
"...Haa. God damn it."
Irritation surged up. Why was I so hopelessly in between. My future, my life, even...
"What even am I..."
An identity I still couldn't figure out, seven years on. Today, of all days, that identity dug into me harder.
Fortunately...
Hearing his voice, the feeling settled a little. This time I let a small smile slip, for a different reason. Yes. I barely managed to calm down, listening to that gentle voice. As always.
And the reason I could...
"...Am I even allowed to recognize this feeling?"
Watching his streams for seven years hadn't been an accident. At twenty, on a snowy day, I was saved, and I... I, toward him...
"...Aaah, I don't know, I really don't——!!!"
What good was recognizing the feeling. I hadn't even settled my own identity; what was I supposed to do with anything more. A confession? Cut that shit out. I couldn't even tell him, at the convenience store, that I was TSDropDead. If you had to name the biggest coward on earth, it would be me. No question.
Anyway, to forget all of it, I made one impulsive decision.
Namely.
Yes. I was going to get advice from him.