Maria's Special Work Rules
After we finished sweeping up all the broken glass and restocking the shelves, the three of us headed into the dorm room and settled in around the table. Maria, Kim Gichan, and me.
“I sent all the night-shift workers home. No sales today.”
“Thank you, sir. But shouldn't you introduce Miss Maria to the rest of us?”
“I'll do it later….”
A brief silence fell.
It was me who broke it first.
“Well, congratulations on becoming a regular worker.”
“Thank you! I won't let you down, Jinho-ssi!”
“I'm sure you'll do your best. From now on, I'll give you pre-training so you don't overdo it.”
Kim Gichan nodded beside me with a wry smile as he listened. Maria looked puzzled by my words.
“But you've been putting up with me this whole time…”
“Sometimes it's better to lighten the load on your shoulders, miss.”
I wholeheartedly agreed with Kim Gichan. Only zeal without direction always led to mistakes.
I grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen, placed it in the middle of the circle, and started writing.
Scratch, scratch.
A short while later, a simple table summarizing Maria's work rules appeared on the paper.
LT__div style="text-align:centerborder:2px solid #00219bpadding:20pxbox-shadow:0 0 15px rgba(0,33,155,0.5),inset 0 0 15px rgba(0,33,155,0.1)background:linear-gradient(135deg,#000 0%,#0a0a1a 100%)border-radius:6pxmargin-bottom:20px">
[Maria Anquines Work Rules]
1. All actions must be approved by me, Yu Jinho.
2. Do not respond to customers' complaints or questions. Find me instead.
3. Never go alone. Stay within earshot of another worker at all times.
4. Do not use abilities on impulse or give unsolicited help.
“Anything else, hyung?”
“Don't follow strangers?”
… That was basically for missing-kid prevention, right?
But it made sense for Maria.
LT__div style="text-align:centerborder:2px solid #00219bpadding:20pxbox-shadow:0 0 15px rgba(0,33,155,0.5),inset 0 0 15px rgba(0,33,155,0.1)background:linear-gradient(135deg,#000 0%,#0a0a1a 100%)border-radius:6pxmargin-bottom:20px">
[Added Rule 5: Do not follow strangers]
Maria cried out in protest.
“I only have Jinho-ssi!”
“What? We just met today!”
“Hey, but that’s different…”
Maria flailed her hands, but the explanation began anyway, ignoring her mild protest.
“I’ll explain one by one. First, rule 1. While working, just follow what I tell you. Ask me before doing anything else.”
“Yes! So I just listen to your orders without thinking?”
“That… is not the best choice of words.”
I pinched Kim Gichan’s thigh, who was grinning beside me. That kind of blunt speech style must have been a leftover from the Illusion Cult Maria once belonged to.
“Next, rule 2. If a customer complains or asks anything, don’t respond. Just pass it to me.”
With so many customers passing through, the convenience store had endless variables. It was easier for me to handle the troublesome cases myself than to train Maria on every single one.
“And rule 3—”
“Jinho-ssi!”
Maria raised her hand, eyes wide.
“Yes?”
I tilted my head, wondering what she needed. Maria answered immediately.
“I need to go to the bathroom!”
Only then did I notice the trembling legs she’d been hiding since earlier—her face usually cheerful, now a little shaky.
“Just go and come back!”
“But I can only follow your orders…”
“That’s not it!”
I hurried her to the bathroom in panic.
“Puff… Aaaah! It hurts!”
I pinched Kim Gichan’s thigh even harder for good measure. My head hurt. Maria’s sense of right and wrong clearly differed from normal society’s.
Her judgments seemed rooted in the cult’s doctrine. That explained why she acted without understanding ordinary concepts or daily life.
“Well, the little brother will train her well…”
Kim Gichan chuckled beside me.
“It’s dark in here.”
“You chose this job—live with it.”
Kim Gichan’s words were uncomfortably accurate, which only made me more annoyed. Before I retire, I want to see him suffer…
“Anyway, what exactly is the Illusion Cult?”
While Maria was in the bathroom, I finally voiced the question I’d been holding in.
The “Illusion Cult” President Su Seonhwa had mentioned.
It seemed to be the group Maria once belonged to… but I had no idea what it was. Moreover, when Maria spoke about her own dimension at the dimensional management office, her voice didn’t glitch.
If the president himself wanted to investigate, it probably wasn’t some common scam cult or religion. Plus, I’d physically felt the destructive power of their prayers.
“I don’t know. It’s the first group I’ve heard of in a year working here in Sanctum City.”
Even though I was the senior, Kim Gichan seemed just as clueless. I had no choice but to ask him directly.
“Jinho-ssi, I’m back!”
The bathroom door opened and Maria emerged. She looked more energetic than before.
“Inside there’s a lever that pulls when you touch it!”
“It’s called a faucet, friend.”
“There’s even a bowl of water right within reach… Truly merciful!”
Maria’s eyes sparkled.
I didn’t know who built this place, but why would Maria be talking about mercy? Or, more importantly, how had she survived in her own dimension without knowing about faucets?
Curiosity got the better of me. I asked her.
“Maria. What exactly is the Illusion Cult?”
Maria’s expression shifted in three clear stages upon hearing the question: surprise, realization, then pure joy. She leaned in until her face was inches from mine, still on all fours.
“Jinho-ssi.”
“Y-yes?”
“May I explain the Illusion Cult to you?”
Her eyes… were shining.
The desperation and hope behind her words felt almost painful.
“Please?”
“It’s not a question anymore…”
Kim Gichan lay sprawled behind her, still giggling.
“It’s fine, explain it already,” I said, turning my head to avoid Maria’s intense gaze.
“The world sits upon illusions. The bishop once said the world is made of falsehood. We perceive and believe what we sense, but we must know that beyond that star, beyond the dimensions, exists a being that controls everything outside—right now, a will is floating and pulsing between the cracks of dimensions.”
“Wait, that’s only—”
“The Illusion Cult is an organization that gathers followers to welcome that being! We collect its will across the entire world, record traces of its revelations, purify its corrupted minds, then separate the righteous from the wicked and prepare the vessel to receive the final judgment—ah.”
“Maria. Calm down.”
I clapped my hand on Maria’s forehead while she was in full speed-run mode. At least she hadn’t used any abilities or prayers, so she still seemed capable of learning the work rules.
I added another rule.
LT__div style="text-align:centerborder:2px solid #00219bpadding:20pxbox-shadow:0 0 15px rgba(0,33,155,0.5),inset 0 0 15px rgba(0,33,155,0.1)background:linear-gradient(135deg,#000 0%,#0a0a1a 100%)border-radius:6pxmargin-bottom:20px">
[Added Rule 6: Do not get excited on your own]
“Ugh… I’m sorry…”
I had expected it, but she was even more immersed than I thought.
“What I really want to know is what the Illusion Cult actually does, not this long explanation. That’s why President Seonhwa is interested.”
“I don’t know either…”
Maria rubbed her forehead, pouting.
“… Do you know anything about the president, hyung?”
“Puhaha… huh? Cough. President.”
Kim Gichan stopped laughing and cleared his throat to join the conversation.
“I only know she’s a woman, and I’ve never met her. But whenever the manager makes that face that says she absolutely hates her, that’s always when she starts talking about the president…”
“I wish that was just my imagination.”
The manager’s shameless expression showed she openly disliked the woman, yet I had no idea how difficult she actually was.
“Well, people who rise high without connections are usually scarier, right? She only said she was investigating the miss, but who knows what she’ll do with her once she has her.”
“Please don’t tell me…”
Kim Gichan shrugged and looked at me.
“This is Sanctum City. Anything can happen here.”
“Mmm…”
Yeah. If the Backroom manager had tentacles planted here, they must have been following orders from above. And President Su Seonhwa wouldn’t have been unaware of that.
“… Ah, right.”
“What now?”
“The Backroom situation is still unresolved, isn’t it?”
The task I died from on Wednesday was still pending. Visor said he’d be back tomorrow. I had completely forgotten about it.
The impact of today’s events had been that heavy.
“But he won’t blame me for dying in the Backroom, right?”
Just being locked in during regular inspection hours was already frustrating. I didn’t want to be questioned about it. At most, it would be a death-certification procedure.
But Kim Gichan’s face looked grim.
“Ah… little brother.”
Unable to hold back, I shot back.
“What?”
“When you die, your pay gets docked.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
“What did you just say?”
Dying was already painful enough—why take my money too?
Seeing my expression, Kim Gichan raised his hands in a placating gesture.
“Since you seem to not know, I’ll explain. You revive, right? All of it costs money?”
“Out-of-pocket?!”
“Jinho-ssi even revives?!”
In the midst of my and Maria’s mutual shock, Kim Gichan casually scratched his cheek.
“Three million Luos per revival. You’re basically in the same boat as the miss. Well, no—you owe even more. Hahaha…”
My head throbbed.
Maria pitied me.
“Jinho-ssi… if we work together, you’ll pay it back in no time… I’ll help too!”
“Yeah, go the whole week without causing any trouble.”
Amid Maria’s and Kim Gichan’s encouragement, one thought kept circling in my mind.
LT__div style="text-align:centerborder:2px solid #00219bpadding:20pxbox-shadow:0 0 15px rgba(0,33,155,0.5),inset 0 0 15px rgba(0,33,155,0.1)background:linear-gradient(135deg,#000 0%,#0a0a1a 100%)border-radius:6pxmargin-bottom:20px">
[One Week Without Any Accidents]
… Without accidents? For a week?
Out of the four workdays, the only one I hadn’t caused problems on was Tuesday, wasn’t it?
“… Hyung, could you turn off the lights?”
“Huh? Why?”
“I just want to see my future.”
My vision went completely dark.