Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: 99 O'Clock Convenience Store
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.
.
Rustle-
Finally, he awoke from a long hibernation.
Our '(New) Newbie Protector'.
Kim Min-hyuk tossed his heavy body and slowly raised his upper torso.
"......"
Through his narrowly opened eyes.
With dark shadows settling over his face.
A unfamiliar aura, one he'd never shown before, lingered around him.
That appearance was as if something that should never have awakened from a man's body had.
Another side of him...
Achoo-!
'......Cold!'
The truth was, he'd woken up because it was cold.
Next time, before sleeping, he'd ask the AI for some simple bedding.
He didn't know how many hours he'd slept after passing out or collapsing from exhaustion, but upon waking.
His body, which had felt like a stone before bed, could now move just a little.
Creak-
Really just a little...
A little more movable.
The moment he barely managed to raise his body, which creaked like a broken machine.
Flutter-
?
A single sheet of paper falling to the floor caught his eye.
'What's this paper?'
For a moment, he stared blankly at the paper on the floor.
And the events before falling asleep flashed quickly through his mind.
If his memory was correct...
The reward proposal given to him after successfully completing the 'Silent Black Girl' mission this time?
'Or something like that?'
Looking back now, surviving and returning from an immeasurable-grade ghost story was truly a stroke of heaven-sent luck.
And honestly speaking, he hadn't been all that interested in the rewards they offered either.
He'd already received one round of rewards from them and learned.
That they were...
Nothing he couldn't do without.
Just like that black suit for show.
More than these useless things.
'I wish they'd just promote me quickly...'
To return home even a moment sooner, climbing to the 'Department Head' position was the biggest hurdle.
Only upon reaching Department Head.
Could he go through the formal resignation process of 'voluntary retirement'.
So he hadn't held high expectations for this reward.
With the hope of at least getting some 'daily necessities' that could be useful, he picked up the paper from the floor.
Grab-
There was nothing difficult in the content written on the paper he picked up.
Concise and.
Straightforward words were listed.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
『Task Reward Proposal Discussion Results』 The above Employee Kim Min-hyuk's enthusiastic efforts as the proud 'Newbie Protector' are hereby recognized. The following rewards will be granted: - Welfare Points 10,000. - 'Reward Vacation 1 Time' Usage Rights. - Performance Bonus 50 Million Won (Net Pay Possible). * Reward Payment Receipt Date. Payment will be made automatically upon the recipient confirming this document.
The content was certainly not difficult.
After confirming all the rewards specified on the single sheet of paper.
'......N-no way... right?'
He couldn't believe it.
There was no way he could.
Because the list of specified payments contained absurd content.
- Performance Bonus 50 Million Won Payment.
Are you kidding?
The words 'Net Pay Possible' attached after the 50 million won figure.
For real?
Really?
They're giving him 50 million won...?
Of course, he thought it couldn't be true.
Not only was there no way 50 million won would suddenly sprout from the ground...
Bzzz-!
......
A single vibration from his smartphone.
That one vibration made his already tense body stiffen even harder.
"......"
The moment he slowly pulled out the smartphone from his pocket.
He easily found the source of the recent vibration.
[Web Sender] 『Additional Performance Bonus Sent to Honored Kim Min-hyuk. Amount Paid: 50,000,000 Any social disadvantages arising from use of this amount will not occur, as notified in advance.』
It really... came.
Right into his dusty bank account.
The massive sum of 50 million won arriving in real time.
He witnessed it with his own eyes.
For a while, he stared at the amount stamped in his account.
Confirming.
Confirming again.
Repeatedly refreshing, unable to accept the reality unfolding before him.
To him, standing there like an idiot, dazed and unable to collect himself, another stimulus arrived without respite.
Bzzz-
Bzzz-
This time, his smartphone rang twice in a row.
The source of this vibration was a notification for a new post on [Apocalypse of Ghost Stories].
'A new post...'
He naturally tapped the notification for the new post, and it was from no one other than.
'Anonymous (115.170)', that guy.
📰 Breaking News
/Apocalypse of Ghost Stories.
💬 Post
— Anonymous (115.170)
Title: Newbie Protector 3
— Anonymous (115.170)
The Newbie Protector is a really secretive existence. But even that existence goes on vacation like us sometimes. They always seem to go to the same place. Of course, I don't know what they do on vacation either. But the Newbie Protector who returns from vacation comes back stronger than usual. If you disagree, my words are all correct anyway. Bye then. +
By the time he'd read everything in that post.
It seemed the 'vacation' mentioned in the post referred to the 'Reward Vacation' in the reward items he'd just received.
There was no clear explanation this time either.
Inferring only from the post's content in fragments.
'Does it mean they go somewhere... and get some kind of body modification?'
The only thing he could immediately infer.
Was that they moved to a specific space called a 'vacation'.
Of course, this wasn't confirmed information either.
It was just an imagination based on the assumption that it might be so.
Flutter-
And at the same time, another thin sheet of paper falling from the ceiling.
The paper falling toward the floor was rectangular, and childish handwriting caught his eye.
-Reward Vacation 1 Time Voucher-
And below it, in small print, usage instructions were kindly provided.
(Usage: Tear along the perforation.)
"......Reward."
Right?
Now that he'd received even this mysterious scrap of paper labeled 'Reward Vacation'.
All that remained was...
Welfare Points 10,000.
Who are you?
Nothing went simply.
Not a single item in the list of rewards he'd received this time could be glossed over.
That was the surprising part.
But unlike the still-unverified truth of the '50 million won' amount and the child-made-looking 'Reward Vacation' paper scrap.
For 'Welfare Points', he had a bit of a clue.
'It's been bothering me since earlier...'
After waking from his deep sleep.
For the first time, a change appeared in this room, which had shown no structural alterations.
From his current position.
9 o'clock direction.
A building.
Had appeared here.
Not even a typical building.
But one very familiar to him.
The emergence of a convenience store.
The convenience store's exterior was so similar to the one he'd worked at for half a year that it gave him chills.
There had to be a reason for a convenience store to suddenly appear where there wasn't one.
Step-
So he moved his feet.
"......"
Of course, he was scared.
Even though it looked just like an ordinary convenience store... no, identical enough to say it was copied straight over, so familiar.
That familiarity created another fear within him.
Step-
But he had to go.
If this was also a reward from them, he couldn't not check it.
Step-
.
.
.
Step-
Before he knew it, he'd arrived in front of the convenience store that had felt so distant.
<SG 999>
-99 O'Clock Convenience Store-
Flicker-
Flicker-
Flicker-
Just the irregularly blinking LED signboard added one more reason not to enter this convenience store.
Flicker-
......Yeah.
Reconnaissance.
Yeah, reconnaissance.
Today, he'd just take a quick look around and leave.
It's always best to explore unknown spaces step by step, cautiously.
So today...
Here!
*****
Ting-a-ling-
The convenience store door opened.
And a man's head slowly pushed its way inside the building.
'As long as I don't go in, it should be fine, right?'
At first, he'd planned to just turn back.
But having come this far, the thought 'Isn't it okay to just peek inside the convenience store?' crossed his mind.
The interior he glimpsed by poking his head in.
Only a pitch-black darkness with lights off and empty display shelves entered his view.
Upon confirming that nothing was properly stocked.
The 'fear' he'd felt just moments ago vanished without a trace, replaced by 'disappointment'.
An indescribably complex and subtle emotion.
The steps he'd thought wouldn't go further than this somehow found him already inside the convenience store.
'Really nothing here?'
He looked around the interior, confirming with his own eyes that truly nothing was displayed.
As his disappointment gradually turned to 'boredom'.
Click-!
!
He nearly collapsed to the floor right there.
He slowly turned his head toward the sound, confirming a light turning on at the display shelf next to the counter.
......
Step-
A new anomaly.
Suppressing his urge to run away as much as possible.
He slowly walked toward the lit display shelf.
There, familiar items along with a few quite unfamiliar ones were stocked.
Up close, the items had the following product names prominently displayed.
-Vita50000.
-Blank Receipt.
-Daily Part-timer.
There were only these three items stocked.
But from the items on the shelf.
He felt a sense of familiarity.
The reason for that familiarity was simple.
'These are all... the things from the gallery?'
Not a single one missing—they were all ones he'd encountered in [Apocalypse of Ghost Stories].