The Side Hustle
The day after I had thoroughly engaged in reproductive intercourse with Veronica, I left the apartment despite her attempts to stop me.
Stepping out of the building, I held a crumpled 3,000 yen note in my hand.
“Hah.”
It was my first time stepping outside in ten years, according to my memories. And to top it off, I was holding a measly, wrinkled 3,000 yen. It was a pathetic situation from every angle. For a moment, I recalled the bank balance I’d seen on her tablet yesterday.
80,000 yen.
I hadn’t lived in Japan before, so I didn’t know the cost of living, but it seemed far too little to cover rent, utilities, and food for two people. And yet, she had pressed 3,000 yen into my hand just because I said I was going out.
“Tsk.”
Still, I needed to go out to get a feel for the world, so I’d have to spend it sparingly. First, I needed to check out the neighborhood.
Ding-dong!
“Yes.”
I heard the sound of something heavy being dropped in front of the door, followed by the doorbell. Veronica only answered, waiting silently in place. Since she was a wanted fugitive, she could be reported if she accidentally ran into someone.
After counting five minutes in her head, she carefully opened the door. Three large cardboard boxes were stacked in the entryway.
“Ugh, heave-ho.”
Following Teo’s order to stay naked while inside the house, she peeked her head out to check left and right before quickly dragging the boxes inside.
“Good.”
The boxes weren’t heavy, but they were bulky, making them hard to carry. Veronica stumbled slightly as she moved them into the living room. She pushed two of them against the empty wall, placed the top one in the center of the room, and opened it.
Flutter!
Inside the top box were countless disassembled capsules, and resting on top was a single sheet of paper. As Veronica picked it up, a look of confusion crossed her face.
“Huh? The paper texture of this delivery request is a bit different.”
The work she could do as a wanted person was extremely limited. Her bank accounts were frozen, and she could only use one of the aliases she had created under the table when Eternal Corporation was at its peak. To avoid suspicious transaction patterns, she mostly sought out cash-paying jobs or work that didn’t require face-to-face contact.
Moving to this relatively quiet neighborhood, she did things like filling in for weekend night shifts at convenience stores, posting comments online, or assembling these gacha capsules—side hustles she could do from home were the best she could manage. The capsule assembly was the most comfortable of them all. The comment-posting gig occupied a gray area between legal and illegal, so she had to be careful and only did it once a week, keeping her income low. The convenience store job paid better, but the risk of face-to-face interaction was high; she would agonize over it dozens of times and only show up if she received three separate requests.
“Hmm… let’s see.”
She put on her glasses and turned the paper to read the contents.
■ Work Content: Internal capsule assembly (Product + Capsule combination)
Unit Price: 1.5 yen per assembly
Allocated Quantity: 5,000 capsules / 5,000 products
Deadline: Pickup scheduled in three days
※ Special Note: If completed within the deadline, you will be registered as a Premium Partner.
- Unit price increase and eligibility to apply for +2,000 units.
Her eyes widened as she read the request.
“7… 7,500 yen!!”
Up she jumped!
She had been crouching, but she stood up abruptly and held the request up to the fluorescent light. She had been doing this side hustle for nine years. Not only was the emergency unit price 1.5 times higher than usual, but if she finished this delivery successfully, she would be registered as a Premium Partner.
“A, a Premium Partner…! If I’m registered as a partner, the base unit price will be higher than 1 yen. And the maximum allocation increases by 2,000 units too!!!”
It was a pathetic reaction, unimaginable for someone who had once been the Chief Secretary of the massive Eternal Corporation and, in the shadows, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Lord Eternal. She knelt on the bare living room floor and clutched the delivery request to her chest.
“The volume is similar to usual, but this is a golden opportunity for a price increase. If I keep growing step by step like this, it’ll be easier for my new master, Teo-nim, to conquer the world, right?”
The man who had awakened his own Magi, subdued her, and stolen her body and soul. She hadn’t asked Teo how he planned to move yet, but she wanted to be of help to him in any way she could. She had just given him 3,000 yen that morning for his outing. To her, who was worried about rising fixed expenses if he kept going out, this delivery request was as good as a lump of gold.
“Alright. The time sale is…”
Veronica quickly went to the bedroom, brought back her tablet, and checked the time sale lists and schedules for the neighborhood supermarket and nearby marts. Then, she opened the other two boxes, placed the capsules and products within easy reach, and muttered as she loosened her hands.
“First, I’ll check one product. Then I must begin.”
The products that came for side hustles never had perfectly exact quantities. There was usually about 1% extra, and if she saved them up and sold them to collectors, that was a nice little profit too. Humming a tune, she began to peel the translucent plastic wrap off a product.
I wandered around the neighborhood and found a real estate office. Checking the rent prices posted on the wall, I saw they were generally between 40,000 and 80,000 yen per month.
“This rent is about the same as in Korea.”
But the moment I saw the sale prices posted next to them:
“What the fuck?”
[Special Sale Price: 100 million yen!]
Wait, a normal 3DK apartment costs 1 billion won? Did I misread it? The rent is normal, so why is the sale price like this? I checked the prices of other listings just in case, but houses easily exceeded 300 to 400 million yen.
“Crazy… what is this?”
Unable to understand the housing prices, I moved on to another area.
The neighborhood was quiet and lacked vitality. I walked for a long time and barely saw a single high school. Even just walking around, it looked like a city suburb or a place with very little foot traffic.
“And yet the house prices in a neighborhood like this are going wild.”
From the flyers posted outside the real estate office, I confirmed that this was D City, a different region from A City—which I assumed was the Tokyo where the protagonists of the previous series and the Demon Lord Eternal had rampaged. I didn’t know exactly where I was, but it was quite far away.
After wandering for a while, I got thirsty and stopped at a convenience store.
“This place is normal, at least.”
Looking at the items for sale, the prices seemed similar to those in Korea or Japan from my past life.
Beep!
“That’ll be 230 yen.”
“Here you go.”
I picked out a can of beer, handed over a crumpled 1,000 yen note, and was about to leave after getting my change when a gacha machine in the corner caught my eye. It was a machine for small figures. A large illustration of a cute, SD-proportioned magical girl character was plastered on the body of the machine.
“A magical girl?”
“Ah, that just came in today as a special 10th-anniversary version. Are you interested?”
The clerk, who didn’t really need to engage with me, offered an unsolicited explanation. The magical girls here weren’t hiding; they were supported by the people. It seemed like a commemorative edition released ten years after the Demon Lord Eternal from the previous series had died. Interested, I walked up to the gacha machine and checked the price.
“700 yen?”
It was more expensive than I thought. As far as I knew, small figure gachas in Japan usually only cost 200 to 300 yen.
Hearing my mutterings, the clerk explained again.
“They put a lot of effort into the figures this time, so they’ve raised the quality to a premium level.”
Is this guy a magical girl otaku?
“Ah. Right.”
I brushed off the clerk’s words and pushed my change into the coin slot.
Click! Click! Clack!
Whirrr! Clunk!
Thud!!!
What fell into the tray was a fairly high-end-looking capsule. I couldn’t see inside, but I’d check it when I got home. Judging by the gaze I felt from behind, the clerk seemed to be waiting for me to open the capsule and check the contents. I’d checked the neighborhood geography and prices enough for one day. Ignoring the gaze on the back of my head, I left the convenience store.
“What the. The sun is already setting.”
Judging by the weather, I thought it might be spring or autumn, but seeing the sun go down already, it felt like autumn. I hurried my pace and returned to the apartment.
Click! Creeeeak! Thud!!
Clack! Clack! Clack!! Clack!!!
A slightly annoying, small sound greeted me as I entered the apartment. I made my presence known and walked into the living room.
“I’m home.”
“Ah! You’re back, Teo-nim?”
Clack- clack-! Clack!!
“What are you doing?”
The scene in the living room was a bit surprising. Veronica was kneeling in the middle of the room, naked, doing something. Looking closely, I saw she was assembling capsules.
Flabbergasted, I asked her.
“What are you doing?”
“Ah…! I was in the middle of work. Teo-nim.”
Clack! Clack! Clack!!
Only after my second question did Veronica look up at me. But her hands were still mechanically assembling capsules. Wait, that capsule shape is…
“Hey, isn’t this that? Why are you assembling this?”
Completely bewildered, I took the capsule I’d pulled from the convenience store out of my pocket and showed it to her.
“Ah! Did you pull one too, Teo-nim? Phew… they say those damn brats’ gacha capsules are already in their fourth wave. And they say this one is a 10th-anniversary premium version.”
Her expression was a mix of happiness and annoyance.
“So. What are you doing right now? It’s not like you bought that many capsules yourself.”
“Ah, that’s my side hustle.”
“Side hustle?”
“Yes.”
“That?”
Hearing the explanation, it was ridiculous. She got 1.5 yen for assembling one gacha capsule. Since this batch was an emergency order, the unit price was 50% higher. Maybe because it was the magical girl 10th anniversary. Anyway, she said she earned 4,000 to 5,000 yen in three days doing that, and yet she’d given me 3,000 yen that morning. The money she’d have to assemble 2,000 capsules to earn?
I’m seriously going crazy.
“Take a break and make me some food. I’m hungry.”
“Ah! Yes. Understood.”
Veronica, who had been assembling for a while, cleared the living room and quickly headed to the kitchen. I sat on the empty floor where the boxes and capsules had been and opened the capsule I’d pulled from the convenience store.
Click!
Zzzzip-!!
“Oh… what is this. It’s better made than I thought?”
The character that came out of the capsule was a figure of the leader, Pink Prism Ruby.
It captured the feel of the original illustration while striking a dynamic pose. At the same time, it had a cute face with a wink. It looked high-quality at a glance.
Perhaps she heard my exclamation, as Veronica’s voice came from behind me.
“Ah!! Teo-nim! That’s a rare! You won!!”
“What?”
“If you resell it, it’ll go for about 20,000 yen. Congratulations!!!”
I’m seriously at a loss for words.