Gimbap
A single green stone, no larger than a knuckle, rested on the counter. Dohyun gazed down at it.
Fifty grams of mana stone, just like that. Five hundred dollars' worth.
At first he had worried the bottled water might not sell at all. However he turned it over, one gram of mana stone—ten dollars—for a 500ml bottle had seemed far too expensive. The hunters' reactions said otherwise. It had not been expensive in the least.
I'm sure of it. The supply bases charge far more than this store does.
The proof had walked out with them. Before they left, the hunters had thanked him over and over. If the water had truly been overpriced, they never would have reacted that way.
This trait, Owner of the Convenience Store. It might be even more extraordinary than I thought.
Hope swelled in his chest. In the beginning he had wondered what good a convenience store could possibly be, sprung up in the middle of the Tower. It was no combat trait, and he had taken it for something utterly useless when it came to getting out. He no longer thought so.
Gather enough mana stones, and I can hire other hunters to escort me out!
No—more than that. Through the store itself, he might rake the stones in by the heap. Escaping the Tower mattered, but he had been summoned, of all places, to the tenth floor. The farther from the ground, the greater the store's value would be, and Dohyun was not fool enough to throw away a chance like this and bolt for the exit at the first opportunity.
Earn every mana stone I can here. Then I leave.
His goal was set.
To do that, I need to figure out what hunters need most.
He clawed through his memory for everything he had ever seen about hunters on Nutube.
Right... they live on nothing but preserved food, so the craving for an ordinary meal runs deep. That's what they said.
Electronics did not work inside the Tower, which meant a working refrigerator was out of the question. Hunters carried jerky, hardtack, or rations manufactured to keep for a long time, and none of it tasted anything like food from outside. Among those climbing the upper floors, homesickness sometimes grew so severe that they could not even stomach the rations, and abandoned the ascent altogether.
Dohyun scanned the product list.
Then the next thing I ought to stock is...
Something nutritious, and good to eat besides. He selected one item from the list.
A convenience store, on the tenth floor of the Tower?
Please. Have I spent my whole life just waiting to be fooled?
"Convenience store, my ass."
Lee Junhyuk had only just climbed from the ninth floor onto the tenth, and already his face was twisted in a scowl.
On the way up he had run into Yoon Taekyung, a man from the same guild. The pleasure of a familiar face had lasted only a moment before Taekyung launched into a story Junhyuk could not begin to accept.
"I'm telling you," Taekyung had insisted, "they were really selling bottled water."
"...For one gram of mana stone?"
"Yeah. Cold enough that dew was beading on the bottles."
"How the hell do you sell cold water in a Tower where a refrigerator won't even run?"
"Ah, you're killing me. I don't know how they pulled it off either, but they really were selling cold water. Genuinely cold."
When Junhyuk simply would not believe him, Taekyung—fed up—had gone so far as to give him the location. According to Taekyung, a convenience store sat all by itself in the middle of the forest on the tenth floor.
"What did he even eat, to start raving nonsense like that."
Junhyuk clicked his tongue. Homesickness, most likely. The man had started seeing things.
The vice-captain walking beside him spoke up.
"But, Captain. If it's really nonsense, why are we heading for the place where this convenience store is supposed to be?"
"..."
Junhyuk shut his mouth.
He did not believe Taekyung. Even so, in one corner of his heart, a what-if refused to leave him—a real, stubborn what-if. Junhyuk wanted a drink of cold water just as badly. It had been far too long. He cleared his throat.
"Well. If nothing else, we ought to look into it, so we can report back to the guild."
"...I see. Understood."
The vice-captain's eyes narrowed. He clearly did not believe a word of it.
They walked in silence toward the heart of the forest. How long, he could not have said. They walked and walked, and still no convenience store appeared, and irritation began to boil up in Junhyuk.
Yoon Taekyung, you bastard. Convenience store, my ass. Nothing out here but trees.
The squad was tiring too. Their breathing grew rough, and searching any further seemed pointless. At last Junhyuk stopped.
"Halt. We stop looking for the store and change course for the eleventh floor—"
"C-Captain! Look at that!"
The vice-captain shouted.
"What? What's over th—"
Junhyuk followed the pointing finger, and his eyes flew wide.
Bright light leaked through the trees. Light itself was nothing strange. The kind of light was.
A f-fluorescent light?
Shining between the trunks was a glow that had no business existing inside the Tower.
Junhyuk and his squad started toward it like moths drawn to a flame. When a boxy building finally emerged from the trees, his mouth fell open.
"A c-convenience store!?"
A neon sign burned above the entrance, and bright fluorescent light poured from inside.
Smack!
Junhyuk slapped his own cheek, checking whether homesickness had him seeing things. He hit himself again and rubbed his eyes, but the convenience store did not disappear.
I-it was real?
A convenience store, standing all alone in the forest on the tenth floor. Taekyung had been telling the truth.
"C-Captain. What should we do?"
The vice-captain turned to him, eyes brimming with the desperate wish to get inside and see. Junhyuk looked back at the squad. The same urgency burned in every face. He considered it a moment, then spoke with a hard expression.
"All of you... from this moment, we search the convenience store."
"Yes, sir!"
Junhyuk and his squad approached with care. The moment they stepped inside, a man behind the counter greeted them.
"Welcome! Welcome to the Tower Convenience Store."
Is this the man Taekyung mentioned?
From what Taekyung had said, a single man worked the store. Junhyuk's gaze dropped to his chest.
Kim Dohyun.
That was the name on the tag of his uniform.
"Did someone else tell you how to find this place?"
"...! How did you—"
"Well, no hunter would come all the way out to a corner like this without a reason."
Dohyun was right. Even on the tenth floor, the store was tucked deep in the forest, difficult to find. If Taekyung had not told him, Junhyuk never would have thought to come this far. He cleared his throat.
"Ahem. Yes. That's right. I heard you sell bottled water here..."
"Yes, that's right. The water is in that refrigerator."
Where Dohyun pointed, a refrigerator stood with condensation beaded across its face, looking cool just to look at. Junhyuk steadied the tremor in his chest and stepped closer.
Dew on the plastic, and a cold that reached straight through his fingers.
I-it really is cold water!
"V-Vice-Captain! Get over here and pull these bottles out. Now."
"..."
"Vice-Captain! What are you doing? I said get over here!"
Snapping, Junhyuk turned. The vice-captain was staring blankly at one side of the store. Frowning, Junhyuk strode over to him.
Thwack!
"Hey, you. Have you not heard me calling this whole time?"
"C-Captain..."
He had smacked the back of the man's head, but the vice-captain's eyes never left that spot.
"O-over there... that..."
"What the hell has had you staring since—"
Junhyuk turned to follow his gaze, and his whole body locked up.
A display shelf lined one side of the store. One corner of it was packed with cylindrical rolls, and for a long moment he could not make his mouth work.
G-gimbap!?
Outside, a roll of gimbap—rice and fillings wrapped in seaweed—went for about three dollars. Here it was selling for fifty. That was not what mattered.
"In the Tower... they're selling gimbap?"
A short shelf life was simple common sense where gimbap was concerned. In summer the stuff spoiled in less than a day. And yet here it was, on the tenth floor—a climb of nine weeks—in a Tower where a refrigerator would not even run?
Junhyuk stepped up to the shelf, lifted one with a shaking hand, and carried it to the counter.
"I-I'll buy it."
"Yes. That will be five grams of mana stone."
You have purchased one roll of gimbap.
5g of mana stone has been deducted.
Junhyuk tore the wrapping open at once. A turn in the microwave would have been better, but he had no patience left to care. He brought the opened roll to his nose.
...It hasn't spoiled at all.
Far from spoiled, there was only a rich, nutty aroma. He swallowed hard and bit in.
Chomp. Chomp.
The springy bite of the rice, the toasty fragrance of sesame oil, seaweed salted just right, and the bright tang of pickled radish—a harmony of flavors unfolded across his tongue.
I-it's delicious!
"C-Captain... what about the rest of us..."
The vice-captain had drawn close, watching his face with careful eyes. Junhyuk answered him.
"From this moment... everyone buys gimbap. Every last roll. Not one left behind. Bring them all!"
"Yes, sir!"
The squad rushed the shelf and hauled the rolls to the counter. The display was bare in an instant. Two rolls apiece in hand, they formed an orderly line and waited to pay.
"Agh! To think I can eat gimbap inside the Tower!"
"Damn it. I didn't even like this stuff outside. So why does it taste this good in here!"
"Hey, you bastard! Why are you taking mine!"
"I'll pay you back double later, all right?"
"Everyone. Freeze."
At Junhyuk's sudden order, they stopped mid-motion. However blinded they were by gimbap, a captain's authority inside the Tower was absolute. Eyes darted.
W-what? Did we do something wrong?
Did he catch me sneaking a third roll?
Junhyuk looked over the squad.
"What if you choke, wolfing it down like that? Every one of you, grab a bottle of water and eat together! Move!"
"...! Yes, sir! Moving!"
"Moving! Thank you, Captain!"