3. A Way to Satisfy Both Sides
3. A Way to Satisfy Both Sides
Basically, the Imperial Academy is structured so that students enter at 17 and graduate at 19.
Naturally, since this isn't the East, it means they graduate at 19 international age, once they're adults.
It's for the purpose of... well, raising nobles and capable commoners properly so they can be used as good assets for the Empire.
Having experienced it myself 11 years ago, that was just the gist of it.
There couldn't possibly be any other purpose.
In the end, a school is just a place to cultivate useful workers.
"Tsk tsk...."
That's why seeing them eating lunch so poorly today was a bit pitiful.
Even though I'm older than them, setting that aside, I had moments like that too, which made me feel that way even more.
Since the Academy has the title of "Imperial" attached to its name, the Academy cafeteria boasts quite a high price tag.
On top of that, the only meal the Academy provides to students is breakfast.
For lunch and dinner, students have to buy their own food at the cafeteria, so naturally, inevitably, the burden on the students was bound to increase.
For dinner, they could manage by going outside, but lunch was hard to do that with.
"Owner-nim, check out, please."
"Ah, yes."
That's why it was only natural that as soon as lunchtime hit today, the brats started filing into the convenience store one by one.
Cup noodles, lunch boxes, rice triangles.
They might not be relatively filling, but it was a much more substantial meal than eating nothing or just candy.
Back in my day, we didn't even have a convenience store like this, so we couldn't eat anything, but hey, at least eating something like this is better than nothing.
"Owner-nim, is this... rice triangle on sale?"
"It's two-plus-one."
"Aha.... Then I'll pay for two. That's 26 Copper in total."
Naturally, the convenience store had to be bustling during lunchtime today as well.
Since it was the peak time when everyone swarmed in, I didn't even have time to sit at the counter... I just kept repeating the checkout process, over and over again.
In the midst of that, a terribly ominous, unpleasant sound rang out....
-Jjaeng-geurang!!
"...Ah."
"Shit... I broke a bottle."
"Hey, if you're going to take one out, take a new one. We need to eat lunch quickly and head straight to class."
"I know, but is this okay? The bottom of the bottle is all shattered."
"The Owner-nim will clean it up."
...Fuck this.
I couldn't see well since I was at the counter, but at the sound coming from the corner of the store, I couldn't help but grit my teeth.
The sound of a bottle breaking, and the conversation of the Academy students that followed.
Working at the convenience store for two years, the situation I least wanted to encounter unfolded again today.
I really hoped this wouldn't happen this month.
Why on earth do these kids break bottles when they aren't even drinking alcohol?
Why do they even break bottles?
They're way younger than me, so they have better reaction times and joints, so how the hell do they....
"...Fuck."
I cursed without realizing it.
Even though I'm 28, and I tried to watch my mouth at the Academy where kids much younger than me attend, I couldn't help it this time.
"...Owner-nim, check out, please......."
"Ah, yes. One spicy cup noodle and one soda... that's 30 Copper."
"Thank you...."
"Yeah."
...Still, there was nothing I could do right away.
I couldn't leave the counter and go check on those things.
I just had to quietly continue checking out customers at the counter, filled with the three elements of regret, exhaustion, and obsession.
But, seriously.......
"Phew...."
I thought about cleaning up the broken bottles a little later, but lunchtime still had a long way to go.
More students would keep coming in, complaining about that mess... and in that situation, I had to stay at the counter....
"Phew.........."
No matter how much I thought about it, it was frustrating, and I kept sighing.
Since I run the convenience store alone, it's definitely inconvenient in these aspects.
But hiring a part-timer feels like a pointless endeavor....
"Haa......."
I naturally started thinking that it would be really nice if the crowd thinned out for just about 3 minutes.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, Owner-nim......."
"...Yes? Ah."
"I, I, I'm, free, zing, to, death......."
"......."
Was it because I was too focused on the broken bottle?
I hadn't realized at all that I had been breathing out mist, or that my anger had naturally infused it with mana.
Because I'm not a normal person, but rather a Snow Woman, a quite unique race, it led to a small accident.
Without realizing it, my mana had been carried in my breath and turned into a blizzard... covering the shoulder and hair of the student trying to pay in front of me with snow....
I had no choice but to give that student a free coffee.
After that, several students came into the convenience store, making various purchases, and there were various incidents....
"Haa... spilled soup again."
As soon as lunchtime ended, I had no choice but to come out from the counter and clean.
I had to clean up the spilled soup and trash on the floor, clean up the broken glass bottle, and besides that... I had to clean the tables and windows, and mop the floor covered in dirt and dust.
"Kids these days have no manners."
Of course, this was one of the things that naturally happens while running a convenience store.
But still, it was inevitable that I wouldn't feel good when things like this happened.
Since the students are my main customer base, I shouldn't get too angry at them, of course....
But even at 28, a person is still a person.
It's impossible not to get stressed in situations like this.
"Kadi-nunim, what are you doing?"
"Did you skip class again?"
"It's not skipping; I even got permission directly from the teacher to come out like this."
"That's skipping."
"Is it?"
"......."
...After finishing the cleaning, as I was about to go into the break room, Noah entered the convenience store.
Skipping, as always.
He claims he isn't, but if spending time outside during class hours isn't skipping, then what is?
Normally, this would be a surprising situation... but this brat has been coming by like this whenever he's bored for a while now.
Instead, I just reacted calmly.
Even if I asked him here, he's the type to just say he came to see me anyway.
"Are you going to rest now?"
"Yeah, lunchtime is over. I was just about to take a break."
"Aha."
"So, why did you skip class and come out? Is the class boring? Ah, I guess you came out because it's boring."
I continued the conversation as I naturally walked into the break room.
Actually, to be precise, I just walked inside, and Noah naturally followed me in.
I didn't really have any intention of stopping him anymore.
After all, this situation has been repeating for several months, and it's become a hassle to try and block him from coming in now....
"I was originally going to attend more classes, but there was no one who could be my partner."
"Full of yourself?"
"It's not like that, it's the truth. It was beginner swordsmanship class, and the students were pairing up to proceed with the lesson."
"And because there wasn't a single kid at your level, you told the professor and came out? And the professor actually allowed that?"
"That's right."
"......."
When I heard Noah's words, the thought that popped into my head wasn't anything else... but about the state of the Academy.
I can't judge the skill level of the 17-year-old brat who followed me into my break room.
But for me, the very fact that they would allow a student to come out in the middle of class for such a trivial reason is a topic I really can't understand.
Because when I was in my prime at the Academy, there was absolutely no professor who would allow such a thing...?
"...The world is going to hell, it really is."
"Is it?"
"If a student can just come out like this for the mere reason that they want to, then it's ruined, that's what it is. What else could it be?"
"But I'm treated as a special student, in my own way?"
"That's exactly why it's a problem."
Clearly, the Academy's motto itself was equality... or something like that.
They claim that even though there are differences in status, everyone is the same student inside the Academy.
But isn't the fact that special treatment is possible, like right now, logically strange...?
Of course, it's been nearly 10 years since I graduated from the Academy, so it could naturally be different, but from my perspective, it was obviously something I didn't like.
...It might just be because I'm an old fogey, though.
Anyway.
"Tsk tsk...."
"But I couldn't just sit there taking up space. All the other students were pairing up for sword training, and I couldn't do that alone."
"Well, you're already here. What can you do."
"Haha...."
But there was no need to keep complaining to a kid who had already come out.
I was an outsider anyway, not an Academy student, professor, or staff member, just a convenience store owner.
There's no reason for me to keep thinking about how things are going inside the Academy, right?
"So, what are you going to do until the next class? Don't you have about an hour left?"
"Hmm... I was just going to chat with you, Nunim."
"So you have nothing to do."
"I suppose that's one way to put it?"
"......."
What should I do with this young kid?
Originally, at that age, it's natural to find going to school and studying annoying.
But letting him keep coming in here and playing around... the thought naturally grew that it would be problematic in many ways.
Still, I'm an adult, after all.
Seeing a kid younger than me wasting time like this wasn't very pleasant.
"Hey, Noah. You said you have nothing to do, right?"
"Yes, Nunim?"
"Hmm......."
Since he said he has nothing to do, and he seems to like being by my side anyway.
A way to satisfy both sides... I thought of one.
Well, anyway, if he can spend time around me, wouldn't he be satisfied with that?
If he's not satisfied, he'll distance himself on his own.
It's actually strange for a 17-year-old to keep flirting with a 28-year-old anyway.
If that happens, it wouldn't be a bad thing either.