The Elegant Shopper
The darkness of night that had draped over the city was beginning to fade, and the sun was rising amid the chilly air. It was still too early to call it morning. The convenience store part-timer was quietly dreading the hour when, without any warning, the door swung open.
Click, click. The sound of high heels echoed across the floor. The part-timer looked up at the strangely familiar rhythm and swallowed without thinking. …It wasn’t the first time this had happened, but it was still impossible to get used to.
Her features were so perfectly balanced they looked sculpted by a god, and her eyes held a color that seemed to pull you in. Even though her skirt reached her ankles, it never fluttered in a vulgar way. With graceful poise and quiet dignity, she stepped forward. She had clearly been trained in every aspect of walking. Just noticing that much made it obvious she was someone you could never hope to approach.
“Good morning.”
When their eyes met, she offered a greeting. The part-timer gave an awkward nod in return. …Standing in front of this customer always made them tense up. She was like a rose—flawless, porcelain skin and an almost exotic beauty. There was a magnetic charm that made anyone want to reach out, yet at the same time a quiet danger that warned you would be the one hurt if you tried.
She wasn’t quite like the pretty delinquents from school. Even when she smiled gently, there was an unmistakable charisma about her. The part-timer had often imagined asking for her number while working here, but had never once acted on it. They could already picture the rejection.
‘She really buys a lot…’
Despite her refined appearance, she was already holding a shopping basket. With smooth, natural movements she swept up snacks, drinks, and all sorts of other items. It made you wonder what kind of person she was. She often appeared at hours when most people were asleep, and every time she came, her spending was considerable.
“Could you ring these up?”
After circling the store once, she appeared with a basket overflowing with goods. There were so many items that it would take time to scan them all, yet strangely, the part-timer felt no irritation. If anything, the longer she stayed in the store, the more they found themselves wondering if there might be some way to get closer to her.
“Th-that’ll be seventy-eight thousand won…”
“I’d like a bag as well.”
As she spoke, she took out her wallet. Even the way she retrieved her card carried an inexplicable elegance. The part-timer, still slightly dazed, inserted the card into the reader.
—Beep! Beep-beep-beep!
“…The card doesn’t have enough balance.”
“Oh my.”
Her eyes widened slightly, but that was all. She didn’t seem particularly flustered. With the same composed smile, she simply produced another card.
“Let’s try this one.”
“J-just a moment… Y-yes, it went through…”
The part-timer handed over the plastic bag with a slightly trembling voice. They had half-hoped their hands might brush, but she accepted the bag with practiced ease. Her steps never faltered as she left the store.
It felt as though they had been possessed by a ghost. Letting out the breath they had been holding, the part-timer leaned back against the counter.
“…This is why I can’t quit this job.”
Only a sigh-filled murmur lingered in the empty convenience store.
On the way home, I closed my eyes for a moment and compared the life I had lived before returning to Earth with the one I was living now.
There were quite a few things that had improved after coming back. The biggest one was politics. As the daughter of a duke and the future head of the household, I had been constantly dragged into political struggles. Though my experience as a villainess had made me fairly accustomed to such matters, that didn’t mean I enjoyed them. Noble life was exhausting, so escaping it had undeniably been a stroke of luck.
I was quite satisfied with my current life, yet…
“There are still inconvenient parts, after all.”
Plenty of things had been lost upon returning to Earth as well. The most obvious was wealth. The Iris Duchy I had belonged to was the most powerful family in the empire. Their fortune had been so vast it practically overflowed, and all of it should have eventually become mine. But I had returned before I could inherit the title.
The one saving grace was that I had managed to bring some of my personal assets with me. The gold coins and jewels I usually carried, along with the rewards from defeating hidden bosses, had fetched a decent sum when sold. This very studio apartment had been purchased with that money.
Of course, it was still a tiny fraction compared to the duchy’s total wealth. Still, I had thought it would be enough for me to live comfortably without working.
…Yet here I was, already scraping the bottom.
‘Buying that VR capsule must have been pretty fatal.’
There were plenty of other expenses I could guess at. A ducal daughter needed money to maintain her dignity, after all. Even so, I wasn’t in dire straits yet. I might have bought everything in cash like a true noble lady, but I hadn’t been recklessly extravagant either. It was just one card that had been declined. I could manage for now by using my other accounts.
That didn’t mean I had much breathing room, though. I currently had no steady income.
‘…Should I break into my savings?’
I shook my head at the thought. Only a fool would reach for their last resort right from the start. If I thought about it normally, it was about time I considered finding work.
A job, huh… I really didn’t want to. Who in this world actually wanted to work? I was no different. I still wanted to live without working, playing games and lazing around. Especially since my highest level of education was dropping out of university. Landing a good job would probably be difficult.
Even so, I wasn’t particularly worried. If I set my mind to it, I was confident I could earn money. After all, I had once been called the greatest jewel of the ducal house. With this face, I could probably become a model or an idol or anything else. If all else failed, I could even join a pro gaming team.
Right now, though, I just wanted to keep playing more Labyrinthos.
‘I’ll think about money after I raise my rank first.’
I reached that conclusion. Once home, I filled my stomach with convenience store food, drank some water, took a shower, and returned to my capsule in perfect condition.
“Unni.”
Or rather, I had been about to, when Leon called out to me. She had still been asleep when I left for the store, so she must have woken up while I was showering.
“Leon? Is something wrong?”
“…Why are you using honorifics again?”
“Oh dear.”
I really needed to watch that. Living as a ducal daughter for so long must have left its mark. I usually tried to speak casually, but every now and then the elegant speech patterns slipped out.
Leon simply sighed, as if she didn’t care.
“It’s not like this is the first or second time you’ve done it… Anyway, can I ask you a favor?”
“Hmm?”
Leon asking for a favor? She was such a diligent kid that she almost never relied on others. That was exactly why she often suffered in silence. For someone like her to ask for help was unusual.
“You kept playing Labyrinthos even after I went to bed, right?”
“Yeah. About ten hours, maybe?”
“Ten hours… Unni, are you even human?”
“My, what excessive praise. Even if you flatter me like that, there’s nothing I can give you right now.”
“I wasn’t complimenting you… …Unni, can you show me your match history?”
Match history? I tilted my head, and Leon nodded.
“If you log into the official site, you can check your records.”
Following her instructions, I logged into the official homepage and found the match history menu. Every Single Combat record was listed, and there was even a replay function.
“Labyrinthos has an automatic recording feature.”
Leon moved the mouse and clicked the replay button.
【1st Person / 3rd Person / Omniscient View Switching】
【Playback Speed Adjustment】
【Nickname Hiding】
【Video Editing】
The replay had quite a few features. You could switch perspectives to see how other players had moved, and even extract portions as video clips. It was very similar to the replay systems in other AOS games.
“Can I try editing the footage of you playing?”
Leon asked while looking at my character on the screen.
“Video editing? Is this for a university assignment? I thought you already graduated earlier this year.”
“It’s not for school. I’ve been thinking it’s about time I start looking for a job…”
“A job.”
Mm… That was a word I really didn’t want to hear in my current situation. Oblivious to my feelings, Leon continued.
“So I was thinking of trying video editing… There’s a company that said they’d hire me, and I need to submit an editing sample.”
“I see. And you want to use my replays?”
“Ah, uh, yeah! I’ll hide the nickname too! I won’t tell anyone it’s you playing! …Though I do have to show it to the company people.”
“That doesn’t bother me, but is it really okay to submit gameplay footage?”
I couldn’t imagine a normal company accepting something like that.
“Oh, that’s not a problem. The streamers at our company play a lot of games.”
“Streamers?”
“Yeah… It’s a streamer management agency. I’ll probably be making highlight clips and short videos.”
“I see. Do whatever you like.”
If my cousin was going to get a job, that was something to be happy about. I remembered seeing Leon’s video editing a few times before, and she had been quite good at it.
Come to think of it, had Leon also been unemployed like me until now? I had assumed she was already working somewhere since she seemed to be bringing in money, but…
‘Must have been part-time work.’
With that thought, I stepped into the capsule.