A Hair-Raising Tour of Downtown (2)
The supermarket wasn't as glamorous as a department store, but the moment we stepped inside, we were greeted by a spread of goods no country shop could ever match. From the fresh ingredients Hana loved to the cosmetics and clothes Poppy was always singing about—the selection wasn't infinite, but it was plentiful enough that we could buy as much as we wanted.
Back at the township market, even instant ramen and canned goods had purchase limits, never mind clothing. Out here in the city, those restrictions didn't seem to apply to anything but food.
That was when Poppy clamped onto my hand and started hauling me off somewhere.
"Unnie, hurry up and look at this!"
Her grip was stronger than I'd expected, and I found myself being dragged along without a prayer of resisting. The place she was making for was a women's clothing section, racks hung with garments in every color of the rainbow.
Thanks to the Dimensional Anomaly warning, everyone had crowded into the grocery aisles, so the clothing floor was deserted except for a single clerk. She beamed as we walked in.
"Welcome! Is there anything in particular you're looking for?"
"We're looking for clothes for my Unnie to wear!"
Poppy answered with the confidence of someone on a personal mission. The clerk looked me up and down, then smiled with what seemed like genuine satisfaction.
"Oh my, your sister has such a lovely figure—anything would look good on her. Are you a model, by any chance?"
"Not a model… I just do some rough work."
"Ah, a Hunter! I thought I sensed something powerful about you."
She handled Hunters often enough, apparently. The clerk took it in stride and started picking out clothes with practiced ease. Her eyes lit up with a professional sparkle, and in the blink of an eye, piles of garments began stacking up in Hana's and Poppy's arms—fluttery dresses, practical athletic wear, and miniskirts so short they made me dizzy just looking at them. Hana and Poppy accepted every recommendation with shining eyes.
Wearing clothes that actually suited me wasn't a bad thing in itself. But there was a more pressing concern. I discreetly lifted one of the items in Hana's arms and peeked at the price tag. Thankfully, they weren't luxury brands expensive enough to make me choke. Still, buying all of them would put a serious dent in my wallet.
I smiled and reined the two of them in.
"Alright, that's enough. If we keep buying clothes, we won't have time to grocery shop. Let's wrap this up and go somewhere else."
"Hmm, you've got a point! Then just one outfit! Try on just one, Unnie! And don't you dare say it doesn't fit later and refuse to wear it!"
"She's right. It'd be a waste of money if we went to all this trouble and it didn't fit."
With Hana backing Poppy up, I had no choice but to take the clothes they shoved at me and head into the fitting room.
Only after pulling the curtain shut in the cramped stall could I actually look at what they'd given me. Of all things, it was a sky-blue dress—the kind of thing I hated most. I barely even wore sleeveless tops because they felt too fussy. The thought of walking around in something this floaty made me sigh on the spot.
But if I walked out without trying it on, I'd never hear the end of it from the two waiting outside. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. Resigning myself, I reached for the awkward garment in my hands.
Once I'd clumsily changed into the dress, the sensation of air flowing freely around my arms and legs was utterly alien. I found myself wondering, not for the first time, how the women of the world put up with this peculiar feeling. I had to admit, they were tougher than I'd given them credit for.
I neatened the shoulder straps, threw my short-sleeved T-shirt over my shoulders like a cardigan, and cautiously stepped out. Hana and Poppy greeted me with actual applause.
"Wow! See, Unnie, this kind of outfit really suits you!"
"It looks wonderful on you, Unnie."
Their sincere praise poured over me, and I couldn't help feeling a little pleased—enough that my shoulders might have squared just a bit. But I still didn't want to walk around in something this pretty. If, heaven forbid, I got called out to the mudflats in this getup, how was I supposed to face the people at the police substation or the village hall elders? The mere thought was mortifying.
I did a slow spin to show it off, then looked Poppy and Hana straight in the eye.
"Alright, it does seem to suit me. Satisfied now?"
"Yep!"
"Yes, it's great!"
"Then I'll go change back, okay?"
The two of them caught my real intention at once—their animal ears both perked up simultaneously. But I'd already slipped back behind the fitting room curtain by the time their disappointed voices spilled out.
"Ah, wait!"
"Unnie!"
I pretended not to hear and hurriedly changed back into my original clothes. If I dawdled, those two might actually yank the curtain open in their excitement. It wasn't about being embarrassed. Every now and then, their animal instincts overrode their reason, and the results could be… extremely awkward.
I changed as fast as I could and stepped back out. Sure enough, Hana and Poppy were stomping their feet, furious with me. There were still mountains of clothes to try on, I'd tricked them—they had plenty to say. I just smiled and walked straight to the clerk to pay for the dress I'd tried on.
It was a pretty piece, so the price was a bit steep, but I needed spare clothes anyway. I could live with it. Once the clerk had folded the dress neatly into a shopping bag, I finally turned back to the two of them.
"Aren't we going grocery shopping now?"
"Ugh, fine! We'll go, okay?"
"That's so mean, Unnie."
Poppy's rabbit ears drooped, and she looked for all the world like a pitiful little animal. Even so, I couldn't let myself get dragged around forever. I wasn't exaggerating—if we lingered too long in the city and a Dimensional Anomaly actually hit, it wouldn't be some ordinary mishap.
Leaving the clothing section, we followed Hana's plan and got down to actual grocery shopping. Plenty of the older folks in Dohwang-ri kept vegetable gardens as a pastime, so we didn't have to worry about produce. Seasonings and fresh meat, though—those we could only get by coming out to the township or the city.
Unlike everyone else, we didn't pile a shopping cart mountain-high. We put only as much as we'd actually eat into a handheld basket. A few people glanced at us with distinctly pointed looks as they passed. Those looks weren't aimed at Hana's or Poppy's animal ears. They were aimed at our nearly empty basket. Something along the lines of, Don't those young people know what kind of situation we're in? A look of pitying contempt.
But a pair of Beastfolk and a Semi-Awakened? Our little group was in far better shape than the people giving us those looks. Once we'd picked out our food, our basket was pathetically light compared to everyone else's carts. In our hearts, though, we were far richer than the people panic-buying with those anxious eyes.
We took our place at the very back of the long checkout line. That was when a security guard making his rounds spotted us and pointed in another direction.
"Miss, with that amount, please use the self-checkout over there."
I looked where he was pointing. Unlike the regular registers with their long queues, several empty self-checkout machines sat waiting for us. If we got those empty stations all to ourselves, I wasn't about to complain. I gave the guard a small nod of thanks and led Hana and Poppy over.
At the machine, we moved as one. I pulled items from the basket and scanned the barcodes. Poppy snatched each one up the instant it was scanned. Hana packed them snugly, gap-free, into a cardboard box she'd prepared in advance.
While we were still loading our things, over at the regular registers, a single customer still hadn't finished checking out. And in that line, the same people who'd looked at us with such disdain were now shifting impatiently from foot to foot. We finished organizing everything and strolled out of the supermarket before that person had even completed their transaction.
This is what you call life skills, pal. In a world like this, time matters more than money.
I allowed myself a small, victorious smile. Then, together with Hana and Poppy, I set off toward our next destination with a light step.
The moment we stepped outside, I looked up at the sky out of habit. Far in the distance, a shimmer in space—a warping of the air. It looked a little bigger than before. Sometimes these things came rushing in like an airplane. Other times they vanished right in front of your eyes as if nothing had happened. That was what made them so unsettling.
Following my gaze, Hana and Poppy looked up at the sky with uneasy eyes.
"Don't worry. At least until we get home, nothing's going to happen."
"I hope you're right, Unnie."
"Yeah! Just looking at it gives me a weird feeling."
"Then let's grab a late lunch while we're at it—something tasty. It'll take our minds off it."
At my suggestion, both their faces lit up at once.
"Okay!"
"Yes!"
Hana must have been genuinely pleased—I could feel her puppy tail swishing back and forth even through her clothes. Poppy, whose tail was too short to wag, flicked her rabbit ears instead, perking them up again and again. They looked so cute I wanted to reach out and pet them, but if I made a sudden move, I might catch a startled back-kick for my trouble.
I decided to restrain myself. Semi-Awakened or not, with a body this sturdy—their kicks still hurt like hell.