The Convenience Store Customer Was S-Class
The sound of tearing open the ramen box seemed especially loud today.
I was squatting in front of the cup ramen corner at Saebyeok 25 convenience store, peeling off the tape, when I unnecessarily glanced around once more.
It was a time with no customers, yet it felt strangely quiet.
The quiet only made me more anxious.
It had been like this ever since the last boss incident.
Ever since the Black Armored Knight dropped his sword in front of me, the customers' reactions had subtly changed.
People who used to just grab their stuff, pay, and leave now glanced at me extra, lowered their voices for no reason.
Even when taking their receipts, they were unnecessarily polite.
Why is everyone acting stranger and stranger?
I muttered to myself inwardly while aligning the cup ramen fronts.
The chat window rolled on as if even my complaints were entertaining.
[Current Viewers: 521,004]
"Minsu."
The store manager called me from the counter.
"Yes."
"There haven't been any problem customers since you started working here."
"Why would that be because of me?"
"No idea. But it's weirdly like that."
The manager said that and pushed another cup ramen box toward me.
"Fill this one too."
"Yes."
I swallowed a sigh and answered instead.
At that moment, in a private conference room, my name was being tossed around in voices far more serious than ramen organizing.
Each guild's emblem lay on the round conference table: Taeseong Guild, Baekryong Guild, mid-tier guild alliance, and even the Hunter Management Bureau dispatcher.
The screen showed a frozen frame from the recent live broadcast.
The Black Armored Knight who dropped his sword.
Kang Minsu standing before him.
The Taeseong Guild representative spoke first.
"Let's cut to the conclusion. This individual is no longer a target for individual guild recruitment."
The Baekryong Guild master followed right up.
"Agreed. The scale's already too big."
The mid-tier guild rep crossed his arms and asked.
"So what then?"
The Hunter Management Bureau dispatcher flipped through documents and replied.
"Kang Minsu is currently classified as an unofficial management target equivalent to a national-level variable."
The moment those words dropped, the room fell silent.
No one refuted immediately.
Not because there was no counterargument, but because they'd all arrived at similar conclusions already.
Meanwhile, I was stacking cup ramen in three neat rows at the convenience store: Yukgaejang, udon, jjajang.
My hands moved familiarly.
Aligning labels, straightening the tilted ones, sliding new ones into empty spots.
During that, I could think a little less.
Then the door opened.
A customer entered, grabbed a cup ramen, and kept sneaking glances at me even before reaching the counter.
I pretended not to notice and scanned the barcode.
"...Please process the payment."
Why so polite?
"Yes."
As I gave a short reply, the customer bowed extra while taking the receipt and left.
The manager clicked his tongue at the retreating figure.
"See? Doing it again."
"Why are they all like this to me?"
"How would I know?"
His "I don't know" was oddly comforting.
In the conference room, the opposite was true.
They were getting more serious precisely because they didn't know.
"Let's summarize the confirmed facts."
The dispatcher continued.
"Stats are F-class. No combat record. Yet two S-class hunters reacted personally, and a B-class boss voluntarily disarmed itself in front of a live broadcast."
The Baekryong Guild master chuckled lowly.
"The facts contradict each other."
The Taeseong rep advanced the slide.
"We see it in two ways. Intimidation-type special awakening. Or external intervention mediator."
The mid-tier rep muttered softly.
"The third option no one's saying out loud."
"Hypotheses causing panic before confirmation are forbidden."
The dispatcher cut it off sharply.
A brief silence flowed.
Then my recent activity log appeared on one side of the screen.
Saebyeok 25 night shifts, arriving right after dungeon closes, nearly unchanged routine, repeating convenience store paths.
The listed sentences looked like an ordinary part-timer's work log.
But in the room, they read like operation logs.
The mid-tier rep furrowed his brow.
"That's the weirdest part."
"What?"
"Everything around him flipping, but he's unchanged."
The Taeseong rep said lowly.
"Could be an act."
The dispatcher shook his head.
"Too diligent for part-time shifts to pass as acting."
"That diligence could be the disguise."
"A national-level variable who's also a model employee?"
It was ridiculous, but no one laughed.
Their faces said it could really be that.
Meanwhile, I was checking discard stickers.
Expiration dates, discount times, discard times.
These numbers were good.
No matter what meaning people forced on them, when time came, you just peeled them off.
This was better.
Organizing ramen, restocking drinks, listening to the manager, ringing up customers.
Way better than dungeons, meetings, or people twisting my words however they wanted.
So I muttered unwittingly.
"I wish things like this could just stay ordinary."
The manager pretended not to hear and asked.
"What'd you say?"
"Nothing."
I hurriedly shook my head.
The chat, of course, didn't miss it.
That's why I hate that stuff.
In the conference room, they were discussing contact methods.
"Direct control on hold."
"Agreed."
"Minimize unofficial contact."
"Just observation then?"
"For now."
"Need to share daily routes."
The mid-tier rep asked.
"What's his living area?"
The dispatcher answered.
"The convenience store."
Another absurd silence flowed.
National-level variable, observation priority, direct contact hold, convenience store route sharing.
The more they said it, the weirder the conclusion got.
Yet no better one existed.
"How about pre-making an exception category?"
The mid-tier rep ventured cautiously.
"Like special management target under classification hold, not official rank."
"No."
The dispatcher cut it off.
"Creating a classification acknowledges existence. Acknowledgment brings media, overseas guilds using the same term."
The Baekryong master said in a dry voice.
"Ridiculous. Everyone sees him as national-level variable, but officially nothing."
The Taeseong rep pressed his temple.
"Problem is Kang Minsu himself shows no ambition type. No guild greed, no bureau greed, no power hunger."
"If acting, more dangerous. If real, bigger headache."
A short sigh leaked from one side of the room.
At that time, I was scanning two cans of drinks at the counter.
The two customers offered one card but kept glancing at me nervously.
Even after the approval beep from the card terminal, they hesitated to take the receipt.
"Um..."
The younger-looking one spoke first.
"You always... work hard."
Why say that there?
"Pardon?"
"Ah, nothing."
They took the receipt with both hands, bowed extra, and left.
I looked at their backs halfway, then at the manager.
"Were those guys always like that?"
"No."
The manager said firmly.
"Everyone's like that since you got famous."
"The bad kind?"
"Why ask me?"
The manager glanced at the ramen corner anyway.
"Minsu. After ramen, check the warehouse drinks too."
"Yes."
These words were good.
No extra meaning, just clear tasks.
So I picked up another cup ramen box.
In the conference room, no words ended meaningless.
The dispatcher lightly tapped the table.
"In summary: Everyone takes it seriously, but no one can touch first."
That one line silenced the room again.
At the end of silence, someone asked lowly.
"So no sending people to the convenience store either?"
"At least don't line up."
"Ridiculous."
"Not laughing."
The dispatcher said sharply.
"S-class, guild scouts, agency vehicles overlapping in Kang Minsu's daily life becomes an incident itself. We gathered to prevent incidents."
He was right.
The problem was everyone understood while looking like they didn't.
Convenience store, national-level variable, surveillance hold.
The combo was already laughable.
Meanwhile, I was folding empty boxes in front of the ramen corner.
The chat didn't miss that scene either.
What powerhouse?
It's hourly wage at stake.
The manager, unaware of my inner turmoil, kicked an empty box toward my feet.
"Minsu. Fold that and check drinks."
"Yes."
I answered and bent down again.
Having clear tasks made me feel a bit alive, at least then.
Ramen was still ramen, at least.
That hadn't changed.
So I held on a little.
The dispatcher finally wrapped up the meeting.
"Current consensus: Kang Minsu classified as unofficial management target equivalent to national-level variable."
"Direct control on hold. Observation priority."
"And."
At that moment, the conference room door opened.
An assistant rushed in and handed over a single sheet.
"Anomalous mana reaction in downtown airspace."
"Rank?"
"Estimated S-class or higher."
Anomalous Mana Reaction
Downtown Airspace
Estimated Rank: S-class+
Proximity to Kang Minsu Activity Area
All eyes in the room dropped to the paper simultaneously.
Red waveform.
Downtown center.
And a bottom memo: close proximity to Kang Minsu activity area.
Someone muttered very lowly.
"...This time, they're coming to him first?"