Ahh, So Annoying.
“These are your new coworkers from now on. Get along well. Not that our shifts overlap much anyway.”
“A new colleague? Did you hire another part-timer, Manager?”
Sylvia, the morning part-timer who had just arrived as dawn was breaking, stared at Dmitri in surprise.
“Yeah. He'll be handling the night shift at the convenience store from now on.”
“Oh ho, wasn't that it? Weren't you done hiring?”
“Why'd you think that?”
“Well, you haven't brought in any new part-timers for a whole year.”
“True enough.”
After recruiting Sylvia, he hadn't added any more part-timers. He could just work a bit harder himself.
And there wasn't anyone suitable to hand things off to anyway.
The crown prince's people were a hassle, the Magic Tower folks were weird, and the temple types were too rigid. Hiring mercenaries? That would just lead to drunken brawls, so he'd shouldered the burden himself.
“I just happened to find some good talent.”
“Hmm...”
Sylvia narrowed her eyes, eyeing Dmitri warily.
“This won't cut into my hours, right?”
“No chance of that.”
“For real?”
“Of course.”
“I'll handle all the emergency fills. Don't give them to him.”
“Even if I wanted to, I couldn't.”
Telling a vampire to mind the store during the day? That'd be a problem. But he couldn't exactly blurt out that Dmitri was a vampire either. No telling how Sylvia would react the second he did.
“A pleasure to work with you, Lady.”
Dmitri bowed gracefully, his silver hair gleaming. A natural, old-fashioned gesture of courtesy. Charms radiated from his beautiful face.
It was the same enchantment spell he'd used on Roselia.
This bastard?
Trying to mess with my part-timer right in front of me?
“Uh, y-yeah, likewise. And since I'm your senior from now on, show some respect.”
“Understood. So, what should I call you?”
“Senior, call me Senior. And I'll talk casual to you, so no complaints.”
“Got it, Senior.”
Seemed like the charm hadn't worked? Makes sense—she was still glaring at Dmitri with eyes full of suspicion, nothing like Roselia. Her scowl made her look just like an angry kitten.
Sylvia, who had been staring daggers at Dmitri, whispered to me.
“Is the new hire a woman? The hair's awfully long.”
Why hadn't it worked? Weird.
“He's a guy.”
“Huh, surprising. Never thought you'd hire a male employee, Manager.”
“What?”
“Eh? Wasn't that it? I figured you only hired women 'cause you're into girls... Sorry.”
She wasn't wrong that I liked women. But was it okay for a part-timer to say that to the manager?
Time to lay down the law.
“Sylvia, no extra pay for you today.”
“Eh? No way! How am I supposed to eat without that?!”
“That's your punishment for challenging the manager's authority.”
“Waaah, Manageeer!!! I was wronggg!”
I ignored Sylvia's wails as she suffered her forced fast and approached Dmitri, who was getting ready to clock out.
“Hey.”
“Yes, si—er, Manager.”
“Warning you since you might not know: never mess with the convenience store part-timers. No charms in front of me either.”
Dmitri, who had been smiling innocently, went pale and waved his hands frantically. His eyes trembled.
“No! I wasn't trying to seduce Senior at all!”
“Then what was that?”
“Ah, my power's still weak, so I can't control it yet...”
“Power's weak?”
“Thanks to that tomato juice, I've recovered some energy, but I'm not back to normal yet... It just leaked out without me realizing...”
He answered with a shudder.
“So once you regain your strength, that won't happen anymore?”
“Yes, just a little more and I'll be able to control it. One more glass should do it.”
I shelved my plan to fire him for now.
“And don't worry about the part-timers.”
“Huh?”
“We all have our types, right?”
“You saying my part-timers aren't your type?”
That pissed me off in a whole different way. They were beauties I could proudly call the empire's finest.
And he wasn't into them?
“N-no, it's not that. Truth is...”
Dmitri hesitated bashfully, glancing around before whispering.
“Virgins and I don't mix well.”
“What?”
Vampires weren't supposed to go crazy for virgins?
“Sorry to shatter expectations, but we each have compatible wavelengths. If it doesn't match, no charm or anything works, no matter what.”
“And yours is non-virgins?”
“Yes... It's embarrassing. A vampire getting excited over non-virgins is shameful among our kind. They called me a 'non-virgin freak,' a 'slut chaser,' and shunned me. That's why I didn't mention it.”
Huh... Non-virgins, huh. That explained why Roselia fell so hard.
“Got it. Anyway, never charm the part-timers, even if their wavelengths match.”
“Don't worry! Now that I know I can gain power without feeding, I won't break my oath.”
I'll watch him for a while. If he pulls anything, I'll deal with him then.
“And the seniors working here don't match my wavelength anyway, so no worries there!”
“Info I didn't need to hear.”
Wait. If he meant the seniors...
Elena too? Sylvia made sense as a sheltered noble lady, but Elena? That was unexpected.
I thought she scraped by on the streets...
Guess she went through a lot.
“Hah, poor thing.”
It hurt my heart.
The new part-timer Dmitri adapted better than expected.
“A pleasure, Senior.”
“Uh, yeah...”
He even got through his awkward first meeting with Elena. As promised, with his power restored, Dmitri no longer leaked his magic.
“Um, Manager.”
Elena, finishing up her shift, approached me hesitantly.
“What's up?”
“Is he gonna keep working here? At this hour?”
“Probably. He'll split shifts with you all. Part-time hours will get chopped up more, so you'll have more rest time.”
A manager looking out for his part-timers' work-life balance.
Where else you gonna find one like that?
I swallowed the part about me needing rest too.
“...”
But Elena looked sullen for some reason.
“Can't I just work harder?”
“Huh?”
“If I work more, we won't need him, right?”
“What're you talking about?”
“No, it's just... with him here...”
Elena fidgeted, trying to say something, then clammed up.
“Never mind. I'm heading out.”
I stared blankly at Elena's back as she grumbled and left.
Sylvia, Elena—why were they all acting like this? Did they really want to work that badly, reacting so sensitively?
Come to think of it, she often delayed clocking out too. She'd stuck around for extra hours on purpose sometimes.
Did I train them too well into workaholics?
They'd all turned into total reverse workaholics. A manager who wanted to slack off felt kinda sad about that.
And right then, in front of me—
Ding!
An alarm rang for the first time. The rectangular window from when I'd been summoned to this world popped up chaotically before my eyes.
Recruit 3 New Employees
3rd Floor Opens
Corner — Adult Goods Store Moves In
What?
Plop!
Back home, Elena threw herself onto the bed, clutching a pillow tight and kicking her feet.
“Aaaah! So annoying!”
A new employee? Was she not enough?
-This is the guy who'll handle nights at the convenience store from now on. Say hi.
Manager Do-jin had introduced the new part-timer with a sense of relief.
-You'll come in at this time and switch off with Elena.
Switch with me?
Why? Did he not need me anymore?
He'd definitely said it before. That she could work nights with him too.
But he'd shot down her offer flat.
-Minors can't do night shifts. Absolutely not.
He'd been so firm back then. But now that she was an adult, he brought in someone else?
“Why not me, but him?”
At least it was a relief that the new guy was a man.
Manager's a guy who likes women...
Nothing would happen. If the new hire had been a woman?
She might've flipped the whole place upside down. He hated messes in the store.
She probably would've held back and gone home like today, just to avoid seeing him upset.
But man or woman, one fact didn't change. He was an intruder messing with her alone time with the manager.
If it had been that uncomfortable guy whose face she couldn't even picture anymore...
She would've insisted on staying to help, alone with the manager.
And he'd have nagged her to go home early, worried about her health, mixing scolding and concern.
-Go on. You're stressing me out.
Ending her day with that gentle voice caring for her was her one joy.
She was down because she still hadn't fully recharged on Manager energy.
“Auuugh! Manageeer.”
She hugged the pillow tight, imagining it was him.
It didn't help. It was just a pillow, not the manager.
“So annoying...”
The manager who rejected her offer despite her saying she could help. The intruder who showed up out of nowhere.
Everything pissed her off.
“Isn't there a way?”
A way to boot him out and take her spot back.
“Should I ask Sylvia for help?”
If she shared some of her pay, Sylvia would definitely help...