No Heaven for Part-Timers (Part 2)
In psychology, there's this thing called the Illusion of Truth Effect. It means if you keep hammering the same information into someone's head, eventually they'll start believing it—right or wrong. The brain treats frequently repeated noise as established fact through repetition learning...
It was around the time when the flow of the era and the accumulated victims started building a kind of database online. With just a flick of the fingers, fact-check sites were everywhere.
"Hey, other places charge up to 80%! I'm giving you pretty good terms here!"
No matter how he tried gaslighting with a frustrated face and "related cases," Kim Chomo just replied,
"Ah, yes. I'll work hard and learn."
'Hmm, when I bail, I'll skip telling him and just report his ass to the Ministry of Employment and Labor.'
A generation raised believing the deceived are worse than the deceivers wouldn't fall for such cheap tricks.
"Hahaha, hahaha!!"
They laughed at each other, but it was the perfect moment for knives to come out behind their backs.
'This guy's face is all over the place—a convicted criminal. Easy to rally public opinion against whatever he says later.'
One side knew Kim Chomo's face from the 9 p.m. news main segment. He planned to frame it as "Hired him out of the goodness of my heart, but he stabbed me in the back cowardly." Compared to the much stronger Kim Chomo physically, he'd play the aging weak underdog card. Hide his own faults, mobilize the public, and serve a beating from the masses as the main course—the scheming evil boss!
The other side was the pitiful part-timer caught by that evil boss, but...
'...Worst case, pretend to hit the bathroom when no one's around and chuck a rock at him.'
If he'd ever cared about public eyes from birth, he couldn't have held ten million Seoulites hostage. He didn't give a shit about anyone dying unless they were in the same boat—anyone even slightly above him was fair game. A top-tier troll plotting protest methods beyond normal imagination.
Between these two venomous freaks that even antisocial monsters feared to brush against, they were clashing head-on to see who would emerge as the final lone wolf.
No one is born knowing everything, so a fresh newbie is a total blank slate. To get that slate to at least "understand" the job and function—however abnormally—requires training!
"Alright, POS system rundown. I'm only explaining once, so listen up."
But the sleazy boss, blind to how he'd mastered it through repetition, figured since he was paying, the newbie should get it in one go...
"Um, so if a customer pays with two methods split, you hit this first..."
"...What the hell are you doing?"
"What? Just in case, memoing it on my phone...?"
Kim Chomo, using his school study hacks to jot down only the tricky bits, apparently pissed him off.
Thwack!
"You can't memorize this simple shit in one go and need notes?! How'd you even get into college?!"
Projecting his academic insecurities like a madman.
Of course, kids these days don't back down from shit-talk.
"Memorized it like this to get in. You're not bad at studying, right...? Oh, eidetic memory?!"
"......"
"Whoa, you must have a memory palace at least! Impressive—guess that's what it takes to run a convenience store."
With that smirk, eyes not a hint innocent. Any average joe would've yelled, "You know how scary society is?!" But this wasn't average—this was a human bomb ready to detonate on a wrong touch.
'Damn, if this fucker wasn't that psycho who solo'd the front page of the social news...'
He could safely mess with him only after the needed part-time period ended and he fired Kim Chomo. He'd just had a mediation with the labor office over a high-school dropout minor ratting him out for no weekly pay—hard to find weekly shifts as it was. To cut costs, blowing up the bomb now was a bad move!
'He won't stick the full three months... One? One and a half, then slot in the next sucker...'
No part-timers around? Still, snag one in that time. Until then, ignore the annoying prick's yapping.
"Ha... hahaha, well... write if you want, I guess... You seem diligent, I like that..."
"So explain better. How's the same Korean not getting through?"
"......Grind."
Gnashing teeth but enduring—that's the boss's duty, apparently. The light manual training wrapped in under 30 minutes.
"Finally, when handing off to the evening shift, don't forget to match the cash drawer..."
"Ah, got it written here. Why repeat yourself like this?"
"......I'm out."
Now, time to fly solo on the floor.
"Welcome!"
"Ah, top up my transit card... and one of these, please. Thanks!"
And like all service jobs, polite customers get politeness back.
"Here's your receipt, thanks! Come again!"
Kim Chomo, no taste for spitting on smiles, waved them off with one.
But his store was in a college-downtown mix zone.
"Hey, Marlboro."
"...Five brands with 'Marlboro' on 'em here. Which Marlboro?"
In other words, not even 3 p.m. yet, but hammered drunks playing nonsense quizzes they liked. High spawn rate for villains oblivious to their place.
Then, after bitching and realizing it wasn't their usual part-timer or boss...
Some kindly specify "brand + line" or tar/nicotine levels, but...
"Argh, fuck... Can't you see it's the red one? Kids these days got no sense."
Crazy assholes snapping for no reason abound.
"Drunks got no brains? Can't you see my lush hair? Quit the booze—ruins your eyes."
Average folks swallow insults for paycheck, but...
Some do part-time college rite for "normal life return," not just cash.
"What?! This fucker thinks a mouth means everything..."
Sloshed, tossing a 5,000-won bill roughly.
Ignoring the part-timer's face anyway fueled his ballsiness.
"Quit staring, asshole. It's 4,500. Here's 500—fuck off."
"...Eek!"
Realizing instantly it was the psycho with ten+ priors who bent the gov with brute force—deflated like a punctured balloon.
"Hey! Swap this for a soju bottle! No, swapping's always pricier than soju!"
"I'm tight with the boss, okay?! He said just pay cash!"
More villains hit the newbie clerk after, but...
To Kim Chomo, stuffed on "discarded" bento as nostalgia? Meaningless flailing.
Rice cooked from grain loses energy yield, but...
"Seaweed's algae, algae? Sea breathers. Photosynthesis? Energy."
Just five triangle kimbaps for normie-battling fuel! Absurd mileage for miracles normies can't touch.
Crunch...!!
"Sir, unless you want that soju bottle folding like this coin, get out now."
"U, uwaaah!! Monster!!"
Sometimes a simple "performance" has the audience yelling Eureka, forgetting life itself.
"Even the boss doesn't know, how'd I? I know jack shit! Scram!"
"Th-this...!! Tomorrow the boss says shit, I don't know!!"
"Yeah, quit and done? No impact? Boss beef? Not my problem? Pissed yet?"
Sometimes match their screams level for level.
Kim Chomo claimed the throne as the craziest in this villain hub.
"...Fuck, exhausted. Why only psychos in this hood."
Slumping wearily, relieved at nearing shift end.
"Cash matches, no expiry issues, discards stamped..."
Just confirm no incidents post-handoff—true "peaceful no-work store" state.
But on his first convenience store shift, Kim Chomo didn't know.
The real villain wasn't outside—but inside. The part-timer's worst enemy.
"...Who're you? Ah, he fired that guy? Hi, first time."
Casual as hell, 35+ minutes late for handover, the part-timer ignored Kim Chomo's stiff face, donned the apron in the corner.
"Hello, boss?"
"Nah, the guy behind me got brain damage or sick or what?"
Kim Chomo, too drained to rage, asked the obvious "What'd you hire?"
- What bullshit?! People run late! Don't talk like that to my 8th cousin!
Nepotism woes and shameless "good is good" policy—that's all.
- Don't bail harsh, logistics coming soon—help sort...
"Argh, no dice... Anyway, handed off—I'm out."
Begging sympathy for extra unpaid logistics? Only psychos or lame novelists do free work.
Already lounging in the chair, charger plugged, drama on—arrogant in work pants and jumper...
...Wait, "work pants"?
"First impressions fail human test, so fun pranks—what's the issue?"
Store'd tank soon anyway—no more chill honey-sucking. But that's the boss's karma, not his sorry-ass spawn's.
Ding-a-ling...
Door chime rang clearer than shift start—why?
"...Hey?! Wait! Boss said help with logistics..."
"Haha, fuck that! I'm free!! Freeeeedom---!!"
Not hearing it out, Kim Chomo bolted to his room.
"Old phone... old phone... got it!!"
First time since switching, firing up the old clunker to check "barely friends" in old messenger.
"Heh heh, money's all it takes—half-unemployed booze buddies everywhere."
Night to dawn—history's made at night.
For grandest revenge from part-timer hell convenience store, fingers flew.