“Did he really stop coming?”
When he wished for him not to come, Yoon Jihyuk really stopped showing his face completely. Onyul thought it was for the best, but somehow felt empty.
The convenience store without Yoon Jihyuk was quiet.
There were never many customers anyway, and since there was no one like Yoon Jihyuk being mischievous among the occasional customers, there was nothing to worry about.
However, as one day passed and two days passed, his mind gradually became uncomfortable.
He didn’t get into an accident, did he?
Yoon Jihyuk was a strengthening-type Esper who mainly played the tanker role. It was common for him, who stood at the front, to get hurt.
What came to mind at that moment was when he hadn’t known Yoon Jihyuk for long, that is, when he was wandering after losing his pair Guide.
The Yoon Jihyuk of that time would recklessly charge at monsters as if he wanted to die, getting needless injuries. Alpha Team, which he belonged to, couldn’t stop him from self-harming.
So they had no choice but to forcibly hospitalize him to prevent him from going to Gates. That’s when he first met Onyul.
Onyul embraced Yoon Jihyuk’s wounded heart and often told him it was ‘okay’. He told him that everything would be okay, so don’t hate himself too much.
Back then, I saved that kid somehow…… He’s not doing that kind of thing again now, is he?
From what he saw several times at the convenience store, there didn’t seem to be any noticeable external injuries.
Onyul, sitting with his chin propped up behind the register, let out a sigh. At the end of his gaze were chocolate milks with little expiration time left.
“Haah…… When will this meddling disappear?”
If he hadn’t noticed in the first place, it would be one thing. But once he had made acquaintance, he couldn’t help but worry about Yoon Jihyuk.
Onyul, worried about whether Yoon Jihyuk was safe, had no choice but to turn on his phone. As soon as he searched ‘Alpha Team’ in the internet portal window, various articles poured out.
[Giant Gate Appears in Seoul XX District, Alpha Team Deployment Scene]
[Living Up to Its Name Alpha Team, What Will the Clear Time Be for This Gate?]
Among the article headlines, there was nothing related to ‘injuries’. Only content praising Alpha Team, where the most elite Espers gathered.
He doesn’t seem to be hurt. He didn’t come because he was busy?
When he clicked on one of them, a photo in the article caught his eye.
Short hair with angular glasses, cold impression but actually caring team leader Na Geonwoo. Yoon Jihyuk standing next to Na Geonwoo grinning, Cha Hyeran with her long hair tied up high, and lastly…….
Onyul’s gaze remained on the man dressed entirely in black. The tallest one was standing at the very back with his head bowed.
His bangs were also long and he even wore a black mask, so his face was barely visible.
Gu Baekyoung is still the same.
Gu Baekyoung disliked showing his appearance to others and went around covering his face.
He did that in front of Onyul too, but as time passed and they became close, he started showing his face. Back then, it felt like taming a stray cat.
When he scrolled down more, he could see comments attached to the article.
⌞Alpha Team on another level ㄷㄷ We support you!
⌞South Korea is the country that has Alpha Teamㅠㅠㅠㅠ
⌞I want to see Gu Baekwon’s face….
.
.
⌞But doesn’t Gu Baekwon get in boxes these days?
Boxes?
Surely it doesn’t mean Gu Baekyoung actually has cat attributes and likes boxes?
He wondered what it meant, but before Onyul could search more, the chime bell sounded.
“Welcome.”
The question he had about Gu Baekyoung was quickly forgotten while attending to the customer. Anyway, he had now become someone unrelated, so it was right not to care.
But the peace didn’t last long.
Because strange things started happening from the next day.
For some reason, many customers started flooding into the convenience store that had only flies buzzing around. Onyul attended to customers without time for other thoughts.
Why are there so many customers just today?
Only after the wave of incoming customers had left once did he learn the reason. He could see the lights of the large convenience store across the street had gone out.
Wondering what was going on, when he went closer, there was a paper stuck on the glass door with shocking words written on it.
[Closed for one week due to owner circumstances.]
What? Closed? Damn it…… Then will it be as busy as now for one week?
Onyul’s plan to quietly spend 3 years in a leisurely convenience store was already creaking.
Onyul’s ominous premonition was not wrong.
For 3 days from then, Onyul became so busy with the flooding customers that he couldn’t even blink.
***
Recently at the Esper Center, people carrying Company C convenience store bags started to become noticeable.
Originally, Company C convenience store was too small in size, so it was a place people didn’t visit often unless absolutely necessary.
But when the large convenience store closed for several days, they inevitably had to visit that place.
At the place they actually visited, there was a pretty male store owner who made them wonder if he had been there originally, and strangely, they felt as if their fatigue was recovered whenever they came back from just that place.
The rumor that Company C convenience store was ‘a strange convenience store with a peculiar store owner’ spread quietly.
Ability users interested in the rumor visited the convenience store one by one, and when they actually felt their mind and body become comfortable, regulars increased.
Ability users who felt like they were receiving therapy visited the convenience store as if bewitched by something.
Some would visit the convenience store even when they had nothing to buy, just to see the store owner and fidget around.
Of course, if they stayed in the convenience store for a long time…….
<If you have nothing to buy, please leave.>
They would hear the sharp voice of the manager like a cat with its fur standing on end.
Even that prickly appearance was strangely charming, so no one could argue with the manager.
Is this what it feels like to be bewitched by a person?
On the third day since the large convenience store closed, there were even ability users eyeing the pretty manager.
They threw subtle advances, but none of them worked on the manager who had his claws out.
But that point rather stimulated the competitive spirit of the ability users.
At that time, two Espers carrying Company C bags ran into each other in the hallway. They were also one of the ability users eyeing the manager.
“Hey, did you go to that convenience store too?”
“Yeah, whenever I go there, I strangely feel better…… Even though I don’t really have anything to buy, I keep going.”
“Wow, me too?”
“You too?”
The two looked at each other and said simultaneously.
“It feels similar to receiving Guiding.”
“Right. It’s like Guiding, right?”
They, who had similar thoughts, tilted their heads.
“Could it be that the manager is actually doing radiant Guiding?”
“His face is also pretty like a Guide. We should talk to the Center Director and have him get a Guide examination……”
The Esper who had been talking trailed off hurriedly. His gaze was fixed behind his conversation partner and wouldn’t fall away.
“Hey, why are you suddenly like that?”
“Behind you……”
As he trailed off again, an eerie voice echoed deeply.
“Say what you just said again.”
“Hieek!”
The Esper, who only then realized there was someone behind him, was startled and dropped his plastic bag.
The gaze of the man who suddenly appeared didn’t fall away from the plastic bag rolling on the floor.
“Gu, Gu Baekyoung Esper-nim. We, we weren’t saying anything much……”
The man’s identity was Gu Baekyoung, an S-rank Esper, and he had just returned to the Center after clearing a large Gate.
“Answer.”
“Hup, so, you see…… We were saying that Company C convenience store’s manager is too pre, pretty, and whenever we go to just that convenience store, our mind and body become comfortable like we received Guiding……”
“…….”
Gu Baekyoung didn’t answer and only emitted a vicious energy.
His jet-black eyes without any light didn’t seem like a person’s at all, so the man froze in place without realizing it.
After confronting for a while, Gu Baekyoung disappeared soundlessly. Only then did the Espers gasp for breath.
“Wow, that pressure was insane, is it real that I’m this scared of another Esper?”
“He’s S-rank. He’s different from B-ranks like us.”
“He’s that much even when he’s sane, now I understand how half the Center flew away when he rampaged.”
“He’s not going to rampage again, is he?”
“Let’s get outside the Center first. It’s not good to get involved.”
They clearly remembered the day when half the Center flew away due to Gu Baekyoung’s rampage.
That day was the day when all of Beta Team died in the ‘C-rank Gate’s rampage’.
***
Ahhh, I want to quit now……
I don’t want to work this hard!
On the third day of customers flooding in, Onyul was miserable. He was frantic because of the countless customers flooding in, and organizing the increased volume of goods was also hard.
What’s more, when even riffraff who didn’t buy anything but loitered around started gathering, irritation surged.
Just don’t receive many goods? If there are no goods, customers will naturally decrease too.
Especially Esper customers increased, and the way they looked at him felt very unpleasant.
Because it was exactly similar to the eyes of Espers who looked at him in his previous life. For instance, those Espers who wanted therapy…….
Back then, he attracted many people because of his rare ability. But he shouldn’t have such an ability now, so it was strange.
Onyul desperately hoped that the large convenience store would reopen. Only then did it seem like these strange things would end.
He wanted to live peacefully unrelated to ability users. Really.
But heaven was also indifferent, as customers started flooding in as soon as he opened the door today too.
After frantically attending to them for several hours, he suddenly felt the surroundings become quiet.
……What’s going on?
