I Run a Convenience Store in the Martial Arts World

For modern people, novels are close friends.
Even during my night shifts at the convenience store, I enjoyed reading novels.

Web novels on my phone.
I really liked how they contained countless worlds that I could travel back and forth through in my imagination.

Among them, my favorite was a martial arts novel called ‘Journey Through the Martial Arts World.’

Its radical selling point was that it had no main character.

A novel without a main character.
At first, I thought it wouldn’t be interesting, but actually, there was a protagonist.
It was the narrator who traveled around the martial arts world introducing martial artists.

With its unconventional approach unlike other web novels,
it didn’t attract much attention at first, but that didn’t last long.

As the story progressed, word of mouth spread quickly, and now it has become the undisputed #1 web novel with over 300 million views for its 300 completed episodes.

And I became one of those 300 million people who left comments.
Almost all of my comments were compliments.
That’s how much I genuinely enjoyed reading it.

I was already on my third complete read-through because it never got boring even after reading it two or three times.
Then I received a notification.
It was from the web novel platform announcing that the author was preparing for Season 2 of ‘Journey Through the Martial Arts World.’

My heart raced like when hearing news about a sequel to a favorite game.
Full of anticipation, I clicked on the notification that appeared on my phone screen.

Not knowing that click would change my life.

My name is Kim Jung-hyun.

A pitiful young man who was working night shifts at a convenience store before being transported to the martial arts world.

And I became a nameless servant who appeared in the first episode of ‘Journey Through the Martial Arts World.’

The reflection in the mirror matched exactly with the author’s description of the servant’s appearance.

Tweet-tweet-

As the birds’ morning songs rang out,

Ding-a-ling-

An alien sound traveled through the air of the Central Plains.

“These damn leaves keep piling up no matter how much I sweep!”

Grumbling with frustration, I grabbed the broom leaning against the side of the convenience store.

Just an extra who gets bumped into by the protagonist, receives a casual apology, and is then forgotten.
That’s me.

It’s a novel without a main character, but still,
if only I could have been someone with inner energy or a young master from a good family, how nice would that be?
Even after being transported to another world, I still have to work hard at a convenience store.
There couldn’t be a more miserable and barren life than this.

Three months after a modern person fell into the martial arts world.
By now, everything should have become familiar, but,

“These clothes are really uncomfortable.”

The rough fabric scratching against my skin was something I just couldn’t get used to.

Damn it.

To think I’d abandon all modern civilization and come to the medieval martial arts world.
Not even a street tarot reader or a fortune teller could have predicted I’d be transported to another world.

Swish- Swish-

I gathered the leaves that piled up almost every day.
While sweeping with the broom, the out-of-place convenience store was clearly visible.

Really.
It’s still amazing.
How a modern convenience store can exist right in the middle of the martial arts world.
There’s no electricity, yet the fluorescent lights shine on their own, the air conditioner blows cool air, and the fan blades rotate.

The reason I was transported to the world of ‘Journey Through the Martial Arts World’ along with the convenience store wasn’t simply because I clicked on the notification about Season 2.

It was also because the convenience store floor was shaking at that moment,
items were falling,
and the fluorescent lights and panels from the ceiling were crashing down.

I was knocked unconscious by something big and blunt hitting the back of my head,
and when I opened my eyes, only I, who had become a servant, and the convenience store were drifting alone in the middle of the martial arts world.

The bewilderment I felt then was truly…
an emotion I never want to recall.

‘Since things have turned out this way, I have to survive somehow.’

That’s what I started thinking a month ago.
Now it’s a bit better.
I’ve even gotten used to my appearance.

However, the problem was always about ‘survival.’
After three months, I hadn’t seen a single customer, not even a cat passing by on the street.

That’s because this area was completely surrounded by bamboo forests, giving off a very gloomy atmosphere.
There was a village not far away, but they called this bamboo forest the ‘Ghost Forest,’ so no one passed through here.

Thanks to that, the convenience store avoided becoming a target for sword-carrying thugs,
but not being able to make money was truly heartbreaking.

I have a debt to repay.
It’s common knowledge that a fresh graduate has debt,
but I’m a martial arts world freshman.
A martial arts world freshman with debt?
Even a passing dog would laugh.

What kind of debt?
Obviously, the convenience store debt.

When the convenience store collapsed and was regenerated in the middle of the martial arts world, I had to pay for all of it.
If I couldn’t pay, the convenience store would be destroyed.

Looking at the gaping hole in the convenience store wall, I could tell this was no lie.
When I couldn’t pay the set amount each month, one wall of the convenience store would burst open.
I thought I was going crazy.

So why do I have to pay for it?

That’s what I thought at first.
But I soon changed my mind.
Anyway, there’s only me and the convenience store here.
If I was going to make a living through the convenience store, I had to take responsibility for it and pay the money.

Even if it’s somewhat forced, I need to survive.

‘Is there any way to make money?’

I didn’t think about ways to make money from the beginning.
At first, I tried everything I could to go back.
But I couldn’t find a way to return to my original world.

If I couldn’t find it after searching hard for two months, it probably doesn’t exist.
So I decided to give up and change my thinking.

Even if I returned to modern times, there’s no one who would welcome me.
The reason I was holed up in my room working convenience store shifts and barely surviving day by day,
was because of that incident.

That incident.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

It’s all in the past now.

Here, no one recognizes me, and no one knows who I am, so I should be fine.

Like those who try to erase their thoughts, I swept more vigorously than usual and then went inside the convenience store.

Looking at the shelves, the number of items was scarce, like a mouth with missing teeth.
That’s because I had been nibbling away at them for three months.

I had no money.
I was hungry.
I had no choice but to eat the convenience store food.

On the POS screen, a red ‘Warning’ sign was displayed.

[Warning: If you fail to repay even 10% of ‘1 Gold Ingot’ by the end of next month, the convenience store will be destroyed.]

The amount of debt was one gold ingot.
Just how much money a gold ingot was worth could be understood just by looking at the price of ramen.

One small ramen costs one coin.
You need one hundred coins to make one silver coin.
You need one hundred silver coins to make one silver ingot.
You need one hundred silver ingots to make one gold ingot.

This means I need to sell a total of 1,000,000 packages of ramen to barely repay this debt.

Are a million ramens going to fall from the sky?
Or spring from the ground?
I need to place orders too, right?
The order debt is also five silver ingots.
During the time it takes to sell a million ramens, I’d have to order, sell, order, sell…

Shit!

Even after ten years, the debt would only grow rather than be repaid.
They say the order price is less than half the selling price, but still, when there are no customers like this, where am I supposed to get the money?!

I don’t know what kind of crazy, perverted, psychopathic god’s entertainment this is, but just wait and see how long you’ll be laughing!

Anyway, this was the reason I firmly decided to earn money and survive here.

It’s good that I made up my mind…
But why aren’t customers coming?
Please come.
Except for guys with swords.

Just then,

Ding-a-ling-

The convenience store door, which had only the frame without glass, swung open.

Instinctively, I hid my body behind the counter.

Why hide when you’ve been desperately waiting for customers?
Because if it’s a guy with a sword, customers or not, it’s all for nothing!

If he puts a sword to my neck and threatens me to hand over the goods, would I have the ability to resist?
I would have to give everything to the guy with tears of blood.
Unless I had inner energy in my body, it’s best to avoid guys with swords.

Thinking this while holding my breath,

“Excuse me, servant! Is no one here? What should I do…”

The urgent voice of a young boy, sounding both youthful and mature beyond his years, came through.

I peeked out to check, and he didn’t have anything like a sword at his waist.
Instead, he was filthy as if he’d been covered in soot, and occasionally a copper-like smell of excrement wafted from him.

He looked like a beggar.
The first customer in three months.
And he’s not even a guy with a sword.
A beggar who looks like he has no money came?
Normally, I would have chased him away.

But who am I?
I’m someone who donated 20,000 won to an overseas volunteer fund even when I was buried alive by society and holed up in my room because of that incident.

I even received a peace ring as a reward.

But that doesn’t mean I immediately thought of helping him.
Just as I looked up, I saw a critically ill girl with him.
The small boy was carrying the girl on his back.
The girl was wheezing as if she might die at any moment.

Perhaps that’s why compassion naturally activated.

“Servant! Please! Please help us! My sister is sick! Suddenly, her body became hot like a fireball, and she started coughing as if she were dying.”

The boy, having spotted me peeking out, spewed words like a machine gun.

The sight was so pitiful and heart-wrenching.

I got up and approached the siblings.
The boy put his sister down on the floor and began to shed tears from his large, strong eyes.

A child crying without making a sound, afraid his sister might hear.

How much emotional pain must he have gone through?

I placed my hand on the forehead of the girl lying on the floor.
It was hot like a fireball.
And the cold sweat soaking her body, along with the occasional cough.
Though I wasn’t a doctor, I could tell immediately.

A disease that’s like a friend to modern people.
A cold.
These are clearly symptoms of a cold with body aches.
And in this convenience store, there was medicine that could treat this disease.

Tylenol.

I jumped up and headed to the counter.
The basic medical supplies were still unopened.
I took out one pill and quickly grabbed water from the refrigerator.

“W-what is this?”
“This will make her feel better.”

I turned the girl’s head to the side, put the pill in her mouth, and slowly poured in a bit of water.
More spilled than was swallowed, but I didn’t mind.
Even if I were to die tomorrow, it’s human nature to save the person in front of you first.
It was because I didn’t receive that human nature that I became a hikikomori in my room.

Gulp-

The child swallowed the large pill.
I was worried she might spit it out instead of swallowing, but it went well.

Shortly after-

The child’s steady breathing could be heard.
I brought a blanket from the convenience store shelf and covered the child’s body.

The boy, who had been watching my actions, suddenly stood up, clenched his right hand into a fist, gently wrapped his left hand around that fist, and positioned it higher than his chest.

A cupped-hands salute (拱手禮).

“Thank you so much! I will never forget this kindness, even in death!”

Both his speech and behavior had a certain nobility to them.
Could there be some story behind him?
I didn’t ask.

“It’s nothing.”

The boy rummaged through his worn-out pants pocket and handed me something.
I opened my palm to receive it,

Clink-

Five coins.

The price of Tylenol was ten coins.
It was only half the payment, but I was still a bit surprised.

“This is all I have for now. But I will definitely repay your kindness soon! I swear on my family’s pride!”

I nodded slightly and stared endlessly at the five coins in my palm.

It wasn’t much, but I had earned money.
I had also received my first customer.
That fact was awakening my dead heart.

‘So convenience stores can be helpful to martial artists too.’

I had only been thinking about earning money to repay the debt.
While desperately waiting for customers, I had been thinking, ‘Why would martial artists come to a convenience store?’

But that wasn’t the case.

They come to the convenience store because they are martial artists.

In that case,

‘I might be able to make a fortune!’

The corners of my mouth rose uncontrollably,
and in my mind, a plan took shape.

A very plausible plan that could repay one gold ingot and earn even more!

“You want to repay the kindness?”
“Y-yes? T-that’s right.”
“Then shout.”
“…Pardon?”
“A medicine sage lives in this haunted bamboo forest!! No, a great chef lives here! No, make up something like an extraordinary person or whatever! Shout it out! Kehehehe!”

I’m going to enlighten you all with modern medical skills, food, and daily necessities.