[Title: My part-time job manager just sent me side dishes by delivery and idk what this is]
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Posted by: WannaBeDriedRadish
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: (photo of side dishes)
I told my manager over the phone yesterday that I was quitting, and he suddenly sent all this stuff by delivery
Is this like severance pay or something??
ㄴ ?? He sent braised short ribs by delivery to a part-timer?
ㄴ WannaBeDriedRadish: (nodding mint-haired emoticon)
ㄴ That only makes sense if you were seriously in his good graces lol. You must've been a really good worker
ㄴ Drop the location name rn
ㄴ WannaBeDriedRadish: Why?
ㄴ I'll work there instead of you so I can get braised short ribs from the manager too
ㄴ WannaBeDriedRadish: (baffled mint-haired emoticon)
"Hmm……"
It seemed like even the people from my hometown had never heard of anything like this.
I could tell they were just as flustered as I was when they saw the side dishes the manager had sent.
A truly unprecedented situation.
The fridge that had always been completely empty was now packed full of side dishes — a bizarre turn of events.
"What is this, seriously."
I swear on the sky above, I had never done anything that warranted receiving homemade side dishes from my manager.
I was the same person who had pulled a no-call no-show just two days ago.
Sure, that was because I'd suddenly fallen into a sinkhole and couldn't make it to work, but I still missed my shift.
And yet, rather than scolding me, he'd sent all these side dishes — and there was even a handwritten letter inside.
"W-wait… don't tell me…. Was I the manager's affair partner?"
At this point, that kind of suspicion started creeping in.
Maybe the female Lee Ji-woo had actually been in an inappropriate relationship with the manager.
There was no other reason he'd be this good to me.
The fact that he'd said "let's talk later" when I told him I was quitting, the homemade side dishes he'd sent — it would all make sense if we'd been having an affair……
"Bleeegh."
I briefly imagined a lovey-dovey scene between me and that potbellied manager, and it sent me spiraling into madness.
I wanted to believe that the female Lee Ji-woo hadn't been living a life that terrible.
There was nothing else for it.
Since I had none of the female Lee Ji-woo's memories, I had no choice but to ask the manager directly.
Otherwise, it would keep nagging at me.
-Tring……
-Tring……
-Click.
[ Hello? ]
"Ah, hello, sir. This is Ji-woo… Lee Ji-woo…."
It was the early hours of the morning, but the manager would be working at the convenience store at this hour.
That's why he picked up right away.
[ Oh, Ji-woo. What's up? ]
"Um… I got the delivery…."
His warm voice still hadn't grown on me, but I had to ask somehow.
Why he'd sent side dishes, cooking oil, instant rice, and everything else to a mere part-timer like me.
Hadn't I already told him I was quitting?
[ Ah, about that. Are you really going to quit? ]
"…Yes."
[ If it's because of the no-show, that's fine, you don't have to quit over that. Or wait — don't tell me you got a job somewhere? ]
"Actually, the thing is, I…… I awakened."
The moment I revealed that I'd awakened, I heard a sharp intake of breath from the other end of the phone.
Then came his voice, a little more serious than before.
[ …Ji-woo. You're not just making that up because you want to quit, are you? ]
"I-I really did awaken. I'm planning to visit a guild first thing in the morning. I'm serious."
[ A guild? Which guild? ]
"The Haetae… Guild. …A friend of mine is a Hunter there."
[ Oh… really? You can really become a Hunter? ]
"Yes."
A brief silence followed.
Up to this point, I'd expected as much.
A non-awakened part-timer he'd known for years suddenly awakening overnight — it'd be hard to believe right away.
[ *sniff*… That's wonderful, Ji-woo…. That's really wonderful. ]
"Um… sir?"
But I hadn't expected him to suddenly start sniffling.
The reflection of my face in the monitor screen looked completely dumbfounded.
[ I've always worried about you living alone, not eating properly, surviving on the stuff we throw out every day. ]
"Oh, um…."
[ My wife never said anything, but she's been worried about you too, deep down. You know, right — if our daughter were still alive, she'd be exactly your age. ]
I'm sorry. This is the first I'm hearing of any of this.
Back when I was the male Lee Ji-woo, the manager had only sons, no daughters — and they were all perfectly alive.
[ Anyway, once you become a Hunter, you can move somewhere nicer. And you won't have to go hungry anymore, right? ]
"Ah… probably?"
[ *sniff*, really. This is really great…. My girl's life is finally turning around……. ]
"Um, about the side dishes…."
[ Oh right, eat them all and let me know when you're done. I'll make a fresh batch and send them over again. I'm looking after you because you're like a daughter to me, so don't go feeling weird about it. ]
In the end, I was left speechless. I managed a quick "I'll enjoy them" and hung up.
I mean, I had no idea that "like a daughter" was meant so literally.
Finding out he'd just been genuinely kind all along was a twist that was more than enough to leave anyone flustered.
The difference in temperature compared to when I was the male Lee Ji-woo was something else entirely.
[Manager] - [A deposit of 2,500,000 KRW has been made to Lee Ji-woo]
[Manager] - Added a little extra on top of your last paycheck..^^
[Manager] - Congratulations on your awakening..😊😊
[Manager] - Ji-woo, fighting! 👏👏👏👏
[Manager] - And if things ever get tough, come by anytime..😉😉😉😉😉
"Ugh."
The messages that arrived shortly after put the finishing touch on this melodrama.
Guilt crept up on me slowly, and I finally clutched my chest and collapsed.
I was an orphan with no parents, and yet somehow I felt like a terrible child.
Because, well — I'd been thinking "sweet" and all sorts of things about someone who'd been kind to me because I reminded him of his dead daughter.
T-the world is what's wrong here.
It's this world's fault for making it impossible to take pure goodwill at face value…!
I'm innocent!
-Squirm squirm.
-Squirm squirm.
"…I have lived a life full of shame…."
After that, I stayed quietly curled up in the corner of my bed until Kim A-rin arrived at my door.
I'm trash.
Not even regular trash — the kind that won't burn, so it has to be sorted for separate disposal….
"……Unnie? What's wrong?"
"I made even the devil give a standing ovation…."
"…??"
Kim A-rin, unable to make sense of what I'd said, tilted her head for a moment, then gestured for me to come out.
I trudged after her down the stairs to find the same car I'd hitched a ride in yesterday.
She usually just sprints around like lightning, but since she had to bring me along, she'd driven today too.
I had no choice but to take the passenger seat again.
Though today, I must have seemed off somehow.
"…Did something happen?"
"N-nothing happened."
Kim A-rin kept pressing me from the driver's seat, asking over and over if something was wrong.
Maybe it's an S-rank thing — her intuition was no joke.
"Really?"
"…Nothing happened, I said."
I urged her to just get going before she could figure out what had happened with the manager.
Just in case there was some clause about character or conduct among the guild's entry requirements.
I couldn't let her find out I was trash.
"Something's off. Unnie."
"If something's off, go see a dentist."
"……Sorry. I can't laugh at that."
Apologizing makes it worse, you little—
***
"First of all, it's a secret. Your skills, Unnie."
On the way to the Haetae Guild headquarters.
Before meeting anyone else, Kim A-rin started going over the things I needed to be careful about.
"The skills you used yesterday…. Keep them secret from everyone except me."
"Why?"
"Because you can't afford to get tangled up with Hidden Boss stuff. I've already told them you're a transformation-type Hunter."
Kim A-rin repeatedly stressed that it couldn't get out that my skills were actually a Hidden Boss's skills.
If that kind of information spread, people might try to subjugate me — she said something that chilling without batting an eye.
But I had a counterargument.
Because I had an S-rank invincibility skill.
"Nobody can kill me anyway. Why do you keep borrowing trouble?"
"……They could lock you in a cell with no internet."
"Right. I'll keep my mouth shut."
Either way, it seemed like Hidden Boss power was considered extremely dangerous among Hunters.
In other words, I was a powerful Hunter that even fellow Hunters feared.
But I'd heard that out of concern my power might one day go out of control, they might just seal me away.
Apparently, by current standards, there was no Hunter capable of stopping a Hidden Boss's power if it ran amok.
"As for your skills…. Let's look into them when it's just the two of us. That's the safest way."
"You don't trust the others?"
"No, it's not that…. Just to be safe."
She followed up by saying there was no reason to create unnecessary risk.
It was a little disappointing not being able to show off my strength to the world, but I accepted it for now.
Honestly, as long as I could make money as a Hunter, I didn't really care either way.
Getting kidnapped by some government agency or mysterious ninja was not on my to-do list.
"But then, how do I prove I'm an S-rank Hunter?"
"Rank assessment is done by measuring mana. You won't necessarily need to use your skills."
"Oh, do I have a lot of mana? Like, S-rank level?"
"…Not right now."
But after transforming with the Assimilation skill, she said I became an entirely different person.
While using Assimilation, I'd be measured as S-rank without any trouble, Kim A-rin told me.
"When you use Assimilation, do you feel dizzy or anything?"
"Uh…. Not really? The only tiring ones are the Avatar Manifestation skills."
"Avatar Manifestation… that was the Hidden Boss skill."
"Yeah."
Maybe it was because my Assimilation skill was still F-rank.
Even when using Avatar Manifestation, the higher-tier skill derived from Assimilation, it seemed like it couldn't draw out its true power.
Every time I used Avatar Manifestation, it activated only halfway, with some message about insufficient rank.
And even then, ten minutes was the limit.
When the duration ran out, my energy would drain all at once and I'd get incredibly sleepy.
Still a lot of rough edges.
Well, it'd be different later on.
【(A) Assimilation: F】
【Current Rank: F.
Upon fulfilling special conditions, this skill can evolve into ❮(A) Avatar Manifestation: S❯.】
If the day ever came when I fully evolved Assimilation into Avatar Manifestation, wouldn't all the penalties disappear too?
The Avatar Manifestation skills I could use right now were like a trial version of sorts.
Once I fully grew it into a perfect S-rank skill, I'd be able to use all that incredible power without any penalties.
Yep, yep.
I really am a cheat character.
"By the way, what about my money? The Dungeon clear reward — I told you to put it on hold."
"……That's the first thing we'll look into when we arrive. Nobody knows yet what happened."
Except for one person.
Kim A-rin's eyes flicked over to glance at me.
"That wolf in the photo you showed me — you said it was a Hidden Boss."
"Yeah. Its name is Fenrion. It can transform into a human too, and in that form it's even prettier than you?"
"…I don't need to hear that."
"I'm serious though."
It's just that I couldn't get a photo.
Fenrion was just as pretty as Hwaran, who I'd seen yesterday.
Well, that's not what matters right now.
"Anyway, the first thing I'll ask about is what happened at the Gangseo-gu Gate."
"Hmm…. I have a feeling this is going to be a pain."
"Otherwise you won't get paid. At the very least, someone needs to testify that you were the one who retrieved the Dungeon stone."
"Well, can't be helped then."
Tell everything that happened at the Gangseo-gu Gate yesterday from start to finish.
Just leave out anything related to Fenrion.
That way I'd get the money without any unnecessary misunderstandings — Kim A-rin kept hammering that point home.
"Unnie, you just happened to awaken and retrieved the Dungeon stone with your new power. You never encountered any Hidden Boss."
"Okay."
"Just to be safe, let's delete the photos too."
"That's a not okay. Kill me instead."
"…Unnie…."
"Not the photos! Do you have any idea how I got those shots?! How dare you!!"
How dare she try to normalize my best-post cheat codes.
Even Kim A-rin — that I couldn't let slide.
"……Then keep them just for yourself. Don't show them to anyone else, ever."
"Well, that much I can…."
I didn't mention that I was planning to post them on the Gallery later.
Well, the things Kim A-rin was worried about probably wouldn't happen anyway.
Let's move on for now.
"Oh, that building over there — don't tell me……?"
"…Yeah. That's the one."
We'd arrived at the Haetae Guild headquarters.
As Kim A-rin and I stepped out at the front entrance, someone came over and took the car keys.
I hadn't known, but apparently for S-rank Hunters like Kim A-rin, the guild handles valet parking automatically.
The perks were good even in the small things.
"Do we just head in now?"
"Yeah. They said they're waiting for you."
It seemed she'd also called in the Hunters whose lives I'd saved two days ago.
I heard that they'd cross-verify that the kid those Hunters had met was me, and then pay out my share of the Dungeon clear reward.
Though whether it was coincidence or not—
"Oh, oh…. It's Ji-woo! Ji-woo~!"
A mage Hunter who'd been in the lobby of the Haetae Guild building.
No — it was Park Se-rin, who I'd exchanged names with two days ago. She spotted me and came rushing over with a big smile.
"…Unnie. Do you know her?"
"Yeah. I almost died because of her."
She gave me chocolate.
Before I could add that explanation, Kim A-rin's entire body flashed blue.
It took less than two seconds for blue electric currents to fill every inch of the surrounding air.
-Flash──!
"Explain."
"I-I'm sorry! Please spare me! I'll give you everything I have right now, just please, please spare me─!!"
As Park Se-rin crumpled to the floor and started sobbing, I quietly hummed to myself.
Oh my god, emergency, we're in trouble, this is bad.
