Chapter 219

“Time is given equally to everyone? Yeah, don’t kid yourself.”

Convenience store part-timer Kim Jiwoo closed the self-help book.

She had seen countless books that spewed sweet words like, “It’s not your fault; society is to blame,” but this was the first one that outright irritated her while reading it.

At 5 PM, there were still five hours left until she would switch with that damn night shift colleague who was always late.

It’s not like working at a convenience store in a university area came without its troubles.

Kim Jiwoo was already exhausted from dealing with young boomer types, sitting in front of the counter and zoning out while analyzing the pattern of the tile on the floor.

It was at that moment that the doorbell rang.

Trained like Pavlov’s dog, Kim Jiwoo automatically opened her mouth.

“Welcome! This is CU!”

She had no idea how many times she had repeated this line today. Even NPCs in virtual reality games probably had more varied dialogues.

“I’ll check you out.”

With intense reality-check vibes, Kim Jiwoo scanned the ‘small triangle gimbap’ handed over by the customer.

As she reached out for the card, the woman gave her coins with white, delicate hands.

Coins in this day and age?

Kim Jiwoo instinctively raised her head, feeling like her breath had been taken away.

There stood a goddess.

A simple white tee and high-waisted denim shorts.

Long limbs and skin as white and translucent as jade.

Even with the same black hair, the color of her eyes was inexplicably beautiful; Kim Jiwoo couldn’t tear her gaze away from her doe-like, sparkling eyes.

Instead of a luxury crossbody bag, she carried a beige eco bag, and instead of a strong perfume, there was a refreshing scent of soap that accentuated the woman’s simplicity.

‘Should I ask for her number? She definitely seems like she has a boyfriend…’

Kim Jiwoo had some confidence in her looks but felt embarrassed in her convenience store uniform.

As her hesitation lingered, the woman spoke first with a blunt tone.

“Aren’t you going to check me out?”

“Oh, right! But this one is buy one get one free, so could you get another one of the same product?”

“Really? Thank goodness.”

The woman clapped her hands and turned 90, then 180 degrees to head back to the triangle gimbap display.

The moment Kim Jiwoo’s eyes captured the goddess’s profile and back, his heart began to race uncontrollably.

Moreover, her voice was sweet and soft like that of a pure child.

‘People who have it all really have it all. How enviable…’

Unlike himself, trapped in a tiny rectangular building, people his age were enjoying their youth, strolling through the streets outside.

His reflection in the glass window looked somewhat forlorn.

At that moment, the outside became noisy.

In a busy district, noise was a constant, but to be more precise, it would be correct to say that people were swarming.

‘Could that woman really be a celebrity?’

The doubt did not last long.

Yes, she was a woman, but the subject was mistaken.

Outside the building stood a young child with twin tails leaning against the convenience store window.

As if sensing Kim Jiwoo’s gaze, the girl turned her head slightly and looked inside the store.

“Crazy! That’s No Name, right?”

A man in the convenience store jumped up from his seat.

He was one of the few subscribers to No Name’s channel for more than five months in Korea.

This was a great achievement, one that could only be attained by subscribing before the character reached major popularity after becoming a role master.

The vice manager of the No Name fan cafe, ‘Da Yeon Sancho High-Performance Beautiful Girl AI,’ Kim Jiwoo, burst out of the counter.

“Um, it seems like there’s no triangle gimbap?”

“Wait a minute, goddess! I’ll go to the storage room and get some for you! Just wait a moment!”

“Yes?”

The goddess currently in the convenience store was not significant.

The true incredible creator was right in front of her.

Kim Jiwoo, in such a state of excitement that he could hardly understand who he was asking to wait, grabbed a paint pen and dashed out of the convenience store.

The stunned woman could only stare blankly at the now-empty counter.

“Excuse me…?”

Growl—

A sound came from the woman’s stomach, quietly reverberating.

* * *

Groupthink is truly frightening.

Until now, not a single soul had given him a glance while walking alone, so he confidently stepped into the busy district.

That was to be expected. Unless one was a particularly famous celebrity, it was not easy for modern people, who had little interest in others, to get attention.

Besides, he was relatively short and small, making it easier not to stand out.

Even so, it seemed more people were glancing at him than before.

But suddenly, one or two men and women rushed over to him, asking for photos and autographs, which he gladly complied with.

Whether they recognized it as implicit permission or simply mistook him for someone famous, he couldn’t tell what was in people’s hearts.

Of course, some were sincere fans and viewers.

“Do you really want me to sign this?”

He had had requests to sign on paper, notebooks, and even textbooks, but this was the first time someone had asked him to sign on a white shirt they were wearing.

He took the paint pen and roughly scribbled the letters “NoName” in cursive on the man’s back.

“Thank you! I’ll cherish this as a family heirloom!”

After finishing the autograph for Kim Jiwoo, he hurriedly left the crowd with Dan Ni El, whom he encountered in front of the convenience store.

They entered a relatively quiet alley filled with meat restaurants and pubs, and Ni El spoke first.

“What brings you here, Na Me Ya?”

“Da Yeon unnie called me. She said if I come before 6 PM, she’d treat me to Nakopsae, so I rushed over from Building 28.”

Today, an unusually high number of professors had participated in the Q&A session. Was it because they were discussing the famous problem of Goldbach’s Conjecture?

What was supposed to be an hour-long schedule extended to two and a half hours.

As someone who hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, I couldn’t possibly refuse Woo Da Yeon’s offer.

Nakopsae, a dish I had never had in this life or the last, was calling my name.

So the place Ni El and I ran away to was right in front of the Nakopsae restaurant where Da Yeon’s group members were gathered.

“Now that I think about it, your unnie is in the same group as Da Yeon, right? But where did the group members go, and why were you alone in the convenience store earlier?”

If Ni El was correct, “human relations psychology” was a class that focused on hanging out with group members outside the classroom.

Was the group meeting in trouble?

“Well…”

Dan Ni El had been holding a triangle gimbap he couldn’t eat since earlier.

Before her dry, cracked pink lips could even say a word, Woo Da Yeon came out of the store.

“Na Me Ya, why are you only arriving now! We’ve been waiting for so long! Next to you is… Dan Ni El?”

“Sorry, I have to go.”

“Wait a minute, Ni El!”

Woo Da Yeon quickly turned and grabbed Ni El’s wrist, desperate to keep him from leaving.

The force in her hand made the triangle gimbap drop to the stone floor, completely squashed.

As if it wasn’t intentional, Da Yeon hurried to pick up the triangle gimbap and dust it off.

No matter how much she turned and examined it, it was no longer edible.

“Oops! I’m so sorry, I’ll buy you a new one.”

“Just give it back.”

“No, I’ll buy you one right here.”

“Just give it back!”

Ni El shouted, ramping up from a normal tone to a loud yelp at the end.

“Oh… okay…”

The mangled dinner returned to Ni El’s hands.

Thinking back, Da Yeon was so flabbergasted that she blocked Ni El’s path.

“Hey, I know there’s a bad relationship between our Hicks studio and the Bark folks, but Ni El, you’re not a regular PD there; you’re just a freshman. Isn’t it more like a club activity? You joined just two months ago. Why are you so overly involved?”

“…”

“You can dislike me for personal reasons, sure. But you still have to participate in the group meeting. If you don’t want to have dinner together, at least can’t you just show your face and take a photo together for the report? Is that such a difficult request? I just want you to pretend to show up!”

Woo Da Yeon demanded an explanation as her frustration grew.

A guy who seemed to be part of their group witnessed the women fighting at the entrance of the store.

“Da Yeon, what are you doing out here… oh, Ni El! Why are you just getting here?”

In order to not let them feel awkward, he pretended not to know what had just happened.

“Tell me. If you didn’t like the group work, you could have dropped, but are you aware that Ni El’s selfish behavior is hurting others? Why do we have to endure this good class while being stressed out because of you?”

“The group leader can go back inside. I’ll have a private talk with Ni El.”

Common sense said he should separate the two women quickly, as things might escalate emotionally.

Dan Ni El, who had been quiet the whole time, chimed in.

“Why does no one know about my situation? Why do I always have to accommodate everyone?”

Tears began to swell and drip from Ni El’s doe-like eyes.

Da Yeon’s anger intensified at the boy-like behavior, and she seemed on the verge of calling her a ‘vixen’ but managed to restrain herself.

In contrast, the man who had come to dissuade Da Yeon was incredibly effective.

He actively held Da Yeon even further back from Ni El.

“So what’s your situation? What do you need to tell us so that we can accommodate Ni El?”

“…”

“Ugh, this is so frustrating! I won’t be doing this anymore… I’m done being the leader.”

After pounding her chest, Woo Da Yeon was the first to give up.

With two people splitting apart, the man and I were left wondering whom to follow when Dan Ni El offered a solution.

“Don’t follow me.”

It seemed like eating Nakopsae right now would surely make me sick.

* * *

“You’re eating well, Na Me Ya! I almost failed to order a second serving…!”

“Wow, how can you look so cute while eating…? You’re like a total angel!”

“But Ni El, are you really okay not to come?”

I ate and didn’t feel sick at all.

While Da Yeon wiped the red Nakopsae sauce from the corner of my mouth with a napkin, she asked.

“Didn’t she tell you not to follow her? Besides, I’m starving after skipping all day.”

“Yes, yes, eat a lot!”

Da Yeon seemed eager to make up for her past mistake now and generously ordered more.

There were still uncollected glasses on the table, and the strong smell of alcohol wafted from them, making me smack my lips at the thought.

Why is there no country that allows children to consume alcohol?

“Were you really busy today? Is it okay to keep someone so young with you for so long?”

“Yeah, right? I might just throw everything away and flee to Switzerland.”

“Switzerland? What do you mean, Na Me Ya?”

“Just the other day. I thought it was a voice phishing scam, but I got a call from the Swiss embassy.”

News was buzzing related to that topic.

[In the current global situation where there is an acceleration in the outflow of talent to Switzerland, the recent disclosure of confidential documents from the Swiss government called ‘The Great Generation’ has caused a considerable uproar. The claims suggest that the background leading young talents to abandon their nationalities and immigrate is based on a massive plan by the Swiss government to bring in 100 foreign top talents.]

That’s right; they mentioned ‘The Great Generation’ during the phone call.

[It is reported that the budget for each individual could range from 500 million to 10 billion won. This also applied to South Korea. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea immediately expressed its protests, stating it was an act that breaks trust in major partner countries, and the White House in the U.S. also—]

“The news got a little wrong.”

“Huh?”

“They offered me not 10 billion, but 100 billion.”

It seemed the journalist tripped over a stone and dropped a zero.

I swirled the red sauce and popped the last shrimp meat into my mouth.

Did they not sell Nakopsae in Switzerland?