I Run a Convenience Store in the Martial Arts World

Kwak Sang-hyun, the vice leader of the Black Shadow Faction who had come to capture Yu Hwa-yeon after she entered Evil Sect territory, slowly opened his eyes.
“Mmmmm…”
Murmuring voices echoed loudly.
“Will he wake up like this?”
“Don’t be silly. A hungry person always jumps up at the smell of ramen.”
“Master chef, your confidence is overflowing.”
“It’s all statistically proven.”
Sniff sniff.
Kwak Sang-hyun twitched his nose and moved.
There was a very savory and sweet smell.
What is it?
Undoubtedly, it was a smell he had never encountered before.
“Oh! His eyes are open!”
“Wow, he really woke up?”
As his vision cleared, there was a man and a woman crouched down in front of him, staring at him.
After identifying them, Kwak Sang-hyun jumped up in surprise and backed away.
“Ugh!”
The shoulder where Yu Hwa-yeon had stabbed him hurt.
He touched it to stop the bleeding, and felt something solid.
It seemed to be a bandage.
Did they treat him?
“It must hurt.”
“Indeed.”
Kwak Sang-hyun felt cognitive dissonance looking at the two people casually chatting in front of him.
They had clearly fought to the death as enemies,
yet they were allowing such close proximity?
He had risen to the position of vice leader in the Black Shadow Faction, where survival depended solely on strength and martial arts.
He couldn’t possibly get used to such normal concern.
“Why didn’t you kill me?”
Kwak Sang-hyun cautiously felt around for his large sword.
It wasn’t there.
“Why? Want to use your blade again?”
Asked the man wearing a strange purple vest.
Of course.
Because you are enemies.
Thinking that, he looked around and spotted his large sword.
It was prominently displayed behind a counter that came up to his waist.
About ten steps in his stride.
Using martial footwork, he could grab the sword in just a couple of steps.
But what if Yu Hwa-yeon attacks?
Kwak Sang-hyun began formulating a plan to move, even if it meant suffering minimal damage.
As if she had heard Kwak Sang-hyun’s wheels turning, Yu Hwa-yeon growled and said.
“Move even a little bit. I’ll destroy your energy center.”
Then, the man beside her spoke in a stern tone.
“Tsk. We agreed not to fight inside the convenience store.”
“But master chef! He’s planning to kill us despite the kindness of saving his life!”
Kindness of saving his life?
Why on earth?
Kwak Sang-hyun couldn’t understand.
In the life he had lived, losing was equivalent to death.
If an opponent doesn’t kill you, you kill them.
Kwak Sang-hyun was a person who had lived such a life.
“Why did you save me?”
He was curious, though.
If he was unconscious enough not to notice his sword being taken, he must have been deeply unconscious, which means they could have easily killed him, right?
Jung-hyun said.
“Why would we kill you? Of course, smashing the convenience store was very wicked, but that’s not a crime worthy of death.”
Not a crime worthy of death?
Isn’t it natural to die if you don’t have strength, even if you haven’t committed a crime?
“Hungry? Try eating this.”
Kwak Sang-hyun faced the source of the savory, sweet, and rich aroma he had been smelling.
Food waste that looked like it was completely burnt black.
Kwak Sang-hyun’s brow furrowed.
“Trying to feed me food openly laced with poison. Ha! Your arrogance pierces the heavens!”
That’s definitely what he thought.
That this must be poisoned.
Because it was so blackened that he couldn’t tell what he was supposed to eat.
“Poison?”
“Yes! Poison…”
Yu Hwa-yeon smacked Kwak Sang-hyun on the head.
“This bastard. We specially gave you a new lamian that even I haven’t tasted, and what? Poison? Do you really want to die?”
“Ahem. Yu Hwa-yeon. Have you forgotten our promise?”
“Master chef! No matter what, this guy is disparaging the sacred lamian by calling it poison!”
“You also said ‘what kind of poor quality thing is this?’ when you first saw it. Everyone’s like that at first.”
“But…”
What on earth is this conversation?
While Kwak Sang-hyun was struggling to figure out what expression he should make, Jung-hyun pushed the ramen cup towards him.
Along with wooden chopsticks.
“It’s not poison. Just try it. I won’t give you more even if you ask.”
“That’s right! This costs 5 coins. I pay money to eat it, so why is this bastard complaining while eating for free?”
Kwak Sang-hyun stared blankly at the black bean ramen placed in front of him.
No matter how he looked at it, this really looked unappetizing.
It didn’t look like food, more like the devil’s food.
Kwak Sang-hyun picked up the chopsticks first.
He thought it would smell burnt, but the scent was sweet and savory.
His head was screaming not to eat it, but his nose and hungry stomach were making a fuss, begging him to eat.
So he picked up one chopstick-full.
Curly dried noodles.
How much beating and stir-frying did it take for the noodles to shrivel up like this?
Anyway, they said it wasn’t poisoned.
Besides, he was hungry from the earlier fight.
The fact that they had spared his life was undeniable, and the smell was good.
Kwak Sang-hyun closed his eyes tight and slurped the noodles.
Slurp!
“…?”
What?
Why is this…
Slurp!
Why is this delicious?
Slurp!
Oh shit.
It’s so damn delicious.
There’s not even a hint of burnt taste.
Slurp!
Huh?
Where did it go?
The ramen cup suddenly showed its white bottom completely.
Looking up with a dumbfounded expression,
the two people had expressions that seemed to say they knew this would happen.
“Delicious, right?”
“It must be insanely delicious. A taste you’ve never experienced anywhere else, right?”
Kwak Sang-hyun nodded with an expression that indeed confirmed this.
“It’s, it’s too delicious…”
Drip.
Something trickled down his cheek.
Wiping it with the back of his hand, it was a thin drop of water.
Am I crying? Me?
Me, the cruel and merciless vice leader of the Black Shadow Faction?
Showing tears?
He was grateful for being spared, and grateful again for being given food.
“M-master chef! Just one more bowl…”
“That will be five coins, customer.”

The man who introduced himself as Kwak Sang-hyun, vice leader of the Black Shadow Faction, was inhaling the ramen along with the kimchi I had included.
“Eat quickly and get out. And don’t come after me again. Not because I’m scared, but because this inn can’t be destroyed anymore.”
“Ouwauohwou!”
“What are you saying? Finish eating before you talk. It’s spraying!”
“Whooeoh!”
I took out a cigarette and lit it, listening to the conversation between the two.
“By the way. How much did they offer you?”
Kwak Sang-hyun looked at me when I asked.
“Five gold ingots.”
Oh shit.
Five gold ingots?
That’s enough to repay the convenience store debt and have some left over!
Trying to kill her was clearly wrong, but for five gold ingots, one’s eyes might roll back.
Even thinking that made me feel guilty, so I barked at Kwak Sang-hyun.
“No matter how important money is, you shouldn’t kill people!”
As if he had a lot to say, Kwak Sang-hyun, with a flushed face, gulped down the noodles in his mouth.
“Why not? Killing the vicious orthodox sect people is something one should volunteer to do even for just five coins. Those despicable orthodox sect people who only seek to fill their own pockets under the pretext of justice!”
“What? Despicable? You filthy evil sect scum!”
The two slammed the table and stood up, pressing their foreheads against each other.
I quietly cleared away the two ramen bowls without saying anything.
“Master chef! I wasn’t done eating!”
“I know. Keep fighting. I’ll make sure you never eat again.”
At my words, the two became as docile as puppies and slumped back into their chairs.
Though I couldn’t do anything about those glaring eyes.
In short, they each think the other is evil.
There must be some inner circumstances that I don’t know about.
Even after reading the novel twice, I couldn’t understand their inner circumstances.
Season 1 ended just with introducing martial artists.
If the reason I was reincarnated into this world was for Season 2, then I need to find out from now on.
Anyway, my only goal was the well-being of the convenience store, so I didn’t ask any further.
If I probed more, they looked like they might start fighting with swords right away.
Leaving the two in a state of tentative truce, I headed to the front door of the convenience store.
I was thinking of having a cigarette alone.
Smoking a cigarette, I fell into thought.
Why did I cross over into the martial arts world of the novel?
Is there some reason?
I had been thinking about it since I first arrived, but it was a question without an answer.
I surely didn’t come here just to run a convenience store.
Perhaps it’s related to Season 2, I could only speculate.
Out of so many people, why me?
As I kept thinking, the cigarette had already burned down to a stub.
Tap tap, I flicked off the ash and threw it in the trash.
If I diligently repay the convenience store debt and live without dying, I’ll probably find out.
Why I came to this place.

“Now, this is the ramen corner. Next to it is the bread corner.”
I was in the middle of teaching Yu Hwa-yeon, who had officially decided to work, her job.
The first step of a convenience store part-timer is to know thoroughly where everything is.
In a modern convenience store, customers would just find items themselves, pay, and leave, but not in the martial arts world.
Because we had to cook and bring the food to them, this was an essential training course.
“Corner? Master chef, what kind of word is that? Corner… corner…”
Oops.
I used Konglish.
It was ingrained as a habit, so I couldn’t help it.
“Ah, I mean. The place where ramen is. The place where bread is. Something like that.”
“Master chef is really strange. Sometimes you say things I can’t understand.”
Haha.
I should be more careful from now on.
“This is buy one, get one free.”
“What? Buy one and get one more? If you give away so much, what will be left?”
“I know, right? It’s just a promotion. Promotion.”
“Ah. A strategy to differentiate from other inns. I understand.”
And Yu Hwa-yeon began to ask various questions like a curious child.
“Bread? This is bread? Po… How do you read this, master chef?”
Yu Hwa-yeon held up a bread with a cute picture on it and asked.
Pokanmon bread.
Maybe because it was all Konglish, Yu Hwa-yeon couldn’t read the letters.
“Ah, that’s a sticker… no, pocket monster… no.”
Ah.
How should I explain this?
“It’s a picture depicting a creature that fits in your pocket. It’s read as Pokanmon bread, but just… think of it as bread. Just bread.”
As I explained, it became quite troublesome.
A creature that fits in your pocket?
Yu Hwa-yeon tilted her head.
She seemed to be wondering if such creatures existed.
“It must be pet bread. I’ve had one before. It was a very cute dog.”
Pet bread?
It’s not entirely wrong.
I’m truly grateful that she understands on her own.
“And this refrigerator here contains beverages and alcohol.”
When I opened the refrigerator door, Yu Hwa-yeon jumped in surprise.
“T-this! How can such a strong chill flow from this small place? Is it made of Eternal Cold Iron? Master chef, I can’t even fathom how wealthy you truly are. For someone like that to be so upset about the inn being destroyed. Selling just one of these could buy dozens of inns of this size.”
“Look. No matter how much money someone has, an inn being destroyed is a completely different matter, okay? Don’t try to subtly evade your responsibility.”
“Ahem, hmm.”
Besides, this isn’t Eternal Cold Iron.
Well, among these, there might be items that are quite valuable in the martial arts world, but I have no intention whatsoever of taking apart and selling convenience store equipment.
While I was teaching Yu Hwa-yeon about the job,
Ding-a-ling-
The bell attached to the convenience store door rang.
“What did I tell you to do when a customer comes?”
“Welcome!”
Pushing aside the job training for now, I headed to the counter.
The customer who came in was a martial artist in his twenties with a neat appearance.
He was a young man who looked good in a blue robe.
If it weren’t for the dark shadow deeply cast on his face, I wouldn’t have tensed up as well.
There are such customers sometimes.
Customers who seem to have some story, though I don’t know what.
But now the problem is that he’s a guy with a sword.
“Innkeeper. I’m very hungry, could I have a meal?”
Yu Hwa-yeon looked at the customer who had just entered and whispered behind me.
“He’s wearing Wudang Sect clothes. I wonder how he drifted into Evil Sect territory?”
I smiled kindly at the customer.
It seemed the second customer was a person from the Wudang Sect.