Chapter 1 – Episode 1

“Happy New Year.”

Huh?

I was stunned for a moment.

Happy new year? New Year?

Ah.

“… Yes. Happy new year It costs 13,900 won.”

“Please pay with your Pepay card. Ah. Please also calculate the 20 liter pay-as-you-go bags.”

“It’s 14,580 won.”

“Yes. Good luck!”

After sending out one guest.

I sat down at the convenience store counter and checked my phone.

[January 1, 2025]

[AM 00:12]

It was truly a new year.

[Shin Tae-hoon: Happy New Year.]

[Park Byeong-hyeon: Lots of new luck]

Including my friends from college.

Various family members and acquaintances sent me messages and emoticons from all over wishing me a happy new year.

I reflexively tried to send a reply, but withdrew my hand.

Just last year, I think I sent a reply with a lot of energy. I didn’t have the energy or motivation to do that right now.

Maybe.

I guess it’s because I have no luck to share with anyone anymore.

“Really, that guy’s lucky… “I want to receive it this year.”

Sincerely, sincerely.

Name: Kim Hyeon-woo.

Age 29.

An unemployed person who has never even gotten a job as an intern at this age… No, to put it grandly, a fritter.

Convenience store night shift worker.

-Yesss! Wishing you a Happy New Year!

-Giggles. It’s Mr. Kim.

It’s so cold out there that I think I’m going to die.

When people who are drinking soju from a bottle on thick padding are also shouting with excitement.

Just looking at myself working part-time at a convenience store made me painfully aware of my current situation.

“Ringle!”

I reflexively woke up at the sound of the bell at the entrance of the convenience store.

“Welcome. Hello.”

“Ah. Hello. Happy New Year.”

“Yes. Happy New Year.”

Honestly, I didn’t want to hear it.

Even when I was in a gloomy situation and heard words like Happy New Year, I didn’t feel good at all.

Man and woman.

We come in side by side and buy five bottles of soju.

‘You drink well.’

I was watching it while thinking the same thing.

I buy some snacks and put them in the shopping cart. And when I got to the checkout counter, there were as many as two boxes of 5 condoms.

“…”

Soju. Condom. Sweets.

Just by looking at this, even a fool could already tell what the man and woman in front of him were going to do next. I’m doing something very pleasant starting from the new year.

Someone is taking a barcode here.

“Ah. Don’t they check IDs?”

I will not. You bitch.

Anyone can see that he is an adult.

“Ah. Right. Please also give me Hesse Light.”

No matter how much I pretend to be an adult.

Is there a high school student who is that natural?

“Yes. It will be 38,720 won.”

“Thank you. Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year.”

It’s like a machine.

No.

Is it a machine? A part-time machine that handles customers coming to a convenience store.

I saw the man and woman who had just left go straight into a luxurious hotel across from the convenience store.

Tbam Hotel.

The name kills me once.

Rather, if I buy 10 condoms, would I be able to use them all?

“…”

I’m thinking something stupid.

Another customer came in.

January 1st.

We send a lot of customers as New Year’s gifts. On a day like today, don’t buy food at the convenience store and just eat something expensive.

Even though he was swearing on the inside, he was kind on the outside.

I did.

“Hey, Alba. Shouldn’t she be smiling when a guest comes in? Hi.”

Ah…

The truth is, I was even drunk… Fuck.

“… Sorry. “Is it okay if I help you with the calculations?”

I think I smiled at least a little. Seeing the man making a fuss and saying something, I sighed inwardly, but the corners of my mouth curled even wider.

It’s painful.

How long do I have to live like this?

All soju.

Soju. Soju. Soju.

How many bottles of soju were sold today?

I understand why the store manager ordered soju in large quantities yesterday.

Soju sold very well.

It was after 3:30 a.M. That the customers stopped coming.

It’s the coldest time.

Even if you don’t work part-time at a convenience store, it’s a time when you don’t want to go out.

It was quite outside.

“Huh.”

I could barely catch my breath.

I hoped it would be peaceful like this until 8 a.M., The shift time.

“Oops. “I have to open it right now.”

I can’t even smoke when guests come.

I reflexively put the phone I was about to take out in my pocket again and went out.

Even though it seems like it’s going to be cold.

I can’t stand smoking a cigarette while working…

… Tuk.

A precious cigarette fell out of my mouth and fell to the floor.

“Fuck.”

Okay. Fuck it.

I couldn’t help but curse.

Not only did they nag me, but they all condescendingly told me a Happy New Year.

He gave me a huge New Year’s blessing.

Two convenience store tables fell over.

There are countless bags of snacks scattered on the floor. 5 cup ramen noodles with broth and noodles remaining.

Besides that, my brain refused to even count the trash lying around.

I felt like I was going crazy.

I feel like I want to give up everything right now and just grab a taxi and run to the Han River.

“Fuck… Fuck.”

I’m already 29 years old.

By now, my friends were entering the hotel with their pretty girlfriends and buying condoms. I wonder what I am doing now.

Damn it. Damn…

「Rustling. Cheolpuk-.”

Without even being able to smoke a cigarette.

I immediately started cleaning the front of the convenience store. I was a clumsy person who didn’t want to do something, but couldn’t.

In the middle, another customer came, and we repeated the back and forth.

Rather, I was grateful.

Because there was time for my hands to melt.

“Damn.”

With a thud, I folded the parasol on the convenience store table.

I really didn’t think I would be able to endure it if there were other drunks coming later.

Fortunately, it was a peaceful time after that, except for a few people who wanted to have a midnight snack in the early morning.

As I was cleaning up in the morning, the store manager came to work.

“You worked hard.”

“Thank you.”

As I was about to leave work with the leftover lunch box and milk, the store manager called me.

“Oh, that’s right, Hyunwoo.”

“Yes.”

“How long are you going to do this?”

“…”

Even though it’s not a big question.

My heart aches when I get that question. I wasn’t doing anything wrong, and it wasn’t like I was ruining my parents’ backs as an unemployed person, but my heart ached.

“… For now, until I get a job.”

“I would be grateful if someone who knew something worked for me for a long time. Still, I have to get a job before I turn 30.”

“Yes. I will try my best.”

“Okay. This year will be good. Try. Happy New Year.”

“Thank you. “Happy New Year to you too, store manager.”

I feel dizzy.

Even though it was a basic conversation that I could normally have in the past, I felt dizzy.

I felt sick.

It was difficult to say a word or take a step.

[Terra One Room]

「Beep beep beep!」

5844.

After entering the password, I entered a studio apartment with a monthly rent of a whopping 600,000 won. It’s extremely expensive.

Maybe we should move it slowly.

Anyway, it’s already been two years since I graduated from college.

“…”

I think I’m feeling sleepy.

I’m not particularly hungry.

Because I’m sad.

Without even realizing it, I was putting the discarded lunch box in the microwave.

「Tiring!」

I regretted it only after the microwave was finished running.

Don’t turn it.

“I have to save it.”

Because of my idiotic pride… She said she should have saved some money when she met her friends for a year-end party. Even if I had to make an excuse, I should have skipped the second and third rounds and just came home.

The spending habits of those who were already office workers were on a completely different level than mine.

They say that if a stork follows a stork, its crotch will be torn, and I ended up wasting 10 days worth of food by trying to follow it.

“…”

Once I turned it over, the lunch box I ate was dry.

It was tasteless.

I ate so much that I was so sick of it that I felt like I was going to throw up. Still, I roughly emptied it and was about to throw it in the plastic trash can, but the bills underneath caught my eye.

Maintenance cost. Water tax. Electricity fee. And those damn taxes.

Even if you just breathe, you make money.

It makes me want to twist the snout of a baby who said he could make a living just by working part-time.

Yes.

You really can only survive by eating.

How many people in the world are satisfied with this kind of life?

Even this month there was a loss.

“Fuck…”

I went into the bathroom muttering the swear words that had stuck to me.

“Shoot!”

“Off… !!”

It’s so cold I’m dying.

I can’t even use the boiler. The boiler bill was also enormous. I only found out after becoming independent as a college student. Why do they tell you to stay at home until you get kicked out to save money?

When you go out, everything is really about money.

The water, toilet paper, detergent, and dishes that we normally drink were all money.

I gritted my teeth and washed my head with cold water in one minute.

There wasn’t even a hair dryer.

After it broke down, I couldn’t even think of buying a new one.

The only thing I could rely on was an electric blanket that I bought on sale and have been using for over a year.

“It’s so fucking wide.”

It was a spacious place for a studio.

Since it was my first time becoming independent, I had to pick and choose a nice studio apartment. So, even in this remote area, the monthly rent is as high as 600,000 won.

If you include management fees, you will spend more money just by living here.

[Temperature 3]

I set the temperature of the electric blanket to 3 and lay there waiting for it to get warm. I forgot today too.

I should have set the temperature before washing.

I lay down on the pillow with my head starting to freeze from being so wet that I closed my eyes tightly.

How long do I have to live like this?

In front of my friends, I casually use Sasung Electronics or Denson. I proudly boasted about the companies I applied to.

I didn’t even pass the damn document screening.

I painfully realized that I had to lower my gaze. I told the kids, and furthermore, after hearing that once you get into a low-level company, you will only go down from there, I couldn’t lower my eyes even out of fear.

Times have changed, and I realized that graduating from college doesn’t necessarily mean you can get a job.

Nevertheless, I never imagined that I would live a life like this.

At least I can go somewhere and live like everyone else.

I will live as at least 50% of a human being.

That’s what I thought.

“Damn it.”

All I have left now are countless failures and a half-time job of one year working part-time at a convenience store.

That alone was so overwhelming that I didn’t even know that the new year had arrived.

I didn’t spend any quality time.

Even that was difficult.

Now I have to worry about whether I will even be able to pay next month’s rent, and I have grown another year older. I’m scared that if I keep going like this, I’ll turn 30 without being able to do anything.

I’m afraid.

… I fell asleep, wishing over and over again that I would fall asleep like this and never wake up for the rest of my life.

“That can’t be possible.”

It’s 5 PM.

I fell asleep at 10 in the morning and slept soundly. After a short rest, it was already time to go to work at the convenience store again.

Already… January 1st was coming to an end.

I feel like I’m going crazy because I’m so nervous.

Even though I knew I should take it easy at times like this, I was so anxious that I couldn’t bear it.

Meanwhile, my body was opening the freezer door to eat.

[Dakgalbi fried rice]

It was filled with only frozen fried rice purchased in bulk.

Take one out and put it in the microwave.

“Good luck with that damn New Year… !! Let me take it at least once. Fuck!!”

This is the moment I shouted while frying the tasteless fried rice.

[Happy New Year.]

[I will give you a quest.]

[Accept new people to the studio.]

[0/3]

[Reward: 300,000 won per person]

What is this?