Became the Owner of a Poor Estate
Chapter 5
It was more terrifying to hear that there were no signs of life, spoken as if it were nothing significant.
Donghee felt as though she had stepped into a scene from a horror movie.
-Your Earth is currently \!@\#$%@\#$^$@%&%^\* due to \!@\#%^&\!@\#$^&\*\)되어\*^\(\(^&%$%$\#^%.
Furthermore, the status window was interspersed with incomprehensible gibberish. Wondering if she had misheard, she stared intensely at the screen, but the status window was filled with unreadable characters.
「It doesn’t look like a code…. What on earth does it mean?」
-Your Earth is currently \!@\#$%@\#$^$@%&%^\* due to \!@\#%^&\!@\#$^&\*\)되어\*^\(\(^&%$%$\#^%.
But the status window only repeated the same thing. She wanted to press for answers, but since her fear hadn’t yet subsided, she decided to let it go for now.
「……It’s safe, right?」
Summoning a tiny bit of courage, Donghee walked slowly toward the Convenience Store visible ahead.
The mist, lined up like roadside trees on both sides of the path, brushed against her skin, but it didn't feel damp at all. On the contrary, it felt warm and cozy, even causing her tense heart to relax a little.
She checked her surroundings as she walked, just in case, but saw nothing but the mist.
The words that there were no other living beings here kept echoing in her ears, sending shivers down her spine.
The walls of mist stretched endlessly upward and outward, beyond where her gaze could reach. It was so impossibly high and long that she couldn't see where it ended.
‘It really is scary.’
Glancing left and right, Donghee’s pace quickened. It was right there if she just lifted her head, but strangely, it felt far away.
Barely reaching the front of the Convenience Store, Donghee hurriedly pressed the open button and looked around.
She felt as though an alien creature might suddenly leap out of the hazy mist, bite her neck, and lay eggs in her stomach, just like in a horror movie.
「Hurry, hurry!」
She had worried it might not open, but with a mechanical hum, the automatic doors slid open.
In a space where no other sound could be heard, the noise of the automatic doors opening felt exceptionally loud.
It was a sight she saw every day, but startled, Donghee reflexively took a step back.
While she hesitated, the automatic doors began to close again.
「No, no!」
Snapping back to her senses, Donghee pressed the button again and successfully entered the Convenience Store.
The door would have opened easily for anyone, but simply being inside the building brought her immense relief.
Everything was exactly as it had been when she worked her part-time job.
The lights inside the Convenience Store were bright, and the cool refrigerators were packed tightly with various instant foods and drinks in neat rows and columns. The shelves were full of snacks and ramen.
「Manager?」
Donghee approached the counter and cautiously called out for the manager, peeking her head out just in case.
-There are no other living beings in this space besides the User.
The status window reappeared, quietly displaying the sentence. The text at the very end, which had a question mark attached, was exceptionally small.
What is this? Why is that text so small?
Is it doing that because it thinks I won’t see it?
「I’m not stupid. I just called out once to be sure!」
As soon as Donghee spoke, the small text was hurriedly erased.
Though she was talking big, the fear she had pushed aside began to creep back in at the thought that there was absolutely no one else here but her.
Still, she couldn't leave empty-handed after coming all this way, so Donghee summoned her inventory.
The inventory she had emptied before coming here was completely vacant. She wondered if it would appear in the form of a bag again, but it didn't.
Donghee picked up a chocolate roll cake from the shelf and touched it to an empty inventory slot.
With a shook! sound, the bread vanished from her hand and appeared as a translucent icon inside the inventory.
「No matter how many times I see it, it’s amazing. But is this really okay?」
Just as guilt began to rise over what was essentially her first time stealing, the roll cake she had just put in her inventory miraculously reappeared on the shelf.
「Huh? Did I not put it in?」
Thinking she must have been mistaken because she was so nervous, Donghee picked up the chocolate roll cake again.
「But it’s inside?」
However, there was already a chocolate roll cake inside her inventory.
「Gasp! W-What! Why is it still there!」
The chocolate roll cake she had taken from the shelf was back in its place. It didn't have a single wrinkle on the wrapper, as if no one had ever touched it.
「Whoa. This is crazy!」
Unable to believe her eyes, Donghee put that chocolate roll cake into her inventory again.
The bread reappeared.
Donghee put the bread into her inventory even faster than before, this time staring intensely at the empty spot with wide eyes. But this time, it didn't reappear.
「What is it? Is there a limit to how many times it regenerates?」
Her eyes stung from keeping them open for so long. The moment she blinked rapidly, the bread reappeared.
As if playing a game of chicken, it wouldn't appear while she stared with wide eyes, but the empty space was quickly filled the moment she blinked.
This time, she steadily packed strawberry bread and cream roll cakes into her inventory as well. And in the blink of an eye, the empty spots were filled exactly as they had been.
「Wow….」
She was marveling at the bizarre system when the status window appeared before her again.
[Status Window]
-User Name: Chloe Grace
-Occupation: Part-timer / Lord of Grace Territory
-Ability: 0 / Meaning you have absolutely nothing
-Activity Radius: 2 / Basement studio, Convenience Store.
-Traits: 0 / A dirt-poor territory. ★Tends to be obsessed with chocolate roll cakes
The information had been updated.
「The activity radius changed to 2.」
It seemed it had increased to 2 with the addition of the Convenience Store to the single location of the basement studio.
She wondered how far each value could increase. Checking calmly to see if she had missed anything, she discovered a sentence with a star attached in the Traits column.
「Tends to be obsessed with chocolate roll cakes? Me?」
It seemed to be a trait that appeared because she kept picking up the same item out of amazement that the vanished bread reappeared.
No, that’s a misunderstanding. I’m not obsessed with chocolate roll cakes.
Donghee shook her head urgently, then left the Convenience Store, feeling it was a pointless gesture.
「At least I won't starve.」
It felt strange to be carrying away food with plenty of time left until the expiration date. Moreover, to just leave without paying.
Pricked by her conscience, she glanced back at the counter. The counter was still empty, with only the bright blue, tacky convenience store vest she used to wear hanging there lonely.
* * *
「My Lord, what is all this?」
Returning to the room, Thelma’s eyes widened as she saw the various breads tossed onto the bed.
「Hmm? Oh…. It’s nothing much. Do you want to try one?」
Before Thelma could wonder about the source of the bread, Donghee quickly tore open a chocolate roll cake and thrust it in front of Thelma’s face. As soon as the bag was opened, a sweet aroma wafted through the air.
Thelma reflexively swallowed hard and reached out, then quickly took a step back.
「To give something so precious to someone like me. I couldn't possibly.」
Thelma shook her head, yet she couldn't take her eyes off the dark chocolate roll cake, enchanted by the sweet smell.
「Precious? There are so many of them. And no matter how precious it is, I have to give some to you, Thelma!」
As if deeply moved, Thelma’s thin, pale eyebrows drooped, and her eyes welled with tears.
「My Lord……」
「Hurry and try it. Okay?」
She held the bread out a little further toward Thelma. After hesitating for a moment, Thelma politely took the bread with both hands and looked at Donghee once more as if seeking permission.
When Donghee nodded with a bright smile, only then did Thelma take a bite of the bread.
As the chocolate roll cake entered her mouth, Thelma’s eyes doubled in size.
「I have never tasted such delicious bread in my life. It’s so soft!」
Thelma said this much and then took another bite. Her cheeks bulged as she chewed. Once her puffed-out cheeks returned to normal, Thelma continued in a voice full of emotion.
「It’s so sweet!」
Thelma even grew teary-eyed as she took another bite.
Seeing Thelma so moved as if she had gained the whole world from a single piece of bread that cost only 2,000 won made Donghee feel strange.
Donghee felt as though she had become someone great.
「It is a taste from heaven!」
After devouring the bread in four bites, Thelma spoke with her eyes tightly shut as if in prayer.
Feeling somewhat sympathetic, Donghee handed Thelma one each of the chocolate roll cake, strawberry roll cake, and cream roll cake.
「Eat these too.」
Thelma looked incredibly happy as she received the bread. It was then.
A red heart the size of a 500-won coin rose above Thelma’s head and then went pop! like a bursting bubble.
Huh? What was that?
Donghee hurriedly summoned the status window to check the residents' favorability.
-The current favorability of the residents is -189,490.
The favorability had gone up by 10 points.
She thought she might have seen it wrong because it happened so quickly, but it seemed that wasn't the case.
The adorable heart that rose above the head was apparently a sign that appeared when favorability increased.
She had figured out a way to raise favorability, but there was still a long way to go.
Is giving delicious food really the best way?
But 10 favorability for four pieces of bread. Isn't the cost-effectiveness a bit too low?
「My Lord.」
While she was pondering how to raise favorability quickly, she heard Thelma’s cautious voice.
「Yes?」
「Would it be alright if I shared this bread?」
「Of course. It’s yours, Thelma. Oh! Then take these and share them too.」
Donghee took a few more breads out of her inventory and handed them to Thelma. A heart rose above Thelma’s head and burst with a pop! sound.
It was a heart twice as large as the one before.
