Convenience Store

@Son Dongwoon after a long day of school, jinsoul swiftly runs over to the convenience store nearby. as a part time worker there it was hard for her to make time to study, she wasn’t able to squeeze it anywhere in her schedule. an upcoming test was nearing, today was the day to study as much as she can. rarely any customers came in as usual, so she always spent her time studying at the cash register. her eyes locked in her study book as her pen scribbled down on the side. suddenly her first customer of the day caught her off guard, stumbling a little and avoiding eye contact. “oh really?” she bit down on her lower lip whilst swiping his items and into a bag. “that’ll be $14.89 please.”

@Jung Jinsoul Dongwoon had a daily routine for work- after getting out of school, he'd be walking home. That is, not until he buys a bottle of beer and a huge pack of chips at the convenience store that was en route to his last destination. This day however, as he held the usual in his hands, he couldn't quite point it out but the lady behind the counter was quite familiar to him. No, he knew it was the same old girl, or lady whatever that worked there, but there was something else. His eyes narrowed down as he looked, only to mumble as he settled the items down on the counter, "hey, just asking, but you really look familiar- I mean weird thing to say but yeah".

@Seon Yein Hyejoo made way for the stranger as he stood beside her, offering to pay for her ramen. "Thank you..." she said quietly, but loud enough for the man to hear. As she said her thanks, she realised that she didn't actually know who exactly she was thanking.

Raising her head to look at the taller man, she tried to identify the person who was willing to help her. His face was familiar, perhaps Hyejoo had seen him before. Hyejoo's social circle was pretty much limited to the people in her school so maybe he could be a student, a senior maybe? The man was not wearing Spring Gardens school uniform, but then again, his face looked like he could pass off as a student. However, there was something about him that made him seem mature, like an adult, so Hyejoo guessed she had seen him on the streets or something.

When the male told her she did not have to pay him, Hyejoo realised she was staring, so she quickly did a small bow. "Thank you so much, sir!" Hyejoo could not believe that someone would give away his money so freely; if it were her, she might not have been able to part with money which could have been saved for another meal.

Deciding that she would not like to owe the man anything since it was his hard earned money, Hyejoo asked, "Is there any way I can repay you? Or I can, uh, I don't know, return you the money somehow?"

@Son Hyejoo "Ahh, I'm so hungry." Yein muttered to himself, holding his stomach as he made himself through the city streets. He was too enthusiastic about working that he had been skipping meals since a couple of nights before. Fueling his enthusiasm was the seemingly endless workload for a new worker like him so it was no wonder that he could not take even a few minute break. Luckily, he was finally done with working on his lesson plans and a couple of lessons. The rest of his work could wait for the following week so he could finally take a break after a long while. He was already too hungry so he decided to buy a meal on the first convenience store that he passed by.

As he went in, he noticed the cashier serving a female teenager who seemed like a high school student. He then made his way to the section where the food are displayed. He had some trouble deciding between onigiri and kimbap and so he decided to grab one each. After that, he made his way to the queue of the cashier, who was still serving the same person. Yein simply concluded that the service was slow then began to distract himself and his hungry stomach by once again thinking about work.

"If you don't have money, just say it." The cashier said, which snapped Yein out of his trail of thoughts. He watched the scene at the cashier with a curious expression. "Well, if you don't have money, then stop wasting my time and go."

Sometimes, he would do things without thinking and this was one of those times. "Excuse me." He walked towards the cashier and stood beside the girl. "I'll also pay for her ramen." He placed the food that he brought and the cashier then took out money from his wallet to pay for both of them. He glanced at the girl and told her with a low voice "Also, since you didn't ask me to, you don't have to pay me." He turned his gaze back to the cashier who was scanning the items he bought. There was a smile plastered on his face. It was the smile of someone who could finally eat after starving for days.

@Seon Yein Hyejoo rummaged through her backpack one more time, looking in between the textbooks and worksheets, then once more in the front pocket. She could feel the beads of her sweat on her forehead increasing in number exponentially with each minute that passed by. She quickly sneaked a glance at the cashier behind the counter, a middle-aged lady who looked like she did not want to be there at all. The lady's taps on the counter were growing more and more impatient, and yet Hyejoo's wallet was still nowhere in sight. "It's in here somewhere," Hyejoo muttered to herself, "maybe if I keep looking--"

"If you don't have money, just say it." The cashier said as if echoing the thoughts that were running through Hyejoo's mind.

Hyejoo gulped. She would have just run out of the store without buying that bowl of ramyeon, if not for the fact that she was starving and there were none left in her room; plus she couldn't come back later either since study session was starting soon.

"Well, if you don't have money, then stop wasting my time and go."

"Uh, wait, I'll, um, ask..." Hyejoo trailed off. Who was she kidding, she had no friends to ask for help. Unsure of what to do, she stood there with her head hung low as the cashier berated her on the "irresponsibility of youngsters these days".