Convenience Store 24: The Tower of the End 1st - Chapter 89



Only Krnovel

Episode 89 Red Ribbon (1)

I stared blankly at the equipment in my hands.

Shield of Life

Description: Originally, this shield was an ordinary shield. However, Eluna continuously injected life energy taken from climbers into this shield, creating a new shield.

Content: You can receive the effects of condensed vitality.

Concentrated vitality

Description: Life force endlessly envelops your body.

Description: Restores the health of everything around the shield.

I slowly read the description of the shield and scratched my head.

‘This… is a monster.’

At first glance, it looks like a shield that restores the user’s stamina.

This was an item that could easily become a double-edged sword.

‘If I can heal everything around me, that means I can heal my enemies too, right?’

I don’t know how far the recovery radius is.

However, it will definitely restore the health of a monster that is slamming its teeth into the shield.

‘This is a bit tricky to use.’

First of all, I don’t really need a shield.

However, it is also ridiculous to sell such a valuable item to other raiders.

‘Hmm, isn’t there another place I can use this? Should I hang it in a cafe as interior decoration?’

I’ve thought about this and that, but there’s no option that really appeals to me.

At that time.

‘ah?’

Suddenly, a thought occurred to me.

‘Wait, there’s no need to use this only as a defensive device, right?’

* * *

The next morning.

“Whoaaaaam!”

A man sits on a chair and yawns heavily.

‘Oh my god, I’m dying.’

This fatigue is not his fault.

No, it’s actually YouTube’s fault.

He couldn’t sleep properly because a lot of new videos came up right before he went to bed!

‘The video came up just as I was about to go to sleep.’

The video begins with the new advance party, the pioneers, arriving at the ice castle located in the snowy field.

Videos of newbies getting their pockets ripped off by veterans, etc.

Many of the videos were uploaded at the time he was about to sleep.

In particular, the footage of the Fairy Queen on the 17th floor and the owner of the fantasy shop was the best.

‘That was really awesome.’

No one has ever defeated the Fairy Queen before.

I don’t know much about the internal circumstances of the tower.

The man was confident in his own reason.

‘There was no reason to go through all the trouble to catch the queen, so they probably didn’t catch it. The risk was high, too.’

You can move to the next floor without having to deal with her.

But if I were to fight the Queen, I’d be afraid of her abilities.

Aren’t there already cases where several rankers, including Lee Ji-soo, fought with her and then backed out?

‘But you didn’t defeat it with your party or clan members, you just took it down by yourself?’

The man couldn’t hide his excitement.

‘What on earth does he do? How did he get such abilities?’

I’m curious.

What are the true abilities of the fantasy shop owner, is he really the manager or not, is he really an outsider, is he really a figure from the top…?

I’m curious about everything.

‘This is the first time in my life that I’ve become curious about a guy who isn’t even an idol… ‘

Just then, the man was smiling awkwardly and taking a sip of his coffee.

“Agent Kim. Hey, Agent Kim!”

A muffled voice was heard from behind.

This voice is clearly Team Leader Seo’s.

‘Oh my… It’s chaos since morning.’

Manager Kim turns around with a forced smile on his face.

“Team leader, are you at work?”

“Uh. By the way, what happened with what I told you to do before?”

‘What did you tell me to do before? Ah.’

Manager Kim quickly recalled his memories.

“Are you talking about the personality cafe evaluation?”

“Yeah. I told you to do it before. Did you go and come back?”

Manager Kim shook his head confidently.

“no.”

“……what?”

Team Leader Seo’s expression hardened.

Manager Kim brought up a file on the screen from the list of computer files.

“Take a look at this.”

“What is that?”

Mr. Kim proudly pointed to the chart and continued his explanation.

“This is a chart showing the changes in reviews written in the personality cafe. If you look at the graph here, the numbers are very low at this point. But! From this moment on, the numbers suddenly increase explosively. It’s really unbelievable.”

“so?”

“Why is an ordinary cafe suddenly receiving so much attention? This makes no sense.”

Manager Kim’s glasses sparkle in the light.

“So I think there must be some dirty tricks behind this explosive reaction. They must have manipulated the comments or done some viral marketing. It’s just plain trickery.”

“… … That sounds plausible.”

“Right?”

Team Leader Seo looks at Manager Kim, who nods as if to say, “Look at that,” and speaks softly.

“It’s so convincing that it makes all the guys working at gourmet guides look like idiots.”

“yes?”

“That place is also filled with people with sharp taste and intelligence, but those people gave stars to a restaurant, or rather a cafe, that has no skills? And two stars?”

Team Leader Seo’s expression becomes cold.

“Hey, Manager Kim. Don’t you want to work?”

“Huh? Oh, no. That’s not it… … .”

“You could have just gone and come back once to make that chart.”

“that…….”

Manager Kim, who was sweating profusely, hurriedly makes excuses.

“Team Leader Seo, have you heard the rumor? I heard that these days, gourmet guides are getting bribed to review restaurants.”

“So what’s wrong with that?”

“Don’t you think that rumor and my chart are somewhat intertwined?”

Team Leader Seo was lost in thought for a moment.

‘There were certainly rumors like that.’

After all, it’s a similar industry.

I heard various sources from an acquaintance who works at a gourmet guide.

And among them, there was also a source that said, ‘Some evaluators receive money and give high ratings to restaurants.’

‘If you look at it that way, there is definitely something suspicious about it.’

A cafe that suddenly becomes explosively popular one day. And rumors about a gourmet guide.

Certainly, when the two are linked, something smells like something.

‘But does that mean you can ignore your superior’s orders?’

It doesn’t matter whether Manager Kim’s hypothesis is right or wrong.

The important thing is that he did not listen to his superior.

“You could certainly see it that way.”

“Right?! I also did my own analysis and… … .”

“Have a nice trip.”

“……yes?”

Team leader Seo waved his hand.

“Is there anything official about what you’ve said so far?”

“Uh, that’s… … .”

“It’s all brain-official.”

Manager Kim couldn’t refute it.

Because certainly not a single truth has surfaced.

“Stop talking nonsense and go there this week and write an evaluation. Even if you can’t keep up with the gourmet guide, you should at least go to a place that’s comparable to it!”

“Oh, yes… … .”

Could it be because Manager Kim’s answer was not very satisfying?

Team Leader Seo’s expression becomes cold.

“Hey, Manager Kim. Do you have any complaints?”

“No, I have no complaints… … .”

At that moment, Manager Kim was hesitating and trailing off.

“Team Leader Seo! Can I go instead of Manager Kim?”

Agent Lee, who had been listening to their story from the side, raises his hand.

“Manager Lee? No, that’s fine. I asked Manager Kim to do the work, so why is Manager Lee doing it?”

“I think Manager Kim is a bit uncomfortable with Insung Cafe, so I think it would be good if I took charge of Insung Cafe and Manager Kim took charge of Maison Fiesta. I’m a bit uncomfortable with Maison Fiesta.”

“Maison Fiesta? Why?”

“There’s a bit of a bad blood between me and the sous chef there, so I’m worried that the reviews won’t be objective… … .”

“Then write objectively.”

“yes?”

Irritation appeared in Team Leader Seo’s eyes.

“Aren’t you a pro?”

“… … .”

“Aren’t you sitting here like a professional? Are you an amateur?”

“no.”

“If you and the sous chef don’t get along, you can’t objectively evaluate the food there? This is bullshit. Hey, Manager Lee. Are you a fucking idiot? Who picked you?”

“Team Leader Park… … .”

“Yeah, that kid, right? If it were me, I would have rejected him during the interview.”

The agent kept his mouth shut.

His cheeks look bulging as if he’s clenching his teeth.

But Team Leader Seo, not caring about anything, looks at Manager Kim this time.

“Aren’t you a pro?”

“No, I am a professional.”

Team Leader Seo, who was glaring at his two subordinates, sighed.

“You guys, act like professionals and don’t make me more upset, Manager Kim.”

“……yes.”

“Do it by this week, I said clearly. By this week.”

Team Leader Seo cut him off and left.

Manager Kim slowly sat down on the chair and looked at the monitor.

‘Oh my, it’s been a mess since morning.’

It’s clearly his fault for not doing what he was told.

However, I was just trying to avoid doing unnecessary things by showing the data and evidence in my own way.

But I have to get cursed at like this.

‘Whether it’s a personality cafe or something, you… … are dead.’

Anyway, it’s a place that just does marketing and comment work.

If you take a quick bite, you’ll get a feel for it.

‘I’ll just close the cafe.’

He has the power to do so.

That makes sense, since he was an employee of ‘Red Ribbon’, which evaluates restaurants in the country.

Of course, it is true that it pales in comparison to gourmet guides that evaluate restaurants around the world.

But their evaluations also have some credibility among the public.

‘Look at the slightly ordinary corner.’

Based on his ratings, Red Ribbon’s ratings, restaurants go from heaven to hell.

Restaurants that receive good reviews enjoy a great deal of publicity, but in the opposite case, many end up closing down.

That’s why Manager Kim was confident.

This Inseong cafe would definitely fall into the latter category.

‘I’ll leave you with the worst review so you won’t even think about doing business.’

Manager Kim gets up from his seat, packs his coat and bag, and goes outside.

* * *

3 days later.

‘Fuck… … .’

Manager Kim frowned as he looked at the long line of people in front of Inseong Cafe.

‘I just got sucked into the marketing.’

They are like foolish people who don’t even know the taste of food and are just standing in line after being deceived by information.

‘Because of those idiots, the evaluation that should have been done in one day took three days!’

I turned back when I heard that all the menu items were sold out on my first visit.

On the second day, I came at dawn, but even that failed.

In the end, I had to hire a part-time worker to stand in line for me before I could get to this spot.

Manager Kim sighed softly as he looked at the people waiting.

‘This is why comment writing part-time jobs never stop.’

At that moment, Manager Kim was clicking his tongue inwardly.

“Wow, there are really a lot of people. Aren’t you thinking that?”

The agent next to him spoke to him.

“That’s right.”

Manager Kim thought to himself as he answered.

‘Why on earth did this guy follow me?’

Still, I was close to Manager Lee because we had joined the company at the same time.

That’s why he had a rough idea of ​​what kind of person this agent was.

I am a true slave to information, always going to every restaurant that appears on Nursing Star.

That’s what Manager Kim thought Manager Lee was like.

‘If you’re an evaluator, you should only trust your own intuition. Oh my, that guy is my colleague.’

Manager Kim swallowed his feelings and looked at the crowd, speaking calmly.

“Even so, it’s just an advertisement. Otherwise, why would people flock to that shabby cafe?”

“Or maybe those real gourmet guys are taking bribes?”

“Yeah, if that’s not the case, then it doesn’t make sense. Haa, honestly, I’ll do it if the team leader tells me to, but I wonder what the point is.”

Let’s hear Manager Kim lamenting.

The agent mutters in a small voice.

“It would be a problem if you change your mind after trying it… … .”

“what?”

“No, you’re right. Honestly, I don’t think it’s worth it. I think it would be okay to just kill some time somewhere and then go home. What do you think?”

At this question, Manager Kim chuckles.

“Hey, the guy who was singing about coming here just a moment ago is suddenly talking nonsense?”

“I thought you didn’t really want to go.”

“It’s annoying, but evaluation is a separate thing. I don’t hate people who play around with information, I hate restaurants that serve good food.”

I like restaurants that cook delicious food.

I chose this job because I wanted that kind of place to do well.

That’s why I get so annoyed when I see restaurants trying to manipulate public opinion.

“You’ll know if it’s really an advertisement or if it was just my misunderstanding once you try it.”

Let Manager Kim speak softly.

The agent stared blankly at him and then slowly opened his mouth.

“Hey, Kim Heechul. By the way. Didn’t you say you needed money before?”