Chapter 11: The Relationship Between a Hungry Saint and a Closed Convenience Store

It was evening.

Well, no, actually, it was a bit too late to call it evening.

It was night.

I rested my chin in my hand, staring out the window, then moved.

I layered on several black tops and found a pair of jeans.

My waist was practically empty, loose, but the jeans clung tightly from my hips to my thighs, bulging as if they might burst.

“Who even has a body like this?” I sighed.

But there was no other choice.

I didn’t care much about going out, so the only clothes I had were these jeans and a worn-out tracksuit from years ago.

There was also the nun’s habit that the “Saintess” wore, but that was obviously out of the question.

When I bent down to look for shoes, my view was suddenly blocked.

The reason was simple.

My ample chest took up all of my sight.

Sighing yet again for what must have been the hundredth time, I slipped into some ragged slippers.

Even my bare toes, peeking out, looked sculpted.

I opened the door and stepped out.

The full moon had slimmed down, casting its light over the world in a waning crescent.

I glanced into the mirror inside my still-open door.

The cracked glass in the middle reflected light, bouncing back onto my long, wavy blonde hair cascading down my back, taking on the silvery hue of moonlight.

Suddenly, I met my own gaze—a rigid face, almost like a doll’s or a puppet’s.

I curled my lips into a smile.

The Saintess smiled.

My face now wore a smile.

“Yes. Pretty. I really do look best when I’m smiling.”

I was walking through the park.

It wasn’t that I suddenly felt like going for a walk; the nearest convenience store was simply in the middle of the park.

My stomach growled again, hollow and loud.

The last thing I’d eaten… oh right, a crust of pineapple pizza.

I liked pizza, but I absolutely hated the crusts.

Ugh, why even eat that?

But there was no other choice.

I’d left it out for days, and now the crust was rock-hard.

But I was hungry enough to eat it.

Of course, it didn’t fill me up.

Barely half a day passed before I found myself clutching my empty stomach and crawling out of the house.

I had 2,000 won left after buying a microphone.

I planned to get two rice balls from the store.

If I ate one today and the other tomorrow, I could last two days.

The day after that… I don’t know.

That’s a problem for future me.

With my long strides, I quickly reached the convenience store.

And then, I saw it.

A sign hanging inside the door: [Notice of Change in Business Hours: Open 10:00 ~ Close 22:00. We apologize for the inconvenience]

“……..”

I pulled out my phone to check the time.

10:30.

Damn.

Isn’t it common sense that convenience stores should be open 24/7?

Apparently, the owner didn’t have common sense.

There wasn’t another convenience store nearby.

Of course, this was practically a backwater.

The nearest one would probably be several kilometers away.

And at 10:30, all the supermarkets and stores would have closed, and even the small shops would be shut.

Just my luck.

“Ha….”

Standing here was pointless.

I turned and headed back home.

There were other ways to stave off hunger besides eating.

Like sleeping.

I hadn’t been awake long, but if I closed my eyes and counted sheep, maybe I could fall asleep.

Walking home, feeling downhearted, I suddenly felt a tingling, itching sensation as if something was pricking my skin, even though nothing was.

I could feel eyes on me.

Blatant, lingering stares grazing over my chest and hips.

And my ears, sensitive like my body, picked up voices.

“Wow…”

“Hey, what’s with that chest?”

“That’s huge…”

They were whispering to each other with words like that.

The voices, full of heat, were directed towards where their eyes were fixed—on me.

There were a group of people sitting in a gazebo in the park, staring at me intently.

Someone once said,

Humans are creatures of adaptation.

No matter how unfamiliar something is, if it happens enough times, you eventually get used to it and become indifferent.

Having had this body for a little over a week now, I deeply empathized with that statement.

Well, of course.

How could I not get used to the attention when it happens every time I go out?

By the way, I was wondering what three guys were doing, but they were sitting on a mat in the gazebo, setting up a drinking party.

A drinking party.

I didn’t think this was something you’d do in school uniforms, though.

Right. The group of boys staring at me were three high school students.

Kids these days, they really get into it.

Back in my day…

Hmm.

Well, back then, we were the same, yeah.

Future leaders of South Korea, no doubt.

An idea came to me, so I changed my course from heading home to heading towards them.

“Uh, is she coming this way? Is she crazy?” they muttered, growing anxious.

They didn’t need to be scared.

Just because they looked at my chest, it wasn’t like anything was going to happen.

I reached the gazebo in an instant.

Wow, they were really setting up a feast, huh.

They must have bought everything before the convenience store closed—mostly frozen food—but it was enough to almost fill the mat.

Ah, it really felt like something high school boys would do.

Back in my day, we did the same.

It’s not that they liked drinking, but the act of drinking itself seemed to make them feel superior.

Insane. Ten bottles of soju?

They clearly had no idea how much they could handle, but they were trying to show off, buying drinks based on what they’d read online about drinking two or three bottles.

Even though I was right next to them, none of the boys said a word to me.

Though I’d suddenly barged in, they seemed uncomfortable, but they kept glancing at my body, pretending to ignore me.

They were at the peak of their sexual curiosity.

Still, I wish they’d looked me in the eye.

All the guys who had pursued her were too busy staring at her chest, and in the end, she married the man who guessed the color of her eyes—Olivia Hasse’s dilemma.

I guess, being the grown-up, it’s up to me to lead the conversation, right?

“Is it fun when you guys hang out like this?”

My voice was so soft that even I was surprised.

Huh.

Has it really been so long since I’ve talked to a real person?

I guess, over the past month, the only conversation I had was with the clueless shop owner at the office supplies store.

Between being so immersed in saintly roles in games and broadcasts, I ended up using polite speech even with these younger guys.

I couldn’t just take it back, though…

I’ll just keep doing what I was doing.

“Do you want to hang out with me?”

It was such a ridiculous situation that a smile naturally spread across my face.

I covered my mouth with my hand and giggled.

Finally, they stopped staring at my body and started focusing on my face.

Each one of them looked momentarily stunned, their faces turning bright red as they eagerly nodded.

I sat at one edge of the mat and watched them.

Their eyes, shaking as if there had been an earthquake, darted in all directions.

I walked over to each one of them.

Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.

“Ouch!”

“Ah!”

“Ugh!”

I tapped each of their foreheads.

Ugh, I still haven’t gotten used to the movement of my fingers.

I wanted to smack their foreheads so hard it would knock them out, but instead of pain, they looked up at me with stunned, embarrassed eyes.

“You shouldn’t be drinking at your age. So, I’m confiscating this.”

I reached for the white convenience store bag lying in the corner and took the soju bottles.

The young sprouts that should be growing strong shouldn’t be soaked in alcohol.

It would be wrong, right?

Since I can’t just throw away the alcohol they’ve already bought, I guess I’ll take it and deal with it.

And while I’m at it, I’ll grab some snacks too… ahem.

So, this is all done for educational purposes, not because I’m trying to extort money from these young kids.

The large white bag quickly became bulging with ten bottles of soju and a few snacks.

The students didn’t say a word, just staring at me, and they didn’t even seem to have the thought of stopping or complaining.

Would they have reacted the same if an unattractive woman had passed by?

I don’t know. Probably not.

In moments like this, you realize how important appearance is in life.

“Hey—! You guys—!”

With a snort, I heard a voice just as I was about to head home.

It wasn’t as high-pitched as “Saint,” but still, it was a pretty high voice, echoing from outside the gazebo, somewhere near the park and convenience store.

When I turned my head toward the voice, I saw a girl stomping toward the gazebo.

She was sweating heavily, so she must have run quite a distance.

The male students made an irritated, high-pitched sound when they saw her.

Their faces were stiff, clearly not thrilled with the situation.

The girl quickly reached the bottom of the gazebo steps.

She was wearing a school uniform, identical in color and pattern to the boys’ uniforms.

It would be pointless to mention that she went to the same school.

“Where did you guys go, skipping study hall?! Ms. Han is really mad!”

“Is that for real…”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know.”

“Is that something the class president should say? Hurry up, if you come back now…”

“She’s going to hit us ten times at least.”

“Was Mr. Bald on duty today?”

“Damn, we’re screwed.”

That’s when I realized they went to the same high school I had attended.

Now that I think about it, they’ve changed the school uniform.

There’s only one high school in this neighborhood, so I should have realized earlier.

So, does that make me the senior who extorted money from her juniors?

More importantly,

Ms. Han.

The bald one.

She must not have retired yet.

I remember how much I gave her trouble.

Hearing her name and nickname made me feel unexpectedly sentimental.

So,

“Who is she?”

I was momentarily unable to answer, staring into the girl’s familiar eyes.

She looked so familiar, as if I had seen her somewhere before.

Hmm.

I think I might know her… or maybe not…

Ah, maybe it’s because her bangs are covering her face.

I reached out and brushed her bangs up.

“What, what are you doing?”

“….”

“Let go, let go, please…”

Did I misunderstand?

Maybe it was because she was suddenly caught off guard by someone touching her bangs, but her face turned bright red from the embarrassment.

I figured if I kept touching her forehead, it would really explode, so I let go.

Familiar face or not, I was starving and felt like I was going to die.

I left the dazed students behind and headed home.

12:30 AM.

Si-eun checked the time on her phone and sighed deeply.

After bringing the three runaway boys back to school and handing them over to the teacher, less than thirty minutes passed before study hall ended.

She returned home, took a shower, and now it was this late.

At least tomorrow was a public holiday, so that was a relief. If it were a school day, it would have been a lot harder.

But the real reason she kept sighing had nothing to do with that.

It was because she couldn’t forget the face of the woman who had brushed her bangs up…

Without realizing it, her face flushed, and her older sister, who was having dinner with her, reacted to it.

“What happened?”

“Sis.”

“Huh?”

“I think I understand why you like women.”

Si-eun’s older sister, Si-yeon, trembled all over like a scarecrow hit by lightning at her younger sister’s words.

Her face, which had seemed cold at first, was now tinged with red.

She slammed her spoon down on the table and spoke in an aggrieved tone.

“I told you, it’s not like that. What I like are game characters.”

“Why don’t you just say it proudly somewhere? It’s embarrassing.”

“……..”

“If you like them so much, why don’t you try talking to them? From what I’ve seen, you just send dots in the chat every day.”

“I get so happy just by meeting them… My heart just races… What should I do…”

“Wow. That’s disgusting.”

“Hey!”

“Why do you like them? I’m really curious.”

“…Because they’re pretty?”

When Si-yeon saw her younger sister looking at her with a completely uninterested expression, she quickly looked away.

But really, the game character was just that beautiful.

And there was nothing else about them to fall for.

The character didn’t seem to take the game seriously, and the chat was so inappropriate it was almost painful to read.

Si-yeon didn’t even understand how she got so obsessed with a game character, and though she was her sister, there was no way she could explain it to anyone.

Si-eun, her face deep in thought, finally asked her sister.

“What if someone in real life was as pretty as that character?”

“There’s no such thing.”

“But what if?”

“Eh, it’s impossible. If someone like that really showed up in front of me…”

“If they showed up?”

“I’d probably beg them to go out with me, even if I had to lick their toes!”

“……..”

“You’re too much. Don’t look at me like that…”