I woke up to Spicy sitting on my chest and hissing.
"HOT BAD! BAD BAD!"
My first groggy thought was, Great, the dragon has a nightmare again.
My second thought was, Wait. Why do I smell smoke?
I bolted upright, stumbled into the store in my pajamas and found the back alley door smoldering like someone had tried to light it on fire.
The goblins were already on patrol, wearing night-vision goggles they definitely didn't buy from me.
"BOSS! FIRE SALE OUTSIDE!"
Not helpful.
Whoever it was hadn't just tried to burn the door. They'd dumped what looked like some kind of cursed slime across the threshold. The stuff bubbled and hissed every time I got near it.
"Yep" Dungeon said, suddenly appearing beside me like a creeper.
"That's sabotage."
"Wow, thanks, Sherlock" I muttered.
Mirae came running from the restaurant side, frying pan in hand.
"What happened?"
"Someone tried to barbecue my store."
Spicy puffed out his chest.
"I EAT FIRE!" and dove face-first into the slime.
The slime promptly exploded into smoke and when it cleared, Spicy's eyebrows were gone.
Mirae deadpanned, "Yep. Totally under control."
By sunrise, things got worse.
Customers trickled in, but every single one of them wrinkled their noses and pointed out the same thing.
"Uh... your sandwiches taste like dirt."
I checked one. Took a bite. Spat it out immediately. It really did taste like dirt. Literal, gritty, mud-flavored dirt.
Mirae gasped.
"They sabotaged our supplies!"
The goblins gasped louder, like they'd just witnessed a murder.
"WHO TOUCH BOSS' BREAD?!"
They stormed into the storeroom and returned dragging three terrified flour sacks, accusing them of treason.
I sighed.
"We are not interrogating ingredients."
Around noon, a familiar face walked in.
One of the rival shopkeepers from the Meet, smug grin, fake politeness dripping from his voice.
"Oh, Hanseok! Busy day?"
My eye twitched. "What do you want?"
He shrugged, looking way too casual as he strolled past the shelves.
"Just seeing how the famous storekeeper is doing."
Dungeon appeared behind me, glaring. Mirae had her frying pan ready. The goblins crouched behind the counter like little green snipers.
The rival leaned closer, lowered his voice.
"You should really consider closing. For your own good."
Then he picked up a candy bar, tossed a gold coin on the counter, and left.
The candy bar immediately melted into sludge.
I threw it in the trash, scowling.
By evening, I'd had enough.
The sabotage hadn't shut us down, but it left the shop in chaos. Mirae was overworked, the goblins had declared martial law (they built a checkpoint at the door out of snack crates) and Spicy was sulking because his eyebrows hadn't grown back yet.
Dungeon finally broke the silence.
'This was just a warning. They'll come harder next time."
I sighed. "So what do we do?"
Dungeon smirked. 'We survive and if possible..."
He glanced at the goblins, who were painting war paint on their faces using ketchup.
"...we fight back."
At that exact moment, the goblins screamed in unison:
"COUPON WARFARE BEGINS!"
Great. We weren't just running a convenience store anymore. We were running a battlefield.