Chapter 197. The Three Factions at Work. (1/2)

Work wasn’t such a big deal with Rosa as my partner today. Though there were still some things that got on my nerves recently, time at work went by pretty quickly. 

Rosa attracted a different sort of customer base compared to Alicia’s. They were the type that preferred to not talk much and rather silently admire Rosa’s natural beauty instead. They obediently nodded their heads whenever Rosa asked them anything. I’d often catch them peeking over the counter to catch a glimpse of her legs, but Rosa didn’t seem to care much as she was used to guys staring at her like that.

An unseen hidden faction had formed for Rosa at some point in time. They were the level-headed types who laid low and didn’t cause a big scene the way the Alicia faction members did with long lines. They had their own tastes, more self-control, and weren’t as interested in the innocent Alicia. They preferred a more mischievous and seductive type of girl like Rosa.

Our customer base had divided themselves up and formed these kinds of factions based on the girl they liked the most at the store.

Though the Yuna faction had lost a few members, Yuna still had her own fair share of supporters that were loyal to her with her being the OG cashier. Though many had followed her to the branch store, they still showed up here on Saturdays when she worked with me. They’d picked up on the fact that she still had a shift at the main store after a few veterans encountered her here the last few Saturdays. As more of them came to that realization, more of the veteran customers in her faction followed her here on Saturdays.

Haaaaah. As for me? Did I have a faction of my own? Of course not. Over time, I felt like a strange form of politics was creeping into my work life. Politics with these three girls at the center of these factions.

Some customers got into verbal scuffles with one another inside the store and fought over who the best girl was.

When a Rosa faction member met a veteran Yuna faction member, silent sparks would fly. When a Rosa faction member encountered an Alicia faction member, they’d simply look at them like they were naive children who didn’t understand the ways of the world.

Contrary to Rosa’s passive-aggressive hidden faction that typically laid low, Alicia and Yuna faction members got along pretty well as there were former Yuna faction members who’d changed camps to the Alicia faction. There were also members who were part of both factions. They had a quasi-stable alliance for the time being.

Honestly, the fact that these sorts of politics now existed inside the store made me want to throw my shoe at them. 

From what I could tell, it had reached the point where each faction had a leader.

The Alicia faction’s leader was easy enough to figure out, it was Gospel Man. As for Yuna’s… it was a bit harder to tell, it was one of four candidates. It seemed they held equal power as they were all four veteran customers. I’d once heard another customer refer to them as the four heavenly kings of the Yuna faction. They were apparently the strongest and oldest members of the Yuna faction.

As for Rosa’s, I hadn’t pinpointed who it was. They were under the radar after all, not in the limelight. They never made any big moves or power plays. As such, it was impossible to determine who it was. I had my suspicions that they were a collective consciousness. The entire group was the leader. They might operate more like a secret government that did things based upon majority rules.

I hate this. I hate it so much. Why? Because I’d become the number one enemy of the three factions. One time I heard an Alicia faction member call me Demon Lord Gloomy to an opposing faction member in line with him.

That night, I hid under my bedsheets hugging my knees wondering why the world was so unfair.

I’m just a little devil, not a demon lord, okay? And don’t give me such a depressing demon lord title, it’s not the slightest bit cool.

You know what? I’m going to create my own faction. Faction Little Sister Wisteria or maybe Faction Motherly Irene. Yeah, how’s that? Hmph! Screw you guys, you can’t join these factions since they don’t work here.

Throughout my shift, I sulked to myself over the complicated political climate within the store.

Factions had signature items that represented them. It was a way of brandishing their faction flag at the cash register. It was a means to exert their dominance and see which faction had control of each store territory every day.

Only the stores could determine and know for certain which faction won the battle each day. I only found out recently, but the Owner had been the one behind encouraging this sort of unseen competition in the background. She’d set up a section on the website that displayed how much of each item sold that day. To someone not in the know, it might just appear like a cool little gimmick for the store so customers could see what the hot selling items were on that day.

But in the eyes of the faction members, it was their pride and glory. For the item with the most sales every day, every customer who purchased one would be entered into a drawing to receive a small prize. The Owner offered… undisclosed prizes though. I had a feeling it was probably pictures of the girl at work associated with the product that represented them. Why did I think that? It was because two weeks ago, she swapped out the security camera behind us for a higher resolution one. Only that one camera in both stores locations.

I hadn’t thought anything of it at the time, but as I became more aware of what was going on with the factions as they became more well defined, I slowly caught onto her little game.

She was… a terrifying woman. To think up a strategy and system like this for a convenience store… a monster. Was she some sort of business prodigy? I actually didn’t know much about the Owner’s past when I thought about it.

As for the items each faction repped, Rosa’s was a spicy gum in red packaging, it was quite hot when you chewed on it and great for keeping warm in our cold winter climate. 

Alicia’s was gum in light orange and yellow packaging, it was very sweet. It was an all-rounder gum that you could enjoy at any time of the year regardless of the weather. 

Yuna’s was gum in black and blue packaging, it was a chilly type that cooled one’s mouth when chewed on. It was better for summertime when it was boiling outside.

When someone bought one of these packages of gum, you knew exactly which faction they were in. If they bought two, it meant they were split between two factions.

Then… there were the rare customers who actually dared to… buy all three. They were outcasts looked down upon by all three factions. Being split between two was somewhat understandable, but three? You were just too indecisive at that point. When someone confidently bought all three types of gum at once, I’d often hear customers spit on the floor.

Hey! Don’t spit in the store! I have to clean that up, you punks. 

I’d shoot them a glare, but they’d always turn away and act like they had nothing to do with the spit on the ground not too far away from them. I’d put up a ‘no spitting indoors’ sign behind us and at the front door, but it did little to stop this awful spitting on the ground phenomenon.

This was a big source of irritation for me lately, the incessant spitting. 

I directed all my anger toward the customers who bought the three different types of gum. There were much more spitters than there were indecisive three gummers, so it was easier to redirect my rage toward them. Just choose one or two, dick, why’d you have to be that guy who picked three?

Ugh, who am I to judge them though?

Didn’t I have three of them at home?

Haaaaah. I need to calm down.