The Demon King stood in front of the convenience store shelf, staring at instant noodles like they were an ancient forbidden spell.
"So you're telling me," he said slowly, "this cup contains noodles, seasoning, and boiling-water-based sorcery?"
"Yes, my lord," Nyx replied, already holding three different flavors. "And it only costs eighty-nine pesos."
The Demon King gasped.
The Demon Realm had fallen for less.
This was how it started.
The Part-Time Overlords
Within a week, everyone was working there.
The once-feared Demon King now wore a convenience store apron that read "Have a Nice Day :)". His generals—former world-ending calamities—had somehow ended up living together in a cramped apartment above the store.
Yuwen, the demon mage succubus general, bought Naruto manga during her break and loudly argued that chakra was just "low-efficiency mana."
Nyx spent her entire paycheck on Pokémon cards, insisting she could "sense rare pulls."
The armored war general kept restocking shelves too aggressively, snapping the plastic racks in half.
And now Bella, an assassin elf from the Hero's Party, had also been isekai'd into the real world and was quietly judging everyone from the corner while sharpening a box cutter (for cardboard only).
No one questioned it anymore.
The Robbery That Wasn't
At 2:13 a.m., a robber burst into the store.
"EVERYONE DOWN—"
He froze.
Because twelve demon generals turned to look at him.
The Demon King smiled politely.
"Would you like the spicy or non-spicy cup noodles?"
The robber dropped the bag and ran so fast he clipped through reality.
Gacha Revelation
Later that night, Nyx was scrolling on her phone when she went pale.
"…Why are we in a gacha game?"
Everyone leaned in.
On the screen were their exact past lives—the Demon King, the generals, even Bella—pixel-perfect, rarity stars and all.
Then one character spoke.
The Demon King's in-game version said cheerfully:
"Hard work is its own reward!"
Silence.
"…I have never said that," the real Demon King whispered.
Reality trembled.
Culture Shock Combo
Somewhere between discovering ecchi anime (which resulted in Yuwen screaming "THIS IS STRATEGIC DISTRACTION, NOT ART") and an imaginary Stand battle breaking out in aisle three—
"I AM THE STAND 'OVERDRAFT KING'!" "THAT'S NOT EVEN A STAND NAME—"
—everyone realized something important.
The world hadn't ended.
It had just… changed genres.
The Demon King slurped his noodles, sighed contentedly, and said:
"Fine. We conquer tomorrow.
Tonight, we're restocking."
End of Chapter 1.