Solo Leveling Jin Woo X Reader

The bell over the glass door chimed for its first time this morning. It was a soft sound coming from it.

For 10 year old Y/n, it was everything. Today was their family shop's first official morning opening. She stood beside her mom behind the counter, but was too short to see over it without standing on the stool, her chin rested in her hands as she watched her dad stock the drink fridge.

Her mom hummed softly as she unpacked a box labeled "Shin Ramen Spicey."

The convenience store wasn't anything fancy, the walls were a plain white and the shelves still smelled like fresh wood. Her dad came around the corner holding a roll of receipt paper and he handed it to her with a dramatic flourish.

"Your official duty for the day..will be," he said dramatically, "The Guardian of the register."

She laughed and took the receipt paper, then saluted him with her two fingers. "Yes, Sir."

Her mom, who was was still setting up some of the items in place, "Hey if she is getting a promotion already, I expect a raise too."

Her dad smiled, "We can double her allowance if she keeps customers from running off with the mochi."

"I think that's favoritism," her mom muttered playfully.

"She's just a better worker," he replied, ruffling y/n's hair.

The morning passed slowly but in a sort of peaceful way. They stocked some more shelves and reorganized the candy section twice. Y/n debated with her dad on whether the grape sodas looked better in the fridge or stacked near the register.

They had a total of 7 customers today, one of them came in for batteries and ended up leaving with an extra bag of some seaweed snacks. None of them were in a rush

and that was kind of nice.

Her mom handed her a small rice ball that was wrapped in a crinkly plastic and popped open a can of milk tea for herself. Y/n leaned against the counter and happily munched on the snack as her dad wiped down the windows with a white towel.

"Do you think we did good?" her mom asked, her eyes looking at the street outside.

He did not answer right away, but smiled a little and said, "I think we did great."

Her mom flipped the "Open" sign to "Closed" for the night. It was called "Three Leaves."

Y/n helped clean up or atleast tried to. She mostly followed her dad around while he counted the money from the register and then wiped down the counter. Y/n's family lived a story above their convenience store. Her mother was in the kitchen making something simple for dinner. It was some leftover rice, miso soup and eggs to eat.

They ate together using some foldable chairs and mismatched bowls since they did not finish unpacking yet. Her dad cracked a joke about the rice being "vintage," and her mother nudged him. Y/n laughed with her mouth full of rice.

Y/n's family had been living upstairs for awhile, but today was the first day they actually opened the store.

When it came time for bed the quietness became a little too loud for Y/n.

She was curled up under the blanket in her small room holding onto her favorite stuffed animal that was a bear with one ear that bent at a weird angle.

The shadows from her curtains stretched long across her bedroom floor and there were thin lines casted by the streetlamp outside her window. The air was still but something about it felt off to her.

She closed her eyes again and the same dream she had been having for the past few days returned to her.

She was standing barefoot in a field of grass. The world around her was black but not in an empty way. It felt full, but she couldn't name it. She looked above and saw the moon in the sky, it didn't glow like it normally did in real life. It felt like it was watching her.

In the distance in the field she felt something almost like a pulse. It was not light nor sound.

Like a heartbeat.

She jolted awake immediately with a sharp breath, her eyes widened. The room was quiet except for the ticking of the clock that was on the wall.

She slid out of bed and tiptoed down the hall, she followed the faint smell of tea and decided she was going to drink some to forget about it.

Her father sat at the table, leaning on one hand, a mug of green tea was beside him as he looked at his phone.

He looked up the moment y/n walked in. He didn't ask but he understood.

She did not cry but her eyes were heavy.

"It was the same as the last few times," she said quietly. "The dark field with the moon, it felt a little different this time like something was there."

"Like its calling to me."

Her father's hand paused above his tea for just a second then he reached across the table and gently brushed a few strands of y/n's h/c hair from her face.

"It's just your mind feeling pressured at the moment," he said calmly. "We're at a new home, a new place and that is a lot for your little brain."

Y/n frowned. "But dad it doesn't feel like a dream."

"I know," he said. "Dreams are just part of your imagination, they aren't real."

She didn't respond, she just looked down at the wooden table as her small fingers tracing invisible lines on the wood.

Her dad leaned back into his chair smiling softly.

"Tell you what y/n," he said. "If you have the same dream again, we can draw it together. Make it less scary ya know?"

"You'll draw it with me?"

"Only if I get to add a mustache to the moon."

She laughed despite feeling uneasy inside. Then she and her father went back to sleep for the night.

Y/n sat up on her bed hugging her knees to her chest. She wasn't scared but the dream kept pressing on her mind like it was whispering to her. She looked toward the hallway, no footsteps, no creaks. Her parents were definitely asleep.

She slipped out of bed and tiptoed across the room to where her shoes sat by the door, then went down stairs and sneaked out the back of the store. She had grabbed her hoodie from the rack, it was soft hoodie with faded sleeves that were a little too long and pulled the hood over her head.

The back of the store was quiet and the field beyond the fence swayed gently in the breeze, there were patches of tall grass that glowed faintly beneath the moonlight.

Y/n walked past the edge of the parking lot and ducked under a loose part of the fence where she knew the boards were not aligned correctly. She brushed past the weeds and low hanging branches, she did not know where she was going.

But her feet did.