Inside, Vahn was greeted by shelves packed with goods he couldn't recognize. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead, casting an eerie glow over the rows of unfamiliar items. Yet, the atmosphere wasn't as strange as the store itself; it felt... welcoming. Even calming.
Behind the counter, a young man in an apron stood, his eyes empty yet focused. He didn't speak, simply nodded at Vahn as he entered.
"Uh, hi...?" Vahn asked awkwardly.
The cashier didn't reply. Instead, he simply began scanning items from the shelf: instant noodles, potato chips, a cola bottle, and various oddities that didn't seem to belong to any world Vahn knew.
Vahn blinked. "You're… working here?"
The cashier nodded once more, a flicker of an emotion passing through his eyes. A strange, unsettling thought nagged at Vahn: he wasn't sure if the cashier was even human.