CH 119

Sipping my warm caffe latte, I thought to myself.

What should I do, I have nothing to do.

I’ve cleaned, washed the dishes, restocked, paid the bills, and even organised my phone’s photo album. I guess I’ve been working too hard all this time. The long-awaited free time feels awkward.

“Ash, there are no customers, let’s take a break.”

“…Okay.”

I made cafe mocha and some snacks for Ash, then I tried to find a game to play on my phone.

“Everyone went too far….”

Ju Noeul, who was sitting at a table by the window and drinking her coffee, spoke in a low voice.

“How can you leave this place and support that fake….”

Ju Noeul was extremely angry about <Super Buff Coffee>, claiming that it was a fake. She got into a fight while criticising the cafe on the Hunter Channel. As a result, she got banned from the Hunter Channel for a month. Seeing her suffer from Internet community withdrawal, I felt both grateful and sorry for her.

I hope she gets unbanned soon…

“I don’t get it either.”

These were the words of Ki Yoohyun, who had just arrived at the cafe and ordered a coffee.

“It goes without saying that Rieul-ssi’s coffee tastes much better. A lot of people have problems with their sense of taste.”

Since there were only two customers in the cafe, I naturally heard their voices. Ju Noeul nodded her head and said, “You must be a customer with great taste.”

“Ah. We met at Christmas.”

Although that Christmas party ended early due to the confusion over the news about <Super Buff Coffee>, which is sad.

“Hunter Ju Noeul also has a fine taste.”

“I admit it….”

A dramatic consensus was formed between the two.

“Haha, thank you both.”

It is inevitable that the number of customers has decreased. Cafes are about location, location, and location. A large chain with uniform services in front of the exit of the downtown subway station versus a private cafe with delicious coffee in the remote residential area? It’s obvious which one will get the most customers.

In addition, it is a large four-story cafe in the downtown area where large guilds are concentrated while my cafe is in front of the Dungeon Gate. Given the same buff, people would probably prefer the more accessible one.

However, a few regulars kept coming back to Cafe Rieul and were upset about the current situation.

One of them is Kim Jina….

“I’m sorry. I went through all the relevant regulations yesterday, but the legal basis for punishing Super Buff Coffee is ambiguous.”

“Huck, you looked it all up?!”

“I’m shocked that there’s a loophole in the regulations like this!”

“Ahahaha … it can’t be helped. Thank you for your concern.”

“If I had more power, I could make a regulation to punish those cowardly fake bastards right away! I’m furious!”

“Your kind intention is already making me happy enough.”

“Hmph, now is not the time for this. I need to pass the promotion test and get my hands on the power!”

“….Jina-ssi?”

“For the betterment of the Hunter world….!”

This incident burned her enthusiasm for promotion.

I packed her a set of Iced americano and butter cookies to relieve her stress. With that kind of enthusiasm, I’m sure she’ll be promoted soon. I just hope she doesn’t overwork herself.

Also, Kwon Jiwoon and Choi Yichan stopped by the cafe together. They said they were on their way to the Dungeon to organise a party to celebrate Choi Yichan’s joining the White Silver Guild.

“I see. If you’re going to the dungeon, you might as well take out some coffees. What do you want?”

“From the beginning to the end of the menu….”

“……Kwon Jiwoon?”

“Ten cups each.”

“Oppa, if you drink that much, you’ll get addicted to caffeine?”

“It’s okay. I’ll drink them all and then use the Status Abnormalities Potion.”

“What? What the hell does that mean … Yichan-ah, stop Kwon Jiwoon.”

“Hahaha! Is your brother overdoing it? I’ll keep it moderate. Just five drinks each from the beginning to the end of the menu.”

“……no.”

Do you think I’m going to sleep on the street right now?

I packed both of them with just enough coffee so they wouldn’t get addicted to caffeine.

In addition, Lee Chorok sent me a box of Shine Muscat, and … I worried excessively about this.

Things turned out this way, but I was fine. I’m not pretending to be okay, I’m really okay. I thought I wanted to help the world with my coffee, but being a popular celebrity cafe owner is not fit for me. I don’t like the fact that every little thing I say on social media gets turned into an article. It’s embarrassing when you go to the supermarket and someone recognises you.

‘I don’t want anyone to know me….’

Can’t you just think of me as an NPC that sells coffee?

While I was in this burdensome situation, another buff coffee vendor appeared.

Now that Super Buff Coffee has opened, I should go back to my original plan and aim for the ‘Hidden Cafe in front of a Secluded Dungeon Gate‘.

It would be a win-win for me to have a large chain cafe do the hard work for the Hunters. I’ll leave the passionate business to Super Buff Coffee and stick to my role as a quiet F-class cafe owner.

I came to this conclusion. However, I had one question.

I ate the leftover rice cakes from yesterday as a snack and stared at Mieum, whose stomach had bulged.

“…Waeoong?”

Mieum felt my gaze and raised her ears.

“Waeung, waeooong (I, it wasn’t just me, Lime ate too)!”

“Kkyuuuuu!”

Yeah, I know. Not that.

“Didn’t you say that I’m the only one who can use the coffee making skill?”

“Waeuuung….”

“Oh, my. Did Mieum lie to me? You said it’s amazing that I’m the only one who can use it … did you just randomly say that?”

“Waeooolg (That’s not true).”

“Mieum, I trusted you, but … I shouldn’t trust a cat.”

“Waeoong, waeooolg (I always tell you the truth, human, on the honor of the Great System)!”

“Hmm….”

“Kyagyagyagyag! Gahh (You don’t believe me! That skill is truly unique to you, no other Hunter has the same skill)!”

I looked at Mieum. Her fur stands on end and she stands on her front paws. In that state, she jumped up and down and punched the air wildly She looks really frustrated.

Judging from this cat’s frenzied behaviour, Mieum’s words seem to be true. This cat is so bad at acting.

“Kkyuuu! Kkyuu!”

Beside her, Lime also sided with Mieum. showing off its support with bouncing its body.

“Okay, I’ll trust you. Then what is Super Buff Coffee? How do they sell buff coffee?”

Mieum, who had put her front paws down again and was sitting on her belly on the floor, shook her head sideways.

“Waeung, waeoong (I don’t know about that, it’s definitely not a skill, they must be using a different method).”

“Okay, I get it for now.”

I stroked Mieum’s rounded chin. She purred, as if she’s happy the suspicions had been resolved.

If not a skill, what is it?

Is there some sort of substance that buffs the coffee? However, mixing a potion wouldn’t mask the bitterness of the potion and it would make it more expensive.

“Hmmm….”

“Rieul-ssi, what’s wrong?”

Ki Yoohyun, who was drinking coffee next to me, spoke to me. The cat meowed all of a sudden and I was lost in thought with complicated expression, so it seems to have bothered him.

Well, whatever method they use, it’s none of my business. I decided not to think about Super Buff Coffee.

Ju Noeul has just left after throwing up her anger, and Ki Yoohyun is the only other customer in the store now. The timing is good. I talked about what I was originally going to say to Ki Yoohyun.

“Did you get rid of the rifts in Gyeongju?”

“Ah, yes. Cheongna is doing a follow-up investigation, but I think it will be over without any major issues.”

“The reason why you suddenly went to Gyeongju, is it because a rift broke there before the regression?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Ki Yoohyun nodded lightly, “A lot of things are already different than they were before the regression, but there are some things that haven’t changed, so I’m glad we were able to stop it with less damage.”

“Even the Munchkin regressor has a lot of trouble.”

“Hahaha … Munchkin, I’m not that great.”

If anyone else had heard this comment from Ki Yoohyun, they would have called him a deceiver. If he’s not a Munchkin, then who?

“There was also a video on the news, is that okay? I mean … your identity.”

Isn’t it a secret that Ki Yoohyun is Muwon? He smiled at my concern.

“It’s okay. I knew I was being filmed. I knew that my face wasn’t captured, so I left it alone. I was wearing glasses anyway.”

“Glasses? What’s with the glasses?”

Ki Yoohyun was still wearing the glasses he sometimes wore. They didn’t hide his sharp features in the slightest.

“I don’t think they wouldn’t recognize you just with one pair of glasses.”

“I thought it was weird, but … this is a very rare item, even if it looks like this.”

Ki Yoohyun explained with a bitter smile. Those ordinary-looking glasses were an item that he specially ordered. They were said to have the effect of making the wearer unrecognisable to others, meaning that even if they saw Ki Yoohyun’s face, they would quickly forget about him.

“Didn’t Noeul-ssi recognise Yoohyun-ssi earlier?”

“She didn’t recognise me until I spoke to her.”

“Aha.”

Wait, why didn’t it work for me?

Tiling. As soon as I thought so, I got a system notification.

[*system: the skill that intervenes in your consciousness is currently being invalidated.]

“Aha….”

“It is not omnipotent. It just disrupts someone’s consciousness a bit,. Still, it helps when I want to move quietly.”

Clack, the door opened and a new guest came in.

“Hello….”

He was a regular customer who often came to Cafe Rieul. I had a chat with him the other day. His Hunter Channel nickname, ‘HingHangHong‘, which was named after his real name, Kim Hyunghong, was memorable.

For your information, he also had a fight over Super Buff Coffee to defend our cafe on the Hunter Channel and his account got banned … I’m grateful and sorry for that.

Anyway, HingHangHong came to the counter, oblivious to Ki Yoohyun’s presence, and ordered a drink. The effect of the glasses must have been real, because normally there’s no way people wouldn’t have spotted a man that stands out like that.

Huh … but what’s going on? HingHangHong looked very depressed.

I’m surprised that there’s still new readers who started reading this series from 0 and went on reading marathon … I hope I didn’t scare you guys with the previous translator notes … and thank you for all the old readers for still staying with me~

anyway, prepare yourself to meet a lot of characters in this ARC! I’m excited to finish this because the romance will start blooming after this ARC (ACTUALLY, HOW MANY CHAPTERS THIS HAS BEEN? THERE ARE TWO LEADS ON THE COVER, WHEN I PICKED THIS UP I THOUGHT THIS WILL BE FULL OF ROMANCE BUT 119 CHAPTERS AND THEY’RE NOT EVEN PROPERLY HOLDING HANDS YET?? T_T)