CH 120

“Here’s the drink you ordered.”

“Thank you ,,, haaaa.”

Even after accepting the drink, HingHangHong sighed deeply with a dark expression. He seems to be deeply distressed.

“You don’t look well. What’s the matter?”

“Ah, just, because of a dungeon raid….”

Perhaps thirsty, HingHangHong gulped down the lemonade in his hand. I added cautiously, “If you don’t mind, let’s talk about it.”

You might feel better if you talk about it.

“Umh. No, I don’t want to talk about it, that’s just not my thing. Haaa….”

Then there’s nothing I can do. I wasn’t going to pry, so I was about to wrap up the conversation when Ki Yoohyun interrupted.

“….Is it because of Super Buff Coffee?”

“Heuk?! Since when there’s another person here?!”

HingHangHong, who had just noticed Ki Yoohyun’s presence, was surprised. I fully understand the effect of glasses now, so I hope you don’t surprise my regular customer who came after a long time. This one is a very timid customer.

By the way, why did you suddenly mention Super Buff Coffee….

“Uh, how did you know?!”

……It’s true.

“Actually….”

Since it was related to Super Buff Coffee, HingHangHong did not want to say it out of consideration for me. I told him it was okay, and he soon opened up.

This is the summary of the story: HingHangHong had a big fight with his friend recently. The cause was our cafe and Super Buff Coffee. He said that Cafe Rieul was the original and his friend said that Super Buff Coffee was the better cafe, and then the conflict escalated.

I feel guilty that he even fought with his friend.

Then, as a way to make peace and put an end to the fight, he made a bet with his friend. He is a C-class tanker, and his friend is a C-class dealer. The bet was to take out coffee from Cafe Rieul and Super Buff Coffee, respectively, and then drink it in dungeon and compare which one has the best effect.

“What did you bet on?”

“That, of course, kaesagbbang!”

“…yes?”

“It means character deletion jail, the loser deletes the character….”

“No, I know what the word means, I know, but…”

In the games, it’s not uncommon to see people betting on deleting their characters. Although money, time, and labour are invested in the characters, what is deleted is only a fictional game character.

However, when the term is used by Hunters, it suddenly has a scary connotation.

“Thank you very much for liking our cafe coffee, but I’d like to stop my customers from committing crimes.”

“Wha-what, cri-crime?! Scary. Don’t talk about scary things!” HingHangHong threw up his hands in exasperation.

“That’s not it?”

“Of course not! If I lose, I’m going to delete my Hunter Channel ID.”

“Aha.”

It’s possible to rejoin after withdrawal, but it takes a long time. Not only that, but you can’t use your old nickname. I’ve been calling him HingHangHong instead of his real name, but if he loses, he won’t be HingHangHong anymore.

It’s a big deal, it might not seem like it, but it’s a big deal.

Anyway, today is the day they promised to make a bet, but his friend disappeared. They didn’t read his KakaoTalk, and they didn’t even show their face to the guild.

“I knew it! He was scared that he was going to lose, so he just ran away!” HingHangHong burst into anger.

Now that the situation is like this, he thought about getting another party and going to Dungeon. However, it was difficult to get a new party because he’s still banned in the Hunter Channel. He had no choice but to give up and came here for a drink.

“You know, it seems to be happening a lot these days.”

“Huh, really?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of people joining a party to go to a dungeon and then suddenly going out of reach, and it’s causing a lot of trouble for party leaders.”

I became curious. I accessed the Hunter Channel on my phone and then searched with keywords such as ‘unreachable‘ and ‘party‘.

[Chatting] Please check the message of A who decided to participate in today’s public party (0)

[Chatting] The main dealer is not coming; this is Mercenary129 (5)

[Chatting] These days there are too many parties got ghosted, aren’t there? (13)

Although it was not a large number, there were occasional postings complaining that they could not contact a party member.

What’s going on?

“Anyway, I’m on Cafe Rieul’s side, so cheer up!”

With a refreshed expression on his face, perhaps thanks to being able to vent, HingHangHong left.

***

Just to be clear, I don’t have a rivalry with that <Super Buff Coffee>.

Really, never, I really not.

They can do what they do in their cafe, and we can do what we do in our cafe. There’s no reason why there should be only one cafe in the world that serves buff coffee.

“You sound so eager, I’m not sure I believe you, waeoong!”

“Kkyuuu!”

“….Be quiet.” I glared at the animals tackling me from the side.

I don’t really feel a sense of rivalry, I don’t, I really don’t!

On the other hand, I couldn’t stand the curiosity. If it wasn’t some sort of ‘Cafe in My Hand‘ skill, how the hell did they make buff coffee? I have a limit on the number of coffees I can make in a day, so how does that cafe manage to run multiple branches at the same time?

The day after a regular’s visit, I decided to visit that cafe myself.

‘We hardly have any customers anyway….’

I’ll just visit for a while. I’m not spying. I’m just a regular customer, okay.

As his face has been known, I was going to leave Ash behind just in case. However, when I went down to the first floor, Ash had already changed into his outdoor clothes. The winter coat, which is carefully buttoned up, is very cute on him. It’s obvious that he wants to go with me.

“Ash?”

“…it’s nothing.”

His words are different from his actions. If you wanted to come with me, you could have said so … unable to ignore Ash’s intense gaze, I finally asked.

“Asu, do you want to go with me?”

“….OK.”

Well, we’re just going to a cafe, so I guess there’s no harm in coming along.

With that, I left the store with Ash. He’s such a sweet yet unfriendly guy.

***

Guild Jungang-dong, where the headquarters of several hunter guilds are located. Super Buff Coffee is located in this area, also known as the Guild Street, which has recently seen the rise of several expensive and stylish restaurants. After a short walk from the subway station, we were greeted by a large building with a spacious parking lot and a rooftop. From the looks of it, the business is booming.

“All right. Let’s go, Ash.”

“Huuu … I can feel the Abyss.”

I braced myself and went into the cafe with Ash … and I was pleasantly surprised.

The interior was sophisticated and the spacious room was comfortable. There were a lot of customers, but the staff was plentiful and the service was fast, so we didn’t have to wait long for our turn.

“Welcome. This is the Super Buff Coffee, which gives Hunter a variety of buffs.”

I scanned the menu with my eyes. The menu ranged from coffees to teas to juices, and the showcase was filled with delicious desserts. The cheapest Americano is 10 rubies, and the prices are generally higher than in our store.

As for the most important thing, the buff effect, they were slightly better than ours, for example, my caffe latte (4 stars) is a “50% energy recovery” buff, whereas theirs is a “55% energy recovery” buff.

“Ma’am, have you decided on your order? If you can’t decide, how about today’s recommended menu, Buttercream Latte? It comes with free macarons to celebrate the opening of our cafe.”

“Yes? Ah, then I want that….”

The staff suggested a few more menu items. I nodded in agreement, and before I knew it, I had already ordered a buttercream latte, a cream mocha, and a dessert set.

It’s thorough. Expensive, but it’s worth the perfect and pleasant service.

“Umh….”

I wonder if Cafe Rieul, which I run by myself, can compete with a cafe like this? Even with the help of the system, I honestly don’t think I can match….

Heck, I almost got soaked in a sense of defeat. I’m here today because I’m curious about the buff coffee of this cafe, so let’s just drink it and go.

Just as I was about to pick up the pager and take a seat with Ash, I heard a commotion behind me. It was so crowded that it was difficult to move.

What’s going on?

There was a blinding light and the sound of a camera shutter. Someone was filming something. As I peeked my head out, the staff kindly added an explanation.

“Hunter Oh Seoho visited us to discuss advertising for our cafe. We are planning to update the visit to the cafe blog, so please pay a lot of attention.”

Aha. Is it Hunter and Actor Oh Seoho, who ranks 18th in the Hunter Rankings (down a notch with Choi Yichan’s appearance)? The scale of the promotion is amazing.

I caught a glimpse of Oh Seoho’s handsome face through the crowd. He’s a celebrity, but I wasn’t interested.

“Ash, there’s a seat over there. Let’s go over there.”

“Yeah.”

Just like that, it happened while we were moving away from the crowd.

“……?”

I thought I had just made eye contact with Oh Seoho.

Eh, it must be my imagination. How can we make eye contact in such a crowded place? I must have mistaken because he was so famous.

As I think this, I looked at Oh Seoho again, but this time he looked straight at me and smiled brightly.

What’s wrong with him?

I had no idea. He is someone I have never met in person, one-on-one.

In any case, it is best to avoid anything that is uncomfortable. Just in time, the pager rang. I picked up my order and sat in a corner where there was less crowd this time. Coffee and dessert were placed in front of me, looking quite appetising.

[Buttercream Latte / Temporarily increases maximum energy by 100%].

As I picked up my coffee cup, a status window popped up. The status widow was simple compared to the coffee I made, but the effect was clear.

But how is this coffee made?

Actually, when I received my order, I looked towards the kitchen, but the partitions prevented me from seeing the entire process. As far as I could see, it was a normal coffee making process. There was no sign of any skills or special actions.

If it wasn’t a skill, how did they give this coffee a buff effect?

“Hmm….”

I glared at the buttercream latte in front of me, but there was no way I could tell how it was made just by looking at it.

Let’s drink it first. A 100% increase in maximum energy is a pretty helpful effect for an F-class with weak body like mine, but somehow I don’t like it.

“Hmmm….”

“How long are you going to watch it?”

As if my hesitation frustrated him enough, Ash snatched the cup from my hand.

“Uh, Ash!”

Ash took a sip of coffee without hesitation.

Gulped.

Then, he spat it out.

I didn’t have time to nag him about spitting what he’d just put in his mouth back into the cup. His face crumpled in disgust. It was the first time I had seen this boy make such a harsh expression.

“What’s wrong? It doesn’t suit your taste?”

After wiping the last of the coffee out of his mouth with a tissue, Ash lowered his voice to a whisper.

“This … I don’t think you should drink it.”

Translator’s Corner:

kaesagbbang: 캐삭빵, actually i’m not sure how to translate it to english so I just keep it as it is. Usually, it is a term used in PvP where the losing side literally decides to delete their character in an online game. When you duel and the stakes are 캐삭빵, the loser is meant to delete their character/account. It is short for 캐릭터 삭제 빵. 

Umh … hi? ahahaha I feel bad for suddenly coming back just as I please jhs fhsjfhdsk I was a little sick these days and while it’s not serious at all, I need to keep consuming bitter medicine that makes me sleepy all the time so I don’t have time to upload anything for the last month ……. okay that was enough reason. Actualy I feel lost these days and today is my birthday and I felt lonely so I decided to do this for my birthday gift for myself …… since this blog has always been a comfort for me.

Anyway, in short, i miss you all! I will try my best to gather my energy back T___T