CH 121

“What? Don’t tell me there’s poison…!”

I rose from my seat, panicking. Around me, there were many customers drinking their ordered drinks. If there was something wrong with their drinks, I should stop them right away.

However, Ash tugged on the hem of my skirt and pulled me back into the chair.

“Don’t make such a fuss. It’s not going to happen right away.”

His calm reaction makes me calm down. I lowered my voice and asked, “Then? What’s in it?”

“I think it’s a substance that affects your etheric system, though I don’t know exactly what.”

“Does the substance have a buff effect?”

“Maybe.” He glanced back at the coffee cup in my hand and added, “It’s fine for a drink or two, since it just intensifies certain etheric currents in your body. It’s like an overclock, so to speak, but it’s not good for long term use.”

There’s nothing special about the coffee’s status window. The system doesn’t pop up any other notifications. So how does Ash know what it is? I asked him and he gave me a wry smile.

“What do you think the Demon King Twilight is?”

“Ah.”

“….you forgot?”

“Ahahaha….”

I felt a prick. I’d forgotten about it because he’d recently taken up a healthy hobby like making architectural miniatures, and he was friendly with the twins who sometimes came over to play.

I had forgotten that this boy was not an ordinary 8th grader boy, but the incarnation of Asmodeus.

On the surface, he’s just another unfriendly teenager. Is it okay for Ash to stay in our store? I’m glad I have Ash with me though.

Oops, it wasn’t time to think about this. The problem is this coffee, which is believed to contain unknown substances.

“That’s right, I have that thing.”

I opened my inventory and took out a silver teaspoon. This is an item that I got as a quest reward for eradicating ticket scalpers last time.

At first, I thought it was just a teaspoon with 1 attack, so I didn’t think much of it. Later, however, when I looked back at the status window, I was surprised.

[Item: Silver Teaspoon (★★☆☆☆)

It’s just a teaspoon. Surprisingly, it can also be used as a weapon.

Type: High-Speed Short-Range Weapon

Attack: 1

Note: It will discolor when it touches poison.]

Let’s read it again carefully.

[Note: It will discolor when it touches poison.]

That last phrase really bothered me.

Poison? Poison? Up until now, quest rewards have tended to be causal to future events, unless it’s a store upgrade.

I mean, they’re giving me something like this … am I going to get poisoned? Is such a scary fate waiting on the path of the Cafe Owner?

It’s so ominous. I kept this teaspoon in my inventory to avoid any mishaps that might come my way.

Fortunately, nothing dangerous has happened so far, but….

I thought I’d give this silver teaspoon a try.

I dipped the teaspoon into a glass of cream mocha.

Flick. Smoke billowed out with a burning sound. I pulled the teaspoon out in a panic, and the part that touched the coffee was completely discolored.

“…..!”

Unless this item was lying to me, it was a clear evidence that something was wrong with my coffee.

I felt my throat burn. Even though it was a latecomer, I had assumed that Super Buff Coffee was trying to help the Hunters by making buff coffee. However, now I was angry that they were using such dangerous means.

I put the silver teaspoon into my inventory and looked around quietly

I saw people drinking coffee with smiling faces. Most of them were Hunters, but there were a few who looked like regular people, perhaps they’re visiting this place due to its fame. They were filming YouTube videos or taking selfies.

There is no one who drinks then complains about abnormalities.

“Ha…..”

Instantly, the fever that had risen to the top of my head cooled down. I’m angry, but let’s be as rational as possible.

Part of me wants to scream at the top of my lungs that there’s something wrong with this coffee. The problem is that I’m a known face, the owner of a rival cafe. What’s more, I’m currently wearing a hat and a scarf to hide my face from prying eyes.

I’ll be lucky if I’m not misunderstood as trying to reverse viralise the rival cafe.

“…….”

This is not a good place for a public debate. Okay. Let’s just go home quietly and find a way to report this to the Dungeon Management Office or wherever.

I left the tray of untouched coffee and dessert at the exit and turned to leave.

However, a staff member, who was scanning the store with a hawk’s eye, saw the tray of uneaten food and approached me.

“Excuse me, miss, did the menu not suit your taste?”

“No, it’s not like that.”

It’s bad to stand out here. To get out as quietly as possible, I shook my head with a vague smile.

“We apologise for not being able to satisfy you.”

The employee bowed their head, “If it wasn’t to your liking, I’d be happy to change your order to something else, free of charge.”

“No, I’m already full, haha.”

It’s burdensome. It’s incredibly burdensome. There was a sense of urgency in the staff that they couldn’t let a customer who was unhappy with their drink go.

Does this employee not know that there is a problem with the drink? Excessive kindness made with good intentions was hard to refuse.

“If that’s the case, I’ll issue you a coupon, and you can come back when it’s convenient for you. We will do our best to provide you with satisfactory service.”

No, I don’t plan on coming back.

I was about to dissuade the employee, saying it was okay not to give me a coupon….

Uh, what was that?

“Customer, here’s the coupon … Miss?”

While the employee headed to the staff room to get the coupon, a brief glimpse through the crack in the door caught my eye.

I whispered in a small voice, “Ash, did you see that?”

“…Yes.”

A man walked in through the back door, and the staff greeted him politely. There’s nothing particularly strange about this. However, his attire was very peculiar. He wore a long, white robe that covered his entire body and a peculiar hat. He looked like a religious man.

But there’s no religion that dresses like that.

Wait, religion?

I’d forgotten about it because nothing much had happened since then, but I’d met this weird cult guy once.

I spoke up as if I wanted the staff to hear me, “Ash, I’m going to the bathroom for a minute.”

“What?”

He was confused for a moment, but then he realised what I meant and nodded, “Okay. I’ll be waiting over there then.”

“The bathroom is over there, miss.”

A thoroughly service-orientated employee pointed out the location of the bathroom. I walked in the direction they pointed, then I opened the system window in the empty hallway in front of the bathroom.

The skills I’ve gained so far have come up. Among them, this is the skill I used.

‘The Bond of a Cup of Coffee.’

[The Bond of a Cup of Coffee (B)

Details: (Lv.1) You can copy the skill of the person who drank the Ultimate Coffee. (00:05:00)

Cooldown: 24:00:00

Available for: Choi Yichan, Kim Taewoon.]

Among them, I chose Kim Taewoon, the journalist ahjussi.

I never thought that the day when I need to use this skill would actually come.

[Paparazzi (E)

(Lv.1) You can follow the target without being detected for a certain period of time. (01:00:00)]

“…it’s done.”

I turned around in front of the bathroom and headed towards the place where I had just seen the strangely dressed man.

Thanks to the skill’s effectiveness, no one suspected me, and I soon found him. I peeked into his face and he was a different person from the pseudo-religious man I met before.

At that moment, the cafe manager approached the man. I braced myself against the wall and listened their voices.

“This is a precious object, please handle it with care.”

“Yes, I will do as you command.”

The strangely dressed man handed the manager a glass vial of golden liquid. That’s it. That suspicious liquid must be the coffee’s secret.

If I got a little closer, I could see what it was, but I couldn’t because the Paparazzi skill required a radius of at least three metres.

‘…..! They’re moving!”

The man headed towards the back of the staff room, towards the secret door with a very suspicious atmosphere. I hurriedly followed, but the secret door closed in front of me. There was no visible open/close mechanism, and it didn’t budge when I pushed and pulled.

……I missed it.

On the closed door was the name of the company that runs this cafe.

<Seonghye Enterprise>

I heard that they started as a crafting guild then entered the cafe industry, but now it seemed too suspicious.

And underneath, a distinctive star mark.

[The ‘Church of Starry Wisdom’ has been added to the Ether-Wiki.]

“……!”

As soon as I spotted the star-shaped mark, the system notification rang as if it had been waiting. I decided to check this item right away.

‘Ether-Wiki.’

[Checking your eligibilities … Completed.]

[The Eligible: Verifying Kwon Rieul…..]

‘Skip.’

I skipped down the string of entries and opened the item. The content was simple.

《Church of Starry Wisdom》

Type: Religion>Organization

Description: A religious group that worships Chaos. It was discontinued about 10 years ago, but it has been revived.

※ For more detailed information, unlocking is required.

My head was pounding.

***

“What are you going to do?” Ash asked me.

A cold wind slapped my cheeks. Ash and I were just leaving Super Buff Cofee. The scene I had just seen was very unsettling, but it was best to get out of that place quietly.

What should I do?

Is there anyone I can talk to about this situation … Ah.

I turned on my maps app to get directions. It’s close enough to walk from here.

“Ash, let’s stop somewhere else for a while.”

“Okay. Where?”

I headed to Cheongna Guild.

Translator’s Corner:

Seonghye: 성혜(星慧), Star Wisdom. I don’t want to make it already obvious on previous chapter, so I didn’t translate the name.

It seemed that I always greeted you guys with bad news, so here’s a good news … I passed my thesis proposal defense! I was pretty worried because I spent most of my time being sick, but thankfully the proposal got accepted and I can continue it T__T

anyway we’re going to see our male lead again soon! (I’m glad he will have a lot of screentime from now on … this is romance fantasy after all)