SSS-Grade Cafe in Front of The Dungeon
chapter-146

If anyone had leaked the information, it would have to be Jijon or the Hunters we met in the dungeon, so why are they looking for him here? And what’s this about us being so close? I mean, we’re indeed close, but …. what’s going on?

“Umh…”

The question remains unanswered when I thought about it alone without the other party. I immediately dialed Ki Yoohyun’s number, but after a short beep, the call was disconnected, and a text came.

[The user is currently inside a dungeon, so the call cannot be connected.]

Oh my god. It’s only been a few days since the last incident, and he’s in a dungeon again. I’m so sick of dungeons!

Just seeing the word “dungeon” makes my heart pound and my head throb, which means that dungeons are bad for my health. I still haven’t recovered enough, so I’m going to have a quick breakfast and then roll around in bed.

As I stare into the fridge, trying to figure out the least annoying breakfast option, there’s another knock on the door, this time from the reporters.

“Owner-nim, is it true that the number one Ranker, Muwon, is a regular here?”

“Hunter Kwon Rieul-nim! How did you find out Muwon’s identity?! What is your relationship with him?”

“I heard you have a very close relationship with Muwon, Owner-nim! Please tell us something!”

“……I refuse to be interviewed.”

Bang! The door slammed shut and I grabbed my hair.

‘I really can’t get a good morning’s sleep…….’

It’s really not easy to just lounge around to your heart’s content. Oh well. I’ve caught up on my sleep, binge-watched all the dramas I’ve been meaning to watch, and finished the games I’ve been playing for a few days. After having fun for a few days, it was time to open the cafe.

“If I don’t deal with ‘it‘ soon, it will be a big problem…….”

“Waeorgh? Why are you talking like a hidden villain?”

“Hehehehehe …. I’ve decided what to do with ‘it‘.”

“Waeooong?! Do-don’t tell me, are you really trying to abandon me?” Next to me, Mieum began to have a strange misunderstanding.

You don’t know, Mieum, a good hidden villain character doesn’t abandon animals. Or rather, no matter if you’re a hidden villain or extra villain, you shouldn’t abandon animals.

Anyway. I’m going to open the cafe tomorrow and try to figure out what’s going on.

***

The next day, I took down the ‘We are closed today’ sign from the store door, and as I put up the open sign, the people who had come earlier rushed in.

“Owner-nim, you’re reopening today, right?”

“Excuse me, how do I order a coffee?”

“I’ve been waiting….”

“Please, even if the Hunter World is dirty, please don’t leave and stay open for a long time!”

I thought there would be fewer customers since it’s only been a few days since the imitation cafe was closed, but there were a lot more people than I expected. I hastily calmed them down.

“Please wait for a moment. I still have work to do.”

And I put up a new poster on the door. It read:

“Cafe Rieul’s Ginger Festival”

“Hmmm, we only sell limited menus today. Then, if you have winning number tickets, please line up this way.”

People lined up in a straight line. After regretfully turning away all those without numbered tickets, I declared.

“Then we’ll start the business.”

Wooooah! Cheers followed. There must be something big going on, I thought, and since I was opening a cafe after a few days off, it would be nice to have a special event.

So I came up with this idea: Cafe Rieul’s Ginger Festival. I handed out numbered tickets by lottery in advance and decided to sell only a limited set menu during the festival. If people didn’t like it, they could leave. I’m opening a cafe for the first time, so I’ll do what I want.

The limited set menu is called the ‘Unlimited Ginger Set‘. As you can probably guess from the name, Mandragora dungeon ginger is included in all menus.

“Hohohoho…..” I smiled in satisfaction as I put away the menu I normally used and took out the limited set menu.

Actually, there was another reason for organising this event.

Eventually, the Imitation Cafe incident was resolved, and the city regained its peace. Despite all the unexpected things that had happened, I was proud of the fact that I had saved people’s lives by growing Mandragora dungeon ginger. I was also recognised as the original and only creator of buff coffee! With that feeling of pride in the back of my mind, I walked back into the space in my house and was greeted by…….

A field full of Mandragora dungeon ginger. They multiplied freely in a short period of time, greatly increasing their numbers.

‘Shuush… shoooo…. shuush…. shoo….’

Was it because of my mood that the cries of the tooth carrot, which was always fierce, sounded like it was in despair?

If left unattended, this space would become a ginger field. I need to find a way to get rid of all that ginger as soon as possible. I couldn’t eat all of it, so I’ll have to sell it.

Since it’s winter, a warm drink would be better than ginger ale. I scoured the Ether-Wiki and the system and came up with several recipes that included ginger. They were ginger milk made with warm milk and ginger ale topped with milk foam, gingerbread man cookies made with ginger powder, and ginger lemon tea made with ginger and fake lemon.

The effects of the ‘Unlimited Ginger Set’ thus created are as follows:

[Item: Ginger Milk (★★★★☆)

Status: Good (Time Remaining: 01:00:00)

Effect: Nullifies mental status abnormalities and protects against all mental attacks for 10 minutes.]

[Item: Gingerbread Man Cookie (★★★☆☆)

Golden brown and crispy.

Mandragora Dungeon Ginger is added to make it fragrant.

It looks like a human, but it doesn’t move, so don’t worry.]

[Item: Ginger Lemon Tea (★★★★☆)

Status: Good (Time Remaining: 01:00:00)

Effect: Very good for preventing colds.]

And if you eat all three of these, you’ll get this combo bonus.

[The condition has been met.

Combo bonus will be generated.

Combo: Unlimited Ginger Party (Ginger Milk, Gingerbread Man Cookie, Ginger Lemon Tea)

Effect: The taste that opens your eyes! It wakes you up!]

These were a great balance of spicy and sweet flavours.

Best of all, they’re loaded with ginger!

To prepare these dishes, Ash and I stayed up late and chopped a mountain of ginger. Peeling, slicing, boiling, straining, boiling again …. that was a lot of work, but I couldn’t help it. There’s still plenty of ginger. Ginger drinks must be sold, sold, sold.

Today, some of my acquaintances beat the odds and came to visit. Others wanted to come, but unfortunately lost the lottery. I decided to meet up with them again on a different day.

The first customer to come was Ju Noeul.

In fact, I told her that she could come over anytime, regardless of whether the cafe was open or not. However, she said she wanted to visit the cafe as a customer, not as a friend.

“As the leader of the pureblood faction, I can’t show a misleading attitude…….”

With those words, Ju Noeul confidently beat the lottery and arrived as the first customer.

“Hahaha, so delicious……. I’m happy…….” She looked genuinely happy as she ate the Unlimited Ginger Set while watching Lime. I’m always grateful to her for always enjoying my food.

Next up was Choi Yichan.

“Keu, haaa…. ah, aaah!”

“Yichan-ah, it’s hot …… ha. It’s already too late.”

Choi Yichan, who was about to take a quick shot of his ginger lemon tea, was startled and put down his cup, blowing into it. Then he tasted it again, more cautiously.

“Mmm, it makes my mouth tingle, but it’s delicious!”

Back in the day we got sucked into the dungeon, the dagger in Choi Yichan’s hand was said to be a very rare artefact, causing quite a stir among the officials. I’m not sure exactly what kind of artefact it is and the person who actually got it….

“Huh? How did I get this, somehow it appeared …. it must be because I’m good at it?”

…. that’s all he could say. It was fortunate that the information about the artifact was confidential. Otherwise there would have been articles like [Exclusive! S-Class Hunter Choi Yichan: “Artifact? It just happened to appear.”].

Now that I’ve met Choi Yichan, I decided to ask him something I’ve always been curious about.

“Hey, Yichan-ah, remember that day?”

“Huh?’

“You broke some kind of black box. What happened to it? Or more importantly, how did you know it was dangerous?”

“Uh? Well, if you look at occult comics, boxes like that are cursed items. Something like a haunted object.”

“Yes, haunted object … what?”

That didn’t explain it at all.

“There was a weird smell coming from there, so I thought, ah, that’s it.”

“…….”

What kind of drug detection dog are you, looking for suspicious items by smell? I noticed it with my transcendental sense, what do you even mean by that?

Anyway, I would have been in more danger if Choi Yichan hadn’t shown up right then. I put a few more gingerbread man cookies on his plate to express my gratitude.

The last guest to arrive was Kim Jina. She was still overwhelmed with work, but she took a quick break to stop by.

“Haha, it’s delicious……! The tingling taste of ginger mixed with the smooth milk flavour, plus the effect, it’s eye-opening, this is going to wake me up!”

With that, Kim Jina said that her mind had become clearer and took out a thick report from her bag. It was basically a report, but it was thicker than a book. Her eyes sparkled as she sipped her drink while reading the report.

Kim Jina is an amazing person. I wondered how she could carry such a heavy document and read it every time. I truly admired her.

I turned to go back to the counter so as not to interrupt her reading, but Kim Jina spoke again.

“Oh, that’s right, Rieul-ssi. I heard that the old man of my house caused a huge inconvenience to Rieul-ssi.”

“The old man of your….?”

“Him, you know, my mom’s loud, boisterous son…….”

“Ah, Hunter Jijon?”

“Yes, I’ll apologise on his behalf. I’m so sorry.”

However, limited to this particular case, Jijon hadn’t caused any trouble. I was going to say that there was no need to apologise, but then I remembered something.

Back in the dungeon, the Temple of False Worlds, Jijon had definitely noticed Ki Yoohyun identity. Did he know anything about this situation with the reporters?