SSS-Grade Cafe in Front of The Dungeon
chapter-173

The door opened, but I couldn’t leave right away. Something might happen inside. I thoroughly prepared myself.

For weapon … there’s nothing much about it anyway. I have the ‘Authentic Coffee Making Cart (★★★☆☆)’ that I obtained before, so I’ll be able to make coffee freely inside the dungeon. Then, other items that I can take with me…..

“What kind of immigration preparations are you making, waeolg!” Mieum scolded me.

But you never know what might happen, so it made me uneasy. Maybe this spray-type insecticide (unscented) would be useful …. or maybe not…..

I sneakily put down the pesticide and waterpaste I was planning to put in my inventory.

“Kyuuuu!” Lime, who appeared late, bounced her body. It seemed to indicate that she wanted to come along.

“Is it okay if you don’t stay with Corong?”

When I interpreted Lime’s answer that followed, she meant this.

“Kkyuu! Kkyuuu!”

‘A slime that has consumed enough fragments of Casuality!’

“What about that slime?”

“Kkyuu, kyuuu!”

‘Strong!”

As if to prove that she was indeed very strong, Lime spread her body wide. Hmm, those shield functions did save me before.

“Kkyuuuu!”

‘21st century integrated science and technology slime!’

I laughed, forgetting the seriousness of the situation. It would be tough to part with this cute, yet somewhat mysterious slime.

And the last one.

“Ash, you know.”

“….Noona.” As if he’d already guessed what I was going to say, Ash cut my words off. A pair of mysterious violet eyes were staring at me.

After escaping from the shelter, encountering Ki Yoohyun and Choi Yichan, and returning to the shop with a grim expression on my face ……. Ash didn’t ask me anything. He just stood by my side with a pensive face. His behaviour was very comforting to me.

“Please let me go with you. No, I’ll come with you.”

“…….” My first reflex was to say no, it’s too dangerous, but I kept my mouth shut.

I admitted it. Because of his short stature and physical appearance, I unknowingly continued to treat him like a child. However, he’s seventeen, no, the year has changed, he’s eighteen years old. Oh, that’s not right. That one was his age on paper, he used to claim that he was 2000+ years old.

‘I’d almost forgotten about that setting…….’

Although I am very worried, the truth is that Ash, the Demon Lord of the Abyss, is stronger than me. The twins who are participants in the quest are also friends of Ash.

There’s a steadfast determination in his eyes that wouldn’t waver no matter what I said. He’s still small and cute, but these days, he’s looking a little more grown up.

I smiled bitterly. He has things he wants to do, just as I have things I want to do, and I can’t interfere with his will simply because I’m worried about him.

But…….

“Okay.”

“……Really?!” Ash smiled brightly.

“But I need you to promise me one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Just like I said before. Whatever happens in there, you’ll put your safety first.”

Ash paused for a moment, but eventually nodded.

“I’m coming with you, granddaughter!”

Finally, with the addition of Cthugha, the group was now quite large.

“Then it’s done, let’s go, waeooong!” Meeum took the lead and jumped into the red door on the wall, and I followed behind.

“Uh, this space……?”

That was my first reaction upon entering the red door. There was a huge tree in the middle of a clearing surrounded by dense trees. It looked similar to the space inside the store. However, on closer inspection, it was different. There were no other objects in sight, such as Corong’s barns, fields, or roasters. The sky was no longer a clear blue sky, but a dusky dawn. In addition, the tree in the middle of the field looked just like the World Tree, Yggdrasil, but without the coffee fruit.

“Mieum, what’s that? Where are we?”

“Don’t mind it. That’s the shadow of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, waeong!”

“Shadow?”

Mieum continued her explanation as she passed by the huge tree, “The World Tree, Yggdrasil, is the source of this world. When it grows sufficiently large, it sustains and protects this world, and its shadow leads to the other worlds, waeoolg!”

….Huh?

“Wait, you’re talking about the coffee tree, right? That seems pretty important to explain.”

“Kyagyagyaolg! Of course it is important!” Mieum, who shouted like that, turned her head quickly. In the meantime, she made a very bewildered expression, as if she had been feeling uncomfortable all this while.

I was ignored by a cat…….

Ash lightly patted my slumped shoulder. As expected, you are the only one…….

“…..I thought you already knew.”

“…….”

Now that I thought about it, in this group, everyone is a non-human being except me. I’m at a disadvantage because I’m the only human with normal common sense in this party.

In my haste to change the subject, I blurted out the question that had just occurred to me, “If it’s that important, is it really okay for me to have it made into coffee and then sell it?”

After all, although the system was the one who made me do it, I had roasted, brewed, and sold a huge amount of the tree’s fruits.

“It’s okay, meow! That’s what it exists for.”

“Really?”

“The fruit of the World Tree is a fragment of the Causality. The more coffee the people of this world drink, the stronger the world becomes.”

“Kkyuuu!” Lime chimed in from the side.

“What if I didn’t want to be a cafe owner? What if I wanted to be a chicken restaurant owner or a convenience store owner?”

“In that case, the appearance of the World Tree would have changed according to the situation, waeong…….”

“Hmm…….”

So, depending on my choices, the World Tree could have produced chicken powder or nori seaweed powder instead. I’m the type of person who unconsciously wants to press the skip button when the worldview explanation comes out, so I’m not sure…….

Anyway, the point was, it’s good to drink a lot of coffee, so let’s get this done quickly so we can come back and have coffee.

“It’s this way, waeolg!” Mieum pointed to a spot in the forest surrounding this space.

[The starlight of Fomalhaut illuminates the path.]

A bright star rose in the early dawn sky. As the starlight shone down, the forest parted to the side, revealing a narrow path. At the end of the path was another gate. Our destination. We walked down the path, following behind Mieum.

And when we reached the gate…..

“This is as far as I can go.”

A roar of flames blazed in the air. I spun around and saw Cthugha, who had just been with us a moment ago, in a blur.

“….Cthugha?” I instantly reached out to grab him, but he turned into a spark of flame and slipped out of my grasp.

“Meooow … it was inevitable. Cthugha is a being who has his own domain, but this one, before us, is the realm of the Demon God ████.”

“…….”

“Cthugha cannot affect the domain of another. It’s the Law of the World, waeoong!”

“Kyuuuuu…….”

Cthugha nodded slightly. Then, he must have come all this way because he was worried about me. One last time, before the summon was completely lifted, Cthugha spoke.

“Be careful, granddaughter!”

I felt a pang of loneliness. I watched the flames fade away before I turned my head and took a deep breath.

Ahead was the gate into the unknown.

Let’s go. To reach whatever lies ahead, be it the Gate or the future, and save the one I love.

***

Ki Yoohyun closed his eyes tightly and opened them.

In front of him, there were no more brown eyes filled with worry, no more soft tousled hair. The realisation of that fact alone made him feel empty.

Beyond the gate, there was a passageway bathed in red light. He had just moved through the gate when the system alerted him. His body was pulled down into the red light. He could not see the floor. There was only down, down, down.

[System Error: Unknown]

[System Error: Unknown]

He attempted to read the information around him, but only flashed error messages were displayed and nothing was read. Since they’re beyond the scope of the system, its influence must be diminished.

There were no other objects. Only the red etheric particles lead them deeper. This was the true appearance of the abyss that was hidden by the high walls of the Great Dungeon Abyss.

Ki Yoohyun glanced at his surroundings. He could see the figures of the quest participants he had travelled with. Despite their bewilderment, their faces showed determination. When he spotted a small girl with silver hair among them, he remembered what had happened a few days ago.

A few days ago, Choi Lona had suddenly appeared in the Cheongna Guild, accompanied by her brother Choi Cedric and Kim Jina. Han Yiseong had panicked and tried to chase them away. After all, he hadn’t had the best relationship with Choi Cedric, who was a member of C&L in the past.

“Hunter Choi Cedric, you are not allowed to enter other people’s guilds without permission. It’s strictly illegal to invade someone’s personal space with a teleportation scroll.”

“Ah, that’s right…….”

Choi Lona calmed down the embarrassed Choi Cedric and stepped forward.

“I’m sorry, it was an emergency.”

“Uh, huh?”

As Han Yiseong flustered, Choi Lona flew through the air and landed in front of Ki Yoohyun.

“You know, right? The quest will begin soon.”

“…….”

Ki Yoohyun tilted his head slightly, as if inviting her to elaborate further.

“And Hunter Ki Yoohyun, you’re already worried that you might fail again … no, you’re convinced that you’re going to fail.”

“…….”

He affirmed in silence. Sometimes, after hearing a question, you realise that the answer has been in front of you all along. Ki Yoohyun thought that this time, too, he would fail to stop the Demon God’s resurrection and end in failure. There was no clear evidence for this. Yet it wasn’t something he could dismiss as a mere hunch. He felt an unexplained sense of foreboding, as if he had been doing the same thing over and over again.

“But you must not miss this time.” Choi Lona spoke in a firm voice, “A world that repeats itself countless times. Among the many futures, only this one can lead to the future.”

“Why…..?” Ki Yoohyun only asked that, pushing aside the countless questions that filled his mind.

The girl smiled softly, “Hehe, you actually know the answer, don’t you? Think about it, who is the one who changed your life this time.”

Han Yiseong was about to politely chase the girl away, but her words caught him off guard. His eyes widened when he glanced towards Ki Yoohyun. A smile appeared at Ki Yoohyun’s face.

“So, this time, don’t give up.”

……………

“Argh!”

A scream snapped him out of his flashback.

As they were being dragged through the gate and into the crimson passageway, Jijon had lost his way and was heading in the wrong direction. Ki Yoohyun chuckled bitterly and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him back into place.

“Uhh, thank you so much.” Jijon shook his head, looking a little dazed.

“Be careful, this is a dangerous place where anything can happen no matter how strange it is.”

“Yes, yes! I will do my best. Even if it means sacrificing my life!”

“Your life is precious.”

“……”

“You must return home.”

“Yes, yes!”

Eventually, they reached the end of the passage. An intense burst of light engulfed them.

In the blinding light, Ki Yoohyun recalled the soft brown hair, a pair of twinkling eyes, and the kind smile that had been so endearing to him.

Thus, this emotion that flooded his heart was…….

…..an unbearable longing.