NOVEL ONLINE FREE 29.
29.
“I’ll leave them in your care today as well.”
“Of course. You don’t know how well they’re getting along these days. Sehun has become more talkative than before.”
“That’s good to hear. Still, please contact me immediately if anything happens.”
“Yes. Don’t worry.”
On his way down after leaving the children with the teacher who came for the lesson, Jian kept looking up at the second floor as if he still had lingering feelings.
Perhaps because of the conversation he had with Sehun yesterday, his mood felt strange, as if something was weighing on his mind.
He kept spacing out, looking at the ceiling while wiping cups or grinding coffee beans, feeling like something was about to happen.
“Boss, are you tired?”
“Ah… I’m sorry.”
It happened again just now. After hurriedly finishing opening preparations and successfully serving the first customer, he kept making mistakes he normally wouldn’t.
It was a take-out order, so he needed to put a cup holder on the ordered drink, but his hands fumbled. As he kept hitting the table next to the cup holders instead of grabbing one, the customer who couldn’t bear to watch any longer said something.
He apologized and gave a bag of snacks sold in the store as a service, with an apologetic heart.
To clear his mind, he made an iced Americano with two extra shots, inserted a straw, and was taking a big sip when the jingling bell sound rang unusually loud throughout the store.
“Hey, I’m treating you to coffee today!”
“What’s the occasion? You always just mooch off others.”
“I got a B-grade weapon drop in the dungeon yesterday. They say you should treat others big at times like this to avoid bad luck.”
“If that’s the case, you should be buying alcohol, not coffee, you punk.”
A group of hunters entered, making a noisy commotion. The hunter with a huge build at the front spoke in a boastful voice, and the slim man standing next to him scolded him.
Their tone seemed quite close as they exchanged rather rough words.
“Did you forget how much an Americano costs here?”
“Ah, right.”
Listening to the customers’ conversation, Jian realized he still hadn’t lowered the coffee prices. He had only thought about lowering them soon but hadn’t actually modified the price list.
The man who had been complaining about the murderous coffee prices nodded and put on a docile expression.
Even ordering the cheapest Americano, with six people in the group, it would be 600,000 won. Even with a 10% discount, it was still an enormous price.
“Boss, six iced Americanos, please.”
“But I want a strawberry latte?”
“We’re keeping it uniform. I’ll pay with the Hunter Pay.”
“Alright. Just a moment.”
The man easily ignored one of his companions’ words and waved a smart watch with a card-shaped icon in front of Jian.
Jian entered the order into the POS system, completed the transaction, and placed four espresso shot glasses at once.
In the cafe filled with the rich aroma of coffee, the hunters, without even sitting down, stood with their arms crossed, discussing the dungeon raid that would happen soon.
“How many hours did we rent today? Was it three hours?”
“No, two hours.”
“What? Why only that much?”
“We lost the later time slot to those Jiri bastards. Try to remember. You were fuming about it yesterday too.”
“We really need to catch those bastards and teach them a lesson someday.”
“Cut it out. The guild master said if we cause trouble with the Jiri guys one more time, it won’t end with just a simple punishment.”
“Ugh, it’s infuriating.”
While listening to the hunters’ conversation, Jian filled each cup in the row with ice.
Jian remembered hearing about the Jiri Guild. They were ranked around 25th in the Korean guild rankings last year, he thought. With hundreds of guilds currently in Korea, it was quite a large guild.
‘I think it was the Seorak Guild that didn’t get along with the Jiri Guild.’
Glancing at the combat uniforms the hunters were wearing, he could see a mountain-shaped patch on the shoulder. It seemed there was also an ‘S’ letter above it.
His hands became busy pouring water and adding the extracted shots. He thought that if the Jiri Guild had reserved the later time slot, some of them might visit the cafe early.
And Jian’s prediction was right.
“Who do we have here? Isn’t it Jurassic?”
“What are you saying? It’s the guy with the messed-up face.”
Jian pressed his lips tightly. The big guy called Jurassic indeed looked like a dinosaur statue, and the man attacked for having a “messed-up face” truly had freewheeling features.
The hunters, who had exchanged rough words from their first meeting, began to emit a murderous aura. The air in the cafe suddenly became stifling.
Jian swallowed a sigh, quickly put cup holders on the cups, and raised his voice.
“Your iced Americanos are ready.”
He was seeing both of them for the first time today. There were other cafes nearby, so he didn’t understand why they came to this expensive place to create a fearful atmosphere.
Even if they wanted to fight, he wished they would do it outside. Sending an earnest gaze to the hunter who had paid for the coffee earlier was of no use.
By now, both sides were facing each other in the narrow cafe aisle.
‘I’m really going crazy.’
For a while, people had mistaken Jian for an A-rank hunter and excessively watched his reactions when entering the cafe, but he had never been disturbed like this while working.
Perhaps because the rumors had died down over time, Jian seemed to be of no concern to either group now.
Jian watched the hunters with an uneasy gaze. He was considering whether he should take out his phone and contact the Hunter Management Bureau.
So far, they were only exchanging verbal attacks, but while Jian was hesitating, the dinosaur-like hunter finally activated his skill.
“Densitas.”
The hunter’s visible skin began to turn dark green. His pupils also split vertically like a viper’s.
“So you want to do this now?”
The provoked opponent also seemed to use a skill as a blue light enveloped his entire body. Jian tilted his head back, looked at the ceiling, and let out a deep sigh.
Hunters causing disturbances was a regular news item whenever there was a chance, but it was troublesome when it happened in his cafe.
What if a reporter came looking for a story and discovered Sehun? The child’s appearance had something unique about it that made it hard to forget once seen.
What if, by some chance, that reporter knew someone connected to the person targeting Sehun?
Once he started assuming the worst, his thoughts branched out in unpleasant directions.
Jian clenched his fists. If only he had a skill related to ‘binding’. The only attack skill he had was one that tickled the opponent to death.
He could control it just enough to restrict movement, but he hadn’t even tried that on monsters yet. So it would be even more difficult to use on people.
“I’m going to rearrange your features properly today.”
“I’ll reshape your skull for you.”
Just as the fearless hunters were about to start fighting in earnest, not knowing that Jian was trying to find a way to subdue them without killing them…
Beep beep beep―!
Warning sounds erupted simultaneously throughout the cafe. One hunter with particularly developed hearing covered his ears, collapsed to the floor, and shuddered.
The source of the noise was the watches and phones worn by the hunters. Not only noise, but red signals were also ominously flashing everywhere.
“What’s this? An A-rank sudden dungeon?”
“And it’s an explosion dungeon!”
“This is crazy. How much time until the dungeon opens?”
“One minute!”
“What? Are those Management Bureau bastards telling us about an A-rank dungeon opening only one minute in advance?”
The hunters who were causing a ruckus trying to fight each other just moments ago were now in chaos. The power of an A-rank dungeon was enough to instill fear in the hunters.
Jian also searched for his phone, which was ringing crazily. The hunters’ shouting was converted to text on the phone screen.
/[Dungeon Management Office] May 30th, 11:07 AM, A-rank sudden explosion dungeon expected to appear within 100 meters radius of Seoul Gangdong-gu Slime Dungeon! Nearby residents are urged to evacuate immediately! ―URGENT: 1 minute left until the dungeon opens!/
Similar messages followed from the Central Disaster Headquarters and the Hunter Management Bureau. Jian took off the apron he was wearing and threw it aside.
Jian’s cafe building was also within the 100-meter radius of the Slime Dungeon. An A-rank dungeon meant that the monsters emerging from it would range from B-rank to A-rank.
In other words, only hunters of B-rank or higher could properly handle the monsters. Knowing this, the hunters who had been in a war of nerves also turned pale.
“Where do we evacuate to?”
“Let’s get outside for now! If we stay inside the building and encounter a monster, we’re screwed!”
From the looks of it, only the leaders of each group seemed to be B-rank, while the rest were all C-rank, with some support-types mixed in among the combat-types.
Jian also passed by them and headed for the second floor. The front door was already open, and the art teacher, looking quite distressed, was coming down holding the children’s hands.