Chapter 156
“Excuse me. I haven’t finished tidying up the cafe yet── Huh, Master?”
She stops in her tracks, as if she thought we were customers at the cafe.
“You’re working hard, aren’t you?”
I ask with a mischievous grin, and she nods quickly.
“Oh, yeah, I know how to operate the machine and I’ve got the recipe down just like I learned yesterday.”
Judging by the smug look on her face, she really did stay up all night studying.
“Well, can I ask for some coffee then?”
“Sure! Anything you want! What do you want? The menu is in the back!”
True to her word, I look behind me and see a large black board with a menu written on it in pretty letters.
“Huh?”
I recognize the familiar handwriting on the board. Apparently, it was written by Alessia.
“I’ll have an extra shot of Americano. You guys?”
I look back to see the other kids’ menus.
“I’ll have a cafe latte with a double shot of syrup!”
“I’ll have an Einspanner (hot espresso topped with cool whipped cream).”
They reply as if they’re already familiar with ordering at a cafe.
Just then, Jin-woo, who has been breezing past me, stops in front of the latte stand and says in a low voice: “Espresso, please.
“I’d like an……espresso, please.”
……That asshole.
I’ve heard stories of him acting cool and getting into trouble at the recipe development club before, but seeing it in front of me makes me sick to my stomach.
……I really want to punch him in the face.
“It will be done right away.”
But Latte answers with a business smile, as if she’s been informed in advance.
In response, Jin-woo nodded as if nothing was wrong.
“If it’s an espresso from the lady herself, it’ll be sweeter than any honey in the world.”
“──That lunatic.”
“……Not good.”
I hear the cold voices of Se-ah and Young-jae from behind me.
So it wasn’t just me after all.
If I were a part-time cafe worker, I would have asked them to get the hell out of my way, but Latte just nodded and smiled, as if she was going to get over it.
“Okay. Okay, I’ll get it ready for you right away.”
She clapped her hands together.
“All right, guys. Shall we get to work?”
-Yuck!
-Yuck!
At the same time, something popped up all over the shop.
“Eek!”
A startled Se-ah screams as she jumps back.
“Eh, what is it! A rat? Oh, no. A hamster?”
“Yes! They’re our proud hamster employees.”
-Gross?
The hamsters shake their heads at Se-ah’s reaction.
Yes. This is the best business idea and plan I’ve ever devised.
A hamster cafe.
“Here we go. Go!”
At Latte’s command, dozens of hamsters begin to work feverishly.
Hanging on to the levers of the machines, pushing the cups with their bodies, and performing their roles in unison.
It was like watching an orchestra, and they were actually moving to the beat as if they were tap dancing.
It was an unreal sight.
At this, both cheeks of Se-ah, who had just screamed, turned red.
“It’s cute…….”
“They are, aren’t they? I’m so proud of them.”
Late responds to Se-ah’s favorable reaction with a smile.
“Why don’t you have a seat? I’ll bring it to you in a minute.”
There was a seat near the terrace on the first floor with just the right amount of sunlight, so I walked over with the kids.
“Eugene, what the hell is going on? Working hamsters? This doesn’t look like a normal cafe to me……?”
One of the expected questions came out of Young-jae’s mouth.
Of course they would have questions about hamsters serving coffee in a cafe.
“Is that a big deal? As long as they’re cute, that’s all that matters.”
A smile spread across my face as I realized that I had gotten one of my expected responses.
After all, cute animals and cafes are a deadly combination, right?
In fact, Se-ah is smiling from ear to ear as she looks at the eager hamsters.
“This cafe. I think I’ll become a regular…….”
……though it seemed to work too well.
“Boss, I’m curious, too. That beautiful lady calls you Master. What kind of relationship does she have with the boss?”
Jin-woo asked, looking at Latte, who, unlike Se-ah, was diligently supervising the hamsters.
“Latte? Well, she’s an employee from Hanwol Group who came to work for us.”
“An employee?”
Really. How many people moved yesterday to get Latte into the academy.
It was something Jin-woo probably couldn’t even imagine.
Not to mention the fact that she was once wanted for being an escaped villain.
We went through so much trouble in the secretariat to launder her past and create a new identity, I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t heard it from Alessia this morning.
“And……is an Awakened who can control rats. Her abilities are unique, and that’s why she’s working with me.”
It wasn’t a lie.
In the days to come, Latte was going to use the hamsters here to gather stories and information about the Academy by ear and bring it back to me.
And here’s the kicker.
Latte informants are cute.
Humans are creatures that can’t help but relax around cute things. Soon, every student in the academy would be flocking to this cafe.
There’s only one cafe in the academy, plus it has hamsters as employees.
This is a plan that can’t fail.
“Whoa!”
Se-ah squealed, suddenly looking at the floor, then pulling her cell phone out of her pocket and pointing it at the floor.
“Oh my God, that’s so cute!”
Where the phone’s camera was pointing there was a hamster lifting a tray with coffee on it with both hands.
“Hey. Isn’t it heavy?”
Se-ah snapped a photo and carried the coffee on the tray to the table.
Latte, who had followed the hamster, smiled reassuringly.
“My ability is to strengthen rats, so I’m sure they’ll be fine.”
“Aaah~ That’s good to hear, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Mr. Eugene. Can I post this to the school community?”
“To the community?”
“Yes! If it’s a cafe with such cute kids, I’m sure we can rack up some likes, and it’ll make a great hit of the day!”
Originally, I was going to post a separate ad post later on…… but I thought it would be better if it blended in naturally, as Se-ah said.
It would be viral marketing for now so I nodded and said.
“Well, the more people in the cafe, the better, so I don’t mind.”
“Okay, I’ll post it right away!”
As if on cue, Se-ah ducked her head and gave me an eager thumbs-up.
Could I have predicted this?
What this one post would do to the academy.
* * *
The next morning as I drove to the academy as usual, I could only stand there dumbfounded as I witnessed a strange sight.
“……What is that?”
There was a huge line of people with no sign of where they were coming from.
I didn’t dare to join the procession, as it was a bit far from the path to the main building, but after walking alongside it, I finally realized where they were headed.
[Cielo Notturno]
It was my cafe, officially open as of this morning.
“…… What the hell is this?”
I expected a moderate amount of people to be interested, but this many people lined up to go to the cafe, on the first day?
That’s when I noticed a familiar face in the line at the cafe.
“Senior?”
“Who else……eh, junior?”
The vice president of the student council at Seoul Hero Academy, Julie Rodman. It was her.
“Senior, what are you doing here?”
“What am I doing? I’m standing in line for coffee.”
“Don’t you have a state-of-the-art coffee machine in the student council room?”
My class, which had won first place in the class ranking contest, had a coffee machine, so of course the student council would have one.
“How can you compare that to the coffee here, junior, don’t you check the community?”
“What?”
When I questioned, not really knowing what she was talking about, she sighed and showed me the screen of her phone, which she had already pulled up.
It showed a video of a hamster bouncing around the cafe, eagerly serving coffee to other customers.
Underneath, she read the post’s content and the countless comments.
[Subject: ★Has anyone been to the new cafe in the Academy today?]
[Subject: ★Has anyone seen the new cafe in the academy today? It’s a cafe run by an awakened person who has the ability to control animals, and those cute little hamsters make coffee and serve it.
They use the best coffee I’ve ever had, and the owner is so cute and pretty, I hope other people go there too. Seriously]
[ㅇㅇ : Ying? The academy has a cafe?]
[└Writer : I heard that the seniors have been petitioning to make a cafe for a long time. Isn’t that why?]
[ㅇㅇ : It doesn’t look like it’s a franchise, so it must be the owner’s hobby. The hamsters are really cute.]
Other than that, most of them said, ‘The coffee is delicious. The hamsters are cute.’
“……This definitely sounds like a hit, but will I be late if I stand in line like this?”
“I think it’s a little close, but……will it work out somehow?”
……Uh-huh.
“Follow me.”
“Huh? Where are you going?”
“To get coffee.”
I push my way through the line and get a lot of stares.
They must have thought I was a thief.
“‘Oh, please, boss!”
But at the word “boss,” people turn away or start fiddling with their phones again.
“Aren’t you busy?”
“The kids are working, not me.”
The hamsters certainly look more skillful than they did yesterday.
“Hey, senior, what are you going to drink?”
“Huh? Americano, hot.”
“Latte bring her one Americano.”
“Yeah! Got it!”
With that, my order, Latte disappears into the building.
“Hey, junior, what’s the situation?”
“Nothing much, it’s just that I’m the boss.”
“What? This is your place?”
“Uh, yeah….”
Just then, Latte came out from inside with a hot Americano.
“Here’s your Americano! Enjoy!”
I realized I must have ordered a single Americano, but there were two, one hot and one cold.
“Two?”
“Yes! One is for you!”
Judging by the color of the iced Americano, it was made from the same recipe I ordered yesterday.
“Okay. Thanks.”
I took the two coffees from Latte and handed the hot one to Julie.
“Here. An Americano.”
Julie takes the coffee meekly, looking at me with a blank stare.
“I was expecting to be served by……Hamster, but maybe it’s not so bad to be served by a junior.”
“What?”
“It’s nothing, but why are you bringing me all the way to the cafe to give me coffee, do you have a favor to ask?”
I thought she was just someone who wanted to go to the cafe, but Julie was pointing out the obvious.
She was the vice president of the student council, and she immediately realized my intention, so I answered her question like it was nothing.
“I was wondering if you could set up a meeting.”
“……meeting? What, like a date?”
“Nothing like that, I just need to talk with the clubs supervisor. I’d appreciate it if you could set up a meeting.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, but……Okay, I’ll ask her.”
Okay, that’s how it works.
That’s the official route to phase two of taking over the academy.
This meeting was crucial for future business.
‘Well, I gave her coffee and sent her on her way, I’m sure she’ll be fine.’
……She’ll take care of it, right?
