“He used to drink coffee at that cafe often, but I guess he drank a lot in one sitting to win the bet with me.”
“…….”
“Caffeine shock? Is it perhaps a case of caffeine addiction?”
“Well, I don’t think it’s caffeine addiction.”
Caffeine addiction will cause my head to hurt like hell and I will get exhausted, but there’s no symptoms of caffeine poisoning that would prevent someone from waking up.
“Maybe…….”
After draining the last of the coffee from his cup with a grim expression, HingHangHong stood up, “Thank you for listening, I feel better after talking to you. I shouldn’t be like this, I should visit the hospital.”
He bowed and headed for the door with a weak gait. I saw him off.
“That’s a troubling story.”
“Uaahh, what?!”
Oh Seoho spoke right behind me. I was really surprised. I was about to ask him to move away.
Boom! Something exploded. It was a pen in Oh Seoho’s hand.
If this man hadn’t just stepped aside, it would have been him, not the pen, that exploded.
Unfazed by the unexpected explosion, Oh Seoho opened his arms towards the entrance, “Hello, my best friend!”
“Don’t bother Rieul-ssi and get lost.”
Ki Yoohyun barged inside.
“Welcome, Yoohyun-ssi.”
I had sent a KakaoTalk message to Ki Yoohyun as soon as Oh Seoho appeared earlier. Judging by the time, he came as soon as he saw the message.
“My best friend! It’s been a while, but you’re still as violent as ever.”
Still? I just heard an explosion? Does this mean that this has happened more than once? How can you call that a friend? I looked at Oh Seoho with suspicion. Oh Seoho was unaffected and laughed nonchalantly.
“I know you’re embarrassed to be honest about your feelings for this Hyung. Hot, hot, hot!”
“……I’m sorry, Rieul-ssi”
“I accept your apology.”
“More than that, just now, that customer walked out with a dark look on his face, did something happen?” Ki Yoohyun said without so much as a glance in Oh Seoho’s direction. It was a perfect block.
“Ah, about that.”
“……guys, do you happen to be unable to see me? That’s weird, there’s no way you can’t see someone this handsome?”
“The noise is making it uncomfortable for us to talk, shall we move?”
“Best friend, stop, I won’t even be breathing, so please, huphh!”
“Ahahaha….”
There was a bit of commotion, but I managed to tell Ki Yoohyun what I’d heard from HingHangHong earlier.
“The most suspicious one is Super Buff Coffee.”
At the end of the short story, that was the conclusion that Ki Yoohyun came to. I agree with that conclusion.
“He drank coffee and fell into a sleep from which he didn’t wake up … could such a thing be possible?”
“We don’t know yet, I will have to do some research.”
“I see.…”
“There’s just one problem, though.”
“What?”
In the Korean Hunter World, those at the top are given as much power as responsibility. As such, it wasn’t impossible for us to simply close the cafe and investigate in the name of ‘Muwon‘. However, it’s still unclear exactly how big Sunghye Enterprise, the company behind Super Buff Coffee, is. It was possible that we would only catch the small fish and give the real culprits a chance to escape.
That’s definitely a problem. The entire Cult will not be rooted out only if we deal with the small and medium-sized pieces. Next time, they can set up another company and do something similar. If we don’t deal with the real culprits, we will be back to square one. We need to gather evidence one at a time and dig down to the roots.
Therefore, Ki Yoohyun explained that he is looking for a way to approach without raising suspicions.
….it can’t be helped.
One more question remained. If it’s true that HingHangHong’s friend fell asleep after drinking that cafe’s coffee….
“What’s the purpose?”
“What?”
“The purpose of doing something like this. Is it to make money by selling coffee?”
“That’s unlikely. There’s a lot of money invested in this business. No matter how high the price of coffee is, it will take a long time to recover the investment.”
“If not money, what do they gain by selling that coffee? If the side effects are discovered, the sales will stop sooner or later.”
“The only possibility I can think of is that … they’re trying to put Cafe Rieul out of business.”
“Eh, no way. There’s no way they have a grudge against our cafe. this is such a remote place.”
That’s not true.
That’s not true … right?
“Then…….” Ki Yoohyun thought for a moment, then spoke again. He sounded unsure, “Maybe their purpose is just to get people to drink the coffee.”
“Hmmm……”
Ki Yoohyun and I put our heads together and immersed ourselves in our thoughts. There was too little information. Any answer we came up with would only be a vague guess.
“What are you guys so concerned about? You can just infiltrate them, can’t you?” Oh Seoho suddenly intervened.
“I have no intention of discussing it with the enemy …. huh?”
Oh Seoho is the endorsement model for Super Buff Coffee. An enemy official. Or, to put it more dichotomously, someone on the side of the enemy.
However, Ki Yoohyun casually talked about the banning process in front of Oh Seoho. If he was really on the enemy’s side, he would have kept his mouth shut.
“Don’t tell me..…”
“Hohoho, we’re still in talks to be the endorsement model. The contract will be cancelled soon. I have no intention of promoting such an unknown thing under my name.”
“Waeoong, waeooong (as expected! I was counting on it)!”
After being knocked down by merciless spoilers, Mieum, who had just completed a full lap of the revolving door of stop-being-a-fan and becoming-a-fan-again, cheered.
Oh Seoho, please shake hands with my cat later.
“I went out of my way to get information about that place, haha!”
“And the result?” Ki Yoohyun asked briefly, not even looking in Oh Seoho’s direction.
“The regular employees are just salarymen, they don’t know anything. But the inside is heavily secured, so I couldn’t get in.”
“……that means you failed.”
Undaunted by the cold stare, Oh Seoho coughed and cleared his throat, “Anyway, I’m just saying, investigating from the outside can only take us so far. Wouldn’t it be quicker to infiltrate and uncover evidence or a purpose?”
“Be quiet, Hunter Oh Seoho.”
“Ack! Best friend, why are you calling me in such a distant tone?”
“…Haaa.”
Oh. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen Ki Yoohyun look genuinely annoyed at someone.
Hang on. That’s a good idea?
Oh Seoho is right. Investigating from the outside has its limitations. Ki Yoohyun said he’s investigating the cafe, so we’ll get some information eventually, but it’ll take time.
I’d rather…….
“Okay, let’s sneak in!”
Ki Yoohyun’s eyes widened in surprise at my sudden declaration.
What I propose is a fake job. If we became a part-time worker at the Super Buff Cafe, it would be easier to see what the atmosphere is like inside.
“If it’s a part-time job, I can introduce you. They’re looking for people to work.”
Oh Seoho readily agreed. All right, I think I’ll be able to sneak in smoothly.
However, Ki Yoohyun was not amused by my proposal.
“I can understand what you’re suggesting, but behind them is the Cult.”
“…….”
Oh Seoho narrowed his eyes slightly without saying anything. Does he have a connection to the Cult? It wasn’t the kind of reaction I expected to see from him.
Ki Yoohyun spoke again, “It’s dangerous, so I’ll go.”
“That’s not a good idea. Who else here has worked in a cafe besides me?”
“…….”
“…….”
After a moment of silence, Ki Yoohyun refuted.
“Rieul-ssi’s face is known as the owner of Cafe Rieul. If you visit as a customer, they may not know, but if you become an employee, you’ll 100% get caught.”
“…….”
Oops. I hadn’t thought of that at all. I was flustered.
Still, I was too concerned about that place to leave it alone.
HingHangHong’s friend in a deep sleep, the suspicious golden bottle, the engraved mark on the secret door….
Worst of all, they changed the meaning of the buff coffee I make with love! As the owner of the original buff coffee cafe, this is unacceptable. I want to participate in the investigation somehow.
Surprisingly, it was Oh Seoho who gave the answer.
“You don’t have to worry about that, best friend. If you have the power of Illusionist Oh Seoho, everything will be fine!”
Hahaha, Oh Seoho burst into laughter.
***
“But isn’t this a bit much?”
“No. Not at all! This is perfect.”
Oh Seoho showed me the mirror. Pink curly hair, green eyes, long eyelashes, a mole under my eyes, and a flashy outfit that made me look like I could play in a metal band right now….
In the mirror, I saw an unfamiliar reflection of myself.
Ki Yoohyun, who was next to me, had a similar situation.
Shiny blond hair, blue eyes, piercings, and a gorgeous outfit that looked straight out of a fashion magazine. His beautiful, well-made face remained the same, but he was so splendid that I didn’t recognise him as the same person.
It was Oh Seoho’s illusion.
Perhaps because of the lack of manpower due to the number of newly opened branches, we got a part-time job at Super Buff Coffee just with Oh Seoho’s introduction. For the time being, I decided to close Cafe Rieul in the early afternoon and work four hours in the evening.
Many things have happened since I returned to the past, but I never imagined that I would have to work two jobs. Closing my own store and working part-time in someone else’s store. Life is really unpredictable.
Today was my first day at work, or rather, the first day of infiltration mission. After closing the cafe earlier than usual, Ki Yoohyun and Oh Seoho arrived. Oh Seoho decided to change my appearance with an illusion so that my identity wouldn’t be discovered. As a gesture of goodwill, Ki Yoohyun also got changed to match me.
I trusted the confident Oh Seoho to do the job…..
The result was a blond Ki Yoohyun and a pink-haired me.
