CH 5

“Really? How?”

“Do you know who I am?”

I looked at Mieum. Shiny tricolor fur, pricked ears with long whiskers, and round feet with pink paw.

“You’re a cat.”

However, it seems that the answer was not what she wanted. A meow punch flew right away.

“Not an ordinary cat! I am the seventh agent to enforce the system.”

“Wow, that’s great. You’re so cool.”

“Do you understand now?”

“You’re really cool. It’s amazing. Woah.”

In fact, I didn’t know what she meant, so I praised her without putting any soul in it.

When I scratch her chin gently, her expression becomes drowsy. She is undoubtedly a cat.

“Ahem.”

“Mieum knows all the difficult words. Great.”

“Meoooong! You’re making fun of me!”

I got caught.

I had to give the cat another bowl of cereal to soothe it.

Mieum spoke again, with her belly bulging and cereal crumbs attached to her mouth.

“Anyway, I’m here to help you. If you complete the quest given by the system, you will receive a good reward.”

“Huh? Quest?”

Was there something like that?

When I heard those words, there was a quest mark on one side of the status window indeed. I opened the quest window.

[Tutorial Quest: Coffee is My Dream

A thousand miles starts with one step.

Let’s learn to use the skill, starting with the simplest coffee.

Brew 100 cups of Coffee Mix: 0/100

Rewards: Experience (100 EXP), 50 rubies, Americano recipe, ???]

Uh, brew coffee mix? That mixed coffee? Instant coffee?

I didn’t want to.

I can’t believe I have to make another 100 cups of coffee mix that I’ve drank when I was at work.

I turned my eyes to the reward item with an unwilling expression. Items other than experience points, rubies, and recipes were displayed as ‘???’ and were not visible.

I understand the experience, and Ruby is the money used in Hunter Market. However, I was a regular citizen just now, so I don’t know how much 50 rubies are in Hunter Market.

“How much is 50 rubies?”

“It is 100,000 won per ruby.”

I tried multiplication in my head. The currency is ₩100,000 for 1 ruby, then if it’s 50 rubies … ₩5,000,000.

5 million won?

Suddenly, my eyes lit up and my enthusiasm surged.

I have enough money in my bank account to cover my living expenses for the time being, but it was never enough.

I can’t believe I can earn 5 million won from 100 cups of coffee mix.

By simple calculation, it would be ₩50,000 won. Even if you sell coffee in front of the Big Three guilds, it would be impossible to make such a profit.

In a word, it’s a great gain.

I immediately searched the warehouse and found what I needed. Fortunately, I was able to find an electric pot, a paper cup, and a few leftover coffee mixes at the bottom of the box.

I was about to make coffee with the intention of fulfilling the quest conditions right away, but Mieum stopped me.

“Wait, don’t brew as it is, use your skill to brew it.”

“Huh? Use my skill?”

She must be talking about the skill called ‘Cafe in My Hand‘.

Still, the coffee mix is finished by just pouring hot water. Do I really need to brew while using skill?

“Just try it, meow.”

Yes, this quest has 5 million won at stake. If it’s for 5 million won, it’s something I need to follow.

‘Cafe in My Hand.’

I chose coffee mix from the recipe list that appeared in the translucent hologram window. A subtle glow shone in the order of the recipe. The hand moved naturally along the light.

“Okay, it’s done.”

“Take a look at the coffee.”

“Huh? It’s just a coffee mix.”

First, as Mieum said, I stared at the mixed coffee. Then, the status window of the coffee mix appeared in front of my eyes.

[Recipe: Coffee Mix is complete.]

[Item: Coffee Mix (★★★★☆☆)

Status: Good (Time Remaining: 00:03:00)

Effect: 100% faster recovery. (01:00:00)]

“Uh, this is….”

There was a peculiar phrase below the description of the 3-stars coffee mix.

“If you create it using your skill, you can give the drink a special effect. That is the real power of your skill.”

It’s not a potion, but I can give an effect to coffee, that’s….

“….I’ve never heard of something like this.”

“Why! Of course you’ve never heard of it! You’re the only one who can do it.”

In conclusion, that’s a pretty good skill? I thought about that for a while.

[Status: Good (Time Remaining: 00:02:59)]

[Status: Good (Time Remaining: 00:02:58)]

[Status: Good (Time Remaining: 00:02:57)]

………………

The remaining time in the status window was gradually decreasing.

It’s a waste to leave it in bad shape even though I made it at the best. I took a paper cup to my mouth before the coffee got cold.

Oh, was a coffee mix this delicious…?

The bitter coffee flavor and the sweetness blended softly in the mouth. Even the last drop made me feel regretful, and the moment I put it all in my mouth, a notification sounded.

[Brew 100 cups of Coffee Mix: 1/100]

The notification reminded me of the cafe management game I used to play.

The gameplay was consisted of catching monsters and obtaining ingredients, making money by making menus according to the recipe, and using that money to get new recipes. The players also can decorate the store and hire part-timers, it was quite fun.

I didn’t get paid for it, but I worked really hard and got to the top of the rankings.

However, I was hacked and eventually gave up the game. I was left in shock when my precious character greets me in an empty shop wearing only underwear.

“What’s wrong with you? You look like you’re cursing in your head.”

“….Nothing.”

For a moment, I prayed that the hacker got a future full of misfortunes.

Anyway, what this system does was reminiscent of cafe management games a lot. Hunters say the system is similar to a game, is it like this?

Complete the quest, get the next quest, and each time you get a ruby, that is, cash.

I know, I understand.

I know, I know.

I know how it feels.

Since it’s already 5 million won from the first quest, the amount will go up further for the next quest. Then….

This, won’t this make me rich soon?

I felt my heart pounding as I imagined the golden future.

All right, brewing 100 cups of coffee mix is nothing. I’ll hurry up and get 5 million won, get the next quest and get rich.

“Huahahaha….”

First of all, I decided to use all 10 bags of coffee mix I found in the warehouse.

‘Cafe in My Hand!’

‘Cafe in My Hand!’

When I poured mix coffee into a paper cup, Mieum intervened next to me.

“It would be better not to make that much.”

“Why? It’s good to finish the quest quickly.”

Without listening to Mieum’s warning, I poured hot water at the moment when the golden light flashed.

However, things didn’t go the way I expected.

***

My heart thumped and my head throbbed. I rolled the blanket over to the top of my head, but no sleep came, and my mind was clear.

I stared at the contents of the notification window in front of me.

[Status Abnormality: Caffeine Addiction

You drank too much caffeine.

Let’s use coffee wisely.

Time Remaining until release 02:58:34]

[Time Remaining until release 02:58:33]

………

[Time Remaining until release 02:58:21]

Save me.

***

Three days passed after meeting Mieum at my grandmother’s shop and awakened.

I opened the quest window and checked the contents.

[Tutorial Quest: Coffee is My Dream

A thousand miles starts with one step.

Let’s learn to use the skill, starting with the simplest coffee.

Brew 100 cups of Coffee Mix: 10/100

Rewards: Experience (100 EXP), 50 rubies, Americano recipe, ???]

Unlike my ambition to complete the quest immediately and receive 5 million won, the progress on the quest was slow. The cause is terrible caffeine addiction.

“Ha….”

This system counted the number of completion times after drinking the mix coffee, not the moment it was brewed. In other words, I need to drink 100 cups to clear it.

‘It’s a bit much, but I drink it all at once.’

Thinking so, I drank all ten coffee mix on the first day. And I put them in my mouth one by one.

One cup, two cups, three cups….

Nothing happened until the third cup. It just tastes sweet and restores my energy. But it was the very moment I drank the fourth cup….

“….Cough, Cough?!”

I spit out the coffee in my mouth in a strange feeling.

[Status Abnormality: Caffeine Addiction has occurred.]

Ugh, what is this? My stomach hurt, my head was pounding, and my hands were shaking. As I sat down on the chair in agony, Mieum gave me a sharp scolding.

“You’re addicted to caffeine. That’s why I told you not to make a lot.”

“Ugh … You should have told me.”

“I did, but you didn’t listen.”

“Ugh….”

I have nothing to say.

Caffeine addiction was no joke. I couldn’t even move my body due to the throbbing pain, and I couldn’t sleep.

In the end, I had no choice but to sleep motionlessly until the abnormality was resolved five hours later.

“Ugh….”

In other words, drinking more than three cups of coffee a day caused an abnormality. I don’t want to go through such a terrible thing again. It is an absolute specification.

The problem was that it will take a long time to complete the quest because I could only drink up to three cups a day. It takes about a month to fill 100 cups, three cups a day with simple calculations.

Do I have to drink only coffee mix for a month?

When I was playing game, I skipped not only the story but also the skill production and pursued quick play. It is unbearable to drag the tutorial quest for a month. This soul of a K-gamer is boiling.

I even thought about buying a recovery pill to get rid of my caffeine addiction. But when I asked Kwon Jiwoon….

“A cure for status abnormalities? Of course, there is something like that. The price? Hmm … These days, the price has gone down a little, so a bottle costs about 1 million won.”

This is the answer that I received.

“Kwon Rieul, what’s wrong? Do you need it?”

“N-no, I don’t. I’m just curious. I’ll call you later.”

“You’re not in any trouble, are you? If anything happens, tell me right away.”

“Ahaha … it’s really nothing.”

I’m doing this to get a quest reward of 5 million won, I can’t drink recovery potion worth 1 million won.

Moreover, the effect of the skill ‘Cafe in My Hand‘ is ‘when making drinks in the store, the level of perfection is increased‘. In other words, if I leave this store, the skill is invalid and the retention time is also short. It’s difficult to give the coffee to people far away.

All that was left was for someone to come to this store and drink the coffee mix I made.

Dungeon Gate 3 in front of the great dungeon where no one passes by, this cafe is at its 16th street!

[Next]

Translator’s Note:

I changed my mind. I’ll just use ‘Coffee Mix’ from now on.