CH 105

I opened the window.

The cold wind blew in relentlessly. The stone wall of the Great Dungeon Abyss, which always looks dreary, greeted my eyes. It is still the same lonely view where there is no convenience store nearby. The store was well-located in the desolate 16th Street, Dungeon Gate 3.

This is my morning routine these days. Due to the incident where the entire store was taken to the dungeon a few days ago, the immobility of this property has been my concern.

Sure, I met Cthugha and Pepe, solved the milk problem, and thanks to the fish I received from the spirits, I’ve had plenty of fish for several days…..

I gained a lot, but I didn’t want to go through the same thing again.

“It’s cold.…”

Ash, who just woke up in the morning, opened the door and complained in a sullen voice. I quickly closed the road window and turned up the heater.

“Eh, are you cold? I’m sorry. Right, Ash is weak, so you shouldn’t catch a cold. Sit in front of the heater.”

“….I’m not that weak.”

Although he tried to pretend otherwise, Ash did not avoid the heater. What a dishonest fellow.

“Unyaaa….”

“Kkyuuuu…..”

In the warmest place, Mieum and Lime were already stretched their bodies.

It’s really winter now.

There was also one more thing I got from the dungeon. It is the ‘Connect Anywhere ☆ Mysterious Door‘.

The name is intuitive, it’s easy to understand even for me . It means that I can connect anywhere through this door. I was curious when I received this as the quest reward, but I was busy with camping. I finally managed to bring it up now.

[Item: Connect Anywhere ☆ Mysterious Door (★★★★☆)

(※ The official name is a Personal, Space-Connected One-Way Door, but it is serviced with a familiar name to help you understand.)

It connects anywhere.

It can be installed inside the cafe. Please pay attention to the direction when installing.]

[Choose the location where you want to install the Mysterious Door and select “Install“]

I took out the door from my inventory and selected a suitable blank wall I had previewed. A message soon came up.

[Do you want to install the Mysterious Door?

Yes ☜ / No]

[Installing the Mysterious Door. Progress: 0%]

[Installing the Mysterious Door. Progress: 0.01%]

…….

[Installing the Mysterious Door. Progress: 0.02%]

It was surprisingly slow. I feel like I’m going to explode if I wait for the installation to finish.

I can’t. I’m busy preparing for the opening of the cafe after breakfast, so I’ll check it again after the business is over.

After preparing for sales, I opened the door on time. Soon, customers with faces that lacked caffeine opened the door and rushed in.

“Welcome. Have you decided on your order?”

Thus, the usual day began.

There are still many problems and concerns, but I am planning to spend a day faithful to my main job today. My main job is a Cafe Owner. If I continue caring about dungeon or whatever it is, I might as well lose my job.

“If you feel cold, I recommend this new menu, Irish coffee.”

Mundane life is precious…….

If there was one thing I was wondering about, it was Ash’s behavior.

Ash, he is so….

“Ah, I need to wipe the table … huh?”

The table was already sparkling without a speck of dust.

“Then I have to wash the dishes … huh?”

Ash, who had just finished washing the stacked dishes, wiped the water off his hands.

“Ah, that customer left his phone. I have to catch up and bring it to him … Huh, Kim Ash, where are you going?”

Ash, who hurriedly ran, returned the phone to its owner and came back to the store.

“Ash, let’s get some rest now.”

“I need to do this.”

… he worked too hard.

Originally, he was a genius part-timer, but today he moved quickly as if he were using cloning magic. The order was processed quickly, but I was worried that he might collapse.

“Ash, come here.”

“What’s wrong?”

Taking advantage of the temporary absence of customers, I half-forced Ash to sit in the chair. I put Lime on his lap and gave him snacks and coffee to completely block his action.

However, while eating a the apple jam cookie that I served as a snack, Ash flinched and looked toward the counter.

No way… is our part-time a workaholic?

I can’t let this happen. Workaholic is an incurable disease. To feel joy while jumping into the swamp of labor on his own, I couldn’t let Ash be afflicted with such a terrifying disease.

“Ash, I’m going to work alone today, so would you like to rest? Right, how about contacting Shinwoo and Shinhee? They must have missed you too.”

“….you don’t need me?”

No, why does the conversation end up like that?

Although I explained that it was not the case, Ash still had a serious expression on his face. He poked the apple jam cookies with his fork for a moment before finally opening his mouth again.

“If I do all the work by myself … you’re not going to hire a new part-timer.….”

“Huh? I don’t have plans to find a new part-timer?”

Having Ash here is already enough, and there’s no way I can easily get it just because I want to.

“What about the guy from before?”

“Who? Ah, you mean Yichan?”

“……”

He nodded his head suspiciously. He must have heard that Choi Yichan used to be a temporary part-timer.

Aside from the fact that Choi Yichan was a terrible cafe part-timer, his part-time job was almost dedicated to play with the animals.

Choi Yichan is currently being held by the Dungeon Management Office. The renewal of the Hunter’s rank and the ranking measurement were completed, but there were several procedures left.

Because of that, I haven’t heard what he was going to say yet.

“Hey, Yichan doesn’t work part-time here. There was a special situation before. Why would an S-class Hunter have a part-time job here?”

“….I see.”

“And as long as I have Ash, it’s already enough. Still, let’s take it easy.”

“Keu-ahemm! I can’t help it if you say that.”

Ash ate the apple jam cookie. He pretended not to, but I saw the corners of his mouth rising slowly.

Then the door opened again and a customer came in.

I told Ash that he shouldn’t get up until he ate all the snacks and headed for the counter. Behind my back, I could hear the animals aiming for the cookie crumbs and Ash fighting to defend his plate.

“Welcome.”

The customer was a regular who often came to our store for coffee.

“Hello. I came yesterday too, but it was a pity that the cafe wasn’t open yesterday.”

“Ahaha….”

I was actually a little worried about this.

The business has been going well lately, so there must have been customers who came when I was dragged into the dungeon. Then, they must have seen the whole store gone.

How am I supposed to explain the situation where the entire store disappeared and then reappeared? Am I allowed to say that I was summoned to the Dungeon and then returned?

Should I say that the building was demolished in a day and rebuilt in a day?

It’s unbelievable…..

However, the regular customer said this in a casual tone after completing the order.

“I heard the building was being repaired? Are the repairs finished?”

“What? Ah, yes, yes! It’s done.”

The ensuing customers had similar reactions.

“Old houses always have problems one by one.”

“In my house, the boiler always explodes in the winter.”

“I heard the water pipe was broken? I know a good repair shop, do you want me to introduce it to you?”

What’s going on here….

While the store disappeared, all the customers knew that the building’s water pipe had burst, so the cafe was temporarily closed.

Someone who has the ability to do this … there is only one person.

Tinkle, the door opened with the sound of a bell, and that one person came inside. It was Ki Yoohyun.

“Hello.”

“Yoohyun-ssi, what did you do while I was away?”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“The customers thought our water pipe had burst.”

“….Ah. Yes, I thought the problem would get bigger, so I slightly tweaked it.”

According to Ki Yoohyun, this was his reasoning: it was quite rare for a building to disappear without a rift. In order to prevent the repercussion, he used his skill in the empty space where the store disappeared to create a large-scale optical illusion effect.

The effect was to show the illusion of a store with a sign on its door that said, “We take a break due to building maintenance issues” to those who approached the store.

“It’s just a simple trick. It doesn’t work for a hunter who’s stronger than me.”

But at least in Korea, a Hunter who is stronger than Ki Yoohyun…..

… there is none.

At first glance, it seems quite amazing to be able to say, “I slightly tweaked it“.

Anyway, I’m thankful that I avoided the troublesome things.

As a token of appreciation, I decided to treat him to coffee. Since I turned on the heater, the indoor air was warm, so I wanted to drink a cold drink. I made two iced Americanos and took Ki Yoohyun to a table in the corner.

“I’ve been curious about something for a long time.”

I moistened my throat with cold coffee, then I stared at the regressor and the No. 1 Ranker in front of me. He also took a sip of coffee and made eye contact with me.

“Do you remember when we first met? When Yoohyun-ssi was standing in front of me with a very suspicious appearance.”

“…. did I look suspicious?”

“Yeah? Then, did you think that you’re not suspicious at all until now?”

“…..”

“…..”

We were briefly shocked for our own reasons.

“Ah, anyway, when Yoohyun-ssi came, I was temporarily unable to open the system window.”

Ki Yoohyun rolled his eyes. He took a sip of the iced Americano slowly. It was the reaction of a person who was obviously did something wrong.

“Don’t tell me you really blocked someone else’s system window?!”

“No, no, I didn’t. That’s not it.”

Ki Yoohyun hurriedly waved his hand.

“No matter what, I do not have that ability. The system is a unique area of each hunter and cannot be easily invaded. It’s just….”

“You did something.”

“In order to find out information about Rieul-ssi and this building, I spread the white light net….”

Ki Yoohyun, startled by my expression, blurted out his words. He shrugged his shoulders and let out a helpless laugh.

“Look, please. I told you I’m a regressor. This place was an abandoned house before the regression. I had no choice but to doubt the part that had changed from the past..”

“That … I see. Why has it changed, ahaha….”

I lifted my coffee cup and hid my awkward smile.

“In that case, this is the possibility I can think of. The system may have voluntarily blocked it to keep any information about Rieul-ssi or this store from me.”

“Is it possible for the system to do that … No, it’s possible, yes.”

I thought of the Saintess and immediately agreed.

The Saintess said she created system. It was plausible, considering her mysterious power and her tendency to intervene arbitrarily.

Then, I suddenly thought of my uncle.

As soon as he returned from the dungeon, Kwon Jiwoon investigated the disappearance of Uncle’s ability. The result has not changed. The uncle’s ability disappeared and his system window was completely inaccessible.

However, is it possible for an Awakened to become a normal person completely, not something caused by debuffs or abnormal conditions?

If Ki Yoohyun’s hypothesis is correct….

There is a possibility that the connection between my uncle and the system window was cut off to avoid someone’s surveillance.

In addition, he knew about Cthugha’s ring … what on earth have you been up to, Uncle?

‘Wouldn’t my uncle know more about my grandmother?’

Ever since I met Cthugha, I’ve been thinking about finding out more about my grandmother.

With that thought in mind, I sent my uncle a Kakaotalk message saying that I would like to see him, but….

[Uncle]

(MountainLife-Vlog) Healing Life in the Mountains After Retirement: Act 2 of Life

https://youtu.be/******

[Me]

What is this?

[Uncle]

Niece! This Big Uncle started his own YouTube

Please subscribe, like, and turn on the notifications~~

I’m glad that he’s happy…..

It’s going to be a complicated story, so I want to meet him in person and talk to him as soon as possible. Still, I guess I’ll have to wait a little while until he came back.

There were these little things, but anyway, my day went by as usual. The essence of slice-of-life, the daily life of mundane life. It was a satisfying day….

[The installation of the Mysterious Door has been completed.]

“Huh?”

….until the first Hunter opened the door and appeared.

Beyond the open door, I could see the view of an unfamiliar dungeon.