SSS-Grade Cafe in Front of The Dungeon

The subtitle at the bottom of the screen read:

‘The Miracle Dungeon Plant, Mandragora Dungeon Ginger will make your immunity in winter go UP’

— Today, we’re here with Dr. Lee Chorok to talk about how to boost one’s immunity in the winter. Dr. Lee, are you claiming that Mandragora Dungeon Ginger is a great help in boosting immunity?

— Yes. It’s a dungeon plant, which is even better in this weather. Some people mistakenly think that dungeon plants are monsters, but rest assured, they’re not!

— What kind of plant is Mandragora Dungeon Ginger?

— It only grows in Class 1 clean dungeons and requires special nutrients to thrive. It’s so rare that it’s nicknamed the Golden Diamond. It’s also considered one of the top five colored plants in dungeons…….

“…….”

Note that there was no such thing as a Class 1 clean dungeon. The same applied to the nickname Golden Diamond, and I have never heard of anyone choosing the top five colored plants in a dungeon.

In other words, the description was quite far from reality. Anyway, Lee Chorok continued her explanation, emphasising the keywords that were popular on the health show.

And then, the home shopping segment started right after the broadcast. Lee Chorok was the guest again. She skillfully sold a whole Mandragora Dungeon Ginger kits that can be easily grown at home.

— Order now! You’ll get a free MBTI-specific dungeon plant test booklet as a free gift! This is a special offer that can only be received on this broadcast!

Including an appropriately consumerist remark.

“Huh….”

Well, what could I say…….

I heard that Lee Chorok loved dungeon plant so much that she closed her fruit shop and went back to her dungeon plant farm. However, it seemed that her experience in running a fruit shop gave her an amazing business sense. The recent incident with the Sephiroth branches had brought a lot of attention to the Mandragora Dungeon Ginger. Lee Chorok seized the opportunity to sell them, and was willing to do whatever it took to popularise the dungeon plant.

‘She might be the type of person who can survive anywhere, unexpectedly…….’

Anyway, it’s an amazing feeling to suddenly see a face you know on television. I changed the channel again, admiring Lee Chorok’s business prowess.

This time, it was the morning drama that Mieum wanted to watch. A crucial scene was in progress on the screen. The moment the heroine fought back against the villain, I found myself dropping my spoon and watching intently.

And just as the cider behind the sweet potato was about to burst….

— Breaking news!

“Waeooong! That’s too much!”

Mieum jumped up and protested. However, the breaking news heartlessly cut the drama and changed the screen to the news.

More than that, what’s with the sudden breaking news? Has a rift opened up again? Those damned dungeon!

Unexpectedly, it was not a dungeon breaking news, but a press conference. Soon, the main character of the press conference appeared and took a seat in the center.

But that person….

“Yoohyun-ssi…..?”

The murmur grew louder and then slowly died down. When the surroundings were quiet enough, Ki Yoohyun looked straight into the camera and declared.

— Yes, I’m Muwon, the number one Ranker in Korea.

“….ough, cough!”

Don’t be surprised, how can you I be surprised at this?!

***

“Ugh … tsk…..”

In the middle of nowhere.

A black, sticky liquid pooled on the floor. The murky liquid bubbled and boiled, slowly taking the shape of a man. First arms, then legs. It then formed a face and opened its eyes.

But the form was far from complete. The arms were outstretched and the legs didn’t walk properly. More than half of its face has melted away, leaving only its left eye intact.

The final blow was more powerful than he expected. So much so that it took a while for his body to recover.

“Ugh … tsk …. hahahahaha!”

But the thing, Aeon, was ecstatic. His poorly formed mouth twisted open and he grinned.

How long had he waited for this moment?

Aeons of time …. indeed, through aeons of time, he had finally reached this point.

The first time, so long ago, so far away, he could barely remember it. Aeon sought to destroy the world by resurrecting the Demon sealed in the Great Dungeon, the Abyss.

Knowing that destruction was inevitable, the System ██ ███ rewound time. It trapped the world in an infinite loop, endlessly repeating the same time periods to avoid its predestined destruction.

However, rewinding time throughout the universe takes a lot of power. The System annihilated the parallel universe it created with each rewind, leaving only one universe.

As a result, time ceased to be a line and became a closed loop with a beginning and an end. Within the loop, enough time has passed for Aeon to go mad.

‘Hateful system ██ ███ … but it is I who will win.’

His existence will now be completely extinguished, but it doesn’t matter. Individual egos mean nothing in the face of an equitable destruction.

Aeon thought for a moment of the incarnation of Asmodeus and narrowed his single eye. How foolish of him to think he could be a separate entity, an imperfection that would soon be destroyed.

But even that was unimportant now.

Aeon looked up at the sky. In a low voice, he chanted the incantation to sacrifice himself.Aeon looked up at the sky. In a low voice, he chanted the incantation to sacrifice himself.

【…….】

Bubbling…….

Black bubbles rose and his body began to melt away. It was the bubble of a disintegrating being. After a few minutes, the bubbles subsided and Aeon dissipated.

And at that moment.

Clouds began to gather over the skies of the Great Dungeon <Abyss>.

***

Page Fourteen: What Does Slime Live On?

Needless to say, Ki Yoohyun’s announcement sent the Hunter World, and by extension, the entire country, into a frenzy.

It’s one thing to say that you’ve seen Muwon, or that you’ve heard rumours about who Muwon is, but it’s quite entirely different to actually announce his identity.

At first, there were some negative reactions: what have you been doing, it’s suspicious that you suddenly revealed your identity, Muwon is actually a secret weapon developed by Korea, he’s a virtual hunter (?), etc……..

However, this negative reaction did not last long.

That evening, a special broadcast was aired directly on prime time television. It showed the past and present of Muwon, with sensitive content cut out in moderation. Judging from the fast release of the broadcast, it seemed that Hunter Han Yiseong of the Cheongna Guild had prepared in advance.

Mass media is still an effective tool. In the first place, Muwon had a good image, so the reaction was almost … let’s just say that it was the number one VOD download for a month.

For reference, the broadcast was narrated by Oh Seoho.

‘A wicked person…….’

Naturally, the aftermath of this incident also affected Cafe Rieul. However, it was in a different direction than I expected.

After the commotion of the reveal died down a bit, Ki Yoohyun visited the cafe again as a customer. After taking his order and exchanging a few words with him, I heard these words behind me.

“As expected….”

“Somehow the atmosphere is…….”

“I knew from the start that those two would be like that…….”

The words puzzled me, and when I turned around, they quickly pretended not to see me. However, it was by no means an offensive gaze.

Rather, the emotion I felt from their behaviour was, so to speak, … envy?

Shortly after meeting Ki Yoohyun, I remembered a resolution I had made when I first met him and discovered he was a newbie hunter.

“If Ki Yoohyun becomes famous in the future, I will put a sign on the store saying “It’s the coffee that Ki Yoohyun drank” and sell coffee at a high price”¹.

Ki Yoohyun became famous, and my coffee was sold at a high price even though it had nothing to do with him. As a result, my resolution was halfway fulfilled.

As time passed and people got used to the presence of the number one Ranker, their attention shifted elsewhere.

If the number one Ranker, who had been hiding his identity for so long, suddenly came to the forefront, it must be because something happened. In support of that speculation, there were rumours that several guilds, led by the Cheongna Guild, had gathered for a meeting.

As such, people were keeping a close eye on the No. 1 Ranker’s every move and the world around him….

That was not directly related to me.

At this time, I was faced with another problem.

Time passed and it was now mid-February. Spring was still a long way off, but the winter chill had finally subsided.

That day, I woke up early to feed the animals in the house, who were always eager to eat.

First, I loaded Mieum’s bowl with cereal, then added coffee berries to Lime’s bowl. I was just about to grab Ash’s and my share of breakfast when it happened.

“Kkyuu!”

Pooh! Lime spat out the coffee berries instead of eating them.

“Lime, what’s wrong?”

“Kkyuu! Kkyuuu! Kkyuuuu!”

Pooh, pooh, pooh! The coffee berries, with their flesh still intact, clattered to the floor.

“Kkyuuu!”

Pooh! The coffee fruit that Lime spat out hit me in the forehead.

“….Lime?”

Lime’s condition was strange. Not only was it not eating, but it seemed to be trying to communicate something. I quickly pulled out my slime language translator and tried to decipher what Lime was saying.

“Kkyuuu! Kkyuuuu!”

‘What does slime live on?’

“Huh? Lime, what?”

“Kkyuuu! Kkyuuuu!”

‘What does slime live on?’

‘What does slime live on?’

‘What does slime live on?’

“Wait a minute, Lime, you can’t be….”

Repeating itself over and over, Lime spat out the coffee berries.

It was as if this kind of food could satisfy its physical body but not answer its higher existential questions.

……Lime has turned into a liberal arts slime!²

1. This is from Chapter 19↩︎
2. I giggled. You knew, before this, Lime sometimes saying some random maths nonsense (like in Chapter 67 when Rieul first using the slime translator and that’s why Rieul sees Lime as “science slime”. Now here when Lime asked her “What does slime live on” (basically asking what slime actually eats), Rieul commented that Lime is turning into “liberal arts (humanities and social sciences, opposite of science) slime” because she’s asking her that kind of existential question) ↩︎

Wow, it’s been a long time so I wrote the reference on footnotes in case you guys already forgot about it.