SSS-Grade Cafe in Front of The Dungeon-Novel

Page One: A hundred cups of instant coffee

When I died, the resentment came.

If I had known I would die like this, I would have ordered chicken yesterday.

I’ll try the hotel buffet that I’ve only seen through blog posts every day.

I should have used my annual leave and go to a trip.

I should’ve stopped working overtime.

I should’ve quit the company……!

It was really unfair to die in vain after working from morning to night every day.

Huh? I felt something strange after grumbling to myself for a long time.

I’m dead, so why is my consciousness this clear?

This cozy and soft feeling wrapped around my body was like the bed blanket in my room.

Perhaps you will see flashing memories like a phantasmagoria the moment you die. Does a phantasmagoria mean that you can feel the texture so vividly?

Furthermore, I couldn’t sleep because the cell phone alarm rang loudly next to me. I waited for the phantasmagoria to end quickly and lose consciousness, but my mind became clearer and clearer.

“Oh, it’s noisy….”

I finally woke up at the sound of the alarm. I could see the bed, the desk, and the messy interior of the room.

I, I went back to the time before I died.

***

It is said that it is the age of the Hunter.

Hunter, a capable man who exerts transcendent power through ‘awakening’, first appeared in the world 20 and 3 years ago.

And they defeated monsters pouring out of dungeons from all over the world and restored peace to mankind.

The world raved about these saviors.

Children envied Hunter more than celebrities and sports stars. The largest Hunter Guild, called the Big 3, has a market capitalization that exceeds any large corporations, and every move of the top ranked hunters is in the news every day.

If you become a hunter, you can earn a lot of money and fame.

Many people dreamed of becoming a hunter instead winning a lottery, and the educational institution established by the state to systematically train hunters recorded a competition rate of thousands to one.

However, it has nothing to do with me.

I am not awakened, nor am I knowledgeable about hunters or dungeons.

[The veiled A-class dungeon attacker – Big 3 Guild remains silent]

[The salary of attacking a dungeon is a billion won?]

[Preparing for retirement with the legendary item farming!]

Those articles didn’t interest me at all. I don’t care who attacks the dungeon. I have to go to work!

The company that I worked for from morning to night was a place where I can earn monthly salary.

Overtime pay? Of course there’s no such thing. No meal. No annual leave. No weekend pay. I repeated this life of working overtime every day and barely getting on the last train to go home.

I was unlucky that day. On that day, I was working overtime and on my way to catch the last train.

By the way.

“Ugh, Aaaargh!”

“It’s Dungeon! Someone, report it to the Dungeon Management Office!”

“Miss! Be careful!”

In front of the subway station, a rift, or a hole in the space that leads to a dungeon, suddenly appeared.

When dungeons occur, the Dungeon Management Office blocks the general public from entering, and then cooperates with each guild to attack the dungeon. This is because if the dungeon boss is not defeated within the time limit, a dungeon break will occur and monsters will pour out from within.

It is common for dungeons to appear like this, so people evacuated in unison and contacted the authority.

The problem is that the rift happened at my feet. When I noticed it, my feet was already stepped on the rift. I was sucked into the dungeon.

I don’t remember exactly what happened in the dungeon. It might have erased from my memory because I was terrified. It was certain that I was chased by monsters and ran away.

Anyway, I entered the dungeonas a normal person and died at the hands of a monster. I remember vividly the eerie feeling when the monster’s front foot stabbed me.

Dungeon death on the way back home from the company. I can’t believe there’s such an unfair life. I grumbled that I could not close my eyes in peace because of anger. Grumbled is a mild expression, in fact I poured out numerous abusive language.

But when I opened my eyes, I was on the bed in my room. I went back to three years ago.

“Eh?”

At first I thought I was dreaming, then I was happy, and finally I was skeptical with this situation.

Why did I come back to life? I’ve never heard of someone coming back to the past after being killed by a monster in a dungeon. It also goes back to three years ago.

What does this mean? Is there anything I need to do in this second life?

Eh, I don’t know.

Nevertheless, it’s a great gain. Maybe the Dungeon took pity on my miserable life and gave me one more chance.

Anyway, I decided to live my second life differently.

Bye to a life full of slavery suffocated by overtime work!

Goodbye. I throw away all the shackles and restraints of this world and go for freedom!

***

It took less than a few days to resign and organize my luggage.

Perhaps it was regrettable that the slave escaped, the boss tried to prevent me, but I left without even listening his words. I had survived to the fullest, but I couldn’t devote my youth to a black company like this.

The next place I headed was The White Silver Guild.

When I opened the door of the guild chief’s room, I saw Kwon Jiwoon looking through the documents.

It finally hit me. I’m really back in the past.

I called him with a warm welcome.

“Oppa, long time no see.”

“What?”

Kwon Jiwoon looked at me with eyes like he has seen a ghost.

“What’s going on all of a sudden? Did you have an accident?”

What? Did you notice that I have returned? Don’t you think it’s the same as usual? Do I have any marks on my face?

“Ah … No, nothing happened?”

“I was wondering why you suddenly giving me goosebumps. You never call me that.”

My affectionate heart broke in an instant.

Yeah. I never did. That sarcastic tone made me realize that I had returned to the past.

After my parents died when I was young, I lived with my uncle, and I grew up with my cousin Kwon Jiwoon.

We live separately now, but we stayed in the same house until we were 20. As there are no other siblings, we’re like each other’s only family.

It sounds like we’re pretty close to each other, but in reality, we’re not. Rather, our relationship was close to awkwardness.

Kwon Jiwon is the deputy guild leader of The White Silver Guild and an A-class healer. His alias is Eunrang.

He ranked as the 12th healer in the country and he often appears on television, due to his striking appearance, he is also often featured in Hunter magazine. It was all thanks to Kwon Jiwoon’s fame that The White Silver Guild, which is smaller than the Big Three, was widely known. In addition, since my uncle, the guild leader, went missing a few years ago, he has been acting as the guild leader.

As such, Kwon Jiwoon was insanely busy. No matter how close I was to him when when we were young, I had no choice but to feel distant from him as an ordinary person.

“Don’t show any interest in Hunters or anything like that, and just stay as a normal person.”

It was what Kwon Jiwoon often said when we met occasionally. Did he think I’d ask him a favor?

That’s why I got a job right away to show that I was doing well, but I didn’t know it would be such a black company.

‘Now that I think about it, it was pointless….’

I watched Kwon Jiwoon sitting across from the drawing room.

Kwon Jiwoon looked a little younger than I remember. I’m 23 years old now, so he’s … he must be 25 years old.

Due to the influence of the healer skill, the hair that turned silver was very conspicuous. Although he has a colorful appearance, his expression is cold, and his eyes are slightly dark. He looked tired.

“I heard you quit your job.”

He asked me after I looked at his face but didn’t say anything for a while. Maybe someone from the guild has told him the news.

“Let me know if anything happens.”

As if he were tired, Kwon Jiwoon sighed softly.

There is no reason to go around in circles with boring greetings. I got straight to the point.

“It’s not like that, but there’s something I want to do after I quit the company.”

“What is it?”

“I’m going to open a cafe.”

Even though I said that, I thought Kwon Jiwoon would naturally oppose it.

What is it like to be self-employment? It’s said that 100 people start and 99 people fail. In particular, jobs such as cafes with low entry barriers were often go bankrupt if they were set up without thorough preparation. If it’s Kwon Jiwoon, there’s more than enough reason to go against it.

However, there was a reason that I wanted to open a cafe and nothing else.

How to persuade him? As I was thinking about such things, Kwon Jiwoon made an unexpected statement.

“Sure? There’s an empty spot on the first floor of our guild building. Let’s open a cafe there.”

“…Huh? No, there….”

“Why? You don’t like it? I can start emptying it tomorrow.”

On the first floor of The Silver White Guild headquarters, it was a downtown area among the bustling streets, it was a place famous for high land prices in Seoul now.

This area where ₩50,000 is an average price for a bowl of soup is a place where no matter how much coffee you sell, you cannot afford the rent. Usually there was a bank for hunters or a store that sold expensive hunter supplies.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about the rent. I have no intention of taking money from you.”

Kwon Jiwoon added as he guessed that it was the money that caused me to panic.

I waved my hand in a hurry. I’m not advertising that I’m a cousin of the deputy guild leader, and it’s burdensome to open a store in that location. We’re not that close, so I don’t know why he’s suddenly making such a proposal.

Furthermore, I already had a certain place in my plan.

“No, I’ve already decided the location.”

“Really? Where is it?”

“It’s on the No. 16 Dungeon Gate 3 Street, Jung-gu, Seoul.”

“Huh? That place is….”

Kwon Jiwoon frowned at the address I told him.

“It is in front of the great dungeon?”

“Yes, I’m going to open a cafe in front of the dungeon.”

I declared with a wide smile.

***

No. 16 Dungeon Gate 3 Street, Jung-gu, Seoul

In other words, it was an address that pointed to the entrance of the great Dungeon, Abyss, in Jung-gu, Seoul.

Twenty years ago, this space appeared in the middle of Seoul and a large dungeon appeared.

This tower-shaped dungeon continued endlessly high, unlike the instance dungeon that was created from rifts. If you attack one floor, a gate that leads to the next floor appears.

And in front of this dungeon was also the place where the cafe run by my late grandmother was located. Of course, back then, it wasn’t a questionable address called ‘Dungeon Gate 3 Street’, but an ordinary shopping street.

The surroundings were all demolished, and even though it wasa downtown Seoul, there was only a lonely silence there.

That’s why no one is going to live in front of a dungeon, with uncertainty that something will happen. Unless that person is like my grandmother.

After the appearance of the great dungeon Abyss, the surrounding shops received government compensation and demolished their buildings, but my grandmother remained there. She kept her shop until the day she passed away, despite her children stopped her because it was dangerous.

It was the reason why I decided to open my cafe there.

When I was young, whenever I went to my grandmother’s cafe after school, she always made me a cup of hot coffee. The sweet taste and cozy space was definitely a precious memory.

In the past life, I left my grandmother’s cafe empty because I was busy working at a company. The fact was weighed on my mind, and I wanted to restore it to the comfortable space it used to be.

In fact, there is also a realistic reason that it does not cost much money.

Although it was old, the building of my grandmother’s store remained intact. I’m thinking of living on the second floor of the store, so I don’t need to pay not only the store rent, but also my living rent. It’s the perfect place to open a cafe with a small amount of money.

The last reason is that there are no people and it is a quiet place.

After opening a cafe, why am I looking for a place where there are no people?

That’s right. I’m returned at best condition, but of course I don’t have any intention to work hard.

Most of all, I wanted to rest. In a cozy and comfortable cafe, just like when my grandmother was there.

I don’t need to have many customers. It is enough to sell coffee to hunters who sometimes want to enter the dungeon.

A life where you work less and rest more. My goal is YOLO life.

***

After cleaning up my living room, I headed to my grandmother’s cafe.

The abandoned building was very old. I couldn’t see where the sign had gone, and there was a creaking sound every time a door was opened.

There was a lot of preparation that I need to do before the cafe can be opened.

The first step is cleaning.

It took a whole day to sweep and wipe the dust inside. It was difficult, but I felt much more comfortable than when I was working at the company.

As I got tired, I naturally gravitated towards coffee, but right now there was only instant coffee. I looked around as I drank coffee mix in a paper cup.

“What is this?”

But there was a square television in a small room inside the store. Was it used by my grandmother?

Out of curiosity, I looked around. However, there was no company mark on where it was made, and there was no power button.

“…Whoa!”

At that time, the lights turned on and letters appeared on the screen.

……………………..

[Checking your qualifications]

[We’ve confirmed that you’re qualified]]

[You have finally come, the child who inherited the blood of the right person. I am the one in charge of the system, have been waiting for you…..]

I don’t know what you mean. It’s too long. I pressed [SKIP].