Chapter 140

He said the last thing he remembered was drinking a cup of Super Buff Coffee and drifting off to sleep. Upon hearing that he was about to be eaten by a monster branch, he bowed to me.

“I’m sorry, Owner-nim! I didn’t realise the great significance of the original Buff Coffee!”

“No, you don’t owe me an apology, ahaha … I’m glad you’re okay.”

“From now on, I will be a regular customer of Cafe Rieul for the rest of my life.”

For the rest of your life is a bit much…….

After making the burdensome oath, he introduced himself, “Oh, right! You can call me Cheese Pizza.”

“Why is everyone using nicknames? Uh, do I also have to use my nickname?” To break the ice, Lee Yoomi declared that she would also think of a nickname.

There’s also another Hunter, who used a nickname instead of his real name, Jijon….

“Umm, ahemm….”

After I showed off my outstanding performance earlier, he awkwardly avoided eye contact. When I looked at him, he even quietly moved to a corner. I felt awkward because I was an acquaintance of his sister Kim Jina (who had suffered a lot because of Jijon), and there had been some incidents.

It’s hard to relax in such a chaotic atmosphere. What would help in such a situation?

“Hey, guys, would you like some coffee?”

It’s coffee.

“Coffee? Wow, that’s great!”

“Are you giving it to me too? Thank you!”

HingHungHong and Cheese Pizza welcomed my offer immediately.

“Uh, coffee in a dungeon? I’d like a cup, though.” Lee Yoomi was confused, but she agreed.

“……Coffee what, what do you mean.” Jijon’s response was ambiguous, but since he wasn’t against it, let’s call it a yes.

All right, it’s settled then. I sat down and pulled out a simple coffee-making kit from my inventory. I could use my skill to brew an espresso right away, but I decided to take my time with the moka pot, as I didn’t need to rush and wanted to take my time.

I filled the moka pot with water and coffee grounds and placed it on a plate lit by Cthugha’s ring. Soon there was a boiling sound and a strong smell of coffee. It was a comforting smell.

“Haa ……. it smells good.” Lee Yoomi lightly admired.

It had been a long time since I had made coffee so leisurely. The last few days I’ve been busy closing the cafe early and working an undercover part-time job, and now, as you can see, I’m in a dungeon trying to save people.

It’s weird. I obviously love coffee, which is why I wanted to open a cafe……

…….

Hmm, let’s not think about it. I’m going to conclude that I’ve been on the wrong career path from the start.

It feels like it’s too late to think about this, so let’s just make coffee. I brought the moka pot to a moderate boil and switched off the heat. A few moments later, the espresso was ready.

Now, what should I make? I pulled up a list of recipes and let my mind wander.

Luckily, I hadn’t tidied up my inventory in time, so I had plenty of ingredients. If I had to choose, I’d go for something rich and heavy, but none of the options available to me were particularly appealing.

“Hmmm … ah, right.”

I remembered that I could develop new recipes, a feature I hadn’t used much and had completely forgotten about.

Okay, let’s make that.

In a milk pitcher, I whipped up some fresh cream, milk, and hazelnut syrup. I poured it into a cup, poured the espresso on top, and voila! The espresso was layered on top of the thick, heavy milk.

As soon as the coffee was ready, a notification popped up with a ringing sound.

[Congratulations! You’ve created a new recipe.

You can add this drink to your own recipe. Please register the name.

Name: ]

I appropriately named it Cream Latte and set a price, then a status window popped up.

[Item: Cream Latte (★★★☆☆)

Status: Good (Time remaining: 00:30:00)

Effect: Enhances skill power by 100% for one hour.]

It’s a nice little effect to have while we’re wandering through the dungeon. It smelled delicious, a combination of savoury milk fat, bitter coffee, and fragrant syrup. I handed the finished coffee to my companions, one for each of them.

“Wow, thank you. It’s so nice to be able to drink such a proper coffee inside a dungeon.” Lee Yoomi smiled brightly as she accepted the cup.

“Huhuhu, you’re giving me, a fool, coffee like this too…….”

“You brat, repay her by being a regular for life.”

“Yes!”

This was the reaction of Cheese Pizza and HingHungHong. They all loved the coffee and had full satisfaction bars above their heads.

And the last one, Jijon…….

He looked at us, pretending to be uninterested and had no expectations, but his eyes were on the extra cup of coffee. Haha….

I brewed more espresso with the moka pot, making Jijon’s share of coffee and mine.

“Here, Hunter Jijon, have a drink too.”

“……Thank you.” Jijon accepted the cup with a shy but happy expression.

“That coffee, take a look at the status window.”

“Status window? Huh?”

He looked surprised. I had customised the coffee for him, albeit slightly. I just swapped out the syrup for sugar, but I was prompted for a new name, so I typed this in.

[Item: Supreme Latte1 (★★★☆☆)

Status: Good (Time remaining: 00:30:00)

Effect: Enhances skill power by 100% for one hour.]

Aside from our encounters in the tutorial dungeon and the black slame incident, we didn’t know each other directly. He’s the brother Kim Jina, but it’s still awkward between us. Could it be said to be a gesture to lighten the mood in my own way?

When he saw his name in the status window, Jijon was overjoyed.

“You understand my great intention to become the Supreme of the Hunter World!”

He then began to tell the story of what had happened to him so far. It wasn’t like there was anything else to do over coffee, so naturally everyone was listening.

The punishment given to Jijon due to the previous incident was suspension of his Hunter ID for 6 months. At first glance, it doesn’t seem like a big deal. However, it’s quite a severe punishment, as he will not be able to join a guild during that time and will not be able to earn money as a Hunter.

While his Hunter ID was suspended, Jijon continued to volunteer his time to handle rifts and do other volunteer work without pay. At the same time, it is said that he thought a lot about the responsibilities and roles of a Hunter, who has power.

“Hohoho … you could say I was completely reborn.”

That’s great, but after hearing his story, I still had a question.

“But how did you end up here?”

“Where there’s a crisis, there’s a hero!”

“What?”

“Now is the time when the Supreme Hero awakens!”

“….Yes?”

His story went like this: last night, Jijon returned home from a successful community service activity. However, his sister, Kim Jina, wasn’t home, and the television was showing breaking news about people being turned into monster branches. With such a big crisis, it’s up to him, the aspiring Supreme Hunter of the Hunter World, to step up and solve it!

Solving this case brilliantly will improve his image. The goal is … yes, let’s aim for the Hunter of the Year in 20××.

Jijon heads straight to the location of the incident in the news, the warehouse of Super Buff Coffee. However, by the time he arrived, most of the monster branches had already been defeated. That’s why he couldn’t do much. He looked around to see if there was anything he could do to help … but then when he opened his eyes, he found himself in a dungeon.

It was a story of pure goodwill and heroism mixed half and half.

Sometimes it seems like people have changed, but they haven’t changed much in the fundamental aspects….

Regardless, I think it’s great that he was driven by a desire to help people.

After telling us this story, Jijon, who had completely shaken off his sullenness, laughed heartily and said, “Hahahaha! You said you were a friend of Kim Jina’s, right? I know I’ve been unintentionally bad before, but trust me, I’m a new Jijon!”

And with a bold gesture, he drank the Supreme Latte in his hand. Gulp, gulp…….

“Haha, this coffee is as perfect as its name, Owner-nim!”

Tiring. Just as he finished emptying the glass, a system notification rang.

[The target loves your coffee.

You made a deep connection with coffee.]

Uh, this notification couldn’t be……

It was hard to resist my curiosity. I immediately tried the skill.

‘The Bond of a Cup of Coffee.’

[The Bond of a Cup of Coffee (B)

Details: (Lv.1) You can copy the skill of the person who drank the Ultimate Coffee. (00:05:00)

Cooldown: 24:00:00

Available for: Choi Yichan, Kim Taewoon, Kim Jijon.]

As expected. Jijon has been added to the available target. With the skill update, I decided to take a quick look at his skills, as I was curious to see the skills he used in the tutorial dungeon, namely the Supreme Swordsmanship and Supreme Iron Fang.

But…..

[Sword Strike (C)

(Lv.1) Slash twice with your sword. There’s a certain probability (0.5%) to cuts three times with one slash.]

[Fist Swing (C)

(Lv.1) Swing your fist at an enemy with twice the power of a normal attack. There’s certain probability (0.5%) to triple the power.]

Hmm, that’s not there, is it? No matter how much I looked at the skill list, there was no word ‘Supreme’ in it.

“Uh, Hunter Jijon. What are the names of the skills you used earlier? Supreme Swordsmanship and Supreme Iron Fang?”

Is there something wrong with my question? Jijon looked greatly embarrassed.

“They’re, uh, well, something similar to that.”

“Okay.”

“Should I call it a fighting cheer? With the intention of promoting the Supreme Swordsmanship, the sword method I invented … well, it’s something like that, ahahaha!”

‘Was he just shouting…….’

[You Did Well (B) /Unacquired/

(Lv.1) Stops time for 5 seconds.

※ This is a skill that has not yet been acquired.

How to acquire: Do 100 good deeds. (Current Progress: 78)]

This is one of those things I don’t need to interfere with. He’s doing good deeds to become a hero, so he will get the skill soon enough.

As we talked, our coffee cups were soon empty. Now that we were properly rested, we decided to explore the dungeon again.

“Wow, the coffee effect has increased the range of my detection magic!” Lee Yoomi, who had used her detection magic again, pointed to one of the crossroads, “This way! There are several people this way.”

We immediately started walking in the direction she pointed. After running down the pathway for a while, there was a door at the end. We were finally out of the long corridor.

We can join the others. We can go home!

Ki Yoohyun, Choi Yichan, and Ash are safe, right? I hope they’re okay. The people I’ve travelled with so far are great, but I’m still anxious to be separated from them.

I couldn’t wait to meet them, so I opened the door right away.

“Ugh……?!”

But beyond the door was pitch darkness. Before I knew it, I couldn’t see the floor or the corridor I had just run down, and there was only darkness everywhere.

No way, this feeling is…….

I felt like I was being sucked somewhere, then I opened my eyes again.

An unfamiliar space unfolded.

【You’ve finally reached this point, the Eligible.】

“……It’s you again.”

【I hope you’re at least a little bit happy to see me.】

Golden hair, dressed like she just stepped out of a fantasy RPG.

The last person I wanted to meet was in front of me.

The Saintess.