LIGHTNOVELWORLD 16.
16.
“Actually, that day a hunter came to the cafe and caused some trouble. I have a young brother, and he said some mean things to him. Then another hunter who happened to be in the cafe helped out, but it seems they embellished the story and posted it as if I did it.”
Jian mixed an appropriate amount of lies with the truth, but the hunters before him didn’t seem to believe it. As Jian’s eyes twitched, sensing something was off, the man swiftly showed him his phone screen.
“People who used insight items to prove that post was fake are posting additional proof, so the lie is gradually becoming truth.”
Insight item?
A look of dismay flashed across Jian’s face. He regretted not being more meticulous in his actions to live quietly in this world.
Who would have thought someone would use an insight item on a small cafe owner? How convincingly did that troublesome customer lie for others to use additional insight items?
As far as Jian knew, the price of an insight item was in the millions of won.
He suddenly realized how different hunters’ economic sense was from ordinary people.
Since usable weapon artifacts or armor started from hundreds of millions of won and went up to hundreds of billions, a few million won wasn’t a large amount to them.
While lower-rank hunters might not, even B-rank hunters could easily earn tens of millions of won from clearing a single dungeon.
Should he take out his hunter ID now and reveal that he’s C-rank? The hunter ID with this body’s owner “Lee Jian’s” name and face clearly stated the rank as C.
“Haa…”
Realizing it was already too late to resolve the situation, Jian sighed and rubbed his forehead. No matter how much he explained, it would all be for nothing if someone else used an insight item.
Moreover, it would be worse if this information reached the Hunter Management Bureau and they sent an investigator. For whatever reason, Jian was currently living in the body of an S-rank hunter who was in hiding with a C-rank hunter ID. At this point, the current situation of being rumored as an A-rank hunter might actually be fortunate.
Sensing the unusual atmosphere, the hunters slowly backed away from Jian. To them, Jian was undoubtedly an A-rank hunter hiding his power and living in seclusion at the cafe.
They all exchanged glances, ready to flee in case things went wrong.
“Wait a moment.”
“W-why…?”
The hunters broke out in a cold sweat at Jian’s words stopping them from running away.
“Since you’ve come all this way, why don’t you have some coffee before you go? Our break time just ended. Weren’t you waiting to come to the cafe?”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
“Come in.”
Jian turned around and entered the cafe. Sehun, who had been sitting in a chair, stood up and trotted over to Jian.
Jian lightly patted Sehun’s head, then went behind the counter, put on an apron, and washed his hands.
The hunters entered hesitantly and chose their menus while looking at the menu board. Jian quickly made five drinks and put them in takeout cups.
As he handed out the cups, one hunter took out a card from his wallet. Meanwhile, Jian swiftly changed the POS settings.
“Five iced Americanos, that’ll be 500,000 won. Oh, if you show your hunter ID, I’ll give you a 10% discount.”
“What?”
The hunter about to pay widened his eyes in surprise. He looked back and forth between the amount shown on the order screen and the menu board, chewing his lips.
If Sehun had done it, it would have looked cute, but in Jian’s changed mind, the hunter before him was nothing more than a bundle of money.
“The prices have changed starting now. All menu items have increased tenfold. So an iced Americano is now 100,000 won per cup. Of course, this price is for hunters only. I plan to charge ordinary people the same as before, 10,000 won per cup.”
“…”
Even highway robbery wasn’t this bad. Despite receiving the hunter’s dumbfounded look, Jian maintained a steady smile.
Since he was already rumored to be an A-rank hunter, he planned to charge high prices by differentiating with “Coffee made by an A-rank hunter!”
The calculation was that the number of hunter customers visiting the cafe would naturally decrease due to the unreasonable prices.
If this was the impact of being rumored as an A-rank hunter, it would be disastrous if it was discovered he was an S-rank hunter.
Even now, with only one S-rank hunter actively working, the government and Hunter Management Bureau were desperately searching for new S-rank hunters to appear.
At this rate, there was a good chance that even A-rank hunters might come and use insight items. The thought of being dragged to the Hunter Management Bureau and subjected to all sorts of harassment made him shudder.
‘That absolutely can’t happen. I’m going to live a long, quiet life. Raising cute Sehun until he grows up.’
Jian silently pressured the hunter who had frozen like an ice statue.
Although it didn’t feel good to extort like this, it was necessary to quickly spread rumors about the price increase, and these people were just unlucky sacrifices.
The hunter showed his hunter ID and paid with a trembling hand.
“Thank you. Have a nice day.”
The receipt Jian handed over crumpled in the hunter’s grip. Seeing this, Jian raised one eyebrow, and the scared hunters, while grumbling, quickly left the cafe with their coffee.
“Whew…”
Feeling like he had just escaped from a storm, Jian pressed his throbbing temples hard with his palms.
Poke, poke.
As he was inserting the store copy of the receipt into the pointed receipt holder, he felt a tickling sensation on the back of his thigh.
Looking down, he saw Sehun holding a sketchbook and looking up at him.
“Sehun, it was hectic for you too, right? Just bear with it a little longer. The number of customers will decrease soon.”
“Hyung, look at this.”
Sehun showed Jian the front of the sketchbook with a blushing face. Jian’s expression quickly softened as he saw the words written in bright red colored pencil on the white background.
“You know how to write…”
On the sketchbook was written in crooked letters, “Price increased tenfold.” The spelling was even perfect.
Although the ‘ㅇ’ was more than twice the size of other consonants and closer to a triangle than a circle, considering it was written by an immature hand, even Han Seok-bong’s mother would have been impressed.
Jian crouched down and looked back and forth between the sketchbook and Sehun’s face. His slightly chubbier cheeks were adorable.
“Who did Sehun take after to be so smart? Even the things you do are adorably cute.”
As Jian ruffled Sehun’s hair while speaking, the child’s grinning face was so cute it could be bad for his heart.
The child’s previously expressionless face was blooming with various expressions day by day.
All he had done was feed him and provide a warm bed, but seeing him write on the sketchbook to help out, Jian couldn’t hold back anymore.
He hugged Sehun tightly and kissed his cheek. The child, who blinked in surprise, soon kissed Jian’s cheek back as if returning the favor.
“I really owe my life to you, Sehun…”
All the stress he had received today washed away. As he was considering closing the cafe early and going out to play with Sehun, an unwelcome presence was felt.
“Knock knock. Could you serve a customer?”
Even after standing up, Jian had to tilt his head back to see the person’s face.
Jian’s height was 178cm. Given the difference in eye level, this person must be at least 185cm tall.
He had the best physique among all the hunters who had visited the cafe so far. Looking at his broad shoulders and arm muscles that seemed about to burst through his clothes, Jian felt intimidated and straightened his chest.
Life really is unfair. After seeing his face, which looked like it could have come straight out of a TV screen, Jian thought he had it all.
Even though the man wasn’t acting particularly threatening, there was an atmosphere that was hard to ignore. It was as if every muscle in Jian’s body tensed up on its own.
He could instinctively tell. This man was an extremely strong hunter.
“Ah, I’m sorry. But we’ve raised our prices recently. For hunters only. You are a hunter, right?”
Had this man also come after hearing the rumors? Although tense from the searching gaze on his face, Jian responded in a friendly voice without showing it. The man grinned as if amused and asked a question in return.
“Is an iced Americano really 100,000 won?”
He must have heard the customers who just left talking. Although Jian himself thought it was an unreasonable price, he steeled his resolve.
While the main customer base was hunters due to the cafe’s location in front of a dungeon, there were still some ordinary customers.
Besides, even if only a tenth of the previous number of customers came, he could earn the same amount of money, so it wasn’t a losing business at all.
“Yes. If you think it’s too expensive, there are other cafes nearby you can go to.”
“I’ve heard rumors that the coffee here is delicious, so I came from far away on purpose. I really love coffee. Give me one iced Americano, please. I’ll show you my hunter ID too, so make sure to give me that 10% discount.”