What? Dont tell me theres poison!

I rose from my seat, panicking. Around me, there were many customers drinking their ordered drinks. If there was something wrong with their drinks, I should stop them right away.

However, Ash tugged on the hem of my skirt and pulled me back into the chair.

Dont make such a fuss. Its not going to happen right away.

His calm reaction makes me calm down. I lowered my voice and asked, Then? Whats in it?

I think its a substance that affects your etheric system, though I dont know exactly what.

Does the substance have a buff effect?

Maybe. He glanced back at the coffee cup in my hand and added, Its fine for a drink or two, since it just intensifies certain etheric currents in your body. Its like an overclock, so to speak, but its not good for long term use.

Theres nothing special about the coffees status window. The system doesnt pop up any other notifications. So how does Ash know what it is? I asked him and he gave me a wry smile.

What do you think the Demon King Twilight is?

Ah.

.you forgot?

Ahahaha.

I felt a prick. Id forgotten about it because hed recently taken up a healthy hobby like making architectural miniatures, and he was friendly with the twins who sometimes came over to play.

I had forgotten that this boy was not an ordinary 8th grader boy, but the incarnation of Asmodeus.

On the surface, hes just another unfriendly teenager. Is it okay for Ash to stay in our store? Im glad I have Ash with me though.

Oops, it wasnt time to think about this. The problem is this coffee, which is believed to contain unknown substances.

Thats right, I have that thing.

I opened my inventory and took out a silver teaspoon. This is an item that I got as a quest reward for eradicating ticket scalpers last time.

At first, I thought it was just a teaspoon with 1 attack, so I didnt think much of it. Later, however, when I looked back at the status window, I was surprised.

[Item: Silver Teaspoon ()

Its just a teaspoon. Surprisingly, it can also be used as a weapon.

Type: High-Speed Short-Range Weapon

Attack: 1

Note: It will discolor when it touches poison.]

Lets read it again carefully.

[Note: It will discolor when it touches poison.]

That last phrase really bothered me.

Poison? Poison? Up until now, quest rewards have tended to be causal to future events, unless its a store upgrade.

I mean, theyre giving me something like this am I going to get poisoned? Is such a scary fate waiting on the path of the Cafe Owner?

Its so ominous. I kept this teaspoon in my inventory to avoid any mishaps that might come my way.

Fortunately, nothing dangerous has happened so far, but.

I thought Id give this silver teaspoon a try.

I dipped the teaspoon into a glass of cream mocha.

Flick. Smoke billowed out with a burning sound. I pulled the teaspoon out in a panic, and the part that touched the coffee was completely discolored.

..!

Unless this item was lying to me, it was a clear evidence that something was wrong with my coffee.

I felt my throat burn. Even though it was a latecomer, I had assumed that Super Buff Coffee was trying to help the Hunters by making buff coffee. However, now I was angry that they were using such dangerous means.

I put the silver teaspoon into my inventory and looked around quietly

I saw people drinking coffee with smiling faces. Most of them were Hunters, but there were a few who looked like regular people, perhaps theyre visiting this place due to its fame. They were filming YouTube videos or taking selfies.

There is no one who drinks then complains about abnormalities.

Ha..

Instantly, the fever that had risen to the top of my head cooled down. Im angry, but lets be as rational as possible.

Part of me wants to scream at the top of my lungs that theres something wrong with this coffee. The problem is that Im a known face, the owner of a rival cafe. Whats more, Im currently wearing a hat and a scarf to hide my face from prying eyes.

Ill be lucky if Im not misunderstood as trying to reverse viralise the rival cafe.

.

This is not a good place for a public debate. Okay. Lets just go home quietly and find a way to report this to the Dungeon Management Office or wherever.

I left the tray of untouched coffee and dessert at the exit and turned to leave.

However, a staff member, who was scanning the store with a hawks eye, saw the tray of uneaten food and approached me.

Excuse me, miss, did the menu not suit your taste?

No, its not like that.

Its bad to stand out here. To get out as quietly as possible, I shook my head with a vague smile.

We apologise for not being able to satisfy you.

The employee bowed their head, If it wasnt to your liking, Id be happy to change your order to something else, free of charge.

No, Im already full, haha.

Its burdensome. Its incredibly burdensome. There was a sense of urgency in the staff that they couldnt let a customer who was unhappy with their drink go.

Does this employee not know that there is a problem with the drink? Excessive kindness made with good intentions was hard to refuse.

If thats the case, Ill issue you a coupon, and you can come back when its convenient for you. We will do our best to provide you with satisfactory service.

No, I dont plan on coming back.

I was about to dissuade the employee, saying it was okay not to give me a coupon.

Uh, what was that?

Customer, heres the coupon Miss?

While the employee headed to the staff room to get the coupon, a brief glimpse through the crack in the door caught my eye.

I whispered in a small voice, Ash, did you see that?

Yes.

A man walked in through the back door, and the staff greeted him politely. Theres nothing particularly strange about this. However, his attire was very peculiar. He wore a long, white robe that covered his entire body and a peculiar hat. He looked like a religious man.

But theres no religion that dresses like that.

Wait, religion?

Id forgotten about it because nothing much had happened since then, but Id met this weird cult guy once.

I spoke up as if I wanted the staff to hear me, Ash, Im going to the bathroom for a minute.

What?

He was confused for a moment, but then he realised what I meant and nodded, Okay. Ill be waiting over there then.

The bathroom is over there, miss.

A thoroughly service-orientated employee pointed out the location of the bathroom. I walked in the direction they pointed, then I opened the system window in the empty hallway in front of the bathroom.

The skills Ive gained so far have come up. Among them, this is the skill I used.

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.]

Among them, I chose Kim Taewoon, the journalist ahjussi.

I never thought that the day when I need to use this skill would actually come.

[Paparazzi (E)

(Lv.1) You can follow the target without being detected for a certain period of time. (01:00:00)]

its done.

I turned around in front of the bathroom and headed towards the place where I had just seen the strangely dressed man.

Thanks to the skills effectiveness, no one suspected me, and I soon found him. I peeked into his face and he was a different person from the pseudo-religious man I met before.

At that moment, the cafe manager approached the man. I braced myself against the wall and listened their voices.

This is a precious object, please handle it with care.

Yes, I will do as you command.

The strangely dressed man handed the manager a glass vial of golden liquid. Thats it. That suspicious liquid must be the coffees secret.

If I got a little closer, I could see what it was, but I couldnt because the Paparazzi skill required a radius of at least three metres.

..! Theyre moving!

The man headed towards the back of the staff room, towards the secret door with a very suspicious atmosphere. I hurriedly followed, but the secret door closed in front of me. There was no visible open/close mechanism, and it didnt budge when I pushed and pulled.

I missed it.

On the closed door was the name of the company that runs this cafe.

<Seonghye Enterprise>

I heard that they started as a crafting guild then entered the cafe industry, but now it seemed too suspicious.

And underneath, a distinctive star mark.

[The Church of Starry Wisdom has been added to the Ether-Wiki.]

!

As soon as I spotted the star-shaped mark, the system notification rang as if it had been waiting. I decided to check this item right away.

Ether-Wiki.

[Checking your eligibilities Completed.]

[The Eligible: Verifying Kwon Rieul..]

Skip.

I skipped down the string of entries and opened the item. The content was simple.

Church of Starry Wisdom

Type: Religion>Organization

Description: A religious group that worships Chaos. It was discontinued about 10 years ago, but it has been revived.

For more detailed information, unlocking is required.

My head was pounding.

***

What are you going to do? Ash asked me.

A cold wind slapped my cheeks. Ash and I were just leaving Super Buff Cofee. The scene I had just seen was very unsettling, but it was best to get out of that place quietly.

What should I do?

Is there anyone I can talk to about this situation Ah.

I turned on my maps app to get directions. Its close enough to walk from here.

Ash, lets stop somewhere else for a while.

Okay. Where?

I headed to Cheongna Guild.

Translators Corner:

Seonghye: (), Star Wisdom. I dont want to make it already obvious on , so I didnt translate the name.

It seemed that I always greeted you guys with bad news, so heres a good news I passed my thesis proposal defense! I was pretty worried because I spent most of my time being sick, but thankfully the proposal got accepted and I can continue it T__T

anyway were going to see our male lead again soon! (Im glad he will have a lot of screentime from now on this is romance fantasy after all)