The Busty Cafe Owner
I'd been so focused on the survey that I'd completely forgotten about Ajeong's CocoaTalk messages.
Apparently, changing my workout schedule had come across as turning down the idea of working out together.
I hurried to clear up the misunderstanding.
She must have been waiting, because the "1" vanished instantly and her reply came just as fast.
We went back and forth for a while, lining up our routines, and aside from tomorrow — Wednesday — our schedules were almost identical.
Five times a week felt like a lot, so we agreed to try a few more sessions first and see how it went. We set a time for Thursday at noon and wrapped up the conversation.
"Hoo…"
Landing a steady hangout schedule with a beauty like Kang Ajeong was already surprising enough — but that wasn't even the most shocking part.
I'd become absurdly handsome overnight and received a billion won on top of it. And the place that had pulled off something this impossible was, of all things, CocoaTalk.
Tap-tap-tap…
I opened Chrome and searched for CocoaTalk right away.
"The CEO looks ordinary… wait, what?"
To my surprise, CocoaTalk's headquarters was on Jeju Island.
"Wasn't it supposed to be in Pangyo?"
An IT giant based on Jeju was suspicious enough on its own. I dug deeper, but there was nothing useful to find. Then again, if a simple search could turn up anything real, the whole thing would already be drowning in controversy.
I gave up quickly and left another question on the Cocoa channel. Still no reply, so I decided to wait until Sunday as promised.
I checked the time — already past ten.
"Haaaawn…"
My body was still locked to the military sleep cycle. There was no fighting the wave of drowsiness rolling in.
A woman whose face made every man turn his head — and whose ass made sure that head never turned back. Kang Ajeong, a university student on leave and a front-desk part-timer at a big gym, had for the first time in her life found herself waiting on a guy's reply.
"Why am I even waiting…"
Thirty minutes of staring at CocoaTalk, waiting for a message that wouldn't come.
Cocoa!
"Ah!"
She scrambled to open the app at the notification sound — but it wasn't him.
"Ugh…"
The sender was some senior guy who'd been going around bragging about coming back to school soon. She kept notifications off on pretty much every chat, but this was a first-time message, so it had slipped through.
"Mute…"
Her chat list was packed with CocoaTalks from guys she'd crossed paths with in every corner of her life. And the one person she was actually waiting for still hadn't answered.
The guy every other man in her inbox would kill to be: Jung Woohyun. A new member she'd checked in at the gym recently — and then ended up training with as a partner, no less.
"Augh…"
She hadn't thought much of it at the time, but looking back, her behavior had been the kind anyone would read as interest. Sure, he was good-looking, but that wasn't why she'd done it. If anything, it was the opposite. Someone that handsome, she figured, might actually be able to train with her without any weird ulterior motives — and the offer had slipped out before she could stop herself.
She'd caught his eyes on her body a few times, but only for a second, and more than anything he was dead serious about the workout. Maybe it hadn't been that kind of look at all — just a fellow gym rat checking form.
Either way, training with someone for the first time had been fun, and effective, and she'd found herself thinking it would be nice to do it again. He hadn't seemed opposed either.
"Why won't you just text me back alreadyyyy…"
But the very next day he'd changed his workout time and left her messages on read. Had he only gone along with it because saying no felt too awkward?
More than disappointment, what hit her first was guilt. She wanted to apologize.
"Haaa…"
She'd gotten her hopes up about finally having a gym buddy. What a shame.
Cocoa!
"Who is it this time!"
Feeling petty, Ajeong decided whoever had just messaged her was getting blocked for a day as punishment.
"Wha—!"
It was him. The one she'd been waiting for. This time she fired back instantly so the conversation wouldn't die.
"Ohhh, I see~"
So he hadn't been trying to ditch her after all. Yesterday evening had just been a one-time thing.
"Heh. Heheh…"
It was nothing more than gym talk and setting a time, but the whole exchange felt easy and fun. Even though it was only Tuesday, Ajeong was already picking out which workout outfit she'd wear on Thursday.
After finishing my morning workout and heading home, I spent the rest of the day grinding League of Legends, trying to push my level up.
"Haa…"
Three hours in and I was only level twenty. I'd planned to dump raw time into it and climb fast, but it was looking harder than expected. Whatever urge I'd had to play League had already burned out somewhere on the road to twenty.
I collapsed onto the bed and checked my phone. Naturally, CocoaTalk was the first thing I opened — still nothing. The Cocoa channel remained silent. Either they weren't taking questions at all, or they were saving everything for the Sunday they'd promised.
Next was Kang Ajeong, whom I'd only just gotten to know. We'd already locked in tomorrow's plans and closed the conversation cleanly, so there was no reason for more messages.
"Hmm…"
I considered reaching out to the friends I'd hung out with freshman year before enlisting, then dropped the idea just as fast. Every time I'd come home on leave, they'd turned me down for one reason or another. Even if I asked first, I wasn't exactly eager to see them.
I cleared out the junk notifications and decided to just watch YouTube. Texts, weather alerts, bank apps — mostly meaningless noise. Still, I at least checked who the texts were from.
Spam, verification code, spam… 010?
Skimming the names, I spotted a message from a personal number.
"Who's this? Ah!"
At first I couldn't place the appointment, but scrolling up through the earlier messages jogged my memory. The text was from Ice Bean, the little independent cafe near my place. I'd scheduled a part-time interview for the day before my discharge — and completely forgotten about it.
It was already 6:40. Backing out now just didn't sit right with me.
"Haa…"
Obviously I had no intention of actually working there. A billion won overnight meant tuition and living expenses were covered with room to spare. Still, the least I could do was show up in person, explain the situation, and apologize.
Gotta get ready, then.
I washed my hair in a hurry, threw on some clothes, and checked the clock — 6:45. The cafe was less than ten minutes away, which left me five minutes of breathing room.
Wiiiiirrr—
I dried my damp hair at a leisurely pace in front of the fan while scrolling YouTube Shorts, squeezing every last second until I walked out the door at exactly 6:50.
Morning or evening, I'd developed a habit of checking whether that delinquent girl from yesterday was around every time I left the house. The second I stepped outside and took a sniff, I knew she wasn't there — and breathed in the clean air with genuine relief. It wasn't just that I hated secondhand smoke. She left such a strong impression that some small part of me almost wanted to run into her again. Not that knowing she was there would send me back inside anyway, so checking was pretty pointless.
Mildly disappointed and in a good mood all the same, I set off and reached the cafe in five minutes.
Jingle—
"Welcome~"
A staff member greeted me with a smile as I walked in. I returned the bow and looked around — not a single customer in sight.
If it weren't for that billion won, I'd be working right here…
Without that money, I would have taken this job in a heartbeat. What a waste.
I finished sizing up the place and walked over to the counter to speak to the woman who'd greeted me.
"What can I get for you~"
"Hi. I'm here for an interview — is the owner around?"
"Ah! Woohyun-ssi?"
"Yes, yes. We had an interview set for seven."
Looks like she'd told the part-timer and then stepped out. A cafe owner who left interview candidates hanging like that… this place really was a dream job.
I felt another twinge of regret over that billion won and waited for her answer.
"Woohyun-ssi? I'm the owner. You got here right on time?"
"Huh? Ah… I'm so sorry!"
"No, no~ Want to do this over a drink? What do you like?"
"Anything's fine!"
"Hmm… strawberry smoothie, then?"
"Yes, thank you!"
"Heheh… Go ahead and take a seat. Oh! Flip the sign on the door to Closed for me~"
The woman I'd taken for a part-timer was the owner. Everything about her looked more like staff than management — though now that I thought about it, there was a faint touch of maturity in her features.
!
I turned my head toward the counter for a second as the thought crossed my mind, then snapped my eyes away just as fast. She was humming cheerfully while she made the drinks, her full, generous hips swaying to the rhythm and filling my entire field of view.
"Whew…"
It suddenly felt warmer in there. I shrugged off my outer layer and hung it on the chair.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Here — try it."
The owner came over carrying two drinks. She'd taken off her apron somewhere along the way, and the body that was now on full display was almost violently stunning.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Ah! Nothing!"
I barely managed to pull myself together and take the drink. The owner smiled a smile I couldn't quite read.
"No prior experience, I see? Fresh out of the military?"
"Yes, yes…"
"And you're going back to school next year?"
"Yes…"
"So you'll work straight through until then?"
"Yes… ah!"
I'd been answering every one of her questions with an automatic yes.
"Something wrong?"
"Well…"
…
"So basically, you can't take the job."
"Yes… I'm really sorry."
"No, no — the fact that you came all the way here to tell me in person is more than most people manage. These days half of them just ghost you."
Obviously I didn't mention the billion won. I told her some other busy commitments had come up instead.
"Then… what about weekends only?"
"Sorry?"
"Are you completely booked on weekends too?"
"That's…"
"Great. Just one day. Saturday or Sunday, either one — how about working just a single day a week."
I'd thought the conversation was wrapping up nicely and I'd be heading home any second. Then the owner hit me with a completely unexpected offer.
…
One day a week wouldn't be so bad…
I'd wanted a part-time job partly for the money, sure — but a big piece of it was just wanting the experience. I'd never held one before. Meeting people from all walks of life in the military had shown me that some guys my age were already earning their own living expenses, and that had stuck with me.
"But do you really need someone for just one day…? Wouldn't it be better to hire someone who can work full shifts…?"
From my end it wasn't a bad deal, but I couldn't see why she'd want someone who only showed up once a week.
"I can just hire someone else for the other six days. Honestly, those positions fill faster than full-time ones anyway."
"Ah…"
"And coming here in person to turn me down — that takes guts. Looking at that, I figured you'd be good at the job too~"
"Thank you for thinking so highly of me…"
It really had taken some courage, and hearing the compliment made me glad I'd come.
"Besides, it's my job to sweet-talk you into working more~ Working at our cafe is honestly great."
…
By the time I walked out of the cafe, a completed employment contract was already in my hand.