The Boss Is a No-Show
I arrived at the cafe a little earlier than usual.
"...So this is what going to work feels like now, huh."
Until yesterday I'd been a part-timer; starting today, I'm the manager. Though honestly, the actual work probably won't look all that different from before.
The moment I'd opened my eyes this morning, a call had come in from the owners.
"Doyoon, we're counting on you with the cafe."
"Now that you're the one taking it over, we can head down to the countryside with our minds at ease. Thank you~"
After those brief greetings, the thanks had kept coming, again and again. They even promised to raise my pay from what I'd earned before, and added that I shouldn't feel burdened — if I ever needed anything, I was to speak up at any time.
...At this point they're treating me less like a manager and more like family.
I pocketed my phone with a quiet laugh. That was their way of saying they trusted me that much. No wonder my shoulders felt that much heavier.
Out front, I looked up at the familiar sign.
As a kid, I'd assumed it was just another neighborhood cafe. But once I started working here, I learned the place was something of a local institution — on weekends plenty of customers made the trip on purpose, the regulars ran deep, and there was hardly a soul in the neighborhood who hadn't heard of it.
Well then. Shall we go in?
I let out a small breath and pushed the door open, and the familiar smell of coffee was the first to greet me.
"...Manager or not, the work never changes."
Smirking to myself, I got started on the opening routine. Honestly, compared to closing, opening was far simpler. First, switch on the espresso machine and fill the hopper with beans while it warmed up; a few minutes later the first shot came through, its rich aroma drifting slowly through the empty shop. From there it was checking the fridge stock and refilling whatever had run low, and finally setting the dish towels and tableware back in their places—
"Phew…"
Opening prep, done. And now, in a cafe with no one else around, breathing in the scent of freshly brewed coffee, with what remained of the time before opening…
What remained of the time…
...
……
Hold on.
Time to spare?
Normally my prep would have finished right on the dot of opening.
"...Wait."
Why on earth had I come in this early today, again? Only then did last night's conversation surface.
"You've been on the job a while now, so tomorrow, be here by seven. I'll walk you through opening from the top."
"Eh…? I have to learn opening all over again?"
"Of course you do?"
"...I'm the owner, though?"
"Yep. Because you're the owner."
"......Fine."
That was the deal: we opened at eight, so she was supposed to come in a little early — by seven at the latest.
I checked the clock. 7:40 already.
Don't tell me. She's not still asleep, is she?
I dialed her first, but—
"..."
One more try.
"...Hah."
A dry laugh slipped out of me.
"Yoo Harin. You are so dead."
I opened KakaoTalk right away.
Fine. Let's see who wins, then.
I fired off call after call and message after message after that, but twenty minutes on, there was still no reply.
"...Yoo Harin!!"
In the end, my voice rang through the entire cafe.
"...!"
Whoops. That one came out way too loud.
And right at that moment—
Ding-a-ling.
The door swung open.
...Crap. Is this how a nasty rumor about the new manager gets started?
I was still scrambling to salvage my expression when—
"U-um… hellooo, Oppa~"
"...Huh? Seoa?"
Yoo Seoa. Yoo Harin's younger sister. We'd been close since we were kids, and with a born prankster's streak like hers she'd landed me in awkward spots more than once — but to me, she was practically a little sister of my own.
"I came to order my chocolate frappe again today, but…"
Seoa blinked at me.
"...Did my sister do something?"
"...Oh."
I cleared my throat before asking.
"Seoa. Is your sister still asleep, by any chance?"
With the owners leaving to take up farming in the countryside, Seoa had naturally moved in with her sister Harin — which meant she'd know exactly where her sister was.
"Ah, that is… she was sprawled out dead asleep when I left this morning?"
In that instant, some corner of my mind was already cursing Yoo Harin out a thousand times over. …Out loud, of course, I held it in. Seoa was standing right there.
"Oppa, should I go wake her up now?"
"No, no." I waved her off. No sense putting her through all that for nothing.
"Your frappe will be ready in a flash, so hang tight."
"'Kay~!"
I blitzed the ice in the blender, then piled on the whipped cream without a shred of restraint. What emerged was a chocolate frappe that could have doubled as an advertisement for pure sugar rush.
"There you go."
"Thank yooou~!" Beaming, Seoa accepted the cup.
"...Oh."
After a moment's hesitation, she opened her mouth carefully.
"Um… I'll pay for it today."
"Hm?"
"You're basically the owner now, Oppa."
A chuckle slipped out of me.
"You do realize that if you pay today, you'll have to pay every single day from now on, right? Sure you're up for that?"
"...That might be a bit much."
"Then just take it."
"But still…"
"Once you're an adult, buy double to make up for it."
"...Okay."
For no reason at all, Seoa fiddled with her straw and smiled faintly.
"And when that day comes, I really will pay you back double."
"I'll look forward to it."
Only then did she light up again, turning toward the door.
"I'm off, then!"
"Right. Get home safe."
"'Kay! I'll come hang out again later!"
By the time I'd seen her out, the clock had somehow crept around to eight.
My first opening hour as manager had arrived.
A few days earlier.
"Unni~ Mom and Dad want to talk to us."
"Hey, I'm in the middle of a game."
"But their faces look really serious, is the thing."
"Ugh… fine."
Grrr…! And that was my promotion match, seriously!
Reluctantly, I made my way out to the living room — and Mom and Dad weren't wearing their usual playful expressions. Had something happened to them? For a moment, anxiety washed over me.
A beat of silence passed before Mom spoke first.
"Harin, Mommy and Daddy are going to run away together. For love."
Dad, mid-sip of water beside her, sprayed it clean across the room.
"Pffh—! Honey, you can't just come out with it like that!"
"Whaaat? It's true, isn't it, honey?"
Dad cleared his throat once and put his serious face back on.
"Harin. Your mother and I are moving down to the countryside. We're going to farm a little and take life slow."
"Yep, just like your dad says, we're thinking of heading down out of Seoul~"
What a relief. They weren't sick or anything.
Wait just a second. Then what about the cafe?
"So, Harin."
"We'd like you to take over the cafe from here on."
"No, no—!? I'm a college student!? And I don't know the first thing about it—!?"
"That's exactly why we're telling you now~"
Mom said it with a smile.
"Doyoon finished his service, didn't he?"
"...Oh."
Right, of course. Han Doyoon — my childhood friend. When it came to the cafe, the most trustworthy person alive after Mom and Dad. …No, he might just know that place as well as they did.
But still.
Would he even agree to do it…?
I could ask. But would he actually say yes? Just yesterday he'd been grumbling about how much of a hassle the cafe work was.
"So we'd like you to be the one to ask him."
"Could you try talking to him tomorrow?"
Both of them fixed me with earnest eyes.
"All you have to do is play the owner~"
"Doyoon will handle the actual running of things."
"We mean to pay him a proper wage, too. If it's that boy, we can hand it over with peace of mind."
Then Mom flashed a sly grin.
"Oho, and Harin~? Sounds like you'll be spending plenty of time alone with Doyoon, hmm?"
"…Mom."
"Whaaat~? It's true, isn't it?"
"...Fine. I'll give it a try."
And so the family meeting came to an end. I went back to my room and flopped face-first onto the bed.
"...I'm losing my mind."
The cafe. University. And Han Doyoon.
Everything I'd have to figure out had piled up all at once and my head throbbed — but I picked up my phone and opened my contacts anyway.
My finger froze above the call button.
…
What do I even say?
"Will you take over our cafe?"
No. Way too out of nowhere.
"Can you do me one favor?"
…That sounds even sketchier.
Twenty minutes of rolling around on my bed later—
"...Haah. I'll just ask him tomorrow."
That was the resolution, anyway. But that night, for some reason, sleep wouldn't come.
The next day, I found myself standing in front of the cafe where Han Doyoon worked.
Ugh… what do I do if he says no?
Mom and Dad had told me that if he refused, they might have no choice but to wind the cafe up for good. They were smiling through it, but I could see how much it stung for both of them.
Ding-a-ling~
And so I stepped into the cafe.
There stood Han Doyoon behind the counter, same as always. He greeted me like it was any other day — and knowing full well something was off about my face, he didn't ask a single question until I brought it up myself.
Maybe it was thanks to that consideration. The request came out far more easily than I'd braced for. He turned me down flat at first, but the moment I brought up Dad, Han Doyoon nodded along all too easily.
And for some reason, my heart settled in that instant. A burden that had felt crushing now seemed, somehow, like something I could actually do — all because he said he'd help. I hammed up the joking to hide how hot my face had gotten, but the smile wouldn't stop.
"Counting on you, Manager."
And so, heart aflutter, I came home. Mom and Dad smiled in visible relief, and Seoa, for reasons known only to her, was grinning from ear to ear.
That night, his words floated back to me.
"Be here by seven tomorrow."
"...Early night tonight, then."
I got into bed right away. But sleep would not come.
Why is my heart pounding like this…?
Pressure over becoming the cafe's owner? No. To be precise — it was the thought of working alone together with Han Doyoon, just the two of us.
"...Have I lost my mind?"
I did nothing but toss and turn beneath the covers. Eyes shut, eyes open, over and over — time bleeding away, meaningless.
"Argh! Forget it!"
"One game of Rel, then sleep!"
I'd launched the game to clear my head, but—
"Aaagh! Jungle diff…!"
"Then just go tank if you're gonna play like that!? …Hah!"
"One win and I'll sleep… really, just one more…"
When victory was finally wrestled into my hands after all that struggle, the clock read four in the morning.
"...Oh."
"Sleep. Right now. Fast."
Chirp— chirp—
"Haaaahm… mmm, I slept sooo well~"
"Sooo refreshed~"
"..."
"......"
"...What time is it?"
The clock read twelve, and my phone was buried under a mountain of missed calls and messages.
"...Oh."
"Ahaha."
"......Maybe I should just die."