Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Monster Breeders
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'Monsters.'
That was the general term for the non-human entities that crossed over from beyond the gates, though depending on the person or country, they might be called monsters, magical beasts, or strange creatures.
Moreover, the word "monsters" was far more familiar to me than gates, Awakeners, or Espers. After all, monsters had existed even in the Hermann Empire.
"What's the big deal? They've always been around, haven't they? I think I saw a video on YouTube where someone was training monsters."
No matter the world, humans always craved rare and exotic things, desperate to get their hands on them.
Even before monsters appeared, there were people who kept rare animals or tamed wild beasts, right?
Seong Ji-hyun furrowed her brow.
"......To bring anything out of a gate, you need permission and procedures. Even if we let that slide a hundred times over, it has to be someone who can actually control it. If someone who can't raises one, what do you think happens? Accidents, that's what."
"What if someone dies? The buyers and sellers who deal in them illegally? That's on them, not my problem. But what did the law-abiding folks do wrong? Just live in the same district?"
"Man, back during the Great Cataclysm, no one even dreamed of raising monsters, and now that we've got a bunch of high-rank Awakeners popping up in our country and life’s gotten a bit better, people are getting this complacent."
"While the slaves earning peanuts to run 24-hour gate wave detectors try to minimize the damage, those crazies are flipping them off."
"And making money off it."
"Meanwhile, we'll be pulling all-nighters again. Fucking hell."
Thud, thud. They were syncing up perfectly.
Seong Ji-hyun might curse casually, but Han Se-young rarely did—guess things must be pretty bad.
'But why are they doing this here, of all places?'
A few days ago, I'd burned my arm by accident while working, so I had to close the cafe for a while.
It wasn't a severe injury, but since it was on my arm, I figured it'd get worse if it touched water, so I decided to take some time off.
I'd brewed tea from Kua fruit to speed up recovery and spent the past few days resting up.
Then, on the last day of my break, these two barged in.
They'd said since it was a rare day off, let's hit a cafe and relax—then naturally ended up at my cafe, which had a "Closed" sign out.
Slurp. I quietly sipped the Kua fruit tea I'd made for recovery. Amid the lively jazz playing in the shop, their harsh curses flew back and forth.
Right in the middle of it, an alert chimed from Han Se-young's phone. She paused the conversation to check it, and her eyes gradually widened.
"Oh right!! Yu-jeong!"
Han Se-young grabbed my shoulders and shook me.
'—Ah, deja vu.'
It reminded me of when I'd returned as Kim Yu-jeong a year ago. I let her shake me around, and she shoved her phone in my face.
It was so close my vision went white.
"This is what I came to tell you about! You haven't seen it, have you? Yeah, no way you have! You probably don't even know how to check comments."
"What's got you so excited? Let go first. She's holding a teacup right now. You'll get splashed."
"Seong Ji-hyun, you haven't seen SNS either?"
"What do you expect from someone who rotted away in the lab until dawn......"
"Here!"
What Han Se-young showed me was the promotional post I'd uploaded for the cafe before.
The difference from last time? A massive spike in hearts and comments.
I blankly took her phone and scrolled down.
Someone famous on SNS had posted a recommendation for my cafe, and that seemed to have drawn all these people.
"It's an account that only posts dessert recommendations, nothing about daily life or other pics—and it's so trusted that whatever they recommend is a safe bet! So I was shocked when your place suddenly popped up."
"Whoa, you'll be swamped once you reopen, right?"
Sure enough, there were tons of posts complaining that they'd come based on reviews but found it closed.
Some customers who'd actually visited added comments saying the pies here were delicious.
Cafe 'Meli'.
A photo of the plain wooden sign with no neon or anything fancy.
I stayed silent for a long while, so Han Se-young asked,
"What do you think? Pretty great, huh."
"......Yeah."
I wondered if I had enough ingredients. Gotta check the fruit stock first. As I quickly scrolled through the comments, a few caught my eye.
-But that title lol
┗Did the owner...... rush it or something......
┗Title alone sounds like a 9 o'clock news breaking story
┗Not sure if it's common knowledge, but is there poison in Kua fruit? My grandma swapped red ginseng for it because it's good for healthㅠ
-So what does this shop even sell? Is this how dark web routes advertise these days?
┗Pie counter
┗..?
┗pie
┗π
Perfectly legal purchases, but the comments made it sound like some shady underworld broker.
As I scrolled with a sour expression, Han Se-young chattered excitedly.
"Knew it'd take off! It'd be weird if something that delicious didn't."
"True that. Oh, right. Were you thinking of selling in Cheongdo—"
"Girls."
"Yeah?"
"Does the title of the post I uploaded seem weird?"
"......"
"......"
The chirping voices cut off in an instant.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Han Se-young averted her gaze, unsure how to put it, while Seong Ji-hyun stared at Kim Yu-jeong with a face that said, Are you seriously asking?
Neither gave a proper answer, but the meaning came through loud and clear.
Kim Yu-jeong put on a stiff face, stared back at the phone screen, then stood up saying she'd check if she had ingredients and left the seat.
Once the shop owner was gone, Seong Ji-hyun lightly swirled the teacup in front of her. The tea, made by steeping dried Kua fruit in honey, was nearly gone.
'Kim Yu-jeong's got this subtle fourth-dimensional vibe...... Did she really think it was fine?'
Honestly, could a person change that much?
Seong Ji-hyun had gone to the same high school as Han Se-young, Kim So-hee, and Kim Yu-jeong. They usually hung out in a group of four, but as with any friend of a friend, she and Kim Yu-jeong weren't particularly close.
Back in high school, Seong Ji-hyun couldn't beat around the bush.
Even among close friends, backbiting was pretty common back then, but she thought honesty beat pretense, so she acted accordingly.
Some liked her personality, but plenty didn't. And Kim Yu-jeong fell into the latter camp.
Despite her cold appearance, Kim Yu-jeong had a timid personality. Put nicely, she was kind; put harshly, she was frustratingly indecisive.
She was always shrinking back, and whenever someone asked a favor, she'd accept without refusing, leaving Han Se-young to step in for her.
She and Seong Ji-hyun, who always said her piece no matter the situation, were total opposites.
Kim Yu-jeong feared Seong Ji-hyun, and Seong Ji-hyun found Kim Yu-jeong's fear of her uncomfortable.
Frankly, it was baffling. She'd never bullied her, but whenever she reached out for something, her classmate would flinch away.
There must be a misunderstanding; it'll clear up if we talk. She brushed it off like that many times.
She even tried setting up chances to chat, but without Han Se-young there, Kim Yu-jeong wouldn't open up at all.
They graduated high school like that, and contact with Kim Yu-jeong cut off. She heard bits through Han Se-young occasionally, but paid it no mind.
But then,
「Hi. Long time no see.」
The Kim Yu-jeong she met again after years was completely different.
Kim Yu-jeong greeted her flatly. The once delicate and soft person now spoke without the slightest hesitation, almost bluntly.
Back in high school, unlike her usual timid self, Kim Yu-jeong was good at catching bugs.
She remembered how she'd delicately scoop up a cockroach like a Disney princess and gently release it out the window.
But the adult Kim Yu-jeong now feared bugs. Even if she had to catch one, she couldn't do it barehanded like before.
People change with society, sure, but Seong Ji-hyun had never seen someone transform this drastically up close.
"......Oh, right. Speaking of, Han Se-young, do you know anything about that rumor?"
Seong Ji-hyun set down her teacup and looked at Han Se-young. This topic about "that" could only come up without Kim Yu-jeong around.
"Rumor?"
"The one about Messiah Guild recruiting high-level Guides."
Strength, solid status, object of envy.
Messiah Guild, which boasted an S-rank Esper hero from the Great Cataclysm, was indisputably Korea's number one guild, with a dazzling array of achievements.
Most researchers said if Messiah got more active, they could claim the world number one spot.
"Ah—yeah, I definitely can't talk about that in front of Yu-jeong."
"Figured you might've heard something on your end. First the recent rampage incident, and Yeon Woo-jin—"
"Shh! Don't say that name here. What if Yu-jeong hears? Call him something else. Like...... code name YJ......"
"......You filming a spy flick?"
Guilds recruiting Espers or Guides wasn't unusual.
But what stood out was that Messiah Guild—where applicants flooded in without even posting notices—was putting out a public recruitment, and the details were seriously weird.
"Minimum C-rank or higher, female...... Fine, whatever. But height between X cm and X cm, finger thickness, shoe size XXX mm or less. Why the hell are these specs even here?"
This wasn't some modern Cinderella search. Or was it closer to organ traffickers......?
If a regular guild posted this, people would flag it as suspicious on sight. The problem? It came from the ultra-famous Messiah Guild, known to everyone.
And the salary listed? Several times the average Guide's annual pay.