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Chapter 3. Iced Americano
After having already seen a Grim Reaper, I thought there was nothing left that could surprise me.
Yet when a tiny fairy actually appeared right in front of me, both my pupils began trembling.
‘A fairy?!’
The fairy that emerged from the dimensional portal was wearing a white shirt, a coffee-colored apron, and a coffee-bean hat on its head. Its outfit made it immediately obvious, without any explanation, that it was a coffee fairy.
“This is the coffee fairy our Underworld branch recently scouted from the Italian branch! From now on, it will be helping Mr. Yujin operate the café.”
When Mandeok introduced the coffee fairy, it placed both hands on its waist and puffed out its chest.
The sight was so cute yet so ridiculous that I let out a hollow laugh.
“The Italian branch? Are there Grim Reapers there too?”
“Of course. Since the laws and regulations differ from country to country, they have their own administrator there, similar to His Majesty the King of the Underworld. Well…… it’s complicated to explain, so let’s just move on.”
What more explanation could I possibly need after the appearance of an Italian coffee fairy?
I lowered my gaze and looked at the coffee fairy flying in front of me.
When our eyes met, the little creature first extended its tiny, adorable hand toward me.
“Pii~! Pii~!”
Cute.
It was simply cute.
It seemed unable to speak our language and could only express itself through the sound “Pii,” but I could roughly understand what it wanted to say.
Seeing the coffee fairy greet me, I also extended my index finger toward it.
The fairy smiled brightly, grabbed my index finger, and shook it.
And just like that, we exchanged a brief greeting.
“What’s the coffee fairy’s name?”
“Fairies don’t really have designated names. You can simply call it whatever you’d like.”
It didn’t have a name……
I couldn’t exactly call it “coffee fairy” forever.
I decided that I would give it a proper name later.
Now that I had an assistant to help me make coffee, it seemed as though everything had been taken care of.
But there was still one problem.
“But wouldn’t a fairy like this attract people’s attention?”
No matter how cute it was, having a fairy flying around inside a café was bound to look unnatural.
Not only could it draw the attention of first-time customers, but if things went wrong, the police or reporters might even come swarming in.
But Mandeok smiled and told me not to worry.
“You don’t need to worry. This fairy will only be visible to you, Mr. Yujin.”
“Only I can see it? How is that possible?”
“It’s because Mr. Yujin possesses a spiritual energy that is different from that of ordinary people.”
Mandeok explained it like this.
When I had nearly died in a traffic accident while preparing to retake the college entrance exam, I had apparently developed a faint ability to see things that ordinary people could not.
Because of that, I was able to see not only Grim Reapers like him, but also the coffee fairy from the Italian branch without any problem.
‘So that’s why they chose me.’
Only now did I understand why Mandeok had come looking for me.
There were countless people on Earth who spread positive energy to others.
Even just looking at the news, there were plenty of people doing good deeds.
And yet, the reason they had chosen me was simple.
There were very few people who possessed spiritual energy and could communicate with them.
And they had apparently judged that I was the only person capable of having the kind of positive influence they wanted.
No wonder I was often plagued by sleep paralysis and occasionally saw strange things.
Since I was practically their only viable option, I suppose that was why they were trying so desperately to recruit me with these ridiculous conditions.
“Alright, let’s wrap up the explanation here. I should tell you about the performance I mentioned earlier, shouldn’t I?”
The contract had already been completed.
As Mandeok said it was time to move on to the next step, green flames suddenly began flickering in his hand.
His hand looked like a ghostly flame.
Seeing my startled expression, Mandeok tried to calm me down.
“I’m about to use some magic, so please don’t be too surprised.”
I was startled by the mention of magic, but I put that aside.
Mandeok brought his flaming hand toward my eyes.
At first, I almost fell backward in surprise as the blazing flames approached my face.
But once I realized that they weren’t particularly hot, I was able to relax and stay still.
After several seconds of whatever mysterious action he was performing, the flames began to die down.
Mandeok moved his hand away and spoke.
“It’s finished.”
When he said it was over, I looked around.
Nothing seemed to have changed.
I had expected something to happen because he had used magic.
When I asked him what he had done, Mandeok answered.
“From now on, you’ll be able to see numbers above the heads of customers who visit this café.”
“What kind of numbers?”
“Why, numbers representing their depression and stress levels, of course.”
He explained that from now on, numbers would appear above the heads of customers who visited the café.
My job was to lower their stress or depression levels.
For every point I lowered, I would receive 10,000 won.
That was the bonus they had been talking about.
10,000 won per point.
I had no idea how much I would be able to lower someone's stress or depression through a single conversation or interaction, but my heart was already swelling with anticipation.
“Where do I receive the money?”
Checking every customer who visited, recording everything one by one, and reporting it afterward would be a system that could easily be manipulated.
So surely they wouldn’t use such an old-fashioned method.
As expected, Mandeok pulled a bankbook out from inside his clothes when he heard my question.
“Of course, every time you lower someone's level by one point, the money will automatically accumulate in this bank account.”
With that, he handed the bankbook directly to me.
I took it and checked which bank it belonged to.
The Underworld Bank.
It was a very straightforward name.
I figured it made sense since the bankbook had been handed to me by a Grim Reaper.
The problem was that I had never seen such a bank in my entire life.
“That bank is used by our Grim Reapers for work-related purposes. So naturally, it makes sense that you’ve never seen it before. But don’t worry! The headquarters is in Seoul, and with that bankbook, you’ll be able to find it without much difficulty!”
Mandeok explained it as though he had somehow read my mind, making me let out an awkward laugh.
Still, since I had received the bankbook, I opened the first page to check its status.
Account Holder: Yoo Jin
Balance: 0 won
My name was printed under the account holder, while the balance showed zero won.
“As I mentioned earlier, your bonuses will automatically accumulate there based on your performance while operating the café. As for the location of the bank…… I’ll tell you another time. For now, please start operating the café today.”
“Start today…… If a lot of customers come in on the very first day, I’m going to have quite a hard time.”
Mandeok chuckled when he heard me.
“You’ll probably be fine. I cast magic on the café so that only people with high levels of stress or depression will visit. People who don’t have any particular problems in their lives probably won’t come here, so you won’t have to worry about too many customers flooding in.”
In other words, only people whose depression or stress levels were about to explode would visit this place.
‘Can magic really do something like that? It’s practically all-powerful.’
Dealing with troublesome customers was difficult enough.
And now this place was going to be a café specifically sought out by sensitive, troubled people.
I wondered whether I would be able to handle that mentally.
“Then I’ll be going. I have another task to take care of. I look forward to working with you from now on!”
With those words, the Grim Reaper Kim Mandeok left the café.
Jingle~
As he departed, the bell hanging above the café door rang cheerfully once again.
I stood there blankly watching Mandeok leave before turning my gaze to the side.
The coffee fairy was staring intently at me.
“Pii~?”
Seeing the fairy tilt its head innocently, I naturally smiled.
“Since things have turned out like this, let’s get along from now on. My name is Yujin.”
“Pii~! Pii!”
Once again, I extended my index finger to offer a handshake.
The coffee fairy grabbed my finger and shook it enthusiastically.
For today, I decided that I would get acquainted with my assistant like this, look over the café as a whole, and spend the day getting things organized.
I needed to properly understand the layout of the café, make a menu, decide how to divide the work with my assistant, and more.
There were more than one or two things that needed to be decided.
Jingle~
Just then, the café door opened, and the entrance bell rang once again.
The moment I heard the bell, my head naturally turned toward the door.
And when I saw the visitor standing there, I was startled.
‘W-What?’
I was surprised that a customer had arrived so quickly when we had only just opened.
But more than anything, it was the customer's appearance that startled me.
A woman wearing a white baseball cap and sunglasses had entered the café.
She had even covered her face completely with a black mask.
“Uh…… welcome.”
I awkwardly greeted the customer.
Just as Mandeok had said, she apparently couldn’t see the coffee fairy standing right beside me.
Without saying anything, she looked around the café before speaking sharply.
“Is this place actually open?”
Although she spoke politely, her tone was filled with irritation.
And fitting perfectly with her tone, the number 73 was displayed above her head in red.
It was the stress level Mandeok had mentioned.
‘So that’s what the stress level looks like…….’
At first, I found it strange seeing something that hadn’t been visible until now suddenly appear before my eyes.
Still, I had to serve the first customer who had come to this place.
I cleared my throat and greeted her in as calm a voice as possible.
“Yes, we’re open. Please come inside and I’ll show you around.”
The woman crossed her arms and stood in front of the counter.
All I had to do now was take her order.
But I realized there was already a problem before I could even begin operating the café.
As if to point it out herself, the woman wearing sunglasses asked me.
“Don’t you have a menu?”
That was right.
It had been two minutes since we opened.
Our café still didn’t have a menu.
“Ah……. I-I’m sorry. We just opened today, so we don’t have a menu yet.”
I explained that we had only just opened and that was why there was no menu.
I couldn’t see her expression because of the sunglasses and mask.
But she looked as though she were extremely annoyed.
“Then just give me an iced Americano.”
An iced Americano.
The most common choice.
Since we didn’t have a menu, she had simply ordered an ordinary drink, so I nodded and acknowledged her order.
“The price is 2,000 won.”
The woman flinched when she heard the price.
“2,000 won? An iced Americano is only 2,000 won?”
“Yes. Our coffee is a little cheaper than usual. But it tastes quite good too.”
Of course, I had never actually tasted it myself.
Still, I figured there was no way coffee prepared by a Grim Reaper and made by an Italian coffee fairy could possibly taste bad.
But perhaps the woman assumed that a low price meant low quality.
She hesitated over whether to buy the coffee before eventually handing me her card.
Thanks to my previous experience running a restaurant, I had no difficulty using the POS system.
I took the card she handed me and processed the payment.
“Thank you. Please take a seat and I’ll bring your coffee to you.”
When I said I would bring it to her, the woman wearing sunglasses turned her head to look around for somewhere to sit.
Then she asked if there was somewhere she could sit alone.
“There’s a comfortable place in the back.”
I pointed toward the inside of the café.
Without saying anything, she sharply turned her head and walked toward the back.
Her face is incredibly small.
That was my first impression of the customer.
Even though she was wearing a baseball cap, the female customer clearly had a much smaller head than an average person.
She was also taller than average.
Honestly, at first glance, she even gave off an aura so different from an ordinary person that I wondered if she was a celebrity.
‘There’s no way a celebrity would come to a place like this alone.’
Thinking that for the moment, I decided to make the iced Americano for her.
Even though I had never worked in a café before, I knew how to make an iced Americano.
First, I asked the coffee fairy beside me to prepare a shot of espresso for the Americano.
“Can you make a shot of espresso?”
“Pii! Pii!”
The coffee fairy patted its chest as if to say I could leave it to them.
It flew over to the coffee machine and skillfully twisted and removed the device used to hold the coffee grounds.
‘Was that called a portafilter?’
I had vaguely heard the term before.
The fairy took the portafilter and placed it in the coffee grinder right beside it.
Then it took out a bag filled with coffee beans from the cabinet.
“Pii……! Pii……!”
It tried to pull out a bag of coffee beans that was almost as big as its own body.
I reached out, took the bag from it, and opened it for the fairy.
‘They’re already roasted.’
Fortunately, the beans had already been roasted, so there was no problem using them right away.
I scooped some of the beans from the paper bag with a cup that had been prepared nearby and poured them into the grinder.
The fairy watching me gave me a thumbs-up.
“Piiit!”
It seemed to be thanking me for helping with its work.
Once the beans were ready in the grinder, the fairy picked up the portafilter, entered the appropriate settings, and pressed the button.
Whirr-! Whirr-!
Along with the sound of the beans being ground, finely ground coffee began pouring out from the center of the machine.
“Pii~! Pii!”
The grinder automatically stopped, and the fairy put the desired amount of ground coffee into the portafilter before securing the filter.
After leveling out the coffee grounds, it inserted the portafilter into the espresso machine once again.
It placed a shot glass underneath.
Everything was ready for the espresso.
“Piit!”
When the fairy pressed the button, the machine began operating, and espresso started flowing from the filter.
Once the shot glass was filled, the fairy picked it up and handed it to me.
“Thank you.”
“Pii!”
Cute.
Watching the fairy look so proud of itself made me think that an employee like this would give me energy even if I did nothing but watch it work.
“We make a pretty good team.”
I held out my palm for a high five.
The fairy understood what I meant and smacked its tiny hand against mine.
I had a feeling we could make a great team.
“Alright, now I just need to make the Americano.”
I had received the espresso shot.
So I poured it directly into the cup of ice water I had prepared earlier while the fairy was grinding the beans.
A refreshing iced Americano, perfect for quenching thirst in summer, was complete.
All that remained was to take it to the customer, and the job would be finished without any problems……
But the moment I poured the espresso I had just received into the ice water, the fairy was startled and let out a shriek.
“Piiit!!!”
And the next moment.
The coffee fairy bit down on the hand holding the espresso over the ice water, its tiny face filled with fury.