4
Chapter 4. Coffee Is Espresso
After seeing a Grim Reaper, I thought there was nothing left that could surprise me.
But 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 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 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 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 that when I had nearly died in a traffic accident while preparing to retake the college entrance exam, I had developed a faint ability to see things that ordinary people could not.
Because of that, I could see not only Grim Reapers like him, but also the coffee fairy from the Italian branch.
‘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.
They had 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.
Chapter 4. Coffee Is Espresso
It seemed that the coffee fairy was furious that I had poured the espresso it had worked so hard to make into ice water.
“Piiit! Pi-pii!”
“Ugh!”
Because there was a customer in the café, I held back my voice as much as possible and grabbed the coffee fairy with my other hand.
Seeing the fairy still angry and unable to calm down reminded me of a video I had seen on NutTube before.
‘They say Italians really hate Americanos…….’
It wasn’t as though Americanos weren’t sold in Italy.
But Italians were people who naturally believed that coffee was espresso.
If someone took the delicious ramen we had made and poured water into it until it became a huge soup, simply because they thought it was too spicy, how would we react?
I figured it would probably be something like this.
‘But I didn’t expect even a fairy to feel the same way.’
Right now, I had to serve the Americano the customer had ordered.
So I tied the fairy to the wall with a cord for the time being so it couldn’t run wild.
“Piiit! Piiiiii!”
The fairy's loud cries continued to ring in my ears.
Mandeok had said that the fairy could only be seen by me because I possessed spiritual energy, so the customer wouldn’t be able to see or hear it.
Thanks to that, I could rest assured that the customer sitting inside wouldn’t hear anything.
‘I should prepare a straw and take it over.’
After tying up the fairy for the moment, I put a straw into the completed Americano, placed it on a tray, and headed toward the female customer who had just entered.
“Here is the Americano you ordered.”
I placed the tray on the table and set down a wooden coaster and the glass containing the Americano in front of her.
As soon as I put down the Americano, the woman wearing the mask asked me,
“I heard a loud noise. Is something wrong?”
“Ah……. I-I’m not very good at making coffee! I dropped something, so that was the noise. Hahaha…….”
Although she couldn’t hear the fairy’s voice, it seemed she had heard the commotion between me and the fairy.
Before she could ask anything else, I gave her an awkward smile, told her to enjoy the coffee, and hurried away.
When I returned to the coffee counter, the fairy was still extremely angry.
If I released it now, I had no idea what kind of trouble it would cause again.
In the end, I decided that I would release it after the customer left.
‘By the way, I wonder if she’ll enjoy it.’
I had claimed that the coffee would taste good, but I had never actually tasted the café’s coffee myself.
I worried that she might leave with even more stress after coming here.
‘It’s only 2,000 won. She’ll understand to some extent.’
Right.
Where could you even get a cup of coffee for 2,000 won these days?
Especially here in Gangnam, where even coffee costing 7,000 to 8,000 won could sometimes taste bad.
At least the price was cheap, so I hoped she would understand.
I was reassuring myself like this while organizing things in the kitchen when the customer who had been drinking coffee in the back hurried outside and began looking for me.
“Excuse me……!”
She was speaking with the mask she had been wearing earlier already removed.
* * *
When I looked at the Americano brought by the café employee, I began to have second thoughts.
‘This should be okay, right?’
I couldn’t help worrying about the loud crashing noises I had heard earlier.
If I ate something that didn’t agree with me and it interfered with my schedule tomorrow, that would be a problem in itself.
But the subtle coffee aroma I had smelled while the employee was making it, along with the atmosphere of the café that somehow made me feel relaxed, made me decide to take a sip.
Slurp-!
The cool Americano flowed into my mouth through the straw.
I didn’t know whether it was because of the heat or because the Americano was simply delicious.
My original intention of having only one sip disappeared somewhere along the way, and before I knew it, I found myself drinking the Americano enthusiastically.
‘What? Why is this coffee so delicious?’
It was delicious.
This coffee was simply too delicious.
Even though it was just an ordinary Americano, it tasted so good that I couldn’t stop.
‘The acidity is insane……. It’s on a completely different level from what I normally drink.’
Because of my busy schedule, I drank so much coffee that I practically lived on it.
I had tried all kinds of coffee, including expensive beans and coffee made by famous baristas, but this was on an entirely different level from anything I had ever tasted.
‘What’s different about it? It’s only a 2,000-won coffee.’
It wasn’t just ordinary coffee.
Not only did the caffeine make my mind feel sharper and clearer, but I even felt as though the fatigue in my body was disappearing while I drank it.
Gulp-!
While I continued exclaiming in admiration, the cup that had once been full was soon left with nothing but ice.
When the coffee was gone, I couldn’t hide my disappointment.
‘I want more.’
Normally, I tried to limit myself to one cup of coffee because of the caffeine.
But captivated by this taste, I even forgot that I was supposed to keep my mask on.
I stood up and headed toward the counter where the employee was.
“Excuse me……!”
* * *
I was startled when the female customer suddenly spoke to me.
But then I saw the lower half of her face, which I hadn’t been able to see earlier, and I was momentarily stunned.
I hadn’t noticed at all because she had been wearing a mask.
Even just by looking at the lower half of her face, I could tell that she was an exceptionally beautiful woman.
“Excuse me, can’t you hear me?”
The customer waved her hand in front of me, snapping me out of my daze.
“Ah……! I’m sorry. Do you need something?”
“This coffee. Where are the beans from?”
“Pardon? The beans?”
“It’s a taste I’ve never had before, so I’m curious where the beans are from.”
The female customer asked where the beans used to make the coffee came from.
“Th-Those…….”
“Why? Can’t you tell me?”
“No, it’s not that…….”
It would have been easy to simply tell her.
But I couldn’t.
The beans she had just tasted were beans I had seen for the first time myself.
There wasn’t even a brand name on the packaging, so I couldn’t tell her where they were from.
“Um…… this is a product we bring in directly, so you probably won’t be able to buy it on the market.”
I indirectly told her that the beans weren’t available for purchase.
The woman looked displeased.
“Then I’ll just buy a bag here. How much is one bag of beans?”
Since she couldn’t find out where they came from, she said she would simply buy a bag.
I scratched my head.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. Our café doesn’t currently sell the beans separately. If you really want more, I can make you another cup.”
After watching the fairy make the coffee earlier, I thought I could probably make it myself without its help now.
Even though I couldn’t sell her the beans directly, I offered to make her another coffee.
The female customer looked somewhat sulky.
But apparently she still wanted to drink the coffee.
She ordered another iced Americano.
“Here’s my card.”
The customer held out her card for payment again, but I raised my hand to indicate that it was fine.
“You don’t need to pay. I’m sorry that I can’t sell you the beans, and you’re also the first customer at our café. So I’ll give this to you as a complimentary drink. Please come back often.”
When I told her the coffee would be on the house, the female customer stared blankly at my face.
It felt awkward to keep standing there staring at each other, so I hurried to make the coffee.
I took out the portafilter the coffee fairy hadn’t used earlier and pressed the button on the grinder.
Whirr-!
Coffee grounds poured out of the grinder, quickly filling the portafilter.
Just as the fairy had done earlier, I used the tool beside it to evenly level out the grounds.
‘I should study the names of these tools and all the other things too.’
Lost in thought, I inserted the prepared portafilter into the coffee machine, placed a shot glass underneath it, and pressed the button.
Whirr-!
While the shot glass filled with dark espresso, I prepared the ice water that would go into the iced Americano.
“Are you drinking it here, or would you like it to go?”
“Huh……? Oh…… to go, please.”
“Alright. One takeaway order.”
Instead of the mug I had used earlier, I put a holder around a plastic cup and poured the ice water into it.
Then I poured the prepared espresso shot directly into the ice water and stirred it well with a clean spoon.
The iced Americano was complete.
“Pipiiit!”
As I poured the espresso into the ice water again, the coffee fairy, still tied to the wall, screamed in outrage once more.
But with the customer standing right in front of me, I cleanly ignored it and handed her the coffee.
“Here’s your iced Americano to go.”
When I handed the coffee to her, she accepted it with a bewildered expression.
“Th-Thank you.”
The customer stood there blankly holding the coffee, then removed the wrapper from the end of the straw and began drinking.
Slurp-!
She drank the coffee without stopping.
Apparently pleased with the taste, she continued drinking it with a satisfied expression.
And then.
The stress level floating above the woman's head decreased.
Click!
68
The number that had clearly been 73 earlier had fallen by five points to 68.
Seeing a customer's number change for the first time, I couldn’t help being shocked.
‘Five points……. One point is 10,000 won, so…… 50,000 won?!’
I had made 50,000 won just by selling a few cups of coffee.
I stared blankly at the customer in surprise.
Perhaps noticing my gaze, she asked me,
“Is there something on my face? Why are you staring at me?”
Apparently bothered by me watching her face, she asked sharply.
“Ah! S-Sorry. You were enjoying the coffee, so I ended up staring without realizing it.”
“What do you mean I was enjoying it? I’m wearing a mask, so you can’t even see my face……. Oh! My mask……!”
The customer suddenly realized with a start that she wasn’t wearing her mask.
Then she hurried back to her seat, quickly gathered her belongings, and rushed outside.
“Oh! You’re not leaving anything behind, are you?”
“N-No! I’m fine! The coffee was delicious!”
With those words, my first customer disappeared like the wind.
As I stood there blankly watching her leave, I suddenly felt a heated gaze on my back.
I quickly turned around.
There stood the coffee fairy, glaring at me with murderous eyes.
“Pii…….”
“S-Sorry!”
The coffee fairy had been tied to the pillar since earlier.
I quickly untied it, and it shook its body once.
Then came the retaliation.
The coffee fairy launched itself directly at my abdomen.
“Guh!”
The unexpected attack knocked me backward, and I fell to the floor.
The coffee fairy went “Hmph!” and turned its head away before climbing into the cabinet above the café.
‘It’s really sulking.’
I couldn’t tell whether it was angry because I had deliberately poured the espresso it made into ice water.
Or whether it was angry because I had tied it to the wall of the café.
Maybe it was both.
I didn’t think I could make it forgive me no matter what I said right now, so I decided I would slowly try to win it over.
Then I suddenly noticed the clock.
‘What time is it?’
The hour hand had already passed three in the afternoon.
I suddenly remembered somewhere I urgently needed to go.
I hurriedly gathered my things and headed outside the café.
“Ah! I need to lock the door!”
Realizing that I had to lock the café, I quickly locked the door with the key Mandeok had given me.
Then, hoping I wouldn’t be late for my appointment, I hurried toward the bus stop.
* * *
The bus took me to a public kindergarten attached to a public school.
I hurriedly got off the bus and ran toward it.
In the distance, I saw a teacher seeing off the kindergarten children.
Just as I recognized the teacher, she also noticed me running toward her.
“Oh my! Mr. Yujin!”
“Huff……! Huff……! Hello, Teacher Daeun.”
Lee Daeun.
She was a kindergarten teacher who worked at this kindergarten.
“I was worried because I thought you were going to be late.”
“I’m sorry. I was late because I was working.”
“No, it’s okay. Seol was waiting patiently too.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than a small girl with a neatly cut bob haircut spotted me standing outside the kindergarten.
The moment she recognized me, the girl began running toward me.
Pitter-patter-patter!
Then, just like the coffee fairy had done earlier, she launched herself into my arms with all the momentum she had built up.
“Dad!”
“Guh!”
That made two rib shots in a single day.