Our Cafe Is Now Open for Business

The grand opening of our cafe was set for March 2nd, the first day of the university semester. We named it Cafe Serer, taking the name directly from the goddess of the other world. For the logo, I decided to use the exact design of the Serer Church's holy seal. I drew it myself, using the Precise Handiwork skill to perfectly recreate the Serer Church's emblem. Beneath it, I added the word Serer written in ancient script. The exotic and mystical lettering gave the whole thing a truly luxurious feel.

That should work for the logo.

Most of the equipment and supplies had already been transferred over when we acquired the cafe. All that remained was replacing the signboard and getting the packaging made. I commissioned both using my custom logo, and once they were installed, our cafe finally looked like a proper business.

“Did you make the menu?”

“Here.”

Nayoung showed me the list with item names and prices.

We decided the main items would be the slice cakes. Since I used Power Infusion on the milk to make the cream, even plain whipped cream tasted incredible. The whipped cream cake was simply decorated with cream and a few toppings, while the strawberry version had one whole strawberry baked inside and another placed on top.

Man, those strawberries are seriously delicious.

Out of all the fruits, strawberries responded best to Power Infusion. According to Nayoung, one bite made sweet juice explode in your mouth and filled you with pure happiness. Pairing it with coffee was pure perfection.

With this level of flavor, it seemed impossible to fail, but plenty of top chefs had gone bankrupt trusting only in their cooking. Of course, our stuff is on a completely different level from normal cafes. Anyone who tasted our cake and coffee even once would never go anywhere else. The real challenge was getting them to try it in the first place.

I hadn’t told Nayoung yet, but I’d already secured fitness YouTuber Han Gaeul for promotion. She agreed without hesitation. I’d planned to get a friends-and-family discount, but she said it was repayment for my help last time and offered to help as many times as needed for free. When she told me to call her anytime, I thanked her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and said I’d be in touch later.

Everything’s ready now.

Neither Nayoung nor I had ever run a cafe before. I double-checked that we hadn’t missed anything, then used Clean to make the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠place spotless. Finally, opening day arrived.

I headed straight to the cafe as soon as I woke up. Nayoung would handle day-to-day operations while I, as a university student, would focus on using Power Infusion. But since it was opening day, I decided to stick around in case anything came up.

The gentle aroma of coffee, soft background music, and an interior so clean not a speck of dust could be seen. The display case held the cakes we’d made that morning. The cafe looked perfect in every way—except for one critical thing.

“No customers…”

“......”

Exactly. Customers. It wasn’t like we had none at all. We were running a half-price event on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all menu items until this Sunday as our opening promotion. I’d thought that would be enough to get people to try the cake without hesitation. But not a single slice of cake had sold. Only about ten Americanos had gone out.

I’d expected slow business, but not this slow. Nayoung had been full of confidence at the start, saying we’d definitely succeed. Now her face grew stiffer with every passing hour. After running the cafe all day, we hadn’t made money—we’d actually lost some.

I thought half price would at least bring people in.

The location really was the problem. I wanted to hand out flyers, but it was the start of the semester and they were strictly cracking down on that. When I stepped outside, the street was nearly empty. The saying that this commercial area was dead wasn’t an exaggeration. Even though it was right after break, there weren’t many more students walking around than during vacation. It wasn’t just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠our store—every shop looked the same.

We’d thought being near the university front gate would be a great spot, but I was finally realizing it was actually the worst. One shop owner came out and let out a heavy sigh. As I turned to go back inside, I got a KakaoTalk message from my junior, Lee Yujin.

Yujin and I shared most of our classes. She must have gotten worried when I skipped a whole day.

It didn’t seem like she’d only messaged out of worry. We haven’t seen each other once since the freshman retreat. I’d heard her family was extremely strict. She had to report who she was meeting and what she was doing every time she went out, and she even had a curfew. That was why we hadn’t been able to meet during break.

It seemed a bit much, but if I had a daughter like Yujin, I’d probably do the same. With that face and that body, plus such a quiet and well-behaved personality. Any parent would worry. Of course, they probably never imagined their quiet little kitten would be the first one to climb onto the stove and boldly approach me.

I sent her a reply.

She followed it with a photo that looked like she’d just taken it. It was a selfie of her wearing only a pink lace bra, smiling shyly. She seemed to have gotten into taking pictures lately and had been sending me one everyday photo at a time. This was the first time she’d sent one in just her underwear, though. Given her personality, she wouldn’t show these to anyone else. These were pictures meant only for me.

I immediately sent her a thumbs-up emoji. She responded by sending several more photos from different angles.

The last photo was either an accident or on purpose—her bra had slipped down, revealing a hint of her nipple. Even though she wasn’t fully naked, it was far more arousing than if she had been. It was easily the best photo I’d seen from her so far.

After thoroughly enjoying the pictures, I went back inside the cafe. Nayoung was standing there looking drained. It was getting close to dinner time, so I asked her,

“What do you want for dinner?”

“I’m fine. Not really hungry.”

Business was bad, so she probably had no appetite. At this rate we’d have to throw out all the cakes we’d made. No wonder she was in a bad mood.

Since we’re going to throw them out anyway, maybe I should give some away for promotion?

I thought about who to give them to. Suddenly, I remembered the student council where Choi Seungah served as vice president. At the beginning of the semester, the council took the lead in department activities. If I gave them cake and asked for a bit of promotion in return, it should have a pretty good effect.

Since I helped them during the freshman retreat, they probably won’t refuse.

Plus, most of the council members were part of the popular crowd. If they said it was good, word would spread quickly within the department. I immediately called Seungah.

“Are you at the student council right now?”

“Yeah, why? Are you coming to help?”

“Am I crazy?”

“Ugh, then why are you calling?”

She sounded pretty irritable, probably because council work was busy.

“A friend of mine just opened a cafe. I was going to bring over some cake and coffee. If you don’t want any, just say so.”

“...Sunbae, you know how much I respect you, right?”

Her attitude flipped the second she heard the word “cake.” The annoyance in her voice instantly turned sweet and gentle.

“How many people are there?”

“The president and a few others went to prepare for the freshman welcome party. Including me, there are eight of us here.”

A good number—not too many, not too few. One cake cut into eight slices would be perfect.

“Got it. I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

“Yes, sunbae-nim! We’ll be waiting!”

I hung up and walked over to Nayoung.

“Can you pack eight slices of strawberry cake and make eight lattes? I’m going to give them to some people I know for promotion. I’ll pay for it.”

“Forget the money. It’s our cafe anyway. Just wait a minute.”

Even though Nayoung ran the cafe, my abilities were the foundation of it, so I had a significant stake. It was essentially a jointly owned shop. She skillfully pulled the shots. Even though I was the one ordering, she seemed happy just to have an order at all. Her expression softened a little as she packed up the coffee and cake and handed them to me.

“Here you go.”

“Thanks. I’ll be back soon.”

“It’s not like anything’s going to happen here, so you don’t have to come back. I’ll call you if I need anything.”

She probably didn’t want to show me her failure. Seeing the usually confident girl looking so down made my heart ache a little.

“Alright. Call me if anything comes up. I’ll run right over.”

“Okay. Have a good trip.”

I picked up the coffee and cake and headed toward the Business Administration Department’s student council room.