<Episode 12>
It was my first time seeing a grim reaper in real life, and I was dumbfounded by how exactly he matched my imagination.
Still, even grim reapers were doing delivery jobs these days… the economy really must be bad.
“The shipping is insanely fast. Should I open it?”
When I opened the box, the first thing I saw was a fish-shaped pastry mold wrapped tightly in bubble wrap.
A six-slot mold that could bake six pastries at once. I should use this starting tomorrow.
Then I opened another box lying underneath, revealing a strange machine with a transparent crystal panel attached to a silver plate. There was even a sturdy hook on the back so it could be mounted on a wall.
“This is… the reservation item?”
I unfolded the manual, and the first sentence that caught my eye read:
[After hunter verification, reservation slots are assigned. Notifications are automatically sent upon completion.]
In other words, if a customer touched their Hunter ID card to the panel, their unique number would be recognized, and reservations would be automatically assigned in order according to the production quantity I set.
Once the pastries were finished baking, notifications would automatically be sent to each hunter’s system window or watch, meaning I barely had to worry about reservations myself.
First, I entered the daily production quantity, selectable menu items, and purchase limit per person.
“I should test it just in case.”
I pulled out the Hunter ID card stuffed away in the corner and lightly tapped it against the device.
My information was automatically entered, and a window appeared allowing me to choose products and quantities.
—
[Good. Product: red bean pastry. Quantity: three.]
[Reservation: Jung Haneul / Red Bean Fish Pastry x3]
—
As soon as I entered it, a reservation completion message appeared.
The moment I baked three red bean pastries in the kitchen, a notification blinked in my system window.
—
[Ding-dong! Your ordered product is complete! – Haneul’s Shop –]
—
So this is how it works. Amazing.
The controls were intuitive, and the setup wasn’t difficult, so other people would probably be able to use it easily too.
Smiling in satisfaction, I stored the reservation item in my inventory.
I’ll install it tomorrow morning as soon as I get to work.
“Then should I check Hunter Ria’s gift now?”
I pulled out the shopping bag I had carefully stored in my inventory.
It felt surprisingly heavy.
‘What is this, a rock?’
Laughing to myself, I opened the box inside the bag.
And what was inside was…
“…Huh? It really is a rock?”
“It’s not an ordinary rock, nya. It’s a stone filled with magic power, nya!”
Hanyang’s eyes sparkled beside me.
So this wasn’t just a regular rock… it was a mana stone?
I stared at the gray stone, about the size of my fist.
“So this is what a mana stone looks like…”
It felt strange seeing something I had only read about in textbooks.
Should I use it to make items? Or sell it for cash?
Mana stones had endless uses.
After pondering how to use it, I decided to put it back in my inventory for now.
“Let’s keep it for now. It might come in handy later.”
Hunter Ria, thank you so much!
Grinning, I thought I should give her plenty of pastries when she returned from Australia.
“Alright! Let’s sleep. I’ve got to open the shop again tomorrow.”
“You seem extremely happy, nya.”
There was no reason not to be.
I completed the mission, received an amazing gift from Hunter Ria, and even bought the items I needed.
“I guess I really am cut out for business. It’s fun seeing more and more customers.”
“There’s a reason I chose you, nya!”
“Hahaha! Is that so?”
Hanyang puffed out his chest proudly.
Though honestly, because of all the belly fat, it looked more like his stomach sticking out than his chest, and it was ridiculously cute.
“Cute! So cute!! Too cute!!”
I pounced on the proud Hanyang and rubbed my face roughly into his squishy belly.
“What are you suddenly doing, nya!? Get away, nya!”
Panicking, Hanyang pressed his soft paws against my face.
Even with my cheeks getting squished flat, I smiled happily.
***
The next day.
Carrying sleepy Hanyang tucked under my arm, I headed to the shop and saw customers already lined up outside.
Before, I would’ve panicked and rushed over.
But not today.
‘Because I have the ultimate item.’
I lightly greeted the customers waiting desperately for me and opened the shop.
With a fwiiish sound, the tightly wrapped tarp automatically unfurled, revealing the small but cozy store.
“Boss! One cream pastry and one red bean…”
“I came first! Two cream pastries, please!”
“Hey, no cutting in line!”
“What do you mean by cutting in line?!”
I shook my head while watching the hunters who looked ready to start throwing punches.
It was a familiar morning routine by now.
I told them to line up properly…
“Alright, everyone! Starting today, our operating system has changed!”
“The operating system changed?”
The customers, grabbing each other by the collars, turned toward me.
I pulled out the item from my bag and attached it to the wall of the shop.
“It’s an item that automatically sends notifications after hunter verification and product selection. From now on, there’s no need to stand in line anymore… We’ll operate through reservations!”
Everyone exchanged uncertain glances at the unfamiliar item.
Most market items were combat-related, so it was natural that a shop-use item like this felt strange.
Besides, I didn’t buy it from an ordinary place… it came from the special site ‘Underworld.com.’
Looking at the still-hesitant hunters, I raised my voice.
“First come, first served! Limited to 500 pastries per day, so hurry!”
At the mention of limited quantities, everyone rushed forward at once as if they had planned it.
Even with per-person limits, 500 wasn’t exactly generous.
I quietly stepped back with a smile.
‘Good. They’re entering it properly.’
Thankfully, thanks to the intuitive reservation system, no one struggled using the unfamiliar item.
Now all I had to do was bake delicious pastries.
I opened the system window to check how many more I needed to unlock the next menu.
‘4,030…’
I needed to bake around 1,000 more pastries to unlock the next menu.
Still, I wasn’t too worried.
Now that I had the six-slot mold, the numbers would rise quickly.
“I wonder what the next menu will be?”
“Maybe Churu fish pastries, nya…”
“There’s no way.”
Red bean pastries. Cream pastries. And next?
Personally, I thought spicy pastries would be nice.
Like kimchi fish pastries.
Before I knew it, the front of the store had become quiet.
Everyone had made reservations and gone off to do their own things.
A little later, humming to myself, I placed freshly finished pastries onto the shelf.
“Boss! I came to pick up my reserved pastries!”
“Name… Kang Dasol?”
“Yes! That’s me!”
Soon, customers started arriving one after another to collect their reservations.
Long lines used to make me feel pressured, but now people can simply come pick up their orders, so I can bake at my own pace.
“What do you mean reservations are closed?!”
Someone shouted while reading the notice posted at the store.
It was Gong Juhee, wearing a flashy jeweled headband she apparently got from somewhere.
“Oh, you came again?”
“I was just passing by! But what do you mean by closed? You wrote it wrong, didn’t you?”
Ever since eating the pastries before, Juhee had apparently grown fond of them and visited often.
Of course, she complained every single time.
“Unfortunately, we use reservations now. We already closed this morning.”
“You never said that!”
“Well, today’s the first day.”
Juhee bit her lip and clenched her fist tightly.
I instinctively took a small step back.
Violence is a bit much, isn’t it?
“Wait, what are you trying to…”
“What about tomorrow’s reservations?!”
“Huh?”
Tomorrow’s reservations?
“If today’s full, just take reservations for tomorrow in advance!”
I shook my head.
Sorry, but our shop only accepts same-day reservations.
When I explained that the reservation list reset the moment the date changed, Juhee fell into thought.
“It’s annoying coming early… Maybe if I hire someone to reserve for me…”
“You really never change.”
“What did I do?!”
She was already thinking about sending someone else to reserve for her.
Though now that I thought about it, wouldn’t identity verification make that difficult?
“I think it’s better if you reserve personally. Otherwise, the notifications might not reach you.”
“Hmph. It looks like a crafted item, but they sure made it complicated. So inefficient.”
Even while complaining, Juhee pulled out her phone and set an alarm.
It was obvious she was determined to get pastries tomorrow, no matter what.
‘Sometimes she’s actually kind of cute.’
Just then, while smiling and baking pastries, a familiar presence suddenly swept over the shop.
When I turned my head, Hunter Lee Hyunwoo was standing there expressionlessly.
“We need to talk for a moment.”
Beside me, I heard Juhee gasp.
“I-I-It’s Lee Hyunwoo…!”
Why is she overreacting so much?
I greeted him while muttering internally.
“Perfect timing! I brought your clothes. Let me finish this batch, and I’ll return them right away.”
“I didn’t come to retrieve the clothes. Back then…”
Just as he was about to say something, he slowly turned his head to the side.
Juhee, who had been secretly glancing at him, locked eyes with him and gasped.
“Ah, um, hello…”
“Excuse me, but could you step aside for a moment?”
“B-But…”
Juhee hesitated, looking back and forth between Hyunwoo and me.
Did she still have something to say to me?
At her reaction, Hyunwoo clicked his tongue in irritation.
“Do you have something to say?”
“N-No! Of course not! I was just leaving!”
Shaking her head vigorously, Juhee lowered her voice and whispered to me.
“…Are you okay? That person’s an S-rank hunter.”
“I’m fine. Why?”
“The difference in magic power makes my skin sting all over, and you’re saying you’re fine? Seriously?”
Her skin stung?
I genuinely felt nothing.
When I tilted my head, Juhee narrowed her eyes.
“Maybe because you’re F-rank? They say if your mana is too low, you can’t feel it at all.”
After examining me curiously, Juhee made eye contact with Hyunwoo, who was waiting beside us with an indifferent expression, and quickly stepped back.
“Do you require more time?”
“N-No…”
Come to think of it, other hunters did say they felt fear from the pressure S-ranks emitted.
Juhee rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably.
“A-Anyway, I’ll go first. Have a nice talk!”
Acting like a rabbit trapped before a tiger, Juhee hurried away after saying goodbye.
Watching her retreating figure, I shrugged.
‘Guess she really was uncomfortable.’
It was strange that I, standing right beside him, felt perfectly fine.
Was Juhee right? Was it because I was an F-rank with almost no mana?
Apparently, non-awakened people weren’t afraid of Hyunwoo either, so maybe you needed a certain amount of mana to sense another person’s mana.
Once Juhee disappeared, Hyunwoo immediately turned back to me and got straight to the point.
“I heard one of our team members fell asleep after eating an item you made. Is that true?”
“Oh! Hunter Ria? I did give her a cream pastry.”
Please don’t tell me something’s wrong…
“Was it made using the grass you collected back then?”
How did he know that?
When I hesitated, he sighed and rubbed between his brows.
“So simply collecting the grass wasn’t the end of it.”
“They said that grass was necessary for the sleep effect.”
Still, thanks to it, Hunter Ria recovered her health and regained motivation, so wasn’t that a good thing?
I tried thinking positively, but Hyunwoo frowned as though burdened.
“Then does that mean you’ll have to enter gates again for other effects?”
“Uh… probably?”
Not probably… more like almost definitely.
“…An F-rank with no fear.”
He muttered quietly.
I awkwardly scratched my cheek, and he pulled out a pen and scribbled something onto a pastry bag.
[010.XXXX.XXXX]
“If you ever have to enter a gate again, don’t go alone like last time. Contact me instead.”
He wrote his number on a fish pastry bag?
What kind of new flirting technique is this?
“…Seriously.”
I stared dumbfounded at his retreating.
And that evening, a strange rumor began spreading across the hunter forums.
<Title: Hunter Lee Hyunwoo and the fish pastry shop owner… is there something going on between them?>
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