Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Episode 2: First Customer

‘The Toad Real Estate office in that building up ahead? The owner’s a bit greedy for money, but he’s not the kind of person who scams people or anything.’

‘Where’s Toad Real Estate? Ah, you mean the real estate office Gyeongsu runs? Gyeongsu’s a local boy, but he was so hopeless at making a living that the people around here felt sorry for him and entrusted all their properties to him. Guess he’s doing all right for himself now, seeing as he even sent his kid to the Dangsan-ri branch school. You know, that school the chaebol families send their kids to.’

‘He’s a little unpleasant, but he’s not exactly a bad person. Hoho, listen to me talking... Don’t tell anyone you heard that at the hair salon!’

That was the reputation of the licensed real estate agent I had learned through what could loosely be called a background check.

Though it was hardly a background check at all. I had merely bought snacks like fruit and puffed rice from shops near the real estate office and casually asked around.

The place had already been so cheap that I was suspicious, and then the moment I left, he pulled the bizarre stunt of knocking forty million won off the price. There was no way I could trust it without checking.

That was why my reply saying I would buy it had not included a date. I needed to buy myself at least a day to investigate Toad Real Estate’s reputation and obtain the documents I needed to examine before buying the building.

Any longer than that would be inconsiderate to the other party as well.

Whether you were a merchant or an office worker, time was money, wasn’t it?

Surprisingly, Toad Real Estate’s reputation, which I had learned by going around and asking in person, was fairly decent.

Though I did hear more information than necessary, such as how his son had gotten lucky and entered a school attended by chaebol children, and how he had always been the neighborhood boss as a kid but kept losing to the grandson of the stationery store owner from the village uphill.

After agonizing over all the information I had gathered, the conclusion I reached was represented by the two documents currently in my hands.

『Land Register』, 『General Building Register』

My dream of owning a home had come true in an absurdly anticlimactic fashion.

Well, good was good.

By sheer luck, I had gotten my hands on a cheap building and land. And it was not some shady property with hidden problems like I had feared.

Once the bewilderment had faded somewhat, the overwhelming emotion of finally having a home of my own began to well up inside me.

From time to time, I had heard coworkers who had bought newly built apartments say they wanted to frame their property deeds. Back then, I had laughed it off as a funny joke, but now that I had actually bought a house myself, I found myself wondering whether those homeowners had been fairly serious.

Of course, this was not an apartment in the capital region whose value might rise immediately after purchase. It was the kind of house that prompted people to advise, “For that money, you’d be better off...” On top of that, it was an old country house, notorious for being a nightmare to maintain.

But I was not particularly worried. Quite the opposite.

Ending up with a country house lifestyle I had never expected was, for someone like me who had spent his life running endlessly between work and home like a hamster on a wheel, the first heart-pounding adventure I had experienced in a long time.

And there was more than one adventure.

“Ahh, this is nice.”

Basking in the sunlight streaming through the window, I was sprawled back almost as if lying down in the window seat of the coffeehouse I had wanted so badly.

I had not cleared out this coffeehouse, which had still been operating normally just a few days ago.

I had left everything exactly as it was, even the nameless knickknacks decorating the counter that seemed disposable at best.

The real estate agent, who really did resemble a toad, had left me the business card of a waste disposal company, but there was no way I could do that.

Strictly speaking, I had practically bought the place just to enjoy this very seat.

A reason guaranteed to make anyone I explained it to call me an innovative lunatic.

But that was the truth.

The coffeehouse was merely a little old and worn. With only slight exaggeration, it was clean enough that there was not a speck of dust anywhere.

Even back when I was in the military, we could not have cleaned this thoroughly even if the division commander had been visiting the unit.

Under the chairs, beside the counter, even in the corners of the storage room where a hand could barely reach.

As though the place were going to open for business again today, none of the furnishings, coffee supplies, or even the ingredients in the refrigerator were past their expiration dates.

So I decided to leave everything as it was. No, this coffeehouse had been the whole point in the first place.

Oh, and what I had inherited was not limited to furnishings and ingredients.

【How to Make Coffy Taste Gud 】

It was a notebook I had found in the kitchen. The kind of notebook an elementary school student might use, with spaces for grade, class, and name printed along the bottom of the cover.

Every page of this notebook, its paper yellowed with age, contained fairly detailed recipes.

『Coffee

Old men: two two two + just a ant’s eye crust more + little water

Old ladies: two two two + just a ant’s eye crust more + lotsa water

Misters: three three two + just a ant’s eye crust more + lotsa water

Young ladies: two two one + just a ant’s eye crust more + little water

Kids···』

Had she written them down because she was worried she might forget them as she grew older?

Though the spelling was a complete mess, the neatly pressed handwriting showed no sign of anything having been scribbled out or erased anywhere.

On top of that, it had been neatly placed where the coffee must have been prepared, so I thought it might be something precious and contacted the real estate office to return it. But the only answer I got was that all the fixtures and belongings had been left behind.

-Sip.

Thanks to that, I was now enjoying genuine old-fashioned coffeehouse coffee, something I had never managed to taste before.

At thirty-two, an awkward age that forced me into serious contemplation over whether I should choose the “mister” recipe or the “young man” recipe, the coffee was absolutely satisfying.

The cool morning air had not even faded yet, but this was already my third cup.

Was this what it felt like to secretly steal a recipe so closely guarded they would not even teach it to their daughter-in-law?

It was on an entirely different level from the absurdly huge liter-sized Americanos I used to buy at work to stay awake.

I had taken quite the long way around, but in the end, I had fulfilled my dream.

A dream consisting of warm sunlight, an old table without even the slightest unpleasant stickiness, and a cup of coffee—utterly modest, yet one that had cost me a full hundred million won.

As I leisurely enjoyed my weekend morning coffee,

-Jingle.

At the sound of the chime hanging on the entrance door, I absentmindedly looked over and saw a young man standing at the entrance.

Early twenties? Or perhaps mid-twenties? I could not tell his exact age, but that was roughly how old he looked.

He was tall and handsome enough that his features could slap most celebrities across the face two or three times.

But I could not have cared less about his handsome face.

The problem was the modernized hanbok that did not suit his clean-cut appearance at all, the fox ears on top of his head, and the bushy tail behind him.

I desperately hoped he was a famous cosplayer and that there was some cosplay event nearby. Please, let that be the case.

Otherwise, this was a man wearing fox ears and a tail who had walked into my house in broad daylight.

“What brings you here?”

“I came by carriage.”

“Excuse me?”

A genuinely innovative lunatic had appeared.

One so deranged that even I, who had bought an entire coffeehouse building just because I liked the window seat, could not hand him my business card.

“What are you standing there gawking for? Hurry and bring me coffee.”

While I briefly wondered what on earth I should say to get him to leave, the man went so far as to order what he wanted to drink, then strode over and sat in a chair in the center of the room.

I could simply tell him that the place was no longer open for business and ask him to leave.

But I could not bring myself to say it.

The reason was that he was sitting there waiting for coffee with an expression that showed he had no idea whatsoever that this coffeehouse had closed, and it felt wrong to throw him out.

Wasn’t he mentally unwell?

Apparently, the previous owner of the coffeehouse had not turned away this poor sick young man.

Once my thoughts reached that point, my complicated feelings settled down and were replaced by pity.

“Please wait a moment.”

Right, there was still plenty of coffee left, so treating him to one cup would not hurt. Though I doubted that was why the previous owner had left all the equipment behind.

I went into the kitchen and reheated the water that had gone cold in the electric kettle.

Let’s see... was the recipe for young men three-three-three with lots of water?

The coffee I had been drinking was the mister version(?). In a rural village where young people were rare, they might call men in their forties “bachelors,” but something about drinking the coffee specifically meant for young men made a corner of my conscience uncomfortable.

That meant this young man’s coffee was a first attempt for me as well.

And so, fumbling along with the recipe, I made the young-man coffee for the first time for the purpose of serving it to someone else.

On a wooden tray sat an ivory-colored coffee cup and a small teaspoon.

-Clink.

Assuming this was how it had once been served, I placed the cup on the table.

“Oho.”

The sick young man exclaimed in admiration, his ears fluttering as he practically buried his nose in the coffee cup and busily sniffed it again and again.

I had seen ears like those on MeTube before.

Headband-shaped ears that moved according to a person’s emotions.

I had thought the world had really advanced if strange gadgets like that existed, but this was the first time I had ever seen someone actually walking around wearing one.

Still, seeing how delighted he was, he did not seem like such a bad person at heart. It even made me think I had done the right thing by not throwing him out and instead making him a cup of coffee.

But what was I supposed to do now?

Truthfully, I had never thought of a scenario for what to do after giving him the coffee.

I had only served it because I felt sorry for the young man, who did not even know the coffeehouse had closed.

Once he seemed to have finished drinking, I would have to tell him that the coffeehouse had gone out of business and that he should not come back, but I wondered whether he would even listen.

I had never met anyone this insane before.

The effortless way he spoke down to me, the manner of speech that sounded like something out of a historical drama—whether it was an act or simply his real personality, it was equally mind-numbing.

Still, I should at least tell him, right?

“Huh? Where’d he go?”

He was gone.

He had been sitting there making all kinds of ridiculous displays while drinking coffee just moments ago!

I had not even heard the chime on the entrance door, yet the strange young man had vanished without a trace, leaving behind an empty coffee cup and a bundle of cash on the seat where he had been sitting.

A thick bundle of fifty-thousand-won bills.

“This is bad.”

In the blink of an eye, I had ended up looking like I had forcibly sold coffee to a mentally ill young man.

And at an unlicensed café, no less, for nearly five million won!

If this made the news, wouldn’t I get hate comments on the level of a serial killer?

I quickly grabbed the bundle of cash and my car keys and rushed out the door.

Damn it, I should have just thrown him out and sprinkled salt after him instead of sticking my nose where it didn’t belong!

_______________

At the same time, inside a luxury sedan parked not far from Jinseong’s coffeehouse, a sudden strong wind began to blow.

-Whoosh.

All the windows were closed, so there was no way wind could have entered, yet it not only lightly rocked the car but also sent the graying hair of the middle-aged man in the driver’s seat whipping violently.

The middle-aged man, however, showed no sign of surprise. Instead, he looked toward the back seat through the rearview mirror and asked politely,

“How was it, Elder?”

“The old woman was right. It tastes exactly as it did back then.”

“That is fortunate.”

“Why? Are you relieved because you need not find another teahouse? Was this not something you volunteered to do, when you could have simply ordered your subordinates to handle it?”

“Haha, these days I’d get into serious trouble if I made employees do errands like that.”

“Hmph, what serious trouble could come of it? It is not as though you are telling them to bring you someone’s head. Are you not busy with affairs of state yourself? If you overwork yourself like that while you are young, you will ruin your health later.”

“You are the only person who still calls me young, Elder. More importantly, it seems you quite liked the new owner of the teahouse. You haven’t said anything about going somewhere else.”

“Liked him? That green brat had ‘please leave’ written all over his face, yet he had the nerve to stare me straight in the eyes while serving me. Tsk! Young people these days have no manners.”

Apparently thoroughly dissatisfied with the service he had just received, the young man pulled a long tobacco pipe from the roomy sleeve of his hanbok overcoat and placed it between his lips.

“What are you doing? Why are you not leaving?”

When the man who usually knew well enough to move without being told showed no sign of starting the car, the young man called Elder tilted his head.

But the middle-aged man, who supposedly worked in affairs of state, instead began stumbling over his words and asked another question rather than answering.

“E-Elder. Are you saying he looked directly at you?”

“I said he did····· Hah! Just look at that insolent brat.”

‘Damn old woman, what in the world did you put in there?’