SSS-Grade Cafe in Front of The Dungeon

SSS-Grade Cafe in Front of The Dungeon — Side Story 2

Translated by cabinfourtranslations.

Even when I was an F-Class Cafe Owner, Cafe Rieul was popular, so I didn’t think it would make any difference if I became an S-Class. A cafe owner is a cafe owner, no matter if they’re F or S-Class.

However, in the hunter world, everything was determined by Grade. There are many unexpected changes that happened when I became an S-Class. One of those was the mountain of proposals that came flooding in. I got so many in the mail that it took me a while to read and reject each one. My drawer quickly filled up, even though it was only a few days after I processed the previous batch.

And that’s just the ones that came in the regular post. I haven’t even opened my e-mail box yet.

I poured out the stack of papers from the drawer onto the table. In that moment, Mieum and Lime dashed at the fluttering papers.

“Waeolgh!”

“Kkyuuu!”

Why do they always lose control whenever they see fluttering paper, even though they usually act fine? Is it instinct? I tried to rescue the paper from Mieum’s front paw but I stopped myself. Yeah, if my cat could heal a broken heart like that, a piece of paper or two was a small price to pay.

Other S-Classes must be getting this many messages too, how do they all handle it? This question popped into my head, so I asked Ki Yoohyun the other day. His answer was surprisingly simple.

“I see….”

“I’m sure it’s similar for other guilds. Since they have to keep in close contact with the Dungeon Management Office, they usually have someone in charge.”

I see. You just have to have a guild. This solution didn’t work for me.

“Should I hire someone too?”

I muttered to myself, and Ki Yoohyun immediately responded.

“That’s a good idea. If you send a request to the Dungeon Management Office, they can arrange it for you. If you’re not interested in that, I can help as well.”

“Hmm … No, I’ll think about it some more for now. Having a contact manager … that sounds too much like being an S-Class.”

“Rieul-ssi…..” Ki Yoohyun sent me an affectionate gaze.

“What’s wrong?”

“Rieul-ssi, you’re an S-Class.”

“Ah, I haven’t gotten used to it yet…….”

I’ve been an F-Class all along, but then I suddenly jumped to S-Class during the recent Demon God incident. It’s understandable that I might not be able to adjust right away!

Ahem, I got off track. Anyway, after stopping Ki Yoohyun from trying to arrange a personal manager for me right away, I was left with this mountain of papers. I have to sort through this stack of proposals to find what I want: a way to visit the Special Hunter School without being caught by Ash.

“You sound suspicious when you put it like that, waeoong!”

“Stay there and play with your paper.”

I sat down next to my chattering house animals and checked the proposals. They ranged from the commonplace, such as advertising offers and inquiries about supplying coffee, to the outlandish, such as a proposal to create a virtual hunter.

“Uh, is this……?”

“Why are you acting like that, waolgh!”

“Kkyuuu!”

“They want to collaborate with Cafe Rieul to make a cafe management game?”

Wow, this one sounded great. I immediately stopped flipping through the paper and started reading it intently. The proposal was accompanied by a pretty convincing business plan, and it made me think that this game should definitely be made. But…..

“What? The probability of a 5-stars pull is 0.1% with no guarantee?”

Upon reading it more carefully, I realized it was an even worse gacha system than the system’s golden draw tickets. It was transparently designed with the intention of making a quick profit off the name of Cafe Rieul. I neatly folded the game proposal and tossed it into the recycling bin.

After repeating this process a few times, all the documents went into the trash bin. Was it impossible to use such proposals to approach the school? Just as I was feeling discouraged and thinking I should give up…..

“Uh, Mieum, give me that.”

“Waeooolgh?!”

I rescued a sheet of paper that had been ruined by Mieum’s footprints. On the very top line of the paper, in the sender’s name section, it was written: From: Special Hunter School Canteen.

This was it!

***

“Hello!”

“Oh, you’re here. Thank you for coming all the way here.”

I was greeted by a middle-aged man who was organizing a mountain of paper boxes. With a smile that made him look friendly even with squinting eyes, he looked at me with concern, noticing that I had come alone.

“But it looks like you will have a lot of work here, are you sure you’ll be okay handling it by yourself?”

“Of course, please trust me.”

“Yes, then I look forward to your kind cooperation today.”

The man finished organizing the boxes of paper and left. After he was completely out of sight, I looked around with keen eyes.

This was the Special Hunter School, a training academy for underage hunters that had just opened. The brand-new building gleamed brightly. At the entrance, the security was thorough, with equipment of the latest technology checking the identities of visitors, effectively blocking unauthorized access. This was the school that’s currently the talk of the town, providing everything from uniforms and study materials to equipment and dormitories!

And now I’ve successfully infiltrated its most vital institution.

It allowed direct access to students, allowed me to hear their honest opinions, and even garnered enthusiastic responses. Therefore, we might as well call it the heart of the school. The canteen.

“Then, where…..”

Oops, I almost had my disguise fall apart. I pulled my cap down further. Wearing clothes I didn’t usually wear and covering my face with the cap and mask, I was at least unrecognizable.

The content of the official document I received was as follows: They would like to treat the students of the Special Hunter School to a cup of coffee from Cafe Rieul, and inquired if it could be provided at the regular price. Since they were students, I was considering accepting the offer.

I could personally deliver the coffee and check out the school!

However, when I contacted them after seeing the official document, the canteen manager expressed difficulty. She had a bad cold, so she told me that even if I provided the coffee, she couldn’t open the canteen right away. As soon as I heard that, a brilliant idea flashed in my mind.

“How about I take over the canteen for a day?”

Instead of just delivering coffee, if I stayed at the canteen all day, I could take a more leisurely look around the school. I’d be helping the sick canteen manager and also getting a grasp of Ash’s current situation. It would be killing two birds with one stone.

At first, the canteen manager felt apologetic and tried to refuse, but she couldn’t overcome the nasty seasonal cold and was worried about the students who would be starving, so she asked me to help out at the canteen.

Even so, it was impossible to enter the school without revealing my identity. I showed my Hunter registration card at the entrance, obtained a day worker’s pass, and officially entered, but it didn’t matter. As long as I didn’t get caught by Ash!

I didn’t tell Ki Yoohyun about my trip today. I didn’t mean to keep it a secret, but he said I was being overprotective of Ash … I wasn’t acting overprotective, he was really acting weird.

So I just told him that I had to take the day off because I had some urgent business. Fortunately, he didn’t ask me for details about what happened. I’m not good at lying. If he had asked for details, I would have ended up revealing my plans for the day.

One puzzling point was that Ki Yoohyun also mentioned he had an urgent matter and would be away for the day.

Hmm ……. didn’t he say he didn’t have any more urgent schedules this month?

Since the disappearance of the Great Dungeon Abyss along with the Demon God, the occurrence rate of rifts in the world has decreased drastically. The system that has been built up so far has been able to sufficiently respond to the occasional sudden rifts. Now, the Hunters have been able to continue their various activities more steadily than when they were in a rush to kill monsters.

So I didn’t think it’s due to an urgent rift…….

Well, there must be some kind of situation. I decided to think about Ki Yoohyun later.

I slowly looked around the school canteen. It was a small space with a few chairs and a small table, and there were boxes of snacks and ramen noodles stacked on one side. It was the work of the staff member who had greeted earlier. Even though students tend to eat a lot, it seemed that this amount would be sufficient for today’s stock.

Next, I opened the canteen operation manual that the manager had prepared on the counter. It was clear that she felt bad about leaving me in charge of the canteen, as it detailed how to use the POS machine, the price list of items on sale, the hours of operation, and emergency contacts.

Since it was still morning class time, the canteen was quiet. The staff member who had organized the boxes earlier had also left. Then, until the customers arrive, I might as well carefully read through this canteen operation manual.

That was the moment.

Rustle.

‘…..Rustling sound?’

At first I thought it was the wind or my imagination, but then I heard the rustling sound again, clearer and clearer.

The canteen was located in an annex, some distance away from the school’s main building, and at this time of day, neither teachers nor students would be coming in. Due to the structure of the building, it’s impossible to approach the canteen without being seen.

I got goosebumps. You know, in movies or dramas, incidents always start with a suspicious sound like this.

“What the—it’s just a rat. I got scared for no reason.” Saying a line like that was a total red flag. Anyone who said something like that always ended up getting taken out when they let their guard down.

“Ugh…..”

No, no, let’s calm down. The days of getting sucked into dungeon, running into monsters, being summoned by the Saintess, or receiving quest notifications are over! None of these sudden events would ever happen again.

No, it must just be a student who skipped their class or an animal. Instead of worrying, let’s quickly check out the source of the noise and get back to reading through the canteen operation manual in peace.

The sound came from behind the stacks of snack boxes piled high. I muffled my footsteps and approached the back of the boxes. Just as I was about to listen closely to identify the source of the noise….

“Aaaaah?!”

One of the boxes that had been stacked on top of the other had fallen down. I scrambled to avoid the box falling on top of my head, but lost my balance and fell backwards.

Like a game of dominoes, the boxes came crashing down, revealing the flustered face of the person who had made the rustling noise a moment ago, and that’s…..

“….Yoohyun-ssi?”

Why are you here? You said you had some urgent business today, is that it?

“Rieul-ssi……? Was this what you meant by urgent business?”

Oh no, I had nothing to say either.

If you enjoy this translation, you can treat me a cup of coffee through Buy Me a Coffee!

Translator’s Corner:

They’re just dumb and dumber … also dear principal, why are you trying to get your students a taste of caffeine addiction….

But the school sounds fun tbh, I hope we could get more side stories with Ash’s point of view … I really like story with academy setting, maybe I should go look for some good one to do next….

also! I finished submitting all documents needed for graduation! it’s really final_im_going_to_be_free now, but nowadays I have a second thought. maybe i should just skip the graduation ceremony ksahdljskjsdakdsja not only it sounds too much like a waste of money, most people would be accompanied by their family … and since i would be alone, idk if I can stay happy in that day. but alas, since we live in such a society, I want to experience getting my name called on big screen too (I most likely will be one of the highest (if not the highest?) graduate of my year? my GPA is pretty high), but i don’t know … the thought of attending the graduation just filled me with dread.

OH AND since you’re here, please check my other project /tag/top-100-lady/, I will start seriously updating it from now on!