Officer Oh, staring intently at the empty cup. He kicked his seat and stood up.
"Would you like to order?"
The male staff who took the first order asked toward Officer Oh in front of the counter.
"Give me one cup of Iced Americano."
The male staff blinked his two eyes. It was the person who already drank one cup of coffee just a while ago.
'Another cup? Is he buying for someone else?'
The male staff, pondering for a moment, asked again.
"Are you perhaps taking it out?"
"I'll drink here."
"Ah, yes!"
The male staff proceeded with the payment.
Was it a simple illusion that vitality was felt from Officer Oh's appearance unlike a while ago.
The ordered Americano was manufactured definitely faster than before. "Your ordered beverage is ready, customer."
The male staff placed the directly manufactured Iced Americano on the pick-up counter.
Officer Oh stared intently at the Americano on the pick-up counter. The male staff was looking at such Officer Oh as if he was strange.
In an instant, Officer Oh gulps down the Iced Americano right there on the spot.
'Wh, what is this person. Weird...'
The male staff looked at such Officer Oh with an expression saying he's strange.
"Is one more cup possible?"
"Yes...?"
"Give me one more cup of Iced Americano."
The male staff making a dumbfounded expression. Although he was a new staff who hadn't started working here long ago, such a case was truly a first.
"I, I will help you with the order over here."
The male staff checked the order details again. As expected, it was Iced Americano this time too.
"Take out...?"
He asked just in case. But this time too, as expected.
"I'll drink here."
Is he caffeine addicted or something. No, even if caffeine addicted, there was no person who drank multiple cups of coffee like this in the same spot.
Even if I've seen people drink three cups divided throughout the day, this is the first time seeing someone drink three cups in a row. At least for the male staff, it was something he was experiencing for the first time.
"Your ordered beverage...!"
It was before he could even finish his sentence. Officer Oh was already in front of the pick-up counter.
"P, please drink slow..."
Gulp, gulp—!
Officer Oh hitting a one-shot of Iced Americano once again.
Now even the female staff working next to him was observing Officer Oh together. It was truly a bizarre spectacle. A police officer finishing off three cups of coffee in a row.
'Wa, was he very tired?'
When a person is tired, they sleep or take a rest, they don't hit one-shots of three cups of coffee in a row.
"Haa..."
Officer Oh let out a long sigh. The staff inside the cafe focused on his next move.
Will he order another Iced Americano this time too?
Officer Oh, looking at the empty cup on the pick-up counter, showed a somewhat disappointed expression.
"It's not this taste..."
The male staff asked carefully.
"Customer, may I ask how the taste is strange?"
Although he emptied two more cups in a row after the first Americano, the same thing as the first time didn't happen.
The hologram saying vitality recovers didn't appear in front of his eyes anymore.
The difference wasn't only that. He didn't know when drinking the first coffee, but after drinking two more cups of coffee, the taste was definitely different. Not just the hologram not appearing, but the difference in taste was really felt.
"I don't know coffee well either, so it's a bit hard to say. However, should I say the flavor feels a little different?"
"Flavor...?"
The male staff wore an awkward smile. He manufactured the coffee perfectly as learned. Tamping was appropriate, and the espresso extraction time was also neither excessive nor lacking.
But what could be the reason the customer said the taste is different?
Is he just one of the nuisance customers?
'Surely a police officer wouldn't cause a scene?'
Anyway, if the coffee taste is different, the fault would definitely lie with himself.
The male staff asked Officer Oh with an apologetic expression.
"Shall I make it for you again?"
"Ah, no. I didn't say this to mean that."
While drinking three cups of coffee, Officer Oh realized.
The reason why the coffee taste is different and why the hologram didn't appear.
"Where did that person from earlier happen to go?"
"The boss?"
"Is that person the boss? The first coffee earlier was made by that person, right?"
He remembers accurately. Saying the coffee was weak, he definitely made it again for him.
'If there is a difference, it's just that the person who made the coffee is different.'
"The boss went to the mart just now saying he had something to buy."
"Ah..."
The male staff stared intently at Officer Oh in front of his eyes.
Why is a police officer looking for the boss?
"Shall I contact him?"
It was a question asked out of concern just in case there might be a problem.
"No. I just wanted to drink one more cup of the artisan's coffee."
"A, artisan?"
The male staff looked suggestively at the female staff next to him.
'Is the boss to that extent?'
'Isn't he exaggerating?'
Two people exchanging glances.
"I will come again later. Then work hard."
Leaving just that one word, Officer Oh left the cafe.
"Th, thank you, customer. See you again later!"
In the spot where Officer Oh disappeared, the male staff stood blankly guarding.
"Ye-ri Noona."
"Huh?"
"What is different about the boss's coffee?"
"What's different. Using the same beans, same equipment. Coffee is all there."
"But why did that police officer say such words earlier?"
"In my opinion, I think that police officer is just a little weird."
The female staff went out to the hall to organize the tables after the rush time ended.
The male staff stood in place with a still blank face and was pondering repeatedly.
'What on earth is the reason the taste is different?'
3.
The place Guk-yeong headed to after finishing his part-time job was a PC bang. Since it was time for all his friends to be at school, he was enjoying games alone.
He quit school just before starting the part-time job. To be precise, on the day he came for the interview, he submitted his withdrawal letter. The reason he was the only one wearing plain clothes when his friends were wearing uniforms was exactly because of that.
He didn't quit school for ridiculous reasons like trying to show off or look tough.
'I can't go to college anyway.'
One knows oneself best.
His school records already hit rock bottom, and since he didn't study to the point his records hit rock bottom, there was no way his mock exam scores would come out well. Even if he took the CSAT, there was not even a little expectation that he would receive a high grade.
It was Guk-yeong's own fault.
'Because I didn't study.'
But he had no intention of studying.
The reason was simple. Except for a few students, there wouldn't be students who study because they like it.
How many students in the world would study because they like studying.
'It's better to rather quit and earn money.'
He has no intention to study, so what need is there to attend school unnecessarily.
Of course, what one learns at school wouldn't only be studying. Learning relationships between people, forming personality while doing group activities, and perhaps building precious memories one can never have again would also be a process of study.
But those were things felt after becoming an adult, and unfortunately, Guk-yeong was still a young puberty of eighteen.
It was still absurdly lacking to feel such things. Meaning he hadn't become an adult yet.
Because what adults say is eventually talking about their own experiences they went through while becoming adults.
It's not this taste...
Suddenly, the words the police officer who came as a customer earlier in the day said came to mind.
"What exactly is different and how?"
No matter how much he thought, he couldn't know the reason.
What is the difference between the coffee the boss made and the coffee he made.
"I should have watched a bit closely when the boss was making coffee earlier..."
Why does the police officer's word that the coffee taste is different bother him so much.
He felt regretful. It's just one cup of coffee, but those words that the taste is different felt so regrettable.
And now Guk-yeong was feeling something called regret about something he learned for the first time in his life.
I could have done a little better.
Regarding the reason the coffee taste is different, Guk-yeong came to a simple answer.
'It must be because I'm still lacking.'
It's because I learned less, learned less.
Was it because a conviction arose that he could get better if he learned? Guk-yeong turned off the game for a moment, and searched one word on Naver.
Coffee.
A very concise and clear one word.
For the first time, something interesting other than games appeared. From a part-time job started with just a simple romance of a cafe, a heart to want to do well arose. Since it's better to have a scarlet skirt (better quality), good is good.
Guk-yeong was watching and reading everything about coffee. Of course, it doesn't matter even if he doesn't understand.
'For things I don't know, I can ask the boss.'
To him, the boss was a person who knew everything about coffee.
Although in fact it's not like that, to the eyes of the still young Guk-yeong, it looked that way.
"Even the police officer called him a coffee artisan, right?"
Guk-yeong was under a delusion that wasn't a delusion that he was working under a tremendous coffee artisan.
How much time passed.
Noisy voices were heard from the PC bang entrance. Familiar voices.
"You come early."
Guk-yeong said suggestively.
"Since school ended now, we come now!"
"Do you think we play like you?"
Guk-yeong shooting a sharp glance at his friends.
"I'm not playing. I also work, and earn money."
"So are you, who earns money, treating the PC bang today?"
"I earn money, but I haven't received a salary yet."
"Fuck, is that a horse or a cow (nonsense)."
Three or four friends sat down in a row on both sides of Guk-yeong. Guk-yeong, who was studying about coffee, only now turned off Naver and turned on the game.
A game board unfolded. As time passed, Guk-yeong and his friends' voices also gradually grew louder.
"Hey, come to top now! Quickly! We're fucked!"
"Can't go! I'm eating Blue right now!"
"No, fuck, I said you have to come now?"
"I said I can't go, retard!"
"No, I said we have to do this and go for a team fight right away?"
"No, I said I'm eating Red right now!"
"No..."
The "No"-tiators.
Today too as expected, "No", "No", "No" bit the tail of the tail and popped out in succession.
Did someone say that? Excited Koreans can't converse if they don't attach 'No' in front of their words.
"Hey, Kang Guk-yeong. Come to mid for a team fight!"
"...."
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Guk-yeong wasn't looking at the monitor. He was watching a video inside the cellphone screen held in his hand right now.
"Is it time to watch YouTube now? Not concentrating?"
Guk-yeong's expression turned pale.
"Hey? What's wrong?"
Other friends also stopped the game for a moment at Guk-yeong's unusual expression.
"What's wrong? Is the movie super scary? Is that it?"
Friends gathered closely to Guk-yeong's seat.
If it's to the extent of stopping the game they were doing and watching YouTube, it must be a truly tremendous video.
It was a cruel video where monsters popped out on the road slaughtering soldiers and police, and killing even ordinary citizens.
"It's super realistic? Is it some game?"
"Just looking at it, it's a movie trailer. Is this that? Age of Destruction that came out recently or something?"
Guk-yeong's pupils trembled.
"This isn't a game."
"Then a movie?"
"Not a movie either, this."
"Then what is it?"
"This is reality."
"What?"
Friends stuck closer to Guk-yeong's cellphone.
"It's the news, this...!"
Expressions of friends turning pale.
"Fu, fuck what is this?"
"Wh, where is this?"
A large mart in Gangseo-gu. There was a time it appeared as breaking news on the news a while ago. Since the media reported it to the extent there was no one who didn't know, Guk-yeong and his friends would also know.
It was exactly that mart in question where monsters appeared along with an explosion.
"They said it was one monster? But how many on earth are these now!"
In the news video, dozens of monsters were strutting on the road near the mart and killing people.
"M, my mom said she's going to Seoul today!"
One friend hurriedly called his mom. Fortunately, the mom answered the phone.
"M, Mom! We're fucked now!"
-What do you mean fucked to your mom, you son of a bitch!
Leaving the friend on the call behind, the rest of the friends and Guk-yeong continued watching the news. All people inside the PC bang stopped games and were watching the same news.
He seemed to have heard it in passing too. That police and soldiers were mobilized to catch the monster inside the mart.
Police and soldiers armed with live ammunition entered the mart. The problem was in the number of monsters. Clearly, the monster that was only one was actually dozens.
The police and soldiers who prepared for one monster did not have the manpower to deal with dozens of monsters.
-This is a national disaster situation. Citizens in the Gangseo-gu, Seoul area please evacuate quickly to disaster safety zones and... -Police and military will send support troops speedily and... -The President said he would not spare support of fighter jets and tanks to suppress the strange life forms...
It was really chaos. It was an incident and accident of a size incomparable to the murder incident next to the cafe where Guk-yeong works.
As the news said, a national disaster situation.
"Hey, aren't those things coming all the way here? Then we'll die too."
"The President says he's sending fighter jets and tanks too?"
Guk-yeong gulped down dry saliva. He couldn't take his eyes off the news. For something that would happen only in a movie to happen in reality.
"Uh? Hey, but that person over there..."
One friend grabbed Guk-yeong's shoulder abruptly and said. He pointed at a man inside the video with his finger.
On the road where monsters were strutting, it was a person guiding citizens to evacuate helping the police.
A few brave citizens were prioritizing evacuating the elderly and children.
Among them, a man the friend pointed at.
"But isn't that your boss?"
"What are you talking about. The boss said he was going to the mart earlier."
Guk-yeong's eyes moved following the friend's finger.
In an instant, Guk-yeong's expression hardened coldly.
"Why is the boss coming out from there...?"
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