Chapter 1: Possession (1)

“Welcome, customer. I’ll help you with your order. What would you like?”

The customer who entered the cafe looked at the menu for a moment before ordering.

“Hmm. What should I get? Do you have any recommendations?”

“Our cafe’s recommended menus are the warm yuzu tea or the black sesame cream latte, which are delicious.”

“Really? Then just give me a warm iced Americano.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said a warm iced Americano. Can’t you hear me? Are you deaf? I said a warm iced Americano.”

I paused for a moment.

An iced Americano itself is served cold with ice, so what does it mean to ask for it hot?

However, because there are customers who occasionally order like that, I made the Americano as I was used to.

Looking outside, everyone was wearing thick padded jackets and coats.

Since people wouldn’t drink iced Americano in such cold weather, I made it hot.

If they wanted to drink iced Americano, they wouldn’t have added the word ‘warm’ in front of it.

Americano has the easiest difficulty level to make among coffees.

I mixed the extracted liquid from the machine with hot water. Since it was for takeout, I put it in a plastic cup and put a cup holder on it.

Ding.

“It’s ready. Number 13, warm Americano customer.”

There was no answer.

The customer was clearly sitting in the corner of the first floor, and there weren’t many customers.

Still, just in case, I called out loudly, but it was the same.

This 100% means they’re too lazy to come get it, so just bring it to them.

Causing a commotion here would only harm me, so I sighed and took the coffee.

“Here you go, customer.”

The customer took the coffee and went out without a word.

A guy who looked younger than me was acting like that, so I was momentarily furious, but I consoled myself that it was takeout.

He looked like a troublemaker at first glance, so if he had stayed in the store, who knows what he might have done.

“Sigh, shall I go back to reading?”

There weren’t many people anyway. I sat on a box piled in the corner of the counter and turned on my phone.

I’ve always liked novels.

Unlike my tough life, the protagonists in novels always succeed. Even if there are obstacles, they overcome them refreshingly.

At that time, I immerse myself in the protagonist and get vicarious satisfaction.

My life doesn’t change because the protagonist grows, but if I don’t read something like this, my life is too bleak.

My parents abandoned me as soon as I was born, so I was raised by my grandmother, and in middle school, I was bullied because I didn’t have parents.

While going through puberty, my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer when I was in my second year of high school.

Because it was unexpected, the shock was great.

After that incident, I stopped being childish.

My only family was sick, and even though I could cure her if I had money, I couldn’t because I didn’t have any.

Instead of treating my grandmother, I gave up my studies and jumped into the workforce.

From parcel delivery to convenience store part-time jobs, restaurant assistant, I did all kinds of part-time jobs.

I really lived hard.

I lived like crazy.

But the money I gathered in my hands was only 30 million won.

It was definitely a lot of money, but it wasn’t enough to treat my grandmother.

So, my grandmother passed away after about a year of chemotherapy.

I despaired.

I cried endlessly.

Because I knew the grace of her raising me with her ailing body, even though I was abandoned by my parents.

The sense of loss from my grandmother was too great.

But this world did not leave me alone.

Because I had taken out loans from all over the place to treat my grandmother for a year.

I even used loan sharks when I was desperate.

The resulting debt gradually increased and suffocated me.

Eventually, I gave up on college and started paying off my debt, and even when I went to the military, I saved money.

In my life, romance fantasy was a fresh stimulus itself.

Love affairs, romance, love.

The pleasure of seeing things that I can’t see in my life indirectly through writing.

Of course, not all romance fantasy novels were impressive.

But this novel I’m reading now is definitely one of the top three novels I’ve read in the past five years.

[I Devoured the Empire.]

Because of the unstimulating and plain title, the number of readers was small.

[I Devoured the Empire], which I read that way, was quite fun. No, beyond simply being fun, I had become a fan.

“I don’t know why. It’s not like there’s anything special about it.”

The content or setting wasn’t particularly special.

A world where the demon king and heroes exist. The protagonist, whose family was ruined by the imperial family, seduces the first prince for revenge.

After marrying him, she makes the first prince a puppet and manipulates the empire as she pleases.

“Maybe it’s because it’s well-written.”

The author’s writing skills weren’t bad.

But not to the point where I’d be this drawn to it.

“Anyway, I’m a little disappointed with this chapter.”

As the genre is romance fantasy, the protagonist is inevitably bound to fall in love with someone.

You might ask if there isn’t the first prince she married. He’s just a puppet to control the empire.

In the end, the one she fell in love with was the hero who defeated the demon king. A man who became a national hero by defeating, although not killing, the demon king.

I didn’t like this.

“This guy is kind of shady.”

I don’t know how the author will develop the story, but the traces of the hero shown in the work so far are quite ambiguous.

He’s kind, handsome, and considerate of the weak, but sometimes the few minor words the author leaves make me confused.

“They’ll figure it out. It could be my misunderstanding.”

As I was about to leave the novel, someone called me from behind.

“Hey. Where did the part-timer go? Part-timer!”

“Yes? Customer. I’ll be right there.”

When I went to the counter, it was the guy who had received the coffee last time.

He clearly paid and went outside, so why did he come in?

“Is there any problem?”

“Ha, are you giving me this and telling me to drink it?”

The guy roughly puts down the plastic cup that is about 2/3 empty. The cold coffee overflowed.

“I asked for an iced Americano. But why did you give me a hot one? Do I look easy to you?”

“Excuse me? You clearly said a warm iced Americano. So, I thought you misspoke because it’s winter, so I gave it to you warm.”

“Ha, I don’t accept that. Give me a refund. Refund!”

“You’ve already drunk more than half of it. And it’s been about 30 minutes since you received it. According to the regulations, we can’t give you a refund.”

When I explained it logically, the man trembled. Then, he soon smirked and threw the cup at me.

Splash!

The cold Americano drenched my head. It dripped down my chin to the floor.

“Haha. Serves you right. If you don’t give me a refund here, I’ll keep going, so try me. The customer is king, so you should do as you’re told. A mere part-timer dares to.”

“Why, are you angry? Are you angry? Then I guess I’ll have to complain to the manager.”

Crack.

Anger rose to the top of my head. If I didn’t have debt, I would have paid him back the same way.

But I had the shackles of debt, so I suppressed my anger and manipulated the counter.

“Yes. I’ve refunded you. Please leave.”

“Good, good. Free coffee, awesome!”

He said that and went out the door.

Before I knew it, the eyes of the cafe customers were on me. I could hear people whispering.

Shame and resentment came over me.

Still, I held back and held back.

I wiped my head with a towel and cleaned the floor with a mop.

Of course, I paid with my own card.

“A fcking bastard who didn’t even get a proper upbringing. If he comes again tomorrow, I’ll really… Whew, calm down. Calm down.”

My fists were still trembling with anger.

Cursing him, I sat down on the box. It’s almost closing time, so it’s okay to rest.

As I rested for a while, my body became lethargic. I closed my eyelids because I stayed up all night the day before.

I tried to hold back somehow, but it didn’t work.

Snore.

“Ah, no! Get away!”

I opened my eyes and jumped up.

I had a nightmare.

A dream where the crazy customer who shouted “free coffee, awesome!” came every day.

He even used a caramel macchiato, sticky because of the sugar, as a weapon.

So, when I lost my temper and did the same to him, the manager who came in at that moment fired me, it was a nightmare.

“Ugh. That fcking bastard. If I knew it was a dream, I would have just recorded it with my phone.”

I wiped the cold sweat and reached out to the shelf. But I couldn’t grab my glasses.

“What?”

Only then did I feel something was wrong and looked around.

Instead of the cafe that should be filled with the smell of coffee beans, there was an unfamiliar room that I had never seen before. And I was lying in bed.

“Ah, am I still dreaming?”

I pinched my cheek. But it hurt. It means it’s not a dream.

“Wait a minute. Then is it a kidnapping? Why? How?”

When you open your eyes and you’re in a different place, if it’s not a dream, you should definitely suspect kidnapping.

It means someone moved me while I was sleeping.

I picked up things that could be used as weapons around me.

As I was about to check the other room.

I could see it.

My reflection in the mirror.

“Wh, who are you?”