Chapter 21 – Episode 21- Korean Milk

The streets at dawn were always chilly.

It’s full of moisture in the house, and when I go out, I shrink my body without knowing it.

But like everyone else, I got used to this withdrawal.

Same street, same cold, same time.

It was a scene at dawn that I experienced every day to the point of getting bored, but I didn’t feel particularly tired.

The moment I passed this street and arrived at Café Yuu.

It was because there was a store manager who always greeted me every day.

The store manager, who greeted me with a warm smile, was always waiting for me at the entrance of the cafe.

And today, the last moment, the store manager standing upright at the entrance of the cafe smiled lightly as if he saw me approaching.

“Hanjun, are you here?”

“Yes, manager.”

Café Yuu, who moved to Seoul from the countryside for two years and shared livelihood and daily life.

Thinking that it was the last day today, I felt a bit bitter like the scent of coffee passing by the tip of my nose.

* *

After entering the cafe, the store manager and I naturally sat down at the table.

“Manager, take this.”

Thinking that I should give the store manager a present I bought yesterday, I took out a coffee capsule from my bag.

“Oh, Mr. Han Jun. Why are you buying all these things?”

“There are so many things I received from the manager. And it’s not that expensive.”

The store manager hesitated when he saw the gift I gave him, but then he accepted it without hesitation.

“There are many things I have done for Hanjun. Rather, I am grateful to Hanjun.”

“… Manager. If I say that to other people, will I be beaten to death?”

The kindness the store manager gave me was truly overflowing.

I wonder if I can do this for others.

“When the monthly rent was insufficient, the manager gave me a part-time job in advance.”

“… That much…”

“You gave me a lot more hourly wages than anywhere else.”

“… It’s because Mr. Han Jun is good at his job…”

“Every vacation, he always bought me food and prepared extra sandwiches for me.”

“…That’s what I want to take care of…”

I don’t know why, but I got into a situation where I questioned the manager and the manager tried to evade my words.

The store manager accepted my words and smiled softly, perhaps realizing the irony.

“… Mr. Han Jun, I am grateful that you remember all of those things and bury them in your heart.”

“What are you talking about, these are things that people will naturally remember.”

“No, Mr. Han Jun.”

The store manager put his chin on his hand as if thinking of something.

The store manager, who was silent for a moment, spoke to me.

“I wasn’t good at that kind of thing.”

“…The manager?”

When I asked back as if it were nonsense, the store manager smiled meaningfully.

“Sure, I’m a bad person no matter what.”

“If the store manager is a bad person, everyone else should go to jail.”

“Whoop whoop…”

The store manager smiled once after hearing what I said, and then he asked me a question.

“Jun Han, did I tell you why I opened this cafe?”

“No, you didn’t tell me.”

The manager swept the table and said.

“I was originally, I had one dream when I lived abroad.”

“What is it?”

“When I was young, unlike others, I thought I was going to get hit by studying… It’s a dream that I just wanted to run away and open a shop.”

The store manager smiled bitterly.

The first expression of the store manager, who always had a kind smile.

When I nodded and made a gesture that I was listening, the store manager continued his words one by one.

“It was selfish. The place where I lived wasn’t very peaceful at first, so I grew up in a more affluent environment in a more comfortable family than others, but I want to run away and open a shop… Isn’t it funny?”

“… I think it’s okay because everyone thinks like that when you’re young.”

I offered consolation to the store manager, who seemed to be soaked in regret.

Then the store manager shook his head, and he said.

“It wasn’t just because I was young, it was the same afterwards. I barely came to my senses after stupidly important people were hurt, but even if I hadn’t been selfish before that… I’m sure… I’m sure… I’d have been better.”

“……”

The store manager speaks slowly with a lonely smile.

Unable to utter a word at the sight of that deep wound, I remained silent.

“Although belatedly, I worked hard and somehow managed to finish it… I was left blankly in a peaceful world, regrets kept coming over me. As I kept going, I couldn’t get my hands on what I was doing… I was pushed by others, so I ran away and opened a cafe here. And not long after opening the cafe, Han Jun came to visit me.”

The store manager looked at me blankly and continued.

“Hanjun-san, do you know that you were very desperate at first?”

“… Yes, it is.”

After coming down from the city in the countryside and having to earn a living with what little money I had left, I put in part-time jobs here and there.

Yuu is a cafe with good hourly wages close to home.

In order to get a job here, where you can work from morning to evening, 5 days a week, I came to the interview after doing all kinds of preparation.

However, the interview ended in a mess when he faced the store manager with great beauty and remembered his grandmother’s will to ‘don’t trust women’.

“At that time, Han Jun-ssi was very sloppy, but he was so desperate… I lost sight of him without even realizing it.”

“… Desperate, but he was just an idiot.”

“No, how could you think that Han Jun, who is diligent in everything unlike me, is an idiot. Rather… I was jealous.”

The store manager told me with a meaningful smile.

“Did you play a joke while watching Han Jun’s desperate appearance?”

“Did you do that?”

The store manager smiled silently and nodded his head.

“Of course. During vacation, while spending time with Hanjun, I was jealous… While joking around… I found peace of mind while looking at Hanjun. I’m going back there.”

“… What is it because of me?

The store manager staring at me with a smile.

I blinked my eyes as if I was sincere, and I averted my gaze as I couldn’t stand the grown-up’s sincere smile.

“Huh-huh… No, it’s really thanks to Han Jun-ssi.”

The store manager looked at me like I was cute.

After hearing the store manager’s sincere talk, I was a little embarrassed and hurriedly changed the subject.

Usually, there were so many things going on at the cafe, so the store manager and I quickly continued talking in the same atmosphere as usual.

“By the way, manager.”

Then, suddenly, I had a question, so I asked the store manager.

“Yes?”

“There’s a cafe latte that you pour every morning, what on earth do you drink that gives it such a deep taste?”

I worked at a cafe for quite a long time, so I knew how to make most of the drinks.

However, no matter how much I made it, I couldn’t even dare to copy the special cafe latte made by the manager every morning.

A savory and sweet cafe latte.

If that caffe latte was on the menu, you could bet that customers would only order caffe latte.

At my question, the store manager gave me a subtle smile.

“……”

A slightly mischievous, slightly embarrassed smile.

“This is a secret. I’ll make it again when I meet Han Jun-ssi later… We promise later.”

“It’s a pity… If only I knew the recipe, I would have made a lot of money.”

The store manager’s cheeks blushed slightly at my words, and he laughed.

“Han Jun-ssi is a pervert.”

“Yes…?”

“No, then, since you said that, can I make it for you today?”

“Ah, yes. Then thank you for me.”

The store manager jumps up from his seat.

However, he got up and went to the cafe, but the manager looked at me and tilted his head.

“What?”

“Did you ask for anything strange?”

I looked around my body and asked the store manager.

The store manager had a slightly serious expression on his face, and then walked over to me.

“Ha… Mr. Han Jun, stay still…”

“Yes?”

I took a step back without even realizing it.

“Stay still…!”

The store manager suddenly jumped up to me and reached out his hand at my neck with great speed.

It was a speed that I would not have been able to react to before, but I reflexively avoided that touch as my body has improved remarkably lately.

“Store manager?”

I slowly moved my feet away from the manager.

“Ha… Mr. Han Jun, believe me just once and stay still. Seriously, it’s a serious matter… Trust me just once…”

The store manager groaned and desperately tried to explain it to me.

I knew that the store manager’s hand, which had just reached out to my neck, was clearly trying to snatch my ‘necklace’, so I continued to distance myself from the manager.

“Why are you doing that. Manager…? You can’t touch this. It’s an inheritance from my grandmother.”

I even mentioned my grandmother and tried to calm the store manager somehow.

But the store manager put on a serious expression and told me.

“Jun Han… Listen carefully. He… May not be your grandmother.”

“Yeah…?! What are you talking about!”

“That… I mean, that… Curse inside the necklace… Ew! Just pass it on!”

The store manager rushes at me at breakneck speed.

I tried to avoid the store manager somehow, but it was impossible to avoid the manager who jumped as if flying in the air.

“…! Whoops…!”

The store manager’s breasts are pressed against his face.

I fell to the floor naturally, and the manager took the necklace away.

“Haa… Haa… This, the curse…”

The store manager picked up my necklace and examined the inside closely.

‘It’s… A big deal.’

I gulped.

Falling to the floor, I groped my neck and hurriedly stood up.

Obviously Jihye Kim told me.

It is said that if you take off the necklace, the female youkai will be tempted to the point of losing control.

However, it was not to the point of losing self-control if it was a human being, and it was only said that the attractiveness as a member of the opposite sex was greatly approaching.

So, it might not be too late now.

“What…?”

The store manager looked at her necklace and slowly turned her head to me as if she felt strange.

I hurriedly snatched the necklace from the store manager’s hand.

As I hurriedly put it on my neck, the necklace wrapped around my neck wriggling like it was alive.

“… Huh…?”

The store manager looks at me with subtle eyes.

“Um… Manager?”

Although it seems to be the same as usual, it has a somewhat awkward expression.

Let me slowly back away and prepare to run away.

The store manager put on an embarrassing expression and apologized profusely to me.

“Oh… Oh! I’m sorry, Mr. Hanjun. I must have been mistaken…!”

“It’s okay… It’s okay. Manager..Haha.”

‘Has it… Been?’

Somehow, unlike Miho, I seemed to have enough charm to suppress the necklace I had on a human.

When I let out a sigh of relief, the store manager handed me an apology over and over again.

“Ji… It’s really good, manager, can I ask for the cafe latte you were supposed to make earlier?”

“Ah, yes… Wait a moment.”

The store manager went behind the counter into the curtained warehouse.

“Phew… I almost got in trouble.”

The time when I was sitting at the table, controlling my surprised heart.

The store manager called me from inside the warehouse.

“Hanjun-san, come here.”

“Yes…?”

“Come here, I have something to tell you.”

I got a little anxious.

I slowly moved my steps and arrived at the front of the warehouse where the curtains were drawn.

“Jun Han…? How to make cafe latte… You said you were curious, right?”

Inside the curtain, the manager asks me.

“Yes…”

“Come in, I’ll let you know.”

When I heard that, I was sure something was wrong.

I turned around and tried to quickly get out of the warehouse, but before that, a slender arm grabbed my arm from behind the curtain.

The store manager, who was thin but dragged me into the warehouse in an instant with violent force, cornered me against a wall.

“That… Manager…?!”

Ivory-colored horns sticking out from the side of the ash-grey hair.

A slender tail wagging backwards.

And… The chest of the shirt, which was soaked with white liquid leaking out.

The manager I saw in the warehouse was… Surprisingly…

It was a monster.