SSS-Grade Cafe in Front of The Dungeon

There are several unconscious people in the warehouse, and those silver branches have been sprouted.

Then, a new quest notification popped up.

[Main Quest: Discover the Secret of the Golden Liquor

It’s a big trouble!

You have discovered the secret of the coffee, but many have already drunk the golden liquor.

The branches of The Tree of the Otherworld, the Sephiroth of the False World, have sprouted.

The moment the thousand branches bud, the malicious King of Curses will be summoned.

Let’s save the people within the time limit and prevent the summoning.

Sephiroth Branches of the False World: 990/1000 people

Time limit: 24:00:00

In case of failure: The malicious King of Curses is summoned

Rewards: Experience (500 EXP), Fame (50), Popularity (100)]

“……!”

Wait, don’t tell me, then…….

There is golden liquor in the coffee, and if you drink that golden liquor, a tree will grow in your body?

Tick, tick, tick. The time limit on the quest window immediately began to decrease. At 1000, it’s game over, but 990 have already been raised.

And the time limit is only 24 hours.

……It was going to be a long day.

“Let’s go to the warehouse first.”

“Yes.”

Just as I was about to head outside to check on the tree. Suddenly, the door to the manufacturing room opened again.

“Nieun-ssi…?”

It was the manager.

“I’ve been looking for you because you didn’t come back, but why are you here? And what’s that bottle?”

Oops, we were caught. The manager’s face, looking at us, showed her vigilance.

“Hohohoho, I knew it.”

Behind the manager, Sapphire and the group of Platina appeared. A total of about ten people surrounded us, and Sapphire spoke arrogantly.

“‘I knew it, no wonder you were suspicious. You’re an industrial spy targeting the premium holy water hohoho.”

Premium holy water? No, the name “Golden Liquor” just popped up in the system window? If you read the system window, you won’t get the name wrong…….

Ah. Sapphire-sama …. you’re not an Awakener. It was obvious you didn’t even know the real name of that suspicious liquid.

“What’s with that crappy bathrobe army?” Choi Yichan asked in disbelief.

“What, crappy … how can you look down on our great Church of Starry Wisdom!”

I couldn’t hold back and snapped, “You guys are fake, right?”

“What? We are the ones who carry on the name of the Church of Starry Wisdom.”

“Haaa…..” Ki Yoohyun sighed as he pressed a hand to his forehead. It was almost as if he felt remorse for the time he had spent investigating these pathetic bastards.

“Didn’t you buy that hat at the mart?”

“What, what, what! Even if it’s a grocery store hat, we explore the wisdom of the great star……!”

Even you were aware that your clothes were shabby.

“Who gave you those golden liquor bottles, and where did you get the funds?” Ki Yoohyun asked in a low, sinking tone.

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“Not golden liquor, but premium holy water … that’s not the point. Come on! Get him!” Sapphire shouted like a third-rate villain. The self-proclaimed members of the Cult closed the distance, as if trying to create a tense situation.

However, there was no tension. First of all, I have two S-Class Hunters on both sides, and my physical strength is not weak by any means. If I needed to, I could summon Cthugha.

It was just then.

“The sin of making fun of our Church …… Eek!”

A silvery branch stretched through the open window. The branches moved as if they had a will of their own, wrapping around Sapphire and the rest of the Platina Legion.

“Ugh!”

“Put me down!”

They screamed as they hung on the branches like fruit, and soon they were no longer able to even scream. As they drifted off to sleep, branches sprouted from their bodies, turning them into half-plants.

“Ugh…….”

The only person left standing was the manager. The manager staggered back in shock.

It was a strange sight. So that’s what the quest called the Sephiroth Branch of the False World.

I already have a trauma from the monster wood chipper, so why is it a plant monster again?

There are 990 people who have been turned into branches like that … heck, wait, no!

“Rieul-ah!”

The branch started moving again. I took a risk and threw myself straight at it. I grabbed the manager, who was on the ground in shock, and rolled her to the side. The branch barely scratched the floor. If it had been a little late, the manager would have been eaten by the branches.

“Huk, huh, huuh…….”

I threw myself down without thinking, and my back hurt when I hit the ground. I made a painful noise and the manager looked touched.

“Rieul-ssi, heuk, you tried to save me….”

But I didn’t throw myself solely to save the manager.

Tiling!

Immediately, the system window updated the quest information.

[Main Quest: Discover the Secret of the Golden Liquor

It’s a big trouble!

You have discovered the secret of the coffee, but many have already drunk the golden liquor.

The branches of The Tree of the Otherworld, the Sephiroth of the False World, have sprouted.

The moment the thousand branches bud, the malicious King of Curses will be summoned.

Let’s save the people within the time limit and prevent the summoning.

Sephiroth Branches of the False World: 999/1000 people

Time limit: 23:38:40

In case of failure: The malicious King of Curses is summoned

Rewards: Experience (500 EXP), Fame (50), Popularity (100)]

Phew, that was close. There were exactly nine people who were caught by the branches and turned into trees. If I hadn’t saved the manager…….

I would not have been able to start the quest and it would have been game over.

I decided to talk to the manager about the situation before moving on. Perhaps because I had saved her life, she obediently told me everything she knew. However, she wasn’t a member of the Church of Starry Wisdom, so she didn’t know where the golden liquor came from or how the cafe’s funds flowed. She said that she had taken the job because the salary was good, and she only knew that the meeting with the Seonghye earlier was also a meeting where golden liquor were served.

“Do you know anything about that branch?” Choi Yichan asked, pointing to a silver branch outside the window.

“I haven’t heard anything about such a monster branch …. Oh! Ah, right! An executive once said this!”

“What is it?”

“He said that if you drink a lot of buff coffee, you can get the blessing of the World Tree, so we should sell a lot of buff coffee.”

“……!”

So that silver branch is the World Tree?

I was certain. No, it isn’t. That’s not the World Tree. The real tree is in our shop, and the fruit is a coffee berry. There’s no way that nasty monster branch is the World Tree.

The Sephiroth branch of the false world, the name is a bit off-putting.

The story is over. Ki-Yoohyun looked down at the manager sternly, “I need to investigate you further, but as you can see, I don’t have time for that right now.”

“I told you everything I knew!”

“First of all, it’s a procedure, so I’ll put you to sleep. I’ll warp you to a safe place, you don’t need to worry.”

“Wait! Rieul-ssi, what is your identity?”

I immediately stopped Ki Yoohyun from putting the manager to sleep. I took a step closer to the manager.

“Uh, Rieul-ah, it’s dangerous.”

“……It’s all right.”

Lastly, there was something I really wanted to say to the manager.

“Manager-nim, remember this.”

“Yes?”

“I’m the originator of buff coffee, not this crappy cafe!”

Flop. The manager fell asleep.

***

“……It appears that the soul has been lost.”

In the warehouse, there were people asleep with silver branches sprouting from them. It was as if each person had become a tree. The lower half of the body was almost inseparable from the branches. We tried cutting the branches and setting them on fire, but they quickly sprouted back.

They looked relaxed, as if they didn’t feel any pain, but no matter how much I shook and tapped their body, they wouldn’t wake up.

“The soul has been lost?”

“Yes. These branches feed on souls, and it seems they are drawn to those who have consumed a certain amount of that golden liquor.”

“It’s pretty docile for now, huh?”

It was a close call, one more branch and the quest would fail.

Fortunately, the branches had stopped after swallowing the Cult members. However, a lot of Super Buff Coffee had already been sold. I wondered if someone who drank the coffee without knowing the situation would become a new twig somewhere.

When I expressed such a question, Ki Yoohyun shook his head.

“It’s been eaten enough, so I don’t think it will move for a while … a day or so.”

This explains why the quest has a 24-hour time limit. Time until that monster branch makes its move again.

“So first, we need to do something with this tree to wake up the people.”

“How does it say in the quest window?”

“Ah. About that.”

As I glanced at the system window again, Choi Yichan suddenly opened his mouth, “Wait a minute. How do you know that the soul was lost? Can we believe you?”

His tone showed his distrust of Ki Yoohyun. Ki Yoohyun answered straight away.

“Unlike others, I know how to use my skills at the right time.”

“Usually, a man with many secrets has a shady history.”

Ki Yoohyun’s gaze flickered to me for a moment.

“Wouldn’t it be enough if you only revealed the truth to the right people?”

“You’re playing with words.¹“

Oh my Goodness.

Choi Yichan, who threw the shades against Ki Yoohyun, and Ki Yoohyun, who countered each and every one of them.

I sighed a little and looked at Choi Yichan. His feelings are none of my business, but it would be nice to remind him that now is not the time to argue.

“Yichan-ah, if you want to fight, just go.”

“Rieul-ah.”

“If 999 people had been hit by the monster branches, other places would be in a mess by now. I’ll need your strength.”

“……I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

Choi Yichan drooped his shoulders. He must really be sorry.

Gosh. I can’t even get mad at him.

“Let’s finish the quest first. Most of the victims will be Awakened, and if a rift opens at a time like this, it would be a big problem.”

Up until this point, I’ve been a bit relaxed. The situation is serious, of course. However, if we follow the pattern we have experienced so far, the reward given by the system was a clue to solving the next quest. There must be a hint this time too.

First, let’s check the recipe and information we just got.

I checked … huh?

[Recipe: ???

Ingredients: ???

How to make: ???]

The recipe had question marks all over it.

[■■■■■■■■■■■■

■■■■■■■■■■……]

The new entry on the Ether-Wiki was a black square from start to finish. Isn’t it a waste of ink to paint it all black?

The quest window said I had to save people within a time limit, but I couldn’t get a clue.

Then, the system notification came up again.

[Ether-Wiki’s free trial period has ended.]

What? Was this paid? I’ve never heard of that before?

Stunned, I logged back into Ether-Wiki.

[Checking your eligibilities … Completed.]

[The Eligible: Kwon Rieul has been verified.]

[Ether-Wiki]

[Welcome to the encyclopedia of the dimension cultivated by The Eligible.]

[Information collection rate: 0.06%]

[Last updated: ■■■■■…….]

I resisted my habit of selecting ‘Skip’ and read the message that popped up, but nowhere did it say the word ‘paid‘. It’s not like this was some kind of service that lures you in with a free month and then subtly induces automatic payments!

As if my suspicions were completely unfair, a long system message followed.

[We’re not receiving money. (´▾ `;;) ]

[Updating the items viewed in Ether-Wiki consumes causality.]

[However, the currently granted causality has reached its limit.]

[I’d love to give you a hint, but ╥﹏╥

The Eligible must earn the causality on their own to have access to the relevant information and see the hint].

In other words, they’re asking me to get information about this fake World Tree.

At first, I was puzzled as to how I was supposed to solve the 999 branches without any hints, but I soon calmed down.

I’ve not been a cafe owner for nothing. I knew one of the best experts on weird plants.

I pulled out my phone and dialled him.

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Translator’s Corner:

1. When Ki Yoohyun said “right people”, the korean characters used is similiar to “Kwon Rieul”, that man is smart lol ↩︎

The Information collection rate in the chapter 15 was 0.05% and 100+ chapters later, it’s only 0.06% … Rieul what are you doing…..

Thank you Amy Shi for the coffess!