I set a goal for my life.
For the next step, I searched for cafes near my house and found ones hiring part-time help.
'There are five of them.'
I secretly checked from outside during peak hours to see how well they were doing.
Three of the targets were already thriving, so no need to apply there.
One had a bad location and was on the verge of closing.
The last one was the only one that met my criteria.
'This is the place.'
The location was average.
The number of customers was decently average too.
The name Alibaba felt kinda gothic.
'I'll send my resume through the part-time job site first.'
Not even ten minutes later, a message arrived.
[Interview tomorrow! Or today if you're free!]
I could feel the desperation in the text.
It seemed like my experiment had already succeeded.
[Yes. I'll come right now!]
I dressed as neatly as possible.
I practiced my self-introduction in front of the mirror for the interview, then headed to the cafe.
The moment I opened the door, the Cafe Owner recognized me right away—probably from the photo on my resume.
"You're here! The savior of our cafe!"
No interview needed.
＊＊＊
"Table 7, two Americanos and one iced Americano!"
"Got it!"
"Table 12, three lattes and two cookies!"
"Right away!"
In the end, the experiment was a huge success.
The cafe had been utterly average, but after I started working, customers exploded.
By the end of my first month, they were five times what they used to be.
"Your coffee order is ready!"
"Oh, thank you. Enjoying it now."
The customers were all nice to me too.
I'd been a bit worried from past-life part-time job stories about dealing with rude ones, but I hadn't seen a single jerk so far.
'Heh, I can already picture myself as the successful future cafe owner.'
Just the customers?
The Cafe Owner treated me great too.
Of course, as the top contributor to the sales boom, she raised my hourly wage, so it made sense.
"Jun-hyuk, I made this side dish myself. Take it home. No delivery food—it's bad for you. Home cooking keeps you healthy."
The way she fussed over me felt less like a part-timer and more like a son.
Overflowing with maternal affection, you could say.
This era's beauty standards triggered maternal instincts, and I fit the bill perfectly, so her behavior wasn't inexplicable.
'But I wish it had gone a different way.'
The urgency to contribute to the world had faded, so I'd started wanting to try dating.
The Cafe Owner was young and pretty enough to catch my eye, but this maternal affection wasn't my type.
'I lived 22 years there, adapted to everything else, but this is tough.'
Ideally, I'd meet an equal partner like in the past.
My body was this era's male, though, so I worried I might crave maternal love like other guys. I vowed again to avoid getting tangled up in that from the start.
'Wouldn't want to end up a ruined mess.'
If it really happened, I'd use self-hypnosis to fix it somehow.
'Business is slow today.'
Even with me here, no one's coming to a cafe in this downpour.
With fewer customers, I got bored and random thoughts bubbled up from my earlier musing.
'The gender imbalance gets fixed by mana, huh.'
Despite 3 men to 7 women, the population held steady.
I hadn't looked into it deeply, but rumor had it science exploded after extracting mana from mana stones.
That tech let them mass-produce people in factories via artificial wombs.
'But they're all girls, so the ratio stays skewed.'
People born that way got discriminated against as "factory stock."
There were also single moms via donated IVF, but that needed money, so not many.
'They even tried polygamy to fix the ratio, but it flopped.'
Guys aren't that proactive, so what did they expect?
With this era's male libido before my skills, I figured failure was obvious.
'Almost no sex drive.'
That reminded me of a webnovel from my past life.
It had a gender-reversed world like mine, but different enough to make me chuckle.
'At least it's not girls going into heat and pouncing on every guy.'
In those stories, you'd get groped on the subway, dragged to the bathroom, and railed like a dog.
This era treated men preciously, though, so no way.
Unless they were antisocial or villains, women wouldn't do that—and luckily, I'd never met any.
'...In the early gate days, women lost control of their lust and kidnapped and raped men en masse, right?'
Born late for the win.
'Closing time soon?'
It was late, most customers gone.
Rain kept pouring, so no more expected, but...
"Welcome."
A late regular saved us from early close.
"One cafe latte and carrot cake, right?"
For two weeks straight, this regular came daily.
She seemed shy—voice trembling every order.
Always the same thing, so I started confirming for her.
"Your order is ready."
She nodded timidly as I brought it out.
I flashed a business smile and returned to the counter to observe her.
'What does she do? Hunter or Hero?'
Awakeners amplified mana changed their bodies.
Hair and eye colors shifted too, so tons of women rocked natural rainbow hues without dye.
This regular had long red hair, so definitely Hunter or Hero material.
'Millennium Guild?'
Korea's top guild was in my district.
Sadly, on the opposite side from our cafe—no visits yet.
'No reason to trek here over closer spots.'
Word was Millennium had great perks, including an in-house cafe run by pro baristas.
Just some regular Awakener woman, probably.
'...Maybe a welcome-type skill holder.'
I'd only been watching her a short while.
Staring too hard was rude.
But paradoxically, that's why I kept glancing—her face was blurry.
'Even now, I can't recall her features.'
Minutes after seeing her, and her face was already fuzzy.
'Definitely a skill.'
Got bored of watching, so I snuck out my smartphone while the Cafe Owner wasn't looking.
Planned to kill time with Wytube videos till she left, but a popular one caught my eye.
[S-Rank Hunter Choi Yu-ra: Is Her Break Due to a Promiscuous Sex Life?]
What the hell?
Promiscuous sex life?
Couldn't resist—plugged in earbuds and watched.
[Korea's pride, youngest-ever S-Rank Choi Yu-ra Hunter. But did early success corrupt her? Evidence she's hooked on power, buying men with money.]
A woman spouted bullshit calmly against a black backdrop.
Voice distorted, cat mask on—identity hidden. But 200k subscribers made her a big Wytuber.
'Go Jin-yo: Demanding Truth from High-Rank Awakeners, huh?'
The Wytuber, Go Jin-yo, ranted against Choi Yu-ra with rising fervor.
[High-rank scandals aren't new, but I never thought Choi Yu-ra would stoop this low. Proof? No proof? Here it is!]
A photo popped up: Choi Yu-ra in a lounge bar, arm-in-arm with guys, drinking.
'This is proof?'
Red hair matched, but blurry pic, dark room—face unclear.
[Reliable sources say it started at fifteen. Backed by mighty Millennium Guild, wielding unchecked power in debauchery.]
Who's this reliable source?
Zero solid evidence.
[Treating men like gigolos? This isn't 90 years ago. Should we excuse high-rank Awakeners? Sure, she smashes gates to protect us, but that doesn't license crime!]
Then nonstop crap: High-ranks all shady.
They teamed with villains in the underworld via power.
Choi Yu-ra secretly ran brothels with villains.
[Latest bombshell: She's on break—why? Pregnant! Pregnancy is sacred, sure, but unmarried, no partner news? Scared of exposure buying men, so "break" excuse to bail! She'll abort, show up fine later...]
I closed the video.
No more of that vile nonsense.
'People believe this crap?'
200k subs for this trash channel.
Comments showed morons who bought it.
[I knew it. High-ranks committing crimes daily?]
[Villain-lite. Tsk tsk.]
[Government should investigate. Nah, they're in on it. Damn world.]
[Wanna burn it down. Some can't even hold a guy's hand, filthy bitches buy and fuck men.]
[Not bought—blackmailed? Threatened family, drugged for erections, raped all night.]
I'd forgotten.
How ugly human jealousy gets.
Women nice to me didn't mean they were to each other.
'Reality's bitter.'
Same in past life.
Baseless attacks on celebs living fine.
Wrap dumb rumors as fact, bash without checking.
Truth outs later?
Then: Take it or leave it!
'They don't care if Go Jin-yo's true or lying.'
Just want high-ranks they can't touch to fall.
Her vids were the spark pushing them over the edge.
'Tsk, some normal folks too.'
Take down the vid.
Don't buy this BS.
Does Choi Yu-ra seem like that?
Anti-vid comments were many, but deleted in real-time.
'This bitch never gets sued?'
Her channel trashed tons of high-ranks besides Choi Yu-ra.
Should've been shut down ages ago. Why still up?
'Wytube's American, won't act on defamation.'
Still, this was extreme.
Backup's on Go Jin-yo, not Choi Yu-ra?
Chairman's daughter or something?
"?"
Then, a crash—something breaking.
Looked over: Regular had crushed her smartphone one-handed.
"Customer? You okay?"
Sharp shards pierced her hand, but Awakener toughness—no blood.
"Customer?"
"F-Fine."
Face still blurry, but voice watery.
Like she'd burst into tears any second.
She stood to leave, but tripped.
"Customer!"
Grabbed her wrist just in time.
Expected slender, but hit something hard first.
Felt like a button clicked.
Her blurry face sharpened instantly.
'Huh?'
A hero I knew.
The one who freed my mind from hypnosis demon clutches.
"Ah...."
Choi Yu-ra Hunter.
Eyes met hers—stunned expression, tears still streaming unchecked.