NOVEL NEXT 1.
1.
‘Ah, I feel like I’m dying…’
Something sparkled like stars, coming and going before my eyes. My mind was so hazy that it was difficult to distinguish between illusion and reality. I thought I’d have no other wish if I could just sleep comfortably stretched out on a bed.
Cold, hungry, and sleepy. The state of my body, evenly matching these three beats, was fantastic.
Feeling something dripping from my nose, I wiped under it with the back of my hand. Only after seeing my hand stained bright red did I realize it wasn’t mucus, but blood.
Tissues, I need to get tissues…
As I rummaged through the bag hanging in front of me, suddenly everything went dark.
* * *
When I regained consciousness, contrary to my expectation of being in a hospital, an unfamiliar environment greeted Jian.
Instead of the yellowed, stained wallpaper I saw every day, the clean ivory color gave an odd feeling. Moreover, something seemed strange for it to be a hospital. It looked like an ordinary home, specifically a bedroom, clean enough that not a speck of dust could be seen.
Could it be that someone had taken me in after I collapsed on the street? Harboring suspicious thoughts, I left the room where I had awakened and wandered around the house.
But Jian was the only person in the house.
“…What’s going on?”
To assess the situation, I first looked for a phone. Unlike my own phone with its screen full of spider-web-like cracks, the smooth surface of this one felt unfamiliar.
Thinking it would be impolite to look at someone else’s phone, I was about to put it down when the screen unlocked as if by magic, recognizing my face.
A basic screen without any particular background appeared, and at that moment, a realization struck Jian like lightning.
‘Name: Lee Jian. Age: 20. Died of overwork while working five jobs, barely managing to pay off the debt left by family.’
I had thought about the afterlife before, but now he was alive and well in a perfectly fine body. And not in reality, but inside a novel he had read as a hobby.
‘So I’ve possessed someone with the same name and age as me…’
While this was a common occurrence in novels, I never dreamed it would happen to me. My unfocused eyes blinked slowly.
‘My body doesn’t hurt at all.’
Come to think of it, there was one more strange thing. The muscle pain I had lived with every day had disappeared without a trace. Moreover, my body felt incredibly light. I felt like I could jump tens of meters high if I wanted to.
“Ah.”
Out of curiosity, I tried jumping and ended up with a bump on my head. Jian stared blankly at the ceiling, which now had a dent in the shape of his head.
As I rubbed the bump, unfamiliar memories flooded my mind along with a terrible headache.
‘S-class Hunter and an orphan. No close acquaintances.’
Now I understood why there was no one else in the house. I found one more thing in common besides the name and age.
This person was just as much of a loner as the original Jian. Jian due to a miserable life, this person for unknown reasons, but voluntarily.
Feeling slightly bitter, I ran my hand through my hair when the most important fact belatedly occurred to me.
‘Wait, wasn’t this a BL novel…?’
Boy’s Love. Abbreviated as BL. It wasn’t a novel I had intentionally read, but one I had come across by mistake. I had been so immersed in hunter stories that I had read all the top-ranked works and had nothing left to read.
I came across this novel while scrolling down endlessly. At first, I didn’t even realize it was a BL novel. It seemed strange that men kept flirting with the protagonist, but I thought it was nothing and moved on, which was a mistake.
My jaw dropped when I suddenly saw the protagonist being kidnapped, imprisoned, and subjected to terrible things by a strange man.
Jian looked around nervously. Although no one was there, I felt a sense of crisis, as if someone would appear at any moment to confront me. My clenched fist looked quite menacing.
I wondered if this body I had possessed had even appeared in the novel, as I couldn’t remember much about this extra character.
However, contrary to expectations, life here was exactly the same as reality, except for the addition of various fantasy elements.
* * *
Ding.
At the clear sound of the bell, Jian, who had been wiping a cup with a dry cloth, quickly turned his head. A hunter, covered in green slime all over his face and clothes, walked towards the counter with an expression that looked like he was about to die.
“Iced Americano with four extra shots, please…”
His dragging voice sounded so weak, as if he might collapse at any moment. Jian quickly took the card the customer handed over and processed the payment first.
“I’ll make it as quickly as possible. Please wait a moment.”
Although the café had numerous menu items, by far the most frequently made drink was the one this customer had just ordered.
After quickly making and handing over the coffee, customers began to trickle in one after another.
‘It was needless worry.’
As Jian pinned another receipt, he tried to suppress the corners of his mouth that kept twitching upwards. When he first realized that the novel he had possessed was a BL novel, he had been terrified that some stalker-like man might cling to him.
So at first, he was wary of any male customer who entered the café. As the days passed, he realized it had been an overreaction.
‘Ah, how peaceful.’
Taking advantage of a brief lull, Jian brewed a cup of coffee for himself. The rich aroma of coffee naturally brought a happy smile to his face.
Rather than feeling wronged about suddenly dying, he was happy to be living a new life. It felt as if heaven had recognized his past hardships and rewarded him.
‘May every day be like today.’
A gentle smile spread across Jian’s face as he watched customers entering through the door. Now, instead of the customers’ appearances, he saw money.
His body and mind, hardened by all sorts of hardships in his previous life, adapted quickly to what he had only seen in novels as if it were an expected occurrence.
* * *
“Is this coffee or sewage? Are you seriously trying to sell this and take money for it? Are you in your right mind?”
On the 20th day of living as the café owner in the novel, Jian greeted the troublesome customer heralding the start of the day with a picture-perfect smile.
The customer’s face, which had been shouting at the top of his lungs just moments ago, turned slightly red. His eyes, barely visible beneath folds of flesh, scanned Jian’s face.
“I’m sorry, sir. It seems our house blend didn’t suit your taste. What you just had was made with Ethiopian beans. Would it be alright if I pulled a new shot with Colombian beans for you? This cup might be more to your liking.”
“Ahem. Well, alright. Let me try that then.”
The smart watch screen on the customer’s left wrist, said to be worn only by hunters, flashed briefly.
Although the café was small and shabby with only five tables inside, business was quite good. Moreover, being located near one of South Korea’s top 5 most popular dungeons, the café’s main clientele was hunters.
A sign on the front of the store read, “Show your Hunter ID for a 10% discount.” It wasn’t there originally, but Jian had made and put it up a week ago to attract more customers.
Having worked several café part-time jobs before being possessed, Jian’s hands moved efficiently as he pulled the espresso shot.
He poured a measured amount of water into a cup filled with ice, then added the freshly extracted shot, transforming the clear water into a familiar color.
After putting a cup holder on the cup and inserting a straw, he handed it to the customer who was still standing firmly in front of the counter.
“Would you like to try it? This is a better quality bean. It’s actually so expensive that I usually keep it for myself, but I’ve made an exception for you.”
The lip service was a bonus. He emphasized the word ‘exception’ as he spoke. The customer, seemingly in a much better mood now, took the cup with his thick hand and sucked on the straw, gulping down the coffee.
“Now this is more like it.”
Seeing the customer’s expression soften from its previous redness, Jian cursed inwardly.
‘It’s exactly the same beans you drank earlier, you bastard.’
To Jian’s eyes, the customer was money. The price of the iced Americano the customer had just drunk, 10,000 won, floated above the customer’s face.
It had been three years since monsters and dungeons appeared in the world. Since then, prices in South Korea and around the world had skyrocketed to a shocking degree.
While Jian used to tremble at buying even a cheap 1,000 won iced Americano, now that he was doing business with wealthy hunters, he felt no guilt at all charging 10,000 won for a cup of coffee.
In fact, he was considering raising the price of the cheapest Americano to 12,000 won, given that he was already offering a 10% discount.
“Make it like this next time too.”
“Yes, sir. Have a nice day.”
After bowing to the departing customer who was still sucking on his straw, Jian cleaned the portafilter he had just used and placed it back on the rack.
‘Maybe I’ll have a cup too.’
The lingering aroma of coffee in the café stimulated his senses. The café’s operating hours were from 9 AM to 9 PM. Being a small café, he hadn’t hired any part-time workers.
Although he was confined to the café for twelve long hours, compared to his previous life where he had worked multiple part-time jobs on just two hours of sleep until he died of overwork, this schedule was a breeze.
Moreover, as the café owner, every penny earned went straight into his own pocket, so his job satisfaction was at its peak.
Jian’s face was as serene as a gilt-bronze seated Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva statue as he gulped down an iced Americano made with four shots.