It is Easiest to be Obsessed by Everyone

When I arrived at the café, I noticed a line had already formed.

Female customers were lingering by the door, even though we weren’t open yet, and they brightened up upon seeing me.

“Oh, hello!”

“Are you on your way to work?”

“When does it open? We can’t wait to get inside.”

It was a bit overwhelming.

The café lights were off, meaning nobody else had arrived yet.

The boss usually showed up 30 minutes early to prepare for opening.

I unlocked the door with the code and turned on the lights.

“I’m sorry, we’re not officially open yet, but feel free to come in and take a seat if you’d like.”

“Oh. Thank you so much!”

“Wow! You’re letting us in early! You’re as kind as you are handsome.”

Any business owner would probably do the same.

It was raining heavily, after all. No decent manager would leave customers outside in this weather.

As the opening crew started coming in, they were surprised to see the café already packed, even though we hadn’t started serving yet.

“Oh, Chang-woo, where’s the boss?”

“No idea. He hasn’t shown up.”

“What’s going on? The boss never just misses work.”

“Think he got into an accident? If it were serious, Yeon-joo would’ve called us during the night.”

The opening crew seemed uneasy. It was their first time starting up without the boss.

Here I was, on my third day of work, and things were already intense.

A message came from the boss.

[Boss] Got into a fender bender, so I’m dealing with that headache. Just go ahead and open up without me.

[Me] Are you hurt?

[Boss] Just my baby—car’s not even six months old yet. Sigh.

[Boss] Don’t worry, just start without me.

“He had a minor accident on the way in. He’s fine, though.”

“What? Why is he only telling you?”

“Didn’t think the boss would try to monopolize Chang-woo. Selfish.”

“… Anyway, he said to go ahead and start without him.”

It was 9:15, fifteen minutes past opening. I turned to the room and announced, “I can take your orders now.”

The female customers got up eagerly.

It was almost overwhelming.

——

Even without the boss, the café was running smoothly.

I was filling in for the absent alpha male as best as I could.

Though nowadays ‘alpha male’ was often taken to mean a good-looking guy who got a lot of attention from women, the original meaning was more about being the leader who shouldered all responsibilities.

I didn’t know how to make coffee. I was only three days into this job.

But I did have experience from my grad school years, managing projects and coordinating with fellow students under a demanding professor.

I knew how to organize people to keep things running efficiently.

“Seong-hee, now’s not the time for washing dishes. Go defrost 20—no, 30 cakes.”

“Huh? Oh, got it.”

“Seo-young, finish that, then get ready to pour four large iced coffees—no, just start them now.”

“What? But no one ordered yet—”

“They will. Would you like to add four large iced coffees to your order?”

“Wow, how did you know? Are you reading our minds?”

“The vibe of the crowd seemed perfect for iced coffee. Rainy days and iced coffee, am I right?”

The women who had ordered iced coffee three times in a row were smiling as they returned with empty cups.

I had pretty much set the expectation, so they couldn’t really choose anything else even if they’d wanted to.

“Wow, Chang-woo, you’re amazing. You could seriously run this place.”

“Yeah, why don’t you just take over the café?”

“Why do you keep calling him ‘oppa’?”

“Good-looking guys are always oppa.”

Everyone was feeling the absence of the boss, even if we weren’t saying it out loud.

Running a business is no joke.

During busy times, the boss would often cover more than two people’s work, so we never fully realized how much he was doing.

The bell jingled as Ji-hyun, the boss’s sister, rushed in, out of breath.

She wasn’t even scheduled to work yet but must’ve heard we were shorthanded and came to help.

“Is it really busy?”

“Yeah. Get in here quick.”

“Got it.”

Today, I didn’t even have time to walk around and clear tables like usual.

I’d started doing that to encourage additional orders, but now there was just no time.

“Three slices of cake, please. Oh, and is your arm okay after spilling coffee yesterday?”

“Yes, I cooled it down right away, so there’s not even a mark.”

In the middle of all this, I rolled up my sleeve to show where I’d spilled the coffee.

The female customers looked delighted.

What’s up with that?

I just showed them there was no scar.

Finally, as we started to catch up with the work backlog, I checked the clock—it was already 11.

Two hours had flown by like two minutes.

“Ji-hyun, what’s up with the boss?”

“Looks like he’s stuck at the police station.”

“The police station?”

“Yeah. Turns out the other driver was drunk, and even though oppa’s the victim, the guy’s insisting it wasn’t his fault, so it’s a mess.”

Seong-hee, the most senior employee, nodded and added, “Seems like now that things are going well here and we’re avoiding problem customers, the boss is attracting trouble outside.”

“True, there’s no escaping the Law of Annoying Customers in this line of work.”

“Hey, Chang-woo, you’ve got a real knack for running a business. Didn’t you say this was your first café job?”

“First time, yeah.”

“Seems like you can see the big picture and run everything smoothly. I bet you’d do well with your own business.”

I smiled politely, and Seong-hee’s face flushed slightly.

“Don’t just go giving out those smiles. You’re giving us heart flutters.”

“Yeah, let’s keep things professional, Chang-woo. Don’t go around breaking hearts.”

“Wait, what did I even do?”

“You just exist in a way that makes you need extra barriers.”

“You’re like a male siren, you know? Just sitting there, effortlessly attracting every woman around you.”

Maybe it was because of the rain, but we had fewer customers than yesterday.

Every table was full, but take-out orders were slower, which was kind of a bummer.

“Is business usually this slow on rainy days?”

Everyone gave me strange looks, like I’d just asked the most outlandish question ever.

“Chang-woo, we hit over a thousand in sales in just two hours.”

“Sure, it’s less than yesterday, but rainy days never pull in this kind of sales.”

“Honestly, this is the kind of sales we’d expect for a whole sunny day when you’re not here.”

“Oh, really? I just assumed cafés were always packed with people wherever I went. I thought cafés were booming right now.”

“Oh, I get it. It’s like people who live in luxury apartments and think everyone in the world drives sports cars and hangs out with celebrities.”

A takeout order came in.

The customer came in soaked from the rain—she must really love coffee.

“Excuse me, what do you recommend here?”

“Personally, I like the caramel macchiato.”

“Then we’ll take three of those, please. And, uh… three slices of whatever cake you recommend.”

“Got it. Thank you.”

Once the takeout customers had left, I crossed my arms, looked out at the rainy Gangnam street, and muttered to myself, “So girls like sticking to the same menu, huh? And they also seem to like saying, ‘whatever works.’”

“Hey, that’s not it.”

“Chang-woo oppa, you’ve got it all wrong.”

“Honestly, though, Chang-woo, do you even need to take the red pill? I doubt it would make a difference.”

“True.”

———-

It was time to order lunch.

Like most restaurants, our café didn’t have a set lunch break, so we took turns eating whenever it got quiet.

There were a few rules, though.

Nothing with a strong smell, like burgers or fried chicken, was allowed.

We didn’t want the smell to bother customers who came in to enjoy the coffee aroma or make them hungry enough to leave for a burger joint.

“Seong-hee, what should we order for delivery?”

“Why are you asking me? You should decide, Chang-woo.”

“Well, you’re the senior here.”

“No one here thinks of me like that.”

I looked around, and everyone was nodding in agreement.

Unbelievable. I didn’t even know how to make coffee, and I was supposed to decide?

“Fine, I’ll ask the boss.”

“Chang-woo, if you’re going to ask him, could you subtly work it out in our favor? We had a great morning today….”

“Yeah. We’ve been hustling since the moment we opened.”

“The boss isn’t here, and if it weren’t for you, I think we would’ve lost our minds.”

Jung Hyena

“If it weren’t for you, we probably wouldn’t have been that busy in the first place.”

“True.”

I sent the boss a message.

[Me]: Boss, what should we get for lunch?

[Boss]: Just order what you want.

[Me]: Can we get chicken pasta?

[Boss]: Please, anything but that.

[Me]: Okay, sushi it is, lol.

[Boss]: Sure, go ahead, phew.

[Boss]: Wait a minute.

[Boss]: Were you just trying to negotiate by offering a high price and then going lower?

[Me]: Honestly, I just wanted sushi all along. Haha.

[Boss]: Haha, order the premium set.

[Boss]: With this kind of sales on a rainy day, you all worked hard.

Seems he’d been checking the sales remotely.

He could tell from the numbers alone how chaotic the café must’ve been without him.

Owning a business truly isn’t for everyone.

“He said we can order sushi—and he wants us to get the premium set.”

“Wow, awesome!”

“Only Chang-woo could charm our penny-pinching boss into splurging.”

I probably shouldn’t say this, but…

Running a business feels way too easy.

Honestly, life feels too easy.