LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 73
Chapter 73: The World Tree Leaf Pancake 1
In 2024, before Shia got caught up in the Great Rift, the brand “Coffee Masterpiece” already existed.
The name of the shop, Coffee Masterpiece, might give the impression that it’s a café specializing in coffee, but in reality, its strawberry cake was far more delicious than its coffee.
How delicious was the strawberry cake? Well, when the world almost reached the brink of destruction due to the Great Rift and was rebuilt, the first café to open in the newly rebuilt Seoul was none other than Coffee Masterpiece.
It was even ranked as the number one café brand people missed the most.
Thus, Coffee Masterpiece, which once disappeared during the destruction, was reborn in 2054 with government support.
It became a brand that simultaneously had the characteristics of both a public enterprise and a private corporation, including partnerships with the Hunter Association and the Returnee Management Bureau, as well as various other governmental institutions.
Thanks to its dual nature as both a public and private entity, Coffee Masterpiece’s subsidiary received government contracts and owned a large-scale green space and farm in an undisclosed Erosion Dungeon, where it exclusively grew strawberries.
The climate and soil of that dungeon were optimal for strawberry farming. Coffee Masterpiece exclusively supplied their brand with strawberries grown in that dungeon, dubbed “Dungeon Strawberries,” reaping overwhelming profits and driving up its stock prices.
As a result, by 2088, Coffee Masterpiece was experiencing its greatest heyday among similar café brands.
“Mm… chomp chomp… it’s delicious…”
Delicious.
Shia, who had stuffed her mouth with cake made from Dungeon Strawberries, smiled happily, her cheeks puffed out with joy.
“Excuse me, customer, your order of four No. 3 strawberry cakes is ready…”
For reference, the No. 3 cake was the largest cake offered at Coffee Masterpiece, cut into 12 slices, with each slice containing approximately 284-300 calories.
“Thank you! Please leave it there. Hehe…”
At that moment, Shia had already devoured five No. 3 cakes and ordered an additional four.
At first, the employees at Coffee Masterpiece were taken aback by Shia, who ordered five cakes as soon as she entered the café.
They had never encountered a customer who ordered five cakes in the morning, but the employee skillfully asked Shia if they were gifts and how many candles she needed.
Naturally, Shia replied that she wasn’t giving them to anyone and would eat them all by herself.
The employee, stunned by this new kind of villain, felt a chilling sensation.
Soon after, Shia began booking a private room at Coffee Masterpiece and devouring cakes.
The employees, seeing that even five cakes weren’t enough for her, now found themselves both reverent and astonished as they watched her order another four cakes.
“She’s already on her sixth cake…”
“Shh, she might hear you.”
“Is she a Hunter?”
Eventually, a few of the employees and part-timers couldn’t contain their curiosity and glanced at Shia from afar.
Even if it wasn’t love at first sight, Shia’s appearance was striking enough to catch anyone’s attention.
Moreover, each time she devoured cake, the large holy power pouch attached to her body swayed in real-time, making it impossible to look away.
“Her ID said ‘Shia’, right?”
“Shia? Oh, I know who she is! She’s super famous in the Hunter Gallery!”
“Famous? Who is she?”
“She’s a Returnee and rumored to be almost an S-rank Hunter.”
“Really? Should I ask for her autograph now?”
“Hey, she’s rented out the entire third floor. What if she causes a scene if we bother her?”
“But she seems nice…”
“Lots of Hunters pretend to be nice. Be careful… Kyah!?”
“It looks like someone is intentionally trying to draw attention.”
At that moment, a voice from a different world cut through, and Shia, who was eating cake, lifted her head.
Yujin, one hand in his coat pocket, was looking down at Shia with a slightly annoyed expression.
It was the same face she’d seen during the third ethics audit.
With his tall, handsome appearance, black hair, and a youthful face that seemed no older than his early twenties, his gaze carried the weight of decades spent surviving in the line of fire, proving he was a veteran.
However, separate from that, the tentacle emerging from Shia’s waist instinctively gnashed its teeth, as if it didn’t like Yujin either.
‘I didn’t even hear his footsteps. When did he get here?’
Shia shrugged her shoulders and shoved the rest of the cake into her mouth.
“Chomp, chomp… Hello. Are you Yujin?”
“My real name is Choi Yujin, but call me whatever. And don’t bother with the formalities. We’re not exactly on friendly terms, are we?”
“True.”
Though she was a Saintess, Shia quickly dropped formalities when talking to Yujin.
Yujin, who sat across from her, crossed his legs and called over a staff member.
“One black coffee.”
“Y-Yes! Excuse me, Yujin… I’m a huge fan…”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Yujin, with a dismissive wave, gestured for the staff to leave.
The staff, apparently used to this behavior, dashed off with a flushed face, still looking love-struck as she went to brew his coffee.
“Is the cool city guy act your thing?”
“An act, huh. Managing an S-rank Hunter image for decades is something only Yeonseo could pull off. I gave that up long ago.”
Yujin’s vibe screamed ‘bad boy’ or ‘cold city man’.
Even though he claimed to have stopped managing his image out of laziness, his naturally good looks made it work.
Moreover, being an S-rank Hunter, second only to Yeonseo in terms of longevity and popularity, certainly didn’t hurt.
Not that Shia cared—she just smiled happily, munching on her cake as if Yujin weren’t even there.
Soon, Yujin’s black coffee arrived.
“I saw you on TV before. You really eat like a pig.”
“Oink oink?”
“……”
When Shia cheekily imitated a pig’s grunt, Yujin’s expression soured momentarily.
This was the first proper meeting between Yujin and Shia.
Shia had only briefly encountered Yujin during the ethics audit, and aside from watching a few of his broadcasts out of boredom, that was the extent of her knowledge of him.
On the other hand, Yujin had quite a bit of interest in Shia.
Not only was she a fellow Returnee with an estimated S-rank, but her broadcasts were frequently discussed, whether in praise or criticism, on the Hunter Gallery.
But the two of them had one thing in common.
‘I don’t like her.’
‘I hate this guy.’
For no particular reason, they felt an instinctive hostility toward one another.
They’d never done anything to wrong each other, but Yujin found Shia’s constant playful attitude grating, while Shia disliked how everything about Yujin seemed fake.
It was their first meeting, but they already disliked each other.
“You brought me a snack?”
“Why would I? You’re not my friend or my superior, are you?”
“…My apologies for my tone. Like you, I too…”
“Oh, were you a tyrant in your previous world or something?”
“…”
Growing irritated, Yujin sighed and tossed something to Shia.
It was a letter-like paper, but it was oddly wrapped with leaves and stems.
When she touched it, she could feel the texture and smell of actual leaves.
“What is this?”
“Just hold on to it for now. I’ll explain soon.”
Gulp. Chomp chomp.
One side was the sound of drinking coffee.
The other side was the sound of stuffing cake into her mouth.
After a brief moment, Yujin spoke first.
“We’re not close enough for small talk, so I’ll get straight to the point. Saintess of the Dead, Shia, I’m leading a group of Returnees.”
Shia tilted her head at the mention of a Returnee group.
Returnee groups were typically divided into two categories.
One consisted of those who, like in the case of China’s ‘Saintess Incident’, broke away from government control and were treated as semi-criminal organizations.
The other was under government control but had formed interest groups for the benefit and rights of Returnees.
Of course, it was much more complex than that, but broadly speaking, they were either government-affiliated or outlaws trying to overthrow control.
“Don’t misunderstand. My group is officially sanctioned by the Korean government.”
“So? Are you here to recruit me?”
“The reason I formed this group is because of the Demon King.”
Demon King.
At that, Shia paused mid-cutting her cake and looked at him.
“You probably know this, but every Returnee’s ‘previous world’ is different. Although there are rare exceptions where multiple Returnees end up in the same world, it’s extremely unusual.”
Indeed, after killing the Demon King and stabilizing her world, Shia had once searched for others like her who might have come from the modern world.
In the end, she found no one…
“And most Returnees say the same thing: their world also had a Demon King.”
Yujin’s face twisted oddly for a moment but soon returned to a blank expression.
It seemed he had some bad memories related to the Demon King.
‘Well, no one would have good memories related to the Demon King.’
“I don’t believe the Demon King is confined to one dimension. I think he’s invading multiple dimensions simultaneously. You, having personally defeated a Demon King, should understand that.”
“…What do the government or associations say?”
“The Returnee Management Bureau and government agencies aren’t too concerned with the ‘Demon King.’ They’re too busy dealing with the irregular dungeons and new monsters appearing to worry about something that hasn’t even appeared in our world.”
Even though the world had undergone a massive transformation and the old order had crumbled, governments and institutions were still overwhelmed by what they could physically see and deal with.
New dungeons and monsters emerged almost daily in this Hunter era, and while society seemed stable on the surface, it was teetering on a delicate balance.
“Still, the government can’t ignore the testimonies of numerous Returnees, nor can they dismiss the words of an S-rank Hunter and Returnee like me. So, the higher-ups have given me some authority and responsibility under the Korean government’s banner to gather information on the Demon King and act independently.”
“And what did you find?”
“Take a guess.”
“I’m betting you found nothing.”
“…Hah.”
At Shia’s remark, Yujin took another sip of coffee.
“For a Saintess, you have a remarkably vulgar way of speaking…”
“Maybe the Saintess you’re familiar with was a pushover?”
Annoyed, Yujin glared at her for a moment before drinking his coffee to calm down.
“You’re right. So far, I’ve found nothing. Most people don’t even know I’m leading a Returnee group to take down the Demon King. Some even think we’re just a social club for Returnees.”
“Well, trying to take down a being that’s never appeared in this world would probably make people think you’re completely crazy.”
“I’m a man, not a woman.”
“Sure, let’s go with that.”
Yujin, clearly displeased with Shia’s lack of cooperation, downed his coffee.
“You’re the first to bring back a fragment of the Demon King. Honestly, from the government’s perspective, they probably thought I and the other Returnees were just talking nonsense. But you’re the first to bring physical evidence of the Demon King’s existence in this world.”
“So, are you here to praise me? I was taught to accept compliments in the form of cash or meat.”
“We can save that for later. We’re not exactly close, are we?”
“True. I’d probably get indigestion grilling meat with you.”
“Is there anything you can’t digest? You even ate centipedes with ease.”
“You look like you’d be easy to digest.”
Despite the sharp exchange of words, Shia felt something strange.
She, as the Saintess, usually maintained a sense of forgiveness, understanding, sympathy, and compassion in most situations.
Even when a malicious prankster attempted a prank stream on her, Shia hadn’t gotten angry. Yet, for some reason, whenever she looked at Yujin, she felt an instinctive loathing and fury.
“So, is your point that you want me to join this Returnee group or whatever to stop the Demon King who might invade our world?”
“It would be nice if you joined, but… after seeing you in person, I realize we can’t get along.”
Just as Shia felt hostility and dislike toward Yujin, Yujin felt the same toward Shia.
As human beings with reason and intelligence, they were able to have a civil conversation. But if they were in the ‘previous world,’ where everything was decided by power, they would have already fought at least once.
“Just out of curiosity, what were you in your previous world?”
“What do you mean?”
“I was a Saintess. A ridiculous contradiction called the Saintess of the Dead, but a Saintess nonetheless.”
“…”
Yujin’s expression shifted strangely at those words.
“I was a Hero.”
“A Hero, huh. One who protects the world? So, did you protect it?”
“…Isn’t that obvious? As a Hero, it’s my duty to protect the world. That’s why I returned to this world with all my limbs intact, right?”
Yujin shrugged as he spoke, but Shia, who had been stirring her cake with her fork, dropped it and smirked, her expression incredulous.
“Wow, you can’t say a word without lying, can you?”
“What?”
“Your appearance is fake. Your voice is fake. Except for the part about leading a Returnee group and searching for traces of the Demon King, everything you’ve said is a lie, right? Is your ability to lie your actual power? Did you even fake your S-rank?”
“…!”
At Shia’s words, Yujin’s face hardened.
“Now I know one reason I don’t like you.”
“…”
“As a Saintess, I can’t recognize you as a Hero.”
Although it was a different world, systems for protecting a world existed everywhere.
In Shia’s case, there was herself, the Saintess of the Dead, the Hero Menelapie, and the Dark Witch Teresa.
Conversely, Yujin had also been chosen by some system in his world to be a Hero or something similar.
But Shia was extremely sensitive to lies.
She could tolerate most lies.
She understood that humans lived with lies, and she had even found the theory that humanity’s intelligence evolved to tell lies fascinating.
However, the lie about Yujin protecting the world was something she couldn’t accept. She no longer wanted to respect this guy as a “Hero.”
In truth, her thoughts were simple.
‘Hah, this bastard… You couldn’t even protect your world, and you’re calling yourself a Hero like Menelapie?’
Absolutely unacceptable.
In what world could this guy ever be on the same level as Menelapie?