"Thanks for coming to Ukiyo Cafe!"
Lee Seolji's cheerful and polite voice rings out at the cafe, after serving the last customer of today.
It's afternoon in Seoul, three days after Seo Hwigeon's unbelievable announcement at the reality show — it shook the entire community because of his proclamation.
Yeon Yujun opens the register while Lee Seolji starts taking off her apron and hangs it to the rack, "Oppa! I'm off to tutoring,"
"I'll close the shop, stay safe out there." With a nod, Yeon Yujun waves Lee Seolji goodbye as she exits at the back door of the cafe.
Now, Yeon Yujun is all alone.
He was just about to ask for Pouch to come out, but he remembered that he left it back home... Looks like no one's going to accompany him till he gets home.
But it's safer that way, better than anyone seeing him talk to himself.
Without any more thinking, Yeon Yujun put all the money aside to a safer place and began to clean up the mess at the counter before moving to the floor.
He swept the floor while humming to himself, not minding the peaceful environment around him. No people around talking, drinking, and watching him.
Just him and the mop.
"Are you guys still open?"
The familiar voice quickly cuts through the peaceful air, Yeon Yujun pauses and almost dropped the mop into the ground.
He didn't even hear anyone coming at all, the bell didn't even ring!
"I need a cup of coffee."
That... that smug voice...
Yeon Yujun turns around, finding himself face-to-face with none other than Seo Hwigeon. Again.
He took a step back, distancing himself from Seo Hwigeon like he's a plague. "W-what are you doing here?!"
"I'm a customer, I'm not looking for a fight or anything." Seo Hwigeon amusedly raises both of his arms in the air, as if "surrendering" would calm Yeon Yujun down.
It just infuriates him even more.
"Out."
"Out?"
Yeon Yujun scoffs, "Yeah, are you deaf? Get out."
Seo Hwigeon dramatically let out a long sigh before approaching one of the chairs and sitting down like he belonged there.
"That's not a proper way to treat a customer, kitten. I thought you already learned from our first meeting?"
"Proper my ass! You don't get to parade here like you own the place after..." he trails off, realizing he's way too far — it might just prove Seo Hwigeon's point that he's Eight.
Of course, he refuses to give him the satisfaction!
"After what?" Seo Hwigeon chimes in, tilting his head slightly as if behind his wolf mask, his eyes are staring right through Yeon Yujun.
Yeon Yujun clenches his fist and forces himself to calm down, "Nothing, what do you want?" He decides to play along.
"Just the usual."
'T-This fucker...! What does he mean by usual?! He never even ordered here!' Yeon Yujun screams internally before forcing a strained smile.
"What usual...?" he asks, a vein popping in his own jaw.
Seo Hwigeon clasps both of his hands together, as if waiting for Yeon Yujun to take the ultimate blow...
"Glad you asked, I just need a Venti Chocolate Frappuccino with non-fat coconut milk, exactly one and a half cups of sugar with four chocolate drizzles, then two pumps of strawberry drizzle."
"Three espresso shots mixed in extra whip cream, as well as vanilla cake mixed in with chocolate pops on top, chocolate flakes, pump of vanilla, one pump of strawberry, kiwi slices mixed in, chocolate shavings coating the bottom, cinnamon dolce,"
"Oh and just a pinch of matcha powder on that too, please." he adds innocently, clearly testing Yeon Yujun's patience.
All Yeon Yujun could do is stare at the man who just told him a whole tale that the world's ending by just a coffee order. Is he for real? Has he actually lost his mind?
"Are you high?" he mutters, still staring at Seo Hwigeon unblinking and baffled.
'Did Seo Hwigeon just pull that out of his ass or what?'
"Why, I'm perfectly fine, thank you." Seo Hwigeon chuckles, delighted by Yeon Yujun's reaction — just the reaction he's hoping for.
Yeon Yujun shifts his eyes from the counter then back at Seo Hwigeon, "You… You want me to make that?"
"What else? I wouldn't have recited the whole order to you for no reason now, would I?"
"Well… we don't have kiwis and chocolate pops in the café,"
Seo Hwigeon lifts his head, "Seriously?"
Yeon Yujun nods, just looking at Seo Hwigeon with that same untrusting gaze as usual.
"I'll just take an americano then, hot."
Yeon Yujun just turns back at the counter, about to prepare the order for Seo Hwigeon.
Once he's behind the counter, he starts taking a cup and brews a new batch of espresso beans, he waits before making the americano coffee.
'Is he just here to waste my time?' That thought crosses Yeon Yujun's mind as he slides a sleeve onto the paper cup, he turns slightly just to see Seo Hwigeon watching him.
'What a creep.'
Yeon Yujun takes a cookie from the basket he didn't put away yet, a habit for every customer he serves receives a free cookie.
After finishing the order, he went back to Seo Hwigeon and handed him the coffee then the plastic sealed vanilla cookie.
"There's your order."
"Did you brew a whole new batch for this?"
"What else?"
Seo Hwigeon stares at the coffee before picking it up and carefully blows the steam to cool the drink, then he sips on it.
"Give me the whole batch." he says, looking up at Yeon Yujun.
Yeon Yujun is taken aback by Seo Hwigeon's words, he seems serious about it too. "What?"
"You said you brewed a new batch right? Give me the whole thing, I'll give them to my members."
'Right… I almost forgot he's the guild leader of
After some time, Yeon Yujun made twenty cups of Americano coffee and Seo Hwigeon paid for all of it without any hesitation.
"Why do you think Eight is still alive?" Yeon Yujun finally asks the question, handing him back the card he scanned.
Seo Hwigeon was quiet for a moment before taking the card, "Because he's right in front of me."
Yeon Yujun froze, he couldn't meet Seo Hwigeon's gaze as his fists clenched.
"I'm not–"
"I want you to join me, be a hunter again, Yeon Yujun." Seo Hwigeon pulls out a calling card, sliding it to him.
"How many times have I told you? I'm… I'm not a hunter, I'm not awakened." Yeon Yujun quickly defends.
Seo Hwigeon leans in close to the in denial Yeon Yujun, his mask almost close to Yeon Yujun's nose.
"And you know that I see right through your <[S] Concealment> skill, right? I've seen your profile… and the only man who wields the skill <[S] Reoccurrence> is no other than Eight himself."
Yeon Yujun was lost for words, he knew that he's the only one who wielded that skill in this world… But it surprises him how much Seo Hwigeon knows about him.
He had never met this man at all, even if he digs back to the painful memories.
That was the mystery for him, Seo Hwigeon and he hated every bit of it.
"I'm not, I'm just not him, alright? You've got the wrong guy." Yeon Yujun insists, his hand slightly trembling as the memories from the vortex come flashing back.
He hates it whenever someone brings it up and now, he forgot to take his pills today because he thought that he wouldn't remember it.
But it looks like he'll never outrun those memories.
"Yeon Yujun, the world is—"
"I have nothing to do with the world, okay?" Yeon Yujun breathes in sharply, looking at him with those teary and defiant eyes.
Yeon Yujun left the counter and went to the entrance of the café, he's never coming back from being a hunter, never again.
After the bloodbath back at the vortex raid, after Yerin and the others died.
After Song Dohyun decided to betray him.
"Just leave, thanks for coming." His words were bitter and rough, it wasn't polite or angry… Just frustrated and tired.
That resonated deep in Seo Hwigeon, but he didn't press any longer as he complied, taking the coffee with him without any other word. Though, it didn't break his determination to bring Yeon Yujun back to being a hunter.
Then silence after he left, complete and eerie silence.
"Why… Why the hell is he so obsessed with Eight? Why is he obsessed with me?" Yeon Yujun mumbles, tightening his grip on the door handle of the café before he goes straight back to the counter.
He took out his pills and didn't count any of them, just shoved the whole thing down his throat that he almost suffocated from the sudden and bitter taste in his windpipe.
If he doesn't drink any water, it might just get stuck on his esophagus.
"F-fuck…" he quickly reaches for the small refrigerator under the counter, taking the water bottle and drinking it all down to wash the bitter taste of the pills in his throat.
He just hopes that the pills would do its thing, block all of the painful memories away.
"This just doesn't get any better…"