SSS-Grade Cafe in Front of The Dungeon

SSS-Grade Cafe in Front of The Dungeon — Side Story 10

Translated by cabinfourtranslations.

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The solution I came up with was not as complicated as moving the sheep and wolf across the river, but simply getting me in the duck boat with them.

First, Joo Shinhee and I took the duck boat to the other side. Then, I returned on the duck boat by myself. Last, Ash and Joo Shinwoo rode the duck boat to the other side.

Although it’s exhausting for me to have to go back and forth across the lake in the duck boat, this was the only answer that satisfied everyone’s wishes.

I looked at the duck boat that was lying on the dock. It was designed to be pedaled by a person, and there was clearly no motor or engine installed

‘Let’s do it for the kids, be strong…….’

I mentally braced myself and gestured to Joo Shinhee, “Then let’s get on. Shinhee, come here.”

“Yes, Eonni!”

Joo Shinhee stuck her tongue out at Joo Shinwoo as she walked quickly toward me.

The duck boat glided slowly across the lake, sparkling under the sunlight. I had to keep pedaling with my feet, but it was manageable once I got used to it. Joo Shinhee also pedaled energetically, glancing over at Joo Shinwoo with a playful taunt.

After pedaling for a while, I asked a question that suddenly popped into my head, “But why did all the duck boats malfunction?”

“The owner said they were already broken when he came this morning.”

“It’s broken? Not just malfunctioning?”

“Yes. I saw that some of the boats were completely split in two. Something must have happened overnight … but without any CCTV, it seems hard to find the culprit. It might not even have been done by a person.”

“That’s a big problem…..”

It was a somewhat unsettling story. Who would, and for what reason, go out of their way to split a duck boat in half, of all things?

‘If not a person, then a monster? Nah, no way…..’

It was something that couldn’t be answered just by thinking about it now. I focused back on pedaling. For a while, all I could hear was the sound of my pedaling and the splashing sound of the lake water. It was a spontaneous duck boat ride, but it was fun.

As the boat passed through the center of the lake, I opened my mouth, “Shinhee, how are you doing in school?”

Now that I said it, it felt like one of those typical holiday questions you’d ask a relative. But sitting quietly on the boat was boring, and I was curious about how she was doing. Joo Shinhee blinked a couple of times and then said something else.

“Eonni, you came to the school before, right?”

I was surprised, but I shook my head innocently, trying not to show it, “Ah … no? I never went. I really never went there.”

“I saw it. Our guild leader and Eonni came together. There’s no way I wouldn’t recognize you two.”

I recalled the time when I infiltrated the school with Ki Yoohyun. We just spent the whole time at the canteen. I had thought we had infiltrated perfectly, but she had noticed us.

“I still think it was a waste of time.”

“……Huh?”

A beat too late, I realize that her words were a response to my question about how was she doing at school. Joo Shinhee hee continued to pedal as she looked ahead.

“I’ve been a Hunter for a long time already, so I don’t need any education to be a Hunter.”

Her voice was calm. I could tell she wasn’t complaining, just stating a fact. The wind tousled her hair, and I asked softly.

“And yet, you still decided to enroll in the school?”

“Both that idiot and I awakened when we were young, and we joined the Cheongna Guild because we admired our guild leader. We wanted to be like him.”

“…….”

“He was incredibly strong, and, well, it wasn’t just her strength, but he had this aura of rejecting others. I didn’t need anyone else but that idiot, either … I wanted to be like that. Just the two of us was enough for me.”

Joo Shinhee turned her head in my direction. Her expression was different from the cold look I saw in my life before the regression, yet also different from her usual innocent look. She looked at me with a calm expression somewhere in the middle, and then smiled bashfully.

“But at some point, the guild leader started changing. It wasn’t just that his personality became brighter, but more … in a deeper, more fundamental way.”

“…….”

“Ever since he met you, Eonni.”

“It’s true that Yoohyun-ssi and I are … in that kind of relationship.”

Joo Shinhee narrowed her eyes, “Why are you so embarrassed? Before, in front everyone, you used to… euph! Hmmph!”¹

“T-that, please forget about it!”

Before long, the other side of the lake was near. Joo Shinhee slowly reduced the speed of her pedaling and spoke again.

“After meeting you, Eonni, and seeing how the guild leader changed, I just … thought to myself that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to waste some time. And now that I’ve done it, I think it’s better than I expected. That idiot seems to be happy, too, since he’s always enjoying his time with Ash.”

The duck boat arrived at the lakeside. Joo Shinhee stepped out of the boat with a light movement and beamed.

“Thank you for riding the boat with me, Eonni. It was fun.”

“Same here, I had fun too.”

I drove the duck boat back to the opposite side and then handed it over to Ash and Joo Shinwoo. I wasn’t sure if I could say this, but…..

‘The kids are growing up so fast…..’

Seeing how much more mature Joo Shinhee had become made my heart feel a little sad for some reason. Still, I hope Ash and the twins can have a good time at their school.

[Congratulations! You have completed ‘3. Solve Ash’s Quiz’.]

“That’s right! Ash, do you know where Lona is?”

“Why would you ask me where she is? We’re not even that close……”

Instead of Ash, who became sullen and avoided answering, Joo Shinwoo gave me the answer.

“Lona must be with her brother. She promised to play with us tomorrow.”

“Okay, thank you. Have fun.”

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[3. Mediate the conflict between Choi Cedric and Choi Lona

The siblings are in conflict over an important decision.

Please provide them with appropriate advice to help the siblings make a decision.

Check the location ☞Click]

Once more, I was faced with a quest that I couldn’t understand right away.

Conflict? It didn’t immediately make sense to me, considering how much Choi Cedric doted on Choi Lona.

Well, I guess I’ll find out when I meet her.

I watched the duck boat drift away, then left the lakeshore and made my way to the location where the Choi siblings were.

The beach was crowded with people enjoying the sea. Colorful parasols densely decorated the pure white sandy shore. Choi Cedric and Choi Lona, the siblings, were under one of those parasols.

But somehow, it felt odd. They had come to the beach, yet there was no atmosphere of people wanting to swim. They weren’t sunbathing or relaxing either. The siblings paid no attention to the surroundings, instead they were huddled together under the parasol.

“Lona, Cedric, what are you doing there?”

“Uh, it’s been a while.”

“Hello, Eonni.”

Choi Cedric and Choi Lona were wearing aloha shirts over their swimsuits and carrying swim rings, goggles, flippers, and surfboards. They were clearly dressed for summertime fun, but instead of jumping into the ocean, they stared intently at a piece of paper in the midst of the beach.

“Why are you guys here instead of swimming? Isn’t it hot?”

“Actually … there’s a problem.”

Choi Lona smiled awkwardly and explained their situation.

Several months had passed since the incident with the monster branches and Lee Sein’s imprisonment. C&L Corporation, once the largest of the Big Three guilds in Korea, had been completely disbanded. The numerous organizations that once belonged to them now have been free to continue their activities outside of C&L’s umbrella.

And now that the long process of dissolution was over, Choi Cedric and Choi Lona decided to establish a new guild.

At that moment, Choi Cedric, who had been inflating Lona’s swim ring, spoke, “I’m not planning to make it on a grand scale. I just want to make it something Lona and I can manage by ourselves.”

“Wow, congratulations. You guys are going to do well.”

“Hahaha! Thank you.” Choi Cedric scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, “The problem is about the guild name.”

Originally, the siblings were planning to establish a guild, register it with the Dungeon Management Office, and enjoy the summer vacation to commemorate the occasion. However, they couldn’t resolve their differences over the name of the guild, so it dragged on, and they still hadn’t registered it. That’s why, even now, while they were at the beach, they were still bickering over the guild name.

“Ah, right! Since we’ve met here, would you pick one for us, Eonni?”

“What? No. You guys should decide. As an outsider, how could I possibly have a say?”

I declined, but Choi Cedric clapped his hands together, seemingly agreeing that it was a good idea.

“You’re not an outsider. Anyway, the situation was pretty much a dead end. If you pick, we won’t have any complaints.”

Hmmm…….

I looked at the quest window again. The explanation in the quest “Please provide them with appropriate advice to help the siblings make a decision” must be referring to this matter, right? If it would help the siblings, I could offer my opinion without hesitation.

“Then I’ll just give my opinion, and you guys can listen and decide.”

“Yes, that’s good. Eonni!”

Choi Lona handed me the paper she’d been looking at earlier. Choi Cedric smiled smugly and added an explanation.

“Number one is the name I came up with. Number two is the name my Lona thought of.”

“Okay, number one is…….”

I took the paper and froze in place.

Number 1. Korea Number One Guild

Number 2. Fairy Forest Guild

What should I do, both of them are awful.

The name ‘Korea Number One Guild’ was a total turn-off. If it were up to me, I would never want to join a guild with that kind of name.

‘Fairy Forest Guild’ was much better than the previous one, but as a name for a Hunter Guild, it felt a bit ambiguous. It sounded more like a game title.

“Haha! What do you think?”

“What do you think, Eonni?”

The Choi siblings gazed at me with bright eyes. Unable to withstand their enthusiastic stares, I opened my mouth in the gentlest tone I could manage.

“First … about Cedric’s suggestion, the Korea Number One Guild.”

“Eh, huh, uh!”

“You’re abandoning your success-oriented path and starting a guild just for you and Lona, so I don’t think ‘Number One’ is the right name.”

“Is that so…..” Choi Cedric’s shoulders slumped.

“And the Fairy Forest Guild that Lona proposed is…….”

“Hehe, yes.”

“It’s a fitting name, considering Lona is the owner of the fairy eye, but since you two decided to establish a guild together …… perhaps a name that goes better with Cedric would be more suitable.”

“I see….” Choi Lona’s shoulders slumped as well.

I was taken aback by how deeply discouraged the two of them seemed, more than I had expected, and then I asked something, “Maybe another name or … ah, yeah. Have you heard any other people’s opinions?”

Choi Lona’s eyes widened as if she’d remembered something, “That’s right. Oppa, let’s check that out.”

“Sure, that sounds like a good idea.”

“What do you mean?”

“We talked about it, but we couldn’t agree on a name, so I posted on the Hunter Channel. Asking for help picking a name.”

Choi Lona’s explanation made me anxious.

Hunter Channel ……. I didn’t think I’d ever gotten any proper information from there, so what could they possibly have said?

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If you enjoy this translation, you can buy me cup of coffee through Buy Me a Coffee!

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Translator’s Corner:

1. She was going to remind Rieul about the time when she and Yoohyun kissed after defeating the Demon God. ↩︎

Okay guys choose your fighter: Korea Number One Guild or Fairy Forest Guild?

ANYWAY GUYS, YOUR SILLY TLER (me) HAS OFFICIALLY GRADUATED HOORAAAAY I now have bachelor degree!!!! And to give you good news, I also graduated as the valedictorian (the one with the highest GPA of my department this graduation) T_T thank you so much for you guys support all this time … I’m not lying when I said this blog literally helped me survive my senior year ….. Rieul will always have a special place in my heart for this reason T_T

Ahaha now since I graduated I don’t have any place to stay anymore so let’s hope I’ll find a job in two weeks or else I’ll have to move back to a toxic household dljkdjflkd I will finish this SS in two weeks in any case I really stuck on difficult situation though~ well at least, one phase of my life has already passed … now we’re moving on to survival part 3 ….

But tbh just like how I found it hard to say goodbye to this series, I also found it hard to leave the place where I’m staying now because I have no business in this city anymore … maybe it’s the reason some authors always make another 200 chapters where nothing actually going on before finishing a series …. some of us got attachment issue so bad …. I also still want to read 200 chapters of Rieul daily life …. but now we only have 6 chapters left

Thank you (again) Iomoon for the Coffees!