NOVEL WEB Chapter 277
Chapter 277. I’m Here Because It’s My Birthday Party.
I’m Kang Hajin.
N days into preparing to open a café.
My current thoughts?
‘Should I just close down?’
No matter how much the Destis love me, I don’t think they’d tolerate this coffee.
I’m the type who can’t sleep at night if I drink coffee, so I didn’t even properly taste it. I just took a small sip, and yet, the thought ‘this isn’t it’ crossed my mind immediately. It’s clear that I have no talent in this area.
“Alright, everyone. Please congratulate me.”
“……?”
“I’ve finally found something I’m bad at. I’m not good at making coffee.”
When I went out to the living room of our dorm and boldly declared this, the members who were gathered watching TV simply ignored me, their faces no longer surprised.
I almost felt a little hurt by their reaction, but I held firm. After all, I’ve been doing the same thing for over five days now, so it’s understandable that both they and I would be desensitized by now.
‘The path of a self-employed person isn’t easy.’
To think that the café drinks I buy every day are this precious and expensive.
While I was busy adding more respect for every café part-timer in the world, Lee Yugeon, who had been cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, took off his apron and slumped down in front of the dining table in the living room.
Because he’s the only member who’s ever worked at a café, Lee Yugeon was my practice partner for making coffee. Now, with a tired face, he pressed his temples.
“Hyung, I don’t usually say things like this.”
“……?”
“Just close down. Or hire a part-timer right now.”
“Oh, but that wouldn’t be cool.”
“Hyung, all your coolness died when the coffee started tasting like poison.”
“How would you know? Have you ever had poison?”
“I haven’t had poison, but I’ve had coffee, okay? Making people drink this is a crime.”
Why is this brat so annoyingly articulate today…? I was left speechless.
I quickly admitted defeat and nodded.
“Oh, I know. I’m giving up on coffee.”
“If you don’t sell coffee at a café, what will you sell?”
“I’ve been thinking, you know? After all, this is my birthday party, right?”
“Right.”
“But I can’t drink coffee, right?”
“True.”
“So is there really a reason to sell coffee at a café I’m hosting for my birthday?”
“…So what?”
“There’s no coffee at our café. We’re going with a fantasy novel-themed teahouse.”
For three seconds, half-human Lee Yugeon gave me a look that said, ‘What the hell are you talking about, you idiot?’ but then his face quickly turned back to neutral. He probably realized that it didn’t matter to him whether I opened a fantasy-themed teahouse or a fantasy-themed pub.
Haha. But that’s not going to happen.
I grabbed Yugeon’s shoulder with a trustworthy smile.
“You got that, one-day part-timer?”
“…What?”
“Looking forward to it, one-day part-timer.”
“Me? Why me?!”
“I’ll consider the part-timer’s wage as your birthday gift, one-day part-timer.”
Yugeon-ah. From the moment you signed that contract, you were already on the same boat as me.
The expression on Yugeon’s face, after being scammed by meeting an evil employer after a long time, was priceless.
* * *
The café in question, “that café,” was only open for one day, on November 29th, just a day before Hajin’s birthday.
It operated from 11 AM to 3:30 PM, with each session lasting 30 minutes, and with a lunch break from 1 to 2 PM, making a total of just seven sessions.
So, in fact, Gwajam had some suspicions.
‘Could it be… the boys doing this?’
It was a birthday café, but the entry requirements included an album, they checked for official fan club membership during the reservation, and it was suspicious that you might not be allowed in if you were late for your time slot.
Additionally, there were a lot of suspicious elements, such as what the lucky draw prizes were, which talented fans collaborated on the project, and what activities would take place inside the café—none of this information was revealed.
‘And the announcement… it’s way too familiar!’
Among the Destis, there were rumors that it was some kind of curious café, and when Gwajam checked the reservation site again recently, all the time slots seemed to be fully booked. However, judging by what people were saying on private social media, most thought it was just an unusual concept by some quirky birthday café organizers.
‘Maybe I’ve watched too many dramas?’
Ever since I heard about Soda’s sister becoming a successful fan by attending a Utopia concert, my mind has been filled with happy delusions. If only I had booked an afternoon slot, I might have seen some spoilers, but unfortunately, I ended up with the very first time slot in the morning, so that wasn’t an option.
While thinking about all this, I arrived at the café in question, slightly off from the center of Hongdae.
The café, which seemed to have been created by renovating a house made of red bricks, had large glass windows on the first floor. The birthday café poster plastered across the glass and the birthday banner at the entrance made the café’s presence very clear.
“Hello. What’s your name, please?”
“Oh, Kim Yejin.”
“Yes. Could I see your reservation confirmation email and album, please?”
After a simple identity check by the staff at the entrance, I received a welcome kit in a beige shopping bag. Gwajam decided to check its contents inside and entered the café.
Although I thought I was early, there were already people inside, checking out the café.
‘It’s pretty ordinary.’
The café, remodeled in clean all-white, wasn’t much different from any other birthday cafés. All the tables and chairs had been removed, and one slightly darkened corner had been set up with curtains and was showing Hajin’s stage performances via a beam projector. It wasn’t a fancam, just a compilation of various performances he’d done over time.
The second floor was blocked off, and in front of it was a photo zone. Seeing other early guests taking photos while holding Hajin’s photocard at the photo zone, Gwajam first found an empty seat to put down their things.
‘There’s nothing special, so why all the secrecy?’
Even at the counter, there wasn’t a tall man standing by the door, just some female staff, similar to the ones I saw at the entrance, explaining that they would take orders soon.
As I scanned the high-resolution photo frames and decorations scattered throughout the café, I pulled out my phone.
The message was sent to a group chat that included Ganghadi, Gangdaejang, and Soda’s sister, Yoon Jaehee. Today, after finishing up at this café, Gwajam was planning to join them for a birthday café tour. One of the stops included a café run directly by Ganghadi, who had firmly established herself as a legendary fan of Hajin.
Moochun was Yoon Jaehee’s nickname, short for Mooless Angel. It was a nickname she used even before she started stanning Hajin and Kairos, and she was thrilled when she finally found its rightful owner, a memory still fresh in my mind.
While checking out the album haul picture sent by Gangdaejang, Gwajam suddenly remembered the welcome kit received earlier.
‘Since I can’t order yet and there’s plenty of time to explore, I should check out the kit first.’
As I took out the items from the shopping bag, I noticed that the first-time customers had all finished entering. The staff were closing the door and drawing the curtains over the glass windows. This blocked out the sunlight, but since the interior lights were bright, Gwajam didn’t mind as they continued to examine the contents of the welcome kit.
The small shopping bag, about half the size of an A4 sheet, contained quite a few goodies.
Gwajam laid out on the table an acrylic keychain with a cute Doberman character, a small hand mirror, a blue pen engraved with the words “Pride Of You,” and a luxuriously designed birthday party invitation card. That’s when I sensed something strange.
‘…Is this the basic perk? I haven’t even ordered a drink yet. Are they just giving this away? For free? They’re just giving it away?’
Usually, the basic perk is something like a paper cup with a fake photocard or something like that, right? They didn’t even charge a reservation fee, so how are they giving out a welcome kit like this? Are the organizers making money out of thin air? Why? Did they win the lottery?
My eyelids twitched from the confusion.
But the bigger shock
came next.
There was still something left in the shopping bag!
“Oh, it’s just a photocard….”
Gwajam hastily unfolded what seemed to be a fake photocard set, which, among all these items, was probably the cheapest to produce.
And then I froze.
“……?”
The four-photo strip of black-haired Hajin with his hair half up, wearing a black t-shirt and a dark gray casual suit, and a selfie photocard of red-haired Hajin in a school uniform with his hair down—I could let those slide.
But the Polaroid of Hajin, clearly taken after he celebrated his first number-one win by making a mess with a cake in the waiting room (a group photo from that day had been posted on the official account), and a printed photo of Hajin’s childhood that had never been revealed anywhere before—I couldn’t ignore those.
Gwajam realized their hands were trembling.
“Holy, this is crazy… no, this is insane….”
It dawned on Gwajam, once again, that when people are shocked, their vocabulary can become extremely limited. I was about to spread this incredible news to the Gangfans group chat when suddenly, a loud buzz and screaming filled the café.
Slowly raising my head, I saw that two people, who hadn’t been there before, were now standing behind the counter, which was much taller than them, and were greeting the café patrons with a smile.
“Hello, Destis.”
“Hello.”
Hajin and Yugeon were standing there, Hajin in a white shirt, black slacks, and a black apron tied around his waist.
‘Am I dreaming right now?’
It was too vivid a vision to be a dream. Gwajam, who had been about to send a message to the group chat, forgot all about it and instead turned on the camera. It looked like everyone else was doing the same, recording videos.
Seeing this, Hajin smiled awkwardly and placed his hand lightly on his waist as he spoke.
“They said they were going to throw a birthday party for me without me, so I decided to come myself.”
“…I was dragged here.”
Hajin then visibly nudged Yugeon’s side, who had just spoken in his usual indifferent tone.
In the past, such a tone from Yugeon might have been considered rude or arrogant, but now, Destis knew well that despite Yugeon’s words, he was going to give his all to today’s event.
As a quiet laugh spread among the Destis, Hajin threw his arm around Yugeon’s shoulder, acting all friendly, while making a shushing gesture with his other hand.
“Everyone. Today, feel free to take as many pictures as you want and enjoy yourselves, but please keep it a secret that we’re here until 4 PM. If too many people show up, we’ll have to close early, seriously.”
At those words, the fingers of a few people who had been quickly typing on their phones visibly stopped. The staff seemed to be giving warnings to some people, probably because of that.
Gwajam also quickly erased the message they were about to send to the group chat (ㅇㆍ니 ㅣ니직ㅡㅁ여기ㅣ핮신이왔어).
‘Sorry, unnies. But you would’ve done the same if you were me.’
I’ll tell you everything when we meet later… please forgive me for just six hours….
Sending a telepathic apology that would never be received, I turned on the camera app again, determined not to miss a single moment of the Hajin I trusted more than any professor. It seemed they were about to start service as Hajin stepped out from behind the counter, placing his hand on the slightly lower POS system as he spoke.
“Alright, we’ll take orders one table at a time. By the way, coffee is only available when Yugeon is here. This is the only time today that you can have coffee, so please keep that in mind. The order must include one drink and one snack set. Also….”
What else was there to say?
As Hajin rolled his eyes around, Yugeon seemed to whisper something in his ear. Hearing that, Hajin gave a small “ah” and nodded, then spoke in that sly voice Gwajam loved.
“And it’s all free. I’m treating.”
With a click of his tongue, Hajin winked, causing Yugeon to squeeze his eyes shut while the Destis screamed. Gwajam also subtly yet carefully tapped the table with both hands.
‘Mom, my precious boy is giving me food and coffee!’
It was the ultimate gift from my favorite idol!