Chapter 3 

Coffee Master Is Way Too Strong

The Perfect Pairing

Crackle, rumble!

Hunter Association, Jeju Branch.

The inside of the simulation room was filled with blue lightning.

With a sound like the air itself being torn apart, the mana measuring devices flashed.

“Haa… haa….”

A woman wiped the sweat from her forehead as she opened the heavy steel door of the testing room and stepped outside.

Her entire body was drenched in sweat.

It was Song Ra-yoon.

She had just completed the “Regular Performance Test,” which all Hunters ranked B or higher were required to undergo periodically.

“How are the results?”

“Hunter Song Ra-yoon! Th-this is a big problem!”

“A big problem?”

The examiners staring at the monitors answered with pale faces.

“Your score has improved by more than 3% compared to your previous measurement!”

“Three percent?”

She answered calmly, but inwardly, she was more than a little surprised.

“Yes. Take a look here. We cross-checked it several times, but it’s really increased.”

The examiners showed her the data and explained what each category meant.

Mana stability, output speed, physical resonance, total mana capacity, and more.

The numbers had improved across the board.

In the world of S-rank Hunters, 3% was by no means insignificant.

Maybe for a novice Hunter, it wouldn’t mean much.

But for S-ranks belonging to the top 0.1%, natural growth was considered almost impossible.

Even with elixirs worth billions of won, bodily modifications, or repeated hellish training regimens, achieving even 1% growth was considered a major accomplishment.

Three percent in just a few days.

As Ra-yoon rubbed her chin, one of the examiners asked with sparkling eyes,

“What on earth have you been doing lately? Besides the diet provided by the Cheongra Guild, are you taking some kind of supplement? Or perhaps you’ve been doing secret training….”

At that moment, one thing flashed through Ra-yoon’s mind.

The sound of waves crashing against the Jeju night sea.

The bright floral aroma that had filled the quiet café.

And the intensely sweet crème brûlée that had followed the bitter coffee.

The moment she thought of it, a languid smile spread across her lips.

Of course…

Could there be some kind of hidden secret behind it?

Suspicion slowly began creeping back in.

From the way her mana burnout had been resolved in an instant to the fact that her Hunter performance score had risen by a whopping