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Episode 1.

A special delivery arrived for me.

To: Cheon Sol-mo

Your grandfather, Cheon Sol-mo has left you an inheritance.

“…A grandfather?”

With just one piece of mail, I became an heir overnight. It seemed I had received something from a grandfather I’d never even heard of, not once in my life. I was dazed.

Seeing that the inheritance letter from my grandfather had arrived just now, it seemed he had been alive until quite recently. But then, why had my father never mentioned him at all…? I glanced at the family photo on the table. Even if I wanted to confront my father about it, it was realistically impossible now.

First, let’s finish reading the letter.

Below is the final will of Cheon Sol-mu.

Cheon Sol-mo, you are my only remaining bloodline.

Therefore, I intend to entrust you with the cafe I have maintained all these years.

It comes with board and lodging, so you can live there right away if you just pack a simple change of clothes.

If you are happy right now, you may disregard this will as if it never existed. If you do not visit the cafe within a certain period, the inheritance will be automatically revoked.

However, if you are even the slightest bit unhappy, take responsibility and try running this cafe.

But note, if you cannot find the cafe the inheritance is void.

‘If you cannot find it, the inheritance is void’—what does that mean? But I didn’t dwell on it too much. It’s absurd to think someone would fail to find a location these days.

Location: [207 Gomasan Forest Path]

At the very bottom of the letter, the cafe’s address was written. It seemed I really was receiving a building.

If my grandfather had been alive all this time, then why hadn’t he come to my parents’ funeral? Had they completely cut ties…?

“Maybe if I go there, I’ll find some clues.”

All the conditions fit perfectly. First of all, I am not happy at all right now. I can say that for sure. I have no attachments left in this life; I wouldn’t mind dying right now. It’s the typical so-called ‘burnout’ state.

And it says the inheritance will be cancelled if I don’t visit the cafe within a certain time, but I’m not foolish enough to turn down an inheritance. There’s no reason to refuse something offered for no reason. The address being in a forest path means I don’t expect some huge, fancy cafe, but it’s still my property now, so I should go and check it out in person, as it’s convenient. I’m also a bit curious about what kind of person my grandfather was, and what his relationship with my father was like.

I packed a simple backpack. Just a few changes of clothes and the photo frame of my parents from the table. I didn’t plan to stay there long anyway; I just wanted to go, see what kind of place it was, and confirm things.

Leaving the house, I immediately hailed a taxi.

“To 207 Gomasan Forest Path, please.”
“Let’s see… according to the GPS, the car can’t go all the way there. I’ll drop you off in front of Gomasan.”
“Okay.”

If the car can’t go in, is number 207 located halfway up the mountain?

It would have been nicer if I’d inherited something like a high-rise building in a big city….
Since I quit my job recently, having a stable passive income would have been really nice.

My head was filled with worldly thoughts like that.

As soon as I got out of the taxi, what appeared before my eyes was the entrance to the low-lying Gomasan mountain.
Lush green trees lined the forest path.
I started walking up the path with light steps.

“Huff… huff….”
“Ah, where is it, really?”

How long had I been walking? Even though I was slightly out of breath, I couldn’t find number 207 for the life of me. Being in the mountains, the GPS wasn’t accurate, and even when I tried using a map app for directions, it kept leading me to dead ends. It felt like I was going around in circles. Wandering aimlessly, even my light backpack started to feel burdensome.

“ha… I shouldn’t have bothered bringing all this.”

Maybe it was just spam mail. Perhaps 207 Gomasan Forest Path never existed in the first place. I sat down on a nearby rock, took out the letter again, and read it carefully.

“It seemed plausible, but was it fake…?”

Scams these days are so elaborate. I was completely fooled.

I let out a deep sigh, lifted my head, and looked up at the sky.

A clear, cloudless sky. Lowering my gaze a little, I saw the lush green trees.

How long had it been since I last saw nature?
I felt my heart calm down a little.

It had been tough wandering lost in the mountain, but seeing the leaves rustle pleasantly in the refreshing breeze that blew gently made all that struggle seem to melt away. I closed my eyes briefly in the cool wind, savoring the phytoncide for the first time in a long while.

Putting aside the search for the non-existent fake cafe, I was just enjoying nature for the first time in ages when suddenly, thump—something rolled and bumped into my foot.

It was a small, brown acorn.

“Wow, an acorn. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one.”

I carefully picked up the acorn.
Just then, another acorn came tumbling down from above. I walked up a bit and picked that one up too. Then another acorn dropped from somewhere with a little tree.

I kept picking up acorns, moving along as I followed them. Like in the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, where they find their way using pebbles and breadcrumbs, I walked as if entranced, following the acorns. If I picked one up here, another would drop over there. Mesmerized by the impossibly perfect timing, I found myself absorbed in gathering acorns.

And when my hands were almost full of acorns, I lifted my head and saw a quaint little tree at the edge of my vision.

The small tree was hopping along like a bunny? Thump, thump, dropping acorns one by one. As if telling me to follow.

“……?”

I rubbed my eyes in disbelief. A tree, only about knee-high, was moving around freely, hopping about.

Isn’t a tree supposed to be a stationary organism, rooted in one spot, not moving?

This tree—well, I wasn’t sure if it was a tree, but it looked like one. I was entranced and took a step towards this mysterious tree.

Then the acorn tree hopped over to a corner and settled itself. And then, , it transformed. Into a tree just like the ones we commonly know.

I hurried over. I crouched down and stared intently at the tree. Was what I just saw a hallucination? It had to be. A tree hopping around and dropping acorns… That’s impossible.

I must be seeing things from dehydration or something while climbing the mountain. See? Even when I touch it, it’s unmistakably a tree. Maybe it’s because I didn’t sleep well last night.

But the acorns clutched in my hand told me that what I had just seen wasn’t entirely a dream. I looked around carefully. I had wandered deep into the unfamiliar mountain.

Behind the acorn tree stood a beautiful wooden building, as if plucked straight from a fairy tale. The lovely wooden roof and exterior walls captivated my gaze. In this absurd situation, I swallowed dryly and fumbled in my pocket for my phone. Trying to stay calm, I opened the map app.

“Let’s see, my current location is… 207 Gomasan Forest Path…?”

Surprisingly, this was the site I had inherited. I thought I was hopelessly lost in the mountain, but instead, I had arrived at my destination by accident. I was bewildered. Was I dreaming right now…?

Catching my breath, I slowly examined the wooden house. The first thing that caught my eye was a small signboard.

[Puff-Puff Cafe]

The letters were formed by joining together small twigs, stroke by stroke. It exuded a strongly nature-friendly feel.

“…A cafe?”

I had thought the inheritance letter might not be legitimate, but it wasn’t a scam after all?

I walked closer to the cafe. I saw a pretty, storybook-like wooden door.

And next to the door stood a menu board. It was also made of wood.

On the menu board, in somewhat crooked handwriting, two menu items were written.

*Hot Coffee
*Iced Coffee

Can this cafe even do business with a menu like this? Could I even get rent for this tiny little place?

It seemed like a pretty unremarkable cafe, anyway. Located halfway up a mountain, the accessibility was terrible. If this really became mine, it might be a much better choice for long-term profitability to just close the cafe down.

I should go in, meet the person in charge of the cafe and discuss whether to keep it open. And maybe I could ask them a bit about my grandfather too.

I opened the shop door and went inside.

Creak-

As I opened the door, ten round eyes all looked at me at once.

What is this?

Startled, I looked around.

The black eyes belonged to, surprisingly, squirrels. Real, live, moving squirrels.

Five squirrels were staring at me with bright, alert eyes.

Taken aback by the sudden attention, I rolled my eyes, dumbfounded.

Then one squirrel wearing horn-rimmed glasses hopped forward.

And it looked up at me intently. With eyes that seemed to be waiting for something.

Trying to ignore the intense gaze of this cute squirrel, I called out for the shop owner.

“Hello~? Is anyone here?”

But there was no sign of life. Instead, the squirrel with glasses hopped one step closer to me.

Even though it was a tiny squirrel, wearing those black glasses made it look somehow intelligent.

…Cute. Can I touch it?

“Hot-c? Cold-c?”

Huh, did I mishear? A talking doll…? Maybe this stuffed toy has a voice function installed. Anyway, it sounded like a voice was coming from the squirrel.

My eyes widening, I bent down towards the squirrel.

“Hot-c? Cold-c?”

The squirrel asked the same thing again.

I was so startled I stumbled back and fell over.

“…Did that squirrel just talk?”

At my muttered words, the squirrel replied.

“Squirrel! Talk!”
“…….”
“Order! No take?”
“…A squirrel is talking…”
“Hot-c? Cold-c? Choose!”
“…Choose what?”
“Hot coffee? Iced coffee?”

Was it asking me to choose between the two coffees? Come to think of it, the menu board out front had exactly those two items written on it.

Hot coffee, Iced coffee.

So, this tiny squirrel was taking my drink order right now?

Wow….

“Hot-c? Cold-c?”

The squirrel with the big glasses asked me again, as if it never got tired.