The Mirror

Chapter 2 [1/2]

CHAPTER 2

"Welcome!"

Myungwoo steps into a beautiful cafe and a smile instantly forms on his handsome face as he knows the person who just greeted him. It's Lee Daesun, an owner of CAKE AND BISTRO, his favorite cafe. Daesun is behind the counter, standing side by side with their handsome and popular barista.

"May I have..."

"Cold americano, sir?" guess the barista.

"Right. You remember my favorite drink!"

"I do. With an extra espresso shot?"

"Extra two shots today. Thank you," Myungwoo then facing Daesun, "such a gift to have a barista like him here."

"I agree," Daesun chuckled, "what happened to you? You look tired. Did you have a lot of overtime work lately?"

"Is the dark circle under my eyes so visible? Well, it's not exactly overtime work but... I do have some extra work to do lately."

"I won't be surprised if you'll move into a new apartment soon."

"Well, I don't need a big apartment since I'm mostly just by myself since Minseong is too busy with his group."

"You're right. I see Minseong's face everywhere."

They both are laughing. Lee Daesun is Myungwoo's high school friend. He was quite popular in the school because of his rather dark exotic skin, tall figure and his singing and dancing talent. He also can make really nice coffee.

"I rarely see you here. Busy with other things?" asked Myungwoo as he paid for his coffee.

"Right. I have some other plans for the cafe."

"Excuse me! May I have your time?"

A bright young man with a pretty smile walking closer to the counter. In his hand, he holds a cup of coffee while a camera is hanging on his neck. On the other hand, he is holding some kind of pamphlets.

"Sure. What can I do for you?" asked Daesun.

The young man gives them the pamphlets, one for Daesun and the other one for Myungwoo. Myungwoo quickly read the pamphlet.

"Oh, is the festival time already? Alpha School's birthday?" asked Myungwoo with big eyes.

"Yes. And this time we'll celebrate it merrier because it's the 20th birthday!" answered the young man with a bright smile, "I hope you will come and visit us."

Of course we will come. I have been a student of Alpha School since Secondary," said Daesun.

"Then you must be my sunbaenim! Sunbaenim, nice to meet you. I'm Park Minsook, a 3rd year student of Alpha University, majoring in Arts."

He bows to them.

"I'm Kim Myungwoo and he is Lee Daesun. We'll come and enjoy the celebration!"

"Thank you so much, sunbaenim!"

And the cheerful Park Minsook left the cafe.

"Myungwoo, look! THE TOP will be performing too! It will be super crowded then."

Myungwoo is feeling excited as he sees the bottom part of the pamphlet where the picture of Minseong and his group members is placed.

Myungwoo swings his ax once again and kills the last imp. As the imp screams and falls to the ground, the environment around Myungwoo changes from a virtual forest to the castle's yard. Myungwoo sits on the grass while breathing heavily. He is getting used to his ax, at least it doesn't feel as heavy as the first time he used it. He grabs a bottle of chocolate and is still trying to normalize his breath. He just finished his first training session for today, and is thinking of having more training sessions since it's still 7 PM in the real world. But suddenly, Bonhwa appears beside him, he is sweating from top to toe, and he falls to the ground, and doesn't even mind sitting. He let go of his spear while breathing heavily too.