Chapter : 1
On the outskirts of the capital of the Kingdom of Zenen, there stood one particularly famous café.
Its name was “Yonggari Café.”
It was so well-known that not only the nobles of the Zenen Kingdom, but even commoners were familiar with it. Thanks to that, the place was always packed with customers.
One thing in particular made the café famous.
Right on the front gate hung a large notice board.
[Customers are welcome! Please come in!
However, troublesome customers whose names are written below are banned from entry!]
The bold owner of this fiery café was Layla Token.
At this very moment, she was raking in the Kingdom of Zenen’s money.
But she had one secret.
You are currently influencing the world!
Current Influence: 57%
World Restoration Rate: 30%
- Gather more customers.
- If influence falls below 50%, a debuff will occur.
“This was supposed to be a game about rebuilding a failed café…!”
Yet somehow, she was saving a collapsing world.
That one sentence was the beginning of everything.
“Is there any fun part-time job game? Recommend one to me.”
That was what I said when I asked my friend for a game recommendation.
“Hey, you already work like crazy. Why would you want a game like that too?”
Calling me strange as usual, my friend recommended a game that had been doing well lately.
It was called [Grandma Vasha’s Café].
I immediately looked up reviews of the game.
People praised how charming the NPCs were, how cute the mascot was, and how the mini-games—often seen in ads—were fun. The reviews were overflowing with compliments.
“Wow, there are fifty-nine thousand reviews, and the overall rating is 4.7 stars? That’s insane.”
The promotional images also showed off a romance-fantasy-style setting.
Just from looking at it, it was obvious the developers had poured a lot of effort into the game.
‘This looks worth playing.’
At the very least, it seemed perfect for vicarious satisfaction.
Something to help me momentarily escape my sewer-like reality.
‘Lie down for a bit, then head to the convenience store for the night shift…’
Ah, and in the morning I had a café part-time job. Today I also had grading work at the academy in the afternoon.
Work, work, and more work.
That was my life.
The reason I pushed myself this hard despite being a fresh member of society was painfully obvious.
I was the eldest daughter of a dirt-poor family. My parents had passed away, leaving behind nothing but massive debt, and my younger sibling was still immature and irresponsible.
So I worked day and night to pay off debts, interest, and living expenses—a classic tragic backstory.
And yes, I was the protagonist of that unfortunate story.
Thanks to that, I had done everything from café part-time jobs to small side gigs like attaching eyes to dolls.
There was nothing I hadn’t tried. Nosebleeds in the morning were routine, and days when I slept properly could be counted on one hand.
But the hardest thing to endure was—
‘No matter how much I work, my bank account is still in the negatives.’
That was why I had suddenly asked for a game recommendation.
At least in a game, I could watch money pile up as much as I worked. I wanted that kind of vicarious satisfaction, even if it was fake.
So without much hesitation, I quickly tapped the download button.
The game was pretty large, so it took quite a while to download.
After what felt like nearly two hours, the download finally finished, and I launched the game on my phone.
I wondered if I could start playing right away, but—
“Well, of course.”
As if there could be a game without additional downloads.
What appeared was a loading screen decorated with the typical animation style of a tycoon game.
At the top of the screen, the game’s title was written in a cute font. Below it stood a kindly smiling grandmother with a cute hamster perched on her shoulder.
By the way—
“The graphics are good?”
That mattered more than you’d think.
Even though I hadn’t played yet, I was already satisfied and lightly tapped the loading screen.
A sentence popped up at the bottom of the screen.
“Wouldn’t feel right without these.”
It was a TIP! meant to make the game more enjoyable.
I began reading each tip as they appeared.
[Be careful not to let your energy run out!]
[You can obtain ingredients directly through farming!]
[If you need help, call the all-purpose helper, Hugh!]
[You can purchase useful items through the shop.]
[You can actively interact with the residents of the Kingdom of Zenen.]
And so on.
They were similar to tips from other tycoon games.
Some sentences even sounded like the game characters themselves were speaking.
“Oh, nice attention to detail.”
Were there more tips?
I tapped the screen once more.
At that moment—
Flaaash!
The loading screen vanished, and a brilliant light burst from my phone.
It was so intense I couldn’t even open my eyes properly.
This wasn’t the kind of light that should come from a simple game screen.
So I reflexively squeezed my eyes shut.
Without knowing what was happening.
“Welcome, my granddaughter!”
At the unfamiliar voice, I snapped my eyes open.
What I saw was—
“…Huh?”
The kindly smiling grandmother—Grandma Vasha, the one I had kept seeing on the loading screen—stood there, beaming.
‘…What is going on?’
Why was Grandma Vasha standing right in front of me?
Had I fallen asleep? Was this a dream?
Unable to believe the situation, I blinked rapidly.
I squeezed my eyes shut, opened them again, rubbed them hard—but Grandma Vasha was still there.
Thinking it might be a dream, I pinched my cheek.
“Ow!”
It hurt clearly.
So this wasn’t a dream.
‘…Then what?’
Was this that possession thing people talk about?
But usually, you possess a romance fantasy novel and end up with the male lead, right?!
Or you possess a game you’ve already played to death and know inside out!
‘Why me…?’
Did I really possess a tycoon game I had just finished downloading?
Looking at this situation… yes. I had definitely been possessed into the game.
Still, it felt strangely unreal, so I scratched my head with a dumb expression.
Grandma Vasha clicked her tongue and shook her head.
“Oh dear, was the journey long? You look completely out of it.”
“……”
“Get a grip, Layla!”
Her sharp shout echoed in my head.
That finally snapped me back to my senses.
Once my stupid expression faded, Grandma Vasha began speaking as if she had been waiting.
“Layla, my granddaughter. You have a mountain of work to do, so please stay sharp.
At this rate, I’m worried you’ll get scammed somewhere…”
As I listened quietly, one word stuck in my ears.
“…Granddaughter?”
I didn’t recall seeing the word granddaughter in any of the reviews.
What was this supposed to mean?
I blinked rapidly in confusion.
Grandma Vasha looked at me as if I were unbelievable and shook her head.
“Still half asleep? Tsk tsk.”
“……”
“You are my granddaughter, Layla Token.”
“…What?”
“I am your grandmother, Vasha Token. My health isn’t good, so I planned to leave everything to you and return to my hometown to recover, but…
How did my clever granddaughter end up like this?”
She looked at me with worried eyes.
Sighing deeply, she gently patted my shoulder.
“You remember that you’ll be running the café in my place from now on, right?”
As her voice echoed in my head—
“…Huh?”
My gaze naturally drifted to the building behind her.
As if guided.
“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Was I really seeing this correctly…?
That building looked like it would collapse like a sandcastle if you poked it.
I couldn’t believe my eyes and looked around.
On the vast, empty land, the only structure that could be called a café was that completely ruined building.
It looked like it had once been two stories tall, but the roof was nowhere to be seen.
The outer walls were filled with huge, deep cracks.
Despite being utterly destroyed, a café sign—split in half—hung pitifully, as if stubbornly insisting it was still a café.
The place where the front door should have been was wide open, revealing the interior, which was even worse than the outside.
It looked like it had been flooded, or shaken violently by a monster…
Calling it an abandoned building felt generous.
‘It didn’t look this bad in the screenshots or reviews…
Isn’t this a scam…? Is this what possession fraud is?’
Even if I tried to be generous and call it an exposed concrete interior trend, this was too much.
I alternated my gaze between Grandma Vasha and the ruined building in disbelief.
That was when—
Ding!
A status window appeared before my eyes.
