"Barely managed to make it before nine... Let's just do a quick check of my supplies and then let's get this house open for business." Soren commented tiredly, as ran from his nearest bus stop to his own shop.
'Got enough coffee for a couple more days, but it's better call later for these. Preferably during my lunch break. As for snacks, I already got more than enough stocked up in the fridge.' Once he made his mental notes about the supplies of the shop, he swiftly put on an apron and turned the door's sign to "Open" to signal the start of his own shift. Afterwards, he turned on the TV and spent his time watching the morning news, while awaiting for his first customers. During his waiting time, he skimmed over the news channels to check on all of the updates, be it on the economic sectors, the industrial or even the entertainment industry itself, since a lot of news about big families are usually displayed on the entertainment channels, with NobleNews24, or NN24 being the his main source of information.
Unfortunately, he had no relevant news, since all of the news were talking about BCO and its player reception, which was overwhelmingly positive, bordering on the level of worship at times. There had been some in-game news as well, mainly for the currently strongest players of each major city, those being Loving Moving Novice for Kanera City, Boras III for Vanadis City and DaylightOrc4 for Glaxion City, with all of them having the same base stat total of 23. During this time, he couldn't help but sigh and marvel at the ability of these people being able to nearly quadruple their stat total in less than half a day, while his own stat total wasn't even half of theirs.
It wouldn't be long before those thoughts were dispelled, since his first customers for the day had finally arrived, those being an elderly couple who lived a couple streets away from the shop and were his weekday's first customers.
"Make us the usual sonny." The old man ordered joyfully, as the two of them sat on a table near the window and Soren took out a copper ibrik to fill it with water, a teaspoon of sugar and coffee power, mixing it and letting it to slowly boil over a fire. While doing so, he took out a couple of porcelain and glass cups and once the coffee had reached a boil and was about to spill, he turned off the fire to start pouring the coffee in the cups, before serving them to the elderly couple.
"Thank you So- *cough* *cough* Soren..." The old lady gratefully stated, albeit with some difficulty, before being followed by her husband. "Thanks as well sonny. It's still good 'o know that this old corner is still running to this day. I figured it would go under quickly, once ol' man Barley hit the casket, but it seems he left a worthy successor."
*sigh* "But I'm nowhere near close to his level... I'm still able to keep the Resting Ground afloat for some time, but not for long. Not especially with those newly developed office coffee machines. With the ability to get a cup for 3 credits in less than seconds, it has made it nearly impossible to stay in business for any coffee house." Soren stated dejectedly, before making his way behind the counter.
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"Don't worry Soren... Things may look- *cough* *cough* rough now... But there's always a light at the end of the tunnel."
"Look 't us sonny. We might look like we're one foot in th' grave, but we're still as fit as fiddles. Besides, we've lived throu' the worst war, even though it looked like it migh' have gone on forever an' ever and even that massive cyberterroris' attack. Hihihi..."
"Don't go jinxing it, you ol' coot and a half..."
As the old couple was engaged in their own world, Soren always wondered how that old couple was always so lively, despite the fact that they had gone through some of the worst events that humanity had to experience. Although he didn't know much about the living conditions during the third world war and barely had any memories of the recovery period after that, he does have vivid memories of his times during the Great Deletion and having to live without the conveniences of technology for weeks, it was an extremely stressful time period, always wondering if he would be forced to live in the streets on the next day, since the orphanage he lived in at the time, had nearly lost all of its savings.
*ring* 'If you got time to wonder about the past, then you got time to work...' Soren thought to himself and discarding all of his nostalgic thoughts, before getting into the rhythm of serving his customer's orders for the next few hours of the day. Despite having no more than two or three customers at a time in his shop, he kept working with a satisfied expression, as he enjoyed seeing everyone's peaceful expressions and reminding himself that people come to his shop to drink and relax from the continuous and exhausting hustle of their lives.
It wasn't until near the end of his morning shift where he was alone in his own shop and closed it at midday, that he was given a chance to rest and eat, since his own stomach was growling like a hungry lion. While doing so, he kept watching news at the store's TV and came across an emergency news broadcast.
"-As of now, the Public Security Bureau still doesn't know the identity or motives behind the theft of Kanera City's robotic servants. They're still investigating the current situation and should any civilians find anything about it, they should immediately report it to Public Security. We'll keep everyone up-" *click*
"I'm not surprised... Can't even transport your own sh*t safely these days... *sigh* "What a sh*tty world we live in..."
"I'll say..."
"Jesus! When did you get here!?" Soren asked with a shocked expression, as he looked at the blond man in front of him.
"Been here as usual pal... Don't you already know how I roll Soren?" The blond man asked casually, as he put on his feet on top of the table, while paying attention to the TV with a nonchalant expression.
*crack* "Do you want to know how I'll roll you out of the shop Logan, if you keep pulling that stunt?" Soren asked back lividly, as he cracked his knuckles and stared back at the blond man.
"Come on Soren... I just got my break and want a place where I relax and be myself."
*sigh* "Fine... Just don't go making a mess or anything. I still have to clean up the shop and make my restocking orders and I'd like some peace and quiet."
"Alright, can I still order coffee though?"
"Just keep it simple..."
"Alright, then can I have a Trenta Iced Non-fat White Chocolate Dolce Latte lightly salted with Extra Whipped Cream?" Logan asked with the biggest grin he could muster, as Soren's sanity snapped and went to the back of the shop, only to come out with a sheet of sandpaper in his hand.
"Umm... What's with the sandpaper?" Logan asked once more, albeit with a far more nervous expression and was immediately met with a far colder and venomous answer. "To scrape the living sh*t out of of your sh*thole you have for a mouth."
*gulp* "Just a cappuccino. Extra sweet, if possible..."
"Thank you for your order." Soren responded with a satisfied expression, as he went to the counter to make Logan's order, all the while leaving him with a meek and terrified expression.