by Andrew Reise
He took his time showering, getting dressed, brushing his teeth, and washing his face. When he'd finished his morning routine, he went downstairs to the cafe below. Still somewhat muddled with sleep, he went into the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee.
Carrying his coffee back into the main area, he prepared to sit and enjoy it when he heard a loud knocking on the door. He startled, jumping slightly and nearly spilling coffee on his hand.
He cursed softly under his breath as he turned to look to the door to the cafe, where the knock came from. As he looked, his mouth dropped open. He saw a man standing at the door.
It was a super famous author! Just kidding, he'd never even seen that author before, he must not have been very popular. What shocked Alan wasn't the impoverished author at the door, but the long line of customers stretching out behind him.
He rubbed at his eyes with his free hand, doubting his vision. But when he checked again he saw it really was a huge line of customers.
He quickly quaffed his coffee and checked his watch. He saw it was after 6:30 AM, and so he could technically open the shop under the system's rules. Though his hours were written as opening at 7:30 AM, he didn't want to miss out on whatever miracle was happening right then.
He hurriedly walked to the door after putting his emptied cup back in the kitchen and unlocked the door before opening it for the first customer.
Then he walked back to the counter and waited for the shabbily dressed author to approach.
However, after seeing the price of the coffee the author coughed and left the line. Alan sighed in understanding. "It truly isn't easy being broke."
Then he put it out of his mind and went about taking orders.
The line of customers continued unabated until almost 7:30 AM. As Alan leaned against the counter and took a breath, he celebrated inwardly. His cafe was completely packed. Moreover, many customers had already come, drank their coffee, and left. Even after they read his strange rule about no takeaway coffee, most of them chose to buy coffee anyways.
He'd long since completed the mission the system had given him. Thinking that he had a bit of a break now, he went to click on the mission to collect his reward. However, as he was about to do so, he heard the bell on the door ring loudly as another customer walked in. He looked up and saw Tom standing there, looking around at the packed cafe in surprise.
Alan gave a small wave as Tom approached the counter.
"What happened?" Tom asked.
Alan shook his head. "I have no idea. I went down to make myself coffee this morning and there was a line around the block."
Tom gave him a peeved look. "No not that. How come the cafe opened early?"
Alan stared at him a little dumbly, before realizing what he talking about. He felt somewhat sheepish before clearing his throat and making an excuse up off the top of his head. "Today is a national holiday, so I decided to open early to celebrate."
Tom seemed confused. "What holiday?"
Alan hesitated when the system chimed in his head. "Host, coincidentally today is Earth's Rotation Day. Happy celebrating."
Alan did his best to keep a straight face as he said to Tom, "It's Earth's Rotation Day. To celebrate I opened an hour early."
Tom did a quick search on his phone and found it was a real holiday. Putting aside his skepticism, he asked, "Does this mean you'll open early on all holidays?"
Alan shook his head. "Only the ones that hold special meaning to me."
Tom wanted to ask how exactly Earth's Rotation Day held special meaning to him, but felt himself getting a headache from this conversation and decided to let it be.
"In any case, mention something next time you're going to open early." Tom grumbled.
"How? It's not like I have your number. And no," He cut Tom off. "I won't give you my number. I don't want you bothering me with texts and calls every day." Ever since he'd experienced Tom's relentless hounding after his old cell phone number, he'd dreaded going through that again, so he went out and bought a new model smartphone. It even had a touch screen. He justified it to himself as a business expense. However, he'd yet to figure out how he'd use it in the business.
Tom grumbled some more. He'd realized very quickly that Alan had changed numbers as the number he had been calling was no longer in service.
"Well, you could at least make a social media account for the cafe." He suggested.
Alan hesitated. It seemed like a pretty good way to do things. He could communicate with customers, and even increase awareness of his cafe. He waited, half-expecting the system to tell him not to do it, but it never spoke up. He nodded at Tom. "Alright then, what app should I download?"
Tom explained the various social media apps. Then he helped Alan set up a Twitter account. As they did this the cafe cleared out a little bit as people finished their coffee and hurried off to work. Eventually, Alan finished setting it up.
"Is this really going to work?" He asked Tom doubtfully. Alan was pretty new to social media, and didn't really understand it. He knew some people heralded it as the greatest form of advertising, but he still had his doubts.
Tom smiled. "You still doubt it even when you've already seen the benefits yourself?"
"What do you mean?" Alan asked in confusion.
Tom pulled out his phone and pulled up Gerald's Twitter feed, showing Alan the tweet about his cafe. "See? You got all of this business today because of a single tweet. It really works."
The sudden spike in business suddenly made sense to Alan. He saw Gerald had over one million followers on Twitter. If even a small portion of them visited the cafe, he'd earn enough money to pay off his loan.
Alan started to fiddle with his new account, when Tom cleared his throat.
Alan looked up in confusion. "Yes?"
Tom stared helplessly, saying, "Can I get a coffee now?"
Alan suddenly remembered he was still open for business and went and prepared Tom his coffee.
He brought Tom back his coffee. Luckily, the bar seats were mostly still open. It seemed that most customers wanted to sit either at the tables where there were power outlets or in the more comfortable leather armchairs.
The bar was comfortable too, but it obviously involved being observed by the bartender, Alan. These people either felt anxious or were working on private matters that they didn't want others to observe.
In any case, Tom sat largely alone at the bar, only one lone customer at the far end. Alan kept an eye on them in case they wanted anything. Of course, if they actually did want another cup of coffee he'd have to explain they couldn't get another one.
Alan sighed, wishing he had more to serve than just coffee.
As he thought of this, he remembered his pending reward. Seeing that Tom was absorbed in his phone and no one seemed to need him, he walked back into the kitchen to collect the reward.
"Congratulations Host. You've received a lottery chance. Would you like to play?"
Alan felt confused. "What's the deal with this lottery?"
The system explained. "Host, now that you've completed the tutorial, the system will provide less direct help. It will be up to the Host to figure out how to make the best of the rewards. To that end, the rewards will be random going forward. Of course, they will still be rewards beneficial to the running of a cafe, but it's up to Host to use them appropriately."
Alan didn't fully understand, but he didn't have a problem with it. Until this point the rewards were essentially random to him anyways, as he never had a choice in them.
Alan chose to play the lottery.
As he did so, a notification popped up. "Your lucky number is: 32."
With that a number generator featuring numbers 1 to 100 began spinning. It sped up until it moved too fast for him to read the numbers.
Alan didn't fully understand how the reward would work. As he watched, the number 32 appeared.
The system sent a notification. "Congratulations, Host. You have received reward Coffee Cake."
Before Alan could even celebrate his reward, he was informed he had another chance to spin!
This time, he did not receive a lucky number. Instead, the number generator began spinning again.
It landed on the number 10.
"Congratulations, Host. You have received reward Espresso."
Alan quickly went to check the details of his rewards.
"Congratulations, Host. You have received reward Espresso."
Alan checked the details of his rewards.
Cinnamon Coffee Cake:
Description: A pastry traditionally served with coffee. Crusted with a cinnamon streusel, this cake is the perfect accompaniment to any cup of coffee.
Effect: Enhances the flavor of the coffee being consumed with it and fills the stomach of any customer. Thus, despite being a pastry, it has a benefit to those dieting.
"A cake that benefits those dieting?" Alan felt incredulous reading it. Even knowing the effects of the system, it seemed contradictory. He felt a headache coming on as he wondered how he'd be able to convince people on diets to eat cake.
Still, the effect it had on the flavor of the coffee would be beneficial, as it would improve the experience of any of his customers, even those not on diets. Not to mention any recipe provided by the system would naturally taste the best.
He accepted the reward and felt his brain briefly stutter as it was overloaded with the information that rushed into it.
He was going to check the details of the espresso as well, but unfortunately before he could he noticed a problem with the information that came into his brain.
In order to make the coffee cake he would need a large number of ingredients he didn't have in stock like butter, eggs, flour, vanilla extract, and more. Based on his last experience ordering products, he knew this wouldn't be cheap. He'd have to order high quality ingredients that suited the quality of his coffee in order to get the best result.
Thus, he probably wouldn't even be able to serve the coffee cake this month or next as he needed to pay off the loan as well as restock on ingredients for his coffee drinkers. After all, his coffee was the base of his cafe. Even the coffee cake was designed to be served with coffee. Without coffee he would have nothing.
Feeling his headache as he considered all the problems he had to resolve, he went ahead and checked his next reward.
Espresso:
Description: A unique form of coffee. Boiling hot water is forced, under pressure, through finely ground coffee beans to create a small but concentrated portion of coffee. Typically served in a small serving glass, not unlike a shot glass. Strong and hot, it is perfect for experienced coffee drinkers who want to enjoy the strongest coffee flavor possible.
Effect: Due to the concentrated nature of the espresso, it has a more significant effect on an immediate boost to energy. Perfect for customers who need a pick me up in the morning.
Up to this point, Alan was thrilled with the description. If the coffee cake made him feel as though he'd fallen to hell as he realized he'd have to spend more money, then the espresso was exactly what he needed. Since it was served in such a small glass, it would be much faster to consume than a cup of coffee. This would allow customers to drink it quickly which would help make up for the fact that they couldn't have it to go.
However, he noticed that there was an additional section below the effect.
Limitation: Due to the unique effect of the espresso, it cannot be served after noon. Otherwise, it may have an untoward effect on customers' long term energy.
Alan sighed. "Another rule." Still, this time it wasn't as restrictive. Furthermore, it had already provided him with a built in excuse. He just had to say that, due to health concerns, it could only be consumed in the morning when people first woke up and needed more energy. That was more understandable than his rule on how many coffees he'd serve per day.
Alan could only try to convince himself that that made sense. Subconsciously, his mindset seemed to have been influenced by the system.
Alan walked back out into the cafe so he could serve any new customers that came in. Meanwhile, he made plans for tomorrow.
After the day ended Alan flipped the sign on the shop window to indicate the cafe was closed. In total, he'd made more today than he had in the entire time he'd been in business. It just goes to show how powerful social media was.
Thinking of this, Alan pulled out his phone and started messing with Twitter.
He added a picture of the cafe logo as the profile picture. Then he made himself a cappuccino and took a picture of it. This time he created the image of a tree in the foam. It was incredibly intricate, with each leaf having individual patterns drawn on them.
Then he searched for Gerald's account. Finding the tweet about his coffee, he replied to it and wrote, "Glad you enjoyed the coffee and the art. Please come again!" He finished by attaching the image of the cappuccino he'd just made. Then he pressed send and put his phone down.
Hopefully Gerald would follow him, as that was sure to attract some attention.
He went upstairs and got ready for bed. He looked forward to unveiling the espresso tomorrow.
As Alan went upstairs to get ready for bed, his tweet set off a chain of events online.
Initially, most tweets at celebrity type figures go unnoticed unless the celebrity responds. Gerald normally wouldn't let himself be used to hype up others like that, but when he saw the picture of the cappuccino he was stunned by the artistic ability and craft of Alan yet again.
He couldn't help but retweet it. He also naturally followed Lux Cafe.
These simple two actions instantly brought Lux Cafe to the attention of many of Gerald's followers.
A number of people instantly followed and tweeted at Lux Cafe. Most of these were the customers who had gone to the cafe today. The pics they tweeted included not just the coffee, but also the strange rules on the chalkboard, the luxurious decor, and of course the front of the cafe.
Tweet after tweet came in. Seeing how popular the cafe was, and how many people had apparently gone there after Gerald tweeted, his other followers grew curious and looked at the tweets and the pics.
Some of them responded to tweets asking if the photos were edited, others tweeted at Lux Cafe to ask when they were open.
Alan was busy getting ready to sleep, so he didn't pay much attention to this. Tom had set his notification settings so he only received notifications when Tom tweeted at him. Knowing Alan's personality, he'd turn off all notifications if he was getting blasted with tweets, so Tom took this step to make sure he would have a way to contact Alan. After all, Alan had already changed his number.
While Alan went to bed unaware of the fact that his popularity was growing, his account began to blow up on Twitter. Pretty soon the hashtag "luxcafe" was trending. Thousands of tweets had been sent, all started by the hundreds of customers he'd served.
His follower count had already passed ten thousand. While this was nothing to those big celebrities, for a new business to reach that amount in a single day was practically unheard of. The only time that happened was when they were being supported by large companies behind the scenes or had gone through extensive planning.
As a result, the conversation on Twitter began turning to conspiracy theories about how the business was actually owned by Gerald, or how the owner had paid Gerald money to make him advertise his account.
These theories were initially started by bored people with too much time on their hands who craved attention. However, there is no shortage of people like that on the internet, and the theory quickly became popular. Of course, as a result Lux Cafe stayed trending and Alan's followers continued to increase.
This in turn fueled the conspiracy theorists. It was a truly vicious cycle.
Some people stood out to defend the cafe, others to defend Gerald. The ones who defended the cafe were the
ones who had gone there that day, and who had initially tweeted at the cafe once they discovered the account. The ones defending Gerald were obviously his fans or people wishing to get on his good side.
They pointed out how Gerald had so much money that he would never need to lower himself to accept payment to advertise, especially if he didn't actually believe in the product. Of course, they were completely correct.
However, the conspiracy theory had taken on a life of its own. The internet trolls had gotten ahold of it, drawn like sharks by the scent of blood in the water. Pretty soon tweets popped up claiming the photos were digitally altered, that the cappuccino didn't actually look like that.
As things continued to spiral, Alan drifted into a blissful sleep. Even if he had known, he wouldn't care too much. Instead he'd be thinking, "Yes please continue to drive up my popularity trolls."
The next day, Alan got up and got ready as per usual. He went downstairs to make himself coffee before opening the cafe. As he sipped on his coffee in his favorite leather armchair, he opened his phone to check his Twitter account to see if Gerald had responded.
He was overwhelmed with notifications as he opened the app. At some point it had stopped counting how many he had. As he scrolled through them, he quickly gave up, realizing he didn't have time to read each and every notification.
He checked his profile page and nearly dropped his phone out of fright. He'd jumped to over 50,000 followers overnight.
"What happened while I was sleeping?" He thought disbelievingly. He searched through his tweets and saw the initial tweet to his account from Gerald. Following that he noticed his initial boom in followers and the pics people had tweeted at him. He scrolled rapidly, until he reached when the conspiracy theory started to become the main focus of the conversation. He kept scrolling, reading occasional tweets.
By the time he reached the top 10 minutes had gone by, but he'd gained an understanding of what had gone on last night.
"Lucky," He breathed to himself, doubting his own luck. There was a common expression that came to mind as he considered what had happened: there's no such thing as bad publicity. So long as people were talking about his cafe it meant he would grow even more popular. Some would come to support the cafe, others would come to tear it down, and still others would come just to see what the commotion was about. Either way, he wouldn't let any of them get away with full wallets.