Chapter 194: The New Property

After traveling for quite a while, Alen finally arrived in front of a large, old building. The building was massive, but the infrastructure looked quite old-fashioned compared to the modern buildings around this place. Behind the building was an empty space, which looked like an old, abandoned garden as tall weeds were growing all around the area.

"Well, I think this building is perfect. Let’s check it out..."

He immediately walked toward the building and pushed the heavy doors open. There was no watchman or guard to stop him. As he entered inside, Alen’s gaze suddenly caught a poster stitched onto the wall. In large, bold letters, it stated that the building was for Sale, and below it was the contact number of the current owner.

Alen immediately pulled out his new phone and scanned the QR code. He called the owner and arranged a formal meeting with him.

After the owner arrived, they went straight to his office on the ground floor, which was also an old-fashioned room filled with old-fashioned wooden chairs and a wooden desk.

He immediately took his seat while the owner—an old, bald man, sat in the head seat.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Kahut, the owner of this building. Are you really interested in buying this property?"

Alen nodded as he leaned forward.

"Let’s skip the small chit-chat. Can you just tell me the price of the building?"

The owner pursed his lips as he wore a professional facade.

"Well, as you can see, the infrastructure of the building is old-fashioned, so I will not price it as high as the other modern buildings. But I can assure you that the building is in perfect condition. The construction of the foundation is strong; even if some disaster appeared, it will not fall..."

Alen nodded calmly. "Well, I don’t care about the infrastructure. Just name the price."

The bald man nodded as he calculated the numbers. "Well, considering the current market price and since the location is closer to the main market area, it will come to 50—I mean, 40 million."

"20 million." Alen cut his words mid-sentence, as he didn’t want to waste his time in excess bargaining.

"Oh, no, that is not possible! You are directly cutting it to ha—"

"20 million, and that is final. If you think the deal is not a fit, then I’ll go."

Alen stood up from the chair and turned around, ready to leave the place immediately.

"Oh, wait-wait! We can negotiate it! Wait a—"

"20 million."

"Fine. Okay, let’s deal."

Alen stopped midway, holding the door knob. He nodded and turned around.

"Let’s do the transfer formalities then..."

The man nodded. He took out his briefcase from his storage ring and brought out the official papers, naming the property to Alen. After the process was done, Alen signed the paperwork by applying a trace amount of his mana.

"Oh, you are only seventeen? Are you from some noble family?"

Alen remained quiet without answering. Since the owner didn’t hear any answer, he quieted down as he didn’t want to annoy the buyer and accidentally cancel the deal.

After the process was done, he paid the 20 million gold coins to the bald man. Now the building was officially his; he owned the property.

"Well, congratulations Mr. Alen. You are the new owner of this building."

Alen shook his hand with the owner and nodded. "Thanks. By the way, if it is not a big deal, can you suggest some engineers to me? I want to renovate this building."

"Oh, so you are preparing to develop the infrastructure! Nice thought. I have a few engineers who I know. I can give you their contact information, and you can find someone suitable."

"Hmm. By the way, what is the deal with that empty space out back? Is that place a public space or private?..."

Kahut looked up at him. "Oh, you mean that park, or what used to be a park? Well, it is a private place which comes under the building’s property line. If you wanted, you could also clean it up and make a private park."

Alen nodded as he stood up.

"It was nice meeting you, Mr. Kahut. Let’s meet again."

He walked out of the office and looked back at the old building. From the owner, he found out that no one lived inside the building, which was why it had been abandoned and left in poor condition. It was obviously expected; nowadays, people prefer comfort and luxury over everything. No one wants to live an old-fashioned life, as everyone prefers growing and adapting to new fashion trends.

’Hmm... If I am not wrong, then the area around the building is severely underdeveloped, with no shops or convenience stores. The market is also quite far, as it can’t be reached within walking distance. Even a decent restaurant is quite far from this place, and there is nothing special around this area. So it is obvious people won’t even be attracted to come here...’

After deciding what he had to do, he messaged the contact information he got and set up meetings with the different engineers for tomorrow.

Since he wanted his work to be perfect, taking advice from several people was much more secure than trusting just one person.

After his work was done, he walked to find some decent restaurant far away from here. He checked the location on his phone and was guided by the map. After nearly half an hour of walking, he finally reached a café and entered through the automated glass doors.

After entering the café, he noticed a quiet atmosphere and a severe lack of people around the place. There were barely any customers around the café. He could only see the lone staff member on the counter dozing off.

Alen stepped forward, stood before her, and tapped the table lightly.

The worker, a girl with messy brown hair, flinched violently and immediately stood up, bowing in a panic.

"Oh-no-no! I was not sleeping! I was just thinking about something, please don’t cut my pay!"

Alen tilted his head in pure confusion.

’It seems she misunderstood me for the real owner of the shop. Whatever...’

"Hello, can I get a menu?"

She looked up, feeling deeply embarrassed as she realized it was not the owner but a normal customer.

"Oh, I apologize! I was just thinking about something...."

"Ughh... Why did I even say that..."

Alen wasn’t able to understand her mumbled words, but he waved his hand and asked again.

"Can I get a menu?"

She immediately jumped up and brought out a QR code. After scanning it, the menu would directly appear on a smartphone.

"Here, you can scan it! Our café is famous around this area, and you will find various delicious dishes. You will surely love it!"

Alen raised one of his eyebrows at her exaggerated praise about the café. "Oh, really? Well, I can see how popular this café is right now..."

Her face fell at his sarcastic comment. "Ughh, just wait for the delicious dishes you will eat today. You will surely come again and again..."

"Well, let’s see. Bring me the best dishes the café has to offer..."

Alen waved his hand and headed to a random empty seat. He sat there calmly. Since he was too tired of guessing what to eat, and his experience of eating food was quite bad in this world, he just left that work to the staff, who might be more experienced than him about which dish was actually more tasty.

After waiting for about 15 minutes, the girl from the counter returned, serving the dishes and arranging them neatly in front of him.

"Why did you come bringing this? Is there no other worker except you around the café?"

The maid just shrugged her shoulders and replied calmly with exaggerated pride.

"Oh, I am omnipotent here! I can do every work by myself, all too perfectly, so the owner decided to leave me to handle everything! I am a genius, aren’t I?"

Alen looked at her blankly and replied flatly. "You are not. Do you even know the meaning of the word ’omnipotent’?"

"Oh, it means being perfect. Knowing everything."

"So are you really omnipotent? The omnipotent worker who dozes off during the day’s work, not knowing if a customer is coming or going?"

She shot a fierce glare at him.

"Stop saying that! I didn’t doze off. It is just that I was thinking about something..."

"Oh, maybe dreaming about sleeping on a mountain of gold coins around you?"

"Yeah, exactly that! Oh-no! You are wrong!"

Her face warmed up in deep embarrassment as the redness climbed up from her neck and reached her face.

"Ughh! Shut up or I’ll take away the food!"

"If you do that, then I will just walk away without paying..."

"Hey, don’t you dare!"

Alen turned away and focused on the several dishes set in front of him. Looking at it, it was all decorated perfectly. The dishes looked undeniably delicious.

The girl sat on the seat in front of him calmly, crossing her legs.

Alen’s eyes flicked toward her once.

"Who gave you the permission to sit? Get lost and do your work."

"Huh? It is my café! I am the one and only worker here, so I can sit anywhere I want! Besides, I have to attend to you, Mr. Customer, so that you won’t run away without paying."

Alen shook his head as he pulled his hood back and took off his white mask. He felt far more free as the cool air finally hit his skin. He slowly picked up the cutlery and began to eat the food.

"Cough!...Cough! What shit did you make up? It is no better than garbage."

He glared at the girl, but he paused as he saw her staring at him with a dazed face, without speaking anything, acting exactly as if she had lost her mind.

’Here, another pervert, Tchh.’