How Hard can Losing Money even Be?

The soft café lights spilled warmly through the glass windows as Benny pushed open the door.

Chime.

The familiar bell rang overhead.

Several customers were still seated inside enjoying late dinner conversations while soft music drifted gently through the café.

The waitress from yesterday looked up instinctively.

The moment she recognized Benny, her eyes widened slightly.

"Ah—welcome back, sir!"

Her tone this time carried noticeably more enthusiasm than before.

Clearly, word about the investment had already spread internally.

Benny gave a calm nod.

"I’m here to review the financial records."

"R-Right! Sister Sarah is upstairs right now!"

The waitress quickly lowered her voice afterward.

"And... she specifically said that if you came, we should bring you directly to her."

Benny blinked slightly.

Directly?

For some reason, that wording sounded a little strange.

Still, he maintained a composed expression outwardly.

"Alright."

As the waitress guided him toward the staircase near the back of the café, Benny’s gaze instinctively drifted across the dining area once more.

The customers still looked satisfied.

The portions were still terrifyingly large. And every table still looked like a financial disaster waiting to happen.

Beautiful, it was absolutely beautiful.

Benny felt even more reassured about his investment now.

The waitress stopped outside a door upstairs and knocked lightly.

"Sister Sarah? Mr. Benny is here."

A brief silence followed before Sarah’s voice came softly from inside.

"Come in."

The waitress quickly stepped aside.

Benny adjusted his expression slightly before pushing open the door.

The room inside was surprisingly simple, featuring a desk, several shelves, stacks of documents, and the faint, lingering scent of coffee.

And seated behind the desk was none other than Sarah.

The moment she looked up and saw him, her expression visibly brightened.

"You’re here."

For some reason...

The way she said those words made Benny suddenly feel like he had genuinely become some kind of important investor.

Benny closed the door behind him before walking further into the office.

The soft lighting gave the room a calm atmosphere, contrasting heavily with the busy café downstairs.

Sarah gestured toward the chair across from her desk. "Please, sit."

Benny nodded and pulled the chair out before sitting down.

The moment he settled in, Sarah immediately began gathering several folders from the side of her desk.

"I already prepared the financial records you asked for yesterday," she said. "Income statements, supplier costs, monthly operational expenses... everything should be here."

Benny looked at the thick stack of documents and instantly felt a headache forming.

So many.

For a brief moment, he considered pretending to understand everything professionally.

Then he remembered he actually didn’t know how to read financial reports properly.

"...I’ll look through them slowly later," he said calmly.

Sarah nodded without suspicion.

Then, after a brief pause, she suddenly asked:

"Have you eaten yet?"

Benny blinked slightly.

Honestly...

That was the only reason I came here in the first place. Free food, plus it’s tasty.

"Not yet," he admitted.

The moment he answered, Sarah immediately stood up.

"Then wait a moment," she said naturally. "I’ll have the chef prepare something for you."

Benny paused.

"...Chef?"

Sarah nodded casually while sending out a text.

"Mn."

Benny’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Yesterday, she had personally been cooking in the kitchen herself.

Now all of a sudden, as soon as she got money...

"You already hired a new chef?" he asked carefully, probing slightly. "Yesterday you were still handling the cooking personally."

The moment that topic came up, Sarah’s expression visibly changed.

A faint trace of pride appeared on her face.

"After your investment came in, I finally had enough money to hire one properly," she said.

Then her lips curved upward slightly.

"He’s very good."

There was even a tiny trace of smugness in her voice now.

"You’ll definitely like the food."

Benny slowly held his breath.

A new chef!

His instincts immediately locked onto one critical point.

"...How much did you spend hiring him?"

Benny asked cautiously.

Sarah answered almost immediately, completely unaware of the storm brewing inside him.

"¥30,000 a month."

Silence took over the room after that answer, complete silence.

Benny stared at her for a moment.

Thirty thousand a month?

That was just the chef’s salary alone.

For some university students, that amount was nearly equivalent to an entire year’s tuition fees.

And this was a cafe.

Not some five-star luxury restaurant backed by a major corporation.

Just how much money did a cafe have to make to casually pay out thirty thousand every single month to one employee?

The more Benny thought about it, the more absurd it sounded.

Most small businesses struggled just to stay afloat after rent, ingredients, utilities, and staff expenses were deducted.

Yet Sarah was out here confidently hiring a high-end chef as though her café had suddenly become a money-printing machine.

For a brief second, Benny genuinely wondered if she had completely lost her mind after receiving his investment.

Meanwhile, Sarah misunderstood his silence entirely.

She coughed lightly and explained:

"I know it’s expensive, but his cooking skills are genuinely excellent. Customers will definitely notice the improvement over time."

But Benny wasn’t even listening anymore.

Because right now, the girl sitting in front of him suddenly looked radiant.

No.

Radiant wasn’t enough.

For tonight...

Sarah genuinely looked like the most beautiful woman Benny had ever seen in his entire life.

Sarah shifted slightly under Benny’s intense stare.

"...Mr. Benny?"

Benny immediately snapped back to reality.

"Ahem."

He quickly straightened his expression and leaned back into his chair.

"No, it’s fine," he said with a serious nod. "Very fine."

Inside, however, his thoughts were exploding.

Fine?

This was beyond fine.

This was practically genius-level spending.

A ridiculously high salary, which in his own calculation was possibly even higher than the café’s actual monthly profit and she had agreed to it without hesitation.

It didn’t even take her a day to find one! Like... That gotta cost a lot of money.

The café was already bleeding money from its oversized portions and absurdly cheap prices.

Every dish sold was probably operating at a loss already, yet instead of cutting costs, she had somehow managed to add another massive expense on top of it all.

Benny almost wanted to applaud.

This wasn’t ordinary financial mismanagement anymore.

This was art.

For a second, he even wondered whether Sarah secretly had a system like his, one that rewarded her the more money she lost.

Otherwise, how could someone spend this recklessly with such confidence?

The cafe’s future suddenly looked brighter than ever.