Dungeon Bakery – Chapter 15

Author: isuzuuy

Although Baek Seol had somehow become an Awakened one…… and although, technically, her field of study was somewhat related to Awakened ones—

Her knowledge of the subject was severely lacking.

Usually, Awakened ones would join a guild, learn about their world alongside senior Awakened ones who could guide them, and then make their debut.

Baek Seol, however, had essentially made her debut after skipping that entire process. She was practically a blank slate.

Fortunately, she had a reliable ally.

“That blueprint should be usable by crafting-type Awakened ones, ppi.”

Lucy casually remarked as he looked at the troubled Baek Seol. Apparently he had finished eating the white bread, because his belly was now very round.

“Crafting-type Awakened ones?”

“Yes, ppi. They’re Awakened ones who are similar to you, but different, ppi. There aren’t as many of them as there are combat-type Awakened ones, but I heard most of them belong to large guilds, ppi…….”

Lucy spoke while stroking his full belly with his wing.

It was a huge clue for Baek Seol. Crafting-type Awakened ones.

Then, if she went to one of them and showed them the blueprint, could they make it for her?

‘They belong to large guilds?’

The moment she thought of a large guild, one immediately came to mind. A place with a deep connection to Baek Seol.

No, not just to her…… but to her younger brother as well.

‘I wonder if Uncle Changho and Aunt Eunju know anyone.’

They probably did. They had been active for years. They had even been running the oldest guild since the Great Cataclysm occurred. Their connections were probably far more impressive than Baek Seol could imagine.

‘Come to think of it, they said there was a Hunter in that guild with the same name as Hoya.’

Aunt Eunju had once teased Hoya about it. She had said there was a chuunibyou Hunter who had become obsessed with a mysterious-persona concept.

Since Baek Seol heard that he had the same name as her younger brother, she had once looked him up out of curiosity.

Baek Seol hadn’t known much about him, but he was quite famous. In fact, he was famous enough that she had been surprised she had never heard of him before.

‘I don’t know why he goes around covering his face, though.’

Baek Seol wasn’t particularly interested in other Hunters, so she erased the Hunter who shared her brother’s name from her mind.

What she needed right now was a non-combat-type Awakened one—specifically, someone in the crafting field.

“Should I try contacting them……?”

Baek Seol took out the smartphone she had tucked away deep inside her belongings.

Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since she had contacted those two. She had occasionally done so since moving out on her own, but not often.

After idly rubbing the screen of her smartphone for a while, Baek Seol finally sent Aunt Eunju a message.

[Auntie. How have you been?]

It had been quite some time since they last contacted each other, so she figured she should at least start by asking how she was doing.

At the same time, she sneakily checked her message window with Seo Doha. Fortunately, he hadn’t sent her anything else yet.

Knowing the usual Seo Doha, he had probably read her message, though.

Just as Baek Seol’s eyes began to grow slightly unfocused, a reply from Aunt Eunju came almost immediately.

[Aunt Eunju: Oh my, Seol. I was actually just about to contact you. I heard you took a leave of absence from graduate school.]

“…….”

How did Aunt Eunju know she had taken a leave of absence?

Baek Seol, who had been subtly planning to use research as an excuse to ask for an introduction to a crafting-type Hunter, froze like a statue.

Whether she froze or not, another message from Aunt Eunju soon arrived.

[Aunt Eunju: I’m registered as your guardian at graduate school, remember? They contacted me a few days ago.]

[Ah……. Haha. That’s right.]

Why had she forgotten about that?

Oh, you idiot.

Baek Seol lightly knocked herself on the head.

Yes, Aunt Eunju was right. When Baek Seol enrolled in graduate school, she had registered Aunt Eunju as her guardian.

‘But wait…… why would they contact my guardian?’

It wasn’t high school…… and even universities wouldn’t normally send news of a student’s leave of absence to their guardian. Graduate school especially…….

As Baek Seol blinked in confusion, another message came from Aunt Eunju.

[Aunt Eunju: I felt like I hadn’t done anything for you since you two moved out. I was planning to secretly pay your tuition, so I was surprised when I heard you’d taken a leave of absence.]

[My tuition? No, it’s okay. You don’t have to do that.]

[Aunt Eunju: Still……. I’m your aunt, after all.]

Hmm. So that’s how this happened.

Baek Seol let out a low groan.

[Does Hoya know that I took a leave of absence too?]

[Aunt Eunju: No. It seemed like you took the leave without telling anyone, so I was the only one who knew for now. Uncle Changho doesn’t know either.]

Well, if Hoya had known, he probably wouldn’t have stayed put.

He would have flown from Seoul to Suwon by now, asking what was going on.

Baek Seol let out a deep sigh.

‘It’s going to be difficult to ask about a crafting-type Hunter now.’

She didn’t really have an excuse beyond research.

Aunt Eunju was already worried that something had happened to her. If Baek Seol suddenly started asking about Hunters, she would naturally find it strange.

‘I still want to keep this a secret from everyone else…….’

Baek Seol had no intention of telling anyone that she had awakened yet.

Ever since she was young, she had heard until her ears were sore that she should never go near Hunters, let alone dungeons. Naturally, this was the result.

Although spending her adolescence in the home of a married Hunter couple despite all that was rather absurd.

[Aunt Eunju: Did you take a leave of absence because you couldn’t afford the tuition?]

Ugh.

At this rate, Aunt Eunju might actually pay her tuition without Baek Seol even realizing it.

Baek Seol hurriedly explained that she had simply taken a leave of absence so she could rest.

It absolutely wasn’t because she was short on money.

Absolutely!

[Aunt Eunju: Gi-jun does send you money regularly, but Seol, you haven’t spent a single penny of Gi-jun’s money. I can’t help but worry. You even refuse to accept anything from me no matter how many times I offer…….]

[I worked as a teaching assistant at school, and I get quite a bit of research funding. I also have money I saved from working part-time before. You don’t have to worry.]

The person Aunt Eunju called “Gi-jun” was Baek Seol’s father.

Baek Seol unconsciously frowned, then gently rubbed the space between her brows until it smoothed out.

[I only contacted you to say hello. Now that I’ve taken a leave of absence and have some time to rest, I have a little more free time. Please keep my leave of absence a secret from Hoya and Dad. I don’t want to deal with unnecessary trouble.]

[Aunt Eunju: Okay. But…….]

Even after that, more worried messages came flying in from Aunt Eunju.

For a while, Baek Seol had to work up quite a sweat trying to calm her down.

“Haah. It’s finally over.”

[Aunt Eunju: Still, it puts my mind at ease knowing that you’re finally taking a break after running nonstop all this time. Take this opportunity to rest properly and travel, too. And call me if you need any help.]

After replying that she definitely would, their conversation finally came to an end.

They hadn’t even talked for that long, yet Baek Seol felt completely drained.

Aunt Eunju was especially difficult for her to deal with.

Perhaps because she had been her mother’s best friend, it was difficult for Baek Seol to put up a firm wall against her. She was also naturally such a warm person……

‘I always feel like I’m doing something wrong.’

Pushing someone like that away and telling her not to come closer, that she didn’t need her kindness, made Baek Seol feel like a terrible person.

She let out a long sigh.

“This won’t work…… And I can’t just go barging into another guild, either. Hmm.”

After agonizing over it for a while, Baek Seol decided to come up with another method.

She would try accessing Another, the network used by Awakened ones.

While posting suggestions, Baek Seol had naturally noticed the existence of other boards. Through the announcements, she had learned that this was a community used by ordinary Awakened ones, and that it had its own set of rules.

“Let’s see…….”

There was only one board, but posts were categorized by using different prefixes.

There were posts looking for guild members or party members, as well as posts buying and selling items.

“I should’ve used this place from the beginning.”

Every now and then, crafting-type Awakened ones posted advertisements looking for work.

Most of them were related to armor or weapons……

“……There isn’t one.”

There was no Awakened one who made the workbench Baek Seol was looking for.

She even tried asking around just in case, but every response she received was some variation of:

“I don’t make things like that.”

Eventually, after quite a bit of searching, she managed to find someone.

[MakeAnythingForYou: You have a blueprint? I’d have to meet you and take a look at it before I can say.]

[Baek Seol: Really? Then where should we meet?]

[MakeAnythingForYou: Come to Artisan Street.]

Artisan Street was an area that had naturally formed into something resembling a street of workshops, as non-combat-type Hunters gathered there and hammered away at all sorts of things.

The location was Insadong, Seoul.

Baek Seol headed there at once.

“There’s…… a lot of people.”

So this was Seoul, after all.

Baek Seol hurried through the bustling streets. It was the first time she had ventured out into the outside world in a while, since her trip to the bank a few days ago.

Instead of the pink apron she always wore at the bakery, she had put on a black jacket, along with a hat and sunglasses.

She tied up her unnecessarily long hair and tucked it inside her jacket.

Even if she happened to run into someone who knew her, she was dressed in a way that made it unlikely they would recognize her.

‘Just in case.’

After all, wasn’t she keeping her identity a secret right now?

With her heart beating a little faster from the excitement, Baek Seol arrived at Artisan Street and soon met “MakeAnythingForYou” at their agreed meeting place.

“Show me the blueprint.”

“Hel—…… Yes. Just a moment.”

For some reason, Baek Seol had assumed from the way she spoke that she was a man.

But “MakeAnythingForYou” was a woman.

She was wearing a long chiffon dress that fluttered softly in the breeze, yet in one hand she held a huge hammer that couldn’t have looked more out of place.

Naturally, she drew everyone’s attention.

And her personality was unbelievably cool, too……

The knuckles of the hand holding out the blueprint were practically numb from the chill.

“This is…….”

“MakeAnythingForYou” confidently took the blueprint and then horribly scrunched up her pretty face.

Baek Seol was startled to discover right before her eyes that a human face could actually contort itself that much.

“W-What’s wrong?”

She stammered without meaning to.

But “MakeAnythingForYou” didn’t seem to care at all.

Instead, she muttered in an extremely serious voice,

“This is truly astonishing.”

That was what a surprised face looked like?

Baek Seol blinked.

“MakeAnythingForYou” then carefully rolled the blueprint back up with the utmost reverence and handed it to Baek Seol.

“Where did you get this?”

“Uh…….”

She’d simply found it gathering dust in the corner of her house.

How could she explain that in a somewhat dignified manner?

Perhaps interpreting Baek Seol’s hesitation as something else, “MakeAnythingForYou” raised a hand to stop her.

“No. I shouldn’t have asked. Of course it’s a secret.”

“No, it’s not really a secret.”

It was just sitting there gathering dust…….

“That’s not…….”

“Stop. You don’t have to go out of your way to be considerate. And have you met any other artisans?”

Artisans?

So that must be what people called these crafting-type Awakened ones.

Baek Seol shook her head.

“No. You’re the first.”

“That’s a relief. Don’t even think about showing the blueprint to any other artisans. Even I find it tempting. I imagine it would be even worse for someone else.”

“……!”

“It’s a blueprint that evokes a sense of awe. It’s truly perfect. Though I don’t know who made it.”

“R-Really?”

So there was a person who had made this blueprint in the first place.

Baek Seol realized that anew.

“MakeAnythingForYou” stared silently at the blueprint nestled safely in Baek Seol’s arms.

Her eyes were perfectly calm, yet for some reason, Baek Seol felt as though a storm was raging behind that tranquility.

After remaining silent for a moment, “MakeAnythingForYou” finally spoke.

“It really is an incredible blueprint. Unfortunately, though, I won’t be able to make it for you. I’m nowhere near skilled enough.”

“Ah……. I see. Then do you know who I should go to?”

“…….”

“MakeAnythingForYou” suddenly lifted her head and gazed up at the sky.