Dungeon Bakery Chapter 18

For a while, Oh Juk-heon stood there with his mouth hanging open, his hand trembling as he pointed at ‘Slime’s Tear.’

Then he finally let out the breath he had been holding and spoke.

“M-Miss. Just who in the world are ye……?”

“Pardon……?”

What did he mean, who was she?

Baek Seol awkwardly rolled her eyes.

“Uh…… I’m a graduate student who’s taken a leave of absence.”

“Not that! I mean, what is your real identity?”

My real identity is a graduate student on leave.

Baek Seol awkwardly gave another answer.

“Well…… I happen to be running a bakery for a little while. And this blueprint is for something I need for the bakery……”

“Hmmm.”

Oh Juk-heon sat down with a serious expression and ran a hand through his hair.

“Ahem!”

After clearing his throat, he spoke.

“Of course. You can’t exactly reveal such things to someone you’ve only just met today.”

“……”

That really is all there is.

Could I have some other hidden identity that even I don’t know about……?

Baek Seol fell into serious thought for a moment, but no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t come up with an answer.

Oh Juk-heon then straightened the overturned low table and wiped up the tea that had splashed onto the floor.

His hand was still trembling faintly as he wiped, making it clear that he hadn’t quite regained his composure yet.

“Whew. This really is ‘Slime’s Tear’……”

Oh Juk-heon placed a hand over the ‘Slime’s Tear,’ which was still resting in Baek Seol’s palm, and remained like that for a moment.

Then he let out a long breath.

“……I never thought I’d get to touch this with my own hands again.”

He murmured quietly before finally nodding as though he had made up his mind.

“All right. Since all the materials are ready, I’ll begin the commission immediately.”

“Oh. Yes! Then I’ll leave ‘Slime’s Tear’ here and—”

“Wait! You’re just going to put that on this table?”

Baek Seol’s hand, which had been about to gently place ‘Slime’s Tear’ on the low table, stopped.

Oh Juk-heon’s gaze was terrifyingly intense.

“Wait here. I’ll bring a box to store ‘Slime’s Tear’ in.”

A short while later, Oh Juk-heon returned carrying a black box fitted with some strange mechanisms.

Baek Seol only knew it was a device because Oh Juk-heon explained it to her.

“This is a safe I made myself. It won’t open for anyone who isn’t registered. I can register multiple people at once.”

With that, he registered Baek Seol’s iris and taught her how to bypass the lock.

“Mine is already registered…… So if anything happens to me, ye should take this box with ye.”

Oh Juk-heon’s voice was resolute, almost like that of a general heading off to war.

Baek Seol nodded awkwardly.

Oh Juk-heon carefully placed ‘Slime’s Tear’ inside the box, wrapped it securely in a cloth, and hid it somewhere deep inside the house.

Only after doing all that did he finally look somewhat calmer.

“So. You said you’re running a bakery? You mean a bread shop?”

“Uh…… yes. It hasn’t been open for very long, so I don’t have many customers.”

Oh Juk-heon gave her a look that seemed to say, I know without ye having to tell me.

It was the face of a man who clearly didn’t think a business in this neighborhood could possibly be doing well.

That’s not true. I already have a regular customer!

Baek Seol felt a little irritated by that expression, but she couldn’t exactly tell him that her regular customer was a monster, so she kept quiet.

Oh Juk-heon then looked at her with a slightly pitying expression.

“Then I’ll take my commission fee at your bakery next time. One delicious piece of bread should be enough.”

“Pardon?”

Baek Seol’s eyes widened like plates.

The moment she learned that Oh Juk-heon was a famous Hunter, she had assumed his commission fee might be astronomical.

She had no idea exactly how much it would be, though……

Her first priority had been putting out the urgent fire that was the quest, and she had planned to find the commission fee somehow, even if it meant going into debt.

But……

“One piece of bread? That seems far too little to count as payment.”

“No. Being able to personally bring this perfect blueprint to life is already an honor for me as a craftsman. And on top of that, I get to use ‘Slime’s Tear’ as a material once again. If anything, I should be the one giving you compensation.”

“Uh, well……”

“So don’t refuse.”

Faced with Oh Juk-heon’s firm words, Baek Seol slowly nodded.

If he was going to insist……

That’s a huge win for me.

Internally, she was doing a happy tap dance at the thought of saving money.

Outwardly, however, she tried her best not to show it.

Even so, she couldn’t control the corners of her mouth from twitching upward.

She lowered her head as much as possible and simply sipped her tea.

That was when Oh Juk-heon said something strange.

“By the way…… you two know each other?”

“Pardon?”

Baek Seol raised her head in confusion.

The corners of her mouth still hadn’t quite come down, leaving her with a rather strange expression.

She followed Oh Juk-heon’s pointing finger.

“……Eugh.”

And there, standing in a place where he absolutely shouldn’t have been—

No, a place where he couldn’t possibly have been—

was someone Baek Seol knew all too well.

“Seo Doha……?”

The shabby-looking courtyard suddenly transformed into a scene straight out of a fashion magazine with the man’s arrival.

The tall, slender man wearing a long coat gave off an aura that would make anyone passing by turn their head at least once.

Except for the fact that he seemed to have poor eyesight and was wearing those ridiculous @-shaped glasses, he was practically perfect.

The man’s red lips parted.

“Senior?”

There was no doubt about it.

The man standing before her was Seo Doha, who should have been sitting in graduate school right now.

While Baek Seol floundered, completely unsure how she was supposed to react, Oh Juk-heon stepped between the two of them.

“Hmm. Ye two definitely know each other. Doha, seeing as you’ve shown yourself like this. Then ye must also know who she is……”

“Yes! That’s right! We’re graduate-school sunbae and hoobae. Haha. I-it’s been a while, junior.”

Baek Seol quickly cut Oh Juk-heon off before he could say anything unnecessary.

Cold sweat trickled down the back of her neck.

She hadn’t imagined it.

Seo Doha’s cheek had just twitched.

Oh my god. I think I just came within inches of death.

Baek Seol desperately shot a look at Oh Juk-heon.

Grandpa. I know absolutely nothing about Seo Doha being the number-one-ranked EX-rank Hunter. Absolutely nothing.

“U-um……”

Whether he understood her look or not, Oh Juk-heon glanced back and forth between Baek Seol and Seo Doha before slowly turning his head away.

“Er…… This worked out rather well. I was worried about sending ye home alone. Doha, could ye escort this Miss home?”

“……”

“……!”

With that, Oh Juk-heon gently waved his hand as though telling them to hurry up.

He still didn’t look at Baek Seol.

G-Grandpa……?

Baek Seol gave him a pleading look, but it was useless.

“Go on. I’m worried you’ll fall and hurt yourself again if you go alone. If possible, stop by a hospital on the way. Doha, come back afterward. We have something to discuss.”

It was an unmistakable dismissal.

Before either of them knew what was happening, the two of them were already standing outside Oh Juk-heon’s house.

Baek Seol vaguely remembered Oh Juk-heon somehow managing to get the address of her bakery from her as well.

Everything had happened so quickly that it felt like a dream.

The two of them stood silently in front of the blue gate for a moment.

Baek Seol blinked as she slowly tried to process the situation.

And then she came to a conclusion.

……I think I’m screwed.

Oh Juk-heon was hiding away from the outside world.

Seo Doha had also withdrawn from all outside activities and disappeared from public view immediately after entering graduate school.

There was no doubt that these two were connected somehow.

Oh Juk-heon had also acted completely naturally around Seo Doha……

‘Did I just witness some secret relationship between these two……?’

There was a good chance it was connected to the reason Seo Doha had entered graduate school in the first place.

Am I about to disappear without a trace, just like those seniors from back then?

Seo Doha’s frightening voice from the past flashed through her mind.

‘No one can know about me. Who I am, what I do. None of it.’

Baek Seol stole a glance at Seo Doha.

His eyes were so tiny behind those @-shaped glasses that she could barely see them.

Just how strong is the prescription on those glasses?

“Senior.”

“Huh?! Ah, no. Yes?”

Baek Seol, who had been fretting internally about how another suspicious element had just been added to Seo Doha’s list of reasons to be wary of her, nearly jumped at the sound of his voice.

Seo Doha let out a soft laugh.

“Why are ye so startled? Anyone would think I was going to eat ye.”

“……”

Yes. For some reason, that actually feels like a possibility.

With you.

Baek Seol gave an awkward smile and subtly looked away.

“Ah. I was just a little surprised. I didn’t expect to run into you here……”

“I was surprised too. I heard that Sunbae had taken a leave of absence, but…… I never expected to meet you here……”

Seo Doha spoke in a voice that seemed to carry some lingering emotion.

Then he held out his hand.

His large hand had long, straight fingers and was surprisingly beautiful.

It suited his handsome face perfectly.

Though, of course, for now, that face was partially obscured by those @-shaped glasses.

“……?”

Why is he suddenly holding out his hand?

Was there something he wanted from me? Or…… Is it something like that?

Does he want me to sign some kind of agreement promising to erase what I just saw from my memory?

As Baek Seol stared at his outstretched hand with a puzzled expression, imagining all sorts of ridiculous possibilities, Seo Doha spoke quietly.

“You’re hurt. I don’t think you’ll be able to walk easily on your own. Take my hand.”

“Uh…… Hmm.”

Oh. That’s what he meant?

Baek Seol rolled her eyes and glanced down at herself.

Come to think of it, she really was a mess.

She had wiped herself down with the towel Oh Juk-heon had given her, but there were still dried scabs of blood on her knees……

And she was covered in dust and sweat from head to toe.

I must look pretty pathetic if he’s offering to hold my hand.

“Did you fall? Your right foot looks a little swollen too. Can you walk?”

“I’m fine. It’s nothing. I can walk by myself.”

“Haha.”

Baek Seol gently pushed his hand away and gave an awkward laugh.

Then she took a small step away and changed the subject.

“Shouldn’t you be at school right now? Today is the day we have a lab meeting with Professor Kim…… I mean, the professor.”

“Ah. School.”

Seo Doha lightly shrugged.

“I took a leave of absence.”

“Ah, yes. A leave…… What?”

“You took a leave of absence too, Senior.”

“……”

Anyone listening to this would think he took a leave of absence because I did.

Baek Seol blinked and gave a nervous cough.

‘What is this? Did something happen that changed the situation?’

She had thought he had things to do at graduate school.

As Baek Seol blankly turned the matter over in her head, Seo Doha suddenly dropped a bombshell without warning.

“Sunbae, did you take a leave of absence because of me?”

To Baek Seol, the sentence sounded like this:

‘Did you figure out who I really am and run away?’

Baek Seol frantically shook her head.

“N-no! Absolutely not! Not at all! Haha. Why would I take a leave of absence because of my junior?”

Did the fact that I consciously avoided him actually make him even more suspicious?

And then she had suddenly taken a leave of absence.

It was understandable that he might find that even stranger.

“Just…… Sunbae, you don’t like me.”

“What?!”

What kind of ridiculous nonsense is this?

Baek Seol stammered for a moment before suddenly coming to her senses.

“Why would I dislike you? And do you really think I’d take a leave of absence over something like that? I told you, that’s not it.”

“You always avoided me whenever you saw me.”

“Th-that was because I was really busy. I was busy.”

That question was obviously a trap.

He was definitely asking whether she had figured out his identity and been avoiding him because of it.

“But earlier, you looked horrified when you saw me, and even now you’re keeping your distance……”

“Of course not!”

Good grief, his eyesight is way too good!

Did those @-shaped glasses have some kind of buff that enhanced his vision?

Baek Seol pulled the corners of her mouth upward as much as possible, making sure there wasn’t a trace of wariness on her face.

Seo Doha stared quietly at her smiling face before speaking in a serious voice.

“You don’t look well. Like that gentleman said, I think you should go to the hospital first. Why don’t we stop by one on the way?”

“……”

The saying that no one can spit in the face of a smiling person was clearly wrong.

Baek Seol slowly lowered the corners of her mouth and looked at Seo Doha’s outstretched hand.

A hospital.

Seo Doha and a hospital……

Baek Seol silently nodded.

‘I can’t keep this up.’

If she avoided him here today, it seemed like she would only make his suspicions even stronger.

“All right. Let’s go to the hospital together.”