Dungeon Bakery Chapter 21

Oh Juk-heon looked at Baek Seol and asked,

“Thanks to you, I get to leave after having some very delicious red bean buns. I received something far too valuable as my commission fee. If you have any red bean buns left, would you sell me some?”

“Uh……. Of course! Just a moment.”

Baek Seol hurried over to the display shelf and brought back the three remaining red bean buns. Oh Juk-heon smiled happily.

“Yes, how much are they?”

“Ah. The price is…….”

And then Baek Seol suddenly realized.

The price of a red bean bun was 100 points each. That meant 100,000 won in real money. Was it really okay to sell a red bean bun for that much?

‘No matter how I think about it, a red bean bun costing 100,000 won at an ordinary bakery is weird.’

How was she supposed to adjust the price? Baek Seol was searching through the settings with an awkward expression when—

“Here, give them to me.”

As Baek Seol hesitated, Oh Juk-heon simply took the three red bean buns from her hands himself and put them into his pocket.

Then the payment was made automatically.

Clink!

She heard the sound of money piling up, and 300 points went into her possession.

Oh no. It had been paid for in points!

Then he would realize that she was an Awakened one. Baek Seol’s face filled with panic.

“Uh……. This, um…….”

“One hundred points each. That’s a very good price. Considering that you’ve given me such precious memories to look back on, I should be paying even more.”

Oh Juk-heon must have realized she was an Awakened one from the point payment, yet he didn’t seem surprised at all.

When Baek Seol blinked at his calm reaction, he let out a little laugh.

“Come now. Did you really think I wouldn’t know you’re an Awakened one? With a blueprint and materials like those. Of course I knew you weren’t an ordinary person.”

“Ah……. Now that you mention it, that makes sense.”

Baek Seol scratched the back of her head and gave a sheepish laugh. Oh Juk-heon then picked up the fedora resting on the table and put it on.

“Well, I’ve never seen a crafting-type Hunter who specializes in this sort of baking before. But after living this long, I’ve learned that the world is full of things worth being surprised about. This hardly surprises me anymore.”

Just as he said, Oh Juk-heon didn’t look surprised at all.

Baek Seol felt a little relieved by his words. Then she cautiously asked,

“Um, could you keep it a secret from Seo Doha? You two seem to know each other.”

“Oh-ho. The two of you seem to get along quite well.”

Get along quite well?

Baek Seol tilted her head.

Oh Juk-heon shook his head as if to say that wasn’t what he meant and chuckled.

“No, no. If that’s what you want, of course I will. In return, would it be all right if I came here from time to time to buy these red bean buns?”

“Of course! Come whenever you want. Ah, no, wait. We do have set business days.”

Baek Seol was just about to readily tell him to come anytime when she rolled her eyes.

Come to think of it, if he suddenly showed up, he might run into Slime No. 97 visiting the bakery.

Perhaps it would be better to establish specific business days while she had the chance.

“We’re only open on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. So you can come then.”

She planned to keep the bakery closed on Sundays and open it on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for the monsters.

Yes, that sounded like a good idea.

Oh Juk-heon calculated the dates for a moment before giving an awkward smile.

“Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays? Then today wasn’t actually one of your business days. My apologies for intruding. Thank you for taking the trouble to accommodate this old man.”

“Oh! No, it’s fine. I only decided on the schedule recently, so we haven’t really started separating the days yet. Don’t worry about it.”

Baek Seol waved her hands dismissively, then suddenly remembered something.

“Ah!”

‘Come to think of it, Grandpa’s disciple asked me to show her the machine once it was finished…….’

Looking at Oh Juk-heon, she asked,

“By the way, Grandpa. I happened to meet your…… disciple.”

“My disciple……?”

“Yes. She was a woman…….”

Thinking Oh Juk-heon might have several disciples, Baek Seol described MakeAnythingForYou’s appearance.

Oh Juk-heon waved his hand as if to say that was enough.

“I know who you mean. That’s my only disciple. She’s also my daughter.”

“Ah, yes. Your daughter…… Huh? Your daughter?”

“That’s right. My only daughter. Is that girl doing well?”

‘MakeAnythingForYou’ was Oh Juk-heon’s daughter?

Then the daughter his wife had died giving birth to earlier was……

“She takes after me far too much, so she’s stubborn to the core. She became interested in the work I was doing, then one day she showed up after awakening as a craftsman. Ever since then, she’s been calling herself my disciple and making anything and everything she can get her hands on……”

Oh Juk-heon gave a slightly bitter smile as he stroked his beard.

“Well, anyway. If she wants to see the machine, let her. You’re the owner of this machine, after all. My opinion has nothing to do with it.”

“Ah…… yes. I just wanted to ask, just in case.”

“Well, that’s true. Still, as her master and her father, I’d like her to see the machine at least once. That’s merely my personal wish, so don’t feel obligated.”

Oh Juk-heon winked with one eye as he said this.

Grandpa, if you put it that way, how am I supposed to not care?

Baek Seol laughed and saw Oh Juk-heon off.

Oh Juk-heon left after saying he would stop by again soon.

Once he disappeared from sight, Baek Seol promptly closed and locked the door.

She didn’t forget to make sure the sign outside read ‘closed’ as well.

She had just decided on her business days, after all, so she should start following them immediately.

‘It’s Friday today, so let’s leave the dungeon door open.’

Baek Seol closed the door leading to the neighborhood and changed the dungeon door to ‘open.’

In the meantime, Lucy popped out from under the table and flew straight into the kitchen. After carefully examining the machine, he said,

“He’s quite a skilled craftsman, ppi. To perfectly reproduce the blueprint of the great □□□□□, ppi.”

“Hmm. Really?”

“Yes, ppi. Still, he’s merely human, so he cannot match the dignity of □□□□□, ppi.”

Why was he talking about the dignity of a machine……?

Ignoring Lucy, who was once again praising some mysterious being by himself, Baek Seol stood in front of the machine.

“Then, shall I try processing something…….”

When she pressed the Processing tab, a system window different from before appeared.

<System: Achievement unlocked! You have activated the Processing Workbench for the first time. A reward will be granted.>

Rustle, rustle.

Something fell in front of Baek Seol.

It was fairly large and long……

“Grass……?”

It was some kind of grass she had never seen before.

Lucy flapped his wings and lightly pecked Baek Seol on the shoulder.

“Wait! How dare you use the Processing Workbench without telling me, ppi! I wanted to see it too, ppi!”

“Ouch. Wait, Lucy. What is this? Do you know what it is?”

“Hm. Why don’t you just check the information, ppi?”

He clearly already knew what the grass was, but he didn’t seem inclined to tell her.

Judging by the way he puffed out his cheeks and abruptly turned his head away.

Baek Seol quietly placed her hand on the grass and checked its information.

[Dungeon Sugarcane]

Can be used to make Dungeon Sugar. It is the staple food of Black Rabbits and Black Elephants.

Ah. So this was the raw material for making Dungeon Sugar!

Baek Seol’s eyes lit up.

She had been wondering if she would have to visit the dungeon again to obtain raw materials for processing, but the system had simply handed them to her as an achievement reward.

That put her in a good mood.

With a delighted expression, Baek Seol put the sugarcane into her inventory and examined the Processing Workbench that had started operating.

A green light was on, as if to indicate that it was ready.

“Okay. So I can use this sugarcane to make sugar.”

Sugar was an ingredient that could never be left out when making bread.

How much sugar would she get if she processed all of this?

With an excited heart, Baek Seol examined the Processing tab.

– Only materials listed in acquired recipes are displayed.>

I see.

So it only showed materials that appeared in her recipes.

Baek Seol scanned through the ingredients.

Let’s see. Dungeon Sugar, Dungeon Salt……

“Hm? What’s this number next to it……?”

<Dungeon Sugar: Required Strength Stat 10>

Required Strength Stat?

Baek Seol blinked.

Dungeon Salt required 15.

And Dungeon Fresh Yeast……

“Eek. Butter Made from the Milk of an Eight-Colored Unicorn requires a stat of 500?!”

Was this for real?

Baek Seol hurriedly checked her stats.

Name: Baek Seol

Class: Dungeon Bakery Owner Lv.3

Title: Involved Party

HP: 120/120 Stamina: 120/120

Strength: 14 Intelligence: 29 Agility: 15 Luck: 2

With her current Strength at 14, the only thing she could do was……

“I can only make Dungeon Sugar……?”

Seriously, what kind of ridiculous machine was this?

Beside her, Lucy could be heard laughing and chirping.

“There’s nothing you can do about it, ppi. So hurry up and work hard to level up, ppi. If you diligently gather ingredients, make bread, and complete quests, your level will go up in no time, ppi!”

“Who doesn’t know that…….”

Baek Seol groaned and clutched her head.

She had Slime’s Protection, so she had been planning to ask Slime No. 97 to help her gather a huge amount of raw materials, process them, and stockpile them.

But that plan had gone up in smoke.

Who would have thought this machine required such a grind?

If this was how it worked, she wouldn’t have gone through all that trouble in the first place……!

“Why don’t you try processing the sugarcane first, ppi?”

Perhaps feeling sorry for the struggling Baek Seol, Lucy flew over and perched on her shoulder, gently patting the back of her neck as he spoke.

Completely unaware that the patting was only irritating Baek Seol even more.

Baek Seol puffed out her cheeks and went, “Uuugh,” before eventually letting out a deflated pshhh and slumping her shoulders.

Deep down, she desperately wanted to use the Suggestion Board to demand a balance patch.

But Baek Seol had just learned the hard way what happened when she made suggestions through the system, so she wasn’t eager to do it again.

“Ugh. Fine. Let’s just make it once.”

Baek Seol let out a long sigh, then quietly pushed the sugarcane into the machine’s input slot as Lucy had suggested and pulled the lever.

A system window appeared.

<System: The Processing Workbench will automatically search for materials. ……(Searching)…… The only material that can currently be made from ‘Dungeon Sugarcane’ is ‘Dungeon Sugar.’ Processing ‘Dungeon Sugar.’>

The green light on the machine flickered on and off.

Then the machine began to operate.

Whiiiiir.

Rattle, clack. Rattle, clack.

After a series of mysterious sounds, something dropped into the output slot with a heavy thud.

It sounded fairly substantial.

Baek Seol opened the output slot and checked the contents. A small exclamation escaped her.

“Oh…… The packaging is perfect too?”

Just like when she purchased Dungeon Sugar from the underground shop, it came wrapped in perfect packaging labeled Dungeon Sugar.

So it didn’t just spit out loose sugar after all.

Baek Seol liked the neat packaging.

She was gazing at the Dungeon Sugar with a satisfied expression when—

Ding!

She heard the sound of a door opening somewhere.

She had kept the door customers used closed, so……

That had to be the sound of the dungeon door opening.

“Is Number 97 here?”

She muttered the name she had given Slime No. 97 after the delivery quest and glanced toward the area outside the kitchen.

It was difficult to see the outside from here.

Still holding the Dungeon Sugar in her arms, she stepped out of the kitchen.

“Welcome…… Huh?”

In front of the brown door stood a black figure instead of the familiar pink slime.

Startled, Baek Seol examined the black figure and sucked in a breath.

“You…… You’re so…….”

“……Sniff?”

“So unbelievably cute!”

The creature that had entered through the dungeon door was an adorable little black rabbit.

The rabbit perked up its ears and gave its nose a tiny twitch.

That tiny movement made Baek Seol’s heart melt.

Perhaps that was why she nearly reached out and touched the rabbit without a second thought.

“Be careful, ppi. Dungeon Black Rabbits are fierce, ppi.”

At Lucy’s stern voice, Baek Seol stopped her hand just before it reached the rabbit.

Come to think of it, the rabbit’s gaze had been growing increasingly fierce every time Baek Seol approached.

It looked as though it were saying,

‘Come a little closer…… You know what’ll happen, right? lol.’

“……”

Baek Seol gave an awkward smile and slowly folded her hands together.

Then, as politely as she could, she said,

“Welcome, customer. What kind of bread would you like?”