Dungeon Bakery Chapter 27

“Wel…… come.”

The bell above the door jingled as the tall man stepped inside, and Baek Seol gave him an awkward smile.

The tall man gave Baek Seol a slight bow.

“Hello, senior.”

“Yes. Would you like to sit over here?”

It was Seo Doha, who had messaged her yesterday to say that he would come by to buy some bread.

As Baek Seol guided him to a table, she glanced toward the staircase leading to the second floor.

The Black Rabbit and Black Elephant, who were still staying in the bakery, were upstairs in Baek Seol’s home. She had instructed Lucy to keep a close eye on them so they wouldn’t come downstairs.

“The bakery is very…….”

Seo Doha sat down and slowly looked around the bakery.

“Very……?”

There was a slight lingering quality to his voice. Baek Seol blinked and waited for him to finish.

“It really resembles you, senior. It feels exactly like your kind of shop.”

“……Excuse me?”

What did he mean, saying the shop resembled her?

Baek Seol quickly looked around the bakery, just as Seo Doha had.

It looked exactly as she had designed it after putting quite a bit of thought into the interior. She had gone with warm shades of brown to give it the atmosphere of a proper bakery.

D-does he mean it feels warm?

The corners of Baek Seol’s lips twitched.

If she interpreted his words correctly, he was complimenting her.

They said compliments could even make whales dance.

Just as she was starting to feel a little pleased, Seo Doha continued.

“I noticed it last time too, but this shop doesn’t have a name.”

“Ah…….”

Right.

The bakery still didn’t have a name.

She had thought several times that she should put up a sign, but had never actually gotten around to it.

It’s all because my main customers are monsters…….

People didn’t normally come to this quiet little village as customers.

Except for unusual cases like Oh Juk-heon and Seo Doha.

The name of the bakery wasn’t important to the monsters.

“Because the shop doesn’t have a name, I can’t even set it as a destination. And its location is somewhere ordinary people can’t find, either. That’s what makes it resemble you, senior.”

“…….”

Is that supposed to be an insult or a compliment?

Perhaps he noticed the strange expression on Baek Seol’s face, because Seo Doha added,

“I mean that you’re a mysterious person.”

“Ah…… I see?”

A mysterious person?

Without a doubt, the most mysterious person in the world was Seo Doha himself.

Almost nothing was known about him. Only tiny fragments of information had ever been revealed.

Baek Seol nodded awkwardly, and Seo Doha gave a faint smile as he placed his hand on the table and rested his chin on it.

“Yes. Someone no one can easily find, and even if they do find you, they might pass you by without realizing your value. But you’re incredibly precious……. So sometimes, I get nervous.”

“…….”

What on earth is he talking about?

Watching Seo Doha spout something that sounded like a strange code, Baek Seol tilted her head.

As she slowly retraced the meaning of his words, it almost sounded as though he was saying she was his treasure.

Huh? Treasure……?

Just as Baek Seol’s eyes began to take on a strange look, Seo Doha continued.

“I mean the bakery. I really like bread, you see. So it feels a bit like a treasure.”

“Ahhh. So you really like bread.”

Ahhh. That’s what he meant.

When Baek Seol replied, Seo Doha smiled brightly.

“Yes. I do.”

Looking at Seo Doha smiling with his chin resting on the back of his hand, Baek Seol became certain of one thing.

If he weren’t wearing those @-shaped glasses…… This scene would be seriously bad for my eye health.

His looks were probably so ridiculously handsome that his fan club would have exploded if they saw him like this.

Baek Seol could only imagine the scene in her head before forcing the stubborn corners of her lips upward and smiling back.

“What kind of bread do you like most? Ah, but our bakery hasn’t been open for very long, so we don’t have many varieties yet.”

Baek Seol brought over a plate containing the bread and cookies she had prepared in advance.

“White bread, red bean buns, and sugar cookies. Ah, but I wouldn’t really recommend the sugar cookies because they’re too sweet.”

Come to think of it, the system had said sugar cookies were highly addictive to humans.

Baek Seol hurriedly added the warning and watched Seo Doha’s reaction.

“They all look delicious.”

There was genuine sincerity in Seo Doha’s voice as he stared at the bread.

Perhaps because these were breads she had made after putting in so much effort herself, Baek Seol felt secretly pleased.

After thinking for a moment, Seo Doha chose the red bean bun.

“Would you like the red bean bun? Just a moment. I’ll bring you some milk too.”

Baek Seol had even prepared some ordinary milk bought from a supermarket.

When she poured it into a clear glass and brought it over, Seo Doha accepted the glass and asked,

“Do I pay after I eat?”

“Ah. Payment?”

Baek Seol put on her most friendly smile.

She had no intention of taking money from him.

Ever.

She intended to keep him from finding out that she was an Awakened one.

Just as he was thoroughly hiding his own identity, Baek Seol intended to hide hers.

If he found out, there was no doubt that his guard around her would rise even higher.

“We’re not going to worry about payment between us. This is my thank-you for helping me last time. So please just enjoy it.”

“……Between us?”

“Um, we’re good senior and junior, aren’t we? Us.”

“Ahhh, yes…….”

At the words between us, Seo Doha’s head, which had tilted slightly to one side, slowly returned to face forward.

I changed the settings so payment doesn’t happen automatically, so he won’t realize I’m an Awakened one.

Baek Seol handed Seo Doha a fork and knife as well.

She couldn’t really imagine him grabbing the red bean bun with his bare hands and devouring it.

But Seo Doha didn’t use the fork and knife.

Instead, he tore the red bean bun into small, bite-sized pieces and put them into his mouth.

The corners of his lips lifted slightly.

It was just tearing apart a piece of bread, yet somehow, he made it look elegant.

Baek Seol stared at him.

“……It’s delicious.”

Strangely enough, a satisfaction bar appeared above Seo Doha’s head too.

The satisfaction bar rose rapidly until it was completely full.

Seo Doha ate slowly, but without stopping.

The red bean bun disappeared in no time.

“Eating this somehow reminds me of the past. It’s strange.”

“Ah……. The past?”

Oh, right.

Red bean buns had an effect that made people recall memories.

Baek Seol looked at Seo Doha with an uneasy expression.

I don’t particularly want to hear about his past.

Should I really let him talk about it?

But contrary to Baek Seol’s worries, Seo Doha didn’t go into detail about his past.

It was very brief.

“I’ve been in a hospital before. It just…… reminds me of that time.”

A hospital?

Was he hospitalized after getting injured again, like last time?

“It wasn’t exactly a good memory.”

At those words, Baek Seol suddenly remembered how Seo Doha had stopped her from calling 911 when he was injured in the past.

So he doesn’t like hospitals.

Seo Doha merely smiled and didn’t continue talking about it.

Instead, he changed the subject.

“I was honestly surprised by how delicious this red bean bun is. I really like bread, so I’ve tried pretty much every famous kind of bread there is.”

Apparently, his claim that he liked bread really was true.

He rattled off the names of famous bakeries that even Baek Seol had heard of.

“But this bread is a little different. How should I put it……. It tastes familiar, but somehow different. Almost as if the ingredients are slightly different. Do you use some kind of special ingredient?”

“Uh……. Haha. No. They’re just ordinary ingredients.”

Baek Seol answered quickly, suddenly feeling guilty.

Seo Doha lightly tapped his finger against the table before speaking.

“Could I have one more piece of bread? I’ll consider the first one something you treated me to, and I’ll pay for the next one.”

“Wh-wha—no. Of course not.”

“But…….”

Seo Doha gave an awkward smile.

“I can’t just receive bread this delicious for free. I’d like to pay something in return.”

“……Hmm.”

Is this my chance?

A thought suddenly flashed through Baek Seol’s mind, and she blurted it out.

“Oh, by any chance…… are you interested in plants?”

“……Plants?”

“Ah. Yes. For example, dungeon plants.”

Seo Doha lifted his @-shaped glasses slightly before lowering them again.

In that brief moment, his lips flattened into a straight line.

Was that too direct?

Baek Seol watched his reaction carefully.

Then Seo Doha’s lips opened softly.

“If it’s dungeon plants, then yes, I’m interested. How did you know? That I like things like that.”

“Th-that…… Of course I didn’t know. Ha. Ha. I was just asking on the off chance. I’ve actually become a little interested in them lately.”

“Plants…… dungeon plants, specifically?”

Seo Doha tilted his head.

Seeing that his lips were still pressed into a straight line, Baek Seol hurriedly replied.

“Yes. I’ve been alone in a shop with no customers, so I have way too much free time. I got bored and started looking for a hobby, and that led me to plants. But ordinary plants seemed a little too mundane, so…….”

“Ahhh. So that’s why you became interested in dungeon plants.”

“Yes!”

Seo Doha nodded as if he finally understood.

His lips, which had been pressed into a straight line, curved into an arc again.

Baek Seol breathed a sigh of relief.

“Um, I heard from someone that there’s something called Dungeon Sugarcane……? Have you ever heard of it? If you know where Dungeon Sugarcane can be found or how to obtain it, could you tell me? Then I think that could count as payment for the red bean bun.”

“Dungeon Sugarcane…….”

At Baek Seol’s words, Seo Doha slightly parted his lips, looking somewhat surprised.

“So you’re really interested in dungeon plants. It seems you’re more deeply interested than I thought. To know about Dungeon Sugarcane, of all things.”

“Uh……. Really? No. I just happened to hear about it.”

“I see. But unfortunately, I don’t think I could use that as payment.”

Seo Doha smiled awkwardly.

Can’t use it as payment?

Was it really that much of a state secret?

Baek Seol blinked.

Seo Doha then elaborated.

“Dungeon Sugarcane is an extinct species.”

“Extinct……?”

“Yes. Cataclysm Year 0……. In other words, twenty-seven years ago. According to records from that time, Dungeon Sugarcane was discovered. But after two or three years, it all disappeared.”

“Ah…….”

So that means there isn’t any Dungeon Sugarcane left in other dungeons either?

“New dungeons occasionally appear, but they haven’t been found in any of them either. So perhaps it disappeared completely. Sometimes, when I look at dungeons, they seem like completely independent places…… but there are also times when I feel as though they’re connected, like one continuous world.”

“…….”

“When you study dungeon ecosystems, you feel that even more strongly.”

Seo Doha smiled faintly.

“That’s why I became interested in dungeon plants.”

“I…… see. It seems you’re much more knowledgeable about dungeon plants than I am, hoobae.”

“Not at all. It’s just a hobby.”

So it really was true that Seo Doha was deeply interested in plants, especially dungeon plants.

It wasn’t a coincidence that he had been caught on the news carrying a book titled Everything About Dungeon Plants.

But more importantly…… if Dungeon Sugarcane can’t be found anywhere else, what am I supposed to do……?

Baek Seol made a troubled expression.

That meant the Dungeon Sugarcane in the Dungeon of Beginnings was the last remaining specimen.

And even that was slowly disappearing, wasn’t it?

Just then, Seo Doha casually spoke.

“Then, senior, do you happen to know about a similar plant that was newly discovered?”

“A similar…… plant?”

“Yes. A plant that produces sweetness, like Dungeon Sugarcane. They seem to be found quite frequently in relatively recently formed dungeons.”

Baek Seol’s eyes lit up at Seo Doha’s words.

When she had asked Lucy, he had said there was no such thing in the Dungeon of Beginnings.

Then that meant new species like that had appeared in other dungeons, rather than the isolated Dungeon of Beginnings.

“It’s called Dungeon Sugar Beet.”

The moment Seo Doha finished speaking, a system window suddenly appeared before her eyes.

<System: A new quest has been generated!>

A quest……?

Baek Seol blinked rapidly.