Dungeon Bakery – Chapter 34

Author: isuzuuy

Jingle.

Gogohan left the bakery with a smug grin on his face. In his hand was a paper bag containing bread.

“Heh-heh. There was an unexpected expense, but I came away with something.”

The moment the transaction at the Exchange was completed that day, he had followed the delivery truck.

Despite appearances, he was a D-rank Hunter, and he was confident that when it came to his Hiding skill, he was in the top five percent.

Thanks to that, he had been able to follow the delivery truck without being noticed, but……

“Tsk. The anonymous system is annoyingly thorough.”

Perhaps it had anticipated that there would be people like him, because following its trail had gradually become more and more difficult.

Eventually, he had lost it around here.

But thanks to the information he’d obtained moments ago, he now knew which neighborhood the ‘Green Necromancer’ was in.

“Heh-heh……. So it was right next door?”

Gogohan grinned and looked back at the bakery he had just left.

He had stumbled upon the bakery while searching every corner of the neighborhood. It was located in such an obscure place that it seemed as though someone had deliberately hidden it.

Gogohan had an instinctive feeling that this bakery would go out of business soon.

He considered his instincts to be quite exceptional.

‘There aren’t any customers, so their sales must be terrible. That’s why she offered me the price of information upfront.’

Judging by the ridiculous location of the shop, the owner was clearly some fool who had been taken advantage of by a real-estate agent.

Still, it seemed she had a good eye for recognizing people.

‘Hmph. It must have been difficult for her to pretend she didn’t know who I was.’

Gogohan shrugged.

For a moment, he wondered if she might even be a fan of his.

Although his weekly magazine was aimed at Hunters, it was fairly well-known among ordinary people, too.

Ah. Come to think of it.

Should he have given her an autograph before leaving?

Gogohan clicked his tongue regretfully.

“I was getting hungry anyway. I should eat this in the car before I head out.”

Gogohan got into his car and opened the paper bag.

Inside was the red bean bun he had bought and……

“Heh-heh. She really must be my fan.”

There was also a cookie that the bakery owner had included as a service.

Gogohan gave a satisfied smile and began eagerly devouring the red bean bun.

“Mmm, mmm…… Hmm? This is delicious……?”

Gogohan had been chewing and swallowing absentmindedly, assuming it was just an ordinary red bean bun, when his eyes suddenly widened.

He straightened his previously relaxed posture, held the red bean bun in both hands, and began savoring it slowly.

“Mmm……. Delicious……”

Even though he tried to eat it as slowly as possible, he finished it in no time.

Gogohan slowly closed and opened his eyes, wearing an expression of pure bliss.

Good heavens.

He had never eaten a red bean bun this delicious before.

Gogohan was certain that this was the most delicious red bean bun he had ever eaten in his life.

And then, for some reason, beautiful memories of the time he had spent with his divorced ex-wife suddenly came to mind.

“Sniff……. Those really were good times……”

He and his ex-wife used to buy red bean buns together from time to time.

Gogohan dabbed at the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes and sniffled repeatedly.

Their marriage had ended because of his affair, but Gogohan still remembered the time he had spent with his ex-wife fondly.

At least back then, he had someone to eat breakfast with.

Thinking that he should contact his ex-wife sometime soon, Gogohan finished the entire red bean bun.

“Sniff. I wonder what this cookie tastes like.”

Gogohan actually liked cookies.

If there had been cookies on the display shelf instead of red bean buns, he would have grabbed one immediately.

But the bakery only had two display shelves, and the only products were white bread and red bean buns, so Gogohan had chosen the red bean bun.

He took the cookie out of the bag.

The neatly wrapped cookie had a plain, rustic appearance rather than anything flashy, but it had a nice color, and the purple sugar embedded in it made it somewhat unusual.

With high expectations, Gogohan took a bite.

Crack.

A pleasant crunch sounded, and soon the cookie’s sweet, nutty flavor spread throughout his mouth.

“Mmm……!”

This is delicious!

Gogohan’s eyes sparkled.

This cookie was incredible.

How could something be this deliciously sweet?

Gogohan loved sweet things, so he knew very well that there were different levels to sweetness.

And this sweetness was undoubtedly top-tier!

Gogohan continued to marvel as he crunched away at the cookie.

He wanted to eat it slowly, just as he had eaten the red bean bun, but he couldn’t control his pace.

By the time he came to his senses, there wasn’t a single cookie left in his hand.

“……Ha.”

It was truly delicious.

Gogohan closed his eyes tightly and focused for a long time on the sweetness lingering in his mouth.

Only after quite some time had passed did he open his eyes.

“I think I should buy some more.”

His heart was telling him so.

He needed to stock up on this delicious food as soon as possible!

He reached the bakery door in a single stride.

Filled with the determination to buy a whole bunch of cookies, he hurriedly pushed the door open, but……

Clatter.

“Huh……?”

Unfortunately, the door was locked.

Gogohan raised his head with trembling eyes.

There was a sign he had failed to notice in his haste.

A sign that read ‘closed.’

“……You close this early?”

The sun was still shining brightly!

Looking flustered, Gogohan tried pulling and pushing the door again.

Clatter.

The door showed no intention of opening.

“……Can’t be helped.”

Well, the cookies were delicious, but……

What could he do about a bakery that was closed?

Gogohan scratched the back of his head and got back into his car.

Then he headed toward the neighborhood the bakery owner had told him about.

“She said the delivery truck went this way, right?”

If he searched that neighborhood thoroughly, he would surely find traces of the ‘Green Necromancer.’

Gogohan grinned, his face filled with anticipation.

The crumbs of cookies still clinging to the corner of his mouth sparkled in the sunlight.

***

Clatter.

Clatter, clatter.

The wooden door shook a couple of times before finally coming to a stop.

Baek Seol peeled an apple with an indifferent expression, as though she couldn’t hear the sound at all.

Lucy, who was pecking at the small pieces of apple she’d cut up, asked,

“Sounds like a customer came, ppi?”

“Ah. I’m closed for business today, Lucy.”

“It could be that old craftsman, ppi.”

Lucy tilted his head.

“No. It’s probably that other customer who came earlier.”

“But he came back, ppi? How do you know it’s him, ppi?”

“Well……”

Baek Seol gave him an enigmatic smile.

“He’ll have no choice but to come back.”

“Hoooom……. Somehow, your smile looks evil, ppi. It’s a familiar smile. I think I’ve seen it before when you were threatening me, ppi.”

“Oh my. When have I ever done anything so frightening?”

Baek Seol finished peeling the apple, gently set down the paring knife, and smiled sweetly.

Lucy took a step backward when he saw her expression.

“There is definitely something going on, ppi……. I don’t know who that customer is, but I feel sorry for him, ppi.”

“Hmm. Don’t worry, Lucy. He’s not someone who deserves sympathy.”

Not only had he secretly photographed other people, he had distributed the pictures without permission.

And on top of that, hadn’t he spread ridiculous and bizarre rumors as though they were facts?

He had probably acted even more recklessly because he knew that she was in a position where she couldn’t step forward publicly.

Baek Seol found that particularly infuriating.

Lucy would be upset if he knew all of this, so Baek Seol didn’t explain any further and simply smiled quietly.

‘When I looked into it, I wasn’t the only victim.’

The articles he had published were full of ridiculous rumors about other Hunters as well.

There were overwhelmingly more articles about Seo Doha than anyone else.

The reporter named Gogohan seemed to have some kind of grudge against Seo Doha, because his articles about Seo Doha were especially malicious.

‘Saying that Seo Doha was abandoned by his parents, that he spent a long time in a psychiatric hospital…….’

He was spreading baseless rumors.

And even if any of them had been true, they weren’t the sort of things that should be mocked and written about in such a way.

All Baek Seol could hope for was that Seo Doha didn’t know about this weekly magazine.

‘Though he doesn’t seem like the type to pay attention to something like this.’

Thinking of Seo Doha, who seemed much more interested in dungeon plants, Baek Seol let out a small sigh.

Then she suddenly blinked.

Why was she worrying about Seo Doha?

They said you weren’t supposed to worry about celebrities.

Seo Doha was practically a global celebrity himself, so there was no reason for her to worry about him like this.

Shaking her head slightly, Baek Seol took a crisp bite of the apple and checked the information on the Sugar Cookie she had given Gogohan as a freebie.

[Memory-Infused Enhanced Sugar Cookie]

Description: A cookie packed with sugar. Sweet.

Race Compatibility: Black Rabbit ◎, Black Elephant ◎, Human ◎◎

(Humans should exercise caution when consuming this product due to its highly addictive nature. Withdrawal symptoms may occur in the event of addiction.)

Effect upon Consumption: Sugar, sugar, sugar. It only fills you with sugar.

Baek Seol’s eyes were fixed on the part inside the parentheses.

She thought she might finally be able to find out what the withdrawal symptoms mentioned in the description actually were.

***

After searching the neighboring neighborhood without finding anything of note, Gogohan was heading home in disappointment.

His home was in Uijeongbu, so he had a long way to go.

He needed to hurry, but……

“Co…… cookie……”

He couldn’t stop thinking about the cookie he’d eaten earlier.

Gogohan swallowed the saliva pooling in his mouth.

That sweet, nutty…… flavor.

He wanted to taste it again.

“I want some……”

Gogohan roughly wiped the saliva that had escaped from his mouth with his sleeve and turned the steering wheel.

The car heading toward Uijeongbu immediately left the highway.

It was late, but he couldn’t control his hands.

In the end, he found himself heading back to the bakery he had just left.

Standing in front of the door, Gogohan checked the sign.

It still said ‘closed.’

“Ugh……”

Gogohan was deeply disappointed and got back into his car.

Right.

He’d come tomorrow.

The moment he woke up tomorrow, he would come back and buy a whole bunch of cookies.

Gogohan bit his lip tightly as he made the decision and headed home.

The thought of the cookies tormented him the entire way, but Gogohan endured it again and again by thinking about the cookies he would taste the next day.

And finally, the next day arrived.

“……What?”

Dark circles had formed heavily beneath his eyes overnight as Gogohan muttered blankly.

“Why is it closed?”

The bakery door was shut.

Was it simply not business hours yet?

Gogohan thoroughly examined the door, but there was no sign indicating the business hours, as was common in front of shops.

With no other choice, Gogohan waited.

“……”

But the bakery never opened, even when night fell.

In the meantime, he got hungry and bought some cookies from another bakery to try, but they didn’t taste the same.

Feeling as though he was ruining his palate, Gogohan chose to go hungry instead.

And the next day, after staying up all night, Gogohan finally saw the bakery’s sign change to ‘open.’

He got out of his car and ran toward the bakery.

Jingle!

When he opened the bakery door and stepped inside, he saw the bakery owner he had met two days ago.

Wearing a pink apron with her brown hair falling on either side of her face, the owner smiled kindly when she saw Gogohan.

“Welcome, sir. You’re back?”

Gogohan felt like he was about to cry at the thought of being able to eat those cookies again.

Determined to sweep up every cookie in the bakery, he shouted,

“Give me all the cookies you’ve got. The cookies you gave me as a freebie yesterday—I mean, the other day.”

“Ah……. You mean the Sugar Cookies?”

The bakery owner smiled pleasantly and told him to wait a moment before disappearing into the kitchen.

“We don’t normally sell these cookies. But if you’d like some, I can sell you a small quantity. You are the famous weekly magazine reporter, after all.”

That’s right.

This owner really was his fan!

Gogohan snatched the paper bag the bakery owner held out to him.

The bag was fairly large, so he expected it to contain a considerable amount, but it was lighter than he had anticipated.

“……You really gave me all the cookies you had?”

“Yes. As I said, we don’t sell these cookies normally, so we don’t keep many of them in stock.”

There were five cookies inside the paper bag.

Five?

What was he supposed to do with five?

Irritation suddenly surged through him, but Gogohan endured it out of courtesy to his fan.

He paid for the cookies and hurried back toward his car.

First, he planned to devour one of them.