Dungeon Bakery Chapter 37

“Senior? Was there something you wanted to say?”

“Ah…….”

Perhaps he had noticed that Baek Seol had been about to say something excitedly just moments ago. Seo Doha looked down at her and asked,

“Was the stick too heavy for you to use? If you were planning to ask me to help again, I don’t mind…….”

“Oh, no. I only asked you to do it once.”

Baek Seol hurriedly waved both hands.

Seo Doha had clearly been about to say that he would be willing to help from time to time in the future.

But that couldn’t happen.

She couldn’t let him say something so terrifying out loud, either.

Because……

Baek Seol glanced at the Part-Time Worker tab floating before her.

She had hurriedly opened the tab after realizing that she couldn’t use the Processing Workbench unless she hired a part-time worker.

The moment Baek Seol saw Seo Doha’s name listed there, cold sweat trickled down the back of her neck.

– Seo Doha

She didn’t know whether Seo Doha was listed because he happened to be the only person here or because he had used the Processing Workbench.

Either way, his name was indeed listed among the available workers.

But that wasn’t the problem.

The problem was the window that automatically appeared when she looked at Seo Doha’s name.

[Part-Time Worker Information]

Name: Seo Doha

Class: ??? (EX-rank)

Title: ???

HP: ????/???? Stamina: ????/????

Strength: ??? Intelligence: ??? Agility: ??? Luck: ???

—————————————————————————-

Hourly Wage: 100,000,000 Points

The fact that almost all of Seo Doha’s information was hidden behind question marks didn’t even register with Baek Seol.

Her eyes were fixed on only one thing.

‘The hourly wage is…… 100,000,000 points……?’

One hundred million points?

Since one point was equivalent to one thousand won in real money……

“Eek…….”

“Senior? Are you all right?”

It was an utterly absurd amount.

If she hired Seo Doha as a part-time worker just to save a little money……

‘The bakery would go bankrupt after one hour…….’

Baek Seol’s face turned pale.

No matter how she thought about it, this was dangerous.

After seeing Seo Doha’s hourly wage, Baek Seol quickly decided to abandon her plan to make use of his labor.

“Ah. I just felt a little chilly for a moment.”

Baek Seol lightly rubbed both shoulders and smiled awkwardly.

“Whew, I guess I’ve been a little worn out lately. Haha! Maybe I overdid it yesterday. Ouch, my back.”

She patted her perfectly healthy back a few times before swiftly kicking Seo Doha out of the kitchen.

“Well, well. Since you’ve paid for your bread, you should go take care of your business now. You have a lot to do, don’t you?”

“Ah, I…….”

Seo Doha moved his lips as though he still had something to say, but at Baek Seol’s gesture, he closed his mouth and left the kitchen.

Then he left with only one sentence.

“I’ll come again next time.”

Ding.

After he left the bakery, Baek Seol collapsed face-first onto the table like a deflated balloon.

“My goodness……. Why is his hourly wage so high?”

After muttering blankly, Baek Seol soon realized that she was asking the wrong question.

“Of course it’s high. He’s number one in the rankings…….”

There was no point blaming Seo Doha for having such a high hourly wage.

She should blame the reward for that sudden achievement instead.

“System, why are you doing this to me? Why did you suddenly give me an achievement like that…….”

The reward for an achievement she had never asked for had unlocked the Part-Time Worker tab.

And now, she couldn’t let anyone operate the Processing Workbench unless they were a part-time worker.

It was practically a lock.

“…….”

The more she thought about it……

It really felt like……

The system was deliberately pulling tricks to stop her from exploiting loopholes.

With her right cheek pressed against the table, Baek Seol thought,

‘Now that I think about it, it really does seem that way.’

Was the system getting revenge for all the times she had exploited its loopholes?

Baek Seol pouted sullenly.

“Geez. I could have made money so easily.”

She could have given him one piece of bread and gotten one hundred million points’ worth of labor out of him.

Baek Seol grumbled with a regretful expression.

No matter how uncomfortable she felt around Seo Doha, where else could she find someone with that level of ability?

She couldn’t know his exact Strength stat, but Baek Seol was certain that he would be capable of handling most kinds of processing.

And judging by how effortlessly he had made Butter Made from Eight-Colored Unicorn’s Milk, her prediction had been completely accurate.

‘He already comes here to eat bread sometimes anyway. It would be nice to get some help while he’s here. It’s not like he’s going to come forever.’

Baek Seol assumed that Seo Doha would eventually stop coming to the bakery.

He was an inherently mysterious person, after all.

She had only intended to take advantage of his help until then.

“So disappointing…….”

“You won’t find money that’s easy to earn in this world, ppi.”

Just then, Lucy suddenly appeared from somewhere upstairs and lightly tapped Baek Seol’s shoulder with his wing, as if telling her to come to her senses.

“I saw the Part-Time Worker tab, ppi. It really does seem like the system put a restriction on you, just like you thought, ppi.”

“Right? Ughhhh……. It’s so unfair. So unfair. There’s a poor human here being suppressed by the systemmmm…….”

“…….”

Lucy gave Baek Seol a sullen look as she groaned with her forehead pressed against the table.

Thinking back on all the quests she had completed so far, she really had cleared them much more easily than the system had intended.

If Lucy were the system, he supposed he might be a little annoyed too.

And then.

Bzzzz—

“Who is it…….”

Baek Seol, who still had her head buried in the table, fumbled around and reached into the pocket of her apron.

She pulled out her smartphone and checked who had sent the message.

“Hoya?”

Baek Seol checked the preview of the message Baekho had sent.

[Hoya: Sis. Is that really true?]

What did he mean by that?

Baek Seol tilted her head and opened the message.

[What do you mea……]

Her fingers, which had been tapping the keyboard to ask what he meant, suddenly stopped.

She had just seen Baekho’s next message.

[Hoya: That you took a leave of absence from graduate school. Is that really true?]

“……!”

Baek Seol’s eyes widened.

 

***

 

Baekho’s smartphone was set not to ring for anyone except Baek Seol.

And that applied even to his father, Baek Gi-jun. His calls and messages were muted too.

[Father: Contact me.]

Baekho only checked the message, which had arrived that morning, in the evening.

He was currently running through a dungeon with Choi Changho as part of a team.

Normally, it was uncommon for a guild master to personally lead a team into a dungeon.

But in the Legend Guild, it was practically an everyday occurrence.

“Hahaha! Come on, follow me, you lot!”

“Yaaaah!”

The guild members followed behind Choi Changho as he charged forward, swinging his enormous greatsword as lightly as a pair of chopsticks.

The sound of Choi Changho’s hearty laughter mixed with the sounds of monsters collapsing one after another.

“Hahaha!”

“Kiieek!”

Baekho followed behind at a leisurely pace.

“Honestly……. He has absolutely no dignity as a guild master.”

He was reminded of Aunt Eunju, who used to mutter that Choi Changho was exactly the same now as he had been before becoming the guild master of Legend.

‘Aunt Eunju has more dignity than him.’

Noh Eunju held the position of vice guild master, but she was the one who kept the guild running properly instead of Choi Changho, who would rush into dungeons at the slightest opportunity.

Without Noh Eunju, the guild probably wouldn’t function properly.

But……

“Captain! Wait for us!”

“Hahaha! Hurry up and follow me! Of course, don’t get hurt just because you’re having fun!”

“Yes, sir!”

Choi Changho possessed a unique charisma that drew people toward him.

People respected him not only because he was a hard-working genius who had surpassed his rank, but also because his loyalty and warm-hearted nature naturally attracted people.

‘He treats the guild members like his own children, so of course everyone likes him.’

Thinking that, Baekho opened his messaging app to reply to the message from Baek Gi-jun.

They were taking a short break, so he had enough time to reply.

[Why? Did something happen? I’m in the middle of a raid right now, so I can’t really talk on the phone.]

His father, Baek Gi-jun, was a blunt and cold person.

Choi Changho often muttered that he was the kind of man who wouldn’t shed a single drop of blood even if you stabbed him with a needle.

Baekho knew his father’s personality well too. He had far more contact with his father than his sister Baek Seol did.

The fact that most of that contact involved his sister was rather ironic, though.

“What is it? Did Seol send you a message?”

Seeing Baekho unusually occupied with his smartphone, Choi Changho approached him with bright, delighted eyes.

As his massive body approached with his enormous greatsword resting on his shoulder, a huge shadow fell over Baekho.

“Oh. No. It’s my father.”

“……Tsk.”

At the mention of Baek Gi-jun, Choi Changho grimaced.

“That guy contacted you? Ugh. Someone bring me some salt. Salt.”

Choi Changho hurriedly moved away from Baekho and rummaged through his inventory.

He was looking for the salt he always carried around.

Baekho had become accustomed to Choi Changho’s reaction after watching it for so many years, so he simply shrugged and ignored it.

Then, after checking Baek Gi-jun’s reply……

“Guild Master. I think I should stop the raid here.”

“What? Why all of a sudden?”

Choi Changho, who had been sprinkling expensive salt—supposedly brought from some desert—over himself, looked startled.

Then his expression hardened as he asked in a low voice,

“Did something happen to Seol?”

He looked ready to grab his greatsword and run straight to wherever his sister was.

Baekho felt that he shouldn’t tell Choi Changho about something that hadn’t even been properly confirmed yet.

Otherwise, his sister might end up in a difficult situation.

“It’s not that. Something just came up that I need to check.”

“The only thing that could make you act like this is Seol…… Hmm. Never mind. All right. Go.”

With the guild master’s permission, Baekho quickly left the dungeon.

Then he headed for the graduate school where Baek Seol was studying.

The message from Baek Gi-jun was still glowing on his smartphone.

[Father: I heard your sister took a leave of absence from graduate school. What is going on?]

 

***

 

Baekho hurried across campus toward the building where the professors’ offices were located.

He had visited this place once before with his father, so the buildings were familiar.

‘When was that again?’

It had been around the time Baek Seol entered graduate school, so perhaps two years ago.

At the time, he had accompanied his father to meet Professor Kim Jinho and familiarize himself with the area’s security.

The security rating of this place was close to perfect, so while Baek Seol stayed here, Baekho and Baek Gi-jun were able to focus on their respective work without worry.

It was physically far from the dungeons, and the place was also secretly protected by a government agency.

‘I thought there wouldn’t be anything to worry about until my sister graduated.’

And now she had suddenly taken a leave of absence.

Baekho slowly shook his head.

Until he confirmed it himself, he still didn’t know what had happened.

‘Unless something really serious happened…….’

The Baek Seol he knew was someone who, once she set her mind on a goal, would keep moving forward without stopping.

And this wasn’t even an undergraduate program. It was graduate school.

There was no reason for his sister to willingly take on the risk of taking a leave of absence.

That was why he had come to confirm it himself.

There was always a chance his father’s information was wrong.

Even though he knew that possibility was extremely low.

“Is anyone there?”

Knock, knock.

When he knocked on the laboratory door, a voice devoid of warmth came from inside.

“Come in.”

As soon as he was given permission, Baekho opened the laboratory door.

In the middle of a space filled with books on every side, a middle-aged man with a stern, austere appearance sat at a desk.

He was probably around the same age as Baekho’s father.

The man lightly lifted and lowered his silver-rimmed glasses before narrowing his eyes.

“You are…….”

“Fortunately, you were here. I’m sorry for coming without contacting you first. Do you remember me?”

Before coming, Baekho had changed his clothes and put his mask into his inventory.

Right now, he looked like an ordinary student.

“…….”

Professor Kim Jinho, Baek Seol’s academic advisor, stared at Baekho for a while before slowly nodding.

“I can tell by your eyes. Han…… No, the second child of Baek Gi-jun. Then you must be Baek Seol’s younger brother, my student. What brings you here?”

Though Kim Jinho asked what brought him there, his expression suggested that he already had a rough idea why Baekho had come.

Since he hadn’t been offered a seat, Baekho stood in front of Kim Jinho’s desk and answered in a low voice.

“I heard my sister took a leave of absence. I’d like to know why.”