Dungeon Bakery Chapter 38

“As I told Baek Gi-jun, I don’t know the reason either.”

Kim Jinho pulled a sullen face. His expression seemed to say, Are you asking me the same thing too?

“She suddenly submitted a leave-of-absence form. And considering she hasn’t responded to my request for a meeting, it seems there’s some circumstance she can’t talk about.”

A request for a meeting.

If Baek Seol had heard those words, she would have been speechless.

What Kim Jinho called a request for a meeting was nothing more than the message he had sent her:

“?”

That was it.

But that was simply the kind of person Kim Jinho was.

If Baek Seol or Baek Gi-jun, who knew Kim Jinho well, heard about it, they would probably just be dumbfounded for a moment and let it go.

What a crazy Professor Kim, they would think.

But Baekho didn’t know Kim Jinho well.

Baek Seol occasionally mixed in a few curses whenever she talked about her academic advisor, but as far as Baekho knew, Kim Jinho was simply an annoying professor.

‘She refused a request for a meeting?’

That was why Baekho placed considerable weight on the words request for a meeting.

His already stern expression hardened even further.

His sister had taken a leave of absence without even telling her academic advisor the reason.

Something serious must have happened to her.

‘But…….’

Hadn’t he been exchanging messages with Baek Seol until recently?

Just a few days ago, she had even asked him about dungeon plants……

‘Wait. Come to think of it, why did she ask about dungeon plants?’

At the time, she had said it was for a graduate-school assignment.

If she had already taken a leave of absence, then there must have been another reason for asking.

A crease appeared on Baekho’s forehead.

His sister was hiding something.

Baekho’s heart began to tremble uneasily.

“I took Baek Seol on as a student at your father’s request, but that doesn’t mean I gave her special treatment. As far as I’m concerned, she’s no different from my other students.”

Kim Jinho turned his gaze toward his monitor and spoke indifferently.

“Ah. There was one exception. She never got to accompany me on dungeon expeditions while studying under a professor who researches magic stones.”

Kim Jinho was a world-renowned professor specializing in magic stones and energy engineering.

Since magic stones could only be obtained from monsters inside dungeons, he occasionally went into dungeons himself for research.

But Baek Seol had always been excluded from those expeditions.

At Baek Gi-jun’s request.

“……So she really did take a leave of absence. I understand.”

“Yes. Now go back. I have an appointment coming up.”

Kim Jinho glanced at Baekho as he spoke.

Baekho bowed his head in greeting.

“Thank you.”

Kim Jinho hadn’t exactly given him any useful information, but he had answered everything he knew.

Baek Seol had indeed taken a leave of absence.

Even Kim Jinho didn’t know why.

After politely thanking him, Baekho decided that he needed to meet Baek Seol as soon as he left the laboratory.

That was the only way he felt he could find out the truth.

As Kim Jinho stared at the top of Baekho’s head while he bowed, he suddenly parted his lips.

“Both of them have personalities…….”

He muttered something incomprehensible.

“Fortunately, they take after their mother.”

“……Excuse me?”

Baekho blinked.

His mother would be……

Han Jina.

Has Professor Kim known his mother as well?

Baekho had never heard anything about that from his father, so he was slightly bewildered.

Kim Jinho must have noticed the questions blooming in Baekho’s eyes, but he had no intention of answering them.

“Take care.”

With that unmistakable dismissal, Baekho had no choice but to quietly leave the laboratory.

“……What was that?”

Baekho stood there for a moment with his arms crossed, tilting his head to the side.

Then he shook his head and took a step forward.

Come to think of it, if Kim Jinho knew his father, it wasn’t strange that he would know his mother, Han Jina, either.

His parents had been first-generation Hunters during the Great Cataclysm and had continued working together ever since.

Though his sister had no idea about any of that.

Baekho was walking a little faster and had just turned the corner of the hallway when—

Thud!

“Oh……. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s all right.”

Baekho’s shoulder collided with a woman.

The woman, dressed elegantly in a white semi-formal suit, had long straight hair cascading down her back. She gave him a light smile as though to say she was fine.

Baekho knew this woman.

He had encountered her before in his identity as Hunter Baekho.

‘Dokjin Corporation…….’

Director Ha Jihyo.

She was the co-director of Dokjin Corporation alongside her older brother, Ha Jaemin.

‘She must have come to meet Professor Kim Jinho.’

Ha Jaemin was in charge of the potion business, while she handled the magic stone business.

So it wasn’t particularly surprising that she had come to meet Kim Jinho, a world-renowned authority on magic stone research.

Watching her entourage follow after her as she walked past him, Baekho quickly continued on his way.

At the same time, he sent another message to his sister.

[Sis, is that really true?]

A read receipt appeared.

Baekho immediately sent another message.

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

A little while later, a reply arrived.

[Sis: Hoya, where are you? Let’s talk in person. If you’re okay with it, can you come here?]

 

***

 

Baek Seol quietly stared at the man sitting in front of her.

His hair was a light brown, similar to hers, with a slight wave to it. His hair was a little long for a man and had been carelessly tousled.

He sat with his arms crossed, staring at her sullenly.

“So. What is this place? Are you working part-time here or something?”

The man, Baekho, asked as he casually looked around the bakery with an unmistakably disgruntled expression.

Baek Seol had called him to her bakery immediately after receiving his message.

“Hmm……. Well. It’s not a part-time job. You could say this is why I took a leave of absence…….”

“……This place is why you took a leave of absence?”

“Yeah.”

Baek Seol began slowly explaining everything that had happened, leaving out the fact that she had awakened.

“So, because I missed out on applying for the dormitory thanks to that damn Professor Kim…….”

“Hmm.”

“And when I was trying to find a place to rent somehow, it turned out this place was really cheap.”

It was cheap.

Because it was free.

Baek Seol forced a smile as she saw Baekho’s eyes narrow.

“So I ended up coming here, and the owner happened to be looking for someone to take over the store…….”

“……Where is that bastard?”

“Huh?”

“Where is that scammer bastard? I’ll go find him and deal with him right now.”

Baekho clasped his hands together on the table and rested them there, partially covering his face.

There was something vaguely dangerous about him.

Baek Seol almost laughed despite how inappropriate the situation was.

“How is a civil service exam candidate supposed to catch and deal with a scammer? And he’s not a scammer. He handed the place over without any special conditions.”

“That’s exactly why he’s a scammer. You really think there are no special conditions? Look at where this shop is. Does it look like a place where a business could succeed? What kind of crazy person would just transfer ownership of a useless building to someone else? He obviously had some ulterior motive.”

“…….”

Baekho’s argument was so reasonable that Baek Seol was momentarily left speechless.

Scam.

A scam.

Come to think of it, it really was a scam.

She had been awakened unexpectedly.

She had even ended up with an absurd amount of debt.

‘Though the debt is gone now.’

Lost in thought, Baek Seol suddenly came to her senses.

‘Wait. What if I actually let him convince me?’

She couldn’t just quit running the bakery right now, though.

She had already completed the contract!

Baek Seol, who had almost been convinced by Baekho’s argument, decided to change tactics.

With a wistful expression, she murmured,

“Actually, I knew the owner a little. He knew I was having a hard time with graduate school…… so he suggested that I take a break. He’s a kind person, so don’t say things like that about him.”

As if.

Baek Seol completely agreed with Baekho about the owner being suspicious, but she couldn’t take his side here.

Baekho froze.

“……You were having a hard time?”

He still seemed to think the owner was a scammer, but he had shifted his focus to the fact that Baek Seol had been struggling.

As expected.

Baek Seol smiled bitterly inwardly.

She knew her younger brother well.

She knew he would be terribly worried inside, afraid that she had been struggling alone without ever complaining about it.

And……

He was extremely weak when it came to her.

She felt sorry for saying she had been struggling in front of Hoya, but she had no choice.

Baek Seol slowly forced her reluctant lips apart.

“Yeah. It was really hard. Graduate school was difficult, but…… there were some personal things going on too. Even if it’s you, I don’t think I can talk about that.”

Baekho’s eyes deepened as he watched her struggle to get the words out.

He clearly misunderstood and thought she was finally opening up about something painful inside her.

It wasn’t entirely a lie.

She simply couldn’t tell him that the difficult thing was Seo Doha’s appearance in her life.

In any case, she really had been under quite a bit of stress because of Seo Doha.

“So I basically chose this place as an escape. Running a shop like this in a quiet place was actually a dream of mine when I was little.”

“…….”

Baek Seol didn’t miss the way Baekho’s eyes wavered.

She vaguely remembered talking about such a dream when she was very young.

She wondered whether Baekho might remember it.

Judging by how shaken he looked, apparently he did.

“……Yeah. You did say something like that before, Sis.”

Baekho’s eyes grew distant for a moment as though he were recalling the past, then returned to normal.

He furrowed his brow as though thinking things over before finally opening his mouth.

“Yeah…….”

Yeah?

Baek Seol swallowed nervously.

Was he going to let it go?

With hopeful anticipation, Baek Seol stared intently at Baekho’s lips.

Soon, his lips opened firmly.

“I understand what you’re saying, Sis. But I want you to reconsider taking this place over.”

“……No.”

Baek Seol hurriedly tried to stop him, but Baekho didn’t stop and continued rapidly.

“Do you even know where this place is, Sis? Do you know what’s around here? There’s an inactive dungeon right next door. You’re living in a place that’s way too dangerous.”

“That’s…….”

“And running away because things are difficult isn’t the right thing to do. You like money, Sis. You said you were going to research magic stones and become one of the richest people in the world, didn’t you? How are you going to become rich in a place like this? You’re definitely going to regret it later.”

“…….”

Baek Seol suddenly realized something she had forgotten.

Just as she knew Baekho well, he knew her just as well.

“And you’re running a bakery? Since when did you even know how to bake?”

Baekho’s firm words struck her like a blade.

Ouch.

That was one hell of a fact attack.

After rapidly unloading everything he wanted to say, Baekho sneaked a glance at her.

He seemed to have suddenly become worried that perhaps he had overstepped his bounds by saying all that to his older sister.

“…….”

Of course, Baek Seol found it absurd that Baekho was actually lecturing her like this.

But facts were facts, so she fell silent for a moment.

“……Sis?”

“Yeah.”

Baekho checked her expression once more before speaking in a deliberately firm voice.

“A-anyway, I want you to reconsider. This place is too dangerous. This is a serious request from your younger brother.”

The moment Baekho finished speaking, a system window suddenly appeared.

<System: A quest has been generated!>

A quest window appeared alongside it.

<Quest: The Younger Brother’s Opposition ①>

Oh my! Your younger brother has dared to oppose your operation of Dungeon Bakery! Show your younger brother your incredible baking skills!

But first, you need to find out what kind of dessert he likes. Know yourself and know your enemy, and you can win every battle!

Condition: Find out what dessert Baekho likes.

Reward: Linked to The Younger Brother’s Opposition ② quest

**     Acquire ??? Recipe     **

Upon Failure: Repeat The Younger Brother’s Opposition ① quest>

It was a chain quest similar to the beginner quests she had seen the previous day.

But there was one difference this time.

The failure penalty was having to repeat the quest.

‘So basically, failure isn’t an option?’

But did she really need to fulfill Baekho’s request?

Baek Seol thought seriously about it.

Then she quietly raised her index finger and tapped the quest rejection button.

<System: This quest cannot be rejected.>

-Reason: The fate of Dungeon Bakery is at stake.>

“…….”

Damn it.

What was this supposed to mean?

She could overlook the system pulling tricks on her.

But this quest had one enormous problem.

‘Baekho doesn’t like desserts at all.’

If anything, he was the type who absolutely hated sweet things.