Dungeon Bakery Chapter 39

Baek Seol was silently despairing as she stared at the quest window when Baekho, who had been sitting there sullenly with his arms crossed, suddenly asked,

“But, Sis. You know…”

“Hmm……?”

Baek Seol, who had been desperately racking her brain for snacks and other things Baekho used to eat when he was young, looked at him with hollow eyes. Baekho looked a little cautious.

“That thing you said was personally difficult for you. You said you couldn’t even tell me about it, but…… Can I ask you just one thing?”

“……What is it?”

Did she worry him too much? Looking into Baekho’s concerned eyes, Baek Seol felt a little guilty. So she looked at him seriously, as if to say she would answer anything he asked.

Baekho’s lips twitched before slowly parting.

“Could it have something to do with Father?”

“…….”

“I know you don’t like talking about Father. I’m just asking in case. Did Father say something to you…… anything?”

It was a subject she really hadn’t wanted brought up. Baek Seol’s brow furrowed slightly, but Baekho seemed determined to wait for her answer.

“Like, did he suddenly bring up something from the past……?”

Something from the past? Was there even a past she could share with that man? In her memories, he had never been by her side.

Baek Seol relaxed the tension in her brow and casually replied with an expressionless face.

“It has absolutely nothing to do with him.”

“Hmm……”

Baekho slowly nodded as if he understood. But why did he look almost relieved? Baek Seol felt a strange sense of discomfort at his question.

Why would that man bringing up something from the past with her be difficult? Ah. Of course, it would be annoying. It would make her angry, too.

To Baek Seol, talking about the past meant talking about her childhood, when she had been caring for her mother. And that man had not been there.

‘It’s true that I don’t like him bringing up things related to Mom. But it’s not like it’s difficult enough to upset me.’

Baek Seol slowly blinked.

“Did you think I had gotten into a fight with him or something?”

Had he inferred that there had been some kind of fight because of something that happened in the past? And not just an ordinary fight, but a huge one.

At Baek Seol’s question, Baekho rolled his eyes around before answering evasively.

“Yeah. Something like that.”

“I’m not a child. Why would I waste my emotions on something pointless like that? Especially with him. That’s not what happened, so don’t worry.”

“Hmm……”

Baekho’s expression darkened slightly. He looked almost saddened by the state of the relationship between her and that man.

Ah. Unlike her, Baekho had never really hated that man.

Her little brother was simply too kind for his own good.

Baek Seol waved her hand dismissively, putting an end to the subject.

“That’s enough about this. And as for giving this place up…… I don’t think I can decide that right away. I started this after giving it a lot of thought, too.”

“Yeah. I don’t think you would’ve started something like this without thinking it through.”

Baek Seol felt a slight twinge of guilt because there was some truth to that, but she didn’t let it show.

“If you can’t bring yourself to close this place, tell me. I’ll take care of it for you. Even if you tell me tomorrow. I’ll do anything you ask, Sis.”

Since when had her little brother become such an extreme doormat?

Looking into Baekho’s eyes, filled with firm determination, Baek Seol let out a long sigh inwardly.

She had a feeling this quest wasn’t going to be easy.

 

***

 

A cool breeze gently wrapped around Baek Seol’s long hair before passing by.

Normally, she would have enjoyed the pleasant sensation of the breeze tickling her cheeks, but Baek Seol had no room for such leisure right now.

“Uuuugh……”

“…….”

“Uuuugh……”

“Stop groaning already, ppi! It’s so noisy I could die, ppi!”

Baek Seol lay sprawled out on a picnic mat on the soft grass, pouting her lips.

She was currently enjoying an unexpected picnic beneath Yggdrasil in the Dungeon of Beginnings.

In reality, however, this was a site of anguish.

“Doesn’t Lucy worry at all? A huge obstacle has appeared right in front of us!”

At that, Lucy, who had plopped down on the picnic mat, let out a dismissive snort.

“You’ve done fine so far, ppi. I believe you’ll do fine this time too, ppi.”

“……That’s definitely supposed to be a nice thing to say, so why does it sound so irresponsible?”

“Kyung!”

Gu-chil bounced once and went kyung-kyung as if agreeing with Baek Seol.

“Right? I’m right, aren’t I? Lucy’s an irresponsible supporter, right?”

“Kyung-kyung!”

“Hey! Why am I an irresponsible supporter, ppi! Where could you find a supporter as responsible as me, ppi?”

Lucy puffed up his body as he said this, and Baek Seol let out another long sigh.

Sigh.

Siiigh.

“I’m really worried…… No matter how much I think about it, I have no idea what dessert Hoya likes.”

Just then, the Black Rabbit, which had been sitting quietly on the picnic mat with its eyes closed, suddenly opened its eyes wide and held something out to Baek Seol.

“Sniff!”

“Hmm……? Oh, it’s sugarcane. There’s a sugar beet too. Haha…… Thanks, but Hoya doesn’t really like sweet things……”

“Sniff?!”

The Black Rabbit’s eyes widened in shock.

Its expression seemed to say, How could anyone not like something this delicious?

Baek Seol gently patted the Black Rabbit’s head and smiled awkwardly.

“They say the sugar beets are taking root nicely in the Dungeon of Beginnings these days, right? That’s a relief. I was a little worried.”

“Sniff-sniff.”

The Black Rabbit closed its eyes contentedly.

Just as Baek Seol had said, the sugar beets they had brought over the other day were fortunately spreading well throughout the dungeon.

“It’s all thanks to the Black Rabbits and Black Elephants eating them diligently and spreading them everywhere, ppi.”

The sugar beets were spreading through their droppings just like sugarcane, but they were spreading much faster than sugarcane.

It was almost as if the earth itself had been waiting for them, causing the sugar beets to grow at an astonishing rate.

“Won’t the sugar beets end up covering the entire dungeon?”

“That won’t happen, ppi. This is only a temporary phenomenon, ppi.”

At Lucy’s firm answer, Baek Seol slowly nodded.

Well, if the great Staff of the World said that was how it was, then that was probably how it would be.

“Yeah…… It would’ve been nice if Hoya not liking sweet things was a temporary phenomenon too……”

Baek Seol murmured wistfully.

She had already confirmed that wish would never come true.

On the very day Baekho had come to visit.

‘What? Suddenly red bean buns and…… white bread?’

‘Yeah. How about these?’

‘What about them?’

‘I mean, is there anything you’re suddenly craving or something?’

‘Could you move those away from me? They smell sweet. Ugh. What is this? Cookies? I really hate those…….’

Remembering Baekho turning his head away while covering his nose, Baek Seol grabbed her hair.

Aaaaaah. Wasn’t this quest way too difficult?

“Ppu!”

The Black Elephant, which had been playing with Baek Seol’s hair as it fluttered in the breeze, suddenly went ppu-ppu when the hair it had been playing with disappeared.

“Ah, sorry. I forgot you were here.”

“Ppuuu.”

The Black Elephant gently waved its trunk as if to say it was okay. Seeing its large ears flap along with it, Baek Seol let out a small laugh.

“Kyuuu~”

“……Sniff.”

“Ppu-ppu!”

Being surrounded by such cute monsters made her feel a little healed.

It had been worth forcing herself to cheer up and come to the Dungeon of Beginnings for a picnic.

As she took a break and cleared her head, it felt like some of the energy that had completely disappeared from her despair was slowly returning.

‘Right. This isn’t the time to sit around like this. I need to gather some information.’

No matter how much Baekho disliked desserts, judging from the fact that the quest had appeared……

‘There must be something Hoya likes somewhere.’

Baek Seol pressed her lips together firmly and took out her smartphone.

If you wanted to know your enemy, you had to enter the enemy’s lair.

She immediately sent Baekho a message.

[Hoya. What dessert do you like?]

Her heart pounding, she waited nervously for Baekho’s reply.

Fortunately, his response came almost immediately.

[Baekho: None.]

“…….”

Damn it.

Wasn’t there something wrong with the quest?

He himself said there was no dessert he liked.

How was she supposed to figure that out?

In that case, she would ask someone else.

Baek Seol then sent a message to Aunt Eunju.

[Auntie. Sorry for asking this out of the blue, but did Hoya have any snacks or bread or anything like that that he liked when he was young? Some kind of dessert? I suddenly can’t remember.]

A reply came soon after.

[Aunt Eunju: Hmm. Hoya never really liked sweet things. I don’t think there was anything in particular. Why?]

[Oh. No, it’s nothing. I just suddenly thought of it.]

Ugh.

If even Aunt Eunju didn’t know……

There was no way Uncle Changho would know either.

She had no other sources of information left.

What on earth was she supposed to do?

Hmm……?

As Baek Seol trembled while clutching her smartphone, Lucy took the bread and cookies she had packed out of the picnic basket, chirping “ppi ppi” in amusement.

What an annoying supporter.

Baek Seol let out a small sigh and looked at the quest window.

More specifically, at the penalty for failure.

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

“…….”

A quest she couldn’t quit even if she wanted to.

Damn it.

Baek Seol stared blankly at Lucy, Gu-chil, the Black Rabbit, and the Black Elephant.

They had gathered excitedly around the bread and cookies Lucy had taken out.

“Kyung~”

Gu-chil happily swallowed a piece of white bread whole, dissolving it inside its body.

“Sniff.”

“Ppu-ppu!”

The Black Rabbit and Black Elephant were happily crunching away at the Sugar Cookies together.

And the red bean buns were left sitting there all alone.

Well, none of them liked red bean buns.

Old man Oh Juk-heon was the one who liked them.

Since the bread made the eater recall memories, monsters probably……

Hmm?

Red bean bun?

A thought suddenly flashed through Baek Seol’s mind, and she snatched up a red bean bun.

Right.

Why hadn’t she thought of this?

“I can eat it and recall my own memories, can’t I?”

There might have been some moment from so long ago that she had forgotten it, when Baekho had happily eaten some dessert.

Baek Seol lightly clapped her hands and quickly tore open the red bean bun before eating it.

The red bean bun disappeared into Baek Seol’s mouth in an instant.

Chew, chew. Gulp.

After finishing the red bean bun, Baek Seol closed her eyes and waited for her memories to flash through her mind.

“……”

Memories……

“……?”

Why wasn’t anything coming to mind?

She slowly opened her eyes after keeping them closed for quite some time.

No matter how long she waited, no memories surfaced.

Not a single memory. Not a single recollection.

“……Does the bread not work on the person who made it?”

“That can’t be, ppi. As far as I know, there’s no such restriction, ppi.”

“……?”

Just in case, Baek Seol asked Lucy, but his answer was basically telling her not to say anything weird.

After the picnic ended, she returned to the bakery and ate another one of the remaining red bean buns, but all she could taste was its deep flavor.

No memories came back.

Instead, her head started hurting.

“Ugh……. This isn’t going to work.”

Baek Seol muttered while clutching her throbbing head.

If this wasn’t going to work, she would have to change her target.

Baek Seol immediately called Baekho over.

Then she held out a red bean bun.

“Here. Eat.”
“…….”