Dungeon Bakery – Chapter 50

Author: isuzuuy

“Are you okay?”

“…….”

The Birdman slowly rose from the chair and stared blankly at the table with unfocused eyes.

Noticing where her eyes were directed, Baek Seol hurriedly turned off her smartphone screen.

[The total number of monsters dealt with this time was five, all of them with wings on their backs…….]

The voice coming from the news broadcast abruptly cut off.

‘Did she see it……?’

They were probably her companions.

The Birdmen that had appeared on the news just now.

The more gruesome scenes had been blurred, but Baek Seol had caught a glimpse of what appeared to be Hunters hunting down the Birdmen.

Baek Seol glanced at the Birdman.

Fortunately, she didn’t seem to have seen it. Her expression remained blank, with no change whatsoever.

“Just stay sitting for now. I gave you some emergency treatment, but…….”

According to Lucy, since she was a high-level monster, her recovery would be fast.

Just as he had said, the Birdman’s wounds were already healing rapidly.

But her entire body was still covered in injuries, so she needed to rest.

“Would you like to eat at least this while you rest?”

“…….”

Baek Seol held out some white bread and milk she had prepared beforehand, but the Birdman merely sat there motionless, staring blankly ahead.

Could she have hit her head earlier?

Baek Seol examined the area around her head with a worried expression, but there were no obvious external injuries.

“Leave her alone, ppi. She’ll eat when she gets hungry, ppi.”

Lucy muttered in a sulky voice.

“This is so frustrating, ppi. It’s all because of that Birdman, ppi. Hmph.”

Lucy had been placed on a soft blanket inside a small basket on the chair opposite the Birdman.

His wing was injured, so Baek Seol had made a temporary splint out of wooden chopsticks and attached it to the wing.

Judging by the sulky expression plastered across Lucy’s face, he clearly wasn’t happy with his current condition.

“Hmm……. She’s so thin, though. She looks like she needs to eat something right away.”

Baek Seol answered with a small sigh.

Just as she said, the Birdman’s condition was terrible.

The fact that she was covered in wounds was one thing, but……

‘Her clothes are practically rags, so you can see her bare skin…… and everywhere that’s visible is nothing but bones.’

Baek Seol had hurriedly covered her with a large blanket, but it was almost unbelievable that she had managed to make it here without being noticed by anyone.

‘The wounds on her back looked old…….’

Before covering her with the blanket, Baek Seol had noticed two old scars on her back, near where her wings should have been.

Bloodstained feathers were stuck all around the area like fragments of shells, making it painful to look at.

“Her other wounds are healing this quickly…… So why are these scars still here? And there are some feathers stuck here, too…….”

As Baek Seol muttered to herself, Lucy casually spoke up.

“You mean the scars on her back, ppi?”

“Yeah. If her recovery is so good, shouldn’t the wounds on her back have healed already?”

Lucy answered her question immediately.

“They were torn off, ppi.”

“What?”

Torn off?

What had been torn off?

Baek Seol stared at Lucy with wide eyes.

Lucy, apparently uncomfortable because of his wing splint, grimaced and slowly sat up.

Baek Seol helped him settle into a comfortable position, and then she couldn’t help inhaling sharply at his next words.

“Birdmen are monsters that naturally have wings, ppi. They can fold them away and carry them around normally, but…… when they enter combat form, their wings always emerge, ppi.”

“Don’t tell me…….”

“That’s right, ppi. Earlier, she was in combat form, but there were no wings, ppi. I thought it was strange, but looking at her now, it seems her wings were torn off, ppi.”

Oh, my God.

Baek Seol stared at the Birdman with a pale face.

She was still staring blankly into space, as though she couldn’t hear their conversation at all.

“That must have been a horrible thing for that Birdman, ppi. Wings are practically her honor itself, ppi.”

“Honor…….”

“She’s been stripped of her honor, ppi. Birdmen who can’t fly are treated as useless within their race, ppi. They think of themselves that way, too, ppi. In that case, they can become much more obedient than before, ppi.”

More obedient.

Lucy had watched the news, too……

‘Then that means Dokjin Corporation deliberately removed this Birdman’s wings in their research laboratory…….’

So that she would obey them more easily.

Baek Seol’s expression crumpled horribly.

If that was true, it was truly cruel.

Her stomach churned.

Lucy, sitting against the basket, asked,

“What are you planning to do with her from now on, ppi?”

“What am I going to do…….”

Baek Seol looked at the Birdman.

Her eyes were unfocused.

Earlier, she had clearly looked at Baek Seol and asked her for help.

Baek Seol answered firmly.

“She asked me for help, so I have to help her.”

For some reason, she felt drawn to her.

A monster she would have been terrified of in the past.

Maybe it was because she had spent so much time with the monsters of the Dungeon of Beginnings.

“……Ppi.”

Lucy clicked his beak together several times before letting out a small sigh.

“I haven’t told you this until now, but those guys were originally monsters that were supposed to belong to the Dungeon of Beginnings, ppi.”

“Huh……?”

“□□□□□ arranged things that way, but because of interference from □□, they were pushed somewhere else, ppi. Since their nests would have moved in their original form, they probably settled somewhere as a dungeon, ppi.”

It sounded as though, because of some being whose pronunciation became garbled as though the system itself were blocking it, the Birdmen had been unable to settle in the Dungeon of Beginnings.

“Then the fact that the Birdmen were captured by Dokjin Corporation means…….”

“It seems they raided the nest when the dungeon was conquered, ppi. I don’t know why, but it looks like they took them all, ppi.”

Lucy glanced at the Birdman and continued.

“Birdman all live together in a single nest, so aside from the people who conquered that dungeon, no one else may even know the Birdmen exist, ppi.”

“Ah…….”

Was that why the news kept calling them merely “monsters” instead of Birdman?

Baek Seol blinked before asking,

“But why are you telling me that the Birdman originally belonged to the Dungeon of Beginnings?”

She found it strange that Lucy was suddenly explaining their past circumstances.

Lucy narrowed his eyes before casually answering.

“If you think about it, it means that this one is currently a monster that does not belong to the Dungeon of Beginnings, ppi.”

“……So?”

“So you don’t have to help her, ppi. We don’t even know what she might ask you to help her with, ppi. It could be dangerous, ppi.”

Baek Seol stared blankly at him.

Was what Lucy had just said really coming from him?

Confused, she looked at Lucy, but his eyes had hardened coldly.

He spoke once more.

“I am the Staff of the World and the supporter of this bakery, ppi. The bakery is practically the entrance to the Dungeon of Beginnings, ppi. My mission is to protect the bakery, help its owner, and revive the Dungeon of Beginnings, ppi.”

“…….”

“In other words, that Birdman is not included in my mission, ppi. It’s not your responsibility either, Baek Seol, ppi.”

Lucy continued after seeing Baek Seol remain silent.

“And judging by the situation, it seems the outside world is searching for this Birdman, ppi. It could become a headache for us, ppi.”

Lucy was probably right.

Dokjin Corporation had publicly announced that they were still searching for the Birdmen.

People following the Birdman’s trail could appear here.

And if that happened, the bakery could be put in danger.

After hearing Lucy’s cold voice, Baek Seol’s own thoughts became colder and more rational.

‘Right. I’d be taking on a risk.’

Baek Seol knew that too.

She was a person capable of thinking rationally as well.

But……

Baek Seol bit her lip and remained silent for a moment before speaking.

“I understand, but……. I can’t do that.”

“Ppi?”

“I’ve already decided to help her.”

“…….”

Lucy slowly blinked his black eyes.

Baek Seol was looking at Birdman, so she didn’t see it.

But contrary to the cold words he had just spoken, Lucy’s eyes were sparkling.

As if he had been waiting for her to say those exact words.

“……Understood, ppi. If that is what the owner says, the supporter has no choice but to follow, ppi.”

“……You’re not going to object?”

Baek Seol looked at Lucy in slight surprise.

Lucy quickly turned his head away and pretended to be uninterested.

“Even if I object, you’re going to do it anyway, ppi, aren’t you? Your little brother opposed the bakery last time, but it didn’t make the slightest difference, ppi. Baek Seol, I’ve learned very well just how stubborn you are, ppi.”

“Hmm. I can’t tell whether that’s a compliment or an insult.”

Baek Seol let out a soft laugh and gently stroked Lucy’s forehead.

Lucy’s eyes narrowed into triangles, but Baek Seol didn’t care.

‘But what exactly am I supposed to help her with?’

Baek Seol glanced at the Birdman.

She was still in a daze.

Surely she wasn’t asking Baek Seol to take revenge on Dokjin Corporation.

‘But taking on Dokjin Corporation is impossible.’

There was no way Baek Seol could suddenly become some kind of hero and bring down Dokjin Corporation.

After the Great Cataclysm, Dokjin Corporation had rapidly grown into a world-class corporation through its magic stone and potion businesses. Its size and influence were now enormous.

It was far beyond something an ordinary bakery owner could even dream of challenging.

Besides, Baek Seol didn’t actually know what Dokjin Corporation had done.

For now, she had nothing but baseless assumptions.

At least until the Birdman made a specific request.

“Phew. Maybe I should get a better grasp of the situation first.”

Baek Seol muttered to herself as she logged into Another.

She scrolled through the posts on the bulletin board.

A few caught her eye.

[Title: So what were those monsters on the news today? I’ve never seen them before. 5 comments.]

[Title: I heard Phoenix stepped in. Is that true? 3 comments.]

[Title: Did everyone see the news? Those monsters didn’t have magic stones, right? 2 comments.]

She opened the first post.

It said that no one had ever seen monsters like the ones from the news before.

Judging by the comments, everyone agreed, which seemed to confirm that Lucy had been right.

“Hmm…… Phoenix was one of the guilds competing with Legend for the number-one spot, right?”

Baek Seol opened the second post and read through it.

[Title: I heard Phoenix stepped in. Is that true? Author: HunterHunter]

Content: Why is Phoenix stepping in when this is Dokjin Corporation’s business? I just saw that all the weird monsters they caught were taken down by them. Are they a subcontractor guild or something? lol

Comments:

-SugarBeet: They’re famous for being Dokjin Corporation fanboys.

-StrongestHunter: What if they’re getting Elixirs from Dokjin in exchange? lol

-Anonymous: Stop writing fanfiction, idiots.

Reply) -SugarBeet: The way you’re getting so worked up makes me think you’re from Phoenix Guild. 100%.

“Looks like the Hunters in the news were from Phoenix.”

Baek Seol was about to open the third post when her smartphone suddenly vibrated.

She glanced at the screen, and her face immediately went pale.

[Seo Doha: I’m in front of the shop, but the door is closed.]

Gasp.

Baek Seol looked toward the door leading to the village.

A faint silhouette was visible through the curtained glass window.