Dungeon Bakery – Chapter 6.1

Author: isuzuuy

“H-How can that be a dungeon?”

Baek Seol was as startled as if she had just been told that the dog she encountered on her morning walk could actually fly. But soon, she shook her head vigorously.

There was no way there could be a space behind that door. When she looked at it from outside, there was nothing there.

The angles don’t even make sense!

And on top of that, it was supposed to be a dungeon? That was ridiculous……

“How, ppi? That is the entrance to the dungeon, ppi.”

Lucy shrugged indifferently.

His appearance as a bush warbler made the gesture unbearably cute, but Baek Seol didn’t even notice.

The entrance to a dungeon……?

“This door itself is the dungeon entrance, ppi. Humans seem to call that place the ‘Dungeon of Beginnings,’ ppi.”

“But there’s no entrance to the Dungeon of Beginnings anywhere…….”

As an avid viewer of the YouTube channel Dungeon Expedition, Baek Seol remembered hearing that ever since the Dungeon of Beginnings suddenly appeared 28 years ago, no one had been able to find its entrance anywhere.

So how could it possibly exist here?

And besides, people had spent years digging into the mystery of the Dungeon of Beginnings. How could they possibly have missed this?

“That’s right, ppi. It didn’t exist before, ppi. But now it does, ppi. That’s thanks to the great □□□□□ extending its power here, ppi.”

Seeing how confused Baek Seol looked, Lucy spoke firmly.

He was so firm about it that his words were almost sweet-potato-firm, and Baek Seol’s wildly bouncing thoughts finally settled down a little.

“Fine. Let’s say it’s a dungeon. But you want me to go in there……? If it’s a dungeon, there are monsters inside, aren’t there?”

Baek Seol frowned seriously.

Lucy gave her a sly smile and fluttered toward the brown door. Then he kicked it forcefully with his tiny foot.

The sign that had been turned to ‘closed’ flipped around with a whoosh, changing to ‘open.’

“Don’t worry, ppi. Just go inside once, as if you’re letting yourself be fooled, ppi. Then you’ll change your mind, ppi.”

“That’s ridiculous!”

During her time in graduate school, while being toyed with by Professor Kim, Baek Seol had learned one thing.

‘Think it’ll be difficult? Even so, just let yourself be fooled and try collecting some data first.’

‘Why don’t you just let yourself be fooled and try being a teaching assistant? It’s not that hard.’

‘Just let yourself be fooled and…….’

If you kept letting yourself be fooled, eventually you really would get fooled and become a complete pushover.

Memories of her days as a Dobby came flooding back, and the corners of Baek Seol’s eyes grew slightly moist.

Damn it. Those painful memories are coming back.

Anyway, she had no intention of opening that door unless her safety was guaranteed.

“I’m absolutely not going in.”

“You don’t trust what I’m saying, ppi?!”

Perhaps he was still upset about how she had used a loophole to complete the quest last time, because Lucy was more stubborn than usual today.

The two of them engaged in a tense battle of wills for quite some time, so intense that it threatened to turn into a genuine argument.

“……Is there really no other way to get the ingredients?”

Ugh.

We’re really going to end up fighting at this rate.

Feeling somewhat exhausted, Baek Seol rubbed her forehead and asked.

Lucy also looked a little tired as he grumbled.

“There is an underground shop where you can get ingredients, ppi. But it’ll only be unlocked after you obtain ingredients from the dungeon, ppi.”

Ugh.

So she really did have to somehow get the ingredients.

But she didn’t want to go inside.

Isn’t there something else? Like delivery?

Just as Baek Seol was clutching her head and entertaining increasingly ridiculous ideas—

Creeeeak.

“……Huh?”

Something strange caught Baek Seol’s eye.

Huh? Did the door just open……?

No.

She wasn’t imagining it.

The brown door was opening at an alarming speed!

Eek.

Her eyes widened in horror, and the scene of the door opening appeared to unfold in slow motion before her eyes.

The dungeon entrance is opening!

Without anyone even opening it!

The entrance to a dungeon crawling with monsters!

That meant a monster had opened the door.

And as if to prove that Baek Seol’s thoughts weren’t wrong, an eerie mist began creeping through the opening.

It opened because Lucy changed the sign to ‘open’ earlier!

As the black mist brushed past the tip of Baek Seol’s nose, a shape became visible within it.

Its upper half was pointed like a sharp pen nib, while its lower half was round like a pumpkin.

It radiated an extremely terrifying aura.

Then, it slowly emerged from the mist.

Just as Baek Seol poured all her strength into trying to move her body, which had frozen stiff with fear—

The creature opened its mouth ferociously.

“Kyung!”

“Hiek……?”

Huh……? Kyung……?

Baek Seol’s face was drenched in cold sweat, and an utterly bewildered expression appeared on it.

She stared blankly at the creature that had appeared before her.

As someone who had watched Dungeon Expedition religiously, Baek Seol knew a fair amount about the monsters inhabiting dungeons.

And she immediately recognized the monster in front of her.

“A slime……?”

Not just any slime, either.

It was a tiny, adorable pink slime.

It even had what looked like antennae on its head, each tipped with a heart-shaped bead.

W-What is this?

It was much smaller and cuter than the slimes she had seen on Dungeon Expedition.

Slimes were low-rank monsters that commonly appeared in dungeons, but that didn’t mean they could be taken lightly.

Even an ordinary person who wasn’t Awakened could have their bones dissolved by these vicious monsters.

But the slime in front of her didn’t look like that at all.

It was simply too cute.

While the slime stared intently at Baek Seol with its tiny bead-like black eyes—

Oh my gosh! Slimes have eyes too!

—another window appeared before Baek Seol.

<System: A quest has been generated.>

Still slightly dazed, Baek Seol opened the quest window.

<Quest: The First Dungeon Customer Arrives!

The first customer has arrived at Dungeon Bakery. Sell the customer the bread they want and satisfy them.

Condition: Satisfy the first customer

Reward: Dungeon Bakery Owner Lv. up!

** Acquire 2,000P>**

2,000 points?

Then, if she converted that into Korean won……

Two million won?

The quest reward was two million won.

Two million won……

Two million……

Two……

The gaze of the survival-minded materialist Baek Seol wavered violently.

And exactly three seconds later, she found herself bowing politely with a professional sales smile on her face.

“Welcome, customer!”

Beside her, Lucy, who had been staring blankly at the scene as well, blinked his eyes.

But Baek Seol quickly pointed toward the display shelf where the red bean buns were lined up.

“The bread is over here. Please take your time looking around.”

Baek Seol had spent her days as a Dobby under Professor Kim, a man who seemed to have gathered every ounce of pickiness in the world and accumulated it throughout his entire body.

As a result, she was more confident than anyone when it came to reading the atmosphere and assessing situations.

And right now, whether the monster was a customer, whether the customer turned out to be a monster, or whether customer = monster was completely irrelevant.

The only thing that mattered was the fact that if the slime was satisfied, she would receive two million won.

“Kyuuu.”

To Baek Seol’s surprise, the slime bounced once as though it had understood her, then began hopping toward the display shelf.

Baek Seol followed hurriedly behind it with her professional sales smile still firmly in place.

Her mind began racing.

Come to think of it, the only bread she had was the red bean buns she had received as quest rewards.

Will a red bean bun be enough……?

While Baek Seol was worrying about that, the slime stared intently at the red bean buns in front of the display shelf.

Its tiny black eyes narrowed slightly, making it look as though it was deep in serious thought.

After staring at the red bean buns for a long while, the slime let out a small whining sound before suddenly leaping high into the air and biting into one of the red bean buns.

No.

Rather than biting it, it would be more accurate to say that it absorbed the bun into its body.

Baek Seol hurried after the slime as it bounced toward the counter, the neatly packaged red bean bun safely preserved inside its transparent pink body.

Even with two million won clouding her vision, Baek Seol was beginning to feel rather bewildered.

Not only had she encountered a monster for the first time, but now that monster was standing at her counter to buy bread.

She even ended up stammering slightly.

“Uh…… Would you like the red bean bun? G-Good choice, customer.”

“Kyuu.”

For some reason, the slime’s voice sounded rather dejected, but Baek Seol, who was busy panicking over how she was supposed to process the payment, failed to notice.

“Just touch the slime’s body, ppi. The payment will be processed automatically, ppi.”

With Lucy’s help, Baek Seol lightly tapped the slime’s body with her index finger.

<System: Slime No. 97 has purchased a Red Bean Bun. You have acquired 100P.>

The red bean bun cost 100 points?

Then that meant it was 100,000 won.

What kind of bread costs 100 points?!

While that thought briefly crossed her mind, the slime began eating the red bean bun.

Is that really eating?

Rather than chewing it with its mouth, it dissolved the red bean bun inside its body.

Since the slime was transparent, Baek Seol could clearly watch the red bean bun melt away in an instant.

She got a little creeped out by the sight, but she maintained her bright smile.

The moment the red bean bun had completely dissolved, a bar that hadn’t been visible before appeared above the slime’s head.

Having mastered countless tycoon games, Baek Seol immediately recognized the bar as a satisfaction gauge.

Huh……?

But the bar filled a little over halfway before stopping abruptly at around 70%.

The slime glanced around the shop as though it still had some lingering regret, then bounced back into the dungeon.

No matter how long Baek Seol waited, no window appeared saying that the quest had been completed.

Which meant the slime hadn’t been satisfied.

While Baek Seol blinked in confusion, Lucy flew over and landed on the counter.

“Hmph. Slimes don’t like sweet things, ppi. Besides, they don’t have good memories, so there’s nothing for them to reminisce about, ppi. Therefore, you need to make a mild, plain bread that will satisfy the slime, ppi.”

“That’s too bad……. Wait. Hold on. What was that just now?! A slime…… is a customer?”

Once the survival-minded materialist buff that had been keeping her going finally wore off, Baek Seol’s brain began functioning normally again.

Good heavens! A monster is a customer!

I just sold bread to a slime!

“Then am I supposed to sell bread to monsters from now on?”

Lucy lightly shook his head.

“It isn’t necessarily limited to monsters, ppi. Didn’t I tell you earlier that both doors can be used by customers to enter, ppi? This one leads to the Dungeon of Beginnings, while this one connects to the human world. Therefore, humans can also be your customers, ppi.”

“…….”

According to Lucy, whether they were monsters or humans, they were all her customers.

But……

There’s no way people are going to come all the way out here…….

The area around the shop was nothing but an empty field, and there was a dungeon right next to it.

Unless they were coming on a dungeon tour, there was no reason for humans to come here……

“Baek Seol, the bread you make is special, ppi. Once humans learn about it, so many people may flock here that you’ll actually have to keep a low profile, ppi.”

Baek Seol blinked at Lucy, who was praising her for once.

Is that so?

But……

“I couldn’t even satisfy my first customer.”

“I told you, ppi. Slimes like plain bread, ppi. And once you obtain the ingredients from the dungeon, the recipe will appear automatically, ppi. It’s the most basic kind of bread, ppi.”

Hmm.

Basic bread.

Then, in the end, that meant she had to obtain ingredients from that dungeon to complete the quest.

“What ingredients do I need?”

“The fruit of a Young Yggdrasil, ppi. If you bring it back and dry it before grinding it into powder, it can serve as the basic ingredient for bread—flour, ppi.”

“The fruit of a Young Yggdrasil……? Do you know what it looks like, Lucy?”

“Of course, ppi. Have you forgotten that I am the Staff of the World, ppi? I know exactly where it is, too, ppi.”

Oh.

So that was how it was.

Baek Seol’s loophole radar began going off.

“So the dungeon over there isn’t dangerous at all for you, Lucy?”

“Hmph. Who would dare attack me, ppi? Besides, didn’t I tell you that the dungeon isn’t dangerous at all, ppi?”

Ah.

So that was how it was.

“Then it’d be a piece of cake for Lucy to just sneak over there and get it, right?”

“That’s…… ppi?”

Lucy answered excitedly before suddenly freezing.

He slowly turned his head toward Baek Seol.

As though he had realized exactly what she was thinking, he frantically flapped his wings.

“What are you talking about, ppi? Of course the owner of the bakery has to obtain the ingredients herself, ppi. I’m a supporter, ppi!”

“Exactly. Since you’re my supporter, you should get the ingredients for me too.”

“No way, ppi—!”

Lucy’s resistance was fierce.

But Baek Seol had no intention of backing down either.

Until just a few days ago, she had been a pitiful graduate student who lived a life barely distinguishable from that of a slave among ordinary people.

And now she was supposed to suffer all over again?

She didn’t want that.

And, more importantly, even putting all of that aside, a dungeon was somewhere she absolutely did not want to enter.

There probably wasn’t a single person who didn’t know how dangerous dungeons were.

Ever since dungeons appeared on Earth, humans had been in constant conflict with the monsters inside them.

Even if that obvious reason could be set aside……

‘Sis, wherever you go, you must avoid dungeons at all costs. Absolutely, okay? The same goes for when you get a job later.’

Her younger brother, Baekho, had occasionally clung to her pant leg and burst into tears while saying that ever since he was a teenager.

‘I’m scared you’ll leave me behind like Mom did.’

Baek Seol had lived her entire life faithfully keeping her younger brother’s request.

The reason she had considered renting a place here, where the Dungeon of Beginnings was located, was because she had determined that the dungeon would never open.

‘……Just stay away from dungeons. And Hunters, too. Please.’

Her father, who was usually not the type to make requests, had left her with the same words when he went abroad.

Perhaps because both of them were perfectly ordinary civilians, they had always been particularly afraid of dungeons and Hunters.

Anyway, having grown up constantly being warned to stay away from dungeons and Hunters, Baek Seol had unconsciously developed a vague fear of dungeons.

And she had filled the curiosity that arose as a reaction to that fear by watching Dungeon Expedition on YouTube.

“If that’s the case, then I can’t help it. I need a supporter who will help me…… If Lucy finds it difficult…….”

“……Ppi?”

“Using the I Have a Suggestion skill.”

Unless her safety was guaranteed, Baek Seol had absolutely no intention of entering the dungeon.

No matter what it took.

<System: Activating the ‘I Have a Suggestion’ skill. Please compose your post for the Suggestion Board.>

She intended to use her hidden skill for that very purpose.

“Ah. Ah. Oh, it automatically writes down what I say when I call it? Let’s erase what I said earlier. I’ll start from here.”

Strangely enough, the moment she began speaking, words started appearing on the window exactly as she said them.

“Starting here. ‘I Have a Suggestion. If you’re a supporter, shouldn’t you actively help me? I think there’s a serious problem with the system because of this. Therefore, I demand that my supporter be replaced……’”

Lucy’s face visibly drained of color in real time.

“Ppi!! If you make a suggestion to the system, it might actually come true, ppi!”

“Yeah, I know. Then shall I register this post now……?”

“I-I’ll go, ppi! I said I’ll go, ppi!”

Lucy suddenly shot into the air, shrieking.

“How could you use such a trick, ppi?! That’s unfair, ppi!”

“Come on. It’s not unfair. I’m just asking for what I have every right to ask for. Just let yourself be fooled and go, Lucy.”

Baek Seol gave him an awkward smile.

As she heard the very phrase let yourself be fooled that Professor Kim had used against her only moments ago come out of her own mouth, Baek Seol felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

Is this what it feels like to be the one in power?

Baek Seol had always lived on the weaker side of every relationship, so she knew her position well.

Although she had somehow agreed to Awakening and ended up becoming the owner of Dungeon Bakery, she was still the owner here.

Lucy was the supporter who was supposed to help her—the owner.

Baek Seol saw Lucy open the door with a disgruntled pout and sent him off.

Then she leisurely sat down at the table.

See? You can go just fine.

Judging by how confidently Lucy had shot out of the door at top speed, he really didn’t seem to be afraid of the dungeon at all.

“……This is nice.”

After brewing herself another cup of coffee, Baek Seol was humming leisurely to herself when she realized that the Suggestion Board was still open.

“Since I’m already here, should I leave a suggestion?”

Of course, it wasn’t the terrifying suggestion demanding that her supporter be replaced.