Dungeon Bakery Chapter 8

“Phew.”

Baek Seol sighed as she began writing numbers into her household ledger. Dark circles hung heavily beneath her eyes.

‘The money I’ve accumulated so far…….’

Thanks to the slime that bought a 500-point loaf of white bread every day and the quests, she currently had 5,000 points in hand.

That meant five million won in real money. It wasn’t an insignificant amount. But to Baek Seol right now, it was barely enough to fill an ant’s nose.

Quest: Same-Day Instant Loan!!

Boss! You need to run your shop, but the lack of funds has got your head spinning, right?

Don’t worry! We’ll solve it for you!

Special Benefits for Graduate Students! Confidentiality Guaranteed!

(Warning: The loan funds will immediately be used to purchase Dungeon Bakery. If the debt is not repaid within 10 years, your body will be bound to the system according to the previously signed ‘Body Surrender Agreement.’)

<Remaining Debt: 999,999,279P>

“…….”

Baek Seol’s face darkened as she stared at the quest window.

“Haaaaah.”

When on earth was she supposed to pay that off?

Was it even possible?

Thanks to diligently wearing the uniform, she had managed to pay off about 700 points, but……

Baek Seol rested a hand against her forehead and looked at the small calendar on her desk.

It was already the first day of the month.

Today was the day Baek Seol was going out.

With a gloomy expression, Baek Seol looked around.

This was her home on the upper floor of the shop. It was the very place she had originally come looking for, and now that she had become the owner of the bakery, she naturally lived here.

‘Th-This is where I’m supposed to stay?’

‘That’s right, ppi. Why are you just standing there, ppi? Hurry inside, wash yourself with some warm water, and get a good night’s sleep, ppi! You’ll have a busy day starting tomorrow, ppi!’

The house had been so large and beautiful that on her first day here, Baek Seol had actually taken a step backward in surprise.

The walls and floors were ivory-colored, while most of the furniture was in warm wood tones. Pretty checkered curtains and neat little decorations had been arranged throughout the place, almost as if someone had deliberately decorated it for her.

It was like something straight out of an interior design catalog.

Beautiful, but without a trace of anyone having ever lived there.

That was the feeling it gave her.

Now, however, with her living there, little by little, it was beginning to take on a human warmth.

“Lucy. I’m going out for a bit.”

“Ppi? Where are you going, ppi?”

When Baek Seol came down the wooden stairs into the shop, Lucy, who had been sprawled out on the table, greeted her.

There were crumbs around his mouth, so apparently he had eaten the white bread she had made for him yesterday.

Once Baek Seol had started making bread, Lucy’s eyes had sparkled as he shamelessly demanded some white bread for himself.

He claimed it was because he was finally tasting the breath of that person again after so long, or something like that.

Baek Seol had refused because the ingredients for the white bread were ridiculously expensive……

But she eventually lost to Lucy’s teary-eyed attack.

Baek Seol decided she could at least make one loaf for Lucy.

“I need to go to the bank for a moment.”

“The bank~? Why are you going to the bank, ppi? Humans don’t need to go to banks these days, do they, ppi?”

He made a gesture with his wing, as if pushing and tapping something.

He was obviously talking about a smartphone.

Of course, what Baek Seol was going to do today could easily and quickly be done with a smartphone, but……

“It’s something I need to do in person. I’ll be back soon, so keep a good eye on the shop!”

“Hmm. All right, ppi.”

Lucy blinked his black eyes before shrugging his wing and turning his head away as if he had lost interest.

With his belly sticking out from all the white bread he had eaten, the sight was downright comical.

After leaving the shop, Baek Seol turned around.

‘It actually looks like a bakery now, doesn’t it?’

When she had extensively redone the interior last time, she had also made some changes to the exterior.

Thanks to that, the building that had once looked like a run-down gray shop now actually looked like a bakery.

‘It was a shame to spend money on the interior, though.’

Considering the enormous debt she was carrying, she really shouldn’t have been spending money on something like interior design.

But if she wanted to attract customers, she had no choice.

The exterior walls were painted in warm brown tones, with large windows that offered a glimpse inside.

She had even added a small flower bed underneath.

However, the place where a shop sign should have been was still empty.

She hadn’t decided on the shop’s name yet.

‘Can’t I just call it Dungeon Bakery?’

After all, even her class was “Dungeon Bakery Owner.”

When Lucy had told her that she needed to decide on a name now that the shop was open for business, Baek Seol had suggested exactly that.

She had been met with such strong opposition, however, that the shop still remained nameless.

Well, she figured it would get a name someday, so she was just letting time pass……

‘Could the reason no human customers have come so far be because there’s no sign?’

So far, the bakery’s only customer had been the slime that came every day.

After repeatedly encountering nothing but a talking bush warbler and a slime that bought white bread, she was beginning to wonder whether she really was still living on Earth.

Am I even human……?

That thought crossed her mind from time to time, too.

Lucy had said humans could also be customers, so surely she would meet one someday.

Someday……

Having thought that far, Baek Seol soon shook her head.

‘……There’s no way anyone would come to a creepy place like this.’

Had she wasted money on the interior?

No matter how she thought about it, there didn’t seem to be anyone who would happily come sightseeing to a place like this.

And there was even less chance that someone would enter some mysterious building next to a dungeon.

With a deep sigh, Baek Seol quickened her steps and headed toward the bank.

The bank was completely ordinary, the kind of place that could be found anywhere.

But that very ordinariness moved Baek Seol.

Hmph.

Humans……!

“Welcome. What can I help you with today?”

“…….”

“Ma’am?”

A human, not a bush warbler, was talking to her.

Overwhelmed by the wave of joy that washed over her, Baek Seol was momentarily unable to respond.

Then she suddenly snapped back to reality.

“Oh. I’d like to make a transfer.”

“I see. Then please take a number here and wait for your turn.”

The bank employee was clearly a veteran.

Even though Baek Seol’s reaction must have seemed strange, the employee’s kind smile never faltered.

Baek Seol followed his instructions, took a number, and waited.

When her turn came, she went to the counter.

“How may I assist you?”

The teller asked with a professional service smile.

Baek Seol nearly became touched all over again by this small interaction, but this time she quickly pulled herself together.

“I’d like to make a transfer.”

“Oh, a transfer? I suppose it’s a fairly large amount.”

That made sense.

A young person coming all the way to the bank to make a transfer instead of using a smartphone or an ATM would naturally make someone assume it was a large amount.

Baek Seol had received that misunderstanding every time she made a deposit, so she simply shook her head.

“No. It’s not that much. I just prefer doing it in person.”

Thanks to the employee’s quick service, Baek Seol was able to get up from her seat in less than three minutes.

It had been a simple transaction in the first place.

Bzzzt.

A notification appeared on her smartphone confirming that the transfer had been completed.

[1,000,000 won has been transferred to Baekho’s account.]

Just as Baek Seol checked the notification and the corners of her lips lifted, her phone vibrated once more.

[Hoya: What’s this? Noona, this month’s allowance is way too much.]

It was a message from her younger brother, Baekho.

On the first day of every month, Baek Seol sent Baekho some money.

It was something she had done every month since she became an adult and moved out of Changho and Eun-joo’s house.

It had started at 50,000 won, but gradually increased until she was sending him around 300,000 won a month.

Today was the first time she had sent him one million won.

Even though she was drowning in debt, when she thought of it as spending money for Baekho, she didn’t feel it was wasteful at all.

[Noona has some money now.]

[Hoya: ……You’re not doing anything weird, are you?]

[Hey now. What do you take your noona for? I just got some research funding this time. Don’t complain and just take it. Buy some clothes with it. Eat something good, too. And if you get the chance, it’d be nice if you could cut down on your part-time job.]

Whenever Baek Seol sent him his allowance, she felt an emotion she couldn’t quite put a name to.

It was something like the satisfaction of having fulfilled her responsibility……

No, it was closer to the warm feeling of having taken care of someone who belonged to her.

She liked that feeling, which was why Baek Seol preferred sending the money the old-fashioned way, in person.

[Hoya: I tell you every time, I don’t need an allowance. You should spend it on yourself. Okay?]

What do you mean, a student doesn’t need spending money?

Baek Seol pouted.

Baekho had decided early on that he wanted to become a civil servant and was studying for it.

After graduating from a two-year cyber university, he had rented a tiny monthly apartment in Noryangjin and had been spending his days at an academy there for the past two years.

He never said it to her, but how difficult must it be for him?

He also worked part-time whenever he had the time to earn money for living expenses, so Baekho tended to have very busy days.

‘Sometimes he doesn’t even contact me for several days.’

He had always been the type to completely immerse himself in something once he became absorbed in it, losing track of everything around him.

So Baek Seol had learned to take his periods of silence in stride.

[Hoya: Come to think of it, did you get into the dorm okay this time?]

Baek Seol flinched.

She scratched her cheek with her index finger.

She didn’t want to be busy worrying about her, so she had kept the fact that she hadn’t gotten into the dorm a secret.

Her leave of absence was a secret, too.

[Yeah, yeah. Of course. Ah, the Professor is looking for me. Hurry up and go study.]

[Hoya: Okay. Make sure you eat properly. If anything happens, tell me, okay?]

Anyone hearing him would think he was the older brother.

Baek Seol shrugged and sent him a casual reply saying she understood.

Another message followed, telling her not to send him so much money next time, but Baek Seol lightly left him on read.

As she left the bank, Baek Seol’s shoulders rose high into the sky.

Hehe.

This was why she worked.

With a light step as she headed back toward the shop, Baek Seol checked her message window.

Come to think of it, she had been so busy with the bakery that she hadn’t properly checked her messages until now.

Thinking that this was one thing the siblings had in common, Baek Seol looked down at her smartphone.

Then her expression stiffened.

[Kim Dobby: What the hell, Baek Dobby took a leave of absence?!]

[Ahn Dobby: Holy crap.]

It wasn’t the fact that the graduate school group chat was on the verge of exploding over the news of her leave of absence that shocked her.

[Professor Kim: ?]

Nor was it the fact that her absentminded academic advisor, who had only just learned about her leave, had sent a single question mark.

Her eyes were fixed on three letters of a name.

[Seo Doha]

There was an indicator showing that Seo Doha had sent her three messages.

Unable to bring herself to open them, Baek Seol checked the previews.

[Seo Doha: Senior, is it true that you took a leave of absence?]

This guy was practically psychic.

How did he know?

No, of course he would know.

The graduate school group chat was practically exploding.

Baek Seol’s eyebrows gently furrowed.

Seo Doha.

She had forgotten about this guy.

‘I really must have been completely out of it.’

Baek Seol opened the messages he had sent.

[Seo Doha: Senior, do you want to have lunch together?]

[Seo Doha: Are you busy?]

[Seo Doha: Senior, is it true that you took a leave of absence?]

Come to think of it, today was the first day of the new semester at graduate school.

It had already been a little over a month since she had started running the bakery.

[Seo Doha: Ah, you saw it.]

[Seo Doha: Where are you right now?]

As if he had been waiting all morning for her to read his messages, he contacted her the moment she checked them.

Baek Seol looked up at the sky with a troubled expression.

Seo Doha had entered graduate school the previous year.

He was a year older than her, and ordinarily, he was someone who should never have been attending this graduate school in the first place.

After all……

[Seo Doha: I’ll come to where you are right now. Just tell me where you are.]

Seo Doha was an EX-rank Hunter who had appeared like a comet several years ago and risen straight to the number-one spot in the rankings.

[Seo Doha: Senior?]

Why on earth someone this terrifying had enrolled in graduate school and become her junior, Baek Seol had absolutely no idea……

No.

She did know, at least a little.

He had enrolled in graduate school for some reason and was secretly doing something there.

It was probably something extremely secretive.

Something so important that he absolutely could not let anyone discover his identity.

But somehow, Baek Seol had ended up realizing who he really was.

Gulp.

Baek Seol swallowed hard.

‘Why did I do that back then?’

Baek Seol thought back to around this time last year and let out a long sigh.