Dungeon bakery

Chapter 5

“Hidden Quest…?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. You cleared a hidden quest, bbi.”

Baek Seol sat down on the only small chair left in the bakery after selling most of the furniture and nodded at Lucy’s explanation.

She knew what a hidden quest was. It was a quest that didn’t appear in the regular quest window and was hidden somewhere in the game.

Usually, hidden quests were supposed to be really rare, weren’t they?

Could she really have cleared one this easily?

Baek Seol scratched one cheek with her index finger and blinked blankly. Lucy suddenly clicked his beak and said,

“What are you doing, bbi? You got a hidden title and a skill as a reward. Check them already, bbi.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Baek Seol quietly thought about her status window, and a translucent screen appeared in front of her.

Name: Baek Seol
Class: Dungeon Bakery Owner (-) Lv.1
Title: (New!) The Involved
HP: 100/100
Energy: 100/100
Strength: 10
Intelligence: 25
Agility: 11
Luck: 2

Baek Seol’s eyes widened when she saw her status window.

Oh my god. What is that?!

“How can my Luck be only 2?”

“…That’s what you’re surprised about, bbi?! You don’t see the new title right there?!”

Lucy stomped his little feet as if he was about to lose his mind.

Baek Seol had been deeply wondering if her terrible luck was the reason she had somehow ended up becoming a graduate student under Kim Gyo’s control.

Only then did she finally check the title.

The Involved?

I really did get a title…

Baek Seol had only awakened recently and knew very little about the world of Hunters. She merely tilted her head in confusion.

But if another Hunter had seen her status window, they probably would have fainted on the spot.

Only a handful of Hunters had ever obtained titles.

There was a good reason for that.

Only one of each title existed in the entire world, and the chance of even encountering an opportunity to obtain one was ridiculously low. And even if someone managed to find such an opportunity, the difficulty was unbelievably great.

That was why most Hunters who possessed titles were S-rank Hunters.

“But what does ‘The Involved’ even do?”

But Baek Seol had spent most of her life buried in graduate school, far removed from the outside world. She had no idea how special this was.

Lucy sighed and looked at her like she was hopeless.

“I suppose I should be glad you didn’t ask what a title is, bbi… I don’t know what this one does either, bbi. If you check the title, there should be a description of The Involved. Why don’t you read that first, bbi?”

Baek Seol quickly tapped The Involved on her status window.

Another small window popped up with a description.

<The Involved: You found a loophole in the system. Impressive! As your one and only special privilege, a bulletin board made exclusively for you will be created in the system.>

“…?”

Even after reading it, Baek Seol still had no idea what it meant.

She immediately opened her skill window.

It was her first time opening it, so there were several other skills she was seeing for the first time as well. She decided to look through them later, one by one.

For now, she wanted to check the hidden skill first.

[I Have a Suggestion (Hidden Skill)] Lv.1

You can leave posts on the Suggestion Board. Please honestly leave reviews and feedback about the system. Perhaps the system might accept your suggestions and make changes to itself…?

Even after reading the skill description, Baek Seol still didn’t really get it.

She had only known about this whole “system” thing for a week.

Bulletin board? Suggestions? System modifications?

None of it really clicked.

From what she could tell, it seemed like she was the only person who could write on some kind of suggestion board.

“Isn’t this incredible, bbi…? You can actually interfere with the system. Even I’m shocked by this…”

While Lucy was making a huge fuss beside her, Baek Seol quietly closed the skill window.

It’s pretty useless.

She had thought a hidden title might help her make money.

But she had debts to pay, and she needed money if she wanted to escape graduate school.

And once she did that, she could finally give her father an excuse to stop sending her money.

Then the uncle and aunt who had been looking after her wouldn’t have to worry about her anymore, either.

Isn’t this basically just a place where I can report things I don’t like about the system?

It reminded her of the websites for government offices and stores.

“Report a problem,” “Contact Us,” “Leave a Review”…

Something like that.

She didn’t find the title particularly interesting.

Besides, judging from the skill description, it wasn’t like the system would actually listen to everything she suggested.

“Hmmm…”

So Baek Seol stood up from her chair, leaving Lucy to continue making a fuss behind her.

Then she sold the last remaining chair in the shop.

Clink!

The sound of coins piling up filled the air.

Baek Seol crossed her arms and stood in the middle of the bakery, looking around at the available furniture.

Thanks to clearing the beginner quests, the shop now had a lot of new items available.

“Baek Seol, bbi? You got a hidden title and a skill! Is this really the time to be taking it easy, bbi? You should try using the skill right away…”

“I’m busy right now, Lucy. Shh.”

Baek Seol gently pinched Lucy’s beak shut.

She focused on how to spend the 10,000 points she had earned from clearing the quests.

I definitely need at least one display shelf…

And should I get a table for customers? Maybe I should buy one for now.

“Mmph! Mmph!”

Lucy struggled for a moment before finally flying away.

Baek Seol actually felt relieved once her little distraction was gone.

Ding! Ding!

The sounds of her carefully buying items echoed throughout the bakery as Baek Seol remained deep in thought.

She was someone who cared deeply about efficiency.

But the interior of a shop she would see every single day was important too.

After all, a beautiful shop was one of the things that made games enjoyable.

She became just as focused as she had been during her graduate school interview.

* * *

Baek Seol didn’t know it yet, but awakening activated a special window where Awakened people could exchange information with one another.

It was basically like a website they could access anytime, anywhere.

A space called Another.

And right now, that place was in complete chaos.

[Title: Let’s Figure Out Where This New Bulletin Board Came From]
Posted by: Noble Hunter

Hey guys. Everyone doing okay with their dungeon runs?

I’m sure you’ve all noticed this already, but something weird happened on Another yesterday.

There used to be only one board here, right?

The place where we could post stuff.

But now there’s suddenly another one called Suggestion Board.

You guys saw it too, right?

Does anyone know what it is?

—Comments:

Pure-Hearted Kid: I saw it too. I tried posting there, but it said I didn’t have permission.

I’m-All-Ears: Yeah, yeah. What the heck is that? I’m seriously curious.

.

.

.

Noble Hunter (OP): So nobody knows. And I guess no one can post there either. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see if someone eventually posts something.

* * *

“Ugh. Stretch… Whew. Morning already?”

Baek Seol stretched her stiff body after spending an entire week cleaning.

At least she didn’t have to clean anymore starting today.

Feeling happy, she made herself a cup of coffee using the coffee machine she had bought from the shop yesterday.

Then she sat down at the table she had set up in one corner of the bakery.

After spending all day yesterday carefully planning the interior, the bakery actually looked pretty nice.

She had replaced the cold gray concrete walls with warm-toned walls and changed the floor to wood.

The display shelf and tables were all white, and she had widened the windows.

The result was a cozy space that still felt bright and open.

Shop Status Window.

Baek Seol thought the words to herself, and a window appeared.

Appearance: 17 (E)
Cleanliness: 100 (A)
Charm: 7 (F)
Reputation: 1 (F)

Lucy had taught her about the shop status window.

Thanks to all her hard work, the bakery’s cleanliness was a perfect 100.

The other stats, however, were absolutely terrible.

And the system window itself still looked pretty bad.

Still, changing the interior raised the Appearance score all the way to 17.

Before, it had only been 3.

That was a huge improvement.

I’ll probably be able to add more display shelves later, right?

There was only one display shelf in the bakery.

She couldn’t buy another one even if she wanted to.

Apparently, she needed to level up her Dungeon Bakery Owner class before she could purchase more.

Five red bean buns were sitting on the shelf.

After clearing ten quests at once, Baek Seol had quite a few items in her inventory.

The red bean buns were one of them.

She checked the item information.

[Red Bean Bun]

Description: A bun filled with sweet red bean paste. Some people love it, while others don’t.

Race Compatibility: ???

Effect when consumed: Causes the consumer to recall memories.

The effect when consumed makes sense…

But what does “Race Compatibility” mean?

What race?

She had asked Lucy about it, but he had suspiciously avoided answering, even looking away as he did.

And there wasn’t even a price listed.

How am I supposed to sell this?

Baek Seol clicked her tongue softly.

Then she took a sip of her warm coffee and opened her skill window.

When she had opened it yesterday to check her hidden skill, she had noticed that she had other skills too.

[We’re All Neighbors] Lv.-

No fighting inside the shop. Disturbing business means death. (This skill is automatically active and does not need to be used. Basic buff skill.)

[Baking] Lv.1

Let’s make some delicious bread.

[I Have a Suggestion (Hidden Skill)] Lv.1

Allows you to post on the Suggestion Board.

The We’re All Neighbors skill seemed to be attached to the bakery itself.

Well, I guess fighting inside the shop really isn’t allowed.

But “disturbing business means death” was a pretty scary way to put it.

The other skill, Baking, was basically an obvious skill for a bakery owner.

“You’re up, bbi?”

Lucy was sitting grumpily at the table.

Baek Seol hadn’t even noticed when he had appeared.

He was still sulking over what had happened before.

She had been too busy remodeling the bakery for the past week to properly make it up to him.

But that was different now.

She needed Lucy.

Baek Seol greeted him with a bright smile.

“Good morning, Lucy. Did you sleep well last night?”

“…Hmph. I slept fine, bbi. But why are you suddenly smiling like that, bbi? It makes me nervous.”

“No reason. I just realized I’ve been so busy with work that I haven’t really paid any attention to you.”

“W-Well…”

Lucy cleared his throat quietly and turned his head away.

His wings were trembling slightly.

Apparently, his mood had gotten a little better.

Baek Seol cut up an apple she had bought earlier and handed the pieces to him.

Lucy pretended to resist, but soon started pecking at the apple with his beak.

Once she was sure he was feeling better, Baek Seol casually brought up what she wanted.

“Come to think of it, I skipped over the quest, so I have no idea how to use the Baking skill.”

“Hmmm. If that’s the problem, just try using the skill once, bbi.”

Lucy answered casually and pecked at another piece of apple.

Following his instructions, Baek Seol decided to give it a try.

It was her first time using a skill, so she felt a little nervous.

Her heart beating a little faster, Baek Seol quietly activated the skill.

Baking.

A bunch of system windows immediately popped up.

<System: You currently have no learned recipes. Switching to Recipe Creation.>

<System: There are no ingredients required for Recipe Creation.>

<System: There are no tools required for Recipe Creation.>

<System: Recipe Creation tab will now close.>

No recipes.

No ingredients.

And no tools…

Baek Seol stood there in complete confusion.

Then Lucy pointed somewhere with his wing.

“Obviously, you should use the Baking skill in the kitchen over there, bbi.”

“Oh…”

The place Lucy was pointing at was a small room tucked into one corner of the bakery.

It had been there from the moment Baek Seol first entered the bakery.

Inside were a small oven and all kinds of baking tools.

“And first, you need to get some ingredients, bbi. Normally, you’re supposed to discover the ingredients inside the statue in the shop and slowly learn how to use the Baking skill, bbi…”

Lucy paused.

“…But someone sold the whole thing, bbi…”

“…”

Who on earth would do something that stupid?

Oh.

Me.

Baek Seol grabbed her hair in frustration.

“If this was supposed to happen, you should have told me beforehand!”

“I never even got the chance, bbi!”

“Ugh…”

Baek Seol had been trained to deal with failure thanks to Kim Gyo.

She wasn’t about to give up that easily.

She quickly pulled herself together.

“Then I need to get the ingredients first…? Can I just go outside and buy some flour and sugar?”

“No. Ingredients from the normal human world won’t work, bbi.”

Lucy pointed his wing toward the closed brown door.

It was the door Baek Seol had opened using a little trick before.

“You have to get them from there, bbi.”

“Where is ‘there’?”

Baek Seol finally asked the question that had been bothering her for a while.

Lucy had told her that customers would enter through that door.

But that had always seemed strange.

The space beyond the door couldn’t be seen at all from outside the bakery.

So where exactly did it lead?

Lucy casually pecked at another piece of apple before answering.

“A dungeon.”

“…What?”

“The dungeon next to the bakery. The one that □□□□□ first prepared for this world…”

Lucy continued explaining something, but Baek Seol stopped listening.

Wait.

What did I just hear?

A dungeon?

That dungeon next to the bakery?

The dungeon that appeared on Earth first, but no one has ever been able to enter?

Then that meant no Hunter had ever conquered it.

And naturally, if no one had even managed to enter it, there had to be some terrifying danger waiting inside.

“Whaaaaaat?!”

Realizing what this meant a moment too late, Baek Seol shot to her feet.