Dungeon bakery

Chapter 8

“Phew.”

Baek Seol let out a sigh as she started writing numbers into her household ledger. Dark circles hung heavily under her eyes.

The money I’ve managed to save so far…

Thanks to the quests and the slime, who bought 500-point bread every single day, she now had 5,000 points in her possession.

That was equivalent to five million won in real money.

It wasn’t a small amount by any means.

But to Baek Seol right now, it felt like nothing more than a tiny drop in the ocean.

Quest: Instant Same-Day Loan!!

Boss! Having trouble running your shop because you’re short on money?

Don’t worry! We’ll take care of it!

Special benefits for graduate students! Complete confidentiality guaranteed!

(Warning: The loan will immediately be used to purchase Dungeon Bakery. If you fail to repay the debt within 10 years, your body will be bound to the system according to the ‘Body Surrender Agreement’ you signed beforehand.)

Remaining Debt: 999,999,279P

“……”

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

“Haaaaah.”

When am I ever going to pay all that back?

Is this even possible?

Thanks to how diligently she had been wearing her uniform and working, she had managed to pay off around 700 points…

But still.

Baek Seol pressed a hand against her forehead and looked at the little calendar on her desk.

It was already the first day of a new month.

And today was the day she had to go outside.

With a gloomy expression, Baek Seol looked around.

This was her home on the second floor of the shop.

It was originally the place she had come looking for, and after becoming the owner of the bakery, she had naturally ended up living here.

This… this place is really mine?

Of course, it is! Why are you just standing there? Hurry inside, wash up with some warm water, and get plenty of sleep! You’ll have a busy day starting tomorrow!

The house had been so large and pretty that on her first day there, Baek Seol had actually taken a few steps backward in surprise.

The walls and floors were ivory-colored, while most of the furniture had a warm wooden tone.

Pretty checkered curtains and neat little decorations were arranged throughout the house, almost as if someone had deliberately decorated every corner.

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

Beautiful and perfectly arranged, but without a single sign that anyone had ever lived there.

That was the feeling it gave her.

Of course, now that Baek Seol had been living there, the place was slowly starting to feel warmer and more lived-in.

“Lucy, I’m going out for a bit.”

“Peep? Where are you going?”

Baek Seol came downstairs along the wooden staircase.

Lucy, who had been lying flat on the table, greeted her.

There were bread crumbs around Lucy’s mouth, so apparently he had eaten the bread Baek Seol had made for him yesterday.

Ever since she started making bread, Lucy had looked at her with sparkling eyes and shamelessly demanded some too.

He claimed it was because he was finally getting to taste “the breath of that person” again after such a long time.

Since the ingredients for the bread were ridiculously expensive, Baek Seol had refused at first.

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

So she decided to make him one loaf.

“I need to go to the bank for a bit.”

“The bank~? Why are you going to a bank? Don’t humans these days do everything through their phones?”

Lucy made a little motion with his wing, as if swiping and tapping on something.

He was obviously talking about smartphones.

And yes, what Baek Seol needed to do today could easily and quickly be done through her phone.

But…

“It’s something I need to do in person. I’ll be back soon, so take good care of the bakery!”

“Mmm. Fine.”

Lucy blinked his black eyes, then casually shrugged his wings and turned his head away.

With his round belly sticking out from all the bread he had eaten, he looked ridiculous.

Baek Seol stepped outside the shop and turned around.

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

When she had completely redone the interior last time, she had also spent some money fixing up the outside.

Thanks to that, the building that had once looked like a gloomy, abandoned gray shop now actually looked like a proper bakery.

It still hurts to spend money on decorations, though.

With the enormous debt hanging over her head, she really shouldn’t have been wasting money on things like interior design.

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

The exterior now had warm brown walls and a large window where people could catch a glimpse of the inside.

There was even a small flower bed underneath it.

The only problem was the empty space where the shop sign should have been.

She still hadn’t decided on a name.

Can’t I just call it Dungeon Bakery?

Her class was literally ‘Dungeon Bakery Owner,’ after all.

But when she had suggested that name to Lucy after the bakery opened, he had strongly objected.

So the shop was still nameless.

Well, she figured it would get a name eventually.

Could the lack of a sign be why no human customers have come yet?

So far, the bakery had only had one customer—the slime that came every day.

After spending so much time dealing with a talking bird and a slime that bought bread, Baek Seol had started wondering whether she was really still living on Earth.

Am I even human anymore…?

She had been told humans could also become customers, so she would probably meet one someday.

Someday…

Baek Seol shook her head.

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

Had she wasted all that money on the interior?

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t imagine anyone happily coming all the way here for a visit.

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

Baek Seol let out a long sigh and hurried toward the bank.

The bank itself was completely ordinary, the kind of place she could have found anywhere.

But that ordinary sight moved her deeply.

Humans…!

“Welcome. How may I help you?”

“……”

“Ma’am?”

A human is talking to me…

Baek Seol was so overwhelmed by the sudden happiness that she almost forgot to respond.

Then she quickly snapped back to reality.

“Oh. I’d like to make a transfer.”

“I see. Then please take a number and wait over there.”

The bank employee had to be a veteran.

Baek Seol’s reaction must have seemed strange, but the employee’s friendly smile never wavered.

She followed his instructions, took a number, and waited.

When her number was called, she walked up to the counter.

“How may I help you?”

The teller asked with a professional smile.

Baek Seol was almost moved again by the simple human interaction, but this time she quickly pulled herself together.

“I’d like to make a transfer.”

“Oh, a transfer? It must be a fairly large amount.”

Well, it made sense.

A young person had come all the way to the bank instead of simply using a smartphone or ATM.

The employee probably assumed she was transferring a lot of money.

Baek Seol had gotten this misunderstanding every time she made a deposit, so she casually shook her head.

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

Thanks to the teller’s quick work, Baek Seol was able to get up and leave less than three minutes after sitting down.

It had been a simple transaction, after all.

Bzzzt.

Her phone vibrated with a notification that the transfer had gone through.

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

The corners of Baek Seol’s lips lifted when she saw the notification.

Then her phone vibrated again.

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

It was a message from her younger brother, Baek Ho.

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

She had been doing it every month ever since she became an adult and moved out of Mr. Chang-ho and Mrs. Eun-joo’s house.

At first, she had sent him 50,000 won.

But the amount had gradually increased, and now she usually sent around 300,000 won a month.

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

She was buried under a mountain of debt herself, but when it came to giving her brother some spending money, she didn’t feel like she was wasting a single penny.

[Noona: I came into some money.]

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

[Noona: Hey, what do you take your sister for? I just got some research funding this time. Don’t argue and just take it. Buy some clothes, eat something good, and maybe cut down on your part-time job while you’re at it.]

Every time Baek Seol sent her brother money, she felt a strange emotion.

Maybe it was the satisfaction of doing her part…

No.

It was more like a warm feeling from taking care of someone who was hers.

She liked that feeling.

That was why she preferred sending him money the old-fashioned way, directly through the bank.

[Hoya: I’ve told you every time. I don’t need allowance. You should spend it on yourself, okay?]

What do you mean you don’t need allowance? You’re a student!

Baek Seol pouted.

Baek Ho had been studying because he wanted to become a civil servant.

After graduating from a two-year cyber university, he had rented a tiny room in Noryangjin and had been spending his days at an academy there.

He had been living that life for two years now.

He never said it to her, but…

It must be really hard for him.

Baek Ho also worked part-time whenever he had time to cover his living expenses, so his days were extremely busy.

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

He tended to get completely absorbed whenever he focused on something, so he wasn’t very good at paying attention to everything around him.

Because of that, Baek Seol had gotten used to not being able to reach him sometimes.

[Hoya: Come to think of it, you got into the dorm okay, right?]

Gulp.

Baek Seol scratched her cheek with her index finger.

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

Her leave of absence was a secret too.

[Noona: Yeah, of course. Oh, Professor is looking for me. Go study already.]

[Hoya: Okay.] Make sure you eat properly. And if anything happens, tell me right away. Got it?]

Anyone who saw this would think you were the older brother.

Baek Seol shrugged and sent back a casual reply.

Another message came telling her to send less money next time, but Baek Seol simply read it and ignored it.

As she left the bank, Baek Seol’s shoulders practically shot up toward the sky.

Hehe. This is exactly why I work.

With a light step, she headed back toward the bakery while checking her messages.

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

I guess this is another thing my brother and I have in common.

As she looked at her phone, Baek Seol’s expression suddenly stiffened.

[Kim Dobi: What?! Baek Dobi took a leave of absence?! AAAAAH??]

[Ahn Dobi: Holy crap.]

It wasn’t because she was shocked that the graduate school group chat had nearly exploded over her leave of absence.

[Professor Kim: ?]

And it definitely wasn’t because her normally indifferent advisor had only just found out about her leave and sent a single question mark.

Her eyes had stopped on three letters.

[Seo Do-ha]

There were three unread messages from Seo Do-ha.

She couldn’t bring herself to open them yet, so she checked the previews instead.

[Seo Do-ha: Sunbae, is it true that you took a leave of absence?]

This guy is like a ghost.

How did he find out?

Actually, how could he not know? The graduate school group chat is practically exploding.

Baek Seol’s eyebrows slowly drew together.

Seo Do-ha.

She had completely forgotten about this guy.

I really must have been out of my mind lately.

Baek Seol finally opened his messages.

[Seo Do-ha: Sunbae, want to have lunch together?]

[Seo Do-ha: Are you busy?]

[Seo Do-ha: Sunbae, 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 started running the bakery.

[Seo Do-ha: Oh, you saw it.]

[Seo Do-ha: Where are you right now?]

It was almost as if he had been waiting all morning for her to read his messages.

The moment she did, another message came in.

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

Seo Do-ha had entered the graduate school last year.

He was one year older than her.

And he was originally someone who absolutely should not have been attending this graduate school.

Because…

[Seo Do-ha: I’ll come to wherever you are right now. Just tell me where you are.]

Seo Do-ha was an EX-rank Hunter, someone who had appeared out of nowhere a few years ago and shot straight to the number-one spot in the rankings.

That was why Baek Seol couldn’t understand why someone like him had enrolled in graduate school and become her junior.

Well…

She did understand a little.

He had enrolled for some unknown reason and was secretly doing something there.

It was probably something extremely confidential.

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

But somehow…

Baek Seol had figured out who he really was.

Gulp.

Baek Seol swallowed hard.

Why did I do that back then…?

Thinking back to this same time last year, Baek Seol let out a long, heavy sigh.