WOSCH 10

Chapter – 10

When I opened my eyes, I was back in my familiar home.

I’m back? Just like that?

“…I even brought the clothes back.”

These were his combat clothes, so I was supposed to return them.

I checked the system window again, but it said that the material collection was complete, and entry to the gate itself was blocked.

“What is this?! I didn’t even get to say goodbye!”

“As long as you accomplished your goal, that’s all that matters, nyang.”

I wondered how dumbfounded Hunter Lee Hyun-woo must have been. I had suddenly disappeared the moment I pulled out the grass.

And on top of that, I had accidentally taken the clothes he lent me with me…. But there was nothing I could do. I didn’t even know his contact information.

‘I should go find him sometime later.’

I hung the combat uniform on a clothes hanger and carefully put it aside. I shouldn’t wash it and accidentally damage it, so I decided to leave it just like this for now.

“Then, shall I try synthesizing the special effect?”

I sat on the bed and opened my status window.

Shop Name: Haneul’s

⇒ Menu List

1. Red Bean Bungeoppang

2. Custard Cream Bungeoppang (NEW)

3. Locked

.

.

When I clicked on the Custard Cream Bungeoppang with the blinking ‘NEW’ label, a message appeared saying that a special effect could be synthesized.

Required material: 20 Solsol Grass.

I had collected all the materials….

“All right. Synthesize!”

As soon as I pressed ‘Synthesize,’ a cute pyororong- sound effect played, and a message saying that it was loading appeared.

Not long afterward, the process was complete, and a visual effect of fireworks exploding filled my vision.

I immediately clicked on the Custard Cream Bungeoppang in the system window.

“Oh, there’s a description that wasn’t there before.”

Custard Cream Bungeoppang

: Bungeoppang filled with soft cream.

Special Effect: Sleepy and Sound (Fatigue -50%)

Fatigue -50%?

So it wasn’t just supposed to make you sleepy?

I looked at the status window and grinned.

“A new effect appeared, so there’s no way I can’t test it.”

As it happened, I was still carrying layers of fatigue from having just returned from my first gate.

“Add some oil~ Pour in the batter~ Add the custard cream~”

I hummed as I made the Custard Cream Bungeoppang. Unlike red bean filling, custard cream was a little more runny, so careful temperature control was essential.

But that wasn’t a problem for me. I was already an expert who had made more than 500 bungeoppang.

‘Perfect, as expected!’

I nodded while looking at the golden-brown bungeoppang I had cooked to perfection.

I blew on the hot bungeoppang to cool it down, then carefully took a bite. The sweet, soft custard cream spread through my mouth, filling it with a rich sweetness.

“Mmm! It’s really delicious!”

Fireworks shaped like bungeoppang exploded inside my head.

I couldn’t believe a taste like this existed!

“Me too! Give me some too, nyang!”

“Hanyang wants some too?”

Hanyang stuck himself right beside me and opened his mouth wide.

I broke off a small piece of bungeoppang and popped it into his mouth.

His black pupils instantly widened.

“Is it really that delicious?”

“It tastes like heaven, nyang!!!”

I scratched Hanyang’s chin as he purred contentedly.

After eating several pieces of bungeoppang, I suddenly yawned.

“Yaaawn, I’m a little sleepy…. Could it be a blood sugar spike?”

“No way. It’s the special effect, nyang.”

It was only eight in the evening. It was a little early to go to bed.

But strangely, my eyelids felt heavy.

Was it really the special effect of the bungeoppang?

“I did go to a gate today, and I am pretty tired. Yaaawn, I should go to bed early.”

I rubbed my drowsy eyes and crawled under the blanket.

‘But didn’t it say that it reduces fatigue? Why am I so sleepy….’

Before I could finish thinking, the moment I closed my eyes, I fell into a deep sleep as though someone had abruptly switched off my consciousness.

And the next morning, I was able to truly experience the incredible effect of the bungeoppang.

“It doesn’t hurt! Not at all!”

I twisted my neck from side to side.

There was no cracking sound.

Then I rolled my shoulders around.

They felt light!

All the muscle pain I had developed from making bungeoppang was gone.

Completely gone.

“It feels like the condition of my body when I was freshly born, nyang.”

Hanyang also stretched his legs with a satisfied expression.

It really felt like I had been reborn.

“…This is definitely going to work.”

I grinned as I thought of the Custard Cream Bungeoppang.

The effect was perfect.

Now all I had to do was give it to Hunter Ria, and the mission would be cleared.

With a pounding heart, I eagerly waited for Monday, when I could finally open the shop.

“Hunter Ria! You finally came!”

“Ah, yes…. You’re certainly happy to see me.”

Hunter Ria avoided my gaze, seemingly flustered by my enthusiastic greeting.

Whether she was flustered or not, there was something far more important to me.

‘Giving her the Custard Cream Bungeoppang!’

I was really curious to see how Hunter Ria, who had supposedly suffered from insomnia ever since awakening, would react after eating the bungeoppang.

“I told you last time, right? That I had prepared a special bungeoppang.”

“Ah… the one that helps you sleep?”

“Ta-da! It’s the Sleepy and Sound Custard Cream Bungeoppang!”

She accepted the bungeoppang somewhat awkwardly and gave me an uncertain look.

Well, of course she did.

To anyone, it would look like an ordinary bungeoppang.

“It looks completely ordinary….”

“I put in a special ingredient that was incredibly difficult to obtain. Please give it a try!”

I gestured for her to hurry up and try it as she hesitated.

“…I wonder if it will actually work.”

She let out a small sigh before taking a big bite of the fin-shaped part of the Custard Cream Bungeoppang.

She quietly stared down at the cross-section of the bungeoppang, which was filled with yellow cream, and said,

“It tastes good, but I still can’t tell what the special effect is—”

Her body slowly toppled sideways.

What was happening?!

“Hunter Ria?!”

As soon as she collapsed, the hunters nearby came rushing over.

Wait, why did she suddenly collapse?

Could it be because of my bungeoppang?

“I-I didn’t know the effect would be like this…!”

I hurriedly took off my apron and ran over to her.

“Hunter! Are you all right?!”

“…Just a moment.”

One of the hunters who was checking her condition beside her slowly raised his head and looked at me.

“I think she just fell asleep?”

“…What?”

“Sleeping. In English, sleeping. In other words, she’s having a really good sleep.”

I looked down at her face.

She looked incredibly peaceful.

Her chest was rising and falling.

Her breathing was soft and steady.

Even her expression was completely relaxed.

Anyone could tell that she had fallen into a deep sleep.

“The bungeoppang’s effect is really this powerful?”

She had only taken one bite.

She hadn’t even eaten the whole thing.

Just one bite.

Not long afterward, doctors from the Medical Department arrived and determined that she had simply fallen asleep. They prepared to transfer her to the hospital ward.

The hunters gathered around exchanged glances with one another.

“Hunter Ria fell asleep just from eating a bungeoppang?”

“That effect is insane….”

And then the shop descended into complete chaos.

“Boss! One Custard Cream Bungeoppang, please!”

“Wait, I was here first!!”

“I’ll have a Custard Cream one too!”

I didn’t even have time to check Hunter Ria’s condition any further. I hurried back into the shop and put my apron back on.

“Aaah! Please line up! I’ll serve you in order!”

Custard Cream Bungeoppang here.

Custard Cream Bungeoppang there.

No matter how many bungeoppang I kept making, orders continued pouring in without end.

‘If I didn’t have the Stamina skill, I would’ve died already.’

It was while I was frantically trying to keep up with the endless stream of orders that something strange happened.

All the noise around the shop suddenly stopped unnaturally.

I raised my head and looked around.

“…Hunter Lee Hyun-woo?”

Just when I thought it had become strangely quiet, I saw a familiar beautiful face standing in front of the shop.

It was Hunter Lee Hyun-woo, whom I had been separated from at the gate without even saying goodbye.

“Hunter Lee Hyun-woo! You came at just the right time. I have a new kind of bungeoppang—”

“What were you thinking, disappearing like that without saying a word?”

“Huh?”

He was wearing exactly the same clothes I had seen him wearing inside the gate.

Could it be that he had remained in the gate all this time?

Even after I left?

Only then did I realize how serious the situation was, and I obediently lowered my head.

“I’m sorry. It was unexpected for me too, so I was startled….”

Who could have known that I would suddenly be returned the moment I finished collecting the materials?

Still, disappearing on my own without saying anything really was rude.

“I wanted to contact you, but I didn’t have your contact information…. You must have been surprised, right? I’m sorry.”

“Haa… It’s fine.”

He shook his head tiredly.

It seemed that after clearing the gate, he had come to check whether I had returned safely.

I should have found some way to contact him.

I felt really bad….

As though his business was finished, he suddenly turned around.

Watching him walk away, I hurriedly called out,

“Ah! I’ll return those clothes to you next time!”

“It’s fine. Just keep them.”

“No, but they looked really expensive….”

He disappeared into the Hunter Management Bureau without even answering me.

I stood there blankly, watching his back, when I noticed the strange looks from the customers around me.

“You two were together over the weekend?”

“And you have to return his clothes? What exactly happened….”

No!

What are you talking about?!

I hurriedly waved my hands, trying to stop the misunderstanding from becoming any stranger.

But since I couldn’t exactly tell them that I had entered the gate alone, the strange misunderstanding wasn’t cleared up.

Instead, it only grew deeper and deeper.