Dungeon bakery

Chapter 4

“This is ridiculous, ppi! Who clears quests like this?!”

“Who? Me.”

After putting the cleaning supplies away in the storage room, Baek Seol plopped down on the now completely empty bakery floor.

Ow… my back.

Her back, which had been suffering for an entire week, cracked with a series of pops.

If I had kept cleaning like this, my body would’ve completely fallen apart.

She was already exhausted enough to feel like she was dying. There was no way she had the energy to listen to the Bapsae’s endless complaining.

Baek Seol simply let his words go in one ear and out the other.

Just then, the system window chimed.

<System: You have 10 completed quests. Please check your rewards.>

Oh.

Right.

She had cleared a ridiculous number of quests and received a ton of rewards.

Baek Seol opened the quest window and pressed the confirmation button for each quest.

Every time she did, the item window flashed brightly, making it obvious that something was being added.

“Hmmm. Is this… some kind of bakery uniform?”

After quickly checking all the quests and then opening her item window, Baek Seol tilted her head.

The very first item she received was a piece of clothing that looked like an apron.

When she touched the clothing in the system window, the actual outfit suddenly appeared right in front of her.

Whoa. That’s pretty cool.

It was a cute, girly-looking apron with a slice-of-bread design on the right side of the chest.

<Bakery Uniform>

Have you been waiting for a uniform made just for you? Here it is! A proper bakery needs a proper uniform, after all!

Equip Effect: Makes you look like the owner of a bakery.

After reading the description, Baek Seol wasn’t impressed.

There was no buff.

It was basically just decoration.

Baek Seol had played games for years, but she had absolutely no interest in dressing up her characters just for looks.

She only cared about one thing:

Maximum efficiency.

So an outfit with no useful effect was completely worthless to her.

Besides, the overly cute design didn’t suit her at all.

Baek Seol tried dragging the outfit toward the trash-can icon at the bottom of the item window.

This should delete the item, right?

And then—

<System: The system is recording your actions. ……(Recording…)……>

The system sent her a message that practically sounded like it was saying:

How could you throw away an item I gave you? That would make me very sad.

Is the system actually remembering my actions?

Baek Seol had played a game like this before, where the characters’ reactions gradually changed depending on the player’s choices.

Back then, watching the NPCs slowly become colder toward her had been…

Kind of scary.

“……”

Baek Seol quietly pulled the apron back before it could disappear into the trash.

Even she felt a little guilty about throwing away something the system had just given her.

She probably wouldn’t wear it anyway, but for now, she’d just leave it in the corner of her inventory.

She moved it into the empty slot right next to the trash icon.

Judging by where she put it, it was pretty obvious she had no intention of taking it out again.

<System: The effect of the Bakery Uniform has been changed.>

But the sudden system message made Baek Seol quickly put the apron on.

A new effect had appeared.

<Equip Effect: Makes you look like the owner of a bakery.>

+ While equipped, 1P of debt is deducted every hour.

……

Okay. The system’s pretty clever.

It had actually managed to manipulate her exactly the way it wanted.

But Baek Seol was an extreme efficiency freak, and she had to admit—

She liked this effect.

Actually, she had no choice but to like it.

If she wore it all day, 24 points of debt would disappear every day!

Converted into Korean won, that was 24,000 won a day.

Baek Seol grinned and checked the points at the bottom of her item window.

“The quest rewards gave me exactly 10,000 points.”

“Of course, ppi. The beginner quests were originally designed so that clearing all of them would give you enough points to unlock that door.”

The Bapsae tapped his tiny feet against the floor, clearly unhappy about what Baek Seol had done.

It wasn’t scary at all.

If anything, it was just cute.

“So, can I open that door now?”

Baek Seol walked toward the door the Bapsae had said would let her make money.

What’s on the other side?

Since she’d skipped most of the previous quests, she had absolutely no clue what this door was for.

“You can’t just open it yet, ppi! You’re nowhere near ready! There’s nothing inside the bakery! Do you really plan on welcoming customers like this?”

“……Customers?”

Now that she looked closely, there was a sign hanging on the newly unlocked brown door.

It said CLOSED.

Apparently, the sign was used to control whether the bakery was open or closed.

This is the door customers come through?

The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

There was no other door outside except the one she’d been using all this time.

Maybe it’s different because this is an Awakened person’s shop?

Do customers somehow teleport through this door from another space?

“Then the door I’ve been using isn’t for customers?”

“That door is for customers too, ppi.”

The Bapsae answered with a pout, clearly annoyed.

“See what happens when you skip all the earlier quests, ppi?! This is exactly why I made the beginner quests in the first place!”

“……”

So this Bapsae was the one who made all those beginner quests?

Now that she knew where the quests came from, Baek Seol narrowed her eyes.

And right then, the system window chimed again.

<System: With the completion of Beginner Quest ①, your connection with ‘World’s Staff ???’ has been activated. Please greet the supporter who will actively assist you in running the bakery.>

Supporter?

Baek Seol blinked at the unfamiliar word.

World’s Staff was obviously referring to the grumpy-faced Bapsae standing right in front of her.

“There’s no need for introductions, ppi. We’ve already met.”

“……You’re my supporter?”

“That’s right, ppi. You should be proud to receive support from this great body, ppi. Even though you completely trampled over every beginner quest I prepared…”

I didn’t trample over them…

Baek Seol silently muttered to herself.

So this Bapsae was her supporter?

And if he’d deliberately created those beginner quests, wasn’t it probably just because he didn’t want to deal with the hassle himself?

Baek Seol stared suspiciously at the Bapsae.

Then another system message appeared.

<System: Your supporter is waiting for you to give them a name.>

Huh?

Baek Seol blinked.

The Bapsae standing in front of her didn’t look like he was waiting for her to name him at all.

Just look at that grumpy little beak.

“Do I have to give you a name?”

“……Hmph. Yes, ppi. I’m your supporter from now on, after all.”

“Uh… okay.”

A name?

Baek Seol looked troubled.

Whenever she played tycoon-style games, there were often times when she had to name pets or animals.

And every time, she was too lazy to come up with anything.

She’d just use numbers.

For example, if she had several cats:

Cat One, Cat Two, Cat Three…

And if she only had one pet?

She’d just name it Baek Seol Jr.

But there was no way she could call this Bapsae “Baek Seol Jr.”

The moment she did, that tiny beak would probably peck her cheek.

After living with the Bapsae for a week, Baek Seol had learned just how picky he was.

She didn’t want to create unnecessary trouble.

Unfortunately, there was one big problem.

As mentioned earlier, Baek Seol was obsessed with efficiency.

She had absolutely zero talent for naming things.

“How about… Bapsae?”

“Bapsae? Bapsae?! I can’t have the same name as some lowly little creature like that, ppi!”

You literally are that lowly little creature.

The Bapsae glared at Baek Seol angrily, apparently unaware of his own identity.

“Then… you’re white, so how about Hayan?”

“PPIIIK!”

“Your eyes are black, so… Kkamang?”

“PPIK! PPIK!”

Ugh.

Why is he so picky?

Baek Seol clicked her tongue.

“Do I really have to give you a name? Can’t I just call you ‘Supporter’?”

“No! Ppi! What kind of lazy name is that?!”

“Then what should I call you?”

“PPIK PPIK!!”

The Bapsae flapped his wings and stomped his tiny feet against the floor.

Of course, from a Bapsae’s perspective, it was a powerful stomp.

In reality, it didn’t make a sound.

“What? You want ‘Ppik Ppik’? You want me to call you Ppik Ppik?”

“……”

The Bapsae looked like he was about to explode.

Baek Seol looked around solemnly.

At this rate, he might actually pass out.

“Okay, okay. Give me a second. Hmm…”

Baek Seol tried to think of all the cool or pretty names she’d ever come across.

Then—

“Do you have a name you want?”

She quickly gave up.

She didn’t trust her own naming skills.

The Bapsae immediately spread his wings and gave a smug little laugh.

He looked so confident that Baek Seol thought he must have much better naming skills than she did.

“How about Luidris Shayeigrey Katana Ohanius the First, ppi?”

“……”

Nope.

I’m taking back what I thought a second ago.

Baek Seol quietly admitted that she’d been a little too careless.

Then she muttered,

“Then… how about Lucy?”

“……Ppi?”

The Bapsae narrowed his eyes.

His expression clearly said:

I just gave you an incredibly cool name. Why did you turn it into ‘Lucy’?

“Luidris… Shayeigre… whatever the rest was. It’s way too long. And since the first part is your family name, even ‘Luidris’ is too long. Let’s just call you Lucy.”

“I don’t like—”

“What if you’re in danger someday and I shout, ‘Luidris Shayeigrey Katana Ohanius the First! You’re in danger!’ and by the time I finish saying your name, the golden time has already passed?”

It was a completely ridiculous argument.

But somehow, the Bapsae seemed convinced.

He rested one wing beneath his chin as if deep in thought, then nodded seriously.

“I see, ppi. But my name will still be Luidris Shayeigrey Katana Ohanius the First. For convenience, you may call me Lucy for now, ppi.”

“So that’s settled? Lucy!”

“Understood, ppi.”

<System: The supporter’s name has been set to ‘Lucy.’>

Perfect.

The hardest part—coming up with a name—is finally over.

Lucy looked at Baek Seol’s satisfied smile with an unhappy expression and let out a little snort.

“By the way, did you check all the previous system messages, ppi?”

“Huh?”

“You completed so many quests that a bunch of messages probably appeared all at once. Go through them carefully again, ppi. You never know if you missed something.”

Lucy had a point.

Baek Seol began checking the system messages that had been pushed upward, one by one.

Just as Lucy said, there were several messages she’d missed.

And among them was one that looked different from the usual system messages.

Huh? What’s this?

“……A hidden quest?”

The system message was written in sparkling golden letters.

<System: Congratulations! You have completed a hidden quest. Tap the message window to check it.>

A hidden quest?

Baek Seol blinked and glanced toward the quest window.

There definitely hadn’t been any completed quests there earlier besides the beginner quests.

Maybe that’s why it’s called a hidden quest?