I Only Baked Bread, but I Was Mistaken for the Best - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 2. Baguettes on a Rainy Day (1)
“Did you create this status window right now?”
“Status window? What’s that? I merely conveyed my will.”
I didn’t understand what “conveying will” meant, but the moment those words left his mouth, a status window materialized before my eyes—so it must be the same thing.
“And what’s this about witches needing to bake bread?”
“Common knowledge. The act of bread being reborn as life through the invisible forces of fire, flour, and yeast—it’s perfectly suited to witches who command the order of cycles. It’s quite symbolic, truly a most witchlike endeavor.”
“I understood that perfectly.”
No, unfortunately, I didn’t understand it at all.
Who could possibly understand such nonsense?
“And you’re telling me to bake the right bread? I don’t even know who I’m supposed to give it to. Isn’t this too vague?”
“Why, you ask? I don’t know either. I merely conveyed the will.”
I couldn’t tell if Noir genuinely didn’t understand the status window or was just pretending.
Noir simply scratched his belly and rummaged through the kitchen.
I don’t know who the recipient is, nor what kind of bread it should be.
“Can I even break this curse?”
“In any case, bake bread. Master, wasn’t that what you wanted to do?”
At Noir’s question cutting to the heart of the matter, I closed my eyes tightly, then opened them.
Right. A baker bakes bread.
There’s no reason for other factors to come into play.
“Fine. Let’s give it a try.”
I’d already been living on inertia, having lost my purpose long ago.
Being swayed once more wouldn’t make things any worse.
“First, I need to make something.”
“What are you planning to make?”
“Bread that can test out this unusual oven.”
[Oven: This is a Witch’s Oven. Both preheating and temperature are entirely up to the baker!]
“A Witch’s Oven, huh…”
Ovens are far more delicate instruments than most people realize.
Preheating is essential, and you have to account for temperature variations caused by air circulation inside the oven.
Even with a fireplace-style oven like this, the taste varies dramatically depending on where you bake, but…
“With this, I don’t have to worry about any of that, do I?”
This oven’s performance was closer to something a god had bestowed rather than a witch’s creation.
I was eager to bake bread in it as soon as possible.
“And with an oven like this, the bread I should bake is already decided.”
First, I mix the bread flour, salt, and yeast thoroughly, then knead the dough while pouring in lukewarm water.
The key is to knead it briefly, developing the gluten to about eighty percent.
“Familiar movements.”
“Of course. I’m making a baguette.”
The baguette, meaning “stick” or “rod” in French, became France’s signature bread from the early twentieth century onward.
It’s so essential that a meal without baguette is unthinkable—much like rice is to our country.
“Originally, we ate round bread.”
“We ate pain de campagne, but that changed after labor laws were enacted.”
Pain de campagne, a round loaf, rose to prominence as the national bread in the 1920s when laws prohibited bakeries from operating before 4 AM, making it the people’s bread.
It was thanks to its relatively quick baking time and efficient elongated shape.
“The ingredients are quite simple too.”
After finishing the dough this way, I proceed with the first fermentation.
By repeating folds over 1 to 2 hours while maintaining air pockets, I can create a soft interior.
After that, I divide and shape it into long, thin baguette form, then conduct the second fermentation for 30 to 60 minutes.
“I’m already looking forward to this. It’s a familiar bread.”
“It’ll be even more familiar if you do it this way?”
The characteristic of a baguette—scoring diagonal slashes, then lightly misting with water before baking completes it.
What came next was my experiment.
“Will the Oven truly match my intentions exactly?”
Despite its simple recipe, a baguette requires extremely delicate baking skill.
If baked at too low a temperature, the crust becomes thin and the interior turns soggy.
Conversely, if the temperature is too high, the crust thickens and burns completely while the interior remains underbaked, causing the dough to collapse.
What if these two situations alternate?
“Then it’s simply a complete disaster.”
“So what will you do?”
“Along with oven steam, I’m planning to achieve the initial high temperature.”
If I bake at 230 to 250 degrees initially to create the outer crust, then lower the temperature slightly and maintain it consistently, I’ll achieve the baguette I desire.
The question is whether I can truly satisfy those subtle requirements.
With a racing heart, I inserted the shaped baguette into the Oven.
[The ‘Oven’ has detected the bread entering inside.]
[Reading the subject’s true intentions.]
[Beginning operation.]
“But what true intention did you put into it?”
“True intention?”
“If you don’t put true intention into it, bread will never bake.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Meow! You don’t even know this? I’ll tell you just once, so listen carefully! A witch’s power begins from human fate, and that is the heart itself!”
According to Noir’s explanation, a witch’s bread is only completed when the baker’s true intentions are infused into it.
For instance, it seems one must imbue wishes such as health, happiness, good fortune, and prosperity.
“Then that’s fortunate.”
“Meow? What do you mean?”
“True intention seems to be infused in it.”
Thinking of something while making bread had become a habit for me.
I hoped those who would eat this bread would face no hardship in their paths ahead.
And that they would always be happy.
That’s why I didn’t name the bakery the Clover of Happiness for nothing.
“Isn’t that good enough?”
“Well… it’s humble, but since it comes from the heart, it should be fine.”
I wonder how much time had passed since we had that conversation.
[‘Witch’s Oven’ operation complete.]
The status window notification chimed right on time.
And when I pulled out the finished product, it was nothing short of shocking.
“This… actually worked?”
The baguette was perfect.
The surface was firm with a beautiful golden-brown crispness.
Yet when pressed, the inside remained soft enough to yield gently.
“So this actually works…”
“It’s the Witch’s Oven. Besides, didn’t the owner already bake bread? It would be stranger if it didn’t work.”
Noir reproached me for being surprised by something so obvious, but could I really help such a reaction?
As if enchanted, I snapped one in half, and steam rose from within.
When the moist interior revealed its pale flesh, the countless tiny holes became visible.
Ah, I couldn’t resist this.
“Noir.”
“Meow?”
“It’s okay if I eat one, right?”
“That’s up to you, master… Wait! I want some too! Butter! If you bring butter, I can have some too!”
With the quickest movements I’d ever seen, Noir dashed off with butter in her mouth.
I cut a piece of the square butter with a knife and spread it smoothly on the baguette, then took a bite—it was an absolute festival in my mouth.
The taste was savory, but when combined with the richness of the butter, it was incredibly delicious.
Now I understood why the French claim they can’t live a single day without a baguette.
[Baguette]
▷ A baguette baked using the Witch’s Oven. A hearty taste that conveys the baker’s sincerity.
▷ Effect: Acquire Flame/Physical Resistance Skill
“Huh?”
The description about feeling my sincerity didn’t even register.
What captured all my attention was none other than that effect.
“It grants a skill?”
Skills were normally something hunters obtained at the moment of awakening.
To acquire additional skills beyond that, the only option was to use a skill book with an astronomical price, refined from a monster’s essence with abysmal drop rates.
There was re-awakening, but the probability was so slim it wasn’t worth considering.
But wait, did this even make sense in the first place?
Gaining a skill from eating bread?
“But they say the status window never lies…”
A famous maxim in the hunter industry.
The status window never lies.
Then if I eat this bread, will I really acquire a skill?
“Of course. It’s bread baked by a witch.”
“What exactly is this witch you keep talking about?”
“A witch is a witch. It’s only natural for one to weave magic into bread by pouring sincerity into it. Anyway, it looks delicious—surely I can have just one bite?”
I pushed Noir away as he drooled shamelessly from his mouth.
Who knew what would happen if a cat ate this.
“Meow… meow meow…”
“What’s wrong?”
“I… I want to eat too!”
“Can a cat even eat this?”
“I’m not a cat—I’m a Familier! Hisssss!”
At his earnest hiss, I handed over a baguette spread with butter, and the creature savored it with his entire face buried in it, wearing an expression of pure bliss.
“Mmm… it’s heaven…”
“Is it really that delicious?”
“It’s delicious… Wait! Meow! There’s more! Meow meow!”
If he was going to say that, he should’ve wiped the bread crumbs plastered all over his mouth first.
Right after the two of us finished devouring the entire baguette, a notification sounded.
Ding
▷ Objective: Deliver baguette to ??? 0/1
The question mark that had occupied that space was finally filled in.
All that remained was finding the person who needed it.
“Now I just need to find the person who needs this bread.”
“Give it to them? But our shop has no customers…”
“Don’t worry. Destiny is not something so easily dismissed.”
“Destiny?”
“That’s right. This bread’s recipient was determined long before it was even made. Just wait a little longer.”
So Noir’s advice boiled down to simply waiting.
Since there was nothing else to do, I pulled over a nearby chair and sat down.
It happened to be the chair Noir had been resting in, which caused quite the commotion, but let’s move past that.
How much time had passed?
Ding
“Could it really be a customer?”
“Meow. Didn’t I tell you? I said they’d come.”
“Um… is anyone here?”
Surprisingly, someone opened the door and entered.
Peeking out, I saw a short-haired woman standing with an anxious expression in her eyes.
Completely drenched in rain.
Wait—drenched in rain?
The sky had been clear just moments ago.
With that thought, I looked beyond her through the open door at the scenery outside, and I couldn’t help but be startled.
“What…?”
Bizarrely twisted trees and vegetation.
The dark, dense jungle landscape filled my vision.
There was only one place in South Korea where such a sight could be witnessed.
Inside the Gate.
“I’m… inside the Gate?”
“The Witch’s Cottage requires energy to manifest. Oh, and one more thing.”
“What?”
I stood up, and Noir, who had climbed onto the now-vacant chair and assumed the posture of baking bread, spoke.
“That human woman won’t be able to see our true forms.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Think of it as witch-exclusive security. It’s a system that was installed after that incident where two ungrateful brats pushed the Witch into the Oven, causing her severe third-degree burns across her entire body…”
“So what does she see instead?”
“Just mist covering the face, nothing more.”
Noir yawned dismissively.
But the visitor who had actually come seemed to think otherwise.
“Gasp!”
Her complexion turned deathly pale as she began to tremble.
The woman opened her mouth without bothering to hide her wariness.
“W-who are you? You’re… you’re human… right?”
“Yes. I am human.”
“Then…”
She hesitantly sat down in the nearby chair.
Perched awkwardly on the luxurious chair made of castella cake and candy canes, she looked around like a meerkat surveying its surroundings.
And furthermore…
Grrrrrowwwl
“Oh!”
A thunderous sound rumbled from the woman’s stomach.
“It’s because I got lost inside the Gate…”
“If you don’t mind waiting, I’ll bring something for you to eat.”
The reason for those words was clear.
Ding
▷ Objective: Deliver baguette to Joo Gyu-ri 0/1
The status window had revealed the bread’s owner.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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