I Only Baked Bread, but I Was Mistaken for the Best - Chapter 24

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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 24. Suspicious and Capable Part-Timer (3)
It was destructively thick.
Moreover, it was a thread in a color different from anything I’d seen before.
“Why is it blue?”
“That’s because it’s a destiny you’ve created with your own hands. I sensed a powerful aura and came back to check, but I never expected to see this again…”
Noir approached my side at some point and meowed while gazing at the blue thread, continuing her explanation.
“The red thread is the destiny that was always meant to be. The blue thread represents the destiny that will unfold through your choices. If that thread becomes stained red, it means the world has accepted your choice.”
“So this thickness is normal?”
“Meow. It means an incredibly significant connection. But even for me, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a thread this thick. This is the first time since I saw one fifteen hundred years ago.”
Noir was so flustered that she couldn’t hide her speech pattern, revealing it clearly.
Regardless, a destiny I chose?
Ding~
“Ah… hello…”
The end of the blue thread was connected to the back of a woman who had just entered through the door.
“This is the bakery that bakes salt bread, right? Yes. That’s right.”
The woman spoke with conviction.
And that woman was…
“An elephant?”
She was wearing a pink elephant pajama set.
This has to be the right destiny, doesn’t it?
“Ah. This… this is… um… a mistake…”
Upon hearing my words, the woman glanced down at her outfit, then her face flushed crimson as she lowered her head.
“Meow.”
At this moment, I felt I understood what Noir’s cry meant.
She possessed a beauty that shone brilliantly even while condensing all the appearances she wouldn’t want others to see.
Her round eyes drooped slightly at the corners.
Her pale skin with a rosy blush proved she was extremely far removed from anything related to sunlight.
And those long, slender limbs on top of it all.
“Something about her feels familiar…”
“Ah… that’s…”
“Oh. I’m sorry. I was talking to myself. Haha. Did you come to buy bread? We’re closing soon, so we don’t have much left.”
Setting aside the inexplicable sense of déjà vu, I pointed to the remaining bread and spoke.
It seemed she had stepped out from home for a moment and stopped by, and since business had been good lately, I felt sorry that there was no bread left.
But the woman shook her head.
As if bread wasn’t her purpose.
“Um… do you happen to be hiring here?”
“Pardon? Suddenly?”
It wasn’t a question someone who came after closing time should ask.
But trembling slightly, she stated clearly what she wanted.
That she wanted to work at my bakery.
And desperately at that.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t hire anyone.”
That said, I couldn’t exactly hire someone even if I wanted to.
No matter how much my business had improved lately, I wasn’t in a position to afford employee wages.
Anyone who understood how terrifyingly expensive labor costs were in South Korea would never even consider it.
Faced with my firm refusal, the woman grew flustered, then squeezed her eyes shut and cried out.
“I… I can be helpful! I even have my barista certification….”
“We haven’t started serving coffee yet.”
“I… I can help with baking bread too….”
“I make all the bread myself as a matter of principle.”
You could call it the pride of a bakery owner.
Every loaf that leaves my shop is baked and sold by me—that’s my rule.
Besides, the Witch’s recipe is something only I can use anyway.
She should understand by now.
That’s what I thought in that moment.
She bit her lip nervously, then squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.
“I… I can solve the problem you’re struggling with!”
Hunter. Problem. Solution.
Those three keywords completely turned my world upside down.
How did she figure it out?
How could anyone possibly know I’m a Hunter?
Did the Hunter Association leak my confidential information?
That couldn’t be.
And even if they did, why would they leak the records of a lowly E-rank Hunter like me?
“Haha, well, I am a Hunter, but I’m just an E-rank whose strength increased, so I don’t really have any worries.”
“Bread. You’re doing something with bread. And this time, it’s probably coffee. I… I can help you….”
She knows everything.
Even that I’m struggling with coffee.
My gaze naturally shifted toward Noir, but he too was staring wide-eyed with his mouth agape.
There was only one solution.
I flipped the sign and locked the shop door.
“Shall we have a serious talk?”
“Eek!”
The Chamber of Truth.
This situation called for it.
* * *
Just to be clear, that doesn’t mean I’m the type to suppress someone through force or anything like that.
That’s something you shouldn’t do to anyone, regardless of gender.
Of course, to ‘people,’ that is.
And that’s precisely why this matters.
What I needed to determine right now was whether the woman standing before me, her eyes darting nervously back and forth, was truly a ‘person’—or some ‘entity’ that had come hunting because she knew I was a Witch.
“Why don’t we start with introductions? I’m Han Seung-hyun. I run a bakery here called Trèfle de bonheur.”
“I’m… Yu Hae-rang….”
“Then would you mind telling me how you came to know so much about me?”
If someone were to ask whether I should be making such bold moves despite my lack of power, I’d say it’s because I have something to rely on.
The cooldown on my Bread Maker of Life had expired.
In that tense moment, Hae-rang spoke.
“I… I didn’t do a background investigation or anything… it’s just… I have a skill….”
“A skill?”
“Yes….”
Let me break down what Hae-rang told me.
She awakened her skill after experiencing a Gate-related accident in childhood.
Her skill was called ‘Extreme Analysis,’ but due to the trauma and resulting anxiety and depression from that time, she’d spent years unable to properly utilize it.
Living that way, today she had eaten bread I’d made.
“After that… I felt my skill starting to work properly….”
“Which bread did you happen to eat….”
“Salt Bread.”
“Ah.”
The Salt Bread I’d started selling today had an effect that removed abnormal conditions.
Thanks to that, all her various symptoms had disappeared cleanly.
“So you’ve been continuously using your skill?”
“Ah. My skill is a passive type….”
A passive skill, she said.
Most Hunters who obtain passive skills start from at least A-rank, or so I’d heard.
“When I combined all the information, it pointed to here….”
The torn texture of the bread, its distinctive flavor, and she deduced the living radius of the friend who’d given it to her and her older sister.
When she analyzed that against data from bakeries she knew about, this place turned out to be the most similar match.
That alone would have been remarkable, but her deduction didn’t stop there.
“When you spoke, you said coffee wasn’t available yet… so I thought there must be some issue with that… and since you said you bake bread alone, and it seems to have some effect, I thought it must be a skill….”
In other words, this is what she meant.
She’d combined my statement that I ‘still’ don’t sell coffee with the fact that I bake bread alone and made her deduction from that.
While there seemed to be some logical leaps, looking at her expression, she was clearly speaking as if she’d discovered something perfectly natural and obvious.
“So why did you say you wanted to work here?”
“That’s… because of my condition….”
In a world where skills, Hunters, and Gates have become everyday life, we simply call it an ‘abnormal condition,’ but the illness she carried was a frightening one.
What could be more terrifying than a disease that causes you to neglect your own life?
“Because of that… I couldn’t help my older sister. I always… only worried her…. Now I’ve finally found a way to solve it….”
Of course, my Salt Bread would be a quick cure, but even that wasn’t a complete solution.
Removing an abnormal condition didn’t mean preventing its recurrence.
So unless Hae-rang herself completely overcame the trauma deeply rooted in her heart, she would continue to need my bread.
She was well aware of this fact herself.
“So… I thought it would be fine if I worked here….”
“Sigh….”
I had nothing to say.
Contrary to my concerns, she was truly a desperate person.
The fact that she had revealed what I was hiding to my face wasn’t because she intended to exploit my weakness—she was simply inexperienced in dealing with people.
Still, fully disclosing the Witch’s Cottage and my abilities carried significant risk.
I simply wanted my bakery to thrive and bring happiness to many people through bread, not to expose myself to danger.
It was while I was lost in such deliberation.
“Meow. Meow.”
“Huh? Noir? What is it?”
“Meow meow. Hisss!”
Noir hissed and flailed his front paws back and forth energetically.
By now, I could understand what he wanted to say just from his gestures.
He wanted to have a separate conversation without Hae-rang knowing.
“Just a moment. Noir says he’s hungry. Haha.”
“Ah… yes….”
“I’ll just feed him and be right back?”
After saying that, I went to the back of the kitchen and entered the Witch’s Cottage before Noir finally opened his mouth.
“Food? Hungry? Does this one look like a gluttonous cat obsessed with meals to you?”
“It was an excuse. Why are you making such a fuss about it?”
It’s not like I could say ‘I’m going to the Witch’s Cottage for a moment to have a conversation with a Familier who looks like a cat but isn’t one, in human speech.’
And I wondered if Noir even realized he’d just called himself a cat.
“I think it will be fine.”
“What do you mean it will be fine?”
“Bringing that human woman into the shop. The thickness of her thread is good, and the initiative remains with the Owner. If anything becomes problematic, couldn’t you just use a Hunter contract or something like that?”
“Well… I do have one….”
According to Miracle, it was personally designed by Maestro, the leader of the Miracle Guild, and he said it could never be broken. So this should be trustworthy.
“But you can’t bring her to the Witch’s Cottage.”
“That goes without saying. If fate permits, it will come to pass, but it’s unreasonable to proceed immediately now.”
I was certainly aware that my abilities weren’t ordinary.
No matter how kind and harmless Hae-rang appeared to be, I couldn’t openly reveal my secrets to her.
After discussing the matter adequately with Noir and relaying the results to Hae-rang, she exclaimed.
“The… the contract! I brought it with me!”
Since she already knew I was a Hunter, Hae-rang had brought the contract from home just in case.
“And… and I don’t need compensation!”
“What? That violates labor law, Hae-rang.”
“It’s fine! I have plenty of money!”
“How much is plenty?”
“Enough to live comfortably without working for the rest of my life! I… sometimes use my skills to trade stocks and crypto when I’m in a good state….”
I have to admit, I’m a bit envious of this.
What would it feel like to naturally know which items would rise and fall in value?
“Then shall we settle the terms here?”
“Y-yes… that works…”
The employment contract using the Hunter contract form was drafted well.
I could rest easy knowing that if she disclosed any secrets, she would lose all her memories due to the clause I included.
In exchange, I would periodically supply Haeryang with Salt Bread, and she would work as a clerk at the bakery.
Of course, I decided to pay her a monthly wage matching the minimum hourly rate.
No matter what, it was only right to compensate someone for their work.
Otherwise, all the laborers across the nation would try to kill me.
“Once the Owner becomes stronger, that will be resolved.”
“Unpaid labor is something humans shouldn’t do.”
“Meow. Then what about me?”
“You’re a cat.”
“Meooooow!”
If you’re unhappy about it, become human then, Noir.
While Noir and I exchanged these quiet jabs, Haeryang was looking around the space with admiration.
“Wow… the shop is really beautiful.”
Watching Haeryang marvel at the bakery’s interior design that I had poured my heart into, I felt a surge of pride.
“Then could you help me with just this first?”
“Ah… yes.”
Haeryang followed my guidance into the kitchen.
Only then did I pull out the recipe for “Witch’s Americano” that I had copied down beforehand and showed it to her as I asked.
“As you might have guessed, this is my skill—infusing properties into food. I recently obtained this recipe, but I can’t quite grasp how to execute it.”
“Hmm…”
Haeryang frowned the moment she saw it and began to ponder.
“So what you’re saying is… if I interpret this and manufacture the potion—the coffee—then I can get hired here, right?”
“Exactly.”
Manufacturing “Witch’s Espresso.”
That was the condition.
If she couldn’t accomplish this, the contract we had just drawn up would be voided, and all the secrets she had learned about me would be erased from her memory.
For me, it was a necessary safeguard.
“If it’s difficult even now…”
“No. I can do it.”
“You can?”
It seemed…
“I understand what you mean. I’ll… try to make it.”
That was my needless worry, it seemed.

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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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