I Only Baked Bread, but I Was Mistaken for the Best - Chapter 37

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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 37. Suppressed Feelings (1)
“Don’t drag it out. This isn’t some morning drama. Owner.”
Noir, without hesitation, pointed out my attempt to set the mood.
Moreover, her vocabulary seemed to be becoming increasingly modern.
“Where did you pick that up?”
“YouTube, obviously. I’ve been binge-watching this drama called ‘The Seduction of My Man’ lately. Meow.”
“What is it with that infamous title mixing two things together like it’s heading straight for melodrama?”
Once again, Noir was trapped in dopamine addiction.
“So what bread are you actually making? Owner.”
“I’m going to make cream puff bread.”
“Cream puff bread? Are you talking about that chou à la crème?”
Noir, who had been rolling her eyes at the mention of cream puff bread, asked as if she understood.
I had to shake my head at this question.
“It’s derived from that, but it’s not quite the same thing.”
“This is complicated. What are you saying? Owner.”
“This has its own origin story too.”
In chou à la crème, “chou” doesn’t actually refer to cream.
It refers to a light and crispy pastry dough made by mixing flour, butter, and eggs, then baking it.
When you fill this with cream, it takes on the form of what’s commonly called a baby choux.
“But when this crossed over to Japan, it became known as cream puff bread.”
Around the 1940s, a Japanese confectionery shop found the custard cream inside the choux so delicious that they had the idea to put it inside regular bread, and that’s how cream puff bread was born.
When this crossed over to Korea again, it went through localization, and that’s the cream puff bread we know today.
“So in the end, it’s just custard cream, isn’t it?”
“But that’s not quite right either.”
Unlike modern bread, which is refined and incorporates Western baking techniques completely, bread from the 1960s had a distinctly different character.
So even though it had the same name, the bread from back then didn’t use custard cream—instead, it used a thick butter cream where you could feel the sugar crystals crunching between your teeth.
“The bread my Grandmother gave me was exactly this kind. When I think about it, it was the kind of bread you could easily buy at a neighborhood mart.”
“Why make it so complicated? You humans sure do live hard lives. Meow.”
“Let’s call it nostalgia.”
Since this bread is for my Grandmother, I need to put in a spoonful—no, a whole handful of memories to satisfy myself.
I’m also thinking of mixing in chestnuts, which my Grandmother loves.
A flavor map already forming in my mind.
I’ll start with the dough.
“Let me get started. I’ll need to use golden flour.”
“Is this a premium strategy?”
“It’s for my Grandmother. I don’t want to make it carelessly.”
Besides, calling it a premium strategy was a stretch.
The bread I was planning to make would be a typical old-fashioned sweet pastry bread.
I measured out golden flour, sugar, salt, dry yeast, and milk to make the dough.
The important thing here is that the bread will definitely have a texture that tears easily along the grain.
“And yet the shell must be thin, soft, and have that savory, nutty flavor.”
After fermentation and resting, I brushed a thin mixture of milk and egg wash across the dough that had puffed up into a round mound, creating a glossy sheen, and then….
“Straight to the Oven it goes.”
The sincere wish I poured into it was for my Grandmother’s health to recover.
Perhaps it was because I cried out silently with each step toward the Oven.
“It’s working perfectly.”
The Oven baked the bread to the exact state I desired without any hesitation.
A bread that gleamed with moisture, yet tore apart like cotton candy with each bite, melting away with a fluffy softness.
Perhaps it was because I had kneaded sincere memories into it.
It tasted remarkably identical to the bread my Grandmother had bought for me back then.
With just that texture and flavor, it felt as though I had returned to the past.
“Just eating that alone would be delicious, wouldn’t it….”
“Not yet. This bread needs to cool first.”
“Freshly baked bread is the most delicious!”
“That depends on the circumstances.”
Of course, the distinctive savory aroma and warmth emanating from freshly baked bread is utterly intoxicating.
But this particular bread simply cannot maintain that heat.
“If it does, the butter cream will melt completely into liquid.”
“Meow. What a shame. Slurp.”
“Wipe your mouth first. Noir.”
After calming Noir, whose tail was wagging like a helicopter blade, I began making the butter cream.
I softened the butter and whisked it until it turned white, bringing out its smoothness.
After adding sugar and condensed milk, I stirred it appropriately.
“It’s not completely mixed. Is that okay? Owner?”
“It tastes better when you don’t dissolve it completely.”
It had to become a cream that not only recreated that flavor from back then but elevated it.
That’s why one of its distinguishing features—the sensation of granulated sugar that crunches when you bite it—had to remain intact.
And by using vanilla essence, I could mask the butter’s characteristic greasy aftertaste.
“Is it finished once I spread this on?”
“Roughly, yes?”
“I’m worried this won’t be enough.”
“Worried about what?”
“Didn’t you want to heal your family? No matter how powerful a Witch’s sincerity is, you’re still a novice. Even an Elixir couldn’t cure this illness—it’ll be impossible to heal with just this much.”
Noir’s concern was reasonable.
I hadn’t even properly grasped the basics of being a Witch yet.
While I could solve most problems, my Grandmother’s condition was so exceptionally rare that it might prove difficult.
“That’s why I’ve prepared something. How about using this?”
What I presented was a very special ingredient that could resolve this situation.
[Pama’s Chestnut]
▷ A chestnut from a chestnut tree that grew under the sacred energy of a spirit that drives away wickedness. Begone, evil spirits!
“Wow! Where did you find this?”
“It was in the Warehouse, so I brought it right away.”
Where else would I get something like this?
Of course I got it from the Warehouse.
“I’m planning to use Elixir as well, and since I’ve already used golden flour and purifying salt in the dough, the bad things afflicting Grandmother should be able to disappear. Whether it’s an illness or something else.”
“Hmm… that certainly makes sense. So how are you planning to use these ingredients? Owner?”
“Just watch for now.”
First, I boiled the chestnuts I had prepared until tender, then cut them into small pieces and simmered them in sugar dissolved with Elixir.
Then I added the minced and simmered chestnut pieces to the butter cream I had made earlier and gently folded them together.
“Once I add Cinnamon here, the chestnut butter cream is complete.”
It was a cream that could be called enchanting just from its aroma alone.
Parma chestnuts had a wonderful fragrance and the characteristic of spreading subtly and lingering for a long time.
I tried a small taste, and it was so delicate and melting that it resembled a Mont Blanc.
Moreover, with the Cinnamon added, I could capture both the refined aroma and sweetness reminiscent of Sujeonggwa.
“By now, the bread should be completely cooled…”
As expected, the baked bread had cooled perfectly.
Now I made a slit along the side and generously filled the inside with the chestnut butter cream.
The rich, dense chestnut cream piled on top of the bread released the pinnacle of savory aroma.
Noir’s hand unconsciously began to reach upward as he stared blankly, so I cried out while protecting the bread.
“Not yet!”
“Isn’t it done! Hurry! Just one bite! This is torture!”
“Just one more step left, so wait!”
Now I just had to gently dust the top of this bread with powdered sugar…
“It’s complete.”
The chestnut butter cream bread was finished, with a visual that looked like it had just come out of a market bakery.
Ding
[Pure Chestnut Butter Cream Bread]
▷ A chestnut butter cream bread baked with sincerity using rare ingredients. It blocks and repels all manner of impurity.
▷ Effect: Erosion Suppression
[A Gift Made with Unwavering Sincerity]
▷ More sincerity must be poured into gifts given to someone than when sincerity is vaguely offered. Now is the time your skills are recognized!
▷ Deliver ‘Chestnut Butter Cream Bread’ to ‘Lee Geum-rye’ 0/1
▷ Reward: 1,000 BP
“Done.”
I couldn’t know what effect “Erosion Suppression” would have, but I was pleased with the description nonetheless.
It wasn’t the part about using rare ingredients.
“It repels impurity.”
Moreover, seeing that it was properly registered as a Quest, I was certain this was exactly the bread Grandmother needed.
So I had baked bread that could block whatever was tormenting Grandmother, hadn’t I?
I was satisfied with just that, but the status window still hadn’t finished.
[Wondrous Achievement unlocks partial information.]
[Reward: ???’s Memory]
[Warning! You must claim your reward in a safe space!]
[Will you claim your reward?]
The message was completely different from the status window notifications I’d received until now.
Unlike before when rewards were simply handed over, this time I could choose when to claim the reward.
Curious, I stared at Noir, but he was already drooling over the cream bread, completely entranced.
“Sigh. I’ll check later. Later.”
For now, I postponed claiming the reward.
I didn’t even know what constituted a “safe situation,” and besides, claiming a reward wasn’t what mattered most to me right now.
“I need to take this to Grandmother right away.”
“Isn’t it far too late? And haven’t you forgotten one crucial step?”
“What step? I baked it perfectly.”
I could feel it while making it.
This bread would definitely turn out perfectly.
But when it came to bread for my Grandmother, there couldn’t be even the slightest problem.
I swallowed hard and listened intently to Noir, who was wiping his mouth with his front paw in all seriousness.
“You must taste it first.”
“Huh?”
“This bread is for your very precious family member to eat directly. How could we be careless about it? I think we absolutely must do a taste test. And that’s a job that requires help from a third party like me! So I’ll help.”
“I should have known the moment you started talking like that.”
“Th-that’s not it!”
Noir jumped up and waved his paws in denial, but his true intentions were obvious.
And I had made plenty of cream bread for Noir anyway.
“Fine. Let’s taste it.”
“Yowwwww!”
I handed him a bread, and Noir devoured it eagerly, getting cream all over his mouth and whiskers.
Soon after gulping down the bread in no time, the creature lifted his head and murmured.
“This is revolutionary… it’s insanely delicious…”
The night butter cream bread had successfully passed even Noir’s inspection.
* * *
“So, you’re saying he went to the Blue Dragon Guild?”
“Yes. I apologize.”
“No need. It was bound to happen eventually.”
The Association President’s office, situated at the highest level of the Hunter Association.
The room’s owner leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.
His face, with white hair neatly swept back, was full of wrinkles, yet his muscular frame was so robust it was visible even beneath his suit—a sturdy old man.
Sim Gyu-hwan, who had maintained an unwavering S-rank position during his active years and was now the Association President, commonly known as the Sword Saint, opened his mouth.
“There was a specific reason I assigned Park Jun-hui, Park Jun-hyeong’s biological sister, to him. The goal was to ensure he’d have favorable feelings toward the Association, whenever he might leave.”
“But he’s an A-rank Hunter. Wouldn’t that be a significant loss for the Association?”
The man answers with an expressionless face.
Gyu-hwan spoke to his secretary, who thought only of the association’s development while excluding all personal opinions.
“Listen here. Since when did we start calculating profits and losses for this? The association exists to close Gates, after all. If other guilds do that work for us, that’s more than enough.”
“However, it is true that some guilds’ conduct has crossed the line.”
“I cannot deny that either.”
Recently, hadn’t there been an incident where a guild occupied a Gate and exploited lower-ranked hunters by detaining them?
It was a side effect that arose as guilds’ authority strengthened, unlike in the old days.
“And this is something you should take a look at.”
“Ah. That matter. This old man has been worrying about it too.”
The documents in the secretary’s hands contained information about the H&G Guild.
Though it was merely a small, newly established guild, those who belonged to it were of a different caliber.
S-rank hunter Maestro, Guild Master of Miracle Guild.
S-rank hunter Yu Ha-neul, Guild Master of Blue Dragon Guild.
S-rank hunter Joo Gyu-ri, the Flame Saint, Guild Master of Dragon Hill Guild.
And A-rank Druid Park Jun-hyeong, who recently joined.
“At the very least, a clause prohibiting duplicate guild membership would be necessary….”
“Hunters have a stubborn streak. The more you try to bridle them, the further they’ll distance themselves from the association. Hmm…. Do you know anything about why these people came together?”
Gyu-hwan asked with sharp eyes.
His role was to maintain hunter society and protect South Korea from Gate invasions.
Therefore, the H&G Guild’s purpose was an important matter to him.
“Officially, they claim to be a specialized guild dedicated to small-scale special Gates… but based on our investigation, there is something we suspect.”
His secretary was not someone who didn’t know this.
She was someone who obtained information by any means necessary, regardless of the methods.
“It was related to bread.”
“Related to what?”
“Bread.”
Silence followed.
Looking at Gyu-hwan’s bewildered expression, the secretary added one more thing.
“Truly.”
It was genuinely an unfair situation.

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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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