I Only Baked Bread, but I Was Mistaken for the Best - Chapter 46

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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 46. Counterattack (1)
True to her nature as a life fairy, Chohong could freely manipulate and transform plants at will.
And then there were Nuri’s Self-Proclaimed Beauties, who seemed capable of effortlessly devouring goblins.
With these two combined, there would be nothing to fear.
“Even just glancing around, this is no joke.”
Perhaps it was due to the ferocious attacks characteristic of the Gate’s flora.
The entire surroundings were painted with the sickly green blood of goblins.
Some creatures were torn in half, others had only their lower bodies remaining, and still others had only their upper bodies left—a grotesque sight.
“At this rate, it might actually be possible?”
“That’s… a fair point.”
Of course, there would be risks involved, but this was the method with the highest chance of success.
The Princess Research Facility was jointly managed by the South Korean government and the Hunter Association.
Because of that, any incident here would be automatically reported, and simultaneously, multiple hunters would be mobilized and heading this way.
When that happened, they would see us.
Noir and I, appearing like smoke.
“No matter how favorably they look at it, we can’t escape being treated as monsters.”
“At least you have self-awareness about it, Owner.”
“That’s something anyone would think of.”
For my smoke state to be lifted, I needed to enter the Gate again.
That Gate within the Princess Research Facility.
When the Gate first opened, it was easy to slip past the frenzied monsters’ eyes and reach here, but the problem was going back in.
“It’s too late to wait for reinforcement hunters to arrive, and even if we wait, we can’t go back in.”
“So we have no choice but to do it, Owner.”
Noir was right.
Given the circumstances, there was no way around it.
When the time came, you had to act.
And Doo-sik, understanding this, was already waddling toward us.
“Squeak!”
“Come to think of it, Doo-sik recognizes me?”
“The Witch’s power to distort perception only applies to humans. Animals don’t inherently have the intention to target and harm only the Witch.”
“So that’s why.”
Doo-sik was seeing my original form.
That made sense—why he was approaching so closely.
He seemed to recognize me as the one who had protected his master.
And that perception was accurate.
“I plan to keep protecting you going forward.”
“Protection is secondary right now—don’t we need to escape from here first?”
“I do have an idea about that, but I’ll need your help.”
“What kind of help?”
“What else would it be?”
I glanced at Nuri, still unconscious and lying on the ground, before speaking.
“The help of a plant specialist and future business partner.”
* * *
“Ugh….”
After walking through the tunnel for quite some time, as the far end came into view, Nuri regained consciousness.
Through ears that had briefly gone on strike, a noise-filled sound reached them, and through eyes, a hazy light gradually took shape.
‘My body feels comfortable, at least.’
A physical state as if I had just enjoyed a long period of quality sleep.
It was a condition that couldn’t be attributed to barely escaping a dangerous situation and losing consciousness.
‘Is this all thanks to that Moisture Sprout?’
I could think of no reason other than the Moisture Sprout drink given by the mysterious mist-shaped being.
The moment I consumed it, the refreshing sensation and all my body’s fatigue vanished as if washed away.
‘I can’t just stay like this. I need to get up quickly and lend a hand, or we’ll all be done for!’
The moment Nuri, thinking such thoughts, staggered to his feet.
“Owner. The human has awakened.”
“Oh. He’s up.”
“Kyuuuu!”
Strange sounds heard immediately upon regaining consciousness.
They were exactly the same voices heard when fighting the goblins that poured through the suddenly opened Gate.
And their forms still appeared as if made from Black Mist clumped together.
Among them, the mist clumped into a human-like shape spoke to me.
“Are you conscious now?”
“Oh. Yes, I am. By any chance… your name….”
“You don’t need to know that. Human. For now, listen to what the Owner says.”
“Y-yes….”
At words that somehow seemed to carry a growling tone, Nuri shrank his already narrow shoulders further.
It wasn’t only because of his personality—Doo-sik, a pit bull terrier, also whimpered and nestled into Nuri’s arms.
“There’s no need to be so harsh.”
“It is only natural. That human must pay the price. For experiencing the Witch’s power. As I always say, that is what a transaction is. Owner.”
“Sigh. Understood. Then, Nuri?”
“Huh! Y-yes. What is it?”
“There is something you must do for us.”
At this moment, Nuri’s head spun.
Experienced the Witch’s power?
It was shocking enough that the Witch, an existence I’d only read about in fairy tales as a child, actually existed, but what did it mean that I had experienced her power?
And on top of that, I had to pay a price for it!
‘Could it be… that what I gulped down earlier was the power of the Witch or something?’
If so, that made sense.
What else could a drink that restored a person on the brink of death from exhaustion be if not the Witch’s power?
So that must be what they call a potion.
Moreover, in legends and folklore, weren’t witches always regarded as terrifying beings who wielded incomprehensible powers?
‘Then where did the Witch go!’
“Nuri? Are you listening?”
“Oh my! Yes, yes. I’m listening.”
“Is there perhaps a way to move the plants?”
“Eh? Plants… my Beauties?”
“Yes. They couldn’t all have been brought in as seeds when we brought them here.”
“That’s… true, but….”
Following the Witch’s words, Nuri retrieved a monster transport cart from the warehouse.
A cart shaped like a box with bars across it, resembling an animal carrier.
“Oh… oh, so we move them here.”
“This should work. Do you happen to have a truck as well?”
“If it’s a porter, we do have one….”
“Then let’s load this on top of it. After that….”
The Witch’s explanation continued.
Nuri’s expression, which had initially been frozen in fear with only nodding, grew increasingly horrified the more he listened.
And for good reason—this was something no normal person would ever attempt.
“Does this even make sense? Goodness. I don’t want to die….”
“Human. Pay the price for the deal.”
“Oh dear… such is my fate….”
But before his eyes stood a strange mist-form Witch, neither clearly alive nor dead.
In the end, he could only obey her commands.
And what was created was….
“Will this actually work….”
The cheap-looking blue delivery truck was no longer recognizable.
Its surface was wrapped tightly in explosive vines, and fierce plants armed with thorns and flat, steel-plated leaves clung to it.
Even the cargo bed was stacked high with multiple transport carts like a mountain.
Each space holding its own savage Gate-born plants.
【Grrrrrrk.】
【Whoosh. Whooooosh.】
【Screeeeeech.】
Nuri’s Self-Proclaimed Beauties expressing their hunger with their own bizarre sounds.
Atop the truck’s cabin, a Beauty writhed its tentacles like a crown, hunting for prey.
And all these plants were….
“Kyuuuuuuuu!”
Empowered by Chohong’s energy, they became loyal weapons.
“Grandi… what are you planning to do with this….”
“We need to break through.”
“Huh? Break through where….”
“Where else.”
Praying that it wouldn’t be that, Nuri’s heart was crushed by a single finger extended from the mist.
“Over there.”
And indeed, the spot the extended finger pointed to was the very heart of the Princess Research Facility—already transformed into a monster-infested den.
“We’ll just go inside that Gate. I’ll handle the rest on my own.”
After all, it was inside the Gate.
* * *
“A Gate Break? At the Princess Research Facility?”
“That’s what I heard.”
At that same moment, in the Hunter Association’s Special Investigation Team 1.
Murmuring voices echoed through the conference room.
The subject of the emergency meeting Kim Ri-a, the team leader of Team 1, had called using her authority was none other than the Gate Break.
Moreover, the Gate Break had opened in the Princess district.
The largest research facility jointly operated by the government and the Hunter Association was about to be destroyed.
“How could such a thing happen? Isn’t that supposed to be a place with strict security?”
“The materials I received contained no explanation. It probably means we can’t discuss it externally right now.”
Ria answered calmly to her subordinate’s words.
But the other team members’ reactions to this answer were different.
“Are they really asking us to clean up their mess now?”
“If they’re just going to push this on us without proper information, we should decline.”
This wasn’t the first or second time.
Problems rarely occurred at places directly managed by the Hunter Association, but whenever the government was even slightly involved, incidents like this always happened.
Was this time any different?
The research facility in the Princess district was nominally and administratively registered as jointly managed by the government and the Hunter Association, but in reality, it was essentially government property.
“How many times have they caused accidents through negligent management and dumped them on us?”
This was the real problem.
Ever since the Hunter Association emerged as an organization, the government seemed anxious about losing control, constantly inserting itself into hunter operations.
An endless cycle of creating regulations and using them to apply brakes.
Some experts judged that if the person sitting at the top of the Hunter Association weren’t the “Sword Saint,” South Korea would have already collapsed under such self-serving politics.
“To be honest, this is infuriating. They start projects they can’t handle, and whenever something goes wrong, they just push it onto us.”
However, there was a significant capability gap between the government and the Association.
The Association, being fundamentally operated by hunters, either quickly resolved problems in emergencies or prevented them from occurring in the first place, but the government did not.
In other words, they made grand proclamations about what they would do, but accomplished nothing while only causing accidents.
“If we don’t handle it properly, only our names appear in the articles… What is this?”
Moreover, they never admitted their own mistakes.
Instead, when problems arose, they simply harassed the hunters in charge of those areas for not responding quickly enough.
When that happened, some irresponsible journalists eagerly published garbage articles condemning hunters, and as a result, the hunters’ reputation suffered.
“If this was going to happen, we should have elected the Sword Saint instead of this fool….”
“Enough. That’s not our concern.”
Ria quietly silenced the team member who was about to cross the line with his boiling frustration, closing her eyes.
It certainly wasn’t wrong, after all.
It was true that the government’s incompetence had damaged South Korea’s Gate response system.
But that didn’t change what she and the hunters of Special Investigation Team 1 had to do.
“Hunters close Gates. The situation is critical, so we’ll advance immediately. We’ll continue uploading information during movement and entry. That’s all.”
“Understood!”
“Then everyone, prepare your equipment——”
Crash!
“T… Team Leader!”
The conference room door burst open violently, and one team member came rushing in frantically.
Everyone shot disapproving glances at this teammate for carelessly throwing open the door during such a critical moment, but the person in question didn’t notice and shouted.
“Team Leader! This! You need to see this!”
“What is it?”
“It’s footage taken by citizens waiting for rescue inside the Princess Research Facility. The government was deleting it as soon as they found it, but we recovered and confirmed it immediately——”
Ria stared at the video thrust before her for a long moment.
But her expression remained grave.
The other team members who reviewed the footage wore the same expression.
“That… that smoke is——”
“No… that’s the enemy? Really?”
In the video, a plant with grotesquely writhing tentacles moved rapidly, devouring goblins indiscriminately.
Above it, something made of Black Smoke was being revered like a king.

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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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