I Only Baked Bread, but I Was Mistaken for the Best - Chapter 67

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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 67. The Giant and Confections (3)
“What… what on earth is this…?”
Siwoo stammered in bewilderment as light erupted from the dough I’d pulled out.
It was understandable.
The light bursting from the dough in his hands flooded the Kitchen like a flash grenade.
Yet even amid the chaos, my eyes perceived it clearly.
It wasn’t just the dough that glowed.
Light flowed from Siwoo himself, streaming toward the dough.
The dough devoured it greedily, like a starving chick hungry for every morsel of light pouring from Siwoo.
“Just as I anticipated…”
To infuse genuine sincerity, working together was the answer.
“With this, I can create the Gingerbread Man summon I desire.”
The Gingerbread Man summon I wanted wasn’t a slave to do my bidding—but rather an employee.
However, for that to work, it needed to be a certain size.
After all, what could a Gingerbread Man the size of my palm possibly help me with?
It was then that Siwoo, who possessed the Enlargement skill, seemed drawn by fate itself to this place.
Though admittedly, that wasn’t my only reason for seeking him out.
Ding!
[The dough has been successfully matured!]
[Tip! Remember that creating summons in the future will require special materials. Please be mindful!]
“As if being mindful helps…”
I decide what summons to create and how to make them.
But that doesn’t mean I have any way of knowing what materials go into each one.
Luck like this won’t come around often.
“Isn’t that precisely why the Room of Prophecy exists?”
“So I just need to receive a prophecy and that’s it?”
“Meow. Though the Witch’s Cottage exists and acts for its Owner, it can’t spoon-feed you forever. For the Witch’s Cottage to operate efficiently, you must supply it with BP—the power generated by changing destiny.”
So to summarize…
1) BP is needed to upgrade and unlock more abilities.
2) BP is consumed when completing Quests to obtain BP.
3) BP is used to create summons.
Conclusion.
“It’s a system where BP drains just from breathing. This is ridiculous.”
“Oh, and your summons will also consume BP when they use their abilities.”
“This isn’t some predatory gacha game designed to milk players…”
“I don’t know what that is, but there’s no helping it. For the Witch’s Cottage, BP is like food. Think of it as feeding her. Meow.”
“Ah… w-what do I do?”
My lament about the Witch’s Cottage was cut short by Siwoo’s words.
Well, with light exploding everywhere like that, his panic was only natural.
“Now we must complete the final steps. I’ll set the dough down here.”
“Yes!”
Apparently quite frightened, Siwoo hastily handed me the dough the moment I spoke.
The description of the dough I received was completely different from before.
[Matured Gingerbread Man Dough]
▷ Dough that has completed maturation after inheriting a peculiar destiny.
▷ Contains the sincerity of ‘Seong Si-woo’.
Successful.
The status window guarantees it, so there’s no room for doubt.
For now, let me focus on baking this.
“Um… is that all I need to do?”
“For now, yes.”
“Is there anything else I need to do…?”
“Hmm… not at the moment.”
There shouldn’t be anything else Siwoo needs right now.
It seemed the necessity the status window mentioned was fulfilled with this.
Of course, this alone won’t solve his problem.
So after baking the Gingerbread Man, I’ll need to bake new bread.
“Would you wait a moment?”
“Oh! Yes! I understand!”
I watched his retreating figure with his short legs pattering toward the parlor, then set down the dough and murmured.
“I hope it turns out as expected…”
“Just trust me, Owner.”
“I am trusting you.”
Before worrying about bread for Siwoo, let me finish what I was doing.
The well-matured dough now had a chewy texture, unlike before.
With this, there shouldn’t be any problems when cutting it with the cookie cutter.
“Now I’ll roll out the dough and cut it with the molds.”
“Sounds fun.”
“Squeeeee!”
“Want to give it a try?”
Noir and Chohong, hardly children anymore, brought their favorite cookie cutters and pressed them into the dough with little pokes.
All that’s left is to put them in the oven and bake.
With the oven’s help, unbound by time…
“Is it done? It smells delicious.”
The Gingerbread Man cookies from the oven each displayed a golden-brown hue.
And they carried that distinctive scent of ginger… no, the Mandrake’s peculiar pungent yet sweet earthy aroma.
You could certainly call it appetizing, but…
“No, not yet.”
“Aren’t they fully baked?”
“Like this, they can’t be called Gingerbread Man cookies. They’re just bodies without anything else.”
The true form of the Gingerbread Man cookie comes from its decoration.
That’s why I prepared the icing only after the cookie had completely cooled.
I mixed powdered sugar, egg white, and lemon juice thoroughly, then transferred it into a piping bag.
“With this, I’ll draw the face and clothes.”
After drawing the hair and face, I apply icing as if dressing the figure in clothes.
And finally, I attach three chocolate chips that serve as buttons while adding sweetness….
“And it’s complete.”
[Mandrabread Man]
▷ A person-shaped cookie baked using Mandrake. The formal suit-like icing is an incredibly attractive point! …or so I believe.
▷ Warning! Never anger him!
“Hmm… is something wrong?”
“What’s the matter?”
“I was definitely trying to bake a summoned creature, but this doesn’t quite qualify as one….”
A proper summoned creature should be alive and moving.
But what about now?
It’s just a cookie.
A delicious-looking cookie.
Though the description portrays the creature as alive, it shows no intention of moving whatsoever.
The Quest didn’t show any particular reaction either.
“Maybe something additional is needed….”
“Wait. Meow. Owner, why are you so impatient?”
“That’s rich coming from someone drooling over bread.”
“Kyuuuu!”
“See? Even Chohong agrees with me.”
“Haaaaaack!”
Noir, caught red-handed, hisses defensively.
Seeing her like that, I burst out laughing.
Right, let me not overthink this.
It’s normal that I wouldn’t succeed on my first attempt at something new.
I pushed the cookies aside and decided to focus on what needed to be done immediately.
“I should resolve Siwoo’s problem. After all, I received his help.”
“Do you need assistance? Owner?”
“I’d appreciate it.”
“Understood. Meooooow!”
Since it’s now confirmed that BP will drain away as naturally as breathing, I can only build it up like this, piece by piece.
But Noir, having meowed loudly once, simply tilted her head in confusion.
“She says the Witch’s Cottage isn’t necessary.”
“What? It’s not necessary?”
“That’s right. It seems the problem has already been resolved. Moreover, the issue regarding the summoned creature as well.”
Ding!
[The Mandrabread Man accepts his fate.]
An incomprehensible force swirled around me as I was drawn into one of the ten cookies lined up before me.
A cookie whose chest rose and fell as if breathing.
But that wasn’t all.
“Is this… the original size?”
“How could it be?”
The cookie continued to grow larger.
Eventually, it expanded until it reached a size similar to Noir’s, then stopped swelling before shrinking again.
And once more, the status window appeared.
After the same descriptions as before, I could see something new had been added.
▷ Skills
① Gigantification: If dough is available nearby, use it to grow larger. Afterward, self-repair to the primordial cookie state.
(BP consumption proportional to size)
② Self-Replication: If dough is available nearby, use it to create Gingerbread Man cookies.
(100 BP consumed per unit)
③ Shriek: Release the scream of the Mandrake inherent within my body.
(100 BP consumed)
[Quest Complete!]
[You obtain 5,000 BP as a reward.]
Fortunately, it was as I had anticipated.
The Gigantification skill had appeared after accepting Siwoo’s power.
But was that all?
“Actually, what I was aiming for was that description.”
Self-repair.
Siwoo suffered because of this, but I saw the potential.
It returns to its previous state every time it’s used?
Then that means damage would be restored as well.
This skill has far greater utility than Gigantification.
“The Kitchen is a dangerous space, after all.”
There are heavy objects, and sharp and hot things abound.
Even if the Gingerbread Man cookies work carefully in such a place, getting injured is inevitable.
But with this, everything is solved.
“Siwoo has the problem of continuously getting younger, but the cookie will still look like a cookie even if it gets younger.”
Since the side effects are meaningless, it’s truly perfect.
And just as Noir had said…
“Done! It’s done!”
“Look at that. It seems to be resolved.”
Noir nodded as I heard Siwoo’s cry from outside.
* * *
‘Will this actually work?’
Siwoo sat slumped in an armchair crafted from bread and confections, releasing what must have been his hundredth sigh of the day.
‘This has to be resolved somehow….’
How much suffering had it taken just to reach this point?
I had wandered through countless Gates searching for the so-called ‘Yeon-gi.’
And the place I finally arrived at was the Gate, ‘Scrap Metal Mirage.’
A location that received a Danger Rating of A due to the mountains of scrap metal piled high and the scrap metal golems crawling out from within.
When I defeated the charging monsters through a fortunately triggered gigantification and finally discovered the candy-made cottage while hiding, I had let out a cheer of triumph.
It matched the rumors perfectly.
And the form of the Black Smoke that greeted me inside was something else entirely.
‘Yet they couldn’t give me a definitive answer….’
I understood.
I knew this wasn’t a simple problem.
Besides, this mysterious being had no obligation to help with my affairs.
But then what was I supposed to do?
Was I meant to continue growing younger until I faced death?
‘At least I need to support Hyewon through university….’
It was just as tears I’d been holding back began to burst forth while thinking of my poor only younger sister.
Thump.
“Huh?”
The sensation of my heartbeat.
It was a familiar feeling.
Whenever the gigantification skill activated, my heart would race like this.
Thump! Thump!
The beating grew faster and faster in the meantime, like striking a drum.
Immediately, I pushed myself up to head outside.
If gigantification occurred here, my body could cause a catastrophic collapse of the building.
At this rate, I’d probably grow to the height of a three-story building.
“Ugh… I need to get out… huh?”
But something was wrong.
Normally, I would have expanded rapidly like an inflating balloon.
Yet my body underwent no change whatsoever.
“Huh… what on earth is….”
And that inexplicable sensation coursing through my body.
When I squeezed my eyes shut against the bizarre feeling of something embedded within being torn away, then opened them again.
Ding
[Your skill is evolving.]
▷ The detailed aspects of the ‘Gigantification’ skill are changing.
[Gigantification]
▷ By borrowing the power of primordial force, you gigantify. Thus you return to the primordial.
The status window trembled violently as if static were interfering, then….
[Gigantification]
▷ By borrowing the power of primordial force, you grow to enormous size. The primordial power obeys your will.
And then….
[Gigantification]
▷ By borrowing the power of primordial force, you grow to enormous size. The primordial power obeys your will.
A description as simple as it could be.
“The part about returning to the primordial state… it’s gone?”
The side effect that had tormented him so viciously until now.
That was the true identity of that description.
The primordial state—in other words, the part about gradually reverting to when Siwoo first appeared in this world—had vanished.
And on top of that, it obeys my will.
There was only one thing that could mean.
“Ha… haha… is this really happening?”
Siwoo hurried outside.
This time it wasn’t out of concern for the building.
I simply wanted to confirm whether this dream-like reality had truly come to me.
“[Gigantification]!”
My body swells like a balloon, obedient to my will.
In an instant, I had grown to the size of a three-story building.
When I immediately deactivated the skill, I carefully examined my body.
Whether my height had shrunk slightly, whether the length of my finger joints had become shorter.
But there was no change whatsoever.
“Is this… is this really true?”
Unbelievable, yet reality.
I had desperately wished for the skill to disappear.
But something even greater than that had come to pass.
“It’s done! It’s finally done!”
The moment when a desperate wish was fulfilled.

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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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