I Only Baked Bread, but I Was Mistaken for the Best - Chapter 75

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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 75. How to Set Things Right (1)
It would have been just another ordinary day.
These pathetic children, whose greatest achievement in life was nothing more than trampling others to climb higher, would have gathered in groups at the park and chattered away.
One of them would have pulled cigarettes from his pocket, shared them around, and spewed vulgar insults mixed with profanity.
And then, at some point, the conversation would have turned to this.
‘Should we call that girl?’
To them, “that girl” referred to only one person.
There couldn’t possibly be another existence besides me who was so easy to push around, so harmless to torment, so utterly ignored by everyone.
That’s how it would have gone.
That’s how today would have gone.
If it hadn’t, they wouldn’t have summoned me out here past two in the morning.
Click.
They wouldn’t be grinning like that while staring at me.
Now I can see everything clearly.
The one on the left is looking at me with filthy eyes.
The woman next to him is nestled against him, playing coy.
The bastard standing beside them is just trying to please the pair, and the one making noise in front is doing the same.
Click, click.
That was all the reason it took.
The reason for all that endless torment was merely…
“So that’s what it was.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Hey. Looks like she didn’t get hit enough.”
“Thank you.”
For freeing me from any guilt.
– It’s strange to be carrying guilt in the first place.
Right. It was wrong to hold such excessive emotions toward these pieces of trash.
Click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click.
“What is that sound? Why does something keep clicking?”
“What are you saying? Idiot.”
“Be quiet.”
“What?”
Be quiet.
Whoosh, thud.
“Huh?”
One down.
Just by flicking the needle I brought with my finger, one source of noise was eliminated.
How efficient—one needle in the forehead and he goes silent.
In that moment, I found myself laughing at my own past conviction that this method wouldn’t work.
– Yes. Look now. See how those things over there are staring at that filth with shocked eyes.
“Yeah. Show me.”
– Isn’t this fun?
“Yeah.”
Only now could I smile.
“This is so much fun.”
“Kyaaaaaaah! What the—!”
“You crazy bitch!”
I hurled a needle into the ankle of the creature charging at me.
The thread pierced through the tendons of both ankles and knotted itself.
The garbage collapsed with a delightful scream.
Still, shouldn’t we keep the noise down at dawn?
“Be quiet.”
“Grraaaaaah… guuuugh!”
With a simple gesture, I extended the thread and stitched its mouth shut.
Next, I pierced the right arm of the fleeing creature.
“Kyaaaaaaah! It hurts! It hurts!”
“It hurts?”
Just this much?
How could that possibly hurt?
That level of pain is something you just endure, isn’t it?
If you can endure it, then it’s not really pain, is it?
“Why does it hurt?”
“You really are crazy!”
The creature’s face had turned dark from makeup running down as it wept.
Why cry over something that doesn’t even hurt?
“You’re just being loud for no reason.”
“Uh… how…”
When I drew close and looked down at its face, the creature stammered.
I found myself wondering too.
How could I be like this?
When I swept my hand through the air, the needle moved as if it had come alive.
Black thread that wasn’t even threaded somehow caught in the needle’s eye.
Without any resistance whatsoever, piercing through human flesh as easily as tofu.
– Dayeon. You’re misunderstanding something. Those things aren’t people. That’s why they pierce so easily, isn’t it?
Ah. I see.
My friend is clever, as always.
Since those things aren’t people, I can treat them this way.
I can just dispose of them.
“Right?”
“Please! Save me!”
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry! Dayeon, please!”
“A lie.”
It was a lie.
If that had been genuine, things wouldn’t have come to this.
No, truth and lies are judgments made about people in the first place.
For these creatures, there’s only one judgment that matters.
“W-h-a-t-d-i-d-y-o-u-d-o-w-r-o-n-g-a-l-i-g-n-y-o-u-r-s-e-l-f.”
I flicked my fingers at the remaining three woven by thread, then pointed to one.
“Start with this.”
“Ugh… uuuuaaaaahhh!”
I forced the right arm of the thing woven in thread to move.
Strangle the neck.
Its left hand tried to resist, so I left it as is.
It wouldn’t matter anyway.
“Hack! Cough! Gggguuuugh!”
“Wait for the rest. The next ones are yours.”
It’s almost time.
Once I’ve disposed of all these creatures, I’ll be free.
Then I can live doing the things I want to do.
When that happens, I’ll go meet Teacher Seung-hyun.
Now I’ll step forward confidently and tell Teacher Seung-hyun.
I’ll tell him.
I’ll say it…
What was it again?
Scritch.
The thread was cut.
No, it shouldn’t have been cut, yet it feels that way.
It must be because I no longer feel the creature’s ragged breathing at my fingertips.
I lifted my head to look, and it wasn’t moving at all.
As if time itself had frozen.
I tried to manipulate it several more times, but neither the thread nor the needle moved.
“What?”
“An additional tip came in, so I wondered what it was…”
At the voice from behind, I flicked the needle again.
The needle flew through the air with a sharp whistle.
But…
“[Vector Zero].”
The needle and thread froze solid.
Suspended in mid-flight, as if it had been taxidermied.
And from the darkness, a woman stepped forward.
With the sharp click of her heels, she tucked her short hair behind her ear and turned to face me, opening her mouth to speak.
“Kim Ri-a, Team Leader of the Hunter Association’s Special Investigation Unit 1.”
She tapped the suspended needle with her slender, elongated fingers.
“As of now, I’m placing you under arrest for being an unregistered Hunter caught in the act.”
* * *
‘Quite a dangerous Hunter, this one.’
She was the one who’d received that incomprehensible tip-off call at dawn.
In fact, she could only arrive after receiving an additional call.
Ria had been irritated the entire way here, but in this moment, she felt nothing but tremendous tension.
‘I can’t understand the attack method at all.’
Though I’d apprehended countless unregistered Hunters who’d committed crimes over the years, this time was different.
I could see the attack, but I couldn’t comprehend its method.
The needles flying toward me were certainly real objects.
But the thread?
It wasn’t something I could see clearly with my own eyes.
‘I’ve fixed it in place with my ability, but that’s only the needle. The thread is still moving even now.’
My skill that elevated me to A-rank status—’Vector Zero’.
I project a mana-constructed grid onto the space that enters my field of vision.
Then I mark points in empty space, draw lines, create specific equations for polyhedra, and reduce the vector values at those points to zero.
‘All kinetic energy should normally be annihilated.’
My epithet, earned through this ability, is the ‘Taxidermist’.
It derives from how the criminals I restrain and all their attacks become fixed as if they were taxidermied specimens.
‘Yet this is still moving.’
Unlike the needle, the thread undulates and ripples even under my control.
This mysterious thread, composed of something like black tar, was neither mana nor a physical object.
Because of this, I raised my guard completely.
My opponent appeared to be a high school student.
I’m currently reporting the situation to headquarters via body camera, so I should be able to check their identity soon.
In the meantime, my role would be to buy time and protect the civilians.
‘Though it’s questionable whether those can even be called civilians.’
I’m not so oblivious as to miss things.
I could tell at a glance what those punks had been doing.
Besides, I’d also heard from that mysterious informant who oddly added ‘meow’ to the end of their sentences whenever they got excited.
But this method is wrong.
They must face the stern judgment of the law.
Unlike the peaceful times before Gates appeared, when sentences were finite, they’ll receive proper punishment.
“Those ones will face Gate labor sentences according to the severity of their crimes.”
Gates sometimes remain with residue even after they’ve been cleared.
Collecting Gate byproducts scattered inside or outside such Gates—that’s what Gate labor sentences entail.
In a world where every individual person became precious with the emergence of Gates, serious school violence of this degree would certainly warrant a Gate labor sentence.
However, if the target here were to unleash their power and harm someone, even an unregistered Hunter could face punishment alongside them.
“So please stop your skill and comply with our control….”
“I don’t want to.”
The target shook her head and fired needles once more.
Even Ria, a seasoned agent, couldn’t track the speed with her eyes, yet she calmly cast her skill.
“[Vector Zero].”
The pre-marked coordinates connected to form a tetrahedron.
The needles that entered those coordinates froze in an instant.
– Team leader! Identity confirmed!
“Tell me.”
– She’s a civilian not yet registered in the Hunter database! There’s no awakening report either. She’s an unregistered Hunter!
“Just the information.”
– Name: Yeom Da-yeon. Age: 17. Current high school….
“She’s a school violence victim. Handle it quietly if possible.”
– Understood.
Thanks to my team member following the instructions I’d given before dispatch, I obtained the information.
They’ll handle the subsequent orders well too.
Unregistered Hunters were a matter that captured the nation’s attention.
It was better not to give the current government—already in conflict—any ammunition to make an issue of this.
‘To do that, I need to handle this quietly first.’
“There is nothing good for you in this outcome. I urge you to think rationally.”
“I’m already thinking rationally enough.”
No one would believe that.
Black substance was dripping from her eyes and mouth, and her hands were drenched in blood from whatever had happened.
She was trying to pierce and kill someone by moving blood-stained needles with her skill.
How could anyone call someone rational when they wore a mad smile, claiming to be truly happy in the midst of it all?
But….
“I’m whole and complete. I’ve never been more certain of my resolve. So….”
Countless needles—who knew how many she’d brought—tumbled from her pocket.
All of them covered in dried blood, threaded through black tar and floating into the air.
Their target was already decided.
“Don’t interfere!”
“[Vector Zero].”
Shwapapapapat
Ria marked points with her fingers, connecting them to freeze the space.
The needles came to a halt.
Ria thought to herself.
Though she wielded incomprehensible power, it should be possible to restrain her like this.
Da-yeon’s attacks relied heavily on the needles.
The needles were limited in number, and if she removed all of them, she could stop her.
“I must advise you once more. Stop here.”
“Haa… haa….”
Every needle Dayeon had brought was suspended in mid-air, frozen in place like taxidermied specimens.
Ria hadn’t moved a single step.
Moreover, seeing her labored breathing suggested the strain from the skill was extraordinarily intense.
‘Now would be safe.’
It was then that Ria took her first step toward Dayeon, weaving between the frozen attacks.
“There’s no way out now….”
Dayeon muttered to herself.
“Really? That’s all it takes?”
But it was far too strange to be called mere muttering.
“Yes. That’s what I wanted.”
It was as if she were conversing with someone….
‘Conversing with someone?’
A sudden image flashed through Ria’s mind.
The heart of the Princess Research Center, which had suffered the greatest devastation when the Gate Break occurred.
Though classified and never disclosed to the public, it was a single researcher who had triggered the entire incident.
The very person who had forced the Gate under research to go berserk.
‘And even in the footage we barely recovered, she displayed that same behavior. Speaking alone, yet as if conversing with someone….’
An alarm bell of dread rang out.
Ria’s pace quickened.
And Dayeon smiled brightly.
“Alright then….”
“Headquarters! Respond! Headquarters!”
– Special Investigation Team 1, team member….
“Cut that out! Reinforcements! We need reinforcements! Track our location! Right now!”
“…I’ll open it.”
Dayeon tore through space with a needle crafted from solidified blood.
And from the gaping wound, a massive eye gleamed.

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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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