I Only Baked Bread, but I Was Mistaken for the Best - Chapter 78

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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 78. How to Set Things Right (4)
“Disappear? Kekeke… Hahahaha!”
The creature twisted its face like a demon and cackled madly.
“You just stepped onto the Witch’s Path and think you can do something? Can you even handle all three powers? Bread? What are you going to do with that? Hahahaha!”
“What do you mean, what?”
Why would I bake bread?
I baked it to feed you.
“Chohong!”
“Kyuuuu!”
Chohong spread her wings wide and scattered her power across the grass and trees in all directions.
The trees that had already burned in the fire, but whose roots had survived.
The street trees that existed all around grew wildly at once, stretching their branches toward the creature.
It was as if the earth itself was extending countless hands.
But even before that, the creature merely scoffed.
“Is this all?”
Another wound appeared on Dayeon’s body.
A crimson line of blood flowed downward.
As it fell, the blood that had been sticky and stretched thinned, hardening into the shape of needles.
In an instant, needles poured out in all directions.
Pap pap pap pap pap!
Needles as thin as hair strands, the length of a pinky finger.
But their destructive power could not be ignored.
They could pierce through tree branches that had overgrown from Chohong’s power in a single strike.
“You think you can stop me with something this pathetic? You think you can feed me bread like this? Hahahaha! I can’t help but laugh! Hahahaha! I was foolish to be afraid when those other girls were doing their little tricks! Foolish! Hahahaha!”
“You’re wrong.”
“Child. Don’t be stubborn about your pride and die quietly. Then I’ll twist your neck gently for you.”
“I roughly understand what the problem with that attack is.”
“What? What problem could there be… Huh?”
Crack!
The creature’s body froze solid as it tried to shoot needles at me.
Her arms were wrapped tightly in grass roots as thin as thread.
“What… what is this!”
“Are only trees plants?”
Continuously pulling out needles.
And the ability to manipulate each one simultaneously.
An ability that allows me to face numerous Hunters alone.
But there was one thing the creature overlooked.
That was simply that it dealt with thin needles.
“An attack only succeeds when the impact point is precisely formed.”
In that respect, this place was no different from the creature’s own stage.
Both humans and monsters were massive targets compared to this creature’s attacks.
But grass roots?
Could thread-thin grass roots be threaded through with a needle?
“Kyuuuuuu!”
Grass—the only thing on earth that could be called supreme in the art of survival.
Nourished by Chohong’s energy and flourishing abundantly, it spread forth from the earth like threads from a loom, beginning to bind the creature’s limbs.
“These… these things!”
The creature did its best to sever them, but it was futile.
By sheer luck, it managed to snap a few grass roots with the needle, but there were thousands upon thousands of them.
“This is the end.”
“Krhehe… hihihihik!”
Despite being restrained, the creature continued to giggle.
“It won’t matter. This child’s blood will keep flowing.”
Splorch!
Dayeon’s wrist split open as flesh tore and blood poured forth.
Thud, thud thud.
With sounds like stitches bursting, Dayeon’s body continued to tear.
Even as I watched wounds concentrate on her wrists and thighs, the creature chuckled and muttered.
“There was nothing special about choosing this foolish child. It’s so easy to widen an opening once it exists! Kekeke! Now choose, young Witch. Do you want this child to bleed out and die? Or will you release this restraint and die yourself? Kekeke!”
“Is that all you were counting on?”
“What?”
“I’m saying that’s all you were relying on?”
I’d been observing this creature’s attack patterns the entire way here.
Jinjeonyang had remained hidden in Dayeon’s bag throughout the chaos, continuously sharing her vision with me.
Though she’d met her end beneath the foot of a Hunter from the Association moments ago….
In any case, it meant I already knew about the creature’s method of forcibly wounding Dayeon’s body.
“You arrogant fool! That’s right! This child will die with nothing but skin remaining, drenched in blood from your own arrogance!”
The creature’s eyes widened as it poured forth the darkly corrupted witch’s power from its eyes and mouth.
“Huh?”
When nothing happened, the creature examined Dayeon’s body it had seized, looking it over carefully.
Then it became visible.
“What in the world is this!”
“Gora. Goragora.”
“Gora? Goragora.”
Small Mandrabread Men completely covering the creature’s body.
Because they weren’t perfectly baked, these doughy-formed creatures clung to it like mud.
With this, even if wounds opened, I didn’t need to worry about the creature dying from excessive bleeding.
The sticky dough-formed Mandrabread Men would perform hemostasis at Gora’s command.
And furthermore….
“Ugh! Let go! I said let go!”
“Gora!”
With the adamantium hammer secured at my waist, I seized the creature firmly with both hands.
“What do you think you can do now?”
The restraint was complete, just as planned.
That left only one thing remaining.
“Come on. Say ‘aah.'”
“Grrgh! Do you think I would—!”
“What else are you going to do?”
“How dare you, you insignificant—urgh!”
I shoved a piece of hot chocolate directly into the creature’s mouth.
* * *
‘So dark… so cold…’
When Dayeon regained consciousness, all she could perceive was an endless expanse of darkness.
She had definitely taken the needle with her when she went outside.
And at the place where she was summoned, she had flicked the needle, and that needle had…
‘Ugh…’
It was something terrible.
But she herself was the one who had done it.
Or was she?
She couldn’t know for certain.
Had that voice she had so firmly believed was her friend ever truly existed?
If it hadn’t, then wasn’t it Dayeon herself who had committed that act?
‘Uuuugh…’
Unable to hold back any longer, Dayeon retched.
But nothing came out.
After a prolonged bout of dry heaving, she realized she could not speak.
She also realized she could not feel any sensation.
It wasn’t darkness.
Her sense of sight had simply been severed.
Touch, smell, hearing—none of it reached her.
She was merely floating somewhere.
Stripped entirely of her free will.
‘Perhaps… this is better after all.’
Her mind felt oddly at peace.
In a state where she couldn’t tell if she was alive or dead, pain would not exist.
For her, who had once wished that one morning she simply wouldn’t be able to open her eyes for no reason at all, this might have been a blessing.
Until the moment her vision suddenly brightened and the scene came into focus.
‘Where… is this?’
The entrance of a cave that resembled a grotesque monster with its mouth agape.
Water dripped steadily from the stalactites hanging from the ceiling.
Stagnant water pooled here and there.
And upon those waters stood remarkably lifelike sculptures.
‘That’s a hat, that’s a shoe… and that is….’
As I ventured deeper past the human-shaped statues, increasingly grotesque objects came into view.
‘Why are there so many needles….’
Needles embedded densely across the cave wall.
It was at that moment when Dayeon stood gaping at needles that differed in length, thickness, and material alike.
“Stupid things. Foolish creatures.”
A hoarse voice echoing from deep within the cave.
As if enchanted, the deeper I ventured, the more needles appeared, and the more voices I heard.
“Wretches to devour, groundhog-like fools, ignorant and selfish bastards, things deserving of death.”
How long did I walk, following that voice laden with profound hatred in every word?
Finally, I could face the Owner of the cave.
A severely hunched back, a long hooked nose, and facial features deeply wrinkled and twisted.
An Old Woman whose gnarled fingers, like branches with protruding joints, pointed at me with a creaking sound.
“Child. What brings you here?”
“You know me?”
“Of course I do. It was I who called you to this place. Though I must admit, I didn’t expect you to come this deep.”
The Old Woman’s expression, with her mouth twisted into a sneer, could hardly be called pleasant by any standard.
“You called me here?”
“Child. That’s no longer important. What matters is that those wretches will die, and when the peace you so desperately desire arrives, I too shall obtain what I seek.”
“What?”
“I shall help you. Simply sleep as you are. It’s quite easy, isn’t it?”
A needle flew from somewhere and pierced through me.
Like a caterpillar spinning a cocoon, I began to be wrapped tightly in thread.
Without even a moment to resist, a dangerous comfort overwhelmed me, and my eyes began to close.
I could instinctively understand it.
That I would lose myself if this continued.
Fear surged forth, unlike the oblivion I had wished for just moments before.
I strained against my closing eyelids, but it was futile.
“Don’t resist. I’m already troubled enough by that wretched Witch causing a fuss.”
“Witch?”
“That cursed bread-baker, thinking she can meddle with me like this… Now be silent and sleep.”
No. This can’t happen.
My consciousness is melting away.
Where was this place?
Why did I come here?
What was my name?
What was I?
“Yes. That’s right. Sleep like that….”
That was the moment.
An intense sensation spreading across my tongue.
What was this called? Dayeon had to think for a long moment.
Yes, this was ‘taste’.
My mouth filled completely with the instinctive concept of ‘delicious’.
But it was far from simple.
‘Warm and… rich….’
The sensation touching my lips was a cozy, gentle warmth.
A nutty flavor unique to freshly baked bread wafted across the tip of my nose—something impossible to feel from a cold dessert.
Followed by the subtle bitterness of rich cocoa that filled my mouth like mist.
Crunch.
A thinly baked cake sheet sensed from my teeth as if I’d taken a small bite.
A sensation like the crumbly surface of a well-baked brownie.
But that wasn’t the end.
Immediately after, a torrent hidden within it came pouring out.
‘What on earth is this!’
[Beginning to absorb the power of the fallen Witch.]
“No! No, this can’t be! What are you doing!”
What was this torrent that erased in an instant the sensation I’d felt while chewing the bread!
Chocolate.
Yes, it was chocolate.
The subtle bitterness of dark chocolate filled my entire mouth.
The rich, buttery fat combined with the chocolate, coating my entire mouth as if I were drinking ‘melted velvet’, creating an illusion of luxury.
But the symphony of flavors didn’t stop there….
[Beginning to purify the power of the fallen Witch.]
“My power! The power I’ve built up so carefully!”
A different sensation gradually emerging.
Sweetness sliding across my tongue like flowing water.
But there was depth to it.
It wasn’t simply, crudely sweet.
‘Ah… how blissful….’
A section of the dark cave crumbled.
Light shone through the gap that formed.
With each increase in sweetness, the gap widened further.
Stones breaking apart one by one.
Things that had appeared like statues began to regain their original forms.
Hats, shoes, various animals and plants, and even people.
“No! No, no, no, no, no!”
The Old Woman wailing and shrieking.
She flailed her arms desperately, trying by any means to stop the cave from collapsing, but it was futile.
The moment the encroaching light touched her, she crumbled to dust just as the cave had done.
“Kyaaaaaaagh!”
The Old Woman screamed, clutching at her left arm as it scattered into powder.
But Dayeon was too absorbed in the happiness blooming across her tongue to pay attention.
The aftertaste still lingered.
Even after it slid down her throat, the flavor refused to fade.
The rich traces of chocolate clinging to the back of her tongue and the cocoa essence lingering at the tip of her nose still enveloped Dayeon.
Warm as midday sunlight.
“This cannot be… this cannot be! All the Witches will curse you! I will curse your traitorous mother and the mother of that mother who stood with her aaaaah!”
When the Old Woman’s lips, still babbling until the very end, scattered into a handful of dust.
Ding!
[You have awakened.]
The status window appeared, but Dayeon kept her eyes closed, savoring the happiness.
Tasting the flavor of a dessert that felt strangely familiar, as if she had eaten it somewhere before.

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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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