I Only Baked Bread, but I Was Mistaken for the Best - Chapter 98
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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 98. A Cowardly Attack (2)
“Owner! Over here!”
“Yes! Coming!”
“Owner! We’re completely out of beans! Should I go get more?”
“No! I’ll refill it! Just a moment! Haeryang!”
This is the law of capitalist society.
Regardless of personal circumstances, Adam Smith’s invisible hand simply moves on.
The life of a self-employed business owner, drifting along with the flow of capital, is much like a buoy bobbing endlessly on water….
“Meow!”
“Ugh! Fine! Now that you’re awake, stop punching! Noir!”
“Meow.”
In short, the hectic days just kept piling on.
It meant that the fact I was a witch running the Witch’s Cottage, or that I’d recently dealt with a fallen witch, wasn’t particularly important.
“I’ve refilled the beans!”
“Thank you! Owner! Ah! Customer 31! Here’s your iced Americano!”
And the same applied to Haeryang.
Unlike when she first appeared in that pink elephant pajamas, she now displayed the polished and skilled demeanor of a professional part-timer.
“She suddenly said she needed money….”
She’d always worked hard, but lately she’d been burning her soul even more intensely—all for money.
Something she wanted to give to her older sister, Sky.
I wasn’t sure what an S-rank Hunter like Sky, who already had much and could obtain even more, would need.
Regardless, for this reason, Haeryang had been requesting extra shifts and working hard.
I couldn’t just watch her suffer like this forever, so I planned to give her a generous bonus later.
“Yet despite everything, there’s still so much work….”
Nevertheless, customers flooded into Trèfle de bonheur like a tidal wave.
If there hadn’t been a break time in the middle, Haeryang, Noir, and I would have all collapsed from exhaustion.
If Gora and the Ginger Man Legion hadn’t been working hard to bake bread, we probably would have collapsed already.
“We should hire more part-timers, shouldn’t we?”
“Yes… we need to. This is necessary.”
Even Haeryang, who hadn’t felt the need for additional staff before, agreed with me this time.
With more customers coming in, it would be good to have a dedicated cashier.
“Then I’ll put up a job posting.”
“I hope a good person applies.”
“I feel the same way.”
That’s how part-time work is.
While there are many good people in the world, there are equally those who are incomprehensible.
According to rumors that sound like urban legends, there are people who want to receive wages without actually working.
Or so the stories go—people who try the job briefly, decide it’s not for them, run away during lunch, and then demand payment for the hours worked a week later.
“Of course, our shop needs to be even more careful about hiring.”
“Ah… yes, definitely.”
Moreover, my bakery is not a space that sells ordinary bread and beverages.
I’m selling the Witch’s bread, after all.
Haeryang, who currently works for me, only knows that I use a Hunter’s abilities to sell special bread—she doesn’t know that I’m actually a Witch.
Which means the person I need must have a tight lip, be sincere, and possess robust health capable of handling the grueling work of managing a shop flooded with customers.
“…Do you think we can find someone like that?”
“Hang in there, Owner….”
“Should I raise your salary?”
“If you’re offering?”
Haeryang shrugged her shoulders, apparently thinking I was joking.
But I was serious.
When I pondered the question of what conditions would be necessary for a part-timer of Haeryang’s caliber to come along, I realized she was an S-rank employee.
“I suppose I do have good fortune with people.”
“Meow.”
“Yeah, yeah. I got it.”
I decided to heed Noir’s words as she raised her front paws and threw a cat punch, as if to say, “Don’t you see the customers piling up?”
Besides, it was already 6 PM.
This was the perfect timing when people were starting to leave work and would flood in.
That’s when it happened.
Ding~
“Huff! Huff! Owner! Owner, are you here?”
“Welcome… Oh? Ye-seul? What brings you here?”
The person who burst through the door was none other than Ye-seul, who continues her YouTube activities under the stage name Roro.
From what I’d seen recently, she seemed busy with collaborations with various celebrities and even appearing as a fixed guest on broadcast television—so what was she doing here?
“I was just thinking, what brings such a busy person all the way here!”
“Ah… that’s not it….”
“Hmm…. I’ll let it slide.”
I wondered if doing broadcasts for so long actually teaches you mind-reading.
Ye-seul shook her head as if it were nothing, then pulled out her phone and held it toward me.
“Owner, you haven’t seen much of Byeolsuta lately, have you!”
“Byeolsuta? Ah. Yes. I’ve been so busy lately.”
Ever since the reopening, work has been pouring in like crazy.
The bakery doing well was only natural.
There was a fixed customer base that regretted missing the Jinjeonyang and Noir photos I’d prepared for the opening event, so I had to produce additional copies.
Since Witch Food was also in the process of preparing castella, there was a lot to manage.
On top of that, Siwoo, who had recently joined Witch Food, suggested the idea of manufacturing equipment.
If it were just ordinary equipment, it would be “Witch Food,” but I would have questioned why we’d make equipment at all….
‘I’m going to make kitchenware!’
‘Would Hunters really have demand for that…?’
‘If you tell Hunters they can cook preserved rations once they enter a Gate, they’ll come running!’
Until now, the only things that could be eaten Inside the Gate were, at best, liquefied substances.
The types of energy that could rapidly recharge the body’s vitality alone were fundamentally different.
Because the Gate’s environment was so diverse, numerous problems arose during the cooking process itself.
However, the prototype that Siwoo created cleanly resolved all these issues….
‘This is a pot that can apply and preserve heat through spontaneous combustion even in extreme cold and extreme heat environments!’
‘Uh, uh….’
‘Additionally, various rice bowls and spoons can be included as a set! The effects are identical!’
He had gone ahead and created Gate-exclusive camping equipment.
The demand was something I could tell existed without even calculating it.
So Nuri decided to sell this Gate-exclusive camping equipment alongside the Castella launch.
Was that all….
“Recently, there have been some really big things happening….”
Not only appearing on broadcasts, but also events that unfolded when fragments of the Witch appeared—far too lengthy to explain.
Because of this, I disqualify myself as a self-employed business owner, but I hadn’t been able to manage our shop’s Byeolsuta page for quite some time.
“I knew this would happen! That’s why you’re being so carefree!”
“What happened? For you to come running like this….”
“Look at this first!”
What Ye-seul showed me were none other than the comments attached to the most recently uploaded bread.
– It really looks delicious!
└ The bread here really is delicious
– I wanted to keep this bakery to myself, but now that it’s getting known, I feel proud yet regretful somehow….
└ You too? Me too.
I don’t think there’s anyone who isn’t like that lol
“These are all good comments though?”
“Scroll down a bit more.”
When I scrolled down further, I could see it.
Why are you sucking on it anyway when the bread here isn’t even that good? lol
A comment saying our shop’s bread was mediocre without any particular reason.
Could she have rushed over after seeing this?
But surely my feelings wouldn’t be hurt by just one thing like this.
“Nah. It’s fine.”
Not because I made it, but I don’t think the Witch’s bread would taste bad to people.
Because it really is delicious.
However, not everyone reveals their feelings honestly.
Because there are reasons that take priority over expressing emotions.
“When they feel the service wasn’t good, or if there are other reasons, people sometimes leave malicious comments like this.”
In severe cases, I’ve heard that people often leave such malicious comments without even tasting the bread, simply because it’s famous.
Purely for their own entertainment.
I’ve encountered such cases often myself too.
Though I’ve never had things go as well as they are now.
“And if you look at the comments here, everyone is saying good things about our bakery.”
Moreover, that comment had several replies, and they were all criticisms directed at the user who had left malicious comments about our bakery.
Of course, responding to hate comments with more hate comments isn’t ideal, but even so, I could feel their affection for our bakery coming through.
However, Ye-seul seemed to think differently.
“Ugh! This is frustrating! That’s not what’s important here!”
“Then what is important?”
“Look. Starting from this point, scroll through everything carefully.”
Ye-seul showed me the posts and comment threads in chronological order.
Only then did I grasp her intention.
“This is… surely not…”
“Exactly. It’s organized.”
I could understand one or two hate comments if I tried a hundred times.
It’s an unforgivable act, but people can do such things in their lives.
But the hate comments attached to posts uploaded under the name Trèfle de bonheur were different.
Every day, every hour.
Dozens of accounts were taking turns posting hate comments consistently, as if they did nothing else.
“You really need to be careful about this. Right now, there are many people on your side, but the moment the waters get muddied like this, the content can become distorted and spread differently, you know?”
“The content becomes distorted?”
“Do you think the Bill Gates Personality Disruptors are only doing this here? They’ll definitely take this to the communities where they’re active and spread it around, right? In a sensational way that’s different from the actual facts?”
Could they really go that far?
But Ye-seul proved her point with a search within seconds.
“Look at this. It’s really there, right?”
“It really is…”
[Review after visiting Trèfle whatever]
Didn’t really need to post this, but leaving a review for the public good lol
Heard so many good things about it, so I went yesterday afternoon, but decided never to go again.
As soon as I took a bite of the bread at home, a sour smell hit me.
I thought it was just a yogurt flavor, but starting this morning, my whole family got food poisoning and kept running to the bathroom.
Turns out a friend’s acquaintance went there for a kitchen staff interview and saw boxes of expired whipped cream stacked in the corner.
While waiting to pay, I saw the bakery owner in the kitchen without gloves, kneading dough with bare hands while spitting and talking.
Planning to report it to the health department.
Go if you want, but don’t regret it if you get food poisoning.
“What is this.”
It’s completely false.
First of all, our bakery doesn’t make bread using yogurt.
So there’s no way it could taste like yogurt.
“And we’ve never even hired part-time staff, so what interview are they talking about?”
I was just worrying about how to recruit part-time staff, so what interview is this?
Besides, the part-time staff I’m looking to hire would work at the register.
Why would I show them the kitchen?
In the first place, those breads are being made by Gora and the Ginger Man Legion in the Witch’s Cottage kitchen, not in this kitchen.
– I went there yesterday and my stomach feels a bit bloated.
– I was going to check it out because of the Instagram aesthetic, but I’ll skip it now. Thanks for the info.
– The Owner’s face didn’t look great to begin with.
Seizing the moment, a flood of malicious comments poured in.
It seemed our bakery’s customers hadn’t ventured into this mess yet, but the place was in complete chaos.
“You see? This could grow even bigger from here.”
“Even more than this?”
“Looking at it, it seems like someone’s orchestrating this systematically, so of course they’ll amplify it if they can. You need to prepare for it. Really.”
And a few days later, Ye-seul’s prophecy became reality.
In the worst direction imaginable, far beyond what I could have predicted.
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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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