Chapter Text
How easy is it to fool others? Quite easy actually.
A cookie with no name hid behind some crates, crouching down, while occasionally glancing at a ship at the dock.
It was honestly a stupid looking ship, it didn’t look presentable at all, and yet.. it was still such a staple to a popular business.
A red bow in the back, a weird lump-like gazebo where the steering wheel was supposed to be, it was such an odd design for a ship. Perhaps that’s why it stood out so much, for better or for worse. It didn’t seem the cookie in charge minded of course, it was a business ploy, though a very dense one.
Perhaps that’s also why it was so easy to infiltrate.
Now now, don’t get them wrong, originally it was simply a.. test. Or maybe a hobby, or a really bad but pleasurable habit? Whatever it was, the cookie had decided to use his impersonation skills to easily get into the heart of that ship.
A trading guild had to have many connections right? I mean, how else would the business function?
And perhaps.. a connection to a little someone he wanted revenge from.
At first it was harmless. All he had to do was dress up as a merchant of that guild and get in. Of course the sly guild master cookie didnt come to trust so easily, so it took a few months. But when he did.. it was very much worth it.
He was deemed a mailcarrier for the guild. It was a tedious job according to the other guild members, but it was such an easy way to accumulate information. And so, the cookie did as he pleased with whatever he received.
A month before December the cookie had learnt of something very interesting. A festival in a town, and a festival that just so happened to also have some.. acquaintances they knew in attendance. Thank goodness for the Manju guild and their supposedly unethical ways. At first it was just annoying, but perhaps going through all the trouble of figuring out who would be at each dock was profitable, even for someone who didn’t really care about trading.
There, they started to plan.
To get back at the ones who wronged them, there were two ways, both of which benefitted them.
1. Destroy their reputation by causing a situation and make sure that they will not be able to solve it, or
2. Make them seem untrustworthy by making them pin the blame on an innocent, then using that innocent as a weapon.
It was simple. With the amount of people going, in both the guilds that were going to be in attendance, there was no possible way that they would be able to narrow it down, much less figure it out. Not to mention the other attendees. So all he had to do was cause a problem, escape, and watch the chaos unfold. It was perfect.
And yet.. he still needed to ruin it.
The guildmaster insisted he go on the trip himself alone. Something about the danger of the weather and how he should be the only one to be absent during the holidays. How kind, maybe, or purely out of self interest. Surely something influenced him to make that choice. Or someone. Nevertheless it absolutely messed with their plan.
So instead.. why not push the pressure on the small amount of attendees?
Less options mean more chances that they will get suspected, and with the amount of.. gangho cookies in that attendance list.. surely at least one of them will be very intent in figuring it out. Perhaps to the point of accusing everyone in their line of sight.
—
In the first place, getting there wasn’t easy.
At first they thought that all they had to do was sneak into the cargo hold as they were about to leave, but that damned fox is so meticulous for his own good. Routine cargo checks— witches, just how important are the decorations he was requested?! They were tacky, the cookie didn’t know how anyone would even REQUEST them in the first place.
After a few games of cat and mouse— or fox and mouse— they finally made it to the dock. Close to the dock specifically.
Actually, it wasn’t much of a dock at all. just a few little wooden planks bobbing in the water. Unloading the ship was going to be long.
So when the cookie felt it was right, they immediately jumped out of the ship, braved the waters, and scurried into the forest.
They went to the middle of the town first, to check who was already there.
Less than they thought actually, but that worked in favor to them. Less people, more pressure.
They moved back to the dock, only to see the ship they came on barely made any progress with docking. Their captain was mediocre at best at navigating, which was stupid since he was a seafarer.
They glanced at the other docks, and recognized another prestigious vessel (in size). It was much better looking in comparison to the Manju guild’s, much more professional.
They watched as a female cookie effortlessly carried crates off her ship.
That was Jagae cookie they assumed, as they had only heard of her through their guild and guildmaster, never actually seen her.
Though her visuals definitely matched with the letters that came from the Jagae guild.
They silently walked back to the townsquare, taking note of all the cookies and desserts there.
One particularly bright cookie stood out to them. One that was.. explosive.
How convenient.
—
Timed bombs weren’t hard to understand, just the timing was difficult. All the cookies had to do was block off any form of communication and escape. After all, isolation was also quite the psychological challenge. It made you feel trapped, and with an entire dangerous situation going on, one would feel the need to escape.
And if the only logically way anyone could escape was to.. blame someone maybe, then surely, everyone would jump at the chance to.
The cookie watched as their former guildmaster interacted with their rival. How obvious, they thought.
Manju cookie was clearly infatuated with her, and whether he knew that or not was not their business. All they was certain of was that the two seemed to be closer than most cookies, despite their “hatred” for each other. Hell, they even sent letters to each other on a regular basis. Trust me, the cookie knew, especially as the designated mail carrier.
In fact.. perhaps their relationship even proved a complication to their plan..
Or maybe even an advantage.
BOOM!
A big cloud of smoke puffed up from the docks, with a smaller one coming from the forest.
It was showtime.
—
Switching was easy. He was simple to copy, and plus, Manju was such a coward behind his fake facade, and at the moment, the cookie was glad that Jagae cookie didn’t entertain him by sticking with them all the time. It seems breaking cookies mentally was easy, as something was already clearly affecting them.
In fact, the cookie themself didnt even know why Manju cookie decided to go into the forest all by himself. Doesn’t he know that going alone was a big mistake in horror films?
A simple strike to the head was all he needed to do to silence him, though he wasn’t exactly silent during it.
The dumbass just had to scream when he saw himself, and surely someone was going to be running to “him”.
With no time to waste, they put the fox in a sack, hoisted it into a tree and placed a banana peel on the ground, before deliberately slipping on it.
And lo and behold, the one person who found him first just had to be the person who knew Manju best out of all the cookies here.
Well, this was going to be a challenge.
—
And what a challenge it was.
Though quite surprising that the person who caught them wasn’t Jagae, but the little twerp who thinks himself a detective.
They expected Cheddar Cheese cookie, not a newbie.
And yet here they were, standing in front of everyone, while the kid delivered a monologue.
“The culprit isn’t Manju cookie, but the one in front of us!” Or something like that. It was childish. Stupid. Irritating.
How annoying it was to fail.