Gourmet Gaming

Team Leader Park, Lee Minhwa and the other employees of the Special Players Management Team were observing Ardo Hunting Training Grounds with a serious expression. 

"Do you think the players will be able to hunt it this time?" 

In Athenae, the golden chicken was a monster that would only appear once a month and at a random hunting training ground. What they were watching right now was literally an event, this was the reason why the golden chicken was extremely strong. Even now, the players were rapidly killed and forced to log-out. However, none of them were complaining. That was how valuable the golden chicken was. It was, after all, a big event for beginners and the only penalty for death was to have no access to the game for 30 minutes.

"I don't think it’s possible this time either."

"Is that so?" 

No one had caught the golden chicken before. It was an extremely difficult monster to kill. 

'The players have formed teams, but they are all distracted by one other! Can this even be called teamwork? I can't believe them.' 

Team Leader Park shook his head in disappointment.

In the first place, the golden chicken was much stronger than any of the players at the hunting training grounds. Besides, it would automatically disappear twenty minutes after its appearance. So, they only had this short time frame to kill it. However, with how things were going, it looked completely impossible. 

Currently, Lee Minhwa and the other employees were watching the golden chicken. She was not as knowledgeable since she was just a newcomer. She went to ask Team Leader Park after hearing them talk. 

"Team Leader, this golden chicken is funny." 

"Why?" Team Leader Park asked her when he heard her say that.

"You can choose between two rewards right?" 

"Yeah." 

Team Leader Park smiled wryly. 

The golden chicken actually had another reward aside from the golden egg and the user must choose between the two. 

"It could lay a golden egg or it could lay an egg that's more delicious than a regular egg. It’s only between these 2 choices. And, if you choose the delicious egg, you would be able to get a hidden reward… Pfff! I don't think anyone will ever acquire it."

"Yeah, after all, 200,000 gold is 10,000 won in cash. Which idiot will want to choose the delicious egg? Even if the conversion rate drops in the future, they could literally deposit 100 million in a year, and get a 3%~4% interest rate."

"Ah, you're right." 

Lee Minhwa turned her head to look at the screen after listening to them. Then, her gaze turned blank.

“Huh?” 

"Why?" 

"T, team leader. There's a player running towards the golden chicken with a sword." 

"Hmm?" 

Team Leader Park squinted. He saw a man, running with a blazing look in his eyes, like a student running towards the school cafeteria during lunch break in a mad rush for food. 

‘That man looks familiar. His sword looks familiar too.’

"That, that player…!" 

The moment those words came out of Team Leader Park's mouth… 

[Aaaaack!] 

Another player turned gray and was forced to log-out, while Minhyuk flew out of the crowd of players. And… 

Slash! 

He brandished the Sword of Rebellion. 

***

Slash! 

"Bok, bok!" 

Minhyuk broke through the gaps between the other players and slashed his sword towards the golden chicken.

Blood splattered. The effect looked 100% similar to reality. Anyone who saw it would definitely get flustered, but Minhyuk remained calm. To be honest, his calmness was only because of his one and only goal.

'I want to try and eat it.' 

Gulp—

He swallowed his saliva at the thought of eating such a huge chicken.

Suddenly, the sharp beak of the golden chicken appeared in front of him. Earlier, when he was farther away, he had wondered why the beak pierced the bodies of the other players, but now that he was closer, he finally understood why.

"Bok… bok!" 

The golden chicken glared at Minhyuk. The tension was palpable. Even the other players could not get anywhere near the two of them, with how frigid the atmosphere was. The angry golden chicken shot straight at Minhyuk. 

"Bok, bok!" 

Minhyuk stabbed at the angry golden chicken's head, but it was able to twist its body and evade the strike.

"That… I don't think that's a chicken. And that man too, I don’t think he’s human either," A player muttered to himself. 

However, even if Minhyuk had heard him, he would not be embarrassed.

The chicken pecked at Minhyuk again, but he dodged and kicked the beak away. 

Slam! 

"Bok, bok!" 

"He, he's fast…!" 

"Oh my god… He's taking on the golden chicken by himself…!" 

The players who had compiled and researched the data about the golden chicken were shocked. 

According to the official data released by the moderators, the golden chicken could only be caught with the combined strength of several players. This was because it was a very difficult target. Hence, no one had ever gotten the rewards.

If the players did team up and successfully killed the golden chicken, they would not be aware of who received what reward. Since everybody was greedy for the prize, any form of teamwork would eventually dissolve and end up as a solo play. All of the players present in this place were still novices; the concept of ‘forming a party’ was still unknown to them. That was why all they could do was try their best to kill the golden chicken on their own to get the rewards themselves.

Among these players, Minhyuk had the highest stats. After all, he had stayed in the scarecrow training grounds for a long time and acquired a huge boost. Plus, he had the Sword of Rebellion with him. His skills were also honed properly during the four hours of continuous exercise every day in reality. In other words, he did not need the help of others to hunt the chicken. 

[Dauntless Strike] 

[Each attack inflicts additional 20% damage.]

Minhyuk activated his skill as the golden chicken flew straight at him once again. 

Flap, flap, flap! 

"Buooooook!" 

"It...it's like an eagle, what the hell!" 

Some players were terrified and immediately retreated away from the chicken, but Minhyuk still did not back down. He just glared at it and stabbed at it with all his might.

Stab! 

After finally landing a strike, Minhyuk quickly stepped away.

"Bok… Bok…" 

His attack finally weakened the golden chicken. Seeing this, he grabbed his sword and quickly narrowed the distance between them.

Dash! 

Then, he slashed his sword towards the chicken's neck.

Slaaaaaash! 

Splash! 

Blood rained down as the notification rang in his ears. 

[The event monster, Golden Chicken, has been successfully hunted.] 

Minhyuk reached out to gather a golden statue the size of a regular chicken that appeared in front of the golden chicken’s body. He also gathered the gold with 82,135 written on it as well as the golden chicken’s beak.

[You have acquired 82,135 gold.] 

[You have acquired 'Chicken that Lays a Golden Egg'.] 

[You have acquired 'Golden Chicken's Beak'.] 

Since it was an event boss monster, the amount of gold that dropped was quite hefty compared to normal. Then, Minhyuk quickly reached out towards the golden chicken’s body.

"Collect."

In the case of monster corpses, they would not be automatically collected just by reaching out one’s hands. The player had to say ‘Collect’ themselves or touch the body personally to collect it. However, placing the body inside the inventory did not mean that it would remain fresh. The conditions outside, like the temperature, would still affect the items inside the inventory. Hence, the monster corpse would eventually decay and rot.

The body of the golden chicken was sucked inside Minhyuk’s inventory.

"Hehehe," Minhyuk laughed in satisfaction. 

‘I’m sure this guy’s really delicious once cooked.’

He had seen its plump legs and thick breast part when they fought earlier.

The other players would have definitely salivated over the gold but Minhyuk was only focused on the things that he could eat.

Thinking about the things that he would eat made Minhyuk hungry, so he immediately munched on some hard bread as he checked the information about the Chicken that Lays a Golden Egg.

(Chicken that Lays a Golden Egg) 

Class: Event Artifact

Special Abilities:

•It can lay a golden egg worth 200,000 gold once every day. 

•It can lay ten eggs that are more delicious than any regular eggs once every day.

Description: This is an item that can only be obtained after defeating the event monster, Golden Chicken. The user can only choose one between the two special abilities before receiving the rewards every day. 

"Oh!" 

Minhyuk did not actually pay attention to the players earlier when they were talking about the gold reward. His mind was only filled with thoughts about how delicious the golden chicken looked. Seeing the reward choices, Minhyuk could not help but nod happily.

'Isn't this a really awesome reward?!' 

‘Oh my god! How can there be such an amazing reward?! This is a reward that adds the word innovate in innovation!’

"I choose the second option!" 

[The Chicken that Lays a Golden Egg. You have chosen the delicious egg reward, is this your final choice?] 

Minhyuk did not even need to rethink his decision. For him, the second reward was the best choice!

"Omf chourse!" Minhyuk shouted despite his mouth being full of bread.

[The Special Ability of the Chicken who Lays a Golden Egg has been chosen.]

Ring! 

[You have achieved the Hidden Reward: He Who Knows Happiness in Eating.] 

[You have acquired a Food Storage Inventory.] 

[You have gained +5 in all your basic stats.] 

***

[Player Minhyuk has gained the Hidden Reward: 'He Who Knows Happiness in Eating'.] 

"???" 

"???" 

"???" 

"???" 

The atmosphere of the Special Players Management Team was suddenly enveloped in silence. 

Team Leader Park stifled his yawn and blinked his eyes.

"Yaaaawn. I must be doing too much overtime that I’ve just seen something strange."

He wiped the tears off of his eyes before looking at the notification once again. 

[Player Minhyuk has gained the Hidden Reward 'He Who Knows Happiness in Eating'.] 

No matter what he did, the text remained unchanged.

He rubbed his neck and said, "Am I the weird one here? Why did he even choose that? Does he not have common sense?!" 

Only then, did the other moderators come back to their senses.

"Th… That's impossible! Can that person really read?!" 

Right on cue, as if he wanted to speak up and defend himself, Minhyuk’s voice rang loudly on the screen. 

[Fried egg~ Rolled omelette~ Shall we make the egg go crack! and go inside the ramen?! I can’t wait~] 

"...He really did that, for real."

They could see that Player Minhyuk was genuinely happy about his choice. Seeing him jumping around in happiness, Team Leader Park could only sigh helplessly as he brought his palm to his face.

"That player is still at Level 1, right?" 

"Yeah." 

"But his ability…" 

He had received an additional five points in all of his five basic stats. The fact that he could take on and fight the golden chicken alone meant that he was already a cut above the rest in the novice zone. But with these recent additional points, he was way beyond the rest.

‘And all he wants to do is eat!’

"The golden chicken is gone now…" 

"That's right. In the end, the hidden reward has been obtained." 

Some events would end permanently the moment the hidden rewards attached to them were obtained. One such event was the Golden Chicken Event. 

"This is troublesome, do we have to make another novice zone event to replace the golden chicken? Wow… The development team was still extremely smug when they told us that the golden chicken event will never end." 

"Is it really over now… It shouldn’t be over yet, right…?" An employee turned towards Team Leader Park when he heard those words of denial. 

"No! Shouldn’t he be given the chance to rethink his choices again?" Team Leader Park began to complain, crushing his empty paper coffee cup.

"Is his dad a chairman or what?! Huh?! Does he have that much money?! Huh?!! That's 10,000 won a day!!!" 

Team Leader Park had a hunch that their meeting would proceed until late at night.

***

‘That’s right, our father is a chairman~’

"Dad." 

After he finished playing the game, Minhyuk immediately went out of the capsule, only to see his father, Kang Minhoo, waiting for him. 

"How was it? Was it fun?" 

"Yes, it was really, really, really fun!" 

Hearing Minhyuk’s words, a smile appeared on Father Kang Minhoo’s face.

"I ate ginseng chicken soup today, Dad." 

"Oh…!" Kang Minhoo burst out in admiration. 

"And that's not all! I also caught a golden chicken today…." 

Minhoo could not help but laugh, listening to his son chattering happily as he told him about his adventures. This was the first time in a long while since he saw Minhyuk looking like this. He was very happy with this development. 

"Sooner or later…"

Minhyuk smiled brightly as he continued to say, "I'll be able to eat chicken!" 

"...!" 

The happiness and satisfaction that Kang Minhoo was feeling right now was more than that time when Minhyuk got first place in the CSAT. His son even sang a song these past few days because he wanted to eat those chickens.

Even if Kang Minhoo wanted to give into Minhyuk's cravings, he could not do so. He felt like this was his failure as a father. However, Minhyuk was able to do it in the game. Was there anything else that could make Kang Minhoo even happier than this? 

Minhyuk told his story to Kang Minhoo, then turned towards his doctor-in-charge, Jinhwan. 

"We haven't detected any side effects or signs of improvement yet. We'll still be keeping an eye on Minhyuk and how much he eats everyday. He didn't eat more than his normal amount today because he ate quickly just to get back in the game." 

Kang Minhoo nodded happily. Jinhwan could not help but notice how different he looked today as well.

"Your expression looks very good today." 

"Of course I'm happy. As a father, I would be happy as long as I can see my son happy." 

Jinhwan smiled and nodded at him.

After checking in on his son and his condition, Kang Minhoo left. He had plenty of things to do, but at the moment, there was something that he had asked his personal secretary, who had served him for decades, Park Munsoo, to do.

Park Munsoo was waiting for him right outside the room.

"Is it finished?" 

"It has been installed." 

The two headed straight towards Minhoo's office and inside, laid an Athenae access capsule.