Gourmet Gaming

Hyemin'sDaddy was stunned when he saw her whisper. He thought, ‘They were schoolmates? Friends?’. So, he tried to ask Genie about it carefully.

[Hyemin'sDaddy: Ah... Is that so? Were you friends with him?]

[Genie: Nope. It’s too much to call him a friend ^^;; You know that two of our guild members were my classmates before, right?]

Legend Guild was a guild where the elites gathered, their number was even only around fifteen. Among them, three knew each other personally. These three, including Genie, went to the same middle school and high school, and had been working together ever since Versal, a game that launched before Athenae. In fact, those three could be considered Legend Guild’s main pillars.

[Hyemin'sDaddy: Ah, yes.]

[Genie: The two of them hate that person too...]

[Hyemin'sDaddy: Aha. Was the player named Brony not a good person back then?]

[Genie: Yes. Well... ^^]

“Poopy Daddy~ Hyeminnie’s hungry.”

Hyemin'sDaddy patted Hyeminnie on the head and finished sending his whisper.

[Hyemin'sDaddy: Hyemin said that she’s hungry so I’ll log out for now. GM! I’ll see you next time!]

[Genie: Ah, okay!]

***

A woman was resting at the side, with dozens of bone dragons lying scattered on the ground. The woman’s long and wavy hair was tied tightly behind her, framing her beauty that was comparable to Alicia and Lucia. Even her figure was alluring and glamorous that no man would be able to take their eyes off of her. 

“It seems like everything went well. That’s a relief,” Genie said, smiling softly. She took a small breath of relief after Hyemin’sDaddy had logged out. Genie was currently in Azaka, the Land of the Dead. Players did not usually set foot in Azaka since it was a place teeming with Level 400 monsters. That was the reason why Genie and Legend Guild used this place as their main hunting grounds. This was the only way that they could avoid causing any friction with the other guilds.

‘Right now, we’re still in hiding, but slowly we will…appear in the world.’

It was already difficult for them to hide their identities right now. Just recently, Ares Guild tried to step on their tails and were even slowly gaining momentum for a siege. Perhaps it was because they wanted to kill them and gain fame and reputation from that.

Then, Genie looked at the huge iron gate in front of her. If they went inside that place, they would face a monster that was much more powerful than those bone dragons. She had tried to challenge it again and again, but she was almost forced to log out every time. As a player, she felt that it was frustrating and unfortunate to not clear a dungeon right in front of her. Just then…

Fwoosh━

Wind blew strongly, making Genie’s hair flutter.

“You’re here?” Genie asked, without turning back.

The handsome man that appeared on her right nodded. This man was none other than Khan, a player holding the legendary class King of Fists, a fighter that fought with his fists, and was considered to be stronger than the current number one in the Official Local Rankings. Contrary to Khan, the man that appeared on the left was not that handsome. In fact, one could even go as far as calling him ugly, with his shaggy beard and bandit-like appearance. This man was none other than Crazy Priest Locke. Locke had a legendary class among the Priest class, a class related to healing, but his class was in fact the farthest away from a healer.

“None of them could catch my eyes...” Genie said, making Khan and Locke shake their heads. 

“You’re talking about an excellent chef with good buff abilities, right?”

A chef with excellent buff ability. This was what they believed they needed. Legend Guild would also hunt and raid boss mobs from time to time. But compared to other guilds, they would only do it in small numbers. They also had a healer in their guild but the healing skills were far from what a buff could give.

“Sigh. You’re a healer, so why did you max your points in STR?”

“Ah. I already told you that I’m not cut out for giving out buffs and heals, won’t you give it a rest already?”

“You always tell me to ‘give it a rest’ but what kind of healer is a Crazy Priest, huh?”

Crazy Priest was a class that was much more capable at attacking, than giving out buffs and healing. Would anyone believe it if Locke told them that the monsters were being tormented when he cast heal on them? [1]

“In all honesty, it will be hard for a regular healer to get to where we are now,” Genie said, smiling bitterly.

It was the truth. Ordinary healers would not be able to go to where they were right now. Generally, healers’ powers were usually on a lower level compared to other classes. In their current hunting grounds, where a powerful aura would constantly be pressing down on players, together with powerful and tricky magic lying around, healers would definitely have a hard time surviving. Besides, due to the nature of Legend Guild, most of their players were focused on solo plays. Because of that, it was necessary for them to get an excellent chef. An excellent chef would definitely be able to make dishes with a long shelf life and good buffs.

“It would be nice to have the Twilight Chef with us.”

“Ah, that’s right!” Locke shouted after remembering something, “How about the player who recently became famous for his buffed tonkatsu?”

Khan supported his forehead in distress while Genie continued to smile bitterly. 

“That famous player is a fake, Locke,” Khan said, clicking his tongue.

“Didn’t you see it when our guild members said that it was fake? Which player at Level 15~20 would be able to make a buffed dish that could increase your attack and defense by 4%? It would be good if you used your brains to live.”

“Hey!!!” Locke shouted, making Khan shudder, “I’m also thinking of ideas!”

“Wow... You’re actually thinking... You’re really amazing...” Clap... clap... Khan said, even accompanying his words with applause.

Genie sighed, stood up and said, “Let’s get going.”

The three of them were going to enter that iron gate and challenge it again. If they had an excellent chef with them, then they would definitely be able to clear it. However, they did not have one right now, so they could only try and challenge it with their own abilities.

Then, Genie suddenly stopped walking and mumbled, “Will that guy attend the reunion this time?”

Khan and Locke did not say anything. They only smiled bitterly at her sentiments.

“That damn bastard. How could he do that to us? He suddenly transferred to another school back in middle school and now, we can’t even contact him. He should have at least told us if he was dead or alive!” Locke yelled out his frustrations as Khan nodded in agreement.

“I’ll slap his cheek like a drum when I meet him!” Locke said. His words might sound nasty, but his expression was that of longing for a precious friend.

“I’ll try to contact him again after we finish this raid,” Genie said, pulling out her spear.

Creaaaaaaaaaak━

Bang!

The iron gate banged open as the three of them entered inside.

***

Minhyuk had just finished exercising and was now sitting on his chair eating cherry tomatoes. Meanwhile, Changwook sat beside him admiring Hepas’ Legendary Frying Pan on his phone. Changwook said, “Hiyaa… I want to hit you on the back of your head and take it away from you. Won’t this be able to deflect almost all of the magic away? Even its defense is over 800. My armor is only at 700.” 

Changwook was in awe because most of the time, only high-leveled players could wear artifacts with stats like this. Of course, these types of artifacts would naturally have a much higher defense than the artifacts that novice players wore. However, Minhyuk already had an artifact with the same defense as the artifacts that Level 400 rankers equipped, while he was only at Level 80. No. It even had more options and effects compared to what those rankers had. However, when Changwook saw the requirements of the artifact, he thought, ‘D…DEX at 500...? That’s a high requirement.’

Then, Changwook recalled something. He asked, “You’ll be Level 100 soon, right?”

“Yes.”

Chomp, chomp—

Minhyuk nodded as he continued to eat his tasteless cherry tomatoes. Meanwhile, Changwook rubbed his chin in contemplation, “Once you reach Level 100, quests related to your class will pop out. Of course, regular classes would get their quests from their respective class towers.”

“I know this too!” Minhyuk said. He also studied Athenae. After all, it was only through research that he would be able to find delicious food. However, Minhyuk wondered how he would receive his quests.

‘I think I have to reach Level 150 before I start the legacy?’

It was mainly because of this that Minhyuk decided to increase his level once he logged back inside the game.  Of course, before he could do quests for leveling up, he had to check if delicious food was included in the rewards.

“There’s also the episode quest once you reach Level 100.”

“I know about this too. Hyung.”

“Really? How about this? A large quest like the episode quest will not be given to you if you don’t have any REP.”

“I know that too. And I think I’ll be able to receive it.”

Changwook chuckled and smiled meaningfully when he heard his words. In fact, large quests like episode quests and imperial quests were really possible for Level 100 players. However most of the time, it was unfortunately all talk. The only reason was that most Level 100 players could not participate with the reputation that they have. Reputation, or REP, could be gained whenever players get close and build a friendly relationship with NPCs, otherwise they could gain reputation by doing something special through quests or other various things. However, it was not an easy task.

“You must have 100 REP before you can participate. Level 100 players generally have what, at most 50 REP? Do you still think that you can participate...?” Changwook commented in an offhand manner, while checking Minhyuk’s REP on Minhyuk’s phone.

“...”

However, what greeted him made him speechless. He thought, ‘What kind of reputation is this?! It’s even higher than mine!’

Minhyuk’s REP was at 452 while Changwook’s was only at 250. Before Minhyuk could tell him ‘Wow, Hyung. You’re really bad at games.’ like last time, Changwook immediately shut his mouth. However, Minhyuk tilted his head at him when he suddenly turned silent. Changwook immediately stood up and said, “Ah, that’s right. I have to go and meet some of my friends outside!”

“Wow. Your brother is eating cherry tomatoes here all alone, without any friends at all!”

“...Should I stay?”

“Nope, I’m just kidding,” Minhyuk said with a grin. Changwook only gave him a dumbfounded expression before leaving, only to be replaced by Minhyuk’s dietitian, Im Hyejin.

‘I’m jealous.’ Minhyuk thought as he watched Changwook leave to meet with friends.

Minhyuk’s eating addiction was something that he contracted so suddenly back in middle school. He just suddenly ate everything they had in the refrigerator one day. He had not been to school ever since then. Minhyuk quietly and quickly transferred schools and went to the United States to try and find a cure, but the only thing that he got was the term ‘Eating Addiction’ and another 40 kilograms to his name. He only stayed there for two months.

At that time, Minhyuk suffered from severe manic depression and even had an impulse to commit suicide. Whenever he contacted his friends, he always felt that he was missing his past colorful and splendid life so he decided to change his phone number and quietly hid away from his friends and society. He did not want his friends to see him like this. He was also scared that they might point their fingers at him, or worse, hate him for what he had become.

Minhyuk had always smiled at other people, and even if they called him a pig, he would just say‘I’m a pig. Kwiiiiiiiik!’. However, even if he was going along with those words, he never liked being called a pig. Minhyuk just felt that if he did not act that way, or if he did not smile, then he would look like he was desperate.

‘Friends...’ Minhyuk thought about this word deeply. He also had them too. The guys that he went to the PC Room with whenever school ended, they were his friends. Back then, he was really bad at those games so his friends would say…

‘As expected. The world is fair to us all.’

‘Wow, Minhyuk-ah… You’re really bad at this game…”

‘GG!’

Minhyuk tried everything that was trendy and had fun with his friends. Then, he suddenly thought of Facebook. He also had an account on Facebook when he was in middle school. So, he reinstalled the app that he deleted before and logged back in.

Once he logged back in, he saw a +999 on the bell-shaped icon that meant notification. It was news and updates. Updates about his friends, acquaintances or even his friends’ acquaintances. Minhyuk did not look through the pile of news and updates about his friends. He looked at his message window. There was also a +999 on his messages. Minhyuk smiled as he checked through his messages. There was only one reason why he smiled. A few days ago, a friend of his sent a message to him.

‘Im Jihye.’

Whenever they played RPGs or shooting games, she always set her nickname as ‘Genie’. She was a girl who always insisted that she was as good as the magical fairy genie, and was very good at playing games. Minhyuk remembered her as someone that was 160-centimeters tall and weighed 100kg. Just like the Minhyuk of today.

‘I’ll kill you if you eat my ramen!’ 

Jihye would say, shaking her fists at them. She looked very, very scary back then. Just when Minhyuk was about to click on her message…

Riiiiing━

…his mobile phone rang loudly.

1. Maplestory users I guess xD ☜