Leveling Up through Eating

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

PR: MattForgenti

Jihye looked like she was deep in thought. She also thought that Minhyuk was a bit too much. But everything was all one-sided. Then, Jihye said…

“There may be some circumstances that we don’t know. Maybe he wanted to meet with us but he can’t.”

“……I don’t know about that.”

Jisoo shook his head at her. He really did not know about his circumstances. He looked down at his phone to avoid the eyes of his friends. However, as he scrolled through his phone, his eyes widened. He found a video on the internet. The title was… ‘The Return of Suicidal Rovan.’

“Huh……? What’s this. Why is Rovan-nim here?”

He confirmed that this was Rovan who they lost contact with after he told them that he was fighting against the Ares Guild.

But why is he in this video?

“The person who’s wearing the helmet……”

The person was wearing an unidentifiable helmet with horns on top of it. The person was none other than Minhyuk. It was proven by the fact that there was a frying pan on his back. Then, Minhyuk and Rovan clashed together.

The three of them watched the video together in a daze.

Then…

Minhyuk looked at Rovan sharply as he stood up and appeared from the cloud of dust. He had bandages all over his body.

“……He, he has a good sense for battle……”

Seoktae said this.

He was Khan, the King of Fist. This was his codename but he was also good enough to not shame the name.

“Rovan-nim used the Berserker’s Madness, right?”

“It looks like it. Rovan-nim told me before that he would be as strong as someone at Lv200 if he uses it. But the penalty was extremely huge for him……”

All of them were shocked.

Then, how strong is Minhyuk?

“Wow. How did that game noob become so strong?”

When the four of them hung out together, Minhyuk was the worst among them in playing games. Playing games with him was enough to get them shaking. But the reality was…

The three of them were so good that Minhyuk thought that he couldn’t do it at all!

“Aside from that, I thought of a way to contact Minhyuk.”

“What is it?”

Seoktae turned to Jihye when he heard her words.

“We could just find him with that helmet and frying pan, right?”

“Oh! Then if someone found him and told you his location then you will reward them. Like that?”

“That’s right!”

Meanwhile, Jisoo who was quietly looking at his phone whispered…

“……We can’t find him like that.”

“Why?”

Jisoo showed them the content that he was just reading on his phone.

[Blacksmith Guild Happy Meal. Thanks to the enthusiastic support of our fans, 300,000 of our frying pans and helmets have been sold out. ^_^]

“……?”

“……?”

Jihye and Seoktae tilted their heads in confusion as Jisoo sighed deeply. He scrolled through his phone and showed them another article.

[Why am I seeing people wearing a frying pan and a helmet all over the streets today……]

[IKR…… It’s like when you see a lot of people wearing the same brand of padded jacket as me everytime I walk outside because it is so popular……. Hehehehe.]

[Even the Happy Meal Guild is swamped with orders…… They’re expecting to sell 500,000 pieces today…… Even the other guilds are jumping into the frying pan business.]

“……”

“……”

The two of them were left speechless.

Then, right at that moment, they received a call from Yoon Chan. Jihye talked to him for quite some time.

“Yes, yes. We went to school together. Really. I’ll tell the whole story to you later. Please send a whisper to him first. Yes.” 

Jihye ended the call. Not long after, a call came in from Yoon Chan again.

“Wh, what did you say? You sent the whisper?” 

But the words that Yoon Chan said were like a bolt out of the blue.

[I think his whisper is off……?]

***

Minhyuk woke up in a daze.

“I’m hungry.”

He always started his morning with the correct words(?). Then, he went out to the kitchen and saw Changwook who just stood up from his seat.

“Yo. Frying Pan Killer.”

“Hyung. How did you know that name?”

“You topped the real-time search on the Athenae homepage yesterday. And there’s also a live broadcast video of you winning against a fight with Rovan. You’re really amazing.”

Did I get famous on the official website?

Minhyuk had just one thought when he realized this.

“Shit. Then it would be difficult to eat! So annoying.”

When Changwook heard Minhyuk’s words, somehow he felt envious. Anyone who played a game would want to be a strong person that was able to be a ranker. However, Minhyuk looked like he was extremely annoyed that he was considered to be a strong person.

“Ah, that’s right. Why was your whisper off yesterday, Minhyukie?”

“Ah. It was because Lucia-nim kept on whispering to me. She said that she wanted to eat ramyeon. She said that she couldn’t forget the taste of the ramyeon that I made before.”

“……Is that the Lucia-nim that I know?”

“Yes.”

“Is, isn’t that a good thing?”

“Hyung. It’s bad! My god. Someone wants to steal ramyeon from me!”

“R, really? But I don’t think that was the case?”

“No. It’s because hyung doesn’t know her well. She’s a glutton, she even wanted to take two potato jeon from me.”

However, Changwook thought differently.

Did Lucia really send a whisper to Minhyuk just because she wanted to eat ramyeon?

‘Lucia-nim is much more daring than what I thought.”

Everyone liked to eat ramyeon. And asking someone ‘Do you like to eat ramyeon with me?’ was an expression of interest. For some, it was a symbol for ‘Sseom’. However, Minhyuk just saw Lucia as the villain who was trying to steal his ramyeon.

‘So he’s a dating noob.’

Changwook was also a dating noob so he was quite delighted with this turn of events. He would definitely have a stomach ache if Minhyuk and Lucia got along well!

Then, just as fast as he got delighted, he suddenly felt sullen.

‘But why am I……’

Why is no one interested in me!

Changwook, who suddenly felt sullen, trudged back to his room with drooping shoulders.

“Hyung. Why did you suddenly look like you’re tired?”

“Don’t talk to me… You envious… no, bad punk.”

Minhyuk was taken aback. He turned around and continued to eat his cherry tomatoes and salad to his heart’s content.

“God’s Cuisine.”

There are five dishes under God’s Cuisine!

Minhyuk was already looking forward to it. 

He had to go and find Boroto, the former tower master of the Chef’s tower, to find out about where the first dish was. He was told that Boroto was currently staying in the Chef’s Village, Raven.

Minhyuk excitedly accessed Athenae.

***

Ever since he arrived at Raven, he was quite curious.

‘Since earlier, really……’

There were a lot of people wearing a helmet and frying pan just like him. He even saw them swinging the pan while they said…

“Korea number 1!”

“……?”

Meanwhile, the people on his other side were like this…

“We Love Frying Pan club is recruiting guild members for the FPK club. We won’t accept anyone with less than 50 on their frying pan’s attack power!”

Minhyuk thought that there really were a lot of strange people as he continued to walk to where Boroto, the former tower master of the Chef’s tower, was.

***

The former tower master of the Chef’s Tower Boroto!

He had been heavily drunk and intoxicated since the day began.

‘In the end, no one came to succeed Food God-nim…’

No one here believed in him or the amazing legends of the Food God! Everyone just snorted in contempt when they heard the legends of the Food God.

‘No. There’s no one crazy like that in the world, Boroto-nim!’

‘Boroto-nim, why do you believe in such nonsense? Isn’t that just like believing in the traditional fairy tales?’

That’s right, this was how everyone looked at the legends of the Food God. A traditional fairy tale to promote a child’s innocence!

His legends really were something like that. The legends of the Food God were filled with so much crazy nonsense that everyone believed it to be something that was only made up.

But as a child, this was what Boroto had heard from his father…

‘He’ll come one day.’

Whenever his father served food, he would always tell him the stories of the Food God. Since he grew up with his stories, Boroto had always dreamed of meeting him. But in the end, no one came to him as a descendant of the Food God.

He had now become the former tower master of the Chef’s Tower. Nothing but a senile old man.

Boroto once again drank from his bottle of alcohol.

Then…

Knock, knock━

“Hello, anybody there? Chomp?”

Someone knocked on his door.

Boroto tilted his head curiously as he walked to open the door. When he opened the door, he saw a young man standing right in front of him. The man hurriedly wiped the grease off of his mouth. He looked like he just finished eating a piece off of the smoked duck meat that he was holding in his other hand. The smoked duck meat was ridiculously large, it was even as large as a man’s head.

“……Boy, who are you?”

“I’m here to find the Food God’s Legacy!”

“……!”

When he heard his words, Boroto was startled. Then he asked him…

“Boy, what would you do if the world was going to end tomorrow?”

“I’ll go and eat something delicious?”

“What would you ask for if the Dragon Lord wanted to give you a present?”

“I’ll ask him to give me a small part of his tail. I wonder what a dragon’s tail tastes like?!”

“Boy, what do you think of as soon as you wake up?”

“I just woke up so I’m hungry……”

‘My goodness……! This guy is a total food freak!’

But Boroto nodded his head because of that.

However, he still needed the final proof. Boroto quickly rushed inside. Back when his father was alive, he left a dish behind. This dish was sealed by the Food God himself with his own powers.

This is a dish that only the Food God can eat!

Since it was sealed by the Food God himself, only the people who were related to him would be able to eat it.

Then, he opened a box. As soon as Minhyuk saw the dish in the box he looked at it and Boroto in surprise. He couldn’t stop from looking at them in turn. Boroto carefully handed him a pair of chopsticks.

“Boy, would you like to try and pick some food from this dish?” 

If the person was not the Food God or his descendants, then they would not be able to even reach it with their chopsticks. Even Boroto couldn’t touch it.

However, Minhyuk shook his head.

“There’s still something that you need before you eat this dish.”

Minhyuk looked at Boroto with a solemn expression on his face.

***

“There’s still something that you need before you eat this dish.”

Minhyuk had a rare solemn expression on his face!

He hurriedly pulled some rice out of his food storage inventory.

The dish that the former Chef tower’s tower master, Boroto, showed him was none other than a quail egg jangjorim!

The quail egg jangjorim was one of the best rice thieves ever!

Whenever he opened the refrigerator, he would be so happy if he saw the quail egg jangjorim that his mother left from the night before.

Minhyuk quickly slipped his chopsticks at the quail egg jangjorim. His chopsticks easily picked a quail egg that was browned by the soy sauce.

“Heok!”

Boroto looked at Minhyuk with awe and admiration. He handed him the dish as he slowly backed away and bowed down.

“Food God!”

However, Minhyuk did not look at him at all. He sat down in his place as he scooped up a spoonful of the steaming hot rice. Then, he placed the quail egg on top of it before placing it all in his mouth.

“Chomp!”

The moment he chewed, he could taste the salty and light flavor of the jangjorim and the rice.

He was completely in awe.

“W, what’s this? It’s extremely delicious?”

Minhyuk was in complete awe and admiration. The taste was different from all of the quail egg jangjorim that he had eaten in the past. The flavor was extremely deep and savory. And the egg white and yolk were in complete harmony in every bite.

“Of course. That is a dish that was made by the Food God himself. The egg is not actually a quail egg.”

It’s not a quail egg? So what is it then?

The size was definitely the same with quail eggs.

Then, he heard a shocking fact from Boroto.

“It’s a phoenix’s egg.”

***

Footnotes

[Sseom] – 썸 or sseom, was borrowed from the english word something. A slang that refers to people who are dating but not yet together. People under mutual understanding of some sorts.

Food Discussion Corner

Jangjorim (장조림) – boiled or braised beef in soy sauce. Usually contains beef, mushrooms and quail eggs.

TL’s corner!!!

Ahhh. I wonder if Minhyuk will ask Ellie for some phoenix eggs?

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