Leveling Up through Eating

Chapter 19: Proposal

Translator: ChubbyCheeks 

“B, boy did you hunt this?” 

“Someone was trying to hunt it but they asked me for help so I caught it!” 

“Oooooooh… I can make you a special chestnut yanggaeng with this chestnut!” 

[Collect 50 Chestnuts Quest is upgraded to a C-rank quest.] 

[Quest: Collect 50 chestnuts.] 

Rank: C

Restrictions: Open only to those who have tasted Allon’s yanggaeng. 

Rewards: 10 special chestnut yanggaengs and 50 chestnut yanggaengs. 

Description: A quest that can only be linked if you have received Allon’s Chestnut Yanggaeng quest. You will get a special chestnut yanggaeng as a reward which is plenty of times better compared to normal since you caught the great king of chestnut from the king of chestnut demons. 

“D, did you say special chestnut yanggaeng?!” 

He was very happy when he heard that. 

Special, I have a hunch that it would taste even better than the normal yanggaeng. 

“That’s right, I’ll give you a special chestnut yanggaeng in a while. Ah, I’ll also give you the reward for the 50 chestnuts.” 

Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction when he heard his words. He couldn’t help but drool when he heard him. 

‘I need to get some exercise in real life.’ 

He did not want to wait in boredom. Minhyuk was filled with anticipation as he logged out. 

The moment he came back after he finished his exercise, Allon held out an exquisitely wrapped box filled with yanggaeng. 

[You have received 10 pieces of special chestnut yanggaeng.] 

He then held out another box filled with regular chestnut yanggaengs. 

[You have received 80,000 gold.] 

[You have received 200 pieces of chestnut yanggaeng.]

Minhyuk opened the box of special chestnut yanggaengs urgently.

He saw the special chestnut yanggaengs wrapped in golden plastic wrappers. 

Minhyuk excitedly teared off the wrapper and placed the bouncy chestnut yanggaeng in his mouth. 

Then he chewed it… 

When the sweet flavor of the red beans and the soft chewy chestnuts met it created a fantastic combination of flavors. 

Minhyuk unknowingly smiled when he tasted the sweetness of the yanggaeng. 

[You are the first person to have tasted the special chestnut yanggaeng.] 

[You acquired +5 on all 5 of your basic stats.] 

[You have gained +5 reputation points.] 

“Oh?!”

Minhyuk was very surprised. 

The delicious special chestnut yanggaeng even gave him a stat increase. 

“I told you, I was an alchemist back in the days.” 

He did? It must have been a part of his endless chatter. 

In fact, it was very hard to taste Allon’s special chestnut yanggaeng.

First, you have to sample his yanggaeng. 

Then, you have to receive his quest and hunt for chestnut demons.

Most of the users were willing to go this far. However, the users who hunted the chestnut demons to eat the chestnut yanggaeng always gave up the quest on the spot and started cursing. The reason was because the experience and item drops were extremely stingy. 

Then there was the king of chestnut demons. 

It wasn’t a common monster. 

And the chestnut on top of the head of the chestnut demon king was not something you could get automatically. The person who was directly involved with the quest should be the one to remove the great king of chestnut from the head of the chestnut demon king. And most of the users have thought that the king of chestnuts was a part of the monster. 

Because of the long and tedious process of getting the special chestnut yanggaeng, Minhyuk ended up as the first person to have ever tasted it. 

Minhyuk went and checked his stats window. 

(Minhyuk) 

Level: 10

Class: None

HP: 448 MP: 250

STR: 47+11  AGI: 37+14  STM: 25+9

WIS: 20+5  INT: 20+5  Rep: 15

Fullness: 100%/10

Bonus Point: 0

“Kgghk…” 

That’s quite high. 

Minhyuk was not completely unconcerned about his stats. Because no matter how one looked at it, the taste of being strong was quite good. 

Of course it couldn’t surpass food and eating. 

“Is it delicious?” 

“Yees! It gently melts in my mouth.” 

“Yeah, you’ve worked hard. Boy, I got the ingredients for chestnut yanggaeng all thanks to you. Ah. Are you going to go there now, boy?” 

Minhyuk paused his chewing when he heard his words. 

His expression grew solemn. It was like he was going to march towards a battlefield. 

“That’s right.” 

He clenched his fists. 

I have been waiting for this moment for a long time. 

A long time…! 

“Well, boy. Do you really have to look that serious?” 

Allon gulped dryly as he saw his fierceness. 

Minhyuk grinned with a ‘he…’ 

“Pork is delicious no matter how you eat it!” 

“That’s true. But boy, are you really just going there to eat pork?” 

“Of course not. Huhuhuhuhuhu…!” 

There are a lot of things needed to eat pork. And I need gold so I could get those things. 

Come to think of it, Minhyuk went to Isbin Village so he could meet with General then he went to meet Allon and ate yanggaeng. 

‘Didn’t Instructor Roina tell me that I can make a fortune if I sell the chicken feathers that I pulled?’

Roina taught him a lot of basic things before he left for Isbin Village. Things like how to make use of the collection shops. 

“I’ll see you next time. Please make me more delicious yanggaeng at that time!” 

“Sure, go on.” 

Allon looked at Minhyuk’s back with a smile. 

***

The general merchandise store was located near the central plaza. There were quite a lot of novice users around. 

“I’m selling fifteen goblin claws, here!” 

“Yes. Fifteen pieces for 2,800 gold. Here you go!” 

“Yes, thanks for your hard work.” 

“Goodbye.” 

Hamel, the merchant’s lover who bought the goblin claws from the other user, sighed. 

‘I want my work to end quickly so I can go home and take a rest.’ 

Today was one hell of a Monday. People kept on pouring in one after the other. 

Then, a man stopped in front of her. 

‘Wow…… He’s tall……’ 

She was quite amazed with how tall and big he was. 

“I want to sell some miscellaneous items[1].”

“Yes. What would you like to sell?” 

“It’s chicken feathers and chestnut demon thorns.”

“Please place it here.” 

Hamel pushed a machine forward and pointed at it.

If the user placed the items they wanted to sell on the machine, the machine would show how many of the items were there in total. 

It looked like a big bathroom scale with a large basket placed on top of it. 

‘Perhaps he has about six chicken feathers?’ 

Hamel thought of the possibility. 

Chicken feathers were quite cheap so it was common for game-savvy users to hunt them and sell them all together.

“Then, I’ll put the chicken feathers in here?” 

“Yes.” 

Hamel saw the user take out all of the chicken feathers from his inventory.

There was only one set quantity that a user could take out from the inventory in one go. 

Not long after… 

“Huh?”

Hamel was puzzled when she saw the number written on the machine. 

“I, is the machine broken?” 

50 chicken feathers were clearly written in the figures. 

Then, one after another… 

The numbers continued to rise on the scale. The guy still continued to pull out items from his inventory. 

“Heok… Lo, Look at those chicken feathers…!” 

“One chicken can give you 1~2 feathers at most, right?” 

The number on the scales soon stopped at 130.

Minhyuk stopped when he couldn’t place any more chicken feathers from his inventory. 

“It’s already full?” 

“……” 

She grew speechless. 

“Even if you catch plenty of chicken there would be no increase in your strength, why would anyone do this?” 

“Yah, yah, amazing. That user. It’s him, right?” 

Users then began to whisper behind him. 

“Ardo’s Chicken Hunter…!” 

***

Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion at the surprised NPC, Hamel, and the whispering users behind him. 

‘Ardo’s Chicken Hunter?’ 

Not long after, the whispers and murmurs started to grow louder. 

“That user was famous for solo-raiding the golden chicken.” 

“Heok… He faced the golden chicken alone?” 

“That was an amazing event. So that person was him? The one who cooks the chicken immediately after catching it? Doesn’t he look totally handsome?” 

“Wow… Look at how unfair life is…” 

Minhyuk looked very embarrassed. To be honest, he did not like to be the center of attention. 

Hamel spoke at the right moment… 

“You can go inside to use the giant scale. It would be better for you to go there. I’ll show you the way.” 

Hamel quickly asked another employee to replace her. She then led Minhyuk inside. 

Of course, he did not forget to take the chicken feathers that he took out. 

Minhyuk once again stood in front of a large scale. 

He then started to place the chicken feathers on it. Before he knew it, he had already placed 500 chicken feathers on it. 

‘W, what the hell. How much chicken did he hunt…!’ 

As she thought about it, she looked over and saw Minhyuk with a dejected expression. 

“Ah, I thought I ate about 700 of them. So it was just 500?” 

‘He, he ate them?!’ 

She did hear the users outside talking about how he cooked them. 

Then… 

“Wait, there’s more.” 

What Minhyuk pulled out was none other than the golden chicken’s beak and the polished thorn of the chestnut demon king. 

After everything was placed on the scale, Hamel quickly knocked on the calculator. 

Cold sweat broke out on her forehead. 

The reason was simple… 

‘There’s, there’s a lot, plus the user brought special items…!’ 

She had no choice but to deal with it. 

Isbin Village was open to everyone but usually only beginners loiter around. 

“T, there are 582 pieces of chicken feathers worth 60,300 gold… the chestnut demon’s thorns… 45 pieces for 15,000 gold… the golden chicken’s beak… 500,000 gold… and the chestnut demon’s polished thorn for 100,000 gold…” 

Hamel continued to knock on the calculator with a tap tap tap. 

She wiped the cold sweat off of her brows when she saw the total on her calculator. 

“The total is 675,300 gold.” 

“Oh…” 

Listening to it, it seems that there were quite a lot. 

The notifications rang all at once. 

[You have successfully sold more than 600,000 gold on your first deal.] 

[You have acquired the title A Patient Seller.] 

[You have acquired 1 reputation point.] 

“Hmm?” 

Minhyuk checked the title in confusion. 

[A Patient Seller] 

Multi-title. 

Title Effect: +3 on all 5 basic stats. 

“I got… a title. A patient seller?” 

“A, a title? Wow, this is the first time that a title appeared in our store…!” 

“Is this something great?” 

“Of, of course it’s amazing. This title only recognizes you if you hunted the items and sold them yourself, it’s also important to note that it should be your first transaction.” 

“Ah…” 

It seems like it was really the case. 

“Please wait.” 

Hamel placed her gold bag down. 

“I’ll buy everything for 700,000 gold!” 

“700,000?”

“It’s a service!” 

Hamel can foresee it. If she pleased this user today, he would definitely sell her good things. 

This was also possible because Minhyuk has a higher reputation compared to other beginners. 

“Please make use of our store services again!” 

“I’ll visit again!” 

Hamel succeeded in getting a very good (?) customer. 

***

Yadu was the owner of the grocery store. 

He stared blankly as he watched Minhyuk drag several carts. 

“Boy, are you going to buy all of this? By any chance, is your guild having a get-together today?” 

Occasionally, there were get-togethers in the game. These gatherings were like family gatherings where poor people could attend. 

“I’m going to eat all of these alone!”

“……” 

Yadu was left speechless so he whipped his calculator out and tapped on it. 

“20 pieces ssamjang, 20 pieces gochujang, 10 pieces doenjang… 50,000 gold worth of lettuce, 40,000 gold worth of sesame leaf… 30,000 gold worth of asagi chilies… onion… tofu… uhmm… mumble, mumble, mumble… it’s already at 350,000 gold…” [2]

Yadu, who was busy checking out the things in the carts, saw the man dragging two more carts. 

And as expected, the cart was still full of groceries. 

“OMG…” 

His heart was completely shocked. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. 

“I didn’t buy more than I thought, how much is the total?” 

Minhyuk, who was ready to eat pork, smiled brightly then confidently demanded… 

“I bought a lot, so please give me a discount!” 

***

Footnotes 

[1] 잡템 : 잡물 (miscellaneous) + 아이템 (item) = miscellaneous items. 

[2] Okay soooo… Gochujang is red pepper paste,  doenjang is soybean paste while ssamjang is a spicy dipping sauce made with gochujang, doenjang and more ingredients. Asagi chilies, actually it was 오이고추 which I think was a hybrid of chilies and as far as I have searched there seems to be no english equivalent. It’s literally cucumber chilies, but you can search for asagi chilies they look the same. 

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