Leveling Up through Eating

Minhyuk and his friends had the same thoughts in their heads. ‘How can he be so predictable?’ was what ran through their heads.

They had understood him completely. After losing to Minhyuk back in middle school, Carr or Lee Dawoul, immediately went to the players’ waiting room and made a mess before going away. And right now, Carr was also making a scene just like he did back then.

“You’re toying with me, right?! You, Kang Minhyuk! How dare you mock me just like you did before?! How dare you!” 

“What are you talking about? I would like you to leave. Isn’t it only polite to not do something like this in the players’ waiting room?” 

“Polite?! Polite?! You fuckers!” 

Kick!

He kicked the chair that was right next to him.

Minhyuk had already predicted that this would happen. He knew that he had a hot-tempered personality that did not care about anything else once he got angry.

“Because of you……” 

“Why is it because of us? You lost because you’re weak.” 

Khan spoke as Carr snorted at him while he laughed mockingly.

“One win and it goes to all three of your heads.” 

Then, the three of them crossed their legs and nodded at the same time.

“Yeah.” 

Carr’s face flushed red while Locke opened his mouth to talk.

“I’m sorry, but at least we’re not as cheap as you as to threaten other people. After all, you were the one who threatened me first. Didn’t you tell me that you will tell the whole world that I used to be a loner? So I got angry and did that whole ‘Uweeeeeck!’ fiasco. It made me into a ‘rude and unlikeable’ person that the whole nation hates. So what are you talking about here when you lost to us once? Are you here to blame us for winning the competition?” 

To be honest, Carr had nothing to retort even if he had ten mouths. But he was too excited and agitated that all he wanted to do was curse at them.

“That’s right. Anyway, a loner and an outcast like you will not be able to live until the end. The same goes for you, Minhyuk. Khan, you? Your life will not be smooth sailing either because I’m not going to stand still in Athenae.” 

“‘That’s right’ you said? So you admit it? You admit to threatening me first?”

“Revealing that shitty life of yours? Sure. I’m going to get someone to do it all on the internet……”

At that moment, Carr suddenly felt a mysterious flash somewhere.

Click, click!

There were several cameras sticking out of the changing room. And the cameras all began to shoot at Carr continuously.

“……”

Carr was left in a fluster. His eyes widened in shock as his body trembled violently.

He had made himself to be the gentlemanly and polite gold medalist in front of the media. And he was even chosen by plenty of women as the ‘Number 1 Polite Male to go on a Blind Date with’. But right now, there were plenty of reporters in front of him.

Minhyuk, Locke and Khan all simultaneously crossed their hands on their chests.

“We wanted to tell you.”

“Just in case, we wanted to give it to you if you came.”

“We prepared a present for you?”

“……!”

Then, they stretched out their hands as if they were giving out gifts to him. Starting from the left, Minhyuk pulled out his hand from his chest as he raised his middle finger at him.

“Eat shit~”

Locke, who was in the middle, also popped his middle finger out.

“Eat a second shit~”

And finally, Khan, who was on the right-most side, pulled out both of his hands and raised two middle fingers at him.

“Eat a third shit~”

Then, the three of them all puffed their cheeks out as they blew their tongues at him. They looked at him with unkind looks as they all said this at the same time……

“Nim, you’re a fucker! Ptew!”

“Nim, you’re a fucker! Ptew!”

“Nim, you’re a fucker! Ptew!”

They showed a very fantastic chemistry.

***

Both Alicia and Lucia were waiting in front of the players’ waiting room to congratulate Minhyuk. They wanted to congratulate him since they had met before. Anyone could also see that Lucia’s cheeks were flushed red.

‘Minhyuk……’

Lucia failed to meet him during the previous competition! She even sent whispers of ‘Do you want to eat ramyeon?’ to Minhyuk. But Minhyuk, who was embarrassed(?), always avoided her.

But today!

She was sure that she would be able to talk to him if she sent him her congratulations.

Meanwhile, Alicia felt her heart shake for the first time when she watched him fight against Carr. This was the first time that she had experienced something like this in her life. He had become more likeable in her eyes after she watched him easily defeat Carr, who was believed to be ranked as number 1 in the unofficial rankings.

“Lucia. Men usually like innocent looking women with long hair. The kind that looks good in jeans.”

“Hoho. Unnie~ What are you talking about. Men like women with a chic bob. And what men really like the most are women with a sensual body, right? Hohoho!”

Lucia puffed up her chest as she smiled widely. A strange war of nerves broke out between the two women. It was a scene where two of the most beautiful women in the country were arguing about such things just because of one person.

And some of the players could see them.

‘Ar, aren’t those two Lucia and Alicia?’

‘Th, those two are very famous because they never talked to men……!’

‘I, I’m a bit envious of Player Minhyuk!’

‘I’m very, very jealous!’

The players reacted like that since the two of them were so beautiful. Meanwhile, Cain, who was watching the two of them, was resting his hand on the hilt of his sword.

‘This wolf-like bastaaard! I’ll pull every single one of your toenails as soon as you get out!’

Cain still believed that Minhyuk seduced the innocent(?) Lucia. 

At that moment, the door suddenly opened.

Alicia smiled softly as she shyly tucked her hair behind her ears. She was the epitome of purity itself.

“Wow. T, too beautiful…..” 

One of the players exclaimed in shock while Lucia waited to the side while trying to find a pose that could highlight her full chest and ample figure.

“Isn’t that too sexy?” 

“Wow. She’s really pretty. Isn’t that too sexy?” 

And just like expected, Cain gripped his sword tightly. When the two girls saw Minhyuk come out, they thought……

‘Lucia~ guys like innocent and pure girls, you know?’ 

‘Hoho, unnie~ guys like sexy and provocative women.’ 

The two of them saw him running hurriedly. 

‘Did he miss me since it’s been a long time since we last met? Is that why you’re running like this?!’ 

‘Y, you’re running to see me!! Are you going to give me, Lucia, a big hug?! I missed you too!!’ 

That was what the two of them thought.

And the one who was running!  He looked like he was in a hurry but he stopped when he was about to pass by them.

“Ack! Lucia-nim, hello! Alicia-nim, hi! Well then, everyone, hello! Hello! I have to go eat eel! Bye everyone!” 

Minhyuk greeted them politely. Once he finished greeting them, he quickly dashed off and disappeared from the hallway. He looked like there was a fire after him.

“……” 

“……” 

Both Alicia and Lucia were left speechless. 

“J, just now, what did Player Minhyuk say?” 

“He, he’s going to eat eel, I think……” 

“No…… Does it even make sense for him to go and eat eel over these two pretty women?” 

Alicia and Lucia both laughed.

“Hohoho! We can’t help it if it’s eel! Hohohoho!” 

“R, right? Lucia? Hohohohohoho!” 

That’s right. The top beauties of the country, Lucia and Alicia, were worth less than an ‘eel’ in front of Minhyuk.

***

After the competition, the number one real-time search word in Nava was ‘War of the World Tree’. However, the number one real-time search word changed within a few hours.

[1. Carr, rampaging in the waiting room.]

At the same time, a lot of articles popped up on the website. In addition, the netizens were all strongly criticizing.

[Nims. Is it true that Carr threatened Locke?]

[Yes. It’s true. Although there are a lot of speculative comments coming in right now, it was something that was officially announced by Locke-nim himself. And Carr was also sitting beside him during an interview a few days ago. There must have been some bad blood between Carr and Minhyuk-nim before. He used the excuse of exposing Locke-nim’s past to threaten and mock them.]

[So, Locke-nim swore and pretended to vomit because he was angry about what he told him about his friend?]

[Right. But Carr threatened him because he knew that Locke-nim would be ridiculed if his past was known. But Locke-nim did not care about that. All he wanted to do was to protect his friend. Wow. When I saw this, I thought that this was really what a cool guy is.]

[Agree. Even though Locke-nim is ugly, he’s still really cool. Wasn’t he the best during the games too? Even when his legs were uncomfortable, he was still able to beat the other players around.]

[That’s true. He’s become the best dealer in our country with this game. Even Minhyuk-nim was crowned as our country’s real best player when he easily killed Carr.]

[Ah, but thinking about that Carr bastard… I really hate what he has done so far. Pretending to be a good person with good manners. Ptew!]

[Did you close your Carr insta account right now?]

[Carr would be buried and ostracized anyway, right? I heard that all the advertisements and schedules that he had previously will now be blown away. He even has to pay the penalty because he went to the winner and threw a crazy tantrum.]

[Life will really get back to you when you do evil things.]

[Come to think of it, isn’t User Minhyuk too quiet? Many people are curious about User Minhyuk’s future plans. Am I right?]

[Of course. It will definitely be a big hit if User Minhyuk took a video and uploaded it. He’s not filming any commercials or anything, right? I wonder where he is and what he is doing now?]

***

Shwaaaaaaa─

Minhyuk brought the World Tree to the kiln as he amped up the temperature to 1,300 degrees. He left it there for quite a long time. He wiped the sweat that dripped down from his forehead due to the high heat with the towel that was hanging on his neck.

The World Tree that he pulled out from the kiln was glowing red, just like a fiery jewel. Then, he started the process of cooling down the fiery red World Tree with sand and ash.

Charcoal is usually divided between white charcoal and black charcoal. And right now, the charcoal that Minhyuk was making was the charcoal that was best suited for grilling meat. It was none other than white charcoal. White charcoal is called like this due to the white matter that usually got stuck on the surface of the charcoal while it was getting cooled down by the sand and ash.

Minhyuk worked tirelessly for a long time. He was very determined to eat ‘grilled eel’ so he was happy even though the process was too long. And this long process was finally nearing its end. 

After finishing a long and tedious process, his charcoal was finally completed. As soon as the charcoal was completed, he received notifications for the quest reward as well as ‘Gorac’s Special Skill’. However, Minhyuk ignored it in the meantime. 

It was only polite that he gave his all towards the grilled eel first. There were four 3,000 year-old eel with him. And among those four, two would be grilled with salt while the other two would be grilled with a marinade.

“Oink!”

Kongie, who was sitting on the other side of Minnyuk, looked at the eels excitedly.

These were the eels that Kongie received after winning first place!

Minhyuk quickly prepared his setting. The ‘Fire from the World Tree Charcoal’ was burning in front of them. A grill with holes in between was placed neatly on top of the fire. There were also seasoned perilla leaves, sliced ginger, a steaming bowl of eel soup, kimchi, as well as dips made of soy sauce, red pepper sauce as well as ssamjang and sliced garlic. He also did not forget to bring out some freshly washed perilla leaves and lettuce. All of these side dishes were placed neatly beside the grill.

“Your energy is boiling already, Kong-ah?” 

“Oink!!” 

Kongie nodded his head furiously as he watched Minhyuk lift the eel that he had prepared earlier with his tongs.

As soon as the eel made contact with the grill……

Sizzle─

Smoke rose from the grilling pan accompanied with the sizzling sound of meat being grilled.

“The 3,000 year-old eel grilled in charcoal made out of the World Tree!” 

No matter how I think about it, isn’t this a combination that’s bound to be really delicious?

Minhyuk watched the eel as it slowly got cooked before flipping it over once.

Sizzle─

Smoke rose once more. Minhyuk saw the juice dripping slowly from the grilled eel in front of him. The smoke rose as soon as the juices dripped and made contact with the charcoal. He could see the oil glistening brightly on the surface of the eel.

Aaaaaaah! This is an art!

It was a fierce art that would make those standing in front of it feel the harshness of the waiting time.

Minhyuk made sure to protect the juiciness of the eel by flipping it over and over before cutting it evenly.

“Oink!” 

Kongie quickly raised his hands as he looked at the well-grilled eel. It was as if he was telling him ‘Let’s eat first! Oink!’. Of course, the same food setting and grilled eel was created in front of Kongie.

At Kongie’s polite words and actions, Minhyuk slowly picked up a piece of grilled eel. He could see that the surface was still glistening and sizzling with oil.

“Hoo! Hoo!” 

After carefully blowing on it, Minhyuk just placed it in his mouth in all its natural glory.

***

TL’s corner!

I wonder what it tastes like. :L

PR’s corner!

Of course Minhyuk just skips by Alicia and Lucia. They weren’t holding any food.