Leveling Up through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

76 Good Guy, Bad Guy, Weird Guy

Roven was completely dumbfounded. A puny human had just told him that he would conquer the Demon World’s Tower in just a single day. Of course, he was aware that these kinds of people were just conceited and too full of themselves. But his unique way of teasing(?) had made him fume with anger. 

In addition, the Demon World’s Tower was a magnificent and massive architecture comparable to the Great Wall of China and was created by countless demons. Baal, the Demon King from hundreds of years ago, together with the Four Heavenly Kings, one of the main pillars of the Demon World, had created this stunning tower together.

This was the Demon World’s Tower that no one had been able to go beyond the first 30 floors. 

‘This impudent punk! I’ll definitely smash your nose flat!’

Then, Roven spoke.

“60%. If you pass the first floor with just 60% of the new record then I’ll acknowledge you.”

“Eeeeeh~? 60%? Doing 130% is easy~”

“This human bastard!”

Roven couldn’t help but lose his temper.

However, there was only one reason why Minhyuk continued to tease him softly. According to the quest rewards, he would be able to receive some of the information about the Demon World’s Tower. But he believed that he could coax more information out of it if he continued to provoke him.

“Then, let’s do this bastard. If you’re not able to break the previous record then you will give me a lot of artifacts?” 

“Hmm…… So what if I set a new record?” 

“I’ll tell you everything I know about the tower!” 

There were a lot of things that Roven had to consider but giving all of the tower’s information could be done. It was because he knew that the tower could not be targeted and broken easily even if he had all of the information given to him. Just like when a Lv10 user couldn’t break or target all of the higher leveled quests just because he knew the methods and rewards. 

Minhyuk had also heard the notification about the changes in the quest. After hearing the happy results, Minhyuk and his group began to move towards the Demon World’s Tower. 

Meanwhile, Conir spoke.

“Conir. I want to cook ramyeon here……!”

“Hmm?”

Contrary to Minhyuk’s guess, Conir did not like fighting that much. However, he did not hate him for such a fact. 

“But we can also climb and cook there?”

But Conir spoke proudly to him.

“When we go inside, I can’t ‘anguish’ because it’s too noisy. Conir. Has to anguish!”

Conir’s anguish?

His words did not fit but it seemed like Conir liked to study cooking ramyeon in a quiet environment just like a team of researchers. 

Minhyuk just shook his head at his thoughts. Conir was not a child that needed to live under his wings. The three men who attacked him earlier were clearly not there to tease him but to make trouble but he dealt with them easily. And if necessary, Conir could be sent to the summoner’s room. If he summoned him again, he would appear in front of Minhyuk so he was not that worried about his safety. 

“Then, play safe. Alright?”

“Thanks, hyung!”

Conir smiled happily as he squatted down on the floor. Then, Minhyuk and the rest of his party entered the tower.

***

Mage Monarch Aincarr was a mage user who ranked 2nd in the world. His one and only goal and standard was Alex, the 1st in the mage rankings. Aincarr and Alex were only separated by a level or two but their differences were quite distinct and clear. 

Alex had excellent magical control which brought him to the 1st spot in the world’s mage rankings. What was worse was that he had a special magic that could allow him to predict the skill buffer and casting time of his enemies. Because of that, most mages were flustered since Alex could easily prepare for the magic that they would use to attack him.

However, that did not mean that Mage Monarch Aincarr was someone inferior to Alex. He was the leader of the guild Golden Staff, a guild that had 250 people all of which were elites. There were around 150 mages that mostly consisted of rankers from France while the remaining 100 were all archers. In addition, Mage Monarch Aincarr was also a member of Blackstone. 

He had come in front of the Demon World Shelter at the call of Callauhel. After standing in front of the shelter, Aincarr waved his shining golden wand. As if to follow the will of his wand, the space was torn and a circle opening opened in front of him. 

[Monarch’s Summons]

[Calls for the guild’s designated targets.]

Each day, he could summon around 20~30 people. The monarch class especially had the job class ‘Monarch’ in addition to having another job class. In addition, possessing the monarch class would not impose any restrictions or penalties on the user’s other job class. 

Mages and archers wearing golden robes began to walk out of the opening in front of him.

‘The Frying Pan Killer…’ 

Aincarr turned his head to look at the Demon World Shelter. One of the archer classes quickly moved towards that direction as he reported to him right away. 

“He’s gone.” 

“As expected.” 

There were about 40 minutes that had passed from the time that Callauhel had given his orders. 

‘We’ll be able to catch up with him in no time at all.’ 

He immediately led his guild members towards the Demon World’s Tower’s entrance. Monarch Arch still had not arrived yet. Since Golden Staff Guild mainly consisted of long-distance attackers, they would be able to work efficiently if Monarch Arch and his proximal guild worked with them before they started. 

As they walked towards the tower, Aincarr couldn’t help but frown at the sight that he saw.

“……What’s that?” 

An extremely strange sight had unfolded in front of his eyes. There, in front of a tower was a boy and a man. The boy was sitting while eating something while the man was standing in front of a dragon. Then, the man spoke to the dragon.

“Sit.”

Fwoosh!

“Stand.”

Swoosh!

“Aigoo, my child. You did well!”

Then, he touched the head of the dragon before throwing a snack at it. 

Are you telling me that this is really a huge black dragon? This one that is enjoying its snack while lying down with its belly high up in the sky?

“……”

“……”

“……”

“I, Is that really a dragon?”

“He’s training a dragon like a dog……”

The boy was smiling happily as he watched the man look at the giant black dragon. Then, the man turned to the boy and asked.

“Isn’t our Poison Dragon-ie really cute?”

“Keok. I, it’s name is Poison Dragon……?”

“N, no. What kind of dragon is that……”

The dragon in front of them was clearly the Poison Dragon but the ‘ie’ added at the end of its name made them feel like they were looking at their neighbor’s and friend’s dog, Poppie.

***

Twenty minutes ago, Minhyuk had climbed the tower and left Conir by the entrance. He was currently in anguish. 

What was the basic method of cooking the most delicious ramyeon?!

“Keuaaaack…… Conir…… So hard……”

In the end, Conir slumped down and laid on the ground. At that time, a man wearing a black mask arrived in front of the Demon World’s Tower. The man crouched down and looked at Conir’s glistening eyes.

 “Kid, you’ll catch a cold if you sleep here.”

“Conir didn’t fall asleep! I’m training to become a ramyeon master!”

“Hoo? So it’s ramyeon.”

The man with the black mask showed a clear interest in him. Conir could somehow faintly feel a strange sense of familiarity from the man in front of him. He knew that he saw him somewhere but he couldn’t remember where. 

Then, the man spoke.

“It’s good for you to have a goal. What is the current level of ramyeon that you’re trying to reach?” 

Conir answered his question.

“I want to cook the best basic ramyeon!” 

Conir answered him with determination. Perhaps it was because he thought that the man in front of him was a reclusive master. The man scratched his head for a while before speaking.

“If it’s about the way to make the best basic ramyeon then it seems like I know about it.” 

“Wh, what is it?!!!” 

“It’s to cook ramyeon according to the instructions in the packet.” 

“……!” 

Conir felt like he had been hit on the head with something blunt. Then, the man continued to speak.

“The instructions written behind the packet will give you the most delicious ratio of ingredients. It has undergone hundreds of thousands of studies by many researchers so if you cook the ramyeon following those instructions then you will be able to get the best taste.” 

Conir immediately tried it. Just like the instructions had said, he added 550mL of water. Then, he only added the soup packet and the noodles after the water started to boil. Then, just like Minhyuk had told him, he started to lift the noodles with his chopsticks when they began to loosen up in the pot. 

“Hoo. You know how to do that, huh? What a good kid.” 

“Conir! I was praised!” 

The man in front of him looked like he was quite nice and favorable to children. He was completely unlike the men who came and disturbed him earlier.

As soon as the ramyeon finished cooking, the notifications started ringing in Conir’s head.

[You have successfully completed the Lv1 Quest: Cook the Best Ramyeon.]

[You have learned the Passive Skill: Chewy Noodles.]

[The Lv2 Quest: Ramyeon and Ramyeon’s Combination has been created.]

Compared to other vassals and NPCs, Conir received quests through his ‘tenacity’ skill. And he finally accomplished his first quest. Conir couldn’t help but be shocked when he checked the passive skill ‘Chewy Noodles’.

‘……I can make the ramyeon more chewy when I stir it. Wow!’

Conir was completely shocked. He couldn’t help but admire Kongie, someone who was leagues ahead of him.

 “Woooow!!! Ahjussi’s so cool!!!”

“Hahahahaha! You made it, right? That’s really great! Hahahaha!”

The man smiled widely. He looked like he was extremely pleased with Conir’s achievements. Then, Conir asked him brightly.

“Ahjussi, what’s your name?”

“I’m Black Dragon.”

That was right, he was Minhyuk’s father, Black Dragon. Black Dragon came to the Demon World and met with the Dragon Knight after receiving a linked quest. He came here after hearing that the Dragon of Destruction was asleep in the Demon World’s Tower. 

“Your name’s so cool!!!”

“Thank you.”

“Hmmm. But Conir has a second homework!”

“Hoo. So your name is Conir.”

“Yeah! The second homework is ramyeon and ramyeon’s combination. Hnggh… What’s combination? Conir! So hard!”

Black Dragon listened to his mumbles. He also pondered about it before speaking. 

“Combination…… Kid, do you know jjapaguri?”

“Jjapaguri?”

“That’s right.”

“Don’t know!”

“Well then, you should follow me as I speak.” 

Black Dragon, Minhyuk’s dad, always dreamt of the day that his son would be completely cured. He kept learning how to cook while eagerly waiting for that day to come. He wanted to cook and set a table that was filled with food that his brat liked. That was when he learned about the combination of ramyeon, jjapaguri. 

Black Dragon smiled as he thought Conir the step by step process. He could see that he was trying very hard even though he was clumsily following him.

Conir was also able to follow the caring, considerate and kind Black Dragon. With his kind help, he was able to make the combination ramyeon by using the soup and noodles of Neoguri Ramyeon and Jjapaghetti Ramyeon. He even placed a fried egg on top of it. 

Then, the notifications rang in Conir’s head.

[You have successfully completed the Lv2 Quest: Ramyeon and Ramyeon Combination.]

[You have learned the Passive Skill: Master of Combination.]

[The Lv3 Quest: The Way to Eat Bibimmyeon Deliciously has been created.]

Conir was in admiration. It was thanks to this man in front of him that he had successfully completed two of his quests! And the Master of Combination was also an amazing passive skill. It was a skill that would let him see the best possible combination just by looking at the ramyeon. 

“Conir likes Black Dragon ahjussi! Respect!” 

“Hahahahaha. Should we eat first.” 

He looked at the jjapaguri that he and Black Dragon had created. It was a jjapaguri ramyeon with a fried egg on top of it. He quickly poked and cut the fried egg with his chopsticks before clamping some pieces together with the noodles. The glossy noodles and the spicy scent of the Neoguri ramyeon soup tickled his nose and made his mouth water.

***

Food Discussion Corner

[짜파구리] Jjapaguri – a combination of two KR instant noodles “Jjapaghetti (짜파게티)” and “Neoguri (너구리)”.

[Poison Dragon-ie] – the romanization for the hangul of Poison Dragon is Dokryong so it should be Dokryong-ie but I already rode a paper tiger so I have to continue with Poison Dragon hehehehe.