Leveling Up through Eating

Minhyuk slowly regained his consciousness. He could hear the murmurs of his father and Lee Jinhwan from right behind the slightly open door.

“The complications are too severe. High blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis… and there are even more. He has already reached the level where everything is unbearable for him.”

“…Can we do liposuction, like before?”

“We can’t do that. When we did liposuction before, he just ate and gained what we have taken out before. It will be just a temporary improvement.”

Minhyuk stared blankly at the ceiling as he mumbled to himself.

“What did I do wrong…” 

He couldn’t help but think about where it went wrong.

I worked harder on my exercises and I kept my appetite in check as much as possible. But I still didn’t get better. My appetite even grew bigger and the amount of food I ate also increased. My body kept growing bigger and bigger. But even if this is the case… I still want to live longer.

Creeaaak—

The door slowly creaked open. Minhyuk saw his father enter the room with a tired smile on his face.

“Awake?”

“Yep.”

His father sat in front of him trying his best to give him a happy smile but only the wryest of smiles came out.

“They said that you went overboard with exercising and went into shock briefly.”

Minhyuk laughed bitterly.

The man that was sitting in front of him was the CEO of Ilhwa Group. Kang Minhoo was everyone’s goal. He was the man that everyone aspired to be. And Minhyuk who had this man as his father felt both extremely grateful and sorry.

He should be embarrassed to have a son like me yet he continues to treasure and love me.

When his father heard the bitterness in Minhyuk’s laugh, he couldn’t help but cough lightly.

Cough—

‘He must have heard us talk.’

What should I do to clear this tension…? I should definitely speak.

“Tangsuyuk.” 

“Yukgaejang.”

“Jangeo.”

“Eomuk.”

“Muksabal.”

“Bal? Bal…” 

Minhyuk tried to quickly think of a word that started with bal but after racking his brains for quite a while, he still couldn’t think of anything at all. At a loss, his father laughed which dragged a laughter out of him.

Although the food that they had mentioned was something that Minhyuk could not taste and was not beneficial for his body right now, he could still use those words to play shiritori [1] with his father during their free time. After all, the subject that they use for shiritori was always only food.

In the end, the dark and heavy tension surrounding them was slowly resolved by a simple and easy game.

“Father.”

“Yeah?”

“Would you hate me if I played games?” 

“…Even if the only thing you do is eat and play games, it will be fine with me.”

Kang Minhoo had heard about the new treatment that Lee Jinhwan had proposed to Minhyuk. However, no matter what choice Minhyuk would make, Kang Minhoo would always respect his decision. He would even gladly support him if it meant that his son’s life would be saved.

“Ah, there’s one only one thing… If you’re going to play a game, you have to remember this.”

The expression on Minhyuk’s father’s face had grown solemn. It was as if his next words were a matter of utmost importance that he needed to tell it to him in such a solemn tone.

“Have fun. I’ll be happy if you have fun and if you find the game interesting.”

The only reason why people play those kinds of games was because they wanted to have fun. However, Minhyuk had no choice but to play that game to survive and live on. He needed to play the game to get him out of his sticky predicament and not to have fun. But the only thing that his father wanted him to do was have fun and be happy. His father only wanted him to be safe, healthy and happy.

He smiled at his father’s words.

“I’ll do it… Athenae [2].”

He has finally decided.

***

An Athenae access capsule welcomed Minhyuk once he entered the room. The capsule that was installed in his room was much larger than regular capsules. It seemed like it was custom-made to cater to his unusually large body.

“We’ve prepared a larger-sized capsule for you.”

Changwook tried to joke with him to at least release a bit of tension from his anxious and nervous body.

Regular existing equipment for Athenae access was worth at least 7 million won and this special and custom-made extra-large sized capsule was worth 13 million won [3]. Aside from the capsule, there were also his team of medical personnel on stand-by just in case there was an emergency. They were there to make sure that nothing would go wrong once Minhyuk came out of the game. They were quite afraid of the consequences since he would stop eating for a long time while he was playing so everyone was a bit tense.

Changwook hooked his arms on Minhyuk’s shoulders and tried to comfort him in his own way.

“The novice zone is off-limits to higher leveled players, you should clear it as soon as you can so we can meet up in game.”

“Yep. Ah, right. Hyung, what’s your nickname in-game?” 

“…uhm.”

Oh Changwook hesitated. He looked around sneakily before leaning in and whispering in Minhyuk’s ears.

“It’s Ge-general…”

“Eh?”

When Minhyuk heard his nickname he couldn’t stop himself from snickering. He was sick of the mood in the room being so heavy that he only wanted to laugh to release everyone’s tensed nerves.

“Hyuuung! Your nickname is General?!”

“Pfft, General…” 

“Omg… Mr. Changwook… That name…” 

“Hey! You weren’t supposed to say that.” 

“Hyung, perhaps…” 

“…?” 

“You also have a black dragon somewhere?” 

“Just get in already!”

“Yessir!” 

Minhyuk slowly entered the capsule. He smiled slightly as he saw everyone’s worried and nervous faces.

Well then, shall we start? 

Fwooom—

The capsule slowly closed as wires stretched out and covered Minhyuk’s body. His eyes slowly closed as the light extinguished. All he could see now was the darkness when suddenly a mechanical voice rang loudly.

[Welcome to Athenae. Do you want to get started?] 

“Yes.” 

Flash! 

As soon as his words fell, a flash of bright light covered him. He could see a copy of himself completely naked in front of him. He could see blobs of fat adorning his body… He couldn’t even see the outline of his face because of all the flesh covering his entire body.

This is me. This is Minhyuk.

[This is your first log-in. For your character customization, only the hair, weight and skin tone could be changed.] 

‘…There’s nothing like this in Versal.’ 

Even though Versal boasted its extreme similarity to reality it has deemed this feature completely unnecessary.

That’s why I couldn’t change my weight there. 

Of all the things that he could change, he only wanted to change one thing and one thing alone.

“Change my weight to 73kg.”

Along with his words, a bright light covered his body. Once the light disappeared, what appeared in front of him was a tall, slim and handsome version of himself. The Minhyuk that was supposed to be. This was the Minhyuk from 5 years ago, the Minhyuk that was still not afflicted with bulimia.

Tears welled up in his eyes.

“Ar… aren’t you handsome…” 

His face was sporting a small nose with a big pair of doe eyes and a sharp jawline. It wasn’t a lie  to say that he looked like a model. After all, he was originally at a height of 185cm and coupled with his looks he could definitely pass off as a model.

This was how it should have been.

Minhyuk, like his father, was a very handsome man.

He slowly reached out his hands as if to caress the figure in front of him. The figure that he longed would be his.

I want to touch it. 

However, touching it was impossible. But he still couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

“This is me…” 

His smile widened imperceptibly. He was comparing his fat self to a scratch lottery. Scratching off his fat would result in this figure.

That’s me after I was scratched. 

‘I can do it!’ 

After pondering about things deeply, he heard another notification.

[Are there any more changes you wish to make?] 

“No.”

This is already enough. I already look close to Kang Dongwonbin [4]. 

[Please name your character.] 

“Minhyuk.” 

Before playing this game, he had decided that he would use his own name as his nickname.

[Would you like to start connecting to the game?]

“Yes.”

A flash of bright light filled Minhyuk’s vision.

***

Footnotes 

[1] They are playing 끝말잇기 (word chain game) or shiritori. It’s a word chain game where you use the last syllable from the previous word to make another word. Back

[2] I previously translated this as Athens but in the original Manhwa it is called Athenae so I will be using Athenae for it starting from now. ^^ Back

[3] If you’re wondering, this costs about 13,000 dollars Back

[4] Kang Dongwonbin : A combination of Kang Dongwon and Wonbin. Back

Food Discussion Corner

Tangsuyuk (탕수육) : sweet and sour pork

Yukgaejang (육개장) : spicy beef stew

Jangeo (장어) : eel

Eomuk (어묵) : Fishcake

Muksabal (묵사발) : or mukbap, cold soup made with muk (jelly made from beans or grains) and shredded vegetables.

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