Leveling Up through Eating

Chapter 4.2 – Garlic Bread and Soup

Translator: ChubbyCheeks 

Woosh! 

Minhyuk came out of the capsule. He was required to take a 30-minute break for every four hours of playing the game. This was so they could monitor his condition and he could eat in reality.

He felt extremely hungry. However, there are countless people waiting in front of him. They concentrated their attention on him.

“H— how was it?”

“Were you able to eat something?”

“Yes…”

Minhyuk nodded sullenly. He accepted the box of cherry tomatoes like he was accepting a box of medicines.

“But why do you look so disappointed?”

“Because I can’t eat it right now.”

Minhyuk answered while munching on cherry tomatoes and in an instant…

Giggle 

Everyone smiled.

“It was really delicious…”

“What did you eat?”

Oh Changwook asked him.

“It was hard bread.”

Among everyone present, those who played Athenae lost their smiles once they heard him.

Hard bread? 

Was it really that tasteless dry bread? That bread which all of those poor, broke novices eat to satisfy their fullness stat? 

It was delicious? 

Even if they thought that it was weird, when they looked at it through Minhyuk’s perspective they could understand him to some extent.

“I can go back in after a 30-minute break, right?”

Minhyuk looked at Jinhwan and asked him.

“That’s right.”

It was his first access and also his first log-out. And so far, they have not seen any problem yet.

Right now they could see a bit of change…

“I want to go back in quickly and eat that hard bread~”

Minhyuk’s face was full of smiles. But Jinhwan smiled wryly.

‘We have never seen him smile like this before.’

Most of his laughter and smiles were made just so he could get out of an awkward situation.

Right now, Minhyuk was truly smiling.

‘For Minhyuk, more than anything, he is truly happy when he is eating.’

Jinhwan shook his head.

“Ah! Minhyuk, you’ve finished the hunting tutorial and entered the novice zone* right?”

“Nope. I’m actually still hitting the scarecrow.”

“Whaaaaat?”

Oh Changwook’s eyes widened in surprise. The scarecrow hitting quest was a quest that could be completed in an hour that’s why Minhyuk had to narrate what he has done and what he has experienced so far.

“…Is that so?”

What a strange way of playing games. He wanted to eat more bread so he kept on hitting the scarecrow? 

For Changwook who’s ranked higher this was something that’s incomprehensible.

Playing games were supposed to be about leveling up and gaining skills, right? 

“It looks like you’ll take a little while longer before you get to the novice zone, huh?”

“You’re absolutely correct. General, sir!”

“…Yah! Drop it already!”

Oh Changwook made a grimace.

Minhyuk started eating his cherry tomatoes and salad quickly while holding his mobile phone in his other hand.

He went to Athenae’s official homepage and searched for ‘Things to eat in Ardo.’ It was truly an unusual thing to search for.

Minhyuk browsed the search results keenly.

[Guys, have you tried eating the bark of the pine trees in Ardo? It tastes so frickin good [1]!

—MyPooColor: He’s doing it again… Last time his character ate weeds and died hahahahahaha

—Wonderboy: Attention seeker hahaha. I’ll recommend a recipe to you, mix rice and horse poop. Give it a try. Lmao.

—DaddyKong: Mr. Wonder, he might really do it… 

There are a lot of strange people in this world and it seems like it’s the same in the game too. 

Minhyuk continued to scroll down when his hands suddenly stopped at one post.

‘T— this is it…!’

His eyes widened and he trembled all over while he checked the post’s content.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you…!”

“Mi… Minhyukie**! Don’t tell me that his body still can’t cope without eating for 4 hours?!”

The surroundings were in an uproar but Minhyuk shook his head and smiled.

“I- it’s not what you think…”

“…huh?”

“If I finish attacking the scarecrow and exit the area then I can find chickens!”

“Ah, chicken? They’re easy to catch. You can just hit them a few times and they’ll die. They’re really just there for you to practice before hunting monsters for real.”

That was not important.

Chicken.

What kind of being it is…

“Chicken tastes delicious whether it’s roasted, fried or boiled!”

“Ah…”

Everyone reacted at the same time.

We understand. 

But right at this moment, Minhyuk was suffering in torment.

‘But right now…’

I want to eat bread. 

He wanted to eat a lot of bread right this instant. He was a bit conflicted but he soon made up his mind.

‘I still want to eat more bread.’

Gulp, I can eat chickens as soon as I can too.

I don’t know how many times I have eaten bread. 

He’s stubborn and persistent on the things he decided to do. It’s the same reason why he topped the CSAT before and why he excelled in everything he did.

‘That’s right, naengmyeon [2] and eggs will be the finale.’

He will be one of those few people who ate naengmyeon and eggs as the finale.

Yeah, save the best for last! 

But there was still one thing that was bothering him.

‘You can’t just catch a chicken and eat it alive right?’

I don’t have any tools and utensils. 

After pondering on different methods to acquire tools, Minhyuk finally thought of a brilliant idea. Just as he thought of the NPC he included in his idea, he saw his name.

It came up as a related search entry while he was browsing the internet, ‘Ardo’s Instructor, Valen’ was what was posted.

What greeted him when he clicked on the topic were posts from users which were full of grievances and discontent. Minhyuk clicked on one and started reading.

[Ardo’s scarecrow instructor Valen is so scary and unfriendly… So scary [3], having to strike 50 times is already hard enough but I only get bread and bottled water and he even threw it at me and gave me a disgusted look… I mean why do you have to throw it at me, he’s such a jerk! Aren’t the users king? Why is this NPC like this?] 

—KingtoMan: …? The problem is probably with your personality. Are you like this even in your daily life? NPCs are like humans too. If you treated him nicely, won’t he treat you the same way?

—SailorTop: Instructor Valen is famous for being unfriendly. If I were you, you should have [4] looked for the meaning of ‘Manner maketh man.’ haha. You’re lucky you’ve just started. 

—iLuvSpinningWheels: It’s true that Instructor Valen is a bit strict… But if everyday you welcome beginners who talk and look down on you then you would also be very annoyed… 

‘Hmm?’

Minhyuk couldn’t understand what they were talking about in the comments.

‘Instructor Valen?’

That man was very kind to him. He nodded repeatedly and thought that he should pay back all of the kindness he has shown him. Minhyuk was only trying to do what his father had taught him.

Don’t take advantage of the kindness of others and don’t neglect the weak. 

This situation was the same. Even though he was always at home studying, he has received the best education from his father.

Minhyuk who finished checking the information about Instructor Valen in Athenae’s homepage switched to another site. It’s that site where you can find all of the information you need… ‘Nava’.

He searched ‘hard bread recipes‘ in Nava since right now what he wanted to eat was a bread that tastes even better.

In fact, Minhyuk was not good at cooking. It wasn’t because he was not able to try his hand at it…

But it was because he always ended up eating the ingredients while trying to make food! He even gained a lot of weight because of it.

But inside the game?

It might be possible.

“I’m going back inside.”

“Are you going to eat chicken?”

“No, nope. I’m going to eat bread.”

“Why?”

“No pain, no gain. I have to eat something delicious after working so hard.”

After leaving those words, Minhyuk went back inside the capsule.

“I don’t understand. If I were you, I’d go and eat chicken right away.”

“Haha, I can understand Minhyukie’s feelings.”

Jinhwan smiled at him.

“Doctor understands too?”

“Isn’t it like that? It’s like someone wants to go to the buffet and eat a lot of things while the other wants to focus on one dish and raise its quality and taste. Aren’t you the latter, Minhyukie?”

“Ah….”

“It’s been years since he last had bread, he probably wants to eat it like crazy until he gets sick of it.”

Jinhwan stood up and said…

“Do you understand it now, General, sir?”

“Ah… ah… arghh…! Kang Minyuk, this is your fault!”

Oh Changwook was likely to kick his blanket in his sleep tonight [5].

***

Footnotes

*Novice Zone: I seem to have said before that Ardo was the novice zone but it seems like the novice zone is a big area so he’s just in the tutorial area.

**It says Minhyuk kun in the raws but… Isn’t that for JP?? So I changed it to Minhyukie.

[1] The raws says 졸맛탱 but I think it’s 존맛탱 which is a slang. It’s an abbr for 존나 맛있는거 가탱 which means it’s really really delicious.

[2] Naengmyeon: cold noodle soup

[3] Raw says ㄷㄷ this is a shorthand for 덜덜 which means trembling or shaking they use it to say that it’s scary.

[4] It actually literally says that manner makes the man. Manner maketh man is a saying which means that your behavior and manners shows the people around you what type of person you are. If you show no manners towards others then it reflects that you are a bad person or someone who does not respect other people.

[5] Raw says 이불킥 which is a combination of blanket and kick which refers to a situation where someone lies in bed but suddenly remembers an embarrassing moment so he kicks his blanket in shame.

[6] For any errors and issues contact me through discord:- https://discord.gg/Q3dStgu