Leveling Up through Eating

Chapter 60: Beef is Always Right

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

PR: MattForgenti

5 minutes ago.

Jan, who was warped to join the awards ceremony, summoned her wyvern king. She then looked over the man who won first place in the tournament. Minhyuk was standing silently among the crowd of users.

‘I’m looking forward to his interview.’

Everyone’s attention was solely focused on him. His figure when he successfully hunted the Minotaurus was so cool that Jan couldn’t help but burst out in admiration. She became interested in him.

No, if I think about it, it will be weird if I didn’t get interested in him at all.

His face would definitely be made public in today’s interview and the people would know if he was really a user that was secretly raised by the Legend Guild.

His popularity would definitely skyrocket and there was a high chance that he would be a part of the top 10 in the domestic rankings in the future.

The top 10 in the country.

Even if he wasn’t included in that ranking list, the profits that he would gain would be tremendous.

His star quality?

Of course, that was a story that was to be discussed in the future.

However the rankers in Athenae were after all much more famous compared to real-life celebrities. In addition, that man was tall and looked quite handsome even if only half of his face could be seen. He was also someone who was very polite. But she wasn’t sure about his character…

‘A character that eats well!’

Mukbang! And since cooking shows are on the rage these days, his fresh character will definitely be loved by the masses.

‘I want to get his number.’

She felt like he was someone who gave the feeling of being mature and well-prepared.

As she was thinking about that… She suddenly saw that user suddenly pace back and forth as if he was a puppy that needed to go potty.

“Waaaaaaah, I can’t log-out! I have to eat beef so I can’t go out!”

‘Beef?’

Jan tilted her head in curiosity.

Currently, all of the microphones were still off as it was not yet the start of the ceremony.

When Minhyuk spotted her, he quickly approached her. Her lips curved up in a small smile.

Then, Minhyuk said…

“MC-nim, please let me out of here.”

“……Yes?”

His words were too shocking that Jan couldn’t react quickly.

You want to leave here? What is he saying right now?

It was incomprehensible.

“You want me to let you out? Where to? We are going to have the awards ceremony right here, Minhyuk-nim.”

“No, I have to eat beef! So please let me out of here quickly.”

“B, beef……?”

She was a bit confused and a bit curious. Earlier, she saw him successfully hunt the Minotaurus. She also saw him placing the monster’s body in his inventory.

Don’t tell me that he wants to eat the Minotaurus?

Jan composed herself as she gave Minhyuk a calm smile.

“I think you’re still a bit out of it since you suddenly won 1st place. It’s real. Minhyuk-nim really won the 1st place. And you will be rewarded in this awards ceremony.”

“No, let me out!”

“H, how about the interview?”

“Why do I need to do that?”

Jan was left speechless when she saw him staring at her innocently as if he really did not know what she was talking about.

“Y, you have to do it. You also have to remove your mask. Minhyuk-nim, once you do the interview you will be the number 1 on the real-time search and you will also be in Athenae’s hot issue. You’ll become famous!”

“Will I be able to eat something if I become famous?”

“T, that’s not……”

Jan was embarrassed.

Most of the people would definitely want to be someone special and famous. They also wanted others to look at them and cheer them on. But right now, he was asking her if he would get fed if he became famous.

At that moment…

[Jan-ssi. This is a jackpot. Ellie is on her way to the awards ceremony right now!]

Her eyes widened when she heard the words of the official.

This might be a game but…. Everyone would still be in awe at the existence of an Empress. She was the one who held absolute authority over the tens of millions of people in the empire.

In addition, the Sword Emperor Ellie was also an Empress who had caught much attention these days. And such an Empress was coming personally just to meet Minhyuk.

This meant that Minhyuk might gain more benefits if he met with the Empress. If he established a good relationship with the Empress then he might be given special treatment in the Eivelis Empire. He might even be bestowed a title of nobility.

Jan, who was filled with excitement, relayed the good news over to Minhyuk.

“E, Ellie’s on her way here right now. I’m sure it’s because she wants to meet you Minhyuk-nim. It’s impossible to meet her at ordinary times, you won’t even get acquainted with her even if you spent a billion!”

“Ah, Nim! I asked you to let me go out. Why do you keep on saying something else!”

In the end, Minhyuk wasn’t able to keep himself calm and burst out in annoyance.

“N, no…… I, it’s the Sword Emperor herself……”

“Whether it’s the Sword Emperor or being famous it’s not as important as beef!”

“……B, beef is more important?”

Minhyuk looked at Jan as if she was some sort of weird creature.

“Wow. Nim, isn’t it obvious? Beef is delicious, right?”

Nod—

Jan nodded without realizing it.

“It’s a happy thing to eat something so delicious, right?”

Nod—

“But you’re saying that the Empress or being famous is much more important than this?”

‘I, I guess that’s what I sound like…… N, no……!’

“But it’s the Empress……”

“Nim, if you keep on being like this then I’ll just grill the beef and eat it here.”

“……”

Jan’s head turned blank when she heard his threat.

What will happen if Ellie appeared later during the awarding ceremony but Minhyuk was grilling beef right here, right now?

“Then that would be delicious…. T, that’s not it! That can’t happen!”

And as if they came to save her from this weird predicament, the administrators and officials started to flock towards them.

“Hello, Minhyuk-ssi. I’m Park Minggyu, the team leader of the Special Users Management Team.”

Team Leader Park and the rest of his team greeted Minhyuk. However, Minhyuk did not care about them.

“You have to quickly let me go!”

“……Minhyuk-nim. Everyone’s attention is focused on you right now. Why don’t you tell them what you feel about winning?”

Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa always monitored him so they seemed to understand what he was feeling right now based on his expressions.

However, Minhyuk refused their request.

“Let me go right now. There aren’t any conditions that require me to participate in this awarding ceremony, right?”

“……There seems to be none.”

“Isn’t Athenae made for the users and whatever they wanted to do? I can do whatever I wanted here right?”

“……”

What he said was quite logical and reasonable that everyone just turned speechless. In the end, Team Leader Park sighed as he made eye contact with Lee Minhwa.

‘This user doesn’t see anything right now. He won’t listen to us at all.’

Team Leader Park recognized this fact. He looked towards Jan and nodded his head in defeat.

“Y, you’ll really send him out?”

“This user hates it and there’s no way we could stop him. The users of Athenae are free to do whatever they want.”

“I, I did not know that.”

Jan sighed deeply as she looked at Minhyuk in defeat.

When he finally heard their approval, Minhyuk couldn’t conceal his joy as he laughed heartily and gave them a big smile.

“Recall.”

Jan raised her arm and pointed towards Minhyuk. Soon after, Minhyuk disappeared in a flash of light.

“Huh? Where did he go?”

“Heok! Where did that user go?!”

A commotion suddenly broke out in the audience stands when they saw the sudden turn of events.

Jan thought deeply before speaking to the administrators.

“Ah, that user, don’t tell me…!”

The administrators looked at her curiously.

“I know now. That user wanted to disappear on purpose so he can draw more attention from the crowd. Wow, such a great vision. It doesn’t make sense for that person to say that food is more important than being famous or meeting the Empress, right?”

Team Leader Park shook his head at her.

“Jan-nim, you don’t know what type of person that user is, right?”

“……N, no way, did he really go out to eat beef? He really abandoned the awarding ceremony for that?”

“Yes.”

Team Leader Park answered her firmly and without any hesitations.

Right at that moment, they saw a woman arrive at the entrance of the hall.

This was the Empress of Eivelis Empire, the Sword Emperor Ellie. The Empress with her blonde hair tied tightly and a sword on her waist was marching towards them elegantly. She was surrounded and escorted by the infamous Phoenix Knights.

“All foreigners should show their courtesy!”

This was a formal procedure.

Jan gave a silent salute towards the Empress. It was the same for the rest of the users who were attending the awards ceremony. Everyone gave a silent salute towards the Empress.

The administrators quickly placed themselves in their transparent mode and left Jan alone in the hall.

‘The Empress is already here…… And all of the users are focused on her. But the actual party that the Empress wanted to meet already went away. H, how should I tell her what happened?’

Jan wanted to cry.

At that moment, the leader of the Phoenix Knights ran towards Jan.

She heard before that the leader of the knights was at Lv450 and was as good as the current rankings number 1. And this type of person was just someone that ran errands for Ellie.

He quickly asked Jan about the champion as soon as he arrived in front of her.

“Where is the champion of the tournament?”

“He went back for some urgent matters.”

“……Is this the truth?”

“Yes.”

The leader of the knights hurriedly went back to Ellie’s side to give his report.

“What?”

“How dare he leave this place…!”

“Impudent! It is only right that we order an execution for someone that is this disrespectful!”

“Don’t make a fuss!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Her vassals kept their mouth shut and organized themselves when they heard Ellie’s words.

Then the leader of the knights approached Jan once more.

“Do you happen to know what his urgent matters were?”

“T, that…”

Jan was speechless. She couldn’t just say “Eating is more important than meeting the Empress so I left!” or something like that. But she had no choice but to say it because that was the truth.

“H, he said that there was something im, important… t, that he needs to e, eat… so he has to leave…”

“Do you think that something like that is believable?”

“But it’s the truth. Why can’t you believe me?”

A scary and frigid aura was coming out of the leader of the knights. However, he frowned when he saw Jan’s tearful face. When he saw her expression, he finally realized that it was the truth.

“I, is that really the truth?”

Nod.

Jan nodded her head fiercely.

The leader of the knights hurriedly went back and reported to Ellie. After they finished talking, Ellie started to walk towards where Jan was.

Step, step, step, step―

The officials that were with the Empress also followed her in a march.

Although they were just NPCs, it still felt like she was seeing a real-life Empress with her majesty. Jan was once again impressed with how realistic Athenae was.

The moment the Empress came near, Jan unconsciously bowed her head.

“What are you saying that he went out to eat? Didn’t you tell him that I was coming?”

“I have informed him.”

“He knew about my arrival but he still left? What in the world was he trying to eat?”

Jan’s lips couldn’t move when she heard her words. She couldn’t carelessly speak to her. She remembered about a user who was imprisoned in the dungeon for 10 years because he shouted at Ellie to make him her disciple. This just showed that Ellie was a cold and decisive Empress. She would kill anyone if it was necessary.

In the end, Jan had to open her mouth even though it was tough for her.

“H, he went out to eat beef.”

The vassals surrounding her were the ones who reacted violently. Their faces turned red as if they were going to explode in anger if they did not vent out any words.

‘I would also think that it’s unbelievable if I were in their shoes……’

What will Ellie say? Will she pull her sword out in anger and tell them to ‘Find that bastard and kill him for me right now!’ or will she say ‘Catch that bastard and lock him in the dungeons for 100 years!’?

Hundreds and thousands of thoughts ran through Jan’s mind.

Ellie nodded her head seriously as she rubbed her chin in thought.

“That’s really a good reason.”

“That’s right. It really was a good reason…… huh?”

Jan tilted her head in confusion.

What is the Empress saying right now? Did she really get convinced with that?

“Delicious beef is truly a good reason, hmm. That’s right. That foreigner and I have something common. But these idiots don’t understand that.”

“Ha, hahaha……”

“Hahahaha……!”

“Hehehehehe!”

“Hohohohoho!”

Jan, together with the rest of the vassals, had no choice but to just laugh.