Leveling Up through Eating

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

PR: MattForgenti

Minhyuk was taken aback. He had absolutely no idea about why she was laughing.

Since he entered the palace, his nose was already twitching because of the tantalizing smell that was floating in the air. His sixth sense was tingling…

‘T, this…… This is spam!’

What is this thing called spam?

It was a dish that was delicious by itself, or if you grill it or even if you put it in budaejjigae[1]. 

‘A slice of spam on top of piping hot rice.’

Just like the lines in an advertisement he saw before, he wholeheartedly agrees that spam was delicious even if it was just grilled.

Minhyuk’s body trembled when he thought of eating such a food. However, he was worried that Ellie would disagree when she heard such a weird request from him.

‘Hundreds of billions of gold, a title of nobility, even a weapon from the palace’s treasury… How dare these things compare themselves with spam?!’

Minhyuk noticed that the Sword Emperor, Ellie, was someone that was really amazing.

She definitely suggested those things earlier just so she could keep me away from talking about spam!

But Minhyuk was someone who never gave up. He asked her politely but with a firm and loud voice.

‘I want to eat spam!’

However, when he voiced his request, Ellie started laughing. And she was laughing crazily for quite a long time. She was even grabbing her stomach with how crazy she was laughing.

Minhyuk turned his head and made eye contact with Ruth, the man that was standing next to Ellie. Even that man was covering his mouth and laughing softly. Minhyuk was now truly confused.

At that moment, he heard a continuous ring of notifications.

[Ellie’s favorability has increased.]

[Ellie’s favorability has increased.]

[You have acquired +3 in all of your 5 basic stats.]

[You have gained 5 reputation points.]

‘What’s this?’

A look of puzzlement flashed across Minhyuk’s face. His favorability with Ellie increased but why did he receive a +3 in all 5 of his basic stats and he even gained an additional 5 reputation points? 

I want to eat spam, I really want to eat spam. Even if you ask me what a Hongsi persimmon taste like I wouldn’t even know! Wow, this doesn’t make any sense.

He was truly clueless as to what was happening around him.

***

The winner of the tournament, User Minhyuk, is missing!

The employees of Athenae suddenly went into a state of emergency. They conducted a series of meetings while rumors continuously spread around the world.

During one of their meeting breaks, Team Leader Park went back to his department for a brief respite. As he went inside their department, he heard Lee Minhwa’s gasp of surprise.

“Heop!”

“……What’s wrong?”

“I think it’s best that you see it yourself.”

Team Leader Park turned his head and looked at the monitor after he was prompted by Lee Minhwa. What he saw was a series of notifications.

[The favorability of Sword Emperor Ellie towards User Minhyuk has increased.]

[The favorability of Sword Emperor Ellie towards User Minhyuk has increased.]

[Depending on the increase in the favorability, User Minhyuk will receive +3 in all 5 of his basic stats and an additional 5 reputation points.]

“H, he has already increased his favorability with Ellie?”

“Yes, it’s just like what you see……”

“How the hell did he increase them?”

“There was a reward about asking Ellie for a small wish, right?”

Team leader Park nodded his head seriously.

“He told her that he wanted to eat spam as his wish. When she heard his request, she bursted out in laughter.”

“E, Ellie did…?”

Ellie laughing was as rare as finding a duckling in a flock of chicks. In the first place, she was a special NPC and she was even an NPC that has gained a lot of attention from the public. A user could receive various quests and rewards through this NPC, Ellie.

One such quest was building the favorability with her. It was virtually impossible to build a close relationship with Ellie. The reason was because she was the Empress.

To build a close relationship with her, one should be able to capture her attention and heart. How can anyone capture the heart of the Empress?

To be able to meet her, there were a lot of conditions that a user should meet.

For merchants, they would be able to meet with her if they have increased the finances of the Eivelis Empire by 20%. For warrior class users, it would be possible to meet with her if they stood on equal footing with her with the sword. This just goes to show how hard it was to develop and build a close relationship with Ellie. And if they were able to perform such achievements, then the administrators would be notified at least once.

But you’re telling me that he increased his intimacy just because of spam?

Furthermore, even if one increased their intimacy once it did not mean that they would be able to easily increase it again. They have to show their worth for it to rise again.

“He used his small wish for spam….. He never fails to surprise us each and every day.”

Team Leader Park always saw something fresh and surprising whenever he watched User Minhyuk.

“That user is probably unaware, right?”

Lee Minhwa mumbled something under her breath.

“How good it is to build favorability and intimacy with just some remarks.”

Hundreds of billions of gold? A weapon from the palace treasury? Or an amazing quest? No, it was something that was more than all of those combined. User Minhyuk won the heart of the Sword Emperor Ellie.

It was a huge power to wield. They did not even know what kind of variable Ellie would become if she treated Minhyuk well.

“If User Minhyuk continued to build his favorability with Ellie then he would receive rewards, right?”

Team Leader Park nodded his head.

“Since they have a high degree of freedom, the only problem that we have is that we don’t know what Ellie will do for User Minhyuk.”

The Empress doing something for a user.

It was a situation that Team Leader Park had never expected.

***

“Do you really just want to eat this spam?”

“Yeeees!” 

Minhyuk nodded his head vigorously as if he was a chicken pecking on grains.

Ellie, who watched him carefully, smiled at him and beckoned with her hands.

“Come here.”

“But, Your……”

“Shut up.”

“Yes!” 

Ellie coldly looked at Cass, the leader of the knights, who tried to voice out his concerns.

The Empress and a foreigner will be sharing a table?!

It was a scene that could never be seen anywhere.

Minhyuk quickly hurried over and sat in front of the Empress. He looked around the table with a strange look on his face.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m extremely grateful to you, Your Majesty.” 

“You can speak at ease. I know that foreigners aren’t used to this type of speech.” 

“Then, should I call you Noona Ellie instead, Your Majesty?”

“That sounds nice.”

However, the expressions of the servants in the surroundings were a sight to behold.

‘No, noona…?’

‘You’re going to call Her Majesty, the Empress, noona?’

But it was also a refreshing sight to them for Ellie to accept it readily and graciously. She even let it pass when he disappeared to eat beef before.

This is the Empress who won’t bleed a drop of blood even if you stop her!

She was the type of woman who would betray the expectations of the people surrounding her once in a while.

In addition, Minhyuk was someone who has met a lot of famous people in real life. He even called the president of the national assembly ‘Big Dad’, ‘Uncle’ and even ‘Old Man’. It was only possible because his father was Chairman Kang Minhoo.

“Noona, why are you eating such a poor meal? Your dongsaeng, Minhyuk, feels heartbroken for you.”

“Is it not delicious?”

Ellie was taken aback. Just a few moments ago, he was still quite delighted with the thought of eating spam but now he was saying that he was heartbroken.

“There’s a different way of eating spam.”

“Hoo? Is that so?”

Ellie’s interest was slowly piqued.

“Yes. Shall I make it for you?”

“Alright.”

Ellie nodded her head in consent.

There’s a more delicious way of eating this?

It was a good news for someone like her, who loves food, to find more delicious ways to eat the food that could whet her appetite. 

“I need supplies.”

“You can talk to me comfortably.”

“Can I really speak at ease?”

Ellie smiled at him gently.

I’m definitely sure that this is like a mother’s smile!

“I need 100 cans of spam, 30 bowls of salted squid and shrimp, 200 bags of instant rice, 200 sheets of laver and 100 servings of ssamjang.”

“……Don’t tell me that you’re going to eat them all?”

“Ellie noona will eat too, right? I want our beautiful Empress to eat to her heart’s content.”

Minhyuk might have said that but what he thought was completely different.

‘Huhuhuhu. I’m going to eat so much more spam compared to you.’

Ellie happily nodded her head when she heard Minhyuk say that she was pretty.

“Prepare it.”

“Yes!”

The chefs of the Imperial Palace moved quickly and were able to prepare the ingredients he asked for in no time at all.

Minhyuk first raised the pull tab on the top of the spam can and tugged at it strongly. The lid came off easily with a crack. He tried to shake it off on the cutting board but it wouldn’t fall off.

‘This is the problem with spam!’

It always doesn’t come out well. According to the instructions, if you pressed down on the sides of the can then it would be able to slide off easily from the can but it often did not work. In this case, one would usually use a kitchen knife to pull it out of the can.

However, before he could even do that, Ellie whipped her fingers. Her mana stretched out gently and dragged the spam out of the can.

“Wow, so cool! Ellie noona!”

“Hohoho!”

Minhyuk was in awe of her magic and praised her like a child.

Once the spam was out of the can, Minhyuk began to cut it into slices. Then, he heated the frying pan and placed the spam slices on top of it.

Sizzle━

The spam was slowly being grilled on the frying pan. It should be cut in as thick a slice as possible and grilled until it was golden brown.

After he grilled it properly, he placed the slices on top of the plate and added a spoonful of ssamjang on one side and a dollop of catsup on the other side. Then he took out the instant rice that the chefs of the Imperial Palace had placed in the microwave and opened the lid.

Shwaaaa━

The rice was piping hot with steam coming out of it’s box. Minhyuk quickly placed the plate on the table to maintain the heat.

It’s a steaming hot spam meal!

“Spam goes better with rice than carbonara or spaghetti.”

Minhyuk smiled lightly and immediately scooped a spoonful of rice. Ellie watched him closely and followed his movements clumsily.

Then, Minhyuk placed a piece of spam on top of the rice and said…

“Noona, you should follow me.”

“I’m following what you’re doing.”

“……?”

“?”

Ellie looked at him. He could imagine a question mark floating above her head with the expression that she was showing.

“Steaming rice~ and a piece of spam.”

“Steaming rice~ and a piece of spam.”

Ellie followed what he did. She even said the words that he said.

Then, Minhyuk took the plump spam and rice on his spoon and placed it in his mouth in one bite. The grains of rice and the golden spam met in their mouths.

The spam is salty.

Spam was obviously a salty food, however he could taste the rich flavor of the ham in this food. He could taste the salty and savory flavor of the spam with his every chew. At the same time, the oily flavor of the spam gave off a pleasant taste in his mouth. He could even feel the rice catch the salty and oily flavors of the spam.

Minhyuk scooped another spoonful of rice and delivered it to his mouth.

The spam is salty so it can help you eat a lot, it’s a rice thief!

Ellie also scooped more rice as she ate the spam. She then closed her eyes and savored the taste.

“……Oh my god.”

She shook her head slowly as if what she had tasted was a heavenly delicacy.

“I have been ignorant.”

She looked as if she was an Emperor who has seen the wonders of the world again.

“Why have I not known how delicious this was, maybe it was because I ate it with spaghetti all this time. Such a lamentable fact. This is such a sad thing!”

Minhyuk who was watching her while she was eating thought…

‘This noona…… She’s strange……’

However, his spoon never stopped moving.

“Then, noona. This time you should try it with salted shrimp and squid!”

Minhyuk picked up some salted squid and shrimp with his chopsticks. The red sauce surrounding the salted squid and shrimp was glistening as he placed it on top of his rice.

He mixed the rice and the salted squid and shrimp together. The combination of the two would make a perfect rice bowl meal.

If one has completely lost their appetite, just mix it with rice and water and their appetite would definitely come back.

Then, Minhyuk wrapped the spam in a piece of seaweed and dipped it in the ssamjang.

Whatever Minhyuk did, Ellie did. Not long after, Ellie finished eating. She had a satisfied smile on her. She smiled softly as she looked at Minhyuk.

“Chew, chew!”

He was quickly inhaling the food in front of him.

“It wasn’t an expensive meal, but I did not expect it to satisfy me this much. It was even better than what the Imperial chefs have prepared.”

The Imperial Palace chefs are the best of the best!

That was why the chefs waiting on the sides had no choice but to stop in their tracks when they heard her say that. They couldn’t believe that a canned ham was much more delicious than something that they have made. 

All this time serving her, they couldn’t understand what Ellie wanted. But there was a person who understood her.

It was Minhyuk.

Minhyuk stopped eating for a bit and looked at her seriously.

“It’s not those expensive meals, or those meals that costs hundreds of thousands of wons that could satisfy a person.”

Minhyuk was a person who lost everything as he tried to lose some of his weight. Whenever he thought about food in reality, he never thought about expensive and high-quality food like foie gras, sharks fin, or caviar.

“Good food is something that can make everyone happy even if it’s not expensive, right?”

Ellie nodded her head at his words.

That’s right.

His words touched her heart deeply.

Good food is really something that can make people happy even if it isn’t expensive.

Ellie smiled brightly.

‘He’s right.’

She was wondering how this foreigner could touch even the heart of a man but now she knew why he acknowledged him.

At that moment, Minhyuk heard the notifications ring in his head.

[Ellie’s favorability has increased.]

[You have acquired 1 skill point.]

***

Footnotes

[1] budaejjigae: budae (army, unit, troops) + jjigae (stew), a stew usually made in the army. Contains a variety of ingredients that’s usually found in the rations like sausages, hams etc.

TL’s corner!!!

About the persimmon thing, there was a saying that life could either be bitter or sweet like persimmon. I read it somewhere. Lol. Also. True! Expensive food may be delicious, but food should be something that can make everyone happy regardless of the price.

BRB. Time to go and crack that spam open and eat. LOL.

PR’s corner!

That’s definitely the truth. Some of the foods that make me happy are definitely not expensive in nature.

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