Leveling Up through Eating

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

PR: MattForgenti

“He……”

McCann watched dumbly as the hotteok got fried on the pan.

It’s like the hotteok cart I accidentally found on a cold winter day!

‘How much would it be for 3 hotteoks?’

‘It’s 2,000 won.’

‘Eeeeeh? Hotteok has become extremely expensive now. Everything is rising except for my salary. Please give me 3 hotteoks.’

And once the Owner-auntie started showing off her skills in frying hotteok in oil, people would just stare dumbly at her. 

McCann felt like this was what she was feeling right now.

[This is the best time to flip them.]

Minhyuk flipped the hotteoks following the instructions given to him by the Food God’s Cooking Acquisition skill.

“Wow, look at that perfectly golden side of the hotteok! You can really fry well.”

“Hohohoho!”

Minhyuk smiled proudly at her as he set the buffing ability to the highest that he could use.

It will definitely be worth it!

Minhyuk placed one well-cooked hotteok and handed it over to her.

Guuuulp━

McCann gulped loudly as she opened her mouth to take a bite out of the hotteok.

“It’s hot so please be careful!” 

“Ah, yes.”

When she heard his words, she opened her mouth wide and carefully bit on the hotteok with her teeth first, this was so she wouldn’t get scalded by the hot hotteok. Once McCann bit on the hotteok with her teeth, the hot sugar rushed out of the hotteok and scalded her tongue.

“Hot! Hooo!”

McCann gently rolled the hotteok and the hot sugar in her mouth to lessen the heat. She could taste the sticky flour, the sweetness of the sugar and the hint of cinnamon rolling around and spreading in her mouth. The taste created a harmonious flavor that enhanced the taste of the hotteok.

She closed her eyes as she chewed the hotteok carefully and savored the flavor.

‘It, it’s really delicious……! How can this hotteok be this delicious?!’

Of course it would be delicious. Minhyuk’s Food God’s Cooking Acquisition skills always helped him in making the best and most delicious dishes. On top of that, his dexterity could affect the taste of his dishes and would definitely satisfy others who would eat his cooking.

McCann looked like she would burst out in tears with how delicious the hotteok was.

‘For a moment, I thought I was Cooking King Biryong[1]……’

This was what Minhyuk thought when he saw how deeply moved McCann was with his cooking. Her expression looked like a golden dragon would ascend to the heavens as she burst out in tears saying ‘No, this is delicious!’.

After she finished eating the hotteok…

[You have eaten a hotteok.]

[Your attack power and defensive power will increase by 5% while your energy will increase by 3% for 8 hours.]

McCann looked at the hotteok and then at Minhyuk with awe in her eyes. She could feel the strength surging in her body as her tiredness seemed to melt away.

When she tried to reach for another hotteok…

“Are you going to renew the contract?”

She heard Minhyuk’s serious and somber voice. Then, Ron’s face floated in McCann’s mind.

That cranky blacksmith!

However, she wanted to continue eating hotteoks right now. Her mind was suddenly caught in a turmoil. After a long time of pondering, she finally spoke with an air of defeat.

“I’ll renew the contract.”

“Well then, please have another one!”

This is the hotteok’s power that can even renew contracts!

Minhyuk went outside after winning one contract renewal. His next destination? The farmer’s place.

When he arrived at the farmer’s place, he could see him out in the field. He looked extremely fatigued.

“Damn, I’m so damn tired. When will I ever finish all of these things?”

Then, Minhyuk interjected…

“I’ll help you get all of these corn!”

“This friend. Farming isn’t as easy in here as it was in your world.”

“It’s fine. But if I get all of it will you renew your contract?”

“Hmph! I don’t think you can do it anyway? Well, let’s agree to that first!”

Minhyuk, then, began his corn-gathering spree.

[You have harvested corn.]

[You have harvested corn.]

[You have gained 1 DEX.]

[You have triggered the skill, Will.]

[All of your skills related to dexterity will increase by 24%.]

The skill, Will, will only be triggered when one is extremely focused and dedicated to doing something. Minhyuk was extremely dedicated to picking corn because Farmer Brett promised to give him 20 ears of corn when he finished harvesting all of them!  Of course he would not forget to steam them one by one!

After 2 hours, Brett came back to check up on him. He could see that most of the corn were already picked.

“N, no. How can this be? Don’t tell me you’ve mastered the intermediate farming skill? No, it’s not that. I think you’re even faster than that?!”

Minhyuk’s intermediate farming skill was improved by 1.6 times! That was why his intermediate farming skill was much more powerful compared to the normal skill.

“The contract?”

“Hmm, hmm. I’ll do it.”

And it did not end there.

Minhyuk said he wanted to have five more ears of corn. Brett wanted to refuse him at first but when he received one of the grilled buttered corn that Minhyuk made…

“I thought that I would die out of exhaustion earlier but now my body is filled with strength! No, how can corn be this delicious?!”

He renewed his contract while he was overcome with emotions. The corn was truly just that delicious. He even went ahead and added 10 more ears of corn to what he gave to Minhyuk.

Minhyuk smiled happily.

‘The DEX is really useful!’

In fact, Minhyuk’s DEX was truly incomprehensible right now. His DEX acquisition rate was 4 times higher compared to others. On top of that, he gained 500 just by eating so he was looking at almost 1,000 points of DEX!

“Aiyah!”

He saw a child fall down as he was walking along the streets.

“Are you okay? Let this hyung treat your wounds. Bandage wrap!”

Rustle!

[You have wrapped the bandage well.]

[A +1% increase in recovery was added.]

[The recovery time has increased and became faster.]

“Wow, Thanks! Hyung! All the other foreigners were unkind and bad but hyung is different!”

“You don’t have to thank me. Hyung is staying over at Ron’s smithy over there. Just go there and come play with us if you’re bored!”

“Yeees!”

His words naturally meant: ‘Bring your parents and sign a contract!’.

Minhyuk continued to go and sweep through the streets of the Kingdom of Barras just to sign new contracts.

***

This was the third day in real life.

Hyemin was not able to access the game and did not even come in for three days and the blacksmith Ron was now headed towards the market to buy ingredients after focusing intently on making a new weapon in the smithy for three whole days.

‘I wonder if that friend is increasing his fame well? He wasn’t kicked out without even signing a new contract, right……’

Ron might have requested this of him but he still knew that signing or renewing a contract was not an easy task. Walking was also the time for thinking.

“Huh? Uncle Ron, hello.”

“Hmm?”

This was ill-tempered Ron!

He looked strangely at the boy who greeted him enthusiastically. When he looked at the person standing beside the boy, he saw the hostess of the inn, Mell.

“Ron-ssi, hello! I just heard from my son that Ron-ssi’s friend treated my son’s wound earlier. Hoho!” 

“My friend?”

Ron thought deeply for a moment.

Ah, they must be talking about Minhyuk!

“I see.”

“Yes, I am very thankful for that. This might be a bit of a small request, but my chairs and tables were a  bit worn out so I was thinking of asking you to make some for me.” 

“Is that so? Then please come this way.”

He led Mell towards the smithy to draw up a contract for their business deal. It was twenty chairs! And five tables too!

‘Ho. He’s doing better than what I thought?’

As he thought of this, he made his way again towards the market. Then, he heard the voice of a woman calling out to him.

“Ron-ssi, hello. We were supposed to break the contract a while ago but I thought about it again and I realized that I went too far. So I want to pay for the goods from before.”

The woman who called out to him was McCann.

The strict auntie, McCann!

When he saw her speak to him with a big smile on her face, Ron just nodded his head dumbly.

“Aaaah, yes. Yes…… I’m very sorry. I was the one who did not fulfill the delivery time.”

“Ah, wait. Can you also tell Minhyuk-nim to come over some time to cook something delicious for me?”

“Yes? Something delicious?”

“Yes. I still can’t forget the taste of hotteok that he made for me, you know~”

“I’ll say that I understand for now.”

Before he could even go further away…

“Oy, Ron! We’re out of pickaxes and hoes, I’ll leave it to your smithy!”

“Ah, Brett-ssi.”

“Wait, you have that friend named Minhyuk, right? The grilled buttered corn that he made was very delicious and he’s also very hardworking and kind. Tell that friend to come over and visit me sometime!”

“Ah, yes.”

People would greet him and say some words to him as he walked along the road. He felt that the whole marketplace has become Minhyuk’s den. And along with it, contract renewals as well as new contracts kept on pouring in.

“How on earth did he do it? He’s closer and more friendly to my neighbors compared to me who has lived 5 years in this place!”

Ron was in awe of his abilities and in the meantime he also felt pity and disappointment in himself for no reason at all.

***

Minhyuk smiled contentedly.

His skill proficiency in all of his skills have increased. And not only that. Farming, treating injuries with bandages and cooking delicious food to win the favors of others. And because his favorability with them has increased, his chances to eat more delicious food has increased too!

He could also feel that his skill level has increased as well so he went ahead and checked his skill window.

(Intermediate Farming)

Passive Skill

Level: 3

Effects: 

━ Collecting and digging materials will be 66+39% faster.

━ 36+21% increase in chances of collecting and digging better materials and ingredients.

━ 3+1.8% increase in chances of collecting and digging special materials and ingredients.

━  You can grow various things just by planting seeds.

Even his Beginner’s Bandaging has increased to Lv4. This was because Minhyuk always trained his bandage wrapping skill with his mannequin whenever he had the time. And since he trained with the mannequin, his skill when treating the injuries of other people has increased and has become faster so his skill proficiency and level has improved a lot.

(Beginner’s Bandaging)

Passive Skill

Level: 4

Effects:

━  Wound recovery +1.8% +1%

━  +0.6 times acceleration on the slow recovery pace.

The ‘very’ from the ‘very slow recovery pace.’ has already disappeared. In other words, it means that it has become a bit faster.

Minhyuk also planned to learn blacksmithing skills since Ron said that he would also teach him blacksmithing skills once he has completed his hidden quest.

When he entered the smithy, he checked and saw that Ron was missing again.

“Where did he go?”

Minhyuk tilted his head from side to side as he decided to sit down and started cooking on the spot.

‘Hehe, Mell-ssi gave me some well-ripened kimchi!’

Mell was the owner of the inn. She was the mother of the child that he bandaged not too long ago! And as thanks for that, she gave him some well-ripened kimchi. Whenever he placed kimchi in his mouth, he would continue to say ‘Sour!’ but he still kept on munching on it.

The dish that Minhyuk was going to cook was kimchi fried rice. Kimchi fried rice was a dish that could be easily cooked by men and women of all ages. Due to its simple preparation and delicious taste, everyone liked it.

You can just fry it with kimchi, rice and sesame oil and it will still be delicious!

Minhyuk first cut the kimchi into smaller pieces before preparing the rice. Once he had prepared them all, he drizzled some oil on the frying pan.

Once the oil was well-heated, he cracked some eggs on it, and fried them.

Sizzle!

Fried eggs were best when placed on top of kimchi fried rice!

It was like the finishing touch of the masterpiece called kimchi fried rice. The fried eggs would definitely mellow out the spicy flavor of the kimchi fried rice.

After frying at least fifteen fried eggs, he stir-fried the kimchi in the greased frying pan and the smell of fried kimchi wafted all over the room.

Shwaaaaaa!

Then he crushed the rice and added it to the stir-fried kimchi. He also added a spoonful of gochujang to add a deeper flavor and improve the taste and smell of the kimchi fried rice.

Shwaaaaaa!

He mixed the fried rice by stirring it well.

Minhyuk could see the kimchi fried rice exuding a very vibrant and delicious-looking red color. Then he placed it on a plate and added a fried egg on top of it.

Then he was done cooking!

“Thank you for the meal!”

He tore the egg in half with his spoon and mixed it well with his kimchi fried rice then he filled his mouth with a whole spoonful of the fried rice and egg mixture.

“Chew!”

On his first bite, he could taste the savory sesame oil and the well-fried kimchi. Then he could taste the spicy and sour undertones of the kimchi followed by the seasoned rice and the light and soft egg. He could also feel the crunchy texture of the kimchi in his mouth.

Minhyuk once again realized that kimchi fried rice was something indispensable for Koreans.

“Kuhahaha! It’s really delicious! Chew, chew!”

Minhyuk began to eat his kimchi fried rice in earnest. After eating for quite some time, he could already see the bottom of the pan.

At that moment…

“This poopy!”

Minhyuk turned his head around when he heard a familiar voice.

Hyemin was standing by the door gulping her saliva as she stared at the kimchi fried rice

***

Footnotes

[1] 요리왕 비룡 (Cooking King Biryong) : Biryong is the main character of the series Chuka Ichiban. I think it was named as Cooking King Biryong in KR.

TL’s corner!!!

Last chapter of the week, see you next Wednesday! Huhu. So excited. We’re getting closer and closer to the manhwa.

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