<h4>Chapter 197: entric Gourmand</h4>
‘K…King...?!’
Team Leader Lee Seokhoon’s eyes widened in shock. Saying that a ‘King’ had been born in?Athenae?simply meant one thing. It meant that someone entered the ‘Hall of Kings’.
“Who in the world is it...?!” Lee Seokhoon asked loudly. After all, he came here without knowing the situation.
All Team Leader Park did was to point at his monitor in answer. Team Leader Lee Seokhoon turned to look at the monitor. As soon as his eyes grazed the monitor, he could tell who it was. It was none other than yer Minhyuk.
Without waiting for his reaction, Team Leader Park Minggyu said, “And it’s a good thing too.”
“Which one are you talking about?” President Kang Taehoon asked in confusion.
Then, Team Leader Park exined himself. He said, “By bing a King, yer Minhyuk would gain a lot of EXP. This means that he will ‘level up’, and will not be able to easily raise his stats just by eating.”
“That’s really quite a weing thought.”
“Yeah. Otherwise, if things went on like it was, the yers would definitely go crazy andin.”
They felt happy that Minhyuk entered the Hall of Kings. However, the people in this room felt happier when they realized that his growth would finally slow down. All they wanted was for his crazy growth to slow down and beparable to the regr yers.
Meanwhile, the new employee of the Special yers Management Team, Lee Minhwa, looked around. It was because she could see that the boss was here too. When Team Leader Park noticed her actions, he tilted his head at her in confusion and asked, “What’s wrong, Minhwa?”
“The Food God will be receiving a new ss, right?”
Team Leader Park nodded when he heard her question. When he thought about it, there was also another thing that yer Minhyuk could receive aside from the EXP, and it was the ‘Special Points (SP)’. Once yer Minhyuk received the points and invested them in his DEX, then he would be the first ever dual-ss yer in the world.
“What if the ss that he gains is something simr to the Food God ss, where he can raise his ‘stats’ easily?”
The people around her burst outughing. It seemed like they did not believe that such a possibility would happen.
“Eyy. No way.”
“Our new employee, aren’t you too worried about nothing?”
In fact, even the Development Team and the Special yers Management Team were unaware of what ss he would receive. The ss that would be selected through Gorac’s Book was randomly selected so they would not know what it was in advance. Even President Kang Taehoon did not know about what ss would be selected.
In the case of Gorac’s entric sses, it was nned and created by the supeputer?Athenae, and it made sure to ce the highest ranked ess restriction on it. This meant that the only way for them to know about the ss that would be received, was only after it was released.
‘Why…why do I feel so nervous?’?Lee Minhwa thought. Despite her seniors’ joking words, she still felt a strange sense of anxiety, something simr to a woman’s ‘intuition’.
***
Drip, drip, drip─
Valen was flexible, he had quickly twisted his body away and avoided the strikes that were aiming for his vital points. However, he was still left with an injury on his side. Valen looked at Minhyuk incredulously after feeling the blood drip from his wounds. However, their swords never stopped shing. Minhyuk evennded two more skillful attacks at Valen.
‘Phew.’
Minhyuk breathed a sigh of relief when his attack sessfullynded. Valen sheathed his sword and ced it on his waist. Minhyuk did the same thing. When Valen looked around, he saw Kaistranding three sessful attacks on one of his squad members.
‘It’s aplete defeat,’?Valen thought, smiling wryly.
Then, the notifications rang in Minhyuk’s head.
[You havepleted all three of Gremory’s Trials.]
[You have gained 600,000 EXP.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have acquired the Demon World’s Grilled ck Pork Belly.]
[You have acquired the Demon King’s Largehead Hairtail.]
[You have acquired the Demon King’s ck Pig.]
[You can now learn Sword God Valen’s Swordsmanship.]
[If you have already mastered swordsmanship, you will be able to incorporate it into your skills.]
‘Ho?’
Minhyuk was very interested. He was not able to see Valen’s swordsmanship in person before. However, he still found the Sword God’s swordsmanship to be unusual. In addition, he was also able to ‘incorporate’ it into his previous skill. The incorporation meant that the existing skill would get reinforced and would be stronger without losing its main essence.
When Minhyuk looked at the notifications, he realized that they were not yet over.
[You havepleted the SSS-ranked quest with a high score.]
[Your name has entered the Hall of Kings.]
[You can choose to remain anonymous or post your ID or a different name.]
[You will receive additional rewards for reaching the Hall of Kings.]
[You have acquired 3,000,000 EXP.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have reached Level 350.]
[Even if Food God’s True Worth has been triggered, your stats will not increase.]
‘Hall of Kings?’
When Minhyuk saw the three words ‘Hall of Kings’, his expression started twisting. He did not care about being famous, most of his attention was ced on eating and finding food. The thought of releasing his name to the world was something very unpleasant to him. Quickly, Minhyuk simply set the name that would be entered into the Hall of Kings as...
‘Anonymous.’
After all, it would be in his own best interests if he hid his name and just posted it as Anonymous.
[The tenth King of the world has been born.]
[South Korea’s King ‘Anonymous’ name is spread all over the world.]
At the same time, the yers all over the world were struck with surprise.
In Japan...
[A message was sent all over the world five minutes ago to announce the birth of the new King in South Korea, the country deemed as a game?pharmacy.]
In America...
[South Korea is now the eighth country to have a king enter the Hall of Kings. This means that a new strong yer has been born from a country in thend of the East, South Korea. This yer is expected to be one of those that will lead Athenae in the future.]
In China...
[A new king has sat on his throne and made himself known. Though, no one knows who he is. What’s more, he’s the only yer that had set his nickname as ‘Anonymous’ in the Hall of Kings.]
And in Korea.
[South~ Korea! p, p. p, p. p!]
[South~ Korea! p, p. p, p. p!]
[Finally, the first king from our country that rose to the throne has been born! Ah, my heart can’t stop thumping!]
[This is the birth of a gamer that will write a new history for our country!]
[Anonymous yer! Who might you be? It’s safe to assume that the guilds in the Korean server of Athenae are already on the move starting from now! So they can cast their and get ‘Anonymous’!]
[But why did they name themselve ‘Anonymous’?!]
[The fact that his name has entered the Hall of Kings means that he will be the target of many. Perhaps his level is not that high yet. It does not necessarily mean that only rankers can challenge the SSS-ranked trials after all.]
[Then, that means that they will show up soon. If they’re that good then it means that they will be soon listed on the ranker’s list.]
[That’s about right. Haha, but I’m still curious. I wonder where and what they are doing right now?]
[Maybe their heart is still trembling in excitement? I’m sure they’re really happy since they were the first person in our country to be king.]
As for Minhyuk...
‘Ah~ I’ve finished all the annoying things!’
…he smiled in delight. He clearly knew that something bothersome would happen if he posted his nickname as it was. For Minhyuk, entering the Hall of Kings was not some kind of a big deal, since he only yed the game so he could eat. He picked his ears nonchntly.
‘Why are my ears so itchy?’
Minhyuk, who was picking his ears openly, chuckled as his heart thumped wildly in excitement. For others, they might think that his heart was thumping like this because he entered the ‘Hall of Kings’, but that was not the reason at all. Instead, his heart was filled with anticipation and excitement because of the ‘Demon World Ingredients’ that he had received.
He had a huge grin on his face as he started cooking.
***
Minhyuk stared at the long te in front of him. The te was about a meter long, and lying snugly on top of it was thergehead hairtail that he had received earlier. He felt a bit happy when he thought of it as ‘thergehead hairtail that one can get in Jeju Ind’.
Thergehead hairtail was amon food fish in Jeju Ind. It was an expensive delicacy and would cost around 70,000 won to 100,000 won for around 2~3 servings. If the number of servings increased, the price would also increase proportionately. Right now, thisrgehead hairtail was only for Minhyuk. Thisrgehead hairtail was even called ‘Demon King’s Largehead Hairtail’.
(Demon King’s Largehead Hairtail)
Material Grade: Medicine Bestowed by God
Special Abilities:
?Special Points +300
?STM +200
Description: This is a specialrgehead hairtail that was personally caught by the Demon King in the Demon World Sea in the past. However, it was a pity that the Demon King was not able to eat it due to an allergic reaction to fish so Gremory took it.
‘What a pitiful man! My god! You can’t eat something this delicious!’
In addition to thergehead hairtail, there was reddish, well-fried meat next to it. The dish was none other than spicy stir-fried pork. The spicy stir-fried pork was made out of the Demon King’s ck Pig. It was a bit unfortunate since the Demon King’s ck Pig did not have any ‘Special Abilities’. However, it was still fine since it was something that tasted delicious.
This time, Minhyuk was not eating alone. Ben and Kaistra had made huge contributions in this trial, so he would share his food with them. Both Kaistra and Ben even received the ingredients ‘Meat Noodle Ingredients’, ‘Demon World’s Mandarin Chocte’ and ‘Demon World’s Regr Pig’ as rewards forpleting the trials. Minhyuk had used the Demon World’s Regr Pig and gave them a meat party.
Meanwhile, he said to both Gremory and Valen,?‘It’s a shame but it can’t be helped. I’m already going to be satisfied if no one touches my table!’
Thergehead hairtail, as well as the spicy stir-fried pork, was something that was only reserved for him. In addition, he wanted to hurry and eat his food so he could join the meat party. So Minhyuk stretched out his chopsticks towards thergehead hairtail. His chopsticks quickly pierced through the golden-brown hairtail. Then, with a skillful twist of his chopsticks, he lifted a piece of the white flesh off of the fish. He could still see the steam rising out of the plump, chubby flesh. Since the fish was argehead hairtail, it was only given that the flesh was something extraordinary.
Minhyuk quickly tried a huge mouthful of the white flesh. His mouth was filled with the in, savory and slightly salty taste of thergehead hairtail. With every chew, he could feel the unique texture of the fish. It was a texture that one would not be able to taste in regr?hairtails. It felt simr to the honey-filled rice cakes. Then, he swallowed the meat down his throat as he continued to move his chopsticks. He hurriedly mped on the thick meat, piece by piece. This time, he ced the steaming fish on top of the piping hot rice. As soon as he ced thebination in his mouth, he could taste the vor of the rice and the hairtail mixing, creating a harmonious vor.
After he finished eating thergehead hairtail, his chopsticks deftly moved towards the spicy stir-fried pork. He quickly mped on the pork and ced it in his mouth. The spicy and sweet vor of the porkplemented its excellent texture. The crunchy texture of the vegetables was an excellent ir to such a delicacy.
“Wow. It’s really delicious!”
Minhyuk ate the spicy stir-fried pork deliciously. If one looked through his te, they could probably only see a hint of the meat, due to the speed at which he moved and ate with his chopsticks.
After eating all of that, what was the best thing to do? Minhyuk quickly pulled out his gas stove and lit the fire. Then, he ced his frying pan and put some oil on it, before cracking some eggs on top of it.
Sizzle!
It was the sound of the pan sizzling when the egg made contact with the oil. Once the sides of the four eggs were cooked well, he quickly flipped them over to cook the yolk before removing it from the pan and cing it on top of his rice. As soon as he ced the egg on top of his rice, he scooped some spicy stir-fried pork together with its sauce and sprinkled it on top of his rice.
‘Now, it’s a stir-fried pork donburi.’
He quickly pressed his spoon to separate a piece of the egg white. Then, he scooped it together with some spicy stir-fried pork and rice. Then, he lifted his spoon and ced the huge mouthful of food in his mouth. The rice, spicy stir-fried pork and eggs were only three normal dishes, but when mixed together, they would create a pleasant taste that anyone could enjoy. It was a simple dish that would bring a smile to anyone’s face. After tasting the simple dish, he added some seaweed kes and ate it together with his spicy stir-fried pork. Just like what he had expected, it was a great improvement in its deliciousness.
After eating all of thergehead hairtail and the spicy stir-fried pork, the notifications rang continuously.
[You have eaten a Grilled Largehead Hairtail made from the Demon King’s Largehead Hairtail.]
[Food God’s Greatness.]
[You have acquired 330 SP.]
[You can also invest your special points on stats that can’t be raised with bonus points.]
[You gained +220 STM.]
Although Food God’s True Worth would not work anymore, his Food God’s Greatness skill would still work. Just like that, Minhyuk invested all of his 330 SP in his DEX.
‘With this, I have already surpassed 2,000. Right?’
He thought that perhaps there was nothing special, even if he reached more than 2,000 DEX. Just when such doubts were surfacing in his head, a book suddenly jumped out of his inventory and floated in front of him. It was a pitch-ck book.
[Gorac’s Book has escaped from your inventory.]
Then, the first chapter of Gorac’s Book unfolded by itself. Then, the next chapter, the third chapter, and the fourth chapter. The pages of the book turned by themselves at a tremendous speed. It looked like a strong wind blew and flipped through the book.
Flutter, flutter, flutter!
Minhyuk just stared at the bizarre situation in front of him. Not long after, the sound of the notifications rang once more.
[You will be able to receive a Special DEX Privilege once you have umted a total of 2000 DEX.
[You can now have a Dual ss.]
[Gorac’s Book had moved on its own and chose an ‘entric’ ss that is suitable for you.]
Minhyuk could see that the previously fluttering pages had now stopped at a page. The words that were written on the page were none other than a new ss. When Minhyuk checked the information of the ss, his eyes could not help but widen in surprise.
1. I don’t know if this word has a different connotation but I guess it’s the ng about the overwatch game which meant having a Pharah yer shooting someone who was being healed or boosted by a Mercy yer. Combining the sounds of the name would give a sound simr to pharmacy. I’m guessing that the author wanted to say that SoKor which was the country where Athenae originated from (a boost from a mercy yer) has shit yers that drag its name down (a shot from the Pharah yer).