Minhyuk could not help but smile when he saw Beanie smiling like that. Upon seeing that Minhyuk’s spirits were lifted, Beanie shrugged its shoulders, as if it was saying ‘As expected, I’m the best. Oink!’.

Minhyuk jokingly teased back, “Don’t wipe your nose sneakily on my cheeks!”

Pause!

Beanie was stunned.

Then, a notification rang.

[The Pet Awakening Linked Quest: Fragment of the Golden Crown has been created.]

A quest window popped out right after the notification.

[Pet Awakening Linked Quest: Fragment of the Golden Crown.]

Rank: SSS

Requirements: The owner of the Incarnation of Gluttony who has reached the Temple of Incarnations.

Rewards: Awakened Incarnation of Gluttony, The Birth of the Incarnation of Gluttony video (2)

Penalty for Failure: The Incarnation of Gluttony will not be awakened forever.

Description: Just like you have seen in the video, the Incarnation of Gluttony originally wears a crown. However, he currently does not have a crown on his head. This crown has the power to awaken the Incarnation of Gluttony of the past. If you gather the fragments of the Golden Crown scattered all over the world, you will be able to awaken and unlock his powers. Get the first hint from the Predatory Snake.

Number of Fragments of the Golden Crown Gathered: 0/3

‘Fragments of the golden crown…’ 

Minhyuk recalled the golden crown sitting atop the head of Beanie in the mural. He also saw in the video that the incarnations were called the Three Great Incarnations, but now they were called the Four Great Incarnations. From what he heard from Kaistra, Beanie was like the king of the three great incarnations.

‘Perhaps I’ll find out more about it, or get a hint if I look at the additional video after collecting the fragments of the golden crown?’

Then, another notification came in.

[You will now be warped to the original 10th floor where the Temple of Incarnation was previously located.]

***

The executives of Joy Co. Ltd. were all sitting around President Kang Taehoon watching a video where Minhyuk disappeared in a flash of light from the Temple of Incarnation.

“This will be the biggest event in Joy Co. Ltd. ever,” President Kang Taehoon said after a long moment of silence. No one in the room denied his words.

“He found the ‘Crown Fragment’ faster than what we thought. Right now, Jiang Chen, the Black Dragon’s Guardian, will start collecting the ‘artifacts’ to awaken the sealed Black Dragon Vormon.”

All of them nodded in agreement. The two beasts, Black Dragon Vormon and Beanie, the Incarnation of Gluttony, were at the center of this massive unprecedented update and event in Athenae.

There was only one reason why President Kang Taehoon and the rest of the people in the room all sported serious expressions on their faces.

“Of all places…” President Kang Taehoon mumbled the end of his words.

“I can’t believe that our country has to deal with China in the continental war.”

That was right. As if to repeat history, another continental war would break out amidst the players, and this event would mark the beginning of the server integrations.

Joy Co. Ltd. had judged that it was virtually impossible to integrate all of the continents in Athenae all at once. As a result of countless blood, sweat and tears, they had determined that they could unite and integrate several countries under the pretext of the continental war. For example, the Japanese and the French servers would meet together and fight against each other. South Korea’s opponent was none other than China, and the two servers would be integrated with this continental war.

Now, this was a problem.

China was one of the three major powers in Athenae. Aside from that, they had predicted that this would be the number one country in terms of power when a war between nations erupted in the game. Their reason was simple. Every person knew that China’s population was tremendous and because of that, plenty of players held hidden classes, legendary classes, secret classes, and even God classes. They even had a lot of supplies for the war. These factors were definitely something that would work well for them.

However, there was a reason why South Korea was bound to China in this continental war. This was because of the relationship between the Incarnation of Gluttony and the black dragon.

In the first place, the Incarnation of Gluttony was a being that existed in many countries on every continent, so anyone could obtain him, regardless of their country. As it turned out, the person who got him was none other than Food God Minhyuk, and since he had obtained the Incarnation of Gluttony, all of the quests related to it would be conducted in his country. The same was true for the black dragon. The black dragon could be obtained in any country. It just so happened that the person who had obtained the black dragon was a Chinese player named Jiang Chen.

The Incarnation of Gluttony and the black dragon had to meet and end things once more. However, in this process, they had to fight against China.

‘It looks like we only have a small chance of winning…’

At President Kang Taehoon’s sigh, every person present in the room also began to sigh.

***

When Minhyuk came back to the 10th floor, he saw Aruvel sitting in one corner.

“I’m back!”

Aruvel quickly greeted him as he nodded towards the Predatory Snake that was looking at Minhyuk with his yellow eyes.

“This guy has no intention of hurting us.”

Minhyuk nodded at Aruvel’s words. He said, “I know.”

Minhyuk had seen the Predatory Snake in the video. It was a divine beast that was summoned by Great Mage Moldoron, and this great, divine beast was currently in front of him.

The Predatory Snake turned to look at Beanie, who was perched on Minhyuk’s shoulders, and once more…

Drop, drop, drop―

…he shed tears.

“Oink?” Beanie cried out in confusion.

The Predatory Snake then turned to look at Minhyuk as his tongue flickered out of its mouth. Then, the notifications rang.

[The Predatory Snake has granted you some of the rewards for the new record by its authority as the guardian of the floor.]

[You have acquired Vietnamese Rice Noodles and Vietnamese Fried Rice (Cơm Chiên).]

Minhyuk’s body trembled in excitement. There was an unexpected food reward that appeared in front of him.

“You… You’re a good guy!!!”

That was when Minhyuk knew that the Predatory Snake was definitely a good guy.

***

Minhyuk looked at the Vietnamese rice noodles and fried rice in front of him with a pleased and delighted expression.

In the past, Vietnamese rice noodles were quite unfamiliar to the general public. However, in recent years, plenty of people have flocked to Vietnamese restaurants.

Vietnamese rice noodles were usually made with beef or chicken. The bowl of Vietnamese rice noodles that was placed in front of Minhyuk was filled with shredded chicken and chicken soup. There were even plenty of crunchy-looking bean sprouts floating in the milky white soup. Minhyuk personally preferred having plenty of bean sprouts in his Vietnamese rice noodles so this bowl, which was filled with plenty of bean sprouts, was perfectly suited to his taste.

Minhyuk first started his meal by grabbing his spoon and scooping up some of the milky white soup.

‘Wow… So refreshing.’

The taste of the rich chicken broth of the Vietnamese rice noodles strangely tasted similar to samgyetang. The difference was that it was not greasy at all, in fact, it even gave off a refreshing flavor.

Then, Minhyuk grabbed some noodles, bean sprouts and shredded chicken with his chopsticks. He quickly chomped on the perfect mouthful of noodles.

Crunch, crunch, crunch―

The crunching sounds from the bean sprouts were like music to his ears. The bean sprouts, together with the light and chewy rice noodles, as well as the delicious chicken, all came together to create a superb flavor in his mouth.

Minhyuk once again clamped some noodles. He slurped them up deliciously before bringing the entire bowl up to his mouth. Then, he lightly blew on the soup before tilting the bowl and gulping down the hot soup in one go.

“Kghhhk~”

A sharp exclamation of admiration automatically flew out of his mouth. Then, he picked up a spoon as he stretched his hand toward the Vietnamese fried rice.

The official name of the Vietnamese fried rice was Cơm Chiên. In Vietnam, they call ‘rice’ as ‘cơm’ and sometimes, they would even put some pineapple chunks in their fried rice. Of course, the flavor was a bit different from the fried rice in his own country, since they used different spices in Vietnam.

Minhyuk quickly scooped up a spoonful of the fried rice. The fried rice had chopped carrots, chopped onions, cocktail shrimps, and small pineapple bits. As soon as he placed it in his mouth, he could immediately taste the unique spice and texture of the rice.

‘As expected! Fried rice is the best!’ 

Kimchi fried rice, vegetable fried rice and Vietnamese fried rice, all of them were truly delicious.

Minhyuk smiled happily as he placed a pickled radish in his mouth together with a spoonful of rice. Whenever he felt parched from the dryness of the fried rice, he would turn towards the rice noodles and gulp some of the soup. Just like that, he ate everything in front of him. Then, the notification rang.

[The Vietnamese Rice Noodles and Vietnamese Fried Rice has a special power that allows you to speak and understand the language of the snakes.]

Minhyuk already knew this fact since he checked the information earlier. In the first place, there were no recorded rewards for this floor. It seemed like it was a meeting place specially set up for the Predatory Snake and the master of the Incarnation of Gluttony.

Then, the Predatory Snake started to give him hints. He said, “A fragment of the golden crown is in the hands of Ankheseramun[1] in the Demon World’s Tower.”

“Ankheseramun?”

“That’s right. She’s on the 14th floor and she is the master of the Aelcrei Territory, a territory located on that floor.”

“I see. By any chance, can you tell me what happened in the past?”

At his question, the Predatory Snake lowered his head and stared at Beanie. It watched Beanie eat the fried rice and rice noodles that were the exact same replica of what Minhyuk ate earlier.

“I can’t tell you. All I can say is…”

The Predatory Snake looked at Beanie sadly.

“…sacrifice.”

Then, he opened his mouth again, “Regret.”

And his last word, “Birth.”

That was the end of his words. The Predatory Snake did not say anything anymore. Then, a bright light engulfed Minhyuk’s and Aruvel’s bodies.

[The Predatory Snake has warped you to the next floor.]

They disappeared in a flash of light.

***

Most of the members of Legend Guild had entered the land of the elves and were operating to wipe out the demons in there. Meanwhile, in Valhalla Territory, Deputy Lord Ben was seeking ways to gain more profits through Paladin Corr and the Talmor Religion.

Before Ben knew it, the middle of his empty head was already filled with rich black hair. Grandpa Ben’s hobby these days was staring at the mirror and brushing his hair.

“Hmm. It’s really abundant.”

After Ben brushed his head, he went ahead and sat on the sofa. A man named Rookie was sitting in front of him. Rookie started to read the charts and tables that he had given to Ben the moment he saw the latter sit down.

Rookie was the man that they had left in charge of the finances of Valhalla Territory. He had a fairly good eye for commerce and money. He was also a prominent person that had led a fairly large-scale up and coming group.

‘At this rate… I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to make even better profits.’ 

Rookie proposed that they announce Corr’s ability to grow hair to be limited. His reasoning was simple. If the ability was limited, rich aristocrats would definitely scramble for it. Anything scarce was something that they deemed worthy of buying. If they did that, then they would be able to sell it for a considerable cost. If this was approved, Valhalla Territory would definitely be able to earn twice as much as what they were earning now.

“How is it?”

“Sounds great.”

Knock, knock.

Not long after, the door was opened and a girl came inside.

“Deputy Lord, here’s your tea.”

The girl was none other than Haze. When she arrived in Valhalla Territory, Haze had told them that she wanted to work. She even took the initiative to take care of the deputy lord. Although she was new, Deputy Lord Ben readily accepted her proposal since she was bright and intelligent.

Haze placed the tea in front of Ben. In the short three seconds that she had gazed at the documents on the table, she had already read and analyzed the contents of the documents. It was truly an unimaginable speed.

Ben praised, “This could raise our current revenue by more than 300%.”

Rookie sighed, “I see, so it’s satisfactory. What a relie…”

Just then, a calm voice cut through Rookie’s words while he was speaking with the tea cup in his hands. “But, if we use another method, we can increase it by more than 700%.”

“…Hmm?”

“Huh?”

The one that cut through the conversation between Ben and Rookie was none other than Haze.

1. (아낙수라문) - A parody of Ankhesenamun (아낙수나문) - Wife of Tutankhamun. She was born as Ankhesenpaaten but due to the changes in belief and religion, her name was changed to Ankhesenamun. The character in the Mummy movies Anck Su Namun had her as the inspiration. ☜