While the ribs were getting cooked over the grill, Minhyuk broke apart the yolk on top of the beef sashimi. The egg yolk flowed down and soaked the beef sashimi, along with the shredded radish and thinly sliced pears. Then, he mixed the yolk and the beef sashimi thoroughly. The bright-red beef sashimi and the golden yolk that was mixed well resulted in an extremely appetizing color. Minhyuk placed some pear slices over a big piece of beef sashimi before putting it in his mouth. He firmly believed that the beef sashimi would only taste better if a slice of pear was eaten together with it.

“Aaaaanh,” He chomped on the beef sashimi and chewed it well.

Sweetness spread out in his mouth with his first bite. Then, Minhyuk felt the crunchy texture of the pear together with the chewy beef sashimi. He could also feel the savory flavor of the beef and the sesame oil that he had sprinkled on top of it earlier, along with the sweetness of the pear. After Minhyuk finished tasting the beef sashimi, he took out one bowl each of cold noodles and spicy cold noodles. Then, he brought out a pair of scissors and cut the noodles twice in different directions. The noodles that were plated in a circle now became sliced into four pieces. Following his preference, he added some vinegar and mustard on his bowl before scooping out some of the soup.

“This is absolutely perfect!” Minhyuk exclaimed happily, picking up the entire bowl and slurping down the soup loudly.

“Uhmmmm! So good, this is sooooo good!”

The soup was cold enough to make his teeth chatter, but the hint of sourness brought forth a refreshing sensation in his mouth. Then, he quickly clamped some noodles with his chopsticks.

Slurp.

Hamhung noodles were truly thin and chewy! After tasting a bit of the food in front of him, Minhyuk faced the grill and turned over the ribs that he was grilling.

Sizzle━

After cooking that side of the meat for a bit, Minhyuk flipped the meat again. He continued this process for quite a while, before grabbing a pair of scissors and cutting the meat into smaller pieces. The perfectly grilled marinated beef ribs looked extremely delicious with its glistening sauce. Then, Minhyuk quickly poked the yolk in the bowl of the spicy cold noodles and mixed it well with the rest of the sauce, before placing it in his mouth.

Sluuuuuurp!—

The sweet and spicy flavor that spread gently in his mouth brought a smile to his face. Minhyuk’s chopstick then stretched out towards a piece of meat on the grill. He blew rapidly on the meat before taking a bite out of it.

“Hoo! Hoo!” He said. Even after he had picked it up with his chopsticks, the beef marinated ribs were still steaming hot and glistening with oil, so he continued to blow on it to cool it off before taking in its taste.

“Waaa...”

The sweetness and tenderness of the meat spread in Minhyuk’s mouth. The flavor of the well-ripened seasoning caused Minhyuk to shudder involuntarily. Then, he picked up a piece of ribs and placed it together with the spicy cold noodles. He picked up both the meat and noodles and ate them together in one bite. The sweet, spicy flavor of the spicy cold noodles and the sweet, mellow flavor of the marinated beef ribs danced together in his mouth. Minhyuk continued to enjoy his marinated ribs with a satisfied smile on his face.

Sluuuuuuurp!— 

Chew, chew!—

He quickly finished 100 bowls of cold noodles and spicy cold noodles. On top of that, he also finished 20 servings of the marinated beef ribs. He even munched on the bones.

“Buuuuuuuuurp!”

Flap, flap, flap, flap!

Minhyuk’s loud burp scared the birds from a nearby tree, causing them to fly away. He smiled brightly after he finished eating.

[Food God's True Worth.]

[You can acquire the Minotaurus’ skill ‘Earth Quake’.]

[Would you like to acquire the skill?]

Of course, before he started eating, he had been asked by Food God's True Worth to choose the main ingredient. Without any hint of delay, Minhyuk had chosen the Minotaurus’ meat.

[Acquisition rate 4%... 8%... 18%... 41%... 58%... 75%...  88%...   94%...   100%]

[You have successfully acquired Earth Quake.]

“Ahem,” Minhyuk coughed before nodding in satisfaction and laying down on the ground. He believed that the happiest time in the world was when he laid down after eating a satisfying meal. Then, he checked the contents of the skill Earth Quake.

(Earth Quake)

Active Skill

Tier: 4th Class

Mana Required: 250

Cooldown: 20 minutes

Effects: A magical attack that deals 500~600 damage. It can cause a violent earthquake within a ten-meter radius.

Minhyuk shook his head to relieve his drowsiness after he finished checking the contents of the skill. Even though his stomach was not technically full yet, he was still feeling the effects of a food coma. Before he knew it, he had dozed off, laying down peacefully on the grass. This was a sweet and relaxing break.

***

Meanwhile, as Minhyuk was taking his own sweet time, relaxing and having a break, the entire ceremonial hall was in a frenzy. The champion had disappeared! Cain heard the curious and frantic voices of the players as he entered the awards wall. He had originally been asked to be present for the awards ceremony, together with Alicia. However, the first thing that Cain did was to go to his sister, Lucia, and hand over a large bouquet to her.

Step, step, step━

Cain saw her with her head drooped down. He thought, ‘She must be feeling a great sense of loss.’

He knew how much effort and practice his sister had put in to catch up with him. However, he still believed that this was a fortunate accident. He did not hope his sister would break at a setback at a much later point. After all, anyone who became too strong, too fast, was bound to face obstacles at any point in time. All Cain wanted was for his sister to become flexible and experience more of this world.

He went beside Lucia and handed her the bouquet of flowers that he prepared, saying, “...You did a good job. It was amazing, sister.”

Lucia turned her head when she heard him and gave him a bitter smile. She thought, ‘Am I not the best, after all?’

However, when she thought about it more deeply, it was with a slight sense of relief that the one who won the first place was that person. She thought, ‘Where did you go without me? Were you ashamed of me?’

However, she still believed that Minhyuk stood in front of the minotaurus, blocking its way, because he wanted to save her. 

‘So, why did he suddenly disappear?’

Then, Lucia suddenly felt Cain wrap his arms around her shoulders. He said, “My sister is really great.”

Lucia giggled when she heard him, despite her emotions. Cain felt that she was warmer than usual. She was usually more aloof but right now, he felt that she was a lot warmer. Cain suddenly had a hunch. He wondered if his sister was going to open her heart to him and other people now. If not, he would probably try and make her do so.

Then, Lucia piped, “Oppa.”

“Hmm?”

“I think… I’ve fallen for someone.”

The moment he heard those words…

Clench━

…Cain’s hands clenched tightly. He was smiling at her, but the nerves on his forehead were popping out. Through a forced smile, he asked, “W, who is it?”

“That person earlier.”

Clench━

Cain’s hands were once again clenched tightly. However, without showing any signs, he said to her, “D…did you do something together?”

“We just ate together.”

“What did you eat?”

Lucia tilted her head in confusion when Cain became persistent with his questions. She said, “Ramyeon.”

“What...?”

When he heard her words, thousands of thoughts ran rampant in Cain’s head. He knew that Lucia, his sister, was not a child that would do something like that. So, the one who made a move must have been that rascal. He thought, ‘Did he ask her to eat ramyeon at his place[1]? What a sly wolf! How dare such a f*cking bastard lay a hand on my beloved sister?!’

“R, ramyeon... Hahaha... It must be delicious,” Cain said, smiling awkwardly. 

Then, Lucia said, “He cooked it personally for me..” 

Cain was now convinced that the bastard had seduced his sister! That was not all, as Lucia was not done talking.  She said, “He looked really cool when he saved me earlier.”

“Sly wolf, fu…”

“Huh?”

“I...it’s nothing. Lucia,” Cain hurriedly said, already painting a huge, albeit misguided, picture of what Minhyuk did. He then turned around and approached Alicia, who was behind him. He whispered to her so as not to let Lucia hear their conversation, “Alicia.”

“Huh?”

“I’m not going to let that damn bastard off. Should I order the guild to kill him? Or should I lock him up and keep him in jail?! Or maybe I should pull his toenails off if he tries to enter my house...!”

“...”

Alicia wanted to smack him in the back of his head and tell him, ‘You’re misunderstanding everything on your own, you big doofus!’. However, she knew that Minhyuk was exercising constantly to be strong, so even if Cain stormed up to him, he would definitely not be defeated. Unfortunately for her, Alicia had also misunderstood Minhyuk.

***

Changwook was looking at his mobile phone when he saw the real-time search.

[1. The tournament’s champion has disappeared.]

[2. The champion is an NPC.]

Changwook clicked on the second popular article on the real-time search and saw the comments that flooded the post. He clicked to read the article.

[The champion of Athenae’s tournament this time is an NPC. You can see from the fact that he kept on eating at the convenience store, can someone even eat like that? Look, he ate almost all of the food in the convenience store by himself. And he even solo fought the Level 140 minotaurus? That’s just impossible. I know that the Athenae’s operators are saying that he’s a player, but I still believe that he’s an NPC.]

Netizens kept on creating and compiling rumors, flooding the real-time search. However, Changwook, who knew the truth, somehow could not help but be dumbfounded. Just in time, Minhyuk came out of his capsule.

“Oh, Mister NPC. Hello!”

“...Are you bored? What’s wrong?” Minhyuk asked, looking at Changwook strangely. Changwook coughed in embarrassment as the other staff exclaimed in admiration.

“Wow. Minhyuk, are you really that strong?”

“I got goosebumps when I saw you stand in front of Lucia and face off against the minotaurus.”

“I’m just that kind of person,” Minhyuk said, stroking his chin as he chuckled.

“Where’d you go during the awards ceremony?”

“I went to eat beef.”

“...Beef? Why did you go eat beef when Empress Ellie said that she would go there?”

“Of course, beef is much more important compared to meeting with Empress Ellie.”

“Right... Beef is much more important compared to the empress.”

All of the people present in the room nodded in understanding. The value of meeting Ellie and building a relationship with her might be sky-high, but for Minhyuk, it was truly not that important.

“You know, when you meet with Ellie, she might even give you some sort of legendary class... Ah, that’s right. Didn’t you say that you would rather eat red bean jelly than get the berserker class? Wait,” Changwook said, scratching his head as he gathered his thoughts. Then, he asked, “Right. What did you get when you won?”

“Hyung, did I get something?”

“...Hey, punk, why would you ask me when you were the one who got it?”

The situation from before was so urgent that Minhyuk had to grab the ingredients from the minotaurus urgently. Because of that, he did not have any time to pay attention to others. All he could remember was the notification that he received 10,000 points after he successfully hunted the minotaurus. So, he quickly grabbed his phone to check his rewards. 

“My god. You’re the only person who will focus on beef instead of checking his rewards first,” Changwook said. Unfortunately, his words only went in one ear and came out the other. 

Minhyuk ignored him and just tapped on his phone. After a while, he said, “Ah, I got that Earth Quake.”

“The one the minotaurus had?”

“Yes.”

“That’s amazing. You’re still below Level 100 but you already learned the Earth Quake skill that only Level 200 mages have,” Changwook said in disbelief. Earth Quake was a skill that could only be learned at Level 200, however, there were no skill books available for that. The mages had to go to the Magic Tower to learn. It was a huge AOE [2] skill and could become a huge tool for Minhyuk as he moved on and transitioned from a novice to an intermediate player. However, the most shocking thing was…

“I just can’t believe that you can master any kind of skill...”

It was surprising to know that Minhyuk could master any kind of skill, regardless of class. Usually, skills were limited to classes. For example, warrior skills could only be learned by warrior players, and mage skills could only be obtained by mage players. In fact, Changwook believed that Minhyuk was close to a warrior-class player. However, he just said that he had acquired a mage-class skill. The value of something like this was completely unimaginable.

“Didn’t you get the Minotaurus’ Bone Necklace? Let’s check that out,” Changwook said excitedly. It was funny how Changwook was the excited one, instead of Minhyuk. Related real-time search results kept on popping out the moment Minhyuk searched for it. This was the necklace artifact that had never been dropped by a minotaurus! Minhyuk checked the information on his phone.

(Minotaurus’ Bone Necklace)

Class: Unique

Requirements: None

Durability: 3,000 / 3,000

Defensive Power: 20

Special Abilities:

•+100 increase in WIS

•MP recovery rate increases by 100%.

“Wow! This is really good. Hey, hey, Minhyuk. Look at this. An additional 100 in WIS means that you will get 1000 MP, and there’s also a 100% increase in MP recovery. This is really awesome!” 

“Oh, is that a good thing?”

“If your MP recovery rate increased by 100%, it means that instead of recovering 30 MP in 1 minute, you will be able to recover 60 MP in 1 minute. Hey, mages will go crazy for this, you know? Kyaa, there’s even no requirements on it.”

“Oho,” Minhyuk said. He had already decided to increase his MP. Earlier, he felt that his MP of less than 500 was truly a burden whenever he used his skills, so he thought of investing his bonus points to WIS. However, the sudden arrival of this item was a pleasant surprise to Minhyuk.

I’ll be able to eat more delicious food if I get stronger!

1. In Korea, inviting someone to "eat ramyeon" was similar to inviting someone to "netflix and chill" ☜

2. Area of Effect ☜