Chapter 147: The Old Man and the Sea

“To be precise, he used to be one of the Pinnacle Strong Men.”

“Yeah,” Team Leader Park said with a nod.

Ben, the person whom Minhyuk hitched a boat ride with, was one of most important and valuable NPCs in the newly opened Northern Continent update. Ben had disappeared from the eyes of the public for quite a long time. He had disappeared right after his son’s death and was promptly forgotten about the people. Over time, someone filled in the place that he left empty as one of the Pinnacle Strong Men.

Originally, he was the person standing on the eighth place, the place that Rumad had before. Ben used to be considered as the eighth strongest among the eight Pinnacle Strong Men. Since he was no longer remembered, nor considered to be a part of the Pinnacle Strong Men anymore, Minhyuk did not hear any notifications about him. In other words, he was like an NPC with a hidden identity.

“Ghost Spear Ben...” Team Leader Park mumbled to himself. This was the nickname that was given to Ben.

Meanwhile, Lee Minhwa was also mumbling to herself. She said, “The monster that Ghost Spear Ben wants to catch and kill is a legendary monster, right?”

Team Leader Park nodded at her words. No one in the country has successfully raided a legendary monster. Fortunately, the successful raids of epic monsters had surged lately. This was thanks to the considerable increase in the number of epic monsters that were released during the Northern Continent update. However, the fact that no one had successfully raided a legendary monster in the country still remained true. Of course, there were plenty of legendary monsters scattered in the Northern Continent. And if they successfully hunted one...

“The thing that will drop... I believe Player Minhyuk would like it very much, right?”

***

Ben grinned widely at the glittering blue sea. He asked, “Son, aren’t you cold out here?”

The renowned Ghost Spear became an ordinary fisherman after realizing that no fisherman in the Northern Continent had the ability to catch the Golden Salmon. Even the most skilled fisherman in Valkyrie Kingdom was only at the Advanced level. However, this level was not enough to catch the Golden Salmon. So, Ben decided to start his fishing career right there and then. For many years, his boat continued to set sail every single day without fail. After all, the rascal that killed his son was still alive and hiding in a cave. However, that cave...

‘Only foreigners can get inside that cave.’

That was why he wanted to catch the Golden Salmon. Ben wanted to use the Golden Salmon as the bait and lure the bastard out of his cave so he could avenge his son.

As his thoughts came to foreigners, Ben turned to look at the foreigner who boarded his boat. The boy introduced himself as a chef. Ben watched as Minhyuk pulled out his fishing rod, loaded some bait and threw the line as hard as he could while muttering a weird chant.

“God, please heed my wishes. Please answer my prayers. Dragon King, please give me a flatfish and a rockfish!”

Ben could not help but laugh at him when he heard those words. He said, “Little boy, fishing is not that easy. Do you think you can easily get fish just by praying to the Dragon King? Fishing requires a lot of waiting, waiting, waiting and more waiting.”

Fishing in?Athenae?was extremely difficult, that was why it was hard to find skilled fishermen. For years, the only thing that Ben did aside from eating and sleeping was fishing! He might have been hailed as the Ghost Spear before, but he was also a man who climbed to the Master Fisherman level.

However, at that moment...

“I caught one!”

“...Eh?” Ben replied dumbly.

‘Th…this boy is quite lucky!’

When Ben first tried his hands with fishing and brought his boat out, he spent 24 hours waiting for a fish to bite. To think that something bit on the boy’s bait as soon as he threw the line?

Then, the young man loaded another bait and cast his line once more. After just five seconds...

“I caught another one!”

Flap, flap, flap, flap!

An energetic fish flapped wildly as it hung at the end of the fishing line.

“Gasp!?”

Then, Ben thought,?‘D…don’t tell me.... Is it really because of the prayer?!’

Ben also threw the line with great strength before sitting in front of the rod and murmuring to himself, “God, please heed my wishes. Please answer my prayers. Dragon King, please let me catch a Golden Salmon!”

***

A red spot immediately appeared in Minhyuk’s sight the moment he lifted the fishing rod.

‘As expected of DEX!’

This was the special privilege of his insane DEX! Minhyuk was able to see where he needed to throw the line and how much strength was needed, all thanks to his DEX. However, even though there were red spots that could aid him in fishing, they were still divided into narrow and wide spots.

Minhyuk loaded his fishing rod with bait and casted the line towards one of the circles with as much strength as he could. As soon as the line was casted, a fish immediately bit on the bait.

[You have casted the line at a fairly good spot.]

[You have acquired a rockfish.]

[You have gained 1 DEX.]

Flap, flap, flap, flap!

“I caught one!”

‘A fresh rockfish! This guy is even flapping wildly!’

Then, Minhyuk suddenly thought,?‘Huh? Don’t tell me.... That red spot...?’

It was a huge spot. There were plenty of huge spots all over the sea compared to the smaller ones. For about 30 huge spots, there was at least one small spot. To test his theory, Minhyuk quickly casted his line to one of the huge spots. Not long after, a fish was caught.

[You have casted the line at a fairly good spot.]

[You have acquired a flatfish.]

“Kyaa!”

A fresh and energetic flatfish! Minhyuk kept on casting his line, pulling out one fish after the other every time he tugged at his line. Then, he turned to look beside him.

“Huh?”

“God, please heed my wishes. Please answer my prayers. Dragon King, please let me catch a Golden Salmon!”

“...”

The old man who introduced himself as Ben started to pray very hard. He did the same prayer that Minhyuk did for fun earlier. There’s no way that they could get more fish because of the Dragon King, right?

Still, Ben showed great sincerity. At that moment…

“Dragon Kinggggggg!”

He even shouted at the top of his lungs with his hands stretched out towards the sky. He looked like a devout fanatic, with how sincere he was.

‘Are the elderly really this superstitious?’

After he finished his prayers, Ben’s eyes widened when he saw his fishing line going taut.

A fish bit the bait!

Ben turned to look at Minhyuk with a surprised expression on his face. He said, “Ooooooh...! I prayed like you did and it worked!”

“...?”

Minhyuk was quite confused. Then, Ben lifted his fishing rod with all his might. And what appeared was...

“This is a shoe!”

…a shoe.

“I don’t understand why people throw their trash in this beautiful sea!” Ben shouted in anger. It was unknown whether he was angry at the people who threw the shoes in the sea, or he was angry at himself for catching a shoe.

Then, Minhyuk caught another fish. He kept on throwing and pulling, which in turn made Ben feel grumpy. Ben thought,?‘No, this boy... turned out to be a talented fisherman?!’

“Ho, it’s a big catch...!”?Gasp?! Minhyuk shouted in surprise. He was already quite happy with catching all those flatfish and rockfish, but this one definitely took the cake!

[You have casted the line at a fairly good spot.]

[You have acquired a flower crab.]

It was a flower crab that looked fresh and yummy!

‘This is heaven...!’

Minhyuk did not need to do anything special, just with his fishing rod and some bait, he would be able to get anything that he wanted!

“You look so delicious...” Minhyuk said. He smiled happily as he looked at the crab that was hanging on his fishing rod.

Then, he heard Ben trying his luck as he casted another line. He said, “Boy, how did you pray to the Dragon King? Why are you catching things so well?”

“That was just a joke!”

“...”

Minhyuk finally realized that Ben had mistaken his prayers as the reason why he was able to catch fish so well.

“Boy, how long have you been fishing?”

“I did it for the first time today.”

“...”

Ben was left speechless. He had been doing this for several years, but he was worse than someone that tried it for the first time today? At that moment, another fish bit on the line that Minhyuk had casted.

“Wow, it’s a big catch! It’s a big catch!”

“...Actually, fishing is something that anyone can do, but if you want to be hailed as a skilled fisherman, you have to catch special kinds of fish.”

“Ho. Special fish? Is that like the Golden Salmon that you mentioned earlier?”

“Yeah. We’re now at the spot where that guy is usually seen.”

“Oho!”

Minhyuk was so excited. They were at the spot where the special fish that Ben was talking about was known to appear! After testing out the red circles for some time, Minhyuk finally concluded his little experiment.

‘As expected, it really is a prediction!’

Right now, Minhyuk could see five small red circles. This was a number that was far higher than what he had usually seen earlier.

‘The ones in the smaller circle must be more special!’

Minhyuk was now sure of this. After all, he had tested his theory for quite some time and it really did coincide with what he thought.

Ben suddenly spoke up as if he wanted to repair his broken pride as a fisherman. He said, “You’re just being lucky today so don’t think that you’re good at fishing with just that. It’s much harder to catch a special fish. No matter, I’ll try and hook one up so you can see how it’s done. After all, I’m someone who has fished here for five years.”

Minhyuk casted another line while listening to Ben talk. This time, he had set his sights on the smaller circle.

[You have casted the line at the best spot.]

[You have acquired a Fantastic Flower Crab.]

The best notification appeared! This notification only popped out when he casted his line on a small circle. It seemed like what he had thought earlier was truly the case. The smaller circles were really housing those special fish that Ben was talking about earlier.

“Yeah! It’s a Fantastic Flower Crab!”

“...”

Ben had been fishing in this sea for years, but it took him three years to catch a single Fantastic Flower Crab. His nose stung and he felt sour. For some reason, he felt like he wanted to cry after seeing how good Minhyuk was at fishing.

‘No, I can catch that too!’

Unfortunately, there were no fish that took Ben’s bait even after an hour of waiting, which turned to two, then three, then four hours.

“Ho! It’s a big catch!”

“Assarabia Colombia! Huh? I want to drink Colombian coffee... Yay!”

“Another big catch!”

“...”

On the other hand, Ben could not catch any fish at all. When Minhyuk turned around, he saw that Ben had not caught a single fish. He thought,?‘Y…you said that you have been fishing for five years but you’re really bad at it, huh...’

Ben’s back looked extremely desolate. It seemed like he felt sad and depressed with his lack of luck today. Minhyuk knew that Ben was a nice person. After all, he gave him a free ride on his boat and brought him to the spot where special fish could be caught. He ought to do something so he would not feel sad, right?

“Don’t be too discouraged. Well, come on! I’ll make you something delicious!”

“Ahem, ahem.?Something delicious?” Ben asked, slowly turning to look at Minhyuk. In fact, he was the worst cook that one could ever encounter. Because of that, all he could eat when he was at sea was sashimi.

“Yes. Let’s see,” Minhyuk said, using his ‘Create a Recipe’ skill in hopes of helping this old man, since his fishing skills were poor.

The recipe that appeared was...

(Flower Crab Ramyeon Recipe for Ben)

Required Ingredients: Fantastic Flower Crab, Barade’s Green Onions, Bean Sprouts, Cheongyang Peppers, Shin Ramyeon

Expected Dish Grade: Rare ~ Epic

Expected Effects:

A dramatic increase in Ben’s fishing skills.

?+1 in Ben’s Spear Skill: Ghost Spear

‘Huh...?’

Minhyuk looked at the recipe strangely after he saw the special effect listed at the very end.

‘Ghost Spear? What’s that?’

Was Ben proficient in that Ghost Spear skill? Minhyuk was confused. After all, the only thing that he could see was an ordinary old man in front of him.

‘Maybe he used to be a spearman in the past?’

However, Minhyuk did not get entangled with the thought. After all, his father used to tell him that he wanted to live comfortably and fish his days away once he grew older. ?Perhaps, Ben was a retired soldier who became a fisherman after retiring?

Minhyuk did not ask any questions and just thought about it silently. There was something more important in front of him. As he read the recipe again, he could not help but be filled with excitement.

‘Wow. My goodness. Flower Crab Ramyeon!’

Where was he right now? He was sitting on a boat as he floated in the middle of a vast, blue, glittering sea!

Shwaaaa!

Whenever the wind blew, the waves of the sea would hit the side of their boat and rock them slightly. Their bodies would sway and tremble as they tried to balance themselves. Just sitting in a boat would cause their bodies to be overwhelmed with fatigue, which in turn would trigger an extreme hunger in them. At times like these, what better food to eat than Flower Crab Ramyeon?

“Kgghk!”

Just imagining it was making Minhyuk excited. He declared, “I’ll cook you some Flower Crab Ramyeon!”

“Oh? I see, it’s Flower Crab Ramyeon,” Ben said, smacking his lips. He looked like he was also happy at the thought of such a delicacy.

The ingredients needed for the recipe that Ben wanted the most were easy to procure. Minhyuk had already caught the Fantastic Flower Crab, and since he was a Korean, he always had the Shin Ramyeon that he loved in his inventory. Minhyuk quickly pulled out the ingredients needed and started to cook.

First, Minhyuk trimmed off the legs of the crabs. Then, he boiled the water for the soup. He first prepared the soup so he could cook the crabs first before the rest of the ingredients. After preparing the water, he placed the crab inside the pot. Once the crab was cooked to some extent, he added the bean sprouts, cheongyang pepper, and the ramyeon together. After boiling the ingredients together, he finally added the green onions on top of the soup gently. The beauty of flower crab ramyeon was that no egg was needed in it. Everyone liked this crab ramyeon because it was both spicy and refreshing!

Clack!

In just an instant, the cooking of the flower crab ramyeon was finished. Minhyuk waited for a while before opening the lid.

Shwaaaaaa!

The steam rose and a flower crab that had turned completely red greeted them.

Gulp━

It was the sound of Ben gulping down his saliva as he looked at the appetizing food in front of him. As usual, a copy of the flower crab ramyeon appeared in front of Minhyuk.

“Oh?”

Ben casted a quick glance at Minhyuk when he saw kimchi in front of him.

“Kimchi is the best combo for ramyeon!”

“Kgghk!?You do know your stuff huh!”

Minhyuk lifted the noodles up and placed some noodles in his bowl.

Shwaaa!

The steam rose along with the noodles. Then, Minhyuk lifted the pot and poured some soup into his bowl. After doing all of that, Minhyuk picked his bowl, blew on it rapidly and gulped the soup down.

1. A pun that children used to express their joy. It seems like it also refers to good coffee