Chapter 19: Proposal

"B…boy!! Did you really hunt this?!"

"Someone was trying to hunt it, but they asked me for help, so I caught it!"

"Oooooooh… I can make you a?special?chestnut red bean jelly with this chestnut!"

[Collect 50 Chestnuts Quest has upgraded to a C-rank quest.]

[Quest: Collect 50 chestnuts.]

Rank: C

Requirements: Available only to those who have tasted Allon's red bean jelly.

Rewards: 10 special chestnut red bean jellies and 50 chestnut red bean jellies.

Description: A quest that can only be assigned by association if you have received Allon's 'Chestnut Red Bean Jelly' quest. You will get a special chestnut red bean jelly as a reward which is many times better than normal, since you attained a Giant Chestnut from the Chestnut Demon King.

"D..did you say special chestnut red bean jelly?!"

He was very happy when he heard that.

‘Special, I have a hunch that it would taste even better than the normal red bean jelly.’

"That's right, I'll give you a special chestnut red bean jelly in a while. Ah right, I'll also give you the reward for the 50 chestnuts."

Minhyuk smiled in satisfaction when he heard those words, and he could not help but drool at the thought of it.

'I need to get some exercise in real life.'

He did not want to wait in boredom. Minhyuk was filled with anticipation as he logged out.

The moment he came back after he finished his exercise, Allon held out an exquisitely wrapped box filled with red bean jelly.

[You have received 10 pieces of special chestnut red bean jelly.]

He then held out another box filled with regular chestnut red bean jellies.

[You have received 80,000 gold.]

[You have received 200 pieces of chestnut red bean jelly.]

Minhyuk opened the box of special chestnut red bean jelly urgently, and saw the special chestnut red bean jellies wrapped in golden plastic wrappers. He tore off the wrapper, barely containing his excitement, and placed the bouncy chestnut red bean jelly into his mouth.

As he took the first bite, the sweet flavor of the red beans and the soft chewy chestnuts came together, creating a fantastic combination of flavors. He could not help but smile as he tasted the sweetness of the red bean jelly.

[You are the first person to have tasted the special chestnut red bean jelly.]

[You have acquired +5 on all 5 of your basic stats.]

[You have gained +5 reputation points.]

"Oh?!"

Minhyuk was very surprised. The delicious special chestnut red bean jelly had given him a stat increase.

"I told you, I was an alchemist back in the day."

‘He did? It must have been a part of his endless chatter.’

In fact, it was extremely difficult to acquire Allon's special chestnut red bean jelly.

First off, the player had to sample his red bean jelly. Then, they would receive his quest and had to hunt for chestnut demons. Up to this point, most of the players would be willing to go this far.

However, after the players started hunting the chestnut demons, they would always give up on the quest. In fact, they would start cursing since the experience and item drops were extremely stingy.

Then, there was the Chestnut Demon King, which was not a common monster. Furthermore, the chestnut on top of its head was not something a player would get automatically. The person who was undertaking the quest?had?to be the one to remove the Giant Chestnut from the head of the Chestnut Demon King. Most of the players had thought that the large chestnut was a part of the monster.

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Due to the long and tedious process of getting the special chestnut red bean jelly, Minhyuk somehow ended up as the first person to have ever tasted it.

Minhyuk went and checked his stats window.

(Minhyuk)

Level: 10

Class: None

HP: 448?MP: 250

STR: 47+11??AGI: 37+14 ?STM: 25+9

WIS: 20+5 ?INT: 20+5 ?Rep: 15

Fullness: 100%/10

Bonus Point: 0

"Kgghk…"

‘That's quite high.’

Minhyuk was not completely unfeeling about his stats. No matter how one looked at it, the feeling of being strong was quite good.

‘Of course, it can’t beat food and eating.’

"Is it delicious?"

"Yes!!! It melts?so?gently in my mouth."

"Yeah, you've worked hard. Boy, I got the ingredients for chestnut red bean jelly, all thanks to you. Ah, right. Are you going to go there now, boy?"

Minhyuk stopped chewing when he heard those words. His expression grew solemn. It was as if he had been called to march towards a battlefield.

"That's right."

He clenched his fists.?‘I have been waiting for this moment for a long time. A long time…!”

"Well, come now, boy. Do you really have to look that serious?" Allon gulped dryly as he saw the intensity and ferocity of Minhyuk’s gaze.

Minhyuk caught himself and grinned sheepishly, "Pork is delicious no matter how you eat it!"

"That's true. But boy, are you really just going there to eat pork?"

"Of course not. Huhuhuhuhuhu…!"

‘There are a lot of things needed to eat pork. And I need gold in order to get those things.’

Thinking back, Minhyuk had gone to Isbin Village so he could meet with General, after which, he went to meet Allon and ate red bean jelly.

'Didn't Instructor Roina say that I can make a fortune if I were to sell the chicken feathers that I pulled?'

Roina had taught him a lot of basic things before he left for Isbin Village, like how to make use of the collection shops.

"I'll see you next time. Please make me more delicious red bean jelly at that time!"

"Sure, go on."

Allon looked at Minhyuk's back with a smile.

***

The general merchandise store was located near the central plaza. There were quite a lot of novice players around.

"I'm selling 15 goblin claws, here!"

"Yes. 15 pieces for 2,800 gold. Here you go!"

"Yes, thanks for your hard work."

"Goodbye."

Hamel, the merchant's lover who bought the goblin claws from the other player, sighed.

'I want my work to end quickly so I can go home and take a rest. Today was one hell of a Monday. People just kept on pouring in one after the other.’

Then, a man stopped in front of her.

'Wow… He's tall…'

She was quite amazed with how tall the player was.

"I want to sell some miscellaneous items."

"Yes. What would you like to sell?"

"Chicken feathers and chestnut demon thorns."

"Please place them here."

Hamel pushed a machine forward and pointed at it. If a player placed the items they wanted to sell on the machine, the machine would show how many of the items there were in total. It looked like a big bathroom scale, with a large basket placed on top of it.

'Perhaps he has about six chicken feathers?' Hamel thought of the possibility.

Chicken feathers were quite cheap so it was common for game-savvy players to hunt them and sell them all together.

"Then, I just have to put the chicken feathers in here?"

"Yes."

Hamel saw the player take out all of the chicken feathers from his inventory. There was only a set quantity that a player could take out from the inventory at any one time.

Not long after…

"Huh?" Hamel was puzzled when she saw the number written on the machine.

"I…is the machine broken?"

50 chicken feathers were clearly written on the scale. Then, soon after, the numbers continued to rise on the scale, and the guy still continued to pull out more items from his inventory.

"Heok…?Lo...look at those chicken feathers…!"

"A single chicken can only give you 1~2 feathers at most, right?"

The number on the scales soon stopped at 130. Minhyuk was forced to stop when he could not place any more chicken feathers on the machine.

"It's already full?"

Hamel was speechless.

"Even if you caught plenty of chicken, there would be no benefits to your strength, why would anyone do this?"

.

"Yah, yah, amazing. That player. It's him, right?" Players began to whisper behind them.

"Ardo's Chicken Hunter…!"

***

Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion at the surprised NPC, Hamel, while players continued to whisper behind him.

'Ardo's Chicken Hunter?'

Not long after, the whispers and murmurs started to grow louder.

"That player was famous for solo-raiding the golden chicken."

"Heok… He even faced the golden chicken alone?"

"That was an amazing event. So that person was him? The one who cooks chicken immediately after catching it? Doesn't he look totally handsome though?"

"Wow… Look at how unfair life is…"

Minhyuk started to feel embarrassed. To be honest, he did not like to be the center of attention.

At that moment, Hamel spoke up, "You can head inside to use the giant scale. It would be better for you to go there. Come, I'll show you the way."

Hamel quickly asked another employee to replace her. She then led Minhyuk inside, who of course, did not forget to take back the chicken feathers that he put on the scale.

This time, he was brought in front of a large scale. He then started to place the chicken feathers on it. Before he knew it, the number had already reached 500.

'W...what the hell. Just how much chickens did he hunt…!' As Hamel thought about it, she looked over only to see Minhyuk with a dejected expression.

"Ah, I thought I ate about 700 of them. So it was just 500?"

'He, he ate them?!'

She did hear the players outside talking about how he cooked them.

Then…

"Wait, there's more."

What Minhyuk pulled out was none other than the golden chicken's beak and the polished thorn of the chestnut demon king.

After everything was placed on the scale, Hamel quickly tapped on the calculator. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

The reason was simple…

'So… so many items, plus the player brought special items…!'

She had no choice but to be impartial. Isbin Village was open to everyone, but usually, only beginners loiter around.

"582 pieces of chicken feathers worth 60,300 gold… the chestnut demon's thorns… 45 pieces for 15,000 gold… the golden chicken's beak… 500,000 gold… and the chestnut demon's polished thorn for 100,000 gold…"

Hamel continued to key in the figures on the calculator with a?tap tap tap.?She then wiped the cold sweat off of her brows when she saw the total on her calculator.

"The total is 675,300 gold."

"Oh…"

‘Listening to it, it seems that there were quite a lot.’

The notifications rang all at once.

[You have successfully sold more than 600,000 gold on your first deal.]

[You have acquired the title 'A Patient Seller'.]

[You have acquired 1 reputation point.]

"Hmm?"

Minhyuk checked the title in confusion.

[A Patient Seller]

Stackable title.

Title Effect: +3 on all 5 basic stats.

"I got… a title. A Patient Seller?"

"A, a title? Wow, this is the first time that a title appeared in our store…!"

"Is this something great?"

"Of… of course it's amazing! You can only obtain this title if you have hunted the items and sold them yourself! It's also important to note that it should be your first transaction."

"Ah…"

‘It seems like it was really the case.’

"Please wait."

Hamel placed her gold bag down.

"I'll buy everything for 700,000 gold!"

"700,000?"

"It's on the house!"

Hamel could foresee it. If she got into the good books of this player today, he would definitely sell her more good things in the future. This was also possible because Minhyuk had a higher reputation compared to the other beginners.

"Please make use of our store services again!"

"I'll visit again!"

Hamel succeeded in getting a worthy customer.

***

Yadu was the owner of the grocery store. He stared blankly as he watched Minhyuk drag several carts.

"Boy, are you going to buy?all?of this? By any chance, is your guild having a get-together today?"

Occasionally, there were get-togethers in the game. These gatherings were like family gatherings where many people could attend and feasted together.

"I'm going to eat all of these alone!"

Yadu was left speechless so he whipped his calculator out and tapped on it.

"20 plates of dipping sauce, 20 tubs of red chili paste, 10 tubs of soybean paste… 50,000 gold worth of lettuce, 40,000 gold worth of sesame leaf… 30,000 gold worth of cucumber chilies… onion… tofu… uhmm…?mumble, mumble, mumble… it's already at 350,000 gold…"

Yadu, who was busy checking out the things in the carts, saw the man dragging two more carts. As expected, the carts were also full of groceries.

"Oh my goodness…"

He was completely shocked, as cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"I didn't buy more than I thought, how much is the total?"

Minhyuk, who was getting ready to eat pork, smiled brightly then confidently called out, "I’m buying a lot, so please, give me a discount!"