Chapter 228: The Birth of Minhyuk Religion

Minhyuk headed towards the Papal Office at Loyna’s request. He obediently accepted Loyna’s request because of only one thing.

‘Wine and rice cake?’

Each time a special occasion happened, the Papal Office would prepare special rice cakes and wine, made and cut personally by the pope himself. Of course, Loyna meant for him to give his greetings to the pope, but Minhyuk was solely interested in the rice cakes. So when he asked her if he could eat the rice cakes with her, she readily agreed.

Rice cake was a kind of snack that had a chewy and soft texture. They?had?a wide variety of flavours, and among them, what Minhyuk liked the most were the injeolmi and honey rice cake. He could already imagine the sweetness and chewiness of the injeolmi that was covered with yellow bean powder, as he pictured placing it in his mouth.

With those pictures in his mind, Minhyuk finally arrived at the Papal Office. It was at that place where he met Pope Carunu.

“Boy, are you the one that moved the Saint’s sword?”

“That’s right, Holy Father.”

“That’s surprising. A heroic hero like you will definitely lead our Athenae Religion to salvation,” the pope said with a gentle smile.

Not long after, Papal Knight Voloch stood in front of Minhyuk. He handed Minhyuk a cloth that was filled with the carefully selected set of rice cakes. He also handed a huge glass jar that was filled with wine.

“Since this is blessed with God’s strength, the rice cakes inside will not turn cold. Please deliver these rice cakes to the Athenae Believers.”

[Quest: Deliver the Rice Cakes and Wine to the Athenae Believers.]

Rank: B

Requirements: The One that pulled out the Saint’s Sword.

Rewards: Papal Relic

Penalty for Failure: A decrease in the Pope’s favor

Description: You’re the special person who pulled out the Saint’s Sword. By simply delivering these rice cakes and wine, you will be given one of the four Papal Relics.

‘Oh…’

Minhyuk nodded. He was the one who pulled out the Saint’s sword, so he knew he had to do it. However, despite it being a simple quest, the rewards seemed to be exceptional.

Then, a thought suddenly flashed in his head. Minhyuk asked, “Are there any extremely delicious foods that represent the Athenae Religion? Perhaps something that only the pope can eat?”

“Something I eat… Haha!” The pope laughed loudly.

Minhyuk was trying to get other quests that the pope could give if he would reward him with that kind of food. Thoughts were brewing in his head when the pope continued, “Ah, boy. I guess you haven’t heard that yet. Well, that’s understandable. I heard that you met Loyna after pulling the Saint’s Sword out. Then, you must have come straight here.”

“Yes.”

“Athenae’s Loyna will serve a special food to the person who moved the Saint’s sword.”

“Special food?”

This story was something new to him. And the reason why Pope Carunu, or to be precise, Demon Verus told him something like this was simple. He hoped that he could hurriedly present a great disaster to the Athenae Religion.

“Yes. The special food is the rice cake dumpling soup.”

“…!”

Minhyuk’s body trembled and shuddered in shock.

“Wh…what?”

“Rice cake dumpling soup. The priests of Athenae would farm and make the rice cake dumpling soup with carefully selected ingredients that can be found only once every 100 years. Of course, it doesn’t have any meat in it, but it has Gorad’s Meat Tree, which tastes similar to meat. It tastes really good. It’s a special dish served every 100 years and is specially made for the nobles.”

“Wow…!”

A rice cake dumpling soup that was made with carefully selected ingredients and can only be served once every 100 years!

When he thought about that, Minhyuk felt a bit angry. He thought,?‘How can Loyna ask me to do this while forgetting something so important?’

“I have to quickly deliver these rice cakes and wine!”

“Yes. That would be great.”

Carunu smiled generously at him as Minhyuk left the Papal Office. As soon as Minhyuk stepped out, Carunu’s mouth curled up into an evil grin. He suddenly thought,?‘A man that likes to eat…’

Carunu’s brows furrowed when that thought came to mind. He was not sure but if that was the case, then he would definitely eat the rice cake and wine. Quickly, he shook his head to get rid of that thought. There was still the Pope’s Relic and it was a valuable, priceless thing that one could not buy with money! According to the rumors, each one of the relics were legendary artifacts. However, just in case…

‘I must lend my strength to the Devil Worshipper Carn.’

***

Minhyuk was trembling with excitement as he rode the carriage on his way back to the Athenae Temple. This was because he had the warm rice cake set in his arms!

“Hiyaa. I wonder how delicious they are. This probably has a lot of delicious things like injeolmi, siru rice cake, and honey rice cake in here, right?”

Minhyuk laughed loudly.

‘I will be very happy if I can eat this much rice cakes all on my own…’

Then, he thought,?‘Shall we see what it looks like?’

It was not a sin to look at the rice cakes, right? The symbol of the Pope of Athenae greeted him after he gently untied the cloth. Minhyuk peered at the contents inside as he caressed the symbol on the lid. He could clearly see honey rice cakes that were coated liberally with honey, injeolmis that were sprinkled generously with yellow bean powder, rainbow rice cake and even white steamed rice cake.

“Wow…”

Minhyuk gulped loudly. Then, at that moment, he heard a sudden notification.

[Rice Cake Set.]

[There are hidden and unique abilities sealed inside.]

[You can use the Ingredients Appraisal Skill to check the sealed abilities.]

“Huh?”

Minhyuk was taken aback when he saw the notifications.

‘The hidden and unique abilities are sealed?’

He began to wonder in surprise.

‘What’s this? Why is the power sealed…’

Minhyuk tilted his head in confusion. He recalled the time when he found the rabbit’s liver. This situation was somewhat similar to that time. However, he thought that it was also quite strange to hide some power in this kind of food.

‘Why?’

Thinking back, he clearly recalled that the unsealed rabbit’s liver had clearly become more delicious and special after he released the seal. So without any hesitation, Minhyuk used his Ingredients Appraisal Skill.

[Appraising ingredients.]

[A -3 on all stats will be implemented according to the penalty.]

[The ingredients have all been appraised.]

[You can now check the unique abilities sealed in the rice cake set.]

(Demon Verus’ Disaster Rice Cake)

Ingredient Grade: Medicine containing the power of the demons.

Special Abilities:

As soon as you eat this, a powerful explosion would happen depending on the strength of your holy power.

?As soon as you eat this, the Demon’s Plague will spread.

?If Saintess Loyna eats the special injeolmi, then she would become a demonic human.

Description: This is a rice cake set that Demon Verus specially prepared to destroy the Athenae Religion in preparation for the war.

“…!”

Minhyuk’s eyes widened in shock.

‘Demon Verus?’

It was a name that he had heard from Gremory, and the moment he thought of the name…

‘No way! The Pope is Demon Verus…?’

That was when Minhyuk knew.

‘Then, this…’

He knew that this rice cake set was something that would become his and his alone.

‘Loyna! This is a bad rice cake that’s trying to hurt you so I’ll eat it all for you!!’

He had decided, for the sake of the people!

Loyna and the Athenae Temple together with the fanatics, including Kenneth, who believed and followed me… They will be killed if they eat this, right? Then, I’m going to eat everything to get rid of it!

“It’s not because I want to eat the rice cakes!!!”

Then, he reached his hand out towards the rice cakes.

***

“I’m going crazy!!”

Team Leader Park was already facing tremendous difficulties the moment he came back from his vacation. The same went for the Story Creation Team that was right behind him.

“N…noooooooooo!”

“Don’t eat thaaaaat!”

“D…don’t eat that honey rice cake, you son of a bitch!!”

They had struggled for two months just to create this episode. Originally, the episode should have moved in the direction where the Demon Worshiper Carn would move the Saint’s Sword and receive the rice cakes from Demon Verus. They would then drag the Athenae Temple down to hell. In addition, the Saintess Loyna would also become a demonic human. A massive war would then break out, and she would attack the human world together with the demon race and the demonic beasts. This was how the story should turn out. Unfortunately, right now, the story was slowly falling apart, right in front of their eyes.

“…But he looks like he’s really enjoying it. Wow. That honey rice cake actually looks delicious. If I bite into that, honey will flow out, right?”

“Hey, you punk! Right now, the honey rice cake is not one of our problems!”

Team Leader Jung Yungcheol, the head of the Creation Team, turned his head to look at the new Creation Team member. However, he also muttered under his breath as he looked back at the monitor. He said, “He…he’s eating so deliciously!! Eyy! So annoying!”

“…What should we do now?”

It was quite hard for them to meddle with the story once it had been created.

“The key is how will Demon Verus react next.”

Of course, that did not mean that a massive war would not break out. There was only a high probability that Saintess Loyna would be on the side of the humans, instead of the side of the demons.

‘No. To be exact, that’s not the right term. There’s a high chance that she will become a person who will serve under Player Minhyuk.’

***

Honey rice cakes had a wide variety, coming in shades of pink, green, white, or even plenty of other colors. Minhyuk quickly picked up a honey rice cake with his hand. His fingers were greased with oil as he placed the honey rice cake in his mouth. He could taste the chewy texture of the honey rice cake, as well as the sweet sugary filling in every bite. It was a flavor that could make him smile happily.

The next thing that he picked up was injeolmi. The still warm injeolmi stained his fingers with some yellow-y powder before he placed it in his mouth. The injeolmi, which was as warm as freshly baked white bread, was so delicious that he couldn’t help but sigh in awe.

Next, he took a white steamed rice cake. Every chew of the white steamed rice cake would spread a bit of sweetness in his mouth. It might look plain and tasteless on the surface, but a single piece of white steamed rice cake was enough to make one feel full.

This time, he picked some bean rice cake. The green rice cake, that was filled with sweet beans, filled his mouth with a sweet and rich flavor in every bite.

“Hwahahahaha!?I’ll get rid of all these bad rice cakes!”

There was one thing that he needed to have while eating these rice cakes. If others wanted to drink tea with their rice cakes, Minhyuk tended to drink something uniquely different. It was none other than sikhye. Sikhye with ice that bobbed up and down the glass!

After taking a bottle out of his inventory, he quickly shook it with his hand to make the rice grains in the sikhye dance. After doing all that, he added a straw inside the bottle, just like those that one could get at a sauna. He gulped down the sikhye eagerly, smiling softly at the bittersweet aftertaste of the sikhye.

“Kgghk!”

Minhyuk bursted in admiration after drinking sikhye, while his mind turned blank from the brain freeze. Then, he continued to enjoy the rest of the rice cakes together with his sikhye. Finally, he ate the last piece of songpyeon.

He had been hearing notifications non-stop ever since he started eating the rice cakes, but all of the negative conditions were blocked by his invincible body. He laughed happily as he realized something.

‘Le…let’s see…’

Minhyuk realized that he overlooked something after eating every piece of rice cake.

‘Will they believe me if I go back to Athenae Temple and confidently told them that I ate all the rice cakes that were filled with demonic power?

The answer was definitely a straight ‘NO’. That was why he believed that it would have been better if he told the priests the reason in advance.

‘I’m, I’m in trouble…’

‘I don’t have any rice cake with me right now, how will they even believe me? Will they even believe me if I said that the pope is currently Demon Verus?’

Right now, Minhyuk believed that there was a high possibility that he would be hunted down by the entire religion. He was something?like?a benefactor, but was?not?a benefactor as of now.

At that moment, he heard the voice of the coachman. He had asked the coachman to stop the carriage for a moment as he ate the rice cakes.

“I think you’ll have to get off for a moment.”

Minhyuk opened the doors of the carriage at the coachman’s words.

He saw the commander of the Paladins, Corr, as well as Saintess Loyna covered in sweat, as they ran towards him.

1. Korean rice punch

2. rice cake that represents Chuseok. Made with the fresh grains harvested during Chuseok.