Chapter 28: Food God vs. Mukbang Emperor

‘Is this how others feel when they watch me?’

Binz was uncertain, but in truth, he was mistaken. The crowd was already thinking about buying food from the snack bar the moment Minhyuk left.

Most people that watch mukbang are usually people on a diet. They try to live vicariously through the mukbang BJs.

However, Minhyuk’s live mukbang had the power to destroy a person’s diet, without any mercy!

Chew, chew—

A strong desire to win against Minhyuk began to blaze in Binz’s heart as he started to eat again. He would feel a strong surge of hunger whenever he looked at Minhyuk. That was when Minhyuk suddenly shouted, "Uncle! Another ten servings of rice cakes, fritters, blood sausage set!"

"H, here…! I want ten servings too!" Binz shouted, eager to compete. Just like that, the eating battle between the two of them began. This time, Binz ate with abandon.

Crunch, crunch!

He ate fritters, blood sausages, and rice cakes, stuffing himself! However, before he could even finish everything on his plate…

"Uncle, please give me ten more servings. Ah, no. Please add another five more to that~!"

"C…customer… are you alright?"

"...I haven't eaten half my fill yet though? Uncle, your fish cake is almost gone over here."

"Ah... Yes..." The owner answered, before hurriedly adding more fish cake to his stall.

Binz, on the other hand, felt like he had already eaten a lot. He was starting to feel bloated and even if he wanted to, it seemed like he could not eat anymore.

'W, what the hell…?! Just who in the world is this man?!’

Binz felt annoyed as he looked at the man suspiciously. However, in the end, he still placed his skewer down and gave up eating.

Clack!

"Phew..." Binz sighed, patting his full and bulging stomach. Then, he saw Minhyuk still eating right beside him.

‘...I’m so curious.’

Binz wondered what this man’s identity was. Then, he said, "Excuse me."

He called out to the man beside him, putting on a smile. However, Minhyuk did not even turn to look at him. He just continued eating.

"Hey!" Binz called out a little louder. But, just like before, Minhyuk still continued to eat. There was no indication that he heard Binz calling out to him.

‘What incredible concentration! And,?and it’s?solely devoted to the food in front of him…!’

Binz realized that nothing could distract the man from eating. There was only food on his mind! However, he was dying with curiosity. So, he raised his hand and tapped the man on the shoulder as he said, "Can you please tell me your nickname…"

Slap!

Minhyuk slapped Binz’s hand away from his shoulder before looking at him fiercely and saying, "Hey. Why did you touch me while I was eating? What if I stabbed you to death with my skewer?"

Binz trembled in fright, as a thought flashed in his mind,?'I, I would have really died! No one will be able to live if they touch this man w, while he’s eating…!’

It was the truth. The fierce and murderous aura that Minhyuk was emitting right now, was basically telling everyone around him that they would die if they touched or disturbed him.

'I'm still… A bit famous you know…'

However, despite his fame, Minhyuk did not even give him 1% of his attention. Ah, no, that was not right. Minhyuk would not give Binz even 0.00001% of his attention at the moment. Binz nursed his bulging stomach as he continued to watch Minhyuk eat well.

***

“M…my level has increased by 31!”

'This uncle. He's been talking since earlier. It's noisy,’?Minhyuk thought. He was still eating diligently without any shred of interest towards what the owner was trying to say.

"Uncle. Please give me ten more servings of this! Ten more!" Minhyuk ordered, the thought of eating another set of servings of the street snacks bringing him bliss. However, something unexpected happened.

"Es…esteemed customer… I'm sorry… but we are out of ingredients."

"Eh?! What did you say?! I’m only halfway done!!!!" Minhyuk shouted desperately. He still wanted to eat more of those crispy fritters, those chewy blood sausage, and those hot fish cakes!!!

"Customer, you have already eaten 70 servings of rice cakes, 250 pieces of fish cakes, 70 servings of blood sausages, and 80 servings of fritters…"

"Ha… I could eat 100 more servings."

"..."

Both the owner and Binz were left speechless by Minhyuk’s words. Even the players standing behind them had their mouths wide open in shock.

"That's too bad. How much do I have to pay?"

"Please wait a moment," The owner said as he tapped on his calculator. Then, he continued to say, ?"One serving of rice cake is worth 2,500 gold, 70 servings is worth 175,000 gold. One serving of blood sausage is worth 3,000 gold, you ate 210,000 gold worth of servings. Fritters, 240,000 gold... The total comes up to 750,000 gold."

"It's less than what I thought," Minhyuk said, shaking his head.

"H…he said it was less than what he thought?"

"I can't even eat that much even when I'm attending our company dinner…"

Just when Minhyuk was about to hand over 750,000 gold…

"Customer, please, you can just give me 650,000 gold."

"650,000 gold?"

“Yes, I'm giving you a discount."

"Oh! Uncle, you're a really good man!"

The owner smiled lightly at Minhyuk’s words. He was also running a small snack bar in reality so he knew how to do business. Besides, he knew all too well the factors needed for his class, Chef of Happiness, to level up. Minhyuk alone had given him a boost of 31 levels in one single sitting. That was a massive boost to his power.

Furthermore, this customer had eaten so well, that there was a satisfied smile at the corners of the owner’s lips. He could not help it.

Minhyuk passed the owner 650,000 gold. After all, he had accumulated a lot of miscellaneous items after his continuous solo raids inside Twilight Graveyard. When he sold those items, he gained 3.2 million gold.

[Food God’s True Worth.]

[You have gained +2 STM.]

[Perfect Combination.]

[Life Combination.]

[Your score will be doubled.]

[You have gained +6 STR and +3 STM.]

"...Huh?" Minhyuk muttered dumbly at the sudden notifications.

Life Combination?

He knew what the Perfect Combination was since he had already experienced it before. He also knew that there was no other combination that could compare to the combination of rice cakes, fritters, blood sausage, and fish cake soup.

So, what was Life Combination? Why was it able to double his score in conjunction with Perfect Combination? Generally, the increase in stats would be around three or four with Perfect Combination alone. However, his stats had just increased by nine. This meant that the stats that he gained would increase if his score doubled.

Minhyuk thought,?'Life Combination… Hmmm… Could it be… It's a combination that we usually think about in our daily lives?!'

He assumed that Perfect Combination reflected the combination of flavors in a meal, while Life Combination was the combination of food that one wanted to eat at a specific moment in one’s daily life. During winter, when people were cold and hungry, the food that came to mind the most was the snacks in a snackbar.

It could also be the case when someone felt hungry at one in the morning, wanting to eat ramen or chicken by the Han River.?From that, he could conclude that Life Combination was the combination of food and the atmosphere, not just the taste.

'There's a lot of interesting systems, huh?'?Minhyuk thought, chuckling lightly. He was only focused on eating well, but his stats continued to increase. After settling his bills, he turned around to leave.

However…

"C…can you please tell me the name of your broadcasting site?!"

"Please tell me your nickname!"

Minhyuk was shocked by the sudden and overwhelming reaction of the crowd. It seemed like some people in the crowd had broadcasted in Paprika, a broadcasting network working with?Athenae.?The comments of the netizens watching were…

[gdgfl4: Real, is that really a person? He ate food that's worth 750,000 gold alone. Hehehehe]

[BinzKissKiss: Omg... Omg... watching that person eat makes me feel so happy and excited, today's a snackbar?!]

[TwistedGrill has gifted you 100 stars.]

All of these were happening while the reporters from different broadcasting stations were beside themselves with excitement and thrill.

"Hello. I'm Han Inhwa, a reporter from TVM station! We want to cover your story!"

"Excuse me. I'm Lee Sungmin, KBC's reporter. Please let us interview you!"

"Please give me your nickname!"

This situation proved that Minhyuk’s decision to wear a mask earlier was a great idea. Right then…

[Binz has gifted you 10 reputation points.]

"...?" Minhyuk titled his head in confusion before turning around to look at BJ Binz. There, he saw Binz smiling at him.

Rankers who placed in the top 100 of the Local Rankings received special benefits. One of these benefits allowed them to give reputation points. The ranker could give reputation points to others if they have touched or knew the nickname of the other player that they wanted to send it to. Furthermore, the limit was they were only allowed to give ten reputation points every year. Binz had actually maxed out his quota in a year for Minhyuk.

'If I was allowed to, I would have given him 100 reputation points,'?Binz thought, smiling bitterly. The events that transpired today made him realize that he was still lacking. After all, there was someone like this who could enjoy eating with this much happiness, and not think of it as tiresome work.

‘Perhaps, this kind of guy was actually the one most suited to be a mukbang BJ?’

"Ah. Well. Thank you," Minhyuk said. He looked at Binz curiously after expressing his gratitude. However, that was all. He did not show an ounce of interest beyond thanking him.

"Can I talk to you?" Binz asked, as the corner of his lips turned upwards slyly. Minhyuk looked at him suspiciously, as Binz continued to say, "I have something that we can eat secretly."

"...!"

Minhyuk's eyes widened in surprise at those words.

"Let's get out of here first, what if someone else took it?"

However, Minhyuk was not a naive, young boy that would immediately follow a stranger at the mere mention of food! So, he thought about things rationally.

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

From what he could see, Binz did not look like he was a bad person. Besides, he did not have any reason to hurt Minhyuk, and he also did not look like he was lying. In the end, Minhyuk nodded his head, saying, "That's right. We should eat it before someone else sees it…!"

Whisper, whisper—

Minhyuk talked to Binz in a small voice so that no one would be able to listen to them. Binz grinned. To him, Minhyuk looked like a child that had stolen some delicious food from his mom to eat it secretly with his friend.

"Grab my hand."

Minhyuk and Binz grabbed each other's hands.

"Huh…? Huh...!"

"I…Impossible!"

Then, the two of them disappeared in a flash of light.

***

The next time Minhyuk opened his eyes, he was standing inside a room that looked to be in an inn. The inn was usually used as a place where players logged out of the game. If they designated their room as their return point, they would be able to return to their rooms once they tore their return scrolls.

"...What do you want with me?" Minhyuk said, covering his body with both of his arms while looking at Binz warily.

"Ah, no… I have this place designated as my return point so it will be easy for me to log-out!"

"Fufufu, alright. Since it’s just the two of us here, I believe we’ll be able to eat in peace. Ah. My name is Minhyuk.”

"That’s true. I'm Binz."

Minhyuk laughed and took his mask off, before turning to look at Binz in anticipation and excitement.

Grin.

Binz's lips curled up in a smile as he thought,?'This person… is really interesting.'.?Then, he pulled something out of his inventory. The item was none other than… Pizza bread.

"I made this. Please help yourself."

"A…are you an angel?!"

"An angel?"

Minhyuk looked at the bread in excitement.

Pizza bread was an imitation of pizza, however, it was also something completely different from pizza. There were even times when people craved pizza bread more than pizza. Pizza bread was a food that everyone had in their childhood. It was something that could invoke those memories back when they were still attending elementary or high school.

After all, their parents would usually bring pizza bread and give it to the class if their child became the class president. This was also the food that parents commonly prepared for picnics and outings. Pizza bread was the best food to relieve hunger, the go-to food after PE classes.

Minhyuk smiled happily as he received the pizza bread. However, his expression quickly turned strange.

"...Huh?" Minhyuk asked as he looked more closely at the pizza bread. There was a reason why he was looking at it strangely.

'The color is different…?'

The color was completely different from the pizza bread that he knew. The crust around the pizza bread was white. Minhyuk squinted his eyes to inspect the bread further. He could smell the scent of ketchup, mayonnaise, and bread. However, he could also smell something different, thick and soft in the bread.

"This…"

"Fufu, did you realize it?" Binz asked with a grin. Then, he continued, "This bread is made out of the Sun's Wheat. It's a specialty here in Isbin Village."

"Sun's Wheat?"

"Yes. Just like in reality,?Athenae?also implemented specialties. There’s at least one specialty in every area here inside the game. And, Isbin Village’s specialty is none other than Sun’s Wheat."

"Ho."

‘That is some quite interesting information.’

"Plus, bread made out of the Sun's Wheat is much more delicious," Binz whispered, his smile turning more mischievous by the second.

'Much more delicious… I can't wait…!'

The notifications rang out the moment Minhyuk took a bite of the pizza bread.

[Please select the main ingredients for this meal.]

[Sun's Wheat, ham, onion, parsley powder… redacted.]

'Sun's Wheat.'

Crunch—