Chapter 35: A Billion? How much is that?

The commotion did not end there. The captain of the subjugation troops, Vald, was shocked after trying the food as well. He exclaimed, "O…oh my goodness!"

The other soldiers also started shouting one after the other.

"Huh, what's this!"

"It's absolutely delicious!"

“This is the most delicious tonkatsu that I’ve ever had in my life!! It’s not just the taste, m… my abilities have also increased!”

The soldiers had a better understanding of the concept of increasing abilities and leveling, compared to the players.

'This...'

Runie saw that there were easily more than thirty people who had the same reaction as her.

'Is he really just a beginner chef?'

She could not hide her shock and curiosity. From the reaction of the people around her, she even doubted if her friend had been truthful with her, about chefs receiving contempt because of their incompetence.

'Even priests?can't?cast this many buffs....'?Runie thought. However, perhaps it was because she was clueless about the class itself, that she could not understand the situation.

'Ah, that's right. Ravel, from our guild… he should be one of the few advanced-level chefs in the country, right?'

There were only about 100 advanced-level chefs in the country. Runie had heard that the dishes cooked by chef Ravel were the best. Even his buffed dishes were considered to be pretty good. Of course, it still could not be compared to the buffs from priests with a similar ranking.

[Guild Chat | Runie: Ravel~ Are you there~?]

[Guild Chat | Ravel: Oh, Runie. Hi.]

[Guild Chat | Runie: Ah, Hi. Can I ask you about something?]

[Guild Chat | Ravel: Yes, ask away.]

[Guild Chat | Runie: I'm here with the goblin subjugation troops, and I'm eating a tonkatsu right now that is made by a player chef… ?and it has a buff ability.]

[Guild Chat | Ravel:...? Are you sure? If it's a player in the goblin subjugation troops, then they shouldn't have the buff ability yet.]

[Guild Chat | Runie: But, it's true...]

[Guild Chat | Ravel: You can only have the cooking buff once you reach the intermediate level. And the average level of an intermediate-level chef is Level 80~100.]

[Guild Chat | Runie: But… my abilities have really increased because of the buff.]

[Guild Chat | Ravel: Could you maybe send me a screenshot of your buff window?]

[Guild Chat | Runie: Yes, please wait a moment.]

Once a player received any buffs, the buffs would be displayed on the right hand corner of their status view. Right now, there was a translucent figure of a fork and knife crossed together, floating at the upper right corner of Runie’s vision.

'This guy does not believe me,'?Runie thought, wondering if the situation was truly unbelievable. Was it the chef she was talking to, or was it her that did not know anything??Runie clicked on her stats window and made sure to click on the + to clearly display the additional effects before taking a screenshot and sending it to their guild chat (GC).

[Guild Chat | Runie: (photo)]

[Guild Chat | Ravel: This, are you sure it’s not edited?]

[Guild Chat | Runie: It's not!]

Runie felt very frustrated.

‘This guy said that he liked me but he’s doubting my words!’

Not long after, messages from the other guild members started to flood the guild chat.

[Guild Master Allen: Runie, what's this?! Is this really a dish made by a novice chef?! Take a screenshot of the dish window and send us a screenshot so we can be sure!]

Runie was a member of Varest Guild, a mid-tier guild with players averaging Level 150~200. In fact, the only reason why a novice like her was able to join the guild was because she was friends with the Guild Master (GM) Allen in reality.

[Iamthebesthand: Omg, that's impossible! A novice chef can have such a good buff ability?!]

[BeanieKissKiss: That’s really crazy... Is it not edited? Wow, even our Beanie is surprised.]

Runie read the messy messages from the Guild Chat and took a screenshot of her normal tonkatsu. However, the tonkatsu was anything but normal. Then, at that moment…

[Guild Chat | Ravel: Which village did the subjugation troops come from?]

Ravel suddenly asked her.

***

Ravel was called Soohyun in reality. He was an employee working in the kitchen at Shinra Hotel. Right now, he was taking a break in the chef’s break room. He had accidentally dropped his phone after reading the messages in the guild chat. It was open and could be seen from the screen of his fallen phone.

"...Hey, your hands are shaking? Why did your phone fall?"

"Hey, hey. Look at this."

"???"

"It's a dish that came out of?Athenae's?goblin subjugation troops. There were at least 30 people who received buffs."

"What kind of bullshit is that?! Thirty people received buffs from a dish? The subjugation troops have a level limit you know? Only those at Level 15-20 can join the quest.”

The chefs playing?Athenae?crowded together.

"Ack?!"

"Hey, fu… what the hell is that!"

"Hey, the dish used grade E ingredients! The ingredients are grade E! They used E-grade ingredients but there’s still a buff! That means that the buff was?actually?reduced!"

The people surrounding the phone were all shocked. They had once tried to become chefs in?Athenae,?but ended up deleting their characters to start again. The most shocking part to them was the fact that the dish only used E-grade ingredients. After all, even an intermediate chef would find it hard to make a dish of the magic rank by only using E-grade ingredients. The dish could be considered to be rare for them.

Ingredients played a very important role in a dish. Usually, rare or unique-ranked dishes would need at least grade-B ingredients. It was the same concept of making good steak, where the chef required the use of meat from a free-range cow that grazed in a wide meadow. In fact, the garlic and onions that they used would have to be harvested from the land of Runeth.

However, these ingredients were not easy to harvest and were quite expensive. Right now, there was a dish with a buff that was comparable to a magic-ranked dish. To top it all, the dish was made from E-grade ingredients.

"If the buff was increased, then it would be a completely OP dish!!"

That was completely impossible. At that moment…

“Why are you all being so loud?!” A man shouted harshly as he entered the break room. The man was tall with a well-sculpted face like a sculpture. His charisma was also overflowing, especially after he took off his apron. This man was none other than Kim Seokhyun, the disciple of Alex, the best chef in the world.

Kim Seokhyun had won first place for three consecutive years in the World Cooking Grand Prix, and was one of the ten chefs in the world, recognized as genius chefs with an absolute palate. The reason why he was working in Shinra Hotel as a chef was to become the best chef in Korean cuisine, his own country’s cuisine.

"H… head chef. You’re also playing?Athenae, right?"

"Athenae? Why are you talking about the game during work hours?" Kim Seokhyun asked, brows furrowing deeply. It was said that Kim Seokhyun was the only person in?Athenae?to become a master-ranked chef among the domestic players. His name inside the game was Twilight Chef Black.

"What on earth are you guys talking about, making such a fuss..." Kim Seokhyun trailed off as he looked at the screenshot that Soohyun had shown him.

"W… what the hell?! Is this from a master chef?!"

The dish was just tonkatsu, a normal-ranked dish that had used only E-grade ingredients. But then, Soohyun said, "I'm not sure if he's truly a master chef… but it’s safe to assume that his level is around Level 15~20. We also know for sure that this buff was distributed to thirty people."

"What?!" Kim Seokhyun asked, looking at him incredulously. After all, his words were completely absurd. However, this was the reality in front of them.

Kim Seokhyun chose the chef class in the early days of?Athenae.?He went ahead and defeated countless NPC chefs and surprised plenty of people with his dishes. Because of that, he was able to build his own reputation. It was also because of his reputation that his dishes became special. However, when he became a master chef at Level 70, he realized that the best buff could only be obtained with better ingredient grades, compared to using a lot of lower-grade ingredients and stacking buffs.

Right now, the appearance of an absurd dish with a small buff had appeared in front of him. It was even made with E-grade ingredients. What was more surprising was the fact that the buff increased the stats in percentage and not an absolute value. An increase in percentage meant that the higher the level of the person that ate the dish, the greater the effect of the buff.

'Maybe he's the disciple of that military kitchen's captain.'

Aside from Kim Seokhyun, there was another master-class chef in the country. However, he was not sure if this other chef was playing?Athenae. At this point, he could only assume that this player might be this person.

"Where is this?"

"It's in Isbin Village."

"...!"

Kim Seokhyun suddenly became anxious. Right now, as Twilight Chef Black, he?was?working on a linked quest. The quest had listed rewards.

'They will give an epic artifact.'

That was the reward. There were not many epic artifacts that had been released yet, with only an estimated twenty epic artifacts in the country right now. And Kim Seokhyun was hoping that he could climb to the ranks of a Master Craftsman once he received that artifact.

"Where in Isbin Village is he located?"

"In the Bordy Plains' Subjugation Troops."

He could feel a deep sense of foreboding creeping up his back. But then, his thoughts changed,?'What if I hire this person...'

No matter how good the player’s skill was, he was still a novice. However, looking at the shelf life and preservation time of the food…

'Players who hunt alone will usually purchase large quantities of food before going to the hunting grounds.'

So, what would happen if that player used A-grade ingredients?

'He might get a ridiculously high buff effect. Most importantly, it's very easy to target high-leveled players. If they have a lot of gold, they will definitely buy dishes with a long shelf life, even if they are at a high price.'

Given the chance to become just a bit stronger, high-leveled players would willingly take the risk, pay the price, just so they could break their limits. If Kim Seokhyun managed to hire this player, he could sell his dishes for a high price, further securing his position in?Athenae. The player, with his incredible cooking skills, would definitely give him even more power, which in turn would help him build a huge brand image for himself.

"How did you come to know of this?"

"A female player from my guild sent it to me."

"Is that so? Then, can you do me a favor?"

"Yes?"

"Ask her to pass a message to that chef."

***

Runie could see that her guild chatting window was a mess.

'Is, is this really that great?'?Runie thought. Then, a whisper from Ravel came in.

[Ravel:?Runie.]

[Runie: Yes?]

[Ravel: Could you please help me relay a message to that player?]

[Runie: Huh... Please wait.]

Runie turned to look at the player. She saw that he was finished with the meal distribution, and was busy gobbling up his own tonkatsu.

[Runie: What do you want to say to him?]

[Ravel:?You know about Chef Kim Seokhyun, right? Can you tell the player that Chef Kim wants to sign a contract with him, with one billion won as payment.]

"...Eh?" Runie said, tilting her head in confusion.

'What kind of bullshit?'

One billion won payment for a contract just because of a single buffed dish? And it was even an offer from Chef Kim Seokhyun, a world-renowned chef?

[Runie: You actually know Kim Seokhyun?]

[Ravel:?(photo)]

Ravel immediately sent her a picture from reality. Runie could see the words?‘Shinra Hotel’?written on a name tag on Ravel’s clothes. There was also another person standing next to him. That person was truly Kim Seokhyun.

'Huh?!'

That was when she realized that Ravel was not lying. Kim Seokhyun was really making that proposal. Runie had heard before that Ravel was working at a famous hotel, but she did not know the exact name of the hotel.

'I… it's real?'

[Runie: He’s really offering one billion won for payment?]

[Ravel: Yes. If he agrees to join Kim Seokhyun's Louvert Guild, then he would get one billion won. If he could prove that the buff ability that he has shown this time was for real, then there will be even more revisions to the contract.]

[Runie: I understand!]

Runie's body trembled. One billion was a very large sum of money. Even if others saved all their money in their lifetime, they still would not be able to save that much money. However, Kim Seokhyun was willing to offer that much money to that man. And that man was just a novice player! She could not understand what they were thinking. However, one thing was for sure, the man was worth more than what she thought.

'Maybe... This is an opportunity?' was what she thought.

Runie hurriedly approached him and said, "Hey, hey!"

Chew?

Minhyuk looked at her strangely. He was busy eating the leftover tonkatsu.

Runie urgently said, "Do you know Chef Kim Seokhyun?"

The man just glanced at her briefly before continuing to eat his tonkatsu.

Runie continued to speak excitedly, "He’s offering you one billion won if you join his Louvert guild. Do you know Louvert? It's not only a world-renowned brand, but it's also a famous guild in?Athenae!"

Chew, chew, chew—

However, the man did not seem to be interested in her words. Runie thought,?'Ah... Was it too unrealistic?'

Then, she thought of?using the whisper?function. If she knew the name of the person, she could send a whisper without using the code, as long as they were still a part of the same subjugation troops. Runie pulled up her whisper with Ravel that showed his picture with Kim Seokhyun. She took a screenshot and sent the whisper over.

"You can check it from my whisper!"

"Oh, it's really delicious!"

"Did… did you check it?"

"Kyaa, it's really tonkatsu. This is too much, why did no one tell me that it was this delicious?! Huh?! I'll definitely scold hyung! I'll keep on scolding him!" The man continued to talk to himself, scolding the air while stabbing the tonkatsu with his fork. He did not even pay any attention to Runie, nor her shocking words.

1. OP: Overpowered

2. ~826k USD