Chapter 445: A Bet with the Gods. And Cooking.

The Let’s Eat Sect, the Let’s Eat Sect Punishment Alliance, the Barras Kingdom, even the countless people that were watching from all over the world, had been waiting for the appearance of one person and one person alone. This was because they thought that he would be able to turn this desperate situation around. Countless people, despite not being able to reach his level, could not help but anticipate his arrival, so they could watch and admire his display of power.

When he suddenly appeared, he just handed some kind of dish to the members of Let’s Eat Sect, hurriedly ate something and summoned two men, before logging out.

“…?”

“…?”

“…?”

[…?]

[…?]

[…?]

The members of Let’s Eat Sect, the viewers, and even the commentators that had been waiting for him were all dumbfounded.

[Player Minhyuk disappeared immediately after summoning two unknown men.]

[What is happening?]

[Player Minhyuk disappeared in less than five minutes, leaving behind two unknown men and several mysterious dishes.]

The people’s expectations, the huge expectations that they had for Minhyuk, cooled down at the appearance of two unknown men. The same was true for ATV Broadcasting Station’s commentators. Even PD Kim Daeguk, today’s special commentator, frowned at the scene.

‘He looks a bit familiar?’

There were times when PD Kim would focus on an entirely different thing, than the rest of the people around him. This phenomenon was mostly attributed to his instincts. However, there were times when his instincts would be spot on.

Right now, he felt that one of the men that had just appeared looked extremely familiar. Before he could even brood on this thought, the bright light that covered the two men finally disappeared. The two already had their swords unsheathed and ready for battle. One of the men had a stalk of hay in his mouth, but the sword in his hand was filled with unfathomable force.

“Mercenary’s Pinnacle Swordsmanship, Final Chapter.”

And when the man swung his sword…

“Wolf’s Death.”

…hundreds of sword lights flew fiercely, like red wolves rushing for the kill. When these sword lights collided with the soldiers…

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash—

…their bodies were ripped apart and torn to pieces, as if they had been mauled by wolves. The entire thing only took 0.1 seconds. However, the attack did not stop there. After ripping the soldiers in front apart, the attack continued forward and ripped apart the soldiers standing behind the ones before. More than 4,000 soldiers and knights died without even letting out a single scream from the man’s lone strike.

“Hiiiiiiiiik!” Yverone shrieked.

[What, what just happened…?]

[Is that even possible? This is impossible. Even though I’m watching it with my own eyes, I still can’t bring myself to believe it.]

That was not the end yet. The other man, who had a pair of earphones stuck in his ears, swung his black sword. However, he suddenly stopped in his tracks as if he forgot something. Then, the man took away the earphones in his ears, activated the listening function, and played the sweet melody of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata’s Third Movement loudly on the battlefield. The sudden appearance of the piano’s fast tempo made everyone focus on the music.

For some reason, this fast paced tempo sounded like it was announcing the advent of the devil. Then, the man swung his sword strongly. Simply put, Elpis had expressed himself and his strongest sword attack towards his enemies, the very same way that wiped out Callian and the 4,000 strong troops that came with him just recently.

“Devil Judge.”

Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—

The moment Elpis slammed his sword on the ground, tiny black beads rose from the ground, in front of the thousands of enemy soldiers focused on the music. These black beads, packed with additional 2,500% attack, floated in front of them for a moment before exploding.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

None of the troops were able to let out a single scream. They could not handle the power of Elpis’ move which was heaped on top of his basic attack. The explosion engulfed an area with a fifty meter radius and left no bodies intact.

Everyone present at the scene all went silent. The Barras Kingdom troops and the Pinnacle Strong Men did not even dare to breathe. They feared that the two masterminds of this massacre would come for them if they so let out a single, shaky breath.

[What the hell…]

The commentators could not put what they were feeling into words. At first, they thought that the Let’s Eat Sect’s engines would be truly and utterly spent after Minhyuk, who they thought would be the guild’s savior, appeared and suddenly disappeared. However the two beings that he summoned, whom they ignored at first, could easily trample on and break the momentum of the 100,000 strong troops.

Even Let’s Eat Sect’s allies were very surprised by this.

Crown Prince Argon’s pupils shook as he thought,

‘Minhyuk, what kind of people have you taken in as your vassals?’

It was not just him. The ruler of the seas, the Dragon King also thought,

‘Are they really beings from the middle world?’

Even the Spear Master, Marquis Brad was thinking,

‘Master Ben, I think I already know the reason why you’re living in this territory willingly.’

Everyone was left speechless as they watched Let’s Eat Sect’s Sword and Shield in admiration. While the allied armies and the enemy troops stopped fighting to watch the two…

Slurp, slurp, slurp, slurp—

Chew, chew, chew—

Chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp—

“Kahaha. The dish that my son, no, my lord, cooked is really superb! This is really delicious!”

“I’m telling you, I always think of Minhyuk’s food whenever I feel exhausted!”

“Wow. This sushi tastes amazing.”

…the voices of the members of Let’s Eat Sect being protected by the spearmen rang loudly as they spread the food in front of them and ate them with relish. Their voices broke the overbearing silence from earlier.

[Those are the dishes that Player Minhyuk gave them when he appeared briefly. They’re probably buffed dishes.]

[I wonder how good it is? How can they get so into the food that they can’t even pay attention to the situation around them?]

[I heard that you can hear a heavenly harmony the moment you take a bite of Player Minhyuk’s dishes. I really look forward to trying that.]

[They all looked like they were about to die just now. That old man named Ghost Spear Ben was even just about to be beheaded earlier. But now, he’s eating merrily while bleeding from his chest. Ah! He’s eating even though his chest is bleeding!]

[Bounty Hunter Crow even has an arrow on his back…]

[…Miss Ascar looks like both of her legs have been broken but she’s smiling while eating.]

[Even Miss Extreme Hardcore Fan looks like she’s in awe of the food that she’s eating. But she’s the only one that looks fine.]

[This scene is a bit grotesque.]

The commentators looked at them in curiosity. They were in the middle of a war, but they were eating like crazy. Was the food really that good that they could even forget their current situation? Of course that was one of the reasons. However, the main reason why they were eating like crazy was because…

‘The war will end once we eat this food.’

They were all convinced about this.

***

Back in reality.

Minhyuk was still inside his capsule trying hard to reconnect to the game.

[Your psychological state is unstable.]

[You will not be able to connect.]

[It is recommended that you take a good rest before logging back in the game.]

Even after trying hundreds of times, Minhyuk still failed to log back in.

‘Being able to connect earlier was only thanks to a sudden stroke of luck…’

Athenae

was a game that was famous for being a game that had no errors and bugs. However, although very,

very?

rarely, there were cases where their players would experience connection errors. It was extremely rare, but a player that was not allowed to access the games due to physical constraints would be able to succeed in logging in after trying to log in for hundreds of times.

And Minhyuk was able to grab that very slim chance by sheer luck. Even so, the Athenae equipment immediately noticed his abnormal state and stopped his normal gameplay, only allowing him a brief amount of time inside the game.

[Your access to the game has been forced through an abnormal method.]

[Your psychological state is unstable.]

[You will be forced to log out in three minutes. We recommend that you log out in a safe place.]

Minhyuk tried to access the game again and again after he was logged out by the system. But after experiencing failure time and time again, Minhyuk eventually gave up and came out of the capsule.

‘It’s better to get a good rest before logging back inside.’

First, he decided to have a meal and calm his dizzy head to some extent. He sat in front of the TV and watched the members of Let’s Eat Sect eat his food in a hurry.

‘I’m glad they all found my dishes to be delicious.’

Minhyuk smiled lightly. Of course, the dishes that Minhyuk made with all his might were packed with power too.

***

A few months before.

Minhyuk had started preparing for war.

Minhyuk, who holed himself up inside the lord’s mansion’s private kitchen, had told Haze that he should not be disturbed if there was nothing special to report. He then looked at the memo that he had written. He used his ‘Create a Recipe’ skill and discovered the dishes that the NPCs and the members of Let’s Eat Sect wanted to eat. This memo was filled with those recipes that he had written.

The number of dishes that Minhyuk had listed reached a staggering amount. But he never thought that it was a ‘chore’. In fact, he even thought of it as a ‘reward’. The first thing that came to mind when he started making the dishes was,

‘Thank you, everyone.’

Losing weight, adapting to

Athenae,

and becoming the object of everyone’s admiration were things that he accomplished with the help of everyone. It was only possible because everyone helped him and stayed together with him. For Minhyuk, who had closed himself off from the world for several years, their existence had become special to him. They were like a family, sometimes like a friend, other times like a father and a mother to him. Their presence and kindness filled the hole in his empty heart.

‘I hope that you will feel happy when you eat this dish.’

Everyone was special to him. Conir, a boy who wanted to become the Ramyeon God, was like a brother to him. Ghost Spear Ben, the man that made coffee while combing his luscious hair, was like his father. Vice Guild Master Genie was a close friend and a reliable helper that always gave him advice on guild management. Locke, who was ugly but had a heart that was warmer than anybody else, had always been sincere to him and he had always been grateful for that. It was not only them, there were countless people that were special to him.

‘Let’s start.’

Minhyuk rolled his sleeves up as he turned towards the hundreds of rare ingredients from all over the world piled up like a mountain to the side.

The first dish that he had made was for Death.

‘Thank you for changing yourself.’

Death might not be a member of Let’s Eat Sect, but he was a friend that Minhyuk wanted to treat to a delicious meal at least once. The food that Death wanted to eat as per the ‘Create a Recipe’ skill was none other than a ‘homemade dish’.

He had lived alone for a long time and had long been accustomed to eating instant food and delivery just like any single man living alone. And it seemed like he did not cook in the game either, since his DEX was pitifully small. Just like any typical single man living alone, Death seemed to crave for some boiling soybean stew and grilled mackerel, the typical homemade dishes.

Minhyuk, with a wide smile on his face, started to cook. He added a lot of tofu in the boiling soybean stew before tasting the flavor. Then, he grilled the mackerel, made some seasoned spinach and bean sprouts, some sweet and salty soybeans, green onion kimchi and many other side dishes.

‘You’re going to eat this in a hurry, huh?’

A smile immediately curled at the corners of Minhyuk’s mouth. Minhyuk was cooking for others, and not for himself. This was indeed a tremendous improvement on his part and could be viewed as a great progress in his eating addiction treatment.

The highlight of the special ability and effects of Death’s dish was the ability to further strengthen the undead. When he finally finished the dish…

[You have completed Homemade Dishes.]

[Death’s dish is the only dish with the buff effect.]

[The Create a Recipe Skill Effect can only be tasted by the same person once per month.]

[Trance. It’s a dish that has your ‘heart’, ‘joy’ and ‘effort for others’ poured into it.]

[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has become better.]

[Legendary Grade.]

[You have gained 30 DEX.]

[You have gained 200 REP.]

[You have gained 5,000 AP.]

The fact that the first dish that he cooked was a legendary grade dish made Minhyuk extremely delighted. He did not stop there. This time, he prepared a ‘Bizarre Rice Cake’ set for Ascar.

‘She’s always been quiet, but she always steps forward for the guild.’

To Minhyuk, Ascar looked aloof and cold but he knew that she was a warm-hearted person. Minhyuk sincerely hoped that her stress would be blown away once she ate this Bizarre Rice Cake set. He felt happy. Just as he felt delighted when he made Death’s dish, he also felt happy when he cooked a dish for Ascar too. And when he finished it…

[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has become better.]

[Legendary Grade.]

‘Two legendary grade dishes in a row?’?

Minhyuk smiled. This was a very rare occurrence, nevertheless, he was still happy. This time, the dish that he was making was for Genie. What Genie wanted was a savory carbonara, a dish perfect with crispy pickles.

‘The rascal has lost a lot of weight.’

He smiled when he thought about how Genie had become very pretty, completely unlike her appearance in the past. Minhyuk was still grinning when he finished the dish.

[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has become better.]

[Legendary Grade.]

“…”

Instead of a smile, cold sweat started to drip down Minhyuk’s forehead.

‘Why did I suddenly become so lucky…?’

Nevertheless, Minhyuk still continued to cook dishes. And his fourth dish…

[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has become better.]

[Legendary Grade.]

“Uh, uhmm…”

Minhyuk could not help but feel nervous when things went well for him. And when he finished his fifth dish, he received a totally unexpected set of notifications.

[Due to the effects of Trance, the buff effect has become better.]

[Legendary Grade.]

[You have made five legendary grade dishes in a row.]

[You have gained 500 additional REP.]

[You have gained 30 additional points to all your five basic stats.]

[The God of Cooking is in awe after watching you make five legendary grade dishes in a row.]

[The God of Cooking is the Food God’s master. Now, he has started watching you, the Food God’s descendant, closely.]

Ring!

[The God of Cooking is suggesting a bet. The God of Cooking is challenging you to make ten legendary grade dishes.]

“…?!”

They were truly shocking and unexpected notifications.