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Chapter 104: Poisonous Toad King
Jihye looked like she was deep in thought. Her initial thought was also that Minhyuk’s behavior was too much. However, everything was currently one-sided. Then, Jihye said, “There may be some circumstances that we don’t know. Maybe he wanted to meet us but he couldn't.”
“...I don’t know about that,” Jisoo answered, shaking his head. He really did not know anything about Minhyuk’s circumstances. Jisoo looked down at his phone to avoid the eyes of his friends. However, as he scrolled through his phone, his eyes widened. He found a video on the internet. The title was… ‘The Return of Suicidal Rovan.’
“Huh...? What’s this? Why is Rovan here?” Jisoo asked loudly. He confirmed that this was Rovan, the very person that they lost contact with after he told them that he was fighting against the Ares Guild. So, why was he in the video?
“The person who’s wearing the helmet...”
The person was wearing a helmet with horns on top of it, making his features unidentifiable. However, they knew that this person was none other than Minhyuk. It was proven by the fact that there was a frying pan on his back. Then, Minhyuk and Rovan clashed together. The three of them watched the video together in a daze. Then, Minhyuk looked at Rovan sharply as he stood up and appeared from the cloud of dust, his body covered with bandages.
“...He, he has a good sense for battle...” Seoktae said. He was Khan, the King of Fist. This was his nickname, but he was good enough to not shame the name.
“Rovan used the Berserker’s Madness, right?”
“It looks like it. Rovan told me before that he would be as strong as someone at Level 200 if he uses that skill. But the penalty will be extremely huge for him...”
All of them were shocked. Then, how strong was Minhyuk exactly?
“Wow. How did that game noob become so strong?”
When the four of them hung out together, Minhyuk was the worst among them at playing games. Playing games with him was often enough to get them shaking. However, the reality was, the three of them were so good that Minhyuk thought that he could not do it at all! It was an unfair comparison to begin with.
“Aside from that, I thought of a way to contact Minhyuk.”
“What is it?” Seoktae asked as he turned to Jihye.
“We could just find him with that helmet and frying pan, right?”
“Oh! Then if someone found him and told you his location then you will reward them. Like that?”
“That’s right!”
Meanwhile, Jisoo who was quietly looking at his phone whispered, “...We can’t find him like that.”
“Why?”
Jisoo showed them the content that he was just reading on his phone.
[Blacksmith Guild Happy Meal: Thanks to the enthusiastic support of our fans, 300,000 of our frying pans and helmets have been sold out. ^_^]
“...?”
“...?”
Jihye and Seoktae tilted their heads in confusion, making Jisoo sigh deeply. He scrolled through his phone and showed them another article.
[Why am I seeing people wearing a frying pan and a helmet all over the streets today...]
[IKR... It’s like when you see a lot of people wearing the same brand of padded jacket as yourself every time you walk outside because it is so popular.... Hehehehe.]
[Even the Happy Meal Guild is swamped with orders... They’re expecting to sell 500,000 pieces today... Even the other guilds are jumping into the frying pan business.]
The two of them were left speechless. Then, right at that moment, they received a call from Yoon Chan. Jihye talked to him for quite some time. She said, “Yes, yes. We went to school together. Really. I’ll tell the whole story to you later. Please send a whisper to him first. Yes.”
Jihye ended the call. Not long after, a call came in from Yoon Chan again.
“Wh…what did you say? You sent the whisper?”
However, the words that Yoon Chan said were like a bolt out of the blue.
[I think his whisper is off...?]
***
Minhyuk woke up in a daze. He said, “I’m hungry.”
He always started his morning with the correct words to kick off the day. Then, he went out to the kitchen and saw Changwook standing up from his seat and greeting him, “Yo, Frying Pan Killer.”
“Hyung. How did you know that name?”
“You topped the real-time search on the Athenae official website yesterday. And, there’s also a live broadcast video of you winning a fight with Rovan. You’re really amazing.”
Did he get famous on the official website? Minhyuk only thought about one thing when he realized this. He said, “Shit. Then it would be difficult to eat! So annoying.”
When Changwook heard Minhyuk’s words, somehow he felt envious. Anyone who played a game would want to be a strong person or even be a Ranker. However, Minhyuk, on the other hand, looked extremely annoyed that he was considered to be a strong person.
“Ah, that’s right. Why was your whisper off yesterday, Minhyuk?”
“Ah. It was because Lucia kept on sending whispers to me. She said that she wanted to eat ramen. She said that she couldn’t forget the taste of the ramyeon that I made before.”
“...Is that the Lucia that I think you’re talking about?”
“Yes.”
“Is…isn’t that a good thing?”
“Hyung. It’s bad! My god. She wants to steal ramyeon from me!”
“R…really? I don’t think that’s the case though?”
“No. It’s because Hyung don’t know her well. She’s a glutton, she even wanted to take two potato pancakes from me.”
However, Changwook thought differently, ‘Did Lucia really send whispers to Minhyuk just because she wanted to eat ramyeon? She is much more daring than what I thought.”
Everyone liked to eat ramyeon. Asking someone ‘Do you like to eat ramyeon with me?’ was basically an expression of interest. For some, it was a symbol for ‘mutual understanding’. However, Minhyuk just saw Lucia as the villain who was trying to steal his ramen.
‘He’s really a blockhead and a dating noob,’ Changwook thought. As a fellow dating noob, he was quite delighted with this turn of events. After all, he was sure that he would get a bad stomachache if Minhyuk and Lucia’s relationship went well! Then, just as fast as his delight came, he suddenly felt sullen.
‘But why am I...’
Why was no one interested in him! Changwook’s shoulders drooped as he sullenly trudged back to his room.
“Hyung. Why did you suddenly look like you’re tired?”
“Don’t talk to me… You enviable… no, bad punk.”
Minhyuk was taken aback. He turned around and continued to eat his cherry tomatoes and salad to his heart's content.
‘God’s Dishes.’
There were five dishes hailed as God’s Dishes. Minhyuk was already looking forward to it. He had to go and find Boroto, the former tower master of the Chef’s tower, to find out where the first dish was. He was told that Boroto was currently staying in the Chef’s Village, Raven. Excited, Minhyuk accessed Athenae.
***
Minhyuk was plunged into confusion the moment he arrived at Raven. He thought, ‘Since earlier, really...’
There were a lot of people wearing a helmet and holding a frying pan just like him. He even saw them swinging the pan while exclaiming, “Korea number one!”
“...?”
Meanwhile, the people on his other side were saying, “We Love Frying Pan club is recruiting guild members for the FPK club. We won’t accept anyone with less than 50 on their frying pan’s attack power!”
Minhyuk thought that there really were a lot of strange people as he continued to walk to where Boroto, the former tower master of the Chef’s Tower, was.
***
The person in question, Boroto, had been drinking heavily despite it being early in the day. He thought, ‘In the end, no one came to succeed Food God…’
No one here believed in Boroto or the amazing legends of the Food God! Everyone just snorted in contempt when they heard the legends of the Food God.
‘No. There’s no one crazy like that in the world, Boroto!’
‘Boroto, why do you believe in such nonsense? Isn’t that just like believing in traditional fairy tales?’
That was right, it was how everyone looked at the legends of the Food God. A traditional fairy tale to promote a child’s innocence! His legends really were something like that. The legends of the Food God were filled with so much crazy nonsense that everyone believed it to be something that was only made up. However, as a child, it was what Boroto had heard from his father…
‘He’ll come one day.’
Whenever Boroto’s father served food, he would always tell him the stories of the Food God. Since he grew up with those stories, Boroto had always dreamed of meeting him. In the end, no one came to him as the descendant of the Food God. Time had come and gone, and he was now the former tower master of the Chef’s Tower. Nothing was left of him, but a senile old man. Boroto once again drank from his bottle of alcohol. Then…
Knock, knock━
“Hello, anybody there? Chomp?”
Someone knocked on his door. Boroto tilted his head curiously as he walked to open the door. When he opened the door, he saw a young man standing right in front of him. The man hurriedly wiped the grease off of his mouth. He looked like he just finished eating a piece of the smoked duck meat that he was holding in his other hand. The smoked duck meat was ridiculously large, it was even as large as a man’s head.
“...Boy, who are you?”
“I’m here to find the Food God’s Legacy!”
“...!”
When he heard his words, Boroto was startled. Then he asked him, “Boy, what would you do if the world was going to end tomorrow?”
“I’ll go and eat something delicious?”
“What would you ask for if the Dragon Lord wanted to give you a present?”
“I’ll ask him to give me a small part of his tail. I wonder what a dragon’s tail tastes like?!”
“Boy, what do you think of as soon as you wake up?”
“I just woke up so I’m hungry...”
‘My goodness...! This guy is a total food freak!’ Boroto nodded. However, he still needed the final proof. Boroto quickly rushed inside. Back when his father was alive, he left a dish behind. This dish was sealed by the Food God himself with his own powers. This was a dish that only the Food God could eat! Since it was sealed by the Food God himself, only the people who were related to him would be able to eat it.
Then, he opened a box. As soon as Minhyuk saw the dish in the box, he looked at it, before turning back to Boroto in surprise. He could not stop alternating his gaze between Boroto and the dish.
Boroto carefully handed him a pair of chopsticks and said, “Boy, would you like to try and pick some food from this dish?”
If the person was not the Food God or his descendant, then they would not be able to even reach it with their chopsticks. Even Boroto could not touch it. However, Minhyuk shook his head and said, “There’s still something that you need before you eat this dish.”
Minhyuk looked at Boroto with a solemn expression on his face.
***
“There’s still something that you need before you eat this dish.”
Minhyuk had a rare solemn expression on his face! He hurriedly pulled some rice out of his food storage inventory. The dish that the former Chef tower’s tower master, Boroto, showed him was none other than a soy braised quail egg!
The soy braised quail egg was one of the best rice thieves ever! Whenever Minhyuk opened the refrigerator, he would be so happy if he saw a soy braised quail egg that his mother prepared the night before. Minhyuk quickly slipped his chopsticks at the soy braised quail egg. His chopsticks easily picked a quail egg that was browned by the soy sauce.
“Gasp!” Boroto gasped. He looked at Minhyuk with awe and admiration. He handed him the dish as he slowly backed away and bowed down only to exclaim, “All hail the Food God!”
However, Minhyuk did not look at him at all. He sat down in his place as he scooped up a spoonful of the steaming hot rice. Then, he placed the quail egg on top of it before placing it all in his mouth.
“Chomp!”
The moment Minhyuk chewed, he could taste the salty and light flavor of the braised egg and the rice. He was completely in awe. He said, “W…what’s this? It’s extremely delicious?!”
Minhyuk was truly in shock. The taste was different from all of the soy braised quail eggs that he had eaten in the past. The flavor was extremely deep and savory. As for the egg white and yolk, they were in complete harmony in every bite.
“Of course. That is a dish that was made by the Food God himself. The egg is not actually a quail egg though.”
If it was not a quail egg, then what was it? The size was definitely the size of a quail egg. Then, a shocking fact came out of Boroto’s mouth, “It’s a phoenix’s egg.”