Gourmet Gaming

Ruwan received a whisper from Go Eun-Ah.

[VeryPrettyEunAh: Hyeonsok! It’s all thanks to you that I got an exclusive scoop!]

[Ruwan: Did you post it already? Where?]

[VeryPrettyEunAh: yepyep. It’s number one on the real-time search on the official website. But why did Ellie come here? Did she really just see it while she was on her way somewhere? Or did she really come here to catch the Horden Guild? Anyway, I ran back to the town just in case they tried to catch me. The comments under the post about Horden Guild’s GM is going crazy. They’re also talking shit about Kald.]

Ruwan shook his head. He was real friends with the reporter VeryPrettyEunAh and her timing was really perfect. She just arrived in the Barras Kingdom to get some scoop and said that she would stop by the Bretley Mines to visit him. She always said that she would get a scoop but she never knew where to get one, although she believed that one would come up once she was out on the road.

Once Eun-Ah arrived near the mines, she witnessed the horrible scene. Hence, she quietly hid in the distance and continuously messaged Ruwan to know more about the situation. As she corresponded with him, Eun-Ah finally pieced the events together and learned that the current situation was a sudden NPC slaughter. Once she knew of the reason, she immediately started to shoot the scene. 

‘I guess she wasn’t able to take a video of Ellie calling Minhyuk ‘younger brother’?’ Ruwan thought. Perhaps it was because Eun-Ah quickly ran away in fear of getting caught by the knights that she missed that part. The members of the Horden Guild were already under control and could not log out peacefully, so he guessed that she probably was out of the range of the knights’ control. Ruwan was going to tell her the truth about Ellie and Minhyuk’s sibling relationship but he stopped. Why? It was because Ellie looked awfully scary sitting beside the fresh and happy Minhyuk.

‘He calls Ellie his noona, he has extremely high stats, and he can fight well...’

As Minhyuk stood next to her, he looked at the blacksmith named Kald. Kald was currently looking at his GC which was close to exploding.

[Guild Master Ares: Kald. Would you like to explain the situation right now?]

[Corona: This crazy shit. You have the guts to tarnish the guild’s name, huh? You even hired the Horden Guild to slaughter the NPCs! You must have found something good and you’re trying to monopolize it all to yourself, huh?!]

[Raman: How are you gonna fix this? It would be a big deal if Ellie becomes hostile to our guild]

Ares Guild was one of the country’s top four guilds. However, Kald did something behind the guild’s back. It was something unforgivable. Even though he was an executive in the guild and an outstanding blacksmith, he would not be able to escape eviction. However, Kald could not bring himself to worry about those issues yet. He had other problems to deal with, as he thought, ‘I could be like the player from before and get sentenced to prison for 100 years.’

If that happened, then he would have to delete this ID. That meant that he would have to discard his place – the second place – in the Blacksmith Rankings. So, he thought that he had to try and trick them to save his character from getting deleted.

“Why did you do this?” Ellie asked.

Kald confessed the truth. He told Ellie about what was inside the fifth mining area. Everything. From beginning to end.

“...An artifact material that has all of the properties?”

“Yes. That’s right. Also, there are only three people who can use this artifact. I can make an artifact out of this material. That’s why...”

Kald looked at Minhyuk with sad eyes and tried to evoke his pity. He said, “Please let it slide just this once. I will also make the best artifact for you!”

Kald gloated inwardly. He was sure that this was an offer that no one could refuse. No one would choose to refuse with how expensive artifacts were. Artifacts made with such a material were bound to be extremely valuable. Kald was sure that Minhyuk would accept the offer. And once he did that, he could coax Minhyuk to exempt him from the sentence.

Ellie looked at Minhyuk and said, “If you want to have the artifact, we could do as he says. However, he can’t get away with it and he still has to be locked up for a month.”

She wanted to follow Minhyuk’s choice as much as possible. That was also what Ellie’s stigma signified.

Minhyuk grinned and said, “You inserted the key.”

“Yes. Sooner or later, the door to that place will open.”

Minhyuk had heard from Leton that only one person could have the key. That key was the only way to enter that place. In other words, Kald was the reason why Minhyuk would be able to enter that place! To be honest, this was the first time that he had heard about such an artifact material. It seemed like the wood from the chocolate tree was an excellent artifact material. But in all honesty, the chocolate that the chocolate tree produced was what was calling to him the most. He said, “Thanks for opening the door.”

“...?”

Kald could not understand what he was talking about. 

“I’ll go in and come right out. Thank you for personally opening the door for me~!” Minhyuk said as he grabbed Kald’s hands and shook it up and down before throwing it away and saying, “Noona. We can’t just let this bad guy get away with it.”

“That’s right. As expected of my younger brother. For a moment, I thought you would disappoint me, you gluttony,” Ellie said with a grin.

Then, Kald said, “N…no. Didn’t you hear what I just said? I’m the only one who can make an artifact out of that material. It won’t work unless you find a blacksmith that’s greater than me...!” 

At that moment…

“Minhyuk! Gasp, gasp, gasp!” A man dressed like a shabby novice player shouted as he ran towards Minhyuk. The man huffed and puffed, trying to catch his breath the moment he arrived.

After he finally caught his breath, he looked around his surroundings and said, “I heard from my daughter that you came here. Are you alright?” 

“Yes. As you can see, I’m alright.” 

Kald’s eyebrows creased in annoyance. Who the hell was this novice bastard to interrupt? Did he think that he was much more important than what he wanted to say? Then, he saw the pattern of a hammer engraved on the back of the man’s hands.

Kald’s eyes widened in shock. He had seen the man who made the Dragon Sword once. They were in a Dragon’s Lair back then. The man had gotten the materials that he needed before quickly rushing away. All he remembered from the man was the patter of a hammer engraved on the back of his hand. Not long after, Kald saw the Dragon Sword being auctioned off. It was the strongest artifact that was ever sold in the auction house. What was more, it was the highest priced item to be ever sold on the auction trading site. 

At that time, he felt that the mysterious person was the best blacksmith to have lived! However, the man disappeared suddenly. Who knew that the very same person with that pattern engraved on his hands would be standing in front of Minhyuk worriedly?

“My, my, my…” Kald stuttered, trying to get the words out of his mouth. The Sword Emperor Ellie and the greatest blacksmith alive were both standing in front of him.

“This damn bastard. How dare you bully my benefactor, Minhyuk!” The man shouted as he glared sharply at Kald.

Kald zeroed in on the ‘benefactor’ that came out of his mouth. The greatest blacksmith’s benefactor? At that moment, he finally realized. That blacksmith would definitely make something for Minhyuk with that artifact material! Kald finally realized that he would lose everything because of his greed.

I’m going to die a dog’s death... No, it’s like I practically came here to give it to Minhyuk on a platter.

Kald stood up and approached a soldier. He said, “Please, just take me out of here...”

“I know. You bastard!”

Kald was extremely happy that he would not see this monster-like Minhyuk when they took him away.

Leton who was standing nearby murmured to himself, “In the end, the Chocolate Tree still found its way to its real owner.”

***

Minhyuk smiled widely after listening to Leton. He could feel his heart pounding wildly with excitement. There was a Chocolate Tree inside that place! Minhyuk told Hyemin'sDaddy everything about the artifact material inside the dungeon that he learnt from Kald.

“Are you saying that there really is an artifact material with all of the properties?! It would be nice if I could use it to make the frying pan.”

“I see. Ah, did you add the function where it can help me make stir-fried pork perfectly? And the function that can help me make Korean pancakes better?”

“...Yes.”

Minhyuk looked like he was very happy and satisfied with the answer that he got. Hyemin'sDaddy looked back at Ellie and Leton. They all nodded their heads at each other without exchanging any words. They could understand each other’s woes as kindred spirits.

However, it was time for Ellie to go, but before that…

“I should clean them up.”

…Ellie kicked the ground with her feet and dashed forward inside the Fifth Mining Area. She came out not long after and said, “There were about 50 monsters in there, I’ve taken care of all of them.”

“Fi…fifty monsters... in just a minute...”

Leton and Hyemin'sDaddy looked at her in awe. They could not even form their words in their shock.

“Yes. Thank you so much for coming, Noona!” Minhyuk said, thanking Ellie with a bright smile on his face. Then, he went inside the mines with his pounding heart. He was so excited at the thought of eating brownies and meeting the Legendary Chocolate Tree! Then, something vibrated.

Shake!

[The Entrance to the Legend has opened.]

[Only one person is allowed to enter.]

Minhyuk quickly ran towards the bright light. The light surrounding Minhyuk was so bright that he couldn’t even open his eyes. Then, he heard a series of notifications.

[You have entered the legendary ‘Chocolate Paradise’.]

[You are the 32nd player to have entered a legendary place.]

[You are allowed to stay for one hour inside this area.]

[Number of Legendary Dungeons Found: 1]

[You have gained 50 REP.]

[Everything in the Chocolate Paradise is more delicious compared to their regular counterparts.]

Minhyuk slowly opened his eyes when he felt that the glaring light was gone. Once he opened his eyes, he could not help but exclaim in surprise, “Waaaaaaaa, wooooow!”

The first thing that he saw were the blades of grass made out of Pepero.

Shwaaaaaa━

A gentle breeze blew in the area and the Pepero grass swayed gently. Minhyuk could see that the blades of grass were like ‘Nude Chocolate Pepero’, ‘Almond Pepero’ and the ‘Regular Pepero’. He bent down and picked up an almond Pepero.

[You have acquired an Almond Pepero.]

The gently swaying Pepero grass suddenly stiffened and turned into a normal Pepero stick when Minhyuk grabbed it. Minhyuk quickly grabbed a handful of Almond Pepero and munched on them.

“Aaaaaaah!”

The crunchy texture of the almond and the crispy and sweet flavor of the chocolate and the cookies spread in Minhyuk’s mouth. He said, “Ah! As expected, almond-flavored Pepero is the best!”

Then, a notification rang.

[You have leveled up.]

“Huh...?”

Minhyuk only ate one Almond Pepero but he leveled up? What a strange and amazing thing. Minhyuk looked at the handful of Pepero sticks in his hands. He thought, ‘Don’t tell me?’

Legendary Dungeons were said to have a quadruple increase in EXP acquisition and item drop rate. It was a much more special dungeon compared to hidden dungeons. It was also for this reason that they were extremely hard to find. However, Minhyuk did not understand why he heard such a notification. He was also sure that there were no monsters around him. Did that mean that he would be able to gain EXP whenever he ate something here?

‘Wow. I get to eat delicious food and get EXP at the same time…?’

Minhyuk was definitely killing two birds with one stone! Minhyuk ate all of the Pepero in his hands. His level increased by five just by eating a handful. Then, Minhyuk focused his attention on the things that were growing in between the trees. Those were things that looked like mushrooms. Upon closer inspection, those mushrooms looked exactly like the Choco Mushroom snack.

“Waaah!” Minhyuk shouted as he quickly picked the mushrooms and stuffed them in his mouth.

[Your STR has increased by 1.]

[Your AGI has increased by 1.]

[Your WIS has increased by 1.]

Minhyuk realized that eating the Choco Mushrooms would increase his five basic stats. When he finished eating all of the Choco Mushroom that he picked, he was able to increase his stats. His STR has increased by 18, AGI by 15, WIS by 17, STM by 20 and his INT by 10.

When Minhyuk turned around, he saw something that looked like a rock. To be exact, the rock was a Ferrero Rocher chocolate. Minhyuk lifted the Ferrero Rocher chocolate rock that was as big as his head and ate it all.

[You have gained 1 SP.]

Minhyuk gained one SP for every Ferrero Rocher chocolate he ate. In total, he was able to eat five Ferrero Rocher chocolates, which meant that he was able to gain five skill points.

“Hehehehehehe! This is heaven!! Wait, is that…?!!” Minhyuk was shouting for joy when he caught sight of the river flowing nearby. The river was clearly flowing with milk chocolate. Minhyuk quickly ran towards the river bank and dropped face down to gulp the milk chocolate.

“Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp!”

Minhyuk continued to gulp the milk chocolate river. To be honest, it seemed like the chocolate level had lowered by a bit with how much he drank. If anyone saw this, they would think that a family of elephants came by and drank from the river.

“Keuhahaha!”

[You have gained 4 Special Points.]

[You can also invest your Special Points on stats that can’t be raised with bonus points.]

The chocolate river gave him Special Points! After he finished drinking, Minhyuk looked around. He was trying to find new things that he had not tried yet. However, it seemed like there was not anything that he could eat anymore. Minhyuk then remembered, ‘I’m only allowed to stay here for one hour, right? I’ll be in trouble if I’m not able to get the most important thing!’

Minhyuk quickly gathered his attention and seriously moved on to what he came here to do. He needed to find the Legendary Chocolate Tree that existed here in Chocolate Paradise! He quickly went around the place, searching for it. Not long after, he came across the legendary tree. The Chocolate Tree that looked like it had grown for almost 300 years stood tall and majestic, right in the center of the Chocolate Paradise!