Leveling Up through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

[Aruvel has written a 1-week pledge of allegiance to User Minhyuk.]

Silence prevailed in the Special Users Management Team’s office. President Kang Taehoon, Team Leader Park Minggyu and Employee Lee Minhwa did not know what to say.

The first one to break the silence was President Kang Taehoon.

“Ha, hahahahaha, hahahahahaha!”

Then……

“Hahahahahahahaha!”

“Ho, hohohohohoho!”

They all started laughing incredulously.

What kind of nonsense is this? A user seduced an NPC?

“The Let’s Have a Meal skill was not supposed to be used that way……”

However, he made use of the skill and made it into his own, turning it into a divine move. User Minhyuk had used the ‘Let’s Have a Meal’ skill, a skill that made him invincible inside, to talk to the other person. This allowed him to have a peaceful conversation with Aruvel. In short, a completely divine move.

“At this rate……”

Even though they were able to patch his monstrous holy power, User Minhyuk might just be able to create greater effects from this point on. After thinking for quite some time, President Kang Taehoon finally opened his mouth.

“Come to think of it……”

Team Leader Park Minggyu and Employee Lee Minhwa turned to look at him.

“User Minhyuk will still go and climb the top of the Demon World’s Tower one of these days.”

“That’s right.”

Team Leader Park nodded his head. They all agreed to this statement.

“After all, the tower has the way to unseal Gluttony’s Incarnation.”

***

TTBC’s reporter, Go Eun-ah, had received an important task from the broadcasting station. Her task was to scout for one user that would be able to make it to Athenae’s ‘Hall of Fame’ this year.

Hall of Fame.

Those who could enter the Athenae’s Hall of Fame meant that their videos had received the highest number of hits, views or recommendations. In short it was the best played video of the year. The Hall of Fame was something that was hosted on the official Athenae website once every year. The users who ranked from 1st~10th would also be able to receive rewards. In addition, the users who ranked 1st~10th were those who had generated huge profits from their videos.

Meanwhile, Go Eun-ah was already grumbling.

‘Eyy! You bald eagle bastard!’

It was because the director had pecked her so hard. It was almost the end of the year and there was still no video that had appeared in South Korea that was worthy enough to be in the ‘Hall of Fame’ this year. On the other hand, the US already had two, China had three, Japan had one and France also had two. And what was worse was that the director was a fervent and ardent patriot.

‘Does it even make sense that our South Korea doesn’t have any Hall of Fame video this year? Regardless of the means and conditions, you have to recruit people that can challenge the Hall of Fame this year from the users. No, it’s not someone who can challenge, find users that can be in the Hall of Fame this year!’

Go Eun-ah had already mussed up her hair in frustration.

You’re telling me to find a use who can be in the Hall of Fame this year at this time? I’m just a reporter not a shaman, do you think I can do that so easily? And there’s more than 20 million Athenae users in Korea. How can I know if they can be in the Hall of Fame this year?

She was starting to pick out the people who would be able to have the highest views when filming a video.

[Food God Minhyuk]

[Crazy Priest Locke]

[Sword’s Crown Prince Carr]

[Dragon Taming Master Black Goat]

[Hunting God Vercar]

“Ah, that’s right. It wasn’t Black Goat, was it Black Dragon?”

Using her ballpoint pen, she crossed out Black Goat and scribbled ‘Black Dragon’ beside it. Plenty of people had recognized him as Black Goat instead of Black Dragon due to the commentators’ misinterpretation back then.

Her problem was that, aside from Carr and the Hunting God Vercar, she did not have their code number so she couldn’t send her a whisper. Legend Guild’s Genie’s code number was available because the broadcasting station had it. In other words, she could only contact them through Genie, their guild master.

After thinking things through, Go Eun-ah quickly wrote a proposal and sent it over to Genie. She had delivered it to Genie but she did not send her a reply. She rewrote her proposal and sent it again but after trying a few times, it was like it just sank in the deep sea.

“Don’t tell me……”

Is it really impossible?

She wrote another proposal thinking that this would be her final proposal. Her final proposal was for ‘Food God Minhyuk’. She had already sent him dozens of proposals but he hadn’t responded to any one of them. She felt exhausted knowing that nothing would come out of it, but she still started writing with the last of her strength and confidence. Then, she finally finished it.

[Hello! I’m TTBC’s Reporter Go Eun-ah. I don’t have any other reason…… omitted…… it would be nice if we can talk over a meal. My treat. Please contact me.]

And 30 seconds later, the phone beside her rang. The call was from an unknown number.

“Yes, this is TTBC’s Reporter, Go Eun-ah.”

[Hello. This is Minhyuk. I’m contacting you after seeing the proposal that you just sent to me.]

“……!”

Go Eun-ah’s eyes widened in shock as she tried to control her thumping heart. To be honest, Go Eun-ah was Food God Minhyuk’s fan. She even became one of the managers of Food God Minhyuk’s fan cafe. The fan cafe was named ‘Eat until we Die!’ and their numbers had exceeded 500,000. They were trying to diet together every day but they failed every time. Even the founder failed to do so. In other words, this was how their fan cafe worked:

I exercised very hard. Ah~ I’m so proud of myself for working hard today. I’m going to order some chicken!

Yes, a lot of the people from their fan cafe did this on the daily. The fan cafe was exactly like Minhyuk.

Then, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind.

‘What’s so special about the final proposal?’

No, I’m sure there’s nothing special. The conditions that I have listed so far have been the same from the previous ones. So why did he react this time?

[The proposal says that you will give 50% of the revenue generated from the video. Right?]

“Yes. That’s right!”

Then, Minhyuk said……

[If I’m going to shoot a video that will challenge the Hall of Fame then I will demand 90% in return.]

“……!”

Go Eun-ah’s eyes widened in shock.

No, but shouldn’t broadcasting station employees make a living?

To be honest, getting into the Hall of Fame meant that they would generate a huge revenue from s. But Minhyuk continued to speak.

[If you don’t like it then I won’t agree.]

“N, no! Please wait!”

But if she thought about it deeply, this user was able to push ATV, a rising broadcasting station, to the forefront. So even if TTBC excluded the video transmission and advertising fee, it would still gain enough profit and value if this user was able to join the Hall of Fame. Also, it would be their job to announce and spread the name of TTBC so they would not incur any loss. However…..

‘He really does not lose out……’

Minhyuk was trying to create as much profit as possible from them.

Minhyuk continued to speak.

[I also want you to send me the edited video first after the recording. I will review it and you have to accept it if I don’t want you to upload a part out of the video. If you agree to this, then I will seriously consider this contract. And there are additional conditions too.]

Go Eun-ah gulped dryly as cold sweat beaded her forehead.

Minhyuk just continued to speak.

[Once I climbed the Hall of Fame, I want you to take the responsibility to give me information about ingredients, specialties, and excellent dishes that I am satisfied with.]

Go Eun-ah was currently obsessed with dieting. However, whenever she watched Minhyuk’s video, she always failed to control her appetite.

‘Aaaaaaaah! As expected of our Minhyuk-nim! What a straightforward guy! Eating is greater than artifacts! Eating is greater than skillbooks!’

Of course, it did not mean that just because he was asking for something that he could eat did not mean that they weren’t losing any money. Just like a bunch of elixirs and medicines, they were usually worth more than artifacts since there were permanent stat benefits that they could get from the food.

“I will go and talk with my director for a moment!”

When she went to her director, Director Park Daehoon hugged her tightly.

“I was wondering why you were ordering late-night snacks every night but it was because you wanted to cast User Minhyuk. I’ll give you my word!”

She had been given approval so she immediately let Minhyuk know about this happy fact. After informing him about the status of his conditions and the contract, Go Eun-ah asked where he was since his every move right now was very important.

“Where are you right now?”

[I’m going to the Demon World’s Tower.]

“……!”

It was a scoop! There weren’t that many Korean users that had entered the Demon World as of now. But he was even going to the Demon World’s Tower?

‘I don’t know but maybe we will really get to the Hall of Fame?’

Then, Minhyuk asked her……

[But you know, about what you said in the proposal earlier?]

‘The proposal……?’

Go Eun-ah tilted her head in confusion as Minhyuk continued to speak.

[That we will have a meal if we had a talk? When will you treat me to a meal?]

Among the countless conditions that she had listed in the proposal, the condition that made Minhyuk contact her was finally revealed.

***

The Demon World’s Tower had 50 levels in total. In addition, each level of the Demon World’s Tower was like a microcosm of the Demon World. Not only was the Demon World’s Tower filled with monsters that users had yet to hunt, there were also trials, mobs, tricks, traps and even villages, towns, cities and other territories that they had yet to explore.

And right now, there were three men standing in front of the Demon World’s Tower. They were members of Blackstone. They had received instructions from Callauhel long before he reached the 28th level.

Their orders were simple.

‘Observe and kill the users who will attempt to climb the Demon World’s Tower.’

Observing and killing meant that they should kill those users who could set a new record while leaving the rookies and youngsters alone. The only reason why this order was possible was because the three users standing in front of the tower right now were high-leveled users that specialize in killing. They were also top rankers from France, Russia and China.

The three of them were getting rid of the users who were most likely going to be harmful to Callauhel. In addition, they were also able to get artifacts after they trampled and destroyed these users. Most of the users who came to the Demon World’s Tower were at least at the upper or middle of the rankings. So they were very happy and eager to do this job.

France’s Rochan started to move after hearing a report.

Before anyone could arrive at the Demon World’s Tower they had to pass through a place called ‘Demon World Shelter’. It was a place where they could form parties or receive quests related to the Demon World’s Tower.

And right now, the report had stated that a new user had appeared in that place so he was currently on his way to check the user out.

Of course, if things didn’t work out the way he wanted to, then he would just kill the user and get the artifacts that he would drop.

France’s Rochan was a Lv48 debuff hunter. He was well-known for slaughtering his enemies after he debuffed and downgraded their abilities.

Russia’s Ruben was one of the few users who used a gun. However, he could easily penetrate through the users’ backs. And finally, China’s Jingxiao was someone who had an assassin class. He was also someone who flitted between the first and second rankings in China.

The three of them moved towards the Demon World Shelter. When they entered the area, they saw a boy.

“I’ll succeed this time!”

The innocent looking boy squatted down on the ground.

“I’ll definitely make it this time, for sure!”

“…….”

The three people knew at the same time that this guy was underdeveloped in terms of mental capacity. And he was even presumed to be an NPC. They did not know how he arrived here but he was just annoying. He was a mentally incapable child and what was worse was that he was in front of the Demon World Shelter. They just wanted to clean him up.

Rochan kicked the gas burner and the pot that was blocking the way to the Demon World shelter.

Clang!

“Go play over there, filthy brat.”

“Don’t be so mean, you have to embrace the disabled and shower them with love. Keke.”

“Kekekekeke. You’re going to cry now, aren’t you?”

But Rochan would kill him once he did.

Then, at that moment, the boy stood up with the chopsticks in his hand.

“I’m so angry! I’m very upset!”

“Puhahahaha! So what if you’re mad?”

“Are you going to stab these ahjussis with those chopsticks?”

They laughed loudly. But the boy just asked them.

“When cooking ramyeon, do you put the noodles first? Or the soup?”

***