Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 21: Someone Better than You

The penalty was similar when players experienced death. They would not be allowed to enter the game for twelve hours nor would they be allowed to partake in the random item drop. Their stats would also drop randomly by 1~10 points. This system was set to prevent players from quitting halfway in the middle of a dungeon hunt.

Minhyuk naturally drifted to the back of the group.

Since they told him to just stay behind, then it would be blasphemy if he did not cherish this time to eat his delicious castella cake. He would also occasionally pull out one of Allon's chestnut sweet red bean jelly to chew on.

"Well then, let’s go." The spearman, Roy said as he took the lead.

Ver walked beside Roy, while Minhyuk and Rakku stood behind them. They walked and maintained the most basic party formation as they moved forward.

Just then, a monster appeared in front of them.

"It's a?Mini Ant.?Mini ants?usually use their long arms to pull people in and squeeze them to death. Their grip is much stronger than what you think. Be careful."

A mini ant?was the size of a small tree, standing at around 140cm in height. Minhyuk had already searched for information on Twilight Graveyard before. He knew that the first monster to come out was the mini ant, which would then be followed by…

'Fufufu, something delicious will come out next.'

Allon had told him that the pig would come out once he reached the end of the dungeon. Just the thought alone was enough to make Minhyuk drool. He quickly wiped the drool dripping down his chin as he watched the battle in front of him.

Only one mini ant had come out to welcome them.

Creak―

The mini ant’s branch-like arms stretched towards them. Roy immediately stepped forward to counter the attack.

Strike!

Roy slapped down the arms that were extending towards them in one strike. Minhyuk could tell that the spear in Roy’s hand was quite expensive. Then, Roy dashed forward and quickly narrowed the distance between him and the monster.

Thrust!

"Kiikiiiikiiii!"

The mini ant shrieked loudly as the spear in Roy’s hand hit its body, causing it to fly a distance back. Ver immediately dashed forward and struck it down with his ax.

Thud!

The mini ant collapsed, dropping 104 gold as well as branch-like arms in front of its corpse.

[Party: You have acquired 26 gold.]

[Party: Roy has acquired Mini Ant's Tree Limb(1).]

The gold was distributed among the party members equally, while the miscellaneous item went to Roy.

“That’s how you do it. This will be my last Twilight hunt, so I won’t be able to take you on a?bus?again. Next time you go out hunting, you can tell other parties?‘I have seen a lot of attack patterns.’.?If you say that, they will accept you in their party, Minhyuk,” Roy spoke to Minhyuk with a kind smile on his face.

"That’s great,” Minhyuk answered while chewing loudly.

Chew, chew.~

Roy smiled widely after hearing Minhyuk’s words.

"Ugh…?You hunted it so fast that I wasn't even able to use my magic."

"The best time to use magic is when we are driven into a corner. After all, it uses a lot of MP," ?Roy said, trying to comfort Rakku.

“I saw it earlier. But your spear is really nice, Roy.”

"Hahaha. Well, this is a rare item for beginners. I paid a lot of money for it. Minhyuk's items look nice too, right?"

"I don't know…" Minhyuk answered vaguely.

Everyone in the party thought that Minhyuk had also just paid for his items with money, so they left the topic at that.

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'That spear…'

Minhyuk looked at Roy’s spear. His eyes had been attracted to the weapon ever since he joined the party. He could not explain it, but he had a weird feeling at the sight of the spear, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

"Well then, shall we start hunting in earnest?"

"Yes!"

"Yeah!"

Chomp~

“Yep!"

***

The hunt was going smoothly. Roy was a lot stronger compared to others at his level and Ver was fighting well too. Rakku also timed her Magic Missiles perfectly, often disrupting the enemies’ attacks.

They were currently hunting three mini ants.?Roy suddenly turned to Minhyuk as he watched the mini ant’s limbs stretch forward, and said, "Minhyuk, why don't you try and kill that one?"

It looked like Roy was giving Minhyuk the opportunity to experience hunting a mini ant. This was very common in most power leveling tactics. However, there were a lot of players that got scared with the realistic nature of the game and often failed to hunt any monsters.

Ver laughed mockingly as he said, "What can someone like him do?! He only knows how to eat!"

Jab—

"Keep that mouth shut," Rakku said angrily, jabbing Ver at the side.

"No, did I say something wrong? He’s being carried by us and all he ever does is eat. This guy…"

However, before Ver could even finish his words…

Bang!

Minhyuk had kicked off the ground and dashed forward.

'He's fast.'

Roy's eyes narrowed as he watched Minhyuk move. Meanwhile, Minhyuk hurriedly gulped down the castella as he narrowed the distance between him and the mini ant.

Slash!

Minhyuk slashed the mini ant, tearing through its body. It fell down with a loud thud. In just a single strike, the mini ant had turned into a cold, dead body.

"Oh, that's quite neat."

"He’s that fast?"

Clap, clap.

"We have already whittled down its strength, that's why he was able to one-shot it.?Tch."

Minhyuk was fast. However, everyone thought that he was just a bit faster compared to others at his level. However, one thing that they were not aware of was the fact that Minhyuk had not even made an effort.

After all, was there any need to? The monster in front of them would die with just one hit anyway. Besides, there was something that he wanted to check too.

"Do you do?kendo?in real life?"

"Yes, I've been doing it for quite some time."

"Ah, so that's why your movements were so neat. That's good."

Just like that, they continued to move forward.

***

Changwook logged out of?Athenae?and headed towards the room where Minhyuk’s capsule was. There, he saw Jinhwan, the doctor in charge of Minhyuk, as well as several other medical staff and personnel. It seemed like they were having an interesting conversation.

"It's time for my shift! What are you guys talking about?"

"Ah. General, you’re here?"

"Doc, please."

"Haha. Sorry, sorry. We were just talking about Minhyuk."

"Minhyuk? Why? What’s the matter with him?"

Minhyuk’s dietitian, Im Hyejin, said, "We’ve already known Minhyuk for five years, and we have never seen him become angry before. However, I believe that Minhyuk is a person that definitely gets angry."

"Ah. So no one here has ever seen Minhyuk angry?"

All of the people present nodded.

"It’s because I always see Minhyuk smile everyday~"

"Yeah. I have only seen Minhyuk smile."

Changwook grinned and said, "I've seen it before."

"Huh? Really?"

"For real? Minhyuk got angry?"

"I made a blunder in the past," Changwook said, sitting down with an awkward expression on his face.

"At first, I also thought that Minhyuk was the type of person that does not get angry at all. He's a very funny and lively guy, you know? But, don’t you think that Minhyuk has every right to complain? After all, he doesn’t know why he got this disease and he’s been suffering."

“That’s right, do you remember Director Park Taeil? That guy’s son always called Minhyuk a?‘pig’?behind his back. However, Minhyuk only said?‘Oh, how did you know that I was a pig? You’re really great! Hwiiilk!’?before laughing. I can’t tell you how angry I was at that punk back then.”

"Do you know what I thought when I saw that happen?"

Everyone turned to look at Changwook, waiting for his next words. To which, he said, "Wow, this person is really living well."

"Huh?"

"Look at Minhyuk. His father is a CEO, he has a good personality, he's good at studying, and if you discount the fact that his body is overweight, then he would be a great athlete. Whenever he sets his mind on something, you know that he will always come out on top."

"That's right. Minhyuk has always been exceptional in everything."

"He’s someone who has practically everything. How do you think he, when placed first in school, felt when the last in class asked him?‘Will you be happy if you continue studying like that? Why don’t you enjoy life to the fullest~?’?”

“...You must be thinking?that he?would?feel happy, right? Why? Because he would feel superior when people say that. However, it’s not the same for Minhyuk."

"You're right. Minhyuk has everything so he doesn't care if anyone gossips or says anything bad about him, he will just smile. He's already been through so much in life. Still, he is a very gentle person, and he is a gentleman through and through.”

“Except…when it comes to eating."

"Yeah, he's gentle. Except when it's about eating."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Then Im Hyejin said, "Ah, wait. This isn't what we were talking about. Changwook, you mentioned that you saw Minhyuk angry. How was he then?"

Changwook looked bitter when he recalled the memory. Then he said, "...It was very scary.”

Everyone’s eyes widened at the shocking remarks that came out of Changwook’s mouth.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I only saw his angry face for a fleeting moment. Back then, I think it was… when Minhyuk was still allowed to eat crackers, what…once every two weeks? That day he did not listen to any word that I said and only had his eyes on the crackers. So, I took it away.”

“But right when I did that, the look on Minhyuk's face…"

"What? What did he look like?"

"He looked like a completely different person. He quickly apologized when he realized what happened. And I know that Minhyuk became like that because of his illness, and what I did was wrong as well, so I apologized too. Thankfully, we resolved the situation.”

Everyone nodded as if it was a relief to hear those words.

“After that incident, I also heard that Minhyuk got angry at Secretary Park Munsoo, you know? So, I went to Secretary Park and asked him about it, just so I can be careful about my actions next time.”

"So? What happened?"

“Secretary Park told me a lot. Basically, Minhyuk has a bottom line. Once you cross that line, you’re done for. And he really gets?very?scary?when he’s angry. He will spit out facts to the point that you would feel that it's savage and be speechless. I definitely don’t want to cross that line.”

“You see, it’s completely impossible to attack someone in reality, right? He will just come at ?you with logic. Even that was scary enough. But, what do you think will happen inside the game?”

Everyone gulped in fright.

"I’m sure we’ll see a very angry Minhyuk there. What’s more, there is a PK system inside the game."

***

Roy and Ver were dealing with six mini ants.?However, they started to get overwhelmed as the number of their enemies grew.

"T…the aggro got deflected!" Rakku shouted in a fluster as she launched her Magic Missile,?trying to stop the dying mini ant from approaching her.

Then, Minhyuk suddenly appeared. He quickly stood in front of the mini ant.

Slash!

A single slash of Minhyuk’s sword was able to kill the mini ant easily.

"Are you alright?"

"Ah, yes…!"

However, Roy and Ver were losing aggro. The ones that were coming at Rakku and Minhyuk seemed to have more stamina compared to the ones before.

"Shit, why is the aggro deflecting!" Ver shouted loudly, his temper flaring as he hurriedly chased after the monster that got pulled away.

He knew that he would lose even more points with Rakku if he let her get attacked. However, Ver could not stop a mini ant?from stretching its limbs towards himself. Thankfully, Minhyuk had stepped up in time to protect Rakku.

[Dauntless Strike]

[Additional 20% damage to your strikes.]

Slash!

Minhyuk took out another mini ant before narrowing the distance between the branch-like arm that was reaching towards Ver.

Bang!

"Nice!" Roy shouted, stabbing the back of the?mini ant?as if he was waiting for it to come his way.

Stab!

'This little shit!'

Ver grimaced when he realized that Minhyuk had just helped him. However, Minhyuk did not care about him. He just returned to his position, watching them carefully.

"I'm hungry,” Minhyuk said as he opened a sweet red bean jelly and ate it.

After they finished the hunt, Roy remarked, "Ver, weren't you too distracted? It would have been a big disaster if you had let that mini ant get through our rear."

"Shit, that first-timer keeps on getting on my nerves."

"Minhyuk has been doing a very good job. This is already a great achievement for someone doing his first party quest."

"Ah, no, he's not? That guy just stepped out in front of me and deflected more aggro."

Roy swept his hair back with an awkward expression on his face while Ver bit his lips tightly.

'FXcker, I got embarrassed in front of Rakku.'

It seemed like Ver was under a strong delusion that he had a chance with Rakku. Angry at being embarrassed in front of his "girl", Ver stomped towards Minhyuk.

Aaah~

Minhyuk opened his mouth wide and was just about to put a castella cake in his mouth to satisfy his hunger after the battle when…

"Argh! You're just pigging out as always! You! I have to say something to you. The aggro got deflected because of you,” Ver said, snatching the castella cake away from Minhyuk’s hand.