Chapter 4.1: Garlic Bread and Soup

ChubbyCheeks

Woosh!

The capsule slowly opened as Minhyuk opened his eyes and stepped out of it.

His medical team had required him to take a 30-minute break for every four hours that he played the game. This was so his team could monitor his health condition and for him to eat amd appease his hunger in reality.

After playing, he could feel the pangs of hunger in his stomach. However he could see the rest of the people staring at him and waiting for his reaction. All of them were looking at him attentively.

"H— how was it?"

"Were you able to eat something?"

"Yes…"

Minhyuk nodded sullenly as he acceptes the box filles with cherry tomatoes. He looked at the box as if he was looking at bitter medicine, with disgust and contempt.

"But why do you look so disappointed?"

"Because I can't eat it right now."

Minhyuk answered their questions as he munched on his cherry tomatoes.

As soon as his voice fell……

Giggle!

Everyone chuckled at him.

"It was really delicious…"

"What did you eat?"

Oh Changwook curiously asked him.

"It was hard bread."

Among everyone present, those who had access and played Athenae immediately lost their smiles once they heard him.

Hard bread? Was it really that tasteless dry bread? That bread which all of those poor, broke novices eat to satisfy their fullness stat? It was delicious?

Even if they believed that it was weird, once they looked at it through Minhyuk's perspective then they could understand his thoughts to some extent.

"I can go back in after a 30-minute break, right?"

Minhyuk looked at Jinhwan and asked him.

"That's right."

This was his first access and log-out from the game. So far, they have not yet seen any problems or abnormalities in him. However, right now, they could see a bit of change in Minhyuk……

"I want to go back in quickly and eat that hard bread~"

Minhyuk's face was finally filled with smiles. However, Jinhwan could only give a bitter smile when he thought of Minhyuk before.

'We have never seen him smile like this before.'

Everyone knew Minhyuk as someone who was cheerful and energetic. He had never lost the smile on his face even after going through such a rare illness. However, most of his smiles and laughter were made just so he could get out of an awkward situation or just so he would not worry the people around him.

But right now, Minhyuk was truly smiling.

'For Minhyuk, more than anything, he is truly happy when he is eating.'

Jinhwan shook his head to clear the depressing thoughts out of his mind.

"Ah! Minhyuk, you've finished the hunting tutorial and entered the novice zone right?"

"Nope. I'm actually still hitting the scarecrow."

"Whaaaaat?"

Oh Changwook's eyes widened in surprise. The scarecrow hitting quest was a quest that could be completed in an hour so everyone was quite confused when he told them that he was still hitting the scarecrow. Minhyuk had to narrate what he had done and experienced so far just to clear the confusion away.

"...Is that so?"

What a strange way of playing games. He wanted to eat more bread so he kept on hitting the scarecrow?

For Changwook who's ranked higher this was something that was completely incomprehensible.

Playing games are supposed to be about leveling up and gaining skills, right?"It looks like you'll take a little while longer before you get to the novice zone, huh?"

"You're absolutely correct. General, sir!"

"Hey……! Drop it already!"

Oh Changwook grimaced at his words.

Minhyuk held his mobile phone as he continued to eat his cherry tomatoes and salad quickly. He went to Athenae's official homepage and searched for 'Things to eat in Ardo.' in preparation for his entry in the novice zone. For regular users, it was truly an unusual thing to search for.

Minhyuk browsed the search results keenly.

[Guys, have you tried eating the bark of the pine trees in Ardo? It tastes so frickin good [1]!

—MyPooColor: He's doing it again… Last time his character ate weeds and died hahahahahaha

—Wonderboy: Attention seeker hahaha. I'll recommend a recipe to you, mix rice and horse poop. Give it a try. Lmao.

—DaddyKong: Mr. Wonder, he might really do it…

There are a lot of strange people in this world and it seems like it's the same in the game too.

Minhyuk continued to scroll down as he looked through the post. Suddenly, his hands stopped at one post in particular.

'T— this is it…!'

He read the contents on the post in rapt attention. Not long after, his body trembled as his eyes widened in surprise.

"Hey, what's wrong with you…!"

"Mi… Minhyukie! Don't tell me that his body still can't cope without eating for 4 hours?!"

The surroundings were suddenly caught in an uproar but Minhyuk shook his head calmly and smiled at them to comfort them.

"I- it's not what you think…"

"...huh?"

"If I finish attacking the scarecrow and exit the area then I can find chickens!"

"Ah, chicken? They're easy to catch. You can just hit them a few times and they'll die. They're really just there for you to practice before hunting monsters for real."

That was not important. What was important was……

Chicken.

What kind of existence was a chicken…

"Chicken tastes delicious whether it's roasted, fried or boiled!"

"Ah…"

Everyone reacted at the same time.

We understand.

However, right now, Minhyuk was being tormented.

'But right now…'

I still want to eat bread.

He still wanted to eat a lot of bread so he was a bit conflicted about what he should do. However, he still made up his mind.

'I still want to eat more bread.'

Gulp, I can eat chickens as soon as I can too. I don't know how many times I have eaten bread but I still want to eat more.

He was both stubborn and persistent on all of the things that he had set his mind on. It was the same reason as to why he had topped the CSAT and why he excelled in all of the endeavors that he dipped his feet on.

'That's right, naengmyeon [2] and eggs will be the finale.'

He will be one of those few people who ate naengmyeon and eggs as the finale.

Yeah, save the best for last!

But there was still one thing that was bothering him.

'You can't just catch a chicken and eat it alive right?'

I don't have any tools and utensils.After pondering on different methods to acquire tools, Minhyuk finally thought of a brilliant idea. Just as he thought of the NPC he included in his idea, he saw the name in the forums. It came up as a related search entry while he was browsing the internet, 'Ardo's Instructor, Valen' was what was posted.

He quickly clicked on the topic and what greeted him when he clicked were posts from users which were full of grievances and discontent.

Minhyuk clicked on one and started reading.

[Ardo's scarecrow instructor Valen is so scary and unfriendly… So scary [3], having to strike 50 times is already hard enough but I only get bread and bottled water and he even threw it at me and gave me a disgusted look… I mean why do you have to throw it at me, he's such a jerk! Aren't the users king? Why is this NPC like this?]

—KingtoMan: …? The problem is probably with your personality. Are you like this even in your daily life? NPCs are like humans too. If you treated him nicely, won't he treat you the same way?

—SailorTop: Instructor Valen is famous for being unfriendly. If I were you, you should have looked for the meaning of 'Manner maketh man.'[4] haha. You're lucky you've just started.

—iLuvSpinningWheels: It's true that Instructor Valen is a bit strict… But if everyday you welcome beginners who talk and look down on you then you would also be very annoyed…

'Hmm?'

Minhyuk couldn't understand what they were talking about in the comments.

'Instructor Valen?'

That man was very kind to him. He nodded repeatedly and thought that he should pay back all of the kindness he had shown him in his stay in the training grounds. After all, Minhyuk was only trying to do what his father had taught him.

Don't take advantage of the kindness of others and don't neglect the weak.

This situation was the same. Even though he was always at home studying, he had received the best education from his father so he wanted to do the best that he could to show the world that his father had taught him well.

Minhyuk who finished checking the information about Instructor Valen in Athenae's homepage switched to another site. It's that site where you can find all of the information you need… 'Nava'.

He searched 'hard bread recipes' in Nava since right now what he wanted to eat was a bread that tasted even better than the bread that he was currently eating.

In fact, Minhyuk was not all thaty good at cooking. It wasn't because he was not able to try his hand at it… But it was because he always ended up eating the ingredients while trying to make food! He even gained a lot of weight because he wanted to try his hand at it.

But inside the game?

It might be possible.

"I'm going back inside."

"Are you going to eat chicken?"

"No, nope. I'm going to eat bread."

"Why?"

"No pain, no gain. I have to eat something delicious after working so hard."

After leaving those words, Minhyuk swaggered back inside the capsule.

"I don't understand. If I were you, I'd go and eat chicken right away."

"Haha, I can understand Minhyukie's feelings."

Jinhwan smiled at him.

"Doctor understands too?"

"Isn't it like that? It's like someone wants to go to the buffet and eat a lot of things while the other wants to focus on one dish and raise its quality and taste. Aren't you the latter, Minhyukie?"

"Ah…."

"It's been years since he last had bread, he probably wants to eat it like crazy until he gets sick of it."

Jinhwan stood up and said…

"Do you understand it now, General, sir?"

"Ah… ah… arghh…! Kang Minhyuk, this is your fault!"

Oh Changwook was likely to kick his blanket in his sleep tonight [5].

***

Footnotes

[Novice Zone] I seem to have said before that Ardo was the novice zone but it seems like the novice zone is a big area so he's just in the tutorial area. Back

[Minhyukie] It says Minhyuk-kun in the raws but… Isn't that for JP?? So I changed it to Minhyukie. Back

[1] The raws says 졸맛탱 but I think it's 존맛탱 which is a slang. It's an abbr for 존나 맛있는거 가탱 which means it's really really delicious. Back

[2] Naengmyeon: cold noodle soup Back

[3] Raw says ㄷㄷ this is a shorthand for 덜덜 which means trembling or shaking they use it to say that it's scary. Back

[4] It actually literally says that manner makes the man. Manner maketh man is a saying which means that your behavior and manners shows the people around you what type of person you are. If you show no manners towards others then it reflects that you are a bad person or someone who does not respect other people. Back

[5] Raw says 이불킥 which is a combination of blanket and kick which refers to a situation where someone lies in bed but suddenly remembers an embarrassing moment so he kicks his blanket in shame. Back

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