Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 269: Curse of Baldness

When Minhyuk arrived at the place where Aruvel was supposed to be, he was suddenly subjected to an ant hell. Although Minhyuk, Beanie and Conir were all sucked in an ant hell, they did not fall into panic. Then, at that moment…

“How dare you step foot in here, you fools!”

…they heard a gloomy and dark voice ringing loudly in the area. Then, the notifications began to ring.

[You have encountered the Demon World’s Sage, Aruvel.]

[You have a 200-level difference with this monster.]

[Extreme fear has been triggered.]

Warnings would ring once one encountered a being that was at least 200 levels higher than their current self. This was always the case in the Demon World.

The Demon World had yet to be explored. This unexplored area was a place where demons thrived. Demons could exert 1.3x of their power here as compared to when they were in the human world. In other words, the Level 400 demons that Minhyuk could easily hunt in the human world would be able to exert the power of a Level 500 being here.

At that moment, Sage Aruvel was holding a bright red spear in his hands, as he shouted, “Die!!!”

Hundreds of spear lights from Aruvel’s spear immediately flooded Minhyuk’s vision.

‘I’ll never win against that.’?

Minhyuk was not a fool. He did not need to clash against Aruvel to know if they could stand a chance against the latter. He could already tell Aruvel’s strength just by the force the sage showed with that one attack. Seeing the attack, Minhyuk quickly shouted, “Let’s Have a Meal!!!”

[An invincible barrier has now been created with a radius of five meters. You cannot release an attack on your enemies outside of the barrier.]

[There is a high chance of receiving a higher grade dish when cooking buffed dishes for your party members, guild members and vassals. The party will receive the buff effect accordingly.]

A transparent, round barrier with a radius of five meters was created in a flash. The flying spear lights slammed straight into the barrier.

Baaaaaaaaang―

The spear lights struck the barrier but were deflected and flew away. The invincible barrier was truly unbreakable, but the impact remained.

Bang, bang, bang―!

Aruvel slammed the barrier with all his might. He said, “You’re cowards for putting up such things!”

Meanwhile, inside the barrier, Minhyuk thought, ‘The effects of Let’s Have a Meal will depend on how I use it.’?

Skills and abilities would have different effects and efficiency depending on how they were used.

.

Then, Minhyuk said, “Hehe. Mister Aruvel, hello! I couldn’t greet you properly because you suddenly attacked me, but I’m Minhyuk. As a matter of fact, I heard that Aruvel was quite a gourmand so I came here to treat you to a meal.”

“Stop playing tricks on me!”

Alas, Aruvel did not listen to his words as he continued to strike the barrier fiercely.

“I really don’t want to fight Mister Aruvel. How am I even supposed to fight against you?”

“I told you to stop playing tricks on me…!”

Aruvel’s expression was clearly filled with anger. Minhyuk could not help but sigh as he took out his grill. He looked like he did not have any other choice. Then, he started grilling pork ribs on the grill.

Sizzle―

The dark sauce that coated and marinated the ribs made a loud and sizzling sound as soon as the ribs made contact with the grilling pan.

Then, the tempting smell wafted over and entered Aruvel’s nose.

***

‘Who the hell is this guy?’

This man suddenly appeared in front of Aruvel and said that he wanted to treat the latter to a meal, since Aruvel was a gourmand. When he could not communicate with Aruvel properly, he just sat down and began to grill some unknown meat in front of him.

‘But the meat the humans cooked back then was really delicious.’

Aruvel was shocked when he tasted human food back when he went to their world. The only dishes they ate in the Demon World were raw meat from the demonic monsters and plants that tasted like rotten eggs. On the contrary, the human world had pigs, cows, chickens and vegetables that were fresh and delicious.

Suddenly, a mouthwatering smell tickled the tips of his nose.

‘N…no. What kind of smell is this that can make my heart tremble so much…!’

Aruvel’s eyes shook. The smell was sweet, with a faint scent of charcoal, easily stimulating his appetite. Without realizing it, his mouth was already watering as he continued to watch the man in front of him gnaw on the glossy red meat. He could not help but slurp his saliva back inside his mouth.

‘It looks really delicious…’

Aruvel had only one desire in his life, and that was to taste food from the human world once again.

‘Wait, that guy is a human.’

Aruvel did not know what the human was up to and he kept on telling himself in his head that he should not approach the man. However, his feet were already bringing him closer to the man. He could see the man placing some pickled onion on top of the seasoned meat. Just when he was about to put it in his mouth…

“I…I want to try that,” Aruvel unknowingly said. He immediately came back to his senses.

‘My goodness! I almost fell for this cunning guy’s ulterior motive!’

Then, the man said, “We can’t attack each other in this barrier. If that’s the case, then I can’t do anything bad to you, right? Come on in, quickly.”

His words were somehow stronger than the alluring whispers of the three great demons.

“Are you sure that we can’t attack each other there?”

“Yes, please look carefully.”

The man lifted his sword and tried to use his skill, but the red light that quickly flashed on his sword disappeared just as quickly.

‘It’s true.’

The thoughts in Sage Aruvel’s head quickly turned.

‘There’s no way that they will harm me there since they can’t attack me.’

Sage Aruvel realized one other important thing.

‘That’s right. When was the last time that I tasted human food? Once that barrier gets terminated and I have finished eating, I can just kill them by then.’

He laughed gleefully as he finally moved into the barrier. Once he stepped inside, Aruvel also tried to point his spear at the man just to double check. At that exact same moment, an unidentified force controlled his attack.

‘It’s really true.’

That meant that he could eat freely. Once he was done eating, he could kill this human being in front of him.

***

Aruvel hurriedly chomped on the pork ribs. Then, Minhyuk carefully placed the spicy cold noodles in front of him.

“This dish is called pork ribs, while this one is called cold noodles. It’s best to eat them together.”

“Ahem, ahem.?Right, I’ll give them a taste.”

Aruvel placed a piece of pork ribs on top of the glistening red noodles. Then, he slurped the noodles and ribs together. The spicy and sweet flavor of the noodles together with the soft and sweet taste of the meat spread in his mouth. Aruvel’s eyes widened in shock when he tasted such delicacy.

“It…It’s really delicious,” Aruvel said in awe.

Minhyuk could not help but look at the demon with a little disgust when he saw Aruvel hurriedly devouring the dishes in front of him. However, this was the only plausible method since he knew better than anyone else that Aruvel longed for something delicious.

Then, Minhyuk took something else out of his inventory.

Crack, crack, crack, crack―

The sound of cracking came when he turned and opened the lid. It was none other than soju. It was even the blueberry fruit type.

“Well then, it’s delicious if we drink this together!”

“What’s this?”

“It’s some kind of juice, but it’s a superb combination with the food that we’re eating right now.”

Minhyuk smiled softly. He knew that Aruvel would try to avoid his urge to drink in order to not get drunk. However, fruit soju was sweet enough for it to be called a juice and Aruvel, who most likely did not have enough experience with human drinks, would most likely believe this.

Minhyuk poured the alcohol generously in the shot glass. Then, he drank the soju in one shot.

[You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all abnormal states.]

Then, he got a notification.

When Aruvel saw that nothing happened to Minhyuk, he eagerly filled his shot glass with alcohol. Then, he drank it and said, “Hoo? This is quite an interesting drink. At first, it has a sweet and fruity flavor, but there’s also a bitter and pungent aftertaste.”

“That’s the charm of this drink.”

“I see.”

Aruvel found the drink to be delicious as he gulped the contents of the glass in one shot. Then he said, “One more glass.”

“Yes.”

One glass became two, then two became three, four and so on.

Then…

Crack, crack, crack, crack―

…without realizing it, Minhyuk had already opened a few more bottles.

“Kggghk. This tastes so good! The meat is good and the drink is great too.”

“Hahahahaha. Right?”

It was all going according to Minhyuk’s plans.

***

While Minhyuk was eagerly offering drink after drink to Aruvel, Conir and Beanie sneakily came out of the barrier.

Conir was excitedly staring at the ramyeon that was starting to boil.

“Conir!!! This time will be a success!!!”

“Oink!”

Beanie nodded seriously with his arms folded on his chest. It had decided to teach Conir how to cook ramyeon so it was supervising the latter’s work right now.

Not long after, Conir was able to cook ramyeon. The ramyeon was piping hot with steam blowing above it. However, a notification rang loudly in Conir’s head.

[You have failed the Quest: Cooking Level 1 Best Ramyeon.]

“….”

Conir felt sad. This notification was thanks to his ‘tenacity’ skill. With this ‘tenacity’ skill, Conir would tenaciously focus on one task as various quests pop out. He would be able to obtain skills as rewards if he succeeded in the quests. This was a privilege that only NPC Conir had.

Beanie approached Conir when it saw him looking at the ramyeon sadly with his doe-like eyes.

“Oooink.”

‘It’s alright, Conir.’

“Oiink, oiink.”

‘You’ll be able to reach my level someday too.’

“Oooooooink.”

‘Don’t be discouraged by your failures.’

“Oink, oink.”

‘I will teach you today.’

“Teach?”

“Oink, oink.”

Conir finally responded to the word ‘teach’. Beanie nodded at him. Then, it proceeded to speak to him with a grave and somber expression on its face.

“Oink, oink.”

“I’ll find out soon?”

Conir waited as he stared at his ramyeon. His eyes could not help but widen in shock when something happened ten minutes later. Beanie smiled quietly as he looked at the distant mountains with his hands behind his back.

Conir trembled as he looked at the ramyeon with admiration and awe. He said, “Woa… Woooooooow…?The…there’s a lot of ramyeon!”

Beanie nodded slowly as it tapped him on his shoulders.

“Oiiink.”

‘This is exactly what I meant when I told you that I will teach you.’

It was a lesson where the amount of ramyeon increases even if one did not do anything. Beanie patted Conir’s shoulders once again as it turned its back on him. Then, Beanie slowly moved away from Conir with its hands behind its back. Beanie looked like a supreme martial arts master with his posture. Its expression was one of sadness, as if it was feeling the nostalgia of its oldest disciple leaving the nest.

Conir stared at Beanie’s desolate back and said, “Co…Conir… W…wants to be like B…Beanie… Conir! Will be like you!”

Strangely enough, Conir suddenly wanted to be like Beanie.

***

Minhyuk’s plan was finally getting ready for harvest.

“Pour me another glass.”

Glug, glug, glug―

Gulp, gulp, gulp!

“Kggghk!?Thwis dhrink ish really delishcious! In the old days!”

‘It has begun.’

This was the sound of an adult man getting drunk—In the old days!?And they would repeat themselves.

Then, Aruvel reiterated, “So in the old days!!!”

They would recount events from their past days, one event, two events, and another, and another...

“I used to be very…! Huh?!”

Their stories would always begin with ‘In the old days,’ and they would continue to speak about their success. Then, it would end with…

“Haa…”

Aruvel’s misty eyes stared despondently at the distant mountains as he began to shed tears.

“What’s so wrong about living my demon life…”

When this moment came, Minhyuk nodded as he patted Aruvel’s back gently.

Pat, pat―

“It’s okay. Everything is just like that. Human life… n…no, de…demon life is just like that. Right?”

“Thanks. It feels good to be comforted.”

“Come on, have another drink.”

“Right. Boy, you’re a very good person. This, this…”

Aruvel suddenly began to search all over his own body. Then, he took something out and stuck it out to Minhyuk’s face.

“Come on, take this. Pocket money, this is pocket money!”

At the final stage of drunkness, Aruvel gave him some pocket money! A notification rang in Minhyuk’s head as he received his pocket money.

[You have acquired 210 platinum.]

“…”

Minhyuk stared blankly as he received pocket money equivalent to 210 platinum. If it was exchanged for cash, that would be billions of cold hard cash.

Aruvel just stared at Minhyuk blearily as he continued to speak, “But boy, thwis ish rearry delishcious. Best dish ever. In the whole world.”

“Thank you.”

Minhyuk smiled softly at his praise. Aruvel suddenly turned silent as he pondered deeply about something before asking Minhyuk, “Boy, will I be able to keep eating something delicious if I’m with you?”

“I guess?”

“Hic?”

Aruvel pulled something out from his sleeves again. Then, he wrote down some words before giving them to Minhyuk.

“Then I’ll go with you.”

At the same time, the notifications rang for Minhyuk.

[Aruvel has created a pledge of allegiance.]

[He won’t be able to attack you for one week.]

[The pledge of allegiance has taken effect.]

[The effects of the pledge of allegiance will reduce the NPC’s abilities significantly if the pledge was made by an NPC that has a higher level than you.]

“…”

An unexpected variable suddenly appeared in his plans.