Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 463: Japanese Server

He could not help but wonder about the identity of the damn player being reflected on his screen. Even Team Leader Tadayoshi was flustered.

“Who the hell is that guy?! Is it not enough for him to pass through the passageway without a travel pass?! He even befriended the Kraken King?!”

After his outburst, Tadayoshi was left speechless. Even the new employee, Ryota, was fidgeting on his seat from nervousness.

“Ryota! Contact the Korean Branch!”

“Yes, sir!” The flustered and restless Ryota answered as he hurriedly contacted the Korean Branch.

[Yes, hello. This is Employee Lee Minhwa of the South Korean Branch’s Special Players Management Team.]

“Hello. This is New Employee Ryota of the Japanese Branch’s Special Players Management Team. We’re contacting you regarding the Korean Player that managed to pass through the passageway connecting the two continents this time…” Ryota explained to the woman, Lee Minhwa, who answered the phone.

From what he heard, the Korean employee Lee Minhwa had less than two years of experience in the field. However, she was a woman that was praised for her outstanding work by all of the company’s branches in the world.

“In line with that, we would like to request the players’ information!” Ryota said after deciding that he should know who his enemy was. However, the answer that he received was like a bolt out of the blue.

[I’m sorry. We cannot disclose any information about another server’s player.]

“Wh… what?! But the situation right now is…”

.

[Please take another look at Chapter 4 of Joy Co. Ltd.’s ‘Player Information Protection’ Manual. We strictly abide by these rules.]

Ryota’s eyes turned blank after hearing her answer. In the end, it seemed like they would not be able to learn about the man’s identity.

Ryota completely understood what Lee Minhwa was saying. President Kang Taehoon had strictly banned exchanges of players’ information between different countries in fear of information leakage. After all, they risked leaking the country’s player’s personal information, skills, and artifacts.

[Team Leader Park said that he understands where you’re coming from. However, we can only say one thing to you. The Japanese Branch needs to be prepared.]

Ryota’s hand, which was holding the telephone’s receiver, shook. Today was his third day on the job, but it felt like he was suddenly presented with a death sentence.

[He is one of our country’s top figures. Ah, from what I recall, the Japanese Branch calls those kinds of people ‘Disaster Class Players’ right? That player is a Disaster Class Player. Please be careful. You’ll definitely be shocked every time you see that player. I wish you luck.]

“…!!!”

Ryota hung up the call, his eyes shaking wildly as he turned to look at the man who was waving enthusiastically at the Kraken King.

‘A Disaster Class Player…?’

***

Minhyuk waved enthusiastically at the Kraken King, Sukhoe, as he recalled what happened earlier.

When he was settling down after fishing to eat his hard-earned blue crab ramyeon, a gigantic shadow fell upon him. As he turned around to look, he was met with the vicious and ferocious eyes of the Kraken King. Strangely enough, the Kraken King’s eyes were focused solely on the ‘blue crab ramyeon’ in Minhyuk’s hands. It seemed completely hungry.

‘If only Sukhoe’s a monster that I can eat then…’

The Kraken King would have definitely been hunted and eaten! However, Sukhoe was a monster that did not shine with that ‘black light’, so it was classified as inedible. That was when he saw the Kraken King acting meekly, completely different from what he imagined. He wondered why it became that hungry. After all, the Kraken King was a ruler of the sea.

That was when he saw a huge harpoon stuck inside its mouth.

‘My goodness! It must have been so painful that it can’t eat, that’s why it’s so hungry!’

Minhyuk could understand its pain, and he readily removed the harpoon stuck inside the Kraken King’s mouth. On top of that, he got close to the Kraken King after he gave it the name Octopus Sukhoe.

And Sukhoe, who appeared right now, looked completely like what it was described in the legends about the Kraken King. It was around 25 meters in height and its huge tentacles seemed to be able to break a warship into two with just one slam.

But then, Sukhoe suddenly stretched out one of its tentacles and pulled something out. It was as if he was trying to tell Minhyuk something. And Minhyuk understood what it was saying easily.

“A sack?”

Sukhoe nodded furiously. And when Minhyuk took the sack out, it shook its tentacle. Then…

Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting, ting—

…countless platinum coins fell inside the sack.

[The Kraken King has gifted you 941 platinum.]

“…Suk, Sukhoe?” Minhyuk asked in surprise. There was no other choice. After all, the amount of platinum that Sukhoe gave him was worth 94.1 billion gold. If he converted that gold to cash, then he would be able to gain billions of won.

But it did not end there.

Clang, clang!

Sukhoe kept on sending countless artifacts, decrees, and valuable items inside Minhyuk’s sack.

‘Crazy…!’

‘What the hell is going on?! The Kraken King is willingly giving out its treasures?!’

The three pirates looked at the scene in disbelief. This was because the Kraken King was clearly giving out its artifacts, gold, and decree parchments.

Monsters also have the concept of inventories. As for monsters that lived for hundreds of years, the rewards for hunting them were relatively large mainly because of their collection. The Kraken King had lived in these seas for more than 500 years. In fact, the three pirates were after these rewards. But now…

Clink, clink, clink, clink, clink—

[The Kraken King has gifted you the Diamond Mermaid’s Scales.]

[The Kraken King has gifted you the Mermaid Warrior’s Trident.]

[The Kraken King has gifted you 713 aqua stones.]

[The Kraken King has gifted you the Turtle Dragon’s Armor.]

[The Kraken King…]

The rewards kept on pouring in Minhyuk’s sack which made him very, very, very happy!

‘I have four goals to achieve during my visit here in the Japanese Server.’

One. Get the Eternal Flames.

Two. Eat the famous Japanese food.

Three. To develop the kingdom.

Four. To find support troops.

Minhyuk did not come here just for the Eternal Flames and the food. He also came here to discover new talents and valuable items that he could not get his hands on in Korea.

‘Just a glance and one can tell that these aqua stones are amazing.’

The Beyond the Heavens Kingdom currently lacked good ores and minerals to create proper artifacts. But thanks to Sukhoe, he was not only able to get 713 aqua stones that were perfect for artifact reinforcement, but also the scales of the Diamond Mermaid, which were materials that were good for making armor, as well as countless valuable resources, armor, swords, bows, and even spears for soldiers.

Meanwhile, the three pirates…

‘’…We don’t need to kill the Kraken King.’

‘We will get more artifacts if we kill him.’

‘He’s like a walking treasure chest.’

…were all grinning widely. That was right. The man in front of them was now like a walking treasure chest. And they were coveting the artifacts that this man would drop the moment they killed him.

[Party Chat | Nana: How about luring him to the Pirate’s Grave?]

[Party Chat | Taichi: That’s a very good idea.]

The Pirate’s Grave was a famous island where Great Pirate Gorfido’s curse was lurking. The Great Pirate Gorfido was said to have been a very greedy pirate. According to the rumors, death did not stop Gorfido’s greed. He became a ghost and even invaded pirate ships and other ships so he could take away their treasures and valuables. In the end, he could not escape the grip of death and faced eternal rest in the island called the Pirate’s Grave, while his dark and greedy energy covered the entire island.

Since then, the island was considered to be a ‘Taboo Zone’ and players were recommended to not visit this place. This was mainly because the players’ inventory drop rate would rise to more than 50% upon death inside the Pirate’s Grave. This meant that they would risk losing their possessions. In other words, they risked losing half of all of the miscellaneous items and valuables in their inventory, except for what they had equipped on their body. The worst part was the fact that they would receive twice the usual amount of penalty upon death.

Even pirates that were used to plundering did not dare to venture there.

‘It is said that Gorfido’s spirit will descend to judge upon those that wished to plunder.’

That raised the question: When would he descend?

However, only the Red Goblin that guarded the passageway between the two continents knew about Gorfido’s existence.

Gorfido would descend once and give judgment upon the pirates. A pirate judging other pirates was extremely strange to say, but Gorfido hated the fact that someone else took things from him. His judgment depended on how many people his opponents had killed and could go on for as long as 90 days. Also, as long as they were within Gorfido’s grasp, they would continue to drop artifacts, gold and valuables, even if they did not die yet.

‘However, this is something that only a few know, even those people like us that always sailed the seas.’

‘There’s no way someone from another continent will know about this.’

‘Hoho. If we take him to the Pirate’s Grave and kill him then we’ll be able to take away a lot from him, right?’

The man was definitely their big catch. All three of them were greedy about the things that were in the man’s inventory, especially the platinum that he received earlier! They would still be able to gain an enormous amount even if they would only be able to get half of that!

“Sukhoe, byeeeeee! See you next time!” The man waved his hand as he promised to see the Kraken King next time.

‘He’s really an idiot, huh?’

That bright smile of his was definitely a sign that he was a pushover! The three snickered as they approached him.

“We want to pass by the ‘Pirate’s Treasure Island’ before going to land. Want to join us?”

“Pirate’s Treasure Island?”

“Yes. There’s an event that’s held once a month in the Pirate’s Treasure Island where your EXP acquisition rate and item drop rate increases by five times. On top of that, getting an amazing artifact is a sure win if you can kill the Pirate Leader boss mob. That’s today, would you like to come with us?”

“Oooooooh. There’s something good like that here?”

The three lied with a straight face.

And Minhyuk, who was nodding fiercely, smirked when they turned away from him.

***

A huge warship threaded through the rough waters.

Grrrrrrrrrrr! Bang! Bang!

Suddenly, the skies darkened as a violent thunderstorm roared and poured down. The skies were so dark that anyone would doubt if someone told them that it was the middle of the day.

“This is how much the climate changes on the way to the Pirate’s Treasure Island. But once you overcome this rough patch at sea, you will be able to get amazing treasures. You know?”

“There’s this old saying from our country: April showers bring May flowers,” Minhyuk said with a smile as their trembling ship finally reached an island. Once they reached the island, the waters turned calm, and only the dark skies and the falling rain remained.

When the warship stopped, Nana said, “Get off.”

“I’m going first?” Minhyuk wavered.

‘He’s… doubting us? Well, that’s understandable.’

‘No other choice. We’ll have to get off first. Anyway, we’ll get off to hunt him too.’

They thought that Minhyuk’s class was a ‘tamer’ and believed that they could finish him off quickly as long as they moved fast. Nana first anchored the ship to the island and brought down the bridge so they could go down to the Pirate’s Grave. Then, Taichi and Baroch went down as Minhyuk slowly threaded down the bridge.

The three smiled at Minhyuk and said, “Be careful.”

But, what they were saying outside was different from what they were thinking.

‘Come, you moron.’

‘Will this be the first time someone has PKed a Korean player here? Wow, a global PK.’

‘From what I heard, Korean players would be sent back to their continent once they are forced to log out. How pathetic.’

They were grinning widely just by thinking about what was about to unfold. But at that moment, Minhyuk, who was coming down the bridge, suddenly stopped.

“But you know, there’s something really strange here.”

“Something strange?”

They tilted their heads in confusion when they saw him stop his descent.

“Yes. First, why are there only three people on such a huge warship? It’s as if the ship has been plundered,” Minhyuk said, raising one finger up. Then, he raised another finger.

“Second. Your navy uniforms don’t fit. Especially yours. It looks like you took it away from someone.”

Then, Minhyuk looked back at the warship, before raising the third finger, and said, “Third. According to Red Goblin, the island where the climate changes drastically is not called the Pirate’s Treasure Island, but the ‘Pirate’s Grave’.

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

Their faces turned ugly as they watched Minhyuk turn around. Then, Minhyuk used his skill ‘Like the Wind’ and went back to the warship in one go. Along with that…

Bang—

Minhyuk pulled out his sword from his inventory and immediately swung it down on the bridge.

Crack, crack, crack, crack—

Minhyuk smiled as the bridge that connected the ship and the island broke down.

“And because of that, you guys, who tried to hit me in the back, will be given the same treatment that you want to do to me.”

“Hi, hiiiiiiik…!”

“Do you think you can run away, huh?!”

“That’s bullshit.”

They thought that the man was foolish enough to think that they would not be able to get on the warship just because he had broken the bridge connecting to it.

To their dismay, Minhyuk just laughed viciously and said, “But you know, today’s the day when the most threatening existence in the Japanese Server, the one comparable to demons, appears. Today’s the day that Great Pirate Gorfido will descend.”

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

They immediately turned around after hearing his words and seeing Minhyuk jerk his chin forward as if he was pointing behind them. There, they saw a skeleton with glittering and sparkling bones like that of a Death Knight. On his head was a black hat commonly worn by pirates and a ragged black pirate robe on his body.

[Great Pirate Gorfido has appeared!]

[Gorfido’s Wrath!]

[Gorfido’s Wrath will increase in power against those with a higher kill count.]

[Gorfido’s power has bound you for five straight seconds.]

Before getting their bodies bound, they were able to turn around to see Minhyuk’s smiling face.

“Gorfido will now constantly strip you of your artifacts, gold, and valuables. And those things that were stolen from you, I’ll make sure to take good care of them. Ah, by the way, I’m sure you know this, but Gorfido will definitely lock you up on this island for at least 90 days. Heh,” Minhyuk smiled as he spoke, but his voice was filled with frost.

Then, he uttered the Japanese word that the ten-year-olds back home would often say when they were in a good mood, “Ki~ Mo~ Chi!”