Minhyuk and his friends looked at Carr. ‘How can he be so predictable?’ was what ran through their heads. They had completely grasped his personality. After all, he had already done this once before. After losing to Minhyuk back in middle school, Carr, or Lee Da-Woul in reality, had immediately gone to the players’ waiting room and caused a huge ruckus before going away. Right now, he was again making a scene, just like he did back then.

“You’re toying with me, right?! You, Kang Minhyuk! How dare you mock me just like you did before?! How dare you!” 

“What are you talking about? I would like you to leave. Isn’t it only polite to not do something like this in the players’ waiting room?” 

“Polite?! Polite?! You f*ckers!” 

Kick!

Carr kicked the chair that was right next to him. Minhyuk had already predicted that this would happen. He knew that Carr had a hot-tempered personality that did not care about anything else once he got angry.

“Because of you…” 

“Why is it because of us? You lost because you’re weak,” Khan said.

Carr just snorted as he mocked them. He said, “One win, and it goes to all three of your heads.” 

Then, the three of them crossed their legs and nodded at the same time. They said, “Yeah.” 

Carr’s face flushed red but Locke, took this opportunity to say, “I’m sorry, but at least we’re not as low-class as you to threaten other people. After all, you were the one who threatened me first. Didn’t you tell me that you will tell the whole world that I used to be a loner? So, I got angry and did that whole ‘Uweeeeeck!’ fiasco. It made me into a ‘rude and unlikeable’ person that the whole nation hates. So, what are you talking about here when you lost to us once? Are you here to blame us for winning the competition?” 

To be honest, nothing came to Carr, even if he wanted to retort. However, he was too agitated at the moment, that all he wanted to do was curse at them. He said, “That’s right. Anyway, a loner and an outcast like you will not be able to live until the end. The same goes for you, Minhyuk. Khan, you? Your life will not be smooth sailing either, because I’m not going to let this slide in Athenae.” 

Locke immediately quipped, “‘That’s right’ you said? So, you admit it? You admit to threatening me first?”

“Revealing that shitty life of yours? Sure. I’m going to get someone to do it all on the internet…” Carr jeered, before a sudden flash appeared from somewhere.

Click, click!

There were several cameras sticking out of the changing room, capturing everything that had just happened.

“…”

Carr was both confused and flustered. When he realized what happened, he started trembling violently. He had made himself out to be the gentleman and polite gold medalist in front of the media. He was even chosen by plenty of women as the ‘Number One Polite Male to go on a Blind Date with’. Alas, there were plenty of reporters in front of him, and the entire fiasco had been recorded.

Minhyuk, Locke and Khan all simultaneously crossed their hands on their chests as they spoke one after the other.

“We wanted to tell you.”

“Just in case, we wanted to give it to you if you came.”

“We prepared a present for you?”

“…!”

Then, they stretched out their hands as if they were giving out gifts to him. Starting from the left, Minhyuk pulled out his hand from his chest and raised his middle finger at him.

“Eat shit~”

Locke, who was in the middle, also popped his middle finger out.

“Eat two shits~”

And finally, Khan, who was on the right-most side, pulled out both of his hands and raised two middle fingers at him.

“Eat three shits~”

Then, the three of them all puffed their cheeks out as they blew their tongues at him. The three of them all looked at him with unkind gazes saying…

“Hey, you’re the f*cker! Ptew!”

“Hey, you’re the f*cker! Ptew!”

“Hey, you’re the f*cker! Ptew!”

They showed very fantastic chemistry.

***

Alicia and Lucia were both waiting in front of the players’ waiting room. Since they both knew Minhyuk, they decided to come here and congratulate him. 

Lucia’s cheeks flushed a deep red as she thought, ‘Minhyuk…’

She had failed to meet him during the previous competition! She even sent whispers of ‘Do you want to eat ramyeon?’ to Minhyuk. However Minhyuk, who was afraid for his food, always avoided her. 

‘But today!’ 

She was sure that she would be able to talk to him if she sent him her congratulations.

Meanwhile, Alicia felt her heart shake for the first time when she watched Minhyuk fight against Carr. This was the first time that she had experienced something like this in her life. He had become more likable in her eyes after she watched him easily defeat Carr, who was believed to be ranked number one in the unofficial rankings.

“Lucia. Men usually like innocent looking women with long hair. The kind that looks good in jeans.”

“Hoho. Unnie~ What are you talking about? Men like women with a chic bob. And what men really like the most are women with a sensual body, right? Hohoho!” Lucia said, puffing her chest up with a wide grin on her face.

A strange war of nerves broke out between the two women. It was a scene where two of the most beautiful women in the country were arguing about such things just because of one person.

Some of the other players saw them acting like this.

‘Ar…aren’t those two Lucia and Alicia?’

‘Th…those two are very famous because they never talked to men…!’

‘I…I’m a bit envious of Player Minhyuk!’

‘I’m very, very jealous!’

The players reacted like that since the two of them were so beautiful. Meanwhile, Cain had a hand on the hilt of his sword as he watched the two of them. He thought, ‘This wolf bastaaard! I’ll pull every single one of your toenails as soon as you get out!’

Cain still believed that Minhyuk was the one who seduced the innocent Lucia. 

At that moment, the door suddenly opened. Alicia smiled softly as she shyly tucked her hair behind her ears. She was the epitome of purity itself.

“Wow. T…too beautiful…”  One of the players exclaimed in shock.

On the other side, Lucia posed in a way where she highlighted her ample chest and voluptuous figure.

“Isn’t that too sexy?” 

“Wow. She’s really pretty. Isn’t that pose too eye-catching?” 

Just as expected, Cain gripped his sword tightly. When the two girls saw Minhyuk come out, they thought…

‘Lucia~ guys like innocent and pure girls, you know?’ 

‘Hoho, unnie~ guys like sexy and provocative women.’ 

The two of them saw Minhyuk running out hurriedly. 

‘Did he miss me since it’s been a long time since we last met? Is that why you’re running like this?!’ 

‘Y…you’re running to see me!! Are you going to give me, Lucia, a big hug?! I missed you too!!’ 

That was what the two of them thought.

As for the one who was running? Minhyuk looked like he was in a hurry, but he stopped for a brief moment just as he was about to pass by them.

“Ack! Lucia, hello! Alicia, hi! Well then, everyone, hello! Hello! I have to go eat eel! Bye everyone!” Minhyuk greeted them politely. Once he finished greeting them, he quickly dashed off and disappeared from the hallway. The speed at which he made off was so fast, that it was as if there was fire licking at his feet.

“…” 

“…” 

Both Alicia and Lucia were caught off-guard, and turned speechless. 

“J…just now, what did Player Minhyuk say?” 

“He, he’s going to eat eel, I think…” 

“No… Does it even make sense for him to go and eat eel, instead of talking to these two pretty women?” 

Alicia and Lucia both chuckled forcefully.

“Hohoho! We can’t help it if it’s eel! Hohohoho!” 

“R…right? Lucia? Hohohohohoho!” 

That’s right. The top beauties of the country, Lucia and Alicia, were worth less than an ‘eel’ in front of Minhyuk.

***

At first, right after the competition, the number one real-time search term in Navar was ‘War of the World Tree’. However, the number one real-time search term soon changed within a few hours.

[1. Carr, rampaging in the waiting room.]

At the same time, a lot of articles popped up on the website as netizens strongly criticized his actions.

[Guys. Is it true that Carr threatened Locke?]

[Yes. It’s true. Although there are a lot of speculative comments coming in right now, it was something that was officially announced by Locke himself. And Carr was also sitting beside him during an interview a few days ago. There must have been some bad blood between Carr and Minhyuk before. He used the excuse of exposing Locke’s past to threaten and mock them.]

[So, Locke cursed at him and pretended to vomit because he was angry about what he told him about his friend?]

[Right. It seemed that Carr threatened him because he knew that Locke would be ridiculed if his past was known. It turned out that Locke did not care about that. All he wanted to do was to protect his friend. Wow. When I saw this, I felt that’s what a cool guy should be.]

[Agree. Even though Locke is ugly, he’s still really cool. Wasn’t he the best during the games too? Even when his legs were uncomfortable, he was still able to beat the other players around.]

[That’s true. He’s become the best damage dealer in our country with this game. Even Minhyuk was crowned as our country’s real best player when he easily killed Carr.]

[Ah, but thinking about that Carr bastard… I really hate what he has done so far. Pretending to be a good person with good manners. Ptew!]

[Did you close your Carr insta account?]

[Carr would be buried and ostracized anyway, right? I heard that all the advertisements and schedules that he had previously will now be blown away. He even has to pay a penalty because he went to the winner and threw a crazy tantrum.]

[Life will really get back to you when you do evil things.]

[Come to think of it, isn’t Player Minhyuk too quiet? Many people are curious about Player Minhyuk’s future plans. Am I right?]

[Of course. It would definitely be a big hit if Player Minhyuk took a video and uploaded it. He’s not filming any commercials or anything, right? I wonder where he is and what he is doing now?]

***

Shwaaaaaaa─

Minhyuk brought the World Tree to the kiln as he amped up the temperature to 1,300 degrees. Then, he left it there for quite a long time.

Minhyuk wiped the sweat that dripped down from his forehead due to the high heat, with the towel that was hanging on his neck. After quite some time, he pulled out the World Tree from the kiln. As he pulled it out from the kiln, it was glowing red, just like a fiery jewel. Then, he started the process of cooling down the fiery red World Tree with sand and ash.

Charcoal was usually divided between white charcoal and black charcoal. Currently, the charcoal that Minhyuk was making was the charcoal that was best suited for grilling meat. It was none other than white charcoal. White charcoal got its name due to the white matter that usually got stuck on the surface of the charcoal while it was getting cooled down by the sand and ash.

Minhyuk worked tirelessly for a long time. He was very determined to eat ‘grilled eel’, so he was happy even though the process was too long. Soon, this long process was finally nearing its end. 

After finishing the long and tedious process, his charcoal was finally completed. As soon as the charcoal was completed, he received notifications for the quest reward as well as ‘Gorac’s Special Skill’. However, Minhyuk decided to put it off for a while. Minhyuk believed that it was only polite to give his all to the grilled eel. There were four 3,000 year-old eels with him. Among the four, two would be grilled with salt, while the other two would be grilled with a marinade.

“Oink!” Beanie cried out as it sat on Minhyuk’s other side. It was looking at the eels excitedly. These were the eels that Beanie received after winning first place!

Minhyuk quickly prepared his setting. The ‘Fire from the World Tree Charcoal’ was burning in front of them. A grill with holes in between was placed neatly on top of the fire. There were also seasoned perilla leaves, sliced ginger, a steaming bowl of eel soup, kimchi, as well as dips made of soy sauce. He even brought out red pepper sauce, spicy dipping sauce, and sliced garlic. He also did not forget to bring out some freshly washed perilla leaves and lettuce. All of these side dishes were placed neatly beside the grill.

“Do you feel your energy increasing already, Beans?” 

“Oink!!” 

Beanie nodded furiously as it watched Minhyuk lift the eel that he had prepared earlier with his tongs.

As soon as the eel made contact with the grill…

Sizzle─

…smoke rose from the grilling pan accompanied with the sizzling sound of meat being grilled.

“The 3,000 year-old eel grilled in charcoal made out of the World Tree!” 

‘No matter how I look at it, isn’t this a combination that’s bound to be really delicious?’

Minhyuk watched the eel as it slowly got cooked, before flipping it over once.

Sizzle─

Smoke rose once more. Minhyuk saw the juice dripping slowly from the grilled eel in front of him. The smoke rose as soon as the juices dripped and made contact with the charcoal. He could see the oil glistening brightly on the surface of the eel.

‘Aaaaaaah! This is art!’

It was a fierce art that would make those standing in front of it feel the harshness of the waiting time. Minhyuk made sure to protect the juiciness of the eel by flipping it over and over before cutting it evenly.

“Oink!” 

Beanie quickly raised its paws as it looked at the well-grilled eel. It was as if it was telling him ‘Let’s eat first! Oink!’. Of course, the same food setting and grilled eel was created in front of Beanie.

At Beanie’s polite words and actions, Minhyuk slowly picked up a piece of grilled eel. He could see that the surface was still glistening and sizzling with oil.

“Hoo! Hoo!” 

Minhyk gently blew on the steaming grilled eel with great anticipation, and placed it in his mouth.