"..." 

Minhoo was speechless. Minhyuk’s daily consumption might only be decreasing by two to four pieces every day, but, it had never happened before. 

“We can’t be sure yet if this will prove to be significant, but this small change clearly shows that there’s an improvement. In fact, it’s giving me the confidence that he will certainly lose weight in the future.”

“Yes, you’re right. I can’t believe that my son’s showing improvements with this treatment while being able to eat happily…” Kang Minhoo said. He was so moved that his eyes reddened.

However, he became curious, turning to Jinhwan and asked, "Why didn't you say anything to Minhyuk earlier?" 

“...Who knows… But, did you know?” Jinhwan asked as he continued to speak with a bitter smile on his face, "If you look through SNS, you will be able to see comments like this: Ah, I exercised hard to lose weight today, so I'm going to order chicken because I'm very proud of myself." 

"...Ah?"

"In fact, a lot of people on a diet can't stop themselves from ordering food after an extreme workout. What do you think Minhyuk would do if he knew that he was showing signs of improvement? Relief can also be equally poisonous."

Minhoo recalled how disappointed his son looked earlier. Seeing Minhoo’s pained expression, Jinhwan had no other choice but to say, "Minhyuk will know it even if we did not say anything. That is, as long as Minhyuk’s food consumption continues to decrease. After all, the scales will definitely reflect the numbers correctly." 

Jinhwan smiled lightly. 

***

Minhyuk woke up early in the morning to access Athenae. He had been raiding Twilight Graveyard alone these days to hunt pigs. Of course, he had kept the Golden Pig inside his Food Storage Inventory. However, he still needed to hunt a large number of pigs so he would have more pork to eat later. After all, Twilight Graveyard was a place that could only be accessed by players below Level 15.

Thankfully, the poisonous apples, coupled with the increased difficulty in leveling for god classes, worked to his advantage. He needed thrice the normal amount of EXP to level up. These were the main reasons why he did not gain much experience despite raiding and clearing Twilight Graveyard all by himself. If he was a normal player, Minhyuk would have probably reached Level 15 a long time ago.

"La, la, la~" Minhyuk sang happily as he sat inside the boss room, in front of a well-greased frying pan. He grabbed an egg in excitement and cracked it on top of the pan.

Shwaaaa—

The egg sizzled and jumped slightly in the oil. Then, Minhyuk sprinkled half a pinch of salt on top of it and waited for it to cook. After frying the egg, he pulled out a plate and placed the egg on it. 

The next thing that Minhyuk did was pull a pot out of his inventory, place it on top of the fire and pour some sesame oil inside. When the oil was slightly hot, he started to stir-fry some pork.

Sizzle, sizzle—

“Kimchi stew and fried eggs are best for breakfast!” Minhyuk shouted out. He recalled the time when he was still not yet afflicted with the eating addiction problem. Back then, the aunty, who worked as their housekeeper, would always prepare kimchi stew with pork and fried eggs for him before he went to school. The memory and the flavor back then was something that he could not forget. They were so delicious that he always had a few more bowls of rice despite it being early in the morning.

Minhyuk poured water in the pot once the pork was almost cooked.

Shwaaa—

Then, he added some chopped kimchi, a spoonful of red chili paste, and a spoonful of chili powder. He also added some Cheongyang chili pepper for that spicy flavor. After letting the pot boil and simmer for quite some time, he added some chopped scallions before taking it off the fire.

Just like he expected, a notification rang.

[Please select the main ingredients for this meal.] 

"Of course it's pork!" 

[The pork's front leg meat was selected as the main ingredient.] 

"Thank you for the food!" 

Minhyuk placed the fried egg on top of his rice. The ends of the egg were finely scorched, and the yolk slowly flowed down the rice the moment Minhyuk poked it with his chopstick. Then, he mixed the egg and rice thoroughly.

Chew, chew—

"Hmmm, this is delicious." 

This time, Minhyuk stretched his spoon towards the piping hot and spicy kimchi stew. 

"Phew, spicy is the best!"

He blew on the spoon a couple of times before stuffing its contents into his mouth.

Chew, chew—

The pig's front leg was low in fat so its texture was a bit dry, but it was chewy. In addition, the stew's spicy soup could make the meat feel softer and more tender. Whenever Minhyuk felt the spiciness becoming a little overbearing, he would munch on the rice and the fried egg. He would also occasionally chew on the crisp kimchi that came with the spoonful of spicy kimchi stew that he poured on his rice.

Minhyuk quickly finished eating his food. Then, at that moment, the usual notifications rang in his ears. 

[Food God's True Worth.] 

[You have acquired STR.] 

And then… 

[Perfect Combination.] 

[There is harmony between the kimchi stew and the fried egg.] 

[You have been granted additional stat points.] 

[You have acquired +1 STR, +1 STM.] 

"Oho!" 

He found that the Perfect Combination placed strong emphasis and recognition on the compatibility of the flavors of the dishes. Although Minhyuk had made it more delicious so he could eat well and satisfy his palate, it surprisingly resulted in an increase in his stats. After eating for quite a while, Minhyuk also discovered that each ingredient would shine a different color, seemingly representing something.

'Perhaps it represents the stats that I can gain?' 

In other words, the red light would give an increase in STR and STM. Minhyuk also saw a faint blue glow on the vegetables. Eating the vegetables gave him an increase in his AGI. So far, the only colors that he had seen were red and blue. Therefore, he was still not entirely sure. 

There was also the possibility that the stat increase and the light had something to do with the main ingredients. In other words, the notification that asked him to choose the main ingredient was also allowing him to choose which stats he wanted to increase. From what Minhyuk had gathered, the stats were all based on what kind of food he would eat. Because of that, Minhyuk’s STR and STM had increased significantly.

'Porky is love~' 

Since Minhyuk had been so focused on eating the Golden Pig and the rest of the pork, he did not have many chances to eat dishes with vegetables as the main ingredient. Hence, the significant increase in STR and STM.

Minhyuk also discovered another rule.

'There's no increase in stats if I ate the same kind of dish more than three times each day. There's also no increase if I make a dish that I have already made.' 

There seemed to be no stat increase if he ate a dish that he had already tried. However, despite this setback, this skill remained to be very overpowered. During the course of his stay in the Twilight Graveyard, his STR stat had already reached 80, a number that could only be reached by someone at Level 16. Even his AGI had reached 45. If Minhyuk added the effects of his title and items, these numbers would definitely be higher.

At this point, Minhyuk was already different from other players. It was not simply because he had high stats. Whenever a player killed a monster below their level in Athenae, the EXP that they would gain would be significantly lower than normal. It was only when a player hunted a monster that was within a 1~5 level gap of their own levels, would they be able to receive the normal amount of EXP. If the player chose to hunt a monster that was way stronger than their level, they would receive a significantly higher amount of EXP.

In other words, Minhyuk was currently an overpowered character, ready to bomb his way through his levels. As long as he continuously leveled up and received bonus points, he would always be way stronger than other players in the same level. No, more than that, it was safe to say that the gap between Minhyuk and the other players would continue to widen as long as he continued to eat.

Minhyuk stood up after finishing his meal.

'Phew, I'm afraid I have to leave Twilight Graveyard soon.' 

Even if he continuously ate poisonous apples, his EXP would still continue to increase, albeit little by little. It was almost time for him to leave the dungeon.

So, to fully take advantage of his remaining time inside the dungeon, Minhyuk went out to buy ingredients for the other dishes that he wanted to try.

***

A crowd had started to gather in Isbin Village.

"Hey, hey, hey, Binz! Binz! Hey, you look so awesome in person!" 

"Omg, omg. Binz smiled. So pretty, he's really amazing." 

Binz was the number one mukbang BJ[1]. He was also ranked 19th in Athenae’s online Local Rankings. Right now, he had just arrived in Isbin Village.

"Hello, hello," Binz greeted the crowd.

Binz was a very tall, and well-built man. His warm personality had helped him amass a very large fan base. He was hailed as the Crown Prince of the mukbang world, with his low baritone voice that made viewers feel comfortable, often setting them in a daze. He was also considered to be a Ranker among Rankers after standing tall at 19th place in the Local Rankings.

'There's a lot of people.' 

Binz smiled and looked at the crowd.

White mist always came out of the players’ mouths whenever they spoke since it was early winter inside the game. The seasons in Athenae were prone to rapid changes. Winter had already arrived even though the players only felt that it was a bit chilly a few days ago. 

"I came here in Isbin Village today to eat the food that everyone thinks about most during winter," Binz said politely, standing in the center of the crowd.

"Food that everyone thinks of during winter?" 

"Is it taiyaki[2]?" 

"What? Are you going to eat tangerines while sitting on top of an electric mattress?" 

"Hahahaha, ah, that's really a delicacy. Ha… I'm already drooling," Binz said, laughing loudly at one of the players, "But, if I really laid down an electric mattress and ate tangerines, you will post it on the player homepage saying 'Beggar Binz, Eating Tangerine that he got from Begging.' or something like that." 

"Hahahaha." 

"Hohohoho." 

Everyone laughed at his words. 

"The food that I'll eat this time should be something that a player can personally make and sell. Do you have any idea what it is?" 

"Ah, could it be…" 

Binz saw a woman step out of the crowd. 

"...Street snacks?" 

"Correct!" 

"Wow…!" 

"During winter, whenever we're on our way home from school, or from work, and we feel cold and hungry, this is something that will always whet our appetites. That's what I came here for."

Click, click, click, click! 

Camera flashes started to go off. Of course, there were plenty of players that worked as reporters in real life. Because of Athenae’s massive online popularity, a lot of the reporters flocked to gain access to the game to pick up and write articles.

"Let's go now." 

The players all followed Binz as he started to make his way towards his destination. Not long after, they saw a small cart coming out. Most of the players who ran these cart bars had long changed their classes to 'Chef'.

The cart owner faced them and bowed.

'I can't believe Binz came to our store…' 

The cart owner was a player that gained a hidden chef class. The class that he received was called Chef of Happiness. This class only allowed him to have an increase in EXP if someone happily enjoyed his food like a delicacy.

Binz had gathered and read through the owner’s information even before he came here. He said, "I will introduce you guys to our chef today. He is a player with the hidden class, Chef of Happiness. In his case, the system will calculate the level of happiness of the players who eat his food, if they felt happy, then he would gain EXP." 

"That's right. But to be honest, the description is a bit vague." 

"Vague?"

Before eating, Binz would always start with an interview. It was a type of noise marketing[3]. In fact, Binz was a BJ that loved eating.

The chef replied, "It doesn't matter if the players think my food is delicious, or until they were full, my experience still wouldn't go up."

"Aha, is that so? Are you saying that the player should really be happy with your food before your experience will increase?" 

"That's right." 

"Oho, that's quite a unique job. Haha," Binz said with a grin.

Since Binz was someone who loved and cared about food, this was the perfect opportunity for him to show the other players that he was very sincere in what he was doing. Some would say that Binz ate for the money but that was not the case at all. He had turned this into his work because he really loved to eat. However, he definitely had changed from before, even if it was a little.

'It's because the company wants me to do this.' 

His mindset was bound to change. It was inevitable. After all, this was his work.

"Then, is there any player who wants to try it first?" 

"Me!" A man shouted loudly as he raised his hand.

1. Broadcast Jockey, a vlogger ☜

2. 붕어빵 fish-shaped bread with red beans as filling ☜

3. Something that distracts the consumers from the main point of the marketing. A promotional clutter. ☜