[The search has failed.] 

[The search will continue for 3 days and will depend on the player's movement and travel range.]

Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa looked at each other after watching the scene from the monitor.

"That's a relief…" Lee Minhwa mumbled to herself, while Team Leader Park breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Player Minhyuk is truly someone who would do anything to make his food become more delicious." 

So, this was their problem. The artifact that Len would give as a reward would give the player a tremendous boost in power. In fact, the Twilight Chef would be able to develop one step further the moment he received that power. He might even go a step further beyond the realms of a Master Craftsman.

"The Orc Village is one kilometer away from them…" Team Leader Park said. It seemed like he was still very concerned about the Ingredient Tracking skill. After all, the fact that Len even mentioned his ‘taste’ story to Minhyuk meant that Len's favor towards Minhyuk had reached an extremely high level. That was an incredible feat, since Len was an NPC that was originally set up to hate foreigners.

“If all goes as expected, the item will be taken by Twilight Chef Black,” Team Leader mumbled.

Just then, Lee Minhwa said, "It’s not entirely impossible though, what if there were other variables?" 

“There are no other variables. They would be more than a kilometer away from the Orc Village once they reached Bordy Plains. That event would be impossible unless Player Minhyuk decides to visit the place on purpose.” 

"I see." 

But then, Lee Minhwa suddenly thought of something, 'But, what if someone intentionally drags the orcs to the camp?' 

However, Lee Minhwa realized that it was a completely absurd notion.

'That's too bad then.' 

Lee Minhwa liked watching Payer Minhyuk go on a roll. She felt like she was wishing for her favorite baseball team to win the championship right now.

'Sigh...' Lee Minhwa sighed quietly.

***

Minhyuk was a bit disappointed after hearing the notification to the point that he let out a long, deep exhale, "Hoo…" 

He was wondering if it was impossible for him. 

‘Maybe it had something to do with the quest itself?’ 

Since it was a reward from Len, Minhyuk was sure that it would be something extremely delicious. If not, then it might probably be something related to DEX, since Len was someone who specialized in cooking through DEX. However, even though he was disappointed, he already expected this result to some extent. After all, there seemed to be nothing in the vicinity that could save Len's taste.

'There's nothing we can do about it,’ Minhyuk thought, sighing in disappointment once again, as he went back to cleaning up the remaining dishes. 

***

It was late at night but Belo and the members of Connection Guild were still having a heated discussion.

"Belo, what's happening right now? How can that damn chef be the top player in the contributions board? His contribution is extremely high!”

Everyone knew that they would never be able to get the hidden dungeon rewards if this went on. It would definitely go to the hands of that player and that was something that must not happen at all. They had spent a huge amount of time to get to this point. 

They did not even know what was inside the hidden dungeon.

"How the hell did that little rascal... phew... There's no answer to this question. I don't get it. No matter how much effort we put in, it's definitely impossible to get 40% of the contributions by ourselves. That’s just impossible!" 

The members of the guild were already working hard to give Belo the contributions. They would deliberately gather the goblins that they saw on their way to Bordy Plains and let Belo kill them. This way, his contributions would definitely increase.

"Sigh... This is annoying. That guy's a real pain in the ass. He must be a pig in real life," Belo cursed loudly. 

Everyone suddenly went mute at his words. In fact, Belo's parents were quite rich in reality. His guild members and friends helped him only because he was considered to be the 'wallet' in their circle. He was the son of a rich family, and his parents had more than three billion won in assets. 

"However, there's nothing we can do about this... B.. by any chance, will we still get the money that you promised..." One of the guild members asked timidly. 

Belo had promised to give them 400,000 won each once they finished the job safely. Belo looked at him and said, "Why, do you think there’s no other way for us?" 

"Huh?" 

"That bastard is a chef, you know." 

"Yeah, he's a chef. What about itt?" 

"He's a chef. And he's a Level 15 low-leveled player at most." 

What would come to mind at the mention of a chef? Most people thought chefs to be ruined characters that were bound to be at the bottom of the food chain: sloppy and weak.

"...Are you talking about PK?" 

Belo grinned at them and said, "Yeah. Besides, didn’t you notice?" 

"What?" 

“The sword and leather armor equipped by that player is either special or rare. If he drops at least one of those, you will definitely get more than what I promised. But, if you fail to do so, I won’t pay the 400,000 won.

Hearing those words, the other members of the guild began to think twice about their lives.

‘We’ve used two days of our time in reality to do this, and yet…’

‘Wow… Aren’t you too much…?’ 

Their brows furrowed deeply.

“I’ll give another one million won to the person that kills that guy. I hate that bastard’s smiling mug when all he does is wag his tail and suck up to the NPCs.” 

"One million?"

"OMG?!" 

Belo’s words brought a smile to the faces of his guild members. Then, he continued to say, "Also, the one who kills that bastard will get the item if any is dropped." 

"Kyaa…" 

A million won was equivalent to most people’s salary for ten days. In all honesty, not everyone could make that much money in that short amount of time. It was obviously hard to get that much money.

"Who's in?" 

"Me! Me! Me!" 

"Ah, me!" 

"Relax. He's just a low-leveled player so he would die if I hit him once," Belo said, giggling at the thought. However, one person's face was wrinkled in annoyance. 

"Shit... XXXX..." 

"Why?" 

"My mom said that if I don't disconnect right now, she will kick me out of the house." 

The Athenae capsule was equipped with a call button on its exterior. The player could hear the voice in their ears when a person pressed the button outside and made a call.

"Then, you're out." 

"Shit, ah. For real. I wanted to join,” The player said, logging out in frustration. That meant that there were only four people left.

"Hiyaa. Now," Belo grinned as he continued to say, “Aren’t we going to beat him to a pulp?”

His smile was ferocious, thick with killing intent.

"But… if we PK that person, we will be forced out of the subjugation troops..."

"That's right. The NPCs might even kill us." 

Killing a player whom NPCs have high favor with could result in the NPCs retaliating and killing them for revenge. What they needed to do was to kill him without anyone in the subjugation troops knowing about their deed. If they killed him and kept it under wraps, they could just spread rumors that he died, or that he logged out of the game.

"Don't worry about that," Belo grinned. He opened his mouth again and said, "That bastard will go somewhere dark on his own." 

"Huh? On his own?" 

Belo nodded in answer to his guild member’s question. 

***

"Heave-ho!" Minhyuk shouted as he threw the food waste in the garbage can. He always made it a point to throw the waste before he logged out. Then, he started to drag the garbage cans to a more secluded area.

Len always told him that waste should always be left slightly further away from the camp. There were two reasons for this. The first reason was because of the garbage’s horrendous smell. The second reason was because wild animals and beasts tend to gather around the garbage can to scavenge.

If they left the food waste inside the cooking carriage, the bad smell would eventually fill the entire carriage. Wouldn’t it be good if he could throw it away in the nearby forest before that could happen? Therefore, Minhyuk dragged the container towards the entrance of the forest and threw it there. No one would care either way. After all, the monsters in the vicinity were just goblins and the smell would not bother them. 

Minhyuk even thought, ‘Maybe the smell of the food waste can act as bait and gather these monsters?’ or something along those lines. That was when four people appeared and stood in front of him.

'These people…' Minhyuk thought, his eyes narrowing sharply. 

They were Belo and his gang. Minhyuk did not like them because of how they carried themselves. They always argued with the other players, bullying them while saying, ‘Wow. Look at these novices getting carried away.’ 

Minhyuk did not know why they were acting like that when they were all novices themselves. However, it was rare for a group to join the subjugation troops so most players just ignored them and avoided them in order to dodge their bullying. This group always mocked and cursed the NPCs too. 

'Wow, our soldiers are doing well too, amazing~' 

'Won't they die once Athenae gets shut down?' 

'They're just artificial intelligence anyway.' 

Athenae might be a game, but Minhyuk believed that it was a tool that could determine and categorize people. Plenty of people wore masks in reality. They would smile deliberately and act a certain way to get close with others, but curse and mock them the moment their back was turned against them. What would happen when these people played Athenae?

'Their true nature will come out.' 

People behaving this way in Athenae would most definitely not be good people in reality. However, Minhyuk could not fathom why they were here in front of him, when he had not done anything to them at all.

"What's wrong?" Minhyuk asked, gripping the hilt of his sword silently.

Len had always told him, 'We are military chefs. Our most important job is to prepare the best meal for the troops. However, there are times when we will need to take arms and fight. That’s why you need to carry a weapon at all times.' 

In reality, military chefs on active duty would always carry guns while cooking. This was also the case even if they were just training. What Len had told him was similar.

"We just wanted to ask you something," The player named Belo said as he stepped forward.

"What is it?" 

"Ah. It's just that you're very close to the NPCs, so I was wondering if you have any secrets on how to get close to them,” Belo answered while his party started to get into position,

The first one to move was the mage named Bron. He activated a Silence Magic. Silence Magic was a spell that would restrict the opponent’s speech. It was often used to silence an enemy mage and stop them from reciting spells. 

Bron was originally a Level 40 mage that had mastered second tier magic. Naturally, his stats had gone down to match his current level, Level 20. Since second tier magic could only be mastered at Level 40 or higher, the spell’s restrictions would increase. However, he was not worried.

‘There’s definitely no way that a chef would increase his WIS or INT. Besides, a player needs a high REP to have a sufficiently high magical defensive power that could nullify the Silence Magic. Something like that is completely impossible for a mere chef.’

Reputation (REP) was a stat that carried a lot of power. Although it was a bit small, it could still increase the magical defensive power of the player. However, for that to happen, the player needed to have at least 20 REP. And to Bron, Minhyuk was a complete novice, and he would definitely not have a high REP. That was the reason why Bron believed that his Silence Magic was enough to shut Minhyuk’s mouth and stop him from calling for help from the NPCs.

“The method? Is that what you really need from me? You just have to be on your best manners and be polite. If you respect them, they would also naturally respect you.”

“Wow… But from what I heard, it was ‘You have to be rude’ or something along those lines?” Belo jeered sarcastically as Bron shouted the spell to cast the Silence Magic.

"Silence!" 

[Silence has failed.] 

[Player Bron committed an act of poor etiquette.] 

[Player Bron is in a Temporary Chaotic State.] 

[If the other party initiates an attack, the other party will not receive any penalty.] 

"...Huh?" Bron asked dumbly, ‘Why did it not work?’ Flustered, he cast it once again.

"Silence!" 

[Silence has failed.] 

"W.. what the hell?!" 

"Shit, what are you doing?" 

"H.. he can't be silenced!" 

Seeing them do that, Minhyuk calmly stepped back and cracked his neck to warm himself up. He thought, 'So, they want to PK…' 

Minhyuk already knew that these guys were probably like that. However, at this moment, only one of them was under the Half-Chaotic State.

'I don't want to become Chaotic just because of these bastards.' 

Minhyuk did not want to be penalized with the Chaotic state just because of them. What should he do? Right now, the four of them were thinking that he was just a weak chef. In fact, even the NPCs in the subjugation troops thought the same.

That was when he suddenly thought of something.

"N… no way. Are you going to PK me?! Ack! P…please don't do that!" Minhyuk shouted. 

His solution? Acting.