Minhyuk did not answer Lucia, but she felt that she knew what he would say. She thought, 'Yeah, I definitely got it right.' 

Lucia recalled their journey together, and remembered how much joy there was on Minhyuk’s face when she gave him ramyeon. However, she was sure that Minhyuk was just pretending to be indifferent and apathetic towards her. He even looked like he was only interested in ramyeon, but Lucia was sure that he was trying to use that excuse to get close to her. His trembling body as he blocked the Minotaurus was proof that he cared for her deeply.

"Don't be so reckless! Don't sacrifice yourself just so you could protect me!" Lucia shouted loudly.

***

Minhyuk blocked the Minotaurus’ path. His attention was solely focused on the black light glowing from its body. This black light meant only one thing… The monster in front of him was something that he could eat. That was not all. Compared to the time when he fought against the Sweet Potato Warrior, the Eccentric Food God’s skill was in full effect right now. He could see the different ingredients and materials that he could harvest from the Minotaurus, causing him to lick his lips in anticipation. He even imagined how he would eat it.

'I'm going to put the charcoal in. It's hot.' The waiter, a middle-age man, would bring the fiery charcoal embers from the back of the restaurant to the top of the square grilling pan in front of Minhyuk. The moment that was in place, Minhyuk would grab the tongs and pick up some beefy bones, or marinated ribs, and place it over the grill.

Sizzle! 

Yes, what an irresistible sound! The sound of the meat sizzling on a grill! Once the meat was cooked well, Minhyuk would flip it once. Once, just once! Then he would cut the meat into pieces. Marinated beef ribs were best served with pickled onion, which always came on a small plate along with the meal! He would then wrap the meat and pickled onion in a lettuce leaf, before putting it in his mouth.

Chew, chew.

The sour taste of the pickled onions and the savory flavor of the well-seasoned ribs would spread out in his mouth. The marinated ribs that had been prepared for a long time would make Minhyuk feel like the meat in the bones was melting with every bite. The more he chewed on the beef, the more savory the flavor, the more tender the meat. After eating a piece of meat, Minhyuk would grab a glass of iced cola and gulp it down.

Gulp, gulp—

This was the perfect combo! The refreshing and sizzling iced cola would definitely wash away the greasiness of the beef.

In fact, this was not the only dish that used beef. There were a lot of recipes that needed beef: Ribeye steak, bulgogi hotpot, braised beef in soy sauce with quail eggs, beef and radish soup, beef and seaweed soup and spicy beef stew. The recipes and dishes were endless. Minhyuk's body trembled at the thought of eating this delicious guy!

"Are you trying to protect me?!" 

"???" 

Lucia was mumbling something behind him, but Minhyuk was not hearing her at all. His entire attention was solely on one guy alone and that was the Minotaurus.

"I'm going to eat it. Marinated beef ribs…" 

Clench—

Minhyuk gripped Ellie’s Sword tightly.

[The Battlefield's Ruler.] 

[+10 to all 5 basic stats and +10% increase in critical hit damage.] 

[Bardy Swordsmanship] 

[+20 to all 5 basic stats for 10 minutes.] 

[Haste] 

[Your movement speed and attack speed have increased 1.3x for 10 seconds.] 

"Moooooo!" 

Minhyuk slammed his foot on the ground and used the force to dash forward, as he came to a clash with the rushing Minotaurus.

"Uwooooooo!" 

Dash! 

"...?" 

Lucia's eyes widened in shock. She thought, 'H, he's fast!' She was shocked to see that Minhyuk was so fast that she could not follow him with her eyes.

The Minotaurus hacked Minhyuk with its ax. 

Vwoooooom! 

The air sounded as if it was being ripped apart by the ax, but Minhyuk was able to block it perfectly.

Clang! 

"...Impossible!" Lucia exclaimed as more players from behind her gasped in shock.

"D, did you see that?!" 

"Wow. Real xxx... isn't that the player who was doing a mukbang earlier!" 

"He stopped the Minotaurus with his sword...? That Level 140 monster...?" 

The players had stopped earlier to watch Lucia fight against the Minotaurus, but they were dealt a bigger shock right now. Then… 

Clang! 

Minhyuk slammed the Minotaurus’ ax away.

"Moo?" The Minotaurus moo-ed in confusion after seeing that its ax had been pushed away. Then, it swung its fist in retaliation.

Fwoosh! 

Swoosh! 

Despite the monster's quick punches, Minhyuk was able to easily dodge its strikes. 

[Vital Strike] 

[Additional 28% attack power for each successful strike.]

Then, Minhyuk quickly took the opportunity to stab the Minotaurus on its thigh the moment he found a gap in its defense.

Stab! 

Minhyuk’s sword was able to pierce the Minotaurus’ thigh deeply. He tried to pull it out, but failed, no matter how hard he tugged at it.

"Mooooooo!" The Minotaurus shrieked loudly, its body shaking as it swung its fist. Minhyuk quickly let go of his sword, before widening the distance between him and the Minotaurus. 

At that moment, the Minotaurus used a skill as a bright red light flashed and covered its ax. Then, it struck the ground with its ax, causing cracks to appear on the ground, as a ten-meter wide radius began to undulate.

[Earth Quake!] 

[A violent earthquake is triggered within a ten-meter radius.] 

However, instead of leaving the radius of the skill, Minhyuk dashed forward and went deeper into the Earth Quake’s radius.

"....?!" 

Lucia’s eyes widened when she saw him dash forward. She knew that Minhyuk would definitely get stuck and devoured by the ground if he got caught in one of the cracks. However, as soon as Minhyuk entered the range of the skill, the ring on his hands glowed a bright red light.

[Absorption.] 

[You have a 50% probability of successfully absorbing the skill.] 

[Earth Quake has been successfully absorbed.] 

[You can only use the absorbed skill once and only within ten minutes of absorption.] 

Fwoosh! 

The Earth Quake that the Minotaurus activated suddenly stopped working, and the undulating ground went back to its original state. Minhyuk took the opportunity to quickly pull out his sword from the Minotaurus’ thigh.

"Mooooo!" The Minotaurus cried loudly.

Minhyuk took one, two, three steps back. After creating some distance, he gripped the handle of his sword tightly with both of his hands and struck it down on the ground. 

Stab! 

[Earth Quake!] 

[A violent earthquake is triggered within a ten meter radius.] 

Rumble! 

The ground started to shake. Seeing this, the Minotaurus was suddenly brought into a fluster.

"M, Moooooooo!" 

This was a sudden turn of events. The wild and violent earthquake caused the Minotaurus to lose its balance, its legs getting trapped in one of the cracks in the ground. 

Rumble! 

The cracks in the ground swallowed the Minotaurus' legs, and its body started to receive damage from the shaking ground. Minhyuk quickly stepped on the undulating ground and shot off towards the trapped Minotaurus without missing a breath. In response, the Minotaurus hurriedly lifted its ax to fend off Minhyuk, but Minhyuk was one step faster. 

Slash! 

Minhyuk successfully slashed at the monster's chest. He then swiftly routed to the back of the Minotaurus for another attack. 

[Dauntless Strike] 

[Each attack inflicts additional 20% damage.]

The power in the sword was so strong that it made the Minotaurus cry loudly.

"Mooooooo!" 

Just then, Minhyuk leaned into its ears and whispered quietly, causing the Minotaurus to feel a creeping sense of danger, "You look so yummy~." 

"M, Moo?" The Minotaurus moo-ed in fear, shrinking at Minhyuk’s words. Then, it cried loudly, "M, Moooooooo!" 

Strangely enough, everyone was struck by a feeling that the Minotaurus was screaming, ‘S…save me!!’. At that moment, Minhyuk slashed with his sword, cutting off the head of the Minotaurus. 

Slash! 

[You have successfully hunted the Minotaurus.] 

[You have gained 40 REP.] 

[You have gained 1 AP.] 

[You have gained 120 Tournament Points.] 

Just in time, another notification rang.

[Thirty seconds left until the end of the tournament.] 

Minhyuk hurriedly reached out to the Minotaurus’ body and muttered, "Ingredients Acquisition." 

After getting all of the ingredients, he hurriedly picked up the rest of the drops. He had no time to check them so he just grabbed everything. Then, a series of notifications rang loudly once again.

[The tournament is finally over.] 

[The scores will be combined and announced shortly.] 

[According to the combined scores: 1st - Minhyuk, 2nd - Lucia, 3rd - Wrath, 4th - .... omitted.] 

[All surviving players on Cork Island will be warped to Eivelis Empire.] 

Flash! 

Minhyuk was suddenly wrapped in bright light. 

***

[Based on the total scores, the first place is Minhyuk.] 

"Waaaaaaaaaah!" 

"Uwoooooooooo!" 

Cheers erupted out in the stands. The audience was also warped to join the awarding ceremony in the ceremonial hall. The fact that they had been sitting did not change at all after the warp. Inside the Imperial Palace, hundreds of knights wearing capes on their wide shoulders and the swords on their waists were surrounding the players. Their capes were embroidered with the Phoenix, the guardian of the Eivelis Empire. 

"D, did you see…?" 

"Yes... I saw." 

Go Eun-Ah looked at her junior's eyes. 

‘Amazing.’

The video taken for the tournament today would definitely cause a commotion. The video might also spread around the world and cause a bigger uproar.  Then, her male junior reporter shouted, "S… senior! The first result on the real-time search right now is that pro mukbang BJ! And the 2nd is Minotaurus' Necklace!" 

"Wow, the viewers might have seen him pick it up back then." 

There was no information that had been released about the Minotaurus’ Necklace. In fact, there had not been any information about a necklace drop from a Minotaurus at all. That only meant one thing: the necklace that the man picked up was something extremely valuable. 

"Hiyaaa… Is it something really expensive?" 

"Did you see his face though?" 

"...What?"

"That player looked very disappointed when he picked up the artifact." 

"Eyyy, that’s impossible." 

"No, it's real. But…why did that player place the Minotaurus in his inventory?" 

"Ah, maybe he's trying to dismantle the Minotaurus and sell it?" 

"Is that so…" 

The two of them nodded. Then, Go Eun-Ah thought, 'That guy’s so disappointed even if he got the best artifact drop from the Minotaurus, just who the hell is he?' 

Go Eun-Ah quickly focused and looked towards the front. First place, the fact that Player Minhyuk surpassed Lucia’s score was probably because he successfully hunted the Minotaurus alone. In fact, the Minotaurus was a monster that was totally impossible to hunt at their level, so no one would complain about this result. 

"I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too. What are you going to ask in the interview? That player must be very happy right now, right? Since he won first place. I think that player wanted to be famous since he was secretly filming a mukbang broadcast. He even fought with the Bacallo Guild." 

"Yeah, so what should I ask? Maybe… are you sure that you're not a player that the Legend Guild secretly fostered?" 

Everyone was interested in what that person would say. 

‘What kind of person is he?’ 

Then, the man wearing a white mask appeared in Go Eun-Ah's view. She said,  "Doesn't he look like he's in a hurry?" 

"Yeah. He looks like he wants to go to the bathroom..." 

The man was fidgeting as he talked to Jan about something. Since it was before the awards ceremony, the microphone was still turned off and no one could hear what they were saying. 

"Ah, what are they talking about?" 

"I'm dying of curiosity…" 

The rest of the audience shared the same sentiment. Then, they saw the masked man's expression suddenly turn solemn and dangerous. 

"That person's usually very nice though, what's wrong with him?" 

"That's true." 

Soon after, they saw the operators and the tournament officials flock towards the man. They had a very serious conversation. Then, the rest of the people sighed as the man wearing the white mask flashed in a blinding light and disappeared. Before he left, they could see a bright smile on his face. 

"Huh? Huuuuuuuuuh!" 

"Huuuuuh?!" 

"What the hell, where did he go?!" 

"Gasp?!" 

It was not only Go Eun-Ah, even the rest of the people sitting in the stands were looking at them in shock. Why did he leave before the ceremony started? The surprise did not end there. 

[The Sword Emperor, Ellie, will be attending the ceremony.] 

"...!" 

Go Eun-Ah was stunned. According to the reports that they have received, Ellie was not supposed to be participating in the ceremony. However, it was just suddenly announced that she would be participating. The meaning was quite obvious. She thought, 'Even the empress is interested in that player?'. Then, another thought flashed in her mind, 'But! Where the hell did he go when something this important is going to happen?'