An unknown number was calling him. To be honest, Minhyuk’s phone did not usually ring, so he was curious about who it was and answered the phone.

[I love you. Gullible customer, you can now replace your mobile phone for free...]

Click━

Minhyuk hung the phone up, his mouth twitching in shock. Then, he opened the messages left by Jihye on his message window.

‘H…her mouth is this rough and unbridled...?’ Minhyuk thought when he saw the string of curses that greeted him the moment he clicked in.

[Im Jihye: #%"&!ⓒ#%$! You pig!! %#@%@%% you, shitty pig!!! @$@#$ you, wild boar!!! #$#% you, honey pig!]

Even amidst all those curses and words of abuse, the word ‘pig’ was the consistent insult that appeared one after the other. Back then, Minhyuk already had a large appetite. Jihye was also chubby, so they naturally used to call each other ‘pig’. The two of them were even famous as the Two Great Pigs. Of course, Minhyuk was only called that as a joke because he exercised hard even back then. As he read through the messages among the curses, he saw things like, ‘I’m sad,’ ‘How can you do that, you bastard,’ ‘I miss you’ and so on. Minhyuk laughed at her messages. He continued to scroll through the messages.

[Im Jihye: Jisoo was quite old-fashioned when we were young right? That’s why we always tell him ‘Did Jisoo’s father come here?’. Do you remember? But now...]

Jihye sent him a message filled with suspense. They said that ugly kids would grow up handsome! So, Minhyuk clicked the next message with great anticipation.

[Im Jihye: He now looks like the head of the bandits! Hehehehe. He has a rough beard now, which he has been growing ever since he was a kid. Now, he likes bananas, just like a monkey. When I threw a banana at him he clapped and said that he liked it. Hehehe.]

“Pfft!” Minhyuk burst out in laughter. It had been such a long time since Minhyuk laughed like this. Recalling his memories with his friends was such a joy for him.

[Im Jihye: And, Seoktae has grown to become a handsome man. Yepyep. But, I don’t have any feelings for him. He still has that shocking taste of his as always.]

Seoktae was his handsome friend. It seemed like he was still working hard to maintain his appearance. And then…

[Im Jihye: And I have become a beautiful woman who’s 163 centimeters tall and weighs 49 kilograms. Once you see me, you’ll probably get excited and say ‘Hekhek, please give me your number!’. Just so you know, I won’t give you my number, you pig.]

“Oh. For real?” Minhyuk asked aloud. He could not tell if what she was saying was real or not. Then, as he read through her messages, he saw…

[Im Jihye: All three of us are playing Athenae now. If you’re playing Athenae too, you must send me a whisper right away. You know my nickname right? My nickname code is 41462.]

“Oh...”

Minhyuk’s lips curled in a smile. These guys were playing Athenae? It was only natural, after all, they have always played games well. The thought of them being quite influential in the game crossed his mind. 

‘Should I contact her?’ Minhyuk thought. However, he quickly shook his head. Minhyuk still wanted to reach his goal and lose weight.

‘Once I get back to my original weight...’

Once he reached his goal, he would go and meet his friends proudly. Minhyuk felt sorry, and at the same time, thankful that they were waiting for him like this. When he weighed himself yesterday, he could see that his weight had reduced to 165 kilograms. This meant that he was already changing.

Then, he went in front of the mirror, he looked at himself and talked to Im Hyejin, his diet manager. He said, “Oh. Noona. Don’t you think that I’m not fat anymore? I’m just chubby now, right?” 

“....Y, yeah. I, I guess so. Hohoho!”

“Hahahahahaha!”

To be honest, whether it was 165kg or 170kg, Minhyuk still looked the same to Hyejin. However, her words brought a smile to Minhyuk’s face. Then, he recalled what he was going to do next in Athenae. He thought, ‘The Shrieking Hills.’

There were some monster quests available there. When Minhyuk checked it out, he saw that only powerful players around his level would go and hunt there mainly because the monsters in that area were quite strong for their level. Minhyuk also knew that the Shrieking Hills would give out a lot of EXP. However, the reason that attracted Minhyuk the most to Shrieking Hills was the duck meat reward. 

In fact, the Shrieking Hills quest was usually given out by the Barras Kingdom army, and they gave duck meat as a reward. Duck meat was considered to be one of the specialties of the Barrass Kingdom. Of course, the rewards also included plenty of gold and EXP. Minhyuk quickly entered his capsule and logged back in to Athenae so he could meet with his friends sooner.

***

Rovan saw a few players hanging around the Kingdom’s Army. They all seemed like they were forming a party to go to the Shrieking Hills. The monsters in the Shrieking Hills were usually around Level 100~130. However, if the monster’s level was at 100, it was as strong as Level 110 monsters from other areas. The same went for a monster at Level 120, it would be strong enough to face Level 130 players. This ten levels gap in power was something that was much more troublesome than what players normally thought.

In Rovan’s case, he had received a ‘Hidden Quest’ in the Shrieking Hills. He needed to enter a path that no one knew about, to proceed with the hidden quest. He thought, ‘That’s where the Great Mage’s Power of Sin is lying in wait.’

So far, he had no clue about what the Power of Sin was, but Rovan was quite confident in himself. This was because he used to be ranked as the number one player in Versal. Everyone knew who Versal’s Rovan was. He was famously known as the Crazy Hunter. Unfortunately, he played Athenae at a much later date compared to others because he went to the army. 

Even so, he was definitely someone that stood above the rest. His speed in leveling up was overwhelmingly fast, and he even received the legendary class ‘Berserker’. The Berserker was a class that could be obtained in Isbin Village by chance.

Rovan shook his head when he heard the words of Kemil, the representative of the Barras Kingdom’s Army. Kemil said, “I won’t allow you in, unless you have one, no, two or three people in your party.”

“I understand.”

Information was power. Since Rovan was gathering information, he could tell at a glance that the army was weeding out people who were alone. As he looked through the players that were still alone, he tried to find people that would fit his criteria. Rovan needed to find someone who would not interfere with his hunt. He was someone who did not want to get disturbed when he was hunting. To put it simply, he needed a simple, naive player that would listen to him. The reason why he needed to find a simple player was, ‘In the first place, he doesn’t need to come forward. This way I can eat more EXP.’

This was one of the weaknesses of the buff characters like healers. They needed to rely on parties whenever they were hunting. Whenever one hunted in a party, the EXP distribution would not necessarily be 5:5. Usually, healers would only take around 3~4 in EXP distribution. This was because their direct contribution to the hunting would always be low.

Right now, Rovan wished that he could find a useless figure, someone who was much more useless than a healer. In any case, Rovan would be the one who would do most of the hunting, so this was like him taking such a player on a bus. Their situation would be like hitting two birds with one stone. Of course, if this was his ideal scenario, then Rovan would be taking up more of the EXP, and also not be bothered by other strangers. There was no way that a player like that would be able to take aggro from him, besides he was quite confident with his skills. Rovan looked around with that thought in mind.

‘....Huh?’

Rovan tilted his head in confusion when he saw a player squatting down in a corner. Looking closely, he could see that the player was making kimchi pancakes.

‘Is he a chef?’ Rovan thought, as the man laughed weirdly.

“The ends of the pancakes taste so delicious...!”

‘Ho. It tastes the best, right?’ 

Rovan also knew about it. The best part of a pancake was its crunchy and crispy sides! He could not help but smack his lips at the thought. Then, a small fireball appeared on top of the man’s frying pan.

‘T, that…?’ 

Rovan saw it clearly. That was a fireball. However, as far as he knew, only mages were able to use that magic. He thought, ‘What the hell, how is that possible?’

Then, the fireball wrapped around the pancakes.

“Oh. It’s cooking well. It’s cooking well. Good. Good!” The man exclaimed as he flipped the pancakes perfectly.

Sizzle!

“Kyaha!”

“Wow. You flipped it well...”

“....?”

Rovan unconsciously praised the man. However, as soon as the man saw him, the man quickly hid the kimchi pancakes behind him. He looked like a pirate hiding his treasures from his adversaries. 

‘I’m not going to take it from you, though?!’ That was what Rovan wanted to say. Not long after, the man quickly finished cooking and picked a pancake up.

“Oh. It’s golden brown!”

‘Wow. It’s really fried to perfection, it’s golden brown!’ Rovan thought in awe. The sides of the kimchi pancake were crispy and toasted to a golden brown. Rovan watched the man quickly tear a piece out of the kimchi pancake before placing it in his mouth.

Crunch, crunch!

“Ah, so delicious!”

Rovan could hear the crunchy sound as the man chewed on the kimchi pancake. Rovan gulped down his saliva that threatened to drool from his mouth. He thought, ‘Wow. That pancake... It would definitely be crunchy in every bite, right? How about I make something crispy with flour later?’

Rovan was already imagining himself once he got home. He would definitely make some pancakes for himself later. Just as the man finished eating a pancake, Kemil, the representative from the Kingdom’s army suddenly spoke to that man. He said, “Excuse me...” 

“Yes?” The man said.

“I’ll take you in as my partner, so please, just give me one piece of pancake! Boy, you haven’t been able to find any companions for an hour now!”

When he heard those words, Rovan suddenly understood. He thought, ‘Ah. That player is a chef so no one wanted to take him to their party!’

It was the truth. No one wanted such a useless member as that man. Then the man responded, “But, Kemil, you need to protect and guard this place.”

“Ah. You’re right,” Kemil said, slapping his fist on his open palm as if he had just realized this.

Rovan looked at him as if he was looking at an idiot, and thought, ‘Is he a moron?’ 

However, after hearing what Kemil had to say, Rovan started to get an idea in his head.

“Boy, I wanted to give something to you in exchange for some pancakes, but that’s too bad. Hmm, hmm.”

In all honesty, Rovan also wanted to taste the pancakes that the man made.

“Then, shall I give you a piece of pancake?”

“Oh. Are you really giving me a piece?”

“Yes. You know, I love duck meat. Whisper, whisper...”

“Ah. I’ll definitely pack some more for you.”

“Oh. Thank you!”

‘What’s this? I don’t know if that player is dumb or clever?’

Rovan could not quite understand the man as he looked at him. The man gave out some pancakes, but in return, he got more rewards. However, players would generally ask for more gold, or a way to increase their attack power, whenever they ask for higher quest rewards. The player just wanted to have more duck meat?

The strange man made another piece of pancake and handed it over to Kemil. Kemil quickly tore the pancake and placed a piece in his mouth. Then, he quickly looked at Minhyuk and the pancake in his hands with admiration on his face. He said, “Wow... Waaaaaa...”

Kemil was left speechless in admiration as he looked back and forth between the pancake and Minhyuk. He continued to say, “Delicious. It’s really delicious... Wow...”

Rovan wanted to hear what it tasted like, but Kemil was left speechless. He found himself getting irritated at Kemil for no reason at all. He thought, ‘Damn. Talk! Why won’t you talk?!’

Then, as if waking up from some sort of dream, he paused and thought, ‘Why am I getting so worked up over a piece of pancake...?’

Then Kemil said, “It’s really, really delicious...”

Kemil looked like he was about to cry from the taste of the pancake.

“I’ll also give you a bit more gold for the rewards.”

“Oooh! Thank you!”

‘Gasp...!’

Rovan was quite shocked when he heard their conversation. He thought, ‘Im, impossible....!’

Was this the man’s plan all along? Did he expect an increase in the gold rewards if he asked for duck meat rewards instead?! 

‘So cunning! Clever!’

This only meant that the player was very confident with his cooking. After finishing his pancakes, the man washed his frying pan with magic and placed it behind his back. Strangely enough, his figure was quite familiar.

‘If he hits a monster with that frying pan, I think it would ring loudly or something like that.’

It would be more perfect if he was riding a motorcycle with a helmet on his head. Rovan finally decided… He would take that player with him. That player was a chef, but he could use some special magic, so he thought that maybe he was someone who had a hidden class. 

‘Something like… The Frying Pan Mage?’

However, Rovan was sure of one thing. If he took that player with him, he would definitely be able to eat delicious food while he helped to power-level that player. Rovan could also tell that player to just sit still while he could take most of the EXP away. 

Just then, his GC suddenly popped up.

[Guild Master Genie: Rovan, are you leveling well? I can’t wait ^^]