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Eating is What Pays Off
Episode 8. Eating is What Pays Off
Someone let out a long sigh in front of the altar in the prayer room.
“Huu.”
The owner of that sigh was none other than Yoon Jin-ha, an A-rank Hunter and Valkyrie, the heroine who had cleared this Legendary-rank quest.
Standing over 180 centimeters tall, she was also famous for her striking, androgynously handsome appearance, but the true reason for her fame was her strength.
Her outstanding combat sense, dazzling performances in dungeons and raids, and the fact that she possessed the Unique Class ‘Valkyrie.’
She was a star worthy of attention from Hunters and the general public alike.
“You damned Constellation!!!”
That is, if one ignored that her true nature was rough and her mouth was a bit foul.
Yoon Jin-ha checked the quest reward she had been waiting ages for, then let out a shriek while tearing at her hair.
[Legendary Quest Reward: Jerimnir-Fleskestek (Legendary-rank) (Edible)]
“Do you know how hard I worked to catch that boar, and all I get is food? Fooood? Aaaah!”
Of course, it wasn’t ordinary food.
After all, the dish literally had a rank attached to it.
And at that, a Legendary-rank, which had barely appeared since the Gate incident.
Of course, if it had been an item instead, she would have been overjoyed.
“How am I going to compensate the guild members……”
The Legendary-rank quest, which required conquering an S-rank dungeon and capturing the S-rank dungeon boss without damaging its organs or muscles, was an absolutely impossible difficulty for her to handle alone.
Only because the guild had mobilized heavily to support her, hoping for the Legendary-rank quest reward, had completing it been possible.
Therefore, this quest’s reward was not something she could monopolize alone.
“I suffered through all that, and now I’m just going to lose money.”
If the reward had been an item, Yoon Jin-ha had planned to use the money she had saved up to substitute the guild members’ compensation instead of using the item herself.
She would have had to pour out her entire fortune just for that, but a Legendary-rank item would have been well worth it.
That is, if it hadn’t been food.
“How the hell is food a reward……”
Though Yoon Jin-ha had never shed a tear during her rough Hunter life, she truly felt like crying now.
While she had been hanging her head for quite a while, a delicious scent slowly crept into her nose.
“Damn it, why does it smell so good. That just pisses me off even more.”
She hadn’t noticed while despairing at the fact that the reward was food, but once she calmed down, the rich aroma made her mouth water involuntarily.
“Can I even eat this?”
Judging by the name, it seemed to be a dish made from the Jerimnir she had caught.
Materials from dungeons were inedible to humans.
But this was a dish bestowed as a reward by a Constellation. Moreover, the phrase “edible” was attached to it.
“Ha, should I try just one bite?”
At first, she had considered sharing this dish to save money, but the smell was far too good for that.
Gulping down her saliva, Yoon Jin-ha carefully sliced the Jerimnir-Fleskestek (Legendary-rank).
“Wow, look how tender this meat is. And these juices, it’s insane.”
Yoon Jin-ha was a true food connoisseur to the point that touring famous restaurants was her hobby whenever she wasn’t in dungeons.
To her eyes, this Viking-style whole pork belly—crispy on the outside and moist on the inside—was a dish that looked delicious at a glance.
“Well then, just one bite……”
It was a rather large piece to call “one bite,” but Yoon Jin-ha opened her mouth wide and stuffed the meat in.
And in that moment, flavor exploded in her mouth.
“Mmmmmm!!!”
The furrowed brow of truth that appears when eating something delicious.
Unknowingly, Yoon Jin-ha furrowed her brow and stamped her feet as the meat’s savor filled her entire mouth.
“This is insane. The outside is so crispy, but how is the inside so moist? It’s perfectly crispy outside, juicy inside. And what’s with this rich meat flavor?”
Delicious (美味). Truly the pinnacle of taste.
At this level of flavor, the thought that a Legendary-rank food rating wasn’t strange at all crossed her mind.
“Ha, should I have just one more bite?”
One bite called for another, and each subsequent bite grew larger.
Her hands didn’t stop, continuously reaching for the Fleskestek.
The thought of sharing the dish had long since vanished from her mind.
“This is really too delicious. Huh? It’s all gone?”
It had been quite a large piece of whole pork belly, yet the plate was already completely clean.
Just when—if ever—she had been disappointed, Yoon Jin-ha was tapping the plate with her fork in regret when:
[By eating the Jerimnir-Fleskestek (Legendary-rank), you acquire the ability residing within the dish.]
[The infinitely regenerating energy of Jerimnir dwells within you.]
[You acquire the skill [Hyper-Regeneration].]
Yoon Jin-ha’s eyes went wide at the sudden system message.
[Hyper-Regeneration]. The ability also known as a Healing Factor.
It was a miraculous ability possessed by only a few high-ranking dungeon monsters.
An extreme survival skill capable of recovering from any wound, even if a part of the body was severed.
An ability that no Awakened had ever obtained until now—
“I got a skill from eating food? And [Hyper-Regeneration] at that?”
Yoon Jin-ha’s hands began to tremble.
With this ability alone, she could enter combat far more intensely than she could now without worrying about injuries.
Not even the highest-grade elixirs could grant skills.
Yet she had obtained such a skill by eating food.
“My dear Constellation, did I ever tell you I respected you? I respect you! No, I love you!”
Forgetting that she had been cursing at the Constellation mere moments ago, she offered prayers of love and respect to the maiden of power who traversed battlefields.
Though the Constellation in question, Thrud, was watching the Fleskestek disappear from her domain and weeping with regret.
And soon after, rumors began to spread that one could obtain skills by eating food bestowed by a Constellation, alongside Yoon Jin-ha’s changed performance after acquiring [Hyper-Regeneration].
* * *
“Come again.”
Today’s last customer had left.
After cooking all night in the charcoal kiln, by the time he drove back to Seoul, the morning sun was already rising.
He had opened the restaurant and prepared for business without a moment to rest, thinking today would be tough, but
“The Constellation’s blessing really is something.”
I moved my energetic body without the slightest fatigue and grinned.
The ‘Blessing of the Battlefield,’ which activated only on the battlefield.
To me, a chef, the battlefield was the ‘kitchen,’ so while I was in the restaurant, I was overflowing with strength.
Ah, would I collapse from exhaustion the moment I stepped out of the restaurant?
“Then, let’s get everything I need to do done before I leave the restaurant.”
The first thing he did was check the ring he had received as a reward along with the blessing.
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[Naud Rune Ring (Hero-rank)]
- A ring engraved with the runic letter Naud (ᛀ).
- Imprinted with the mana of the Naud rune, meaning ‘deprivation,’ ‘pain,’ and ‘hardship.’
- Imprinted Skill [Mana Burn]: Burns the mana of a designated target.
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Unlike the first sword, which had been Legendary-rank, this time the reward was a Hero-rank ring.
But its effect was such that it wasn’t the least bit disappointing.
“It has a skill attached?”
What was the greatest factor distinguishing the Awakened from non-Awakened?
It was neither outstanding physical abilities nor the ability to see a status window.
It was the power to cause miracles—skills were the very flower of Awakening.
Therefore, equipment with skills attached was typically considered one rank higher than its base grade.
In other words, this Hero-rank ring was practically the same as a Legendary-rank item.
“And [Mana Burn] at that. It can burn mana?”
Constellation Thrud had definitely said this ring would help solve his worries.
The worry that he couldn’t eat the Constellation-grade dishes he made because he would die from mana overload.
“Could it be telling me to burn the mana in the ingredients?”
No. If he did that, the mana in the food for the Constellation would disappear too.
The food for the Constellation had to be tasted by him as-is for it to mean anything.
Then could it be……
I swallowed hard at the thought that flashed through my head.
“Eat the food and burn the excess mana accumulated in my body?”
To survive by eating food containing a lethal amount of mana and burning the mana in his body.
What kind of unethical human experiment talk was this?
But there was a part of me that thought this idea wasn’t bad.
No, rather, it was quite tantalizing.
“Let’s test it first.”
I took out the skirt meat I had set aside while butchering the pork belly yesterday from the refrigerator.
There was quite a lot of skirt meat, about 3–4 kg, but I tore off just a little and cooked it in a pan.
Sizzle!
The wild boar skirt meat cooked in the heated pan with a loud noise.
But it was difficult to cook with ordinary heat, so I brought a butane torch and applied heat to both sides.
“I think this is cooked enough?”
A piece of skirt meat grilled appetizingly golden-brown.
But this small piece contained a dangerous amount of mana that could kill the eater instantly with acute mana poisoning.
“Huu, Thrud, I believe in you.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and put the meat in my mouth.
The moment I chewed, I felt the bouncy texture, and rich meat juices flowed out.
Wow, this taste is insane.
Unlike ordinary pork, the meat was both chewy and tender, and the savory fat flavor and the pork’s inherent umami were exquisite.
And there was even a uniquely spicy aroma rising faintly.
It felt as though I were eating it with fresh wasabi.
Was this the taste of mana? It was certainly a dangerous flavor, but
I, Do Yeon-seong.
A gourmet who enjoys delicious food even before being a chef.
Even if it was a bit dangerous, how could I give up this taste?
Perhaps the first human to eat pufferfish felt this way too.
[The Chef Class’s skill [Ingredient Analysis] activates.]
[‘Jerimnir’s Skirt Meat’ is suitable for grilling.]
[‘Jerimnir’s Skirt Meat’ possesses [Effect: Wound Regeneration].]
[Effects may vary depending on the cut and amount consumed.]
While savoring the meat, a message I was seeing for the first time appeared.
Right, I had a skill.
The skill I had obtained immediately upon Awakening into the ‘Chef’ Class, [Ingredient Analysis].
However, this was the first time it had activated because I had never eaten an ingredient containing mana before.
Besides, to think it tasted this good and even had wound regeneration effects.
“Now I know why Thrud and the Valkyries went so crazy……, kuhk!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The joy of the flavor was momentary; the moment I swallowed one piece, my heart began beating violently in my chest.
My body had started reacting to the mana contained in the meat.
If left like this, my heart would probably burst and I would die on the spot.
I hurriedly raised the hand wearing the ring toward my heart.
“[Mana Burn]”
When I used the skill, the runic character engraved on the ring emitted a black light.
And at the same time, my heart, which had been beating as if it would burst, slowed its pulse and returned to normal.
“Phew, I almost died.”
If I had been even a little late, I might have collapsed on the floor and died without even activating the skill.
But after burning the mana in time, my body was surprisingly fine without aftereffects.
“I think it’s thanks to eating in the kitchen where the blessing is active?”
The ‘Blessing of the Battlefield’ was a buff that protected the body from various dangers and enhanced abilities.
Thanks to the blessing’s power, which strengthened the body so much that one wouldn’t get a single burn even from sticking a hand in a charcoal kiln, no major aftereffects remained.
“Still, I can’t eat much. It’ll have to be just a taste.”
I looked at the still plentiful skirt meat with a regretful expression.
It was truly delicious…… So this is what they mean by a taste so good that one of two people eating could die without noticing.
If not for that tremendous mana, that meat would have already all gone into my mouth.
“Wait.”
Since I wasn’t going to offer this to a Constellation anyway, couldn’t I just burn the mana and eat it?
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I couldn’t hold back and placed the meat on the pan.
This time, I didn’t forget to grind and sprinkle dungeon rock salt on it too.
Just as the skirt meat was grilled fantastically, with the salt melting into the fat, I burned the mana.
Or rather, when I was about to burn it.
[If this dish’s mana disappears, the dish’s effects will disappear. Do you still wish to burn it?]
Hmm? Did the food I made also have effects?
The Constellations who had eaten until now hadn’t said anything like that?
He didn’t know what the effect was, but it probably wasn’t something worth risking his life over.
If I were a Hunter conquering dungeons, I would have agonized over it, but I’m a restaurant owner.
There was no reason to make a gamble with my life.
Rather than risking my life on food, cooking for Constellations and receiving rewards was the more profitable business, wasn’t it?
I shrugged my shoulders and used the skill.
“[Mana Burn].”
And so, all the mana was burned, and the skirt meat went straight into my mouth.
“Hehehe, delicious as expected. As expected, eating is what pays off.”
It was at that moment when 3 kg of skirt meat vanished in an instant.
[The Unseen King of the Underworld has heard rumors of you and come to find you.]
[The Unseen King of the Underworld asks if you can make a lunch box for his wife.]
A new Constellation customer had arrived, following Cain and Thrud.