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Chapter 191: Infinitely Refilling Lamb Meat
Athenae: Korean War was a competition that would be held to select the best player from the country. Competitions with the same format would also be held all over the world to determine their own best. Huge prizes, as well as the title of Korea’s MVP, awaited the victors of the competition. Those players that receive the title of Korea’s MVP would also be eligible to participate in the world competition as a ‘national representative’.
A meeting was currently underway in one of the conference rooms of the makers of Athenae, Joy Co. Ltd., regarding the game event. It seemed like what they were discussing was going to be never ending.
Athenae: Korean War was divided into two categories: production class and combat class. The currently ongoing meeting was to discuss the ‘Production Class’ competition. The first on their list of discussions was the ‘Flag War’. The team leader of the Development Team, Lee Seokhoon, began to explain the contents displayed on the screen.
“The Flag War’s rules are simple. The system will basically have the players team up in groups of three and the team that can take away the most flags will win. In addition, once the Flag War had started, the players will only be given the most basic and normal ranked artifact that’s fit for their class. They will not be able to use their currently equipped artifacts.”
The reason why the players were not allowed to use their current artifacts during the Flag War was simple.
“If they were production class players, then they can be self-sufficient. Think about it. Our country’s top production rankers will become self-sufficient and produce their own artifacts to fight. Our country’s players will grow crazy over them.”
President Kang Taehoon nodded and asked, “What’s the chances of our country winning a medal if the Flag War was done in Athenae: World War, and not Athenae: Korean War?”
“...”
The entire room was plunged into silence at the president’s words. They all knew that the probability of them winning in such a large scale competition was too low. Hepas’ Descendant, Hyemin’sDaddy, was in their country, but there was no guarantee that he would participate in the competition. There were only a few production class players in the country that could rival Hyemin’sDaddy’s power. What was more, the event required them to be in groups of three. They might not be as good as Hyemin’sDaddy, but they should at least be able to support him if they participated. It was hard to find such a player with that strength and power among the players in their country. Among the employees in the room, only Team Leader Park Minggyu thought of one player, and one player alone.
‘...Player Minhyuk.’
However, there were some problems. How sure were they that Player Minhyuk would participate in the Athenae: Korean War? In addition, how likely was it that he would receive the title of Korea’s MVP and become one of the national representatives?
Player Minhyuk was a player that was still a mystery. He did not want to show himself, nor did he want to gain fame. More than anything else, he was a player that did not care about artifacts and was a person that would pursue something delicious or something that was more delicious. With that, Park Minggyu was sure that his answer would be ‘no’.
At that moment, one of the staff from the Development Team came inside. The staff looked like he was in a hurry as he tried to approach Lee Seokhoon to whisper something. Before he could do so, President Kang Taehoon suddenly interjected. He said, “Just say it out loud.”
“Athenae and our team of developers have added an additional event.”
“Ho. Is that right?”
There were still events that were being made. The supercomputer Athenae would collect the opinions of the Development Team before it would create a corresponding sport or event. Finally, one of such events had been completed.
“Wasn’t there an event that we believe would garner the most enthusiastic response? The production class players’ ‘Monster Hunting’ event.”
President Kang Taehoon nodded in agreement. Production classes’ monster hunt! Since they would hunt the monsters with their various special abilities, the world would definitely pay attention to Athenae.
“That’s right.”
“That part is already complete.”
“So, what’s the name of the event?”
When the staff heard the words ‘name of the event’ he hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth. He said, “It’s called ‘Speed Eating’.”
The moment his words came out, Team Leader Park’s eyes widened even his fists clenched tightly. He thought, ‘Speed… Eating?’
Just hearing the name made him think that Player Minhyuk would jump up in excitement and say ‘I’ll win first place!’ right?
“The name’s a bit... right?”
“But, I think the content of the event itself is very solid and fun.”
President Kang Taehoon nodded as if to stop the development team staff from explaining any further.
“In the Speed Eating contest, they would run out of food whenever they hunted monsters.”
“Ho?”
In the first place, the nature of the monster hunting event was not that hidden. It was simply running out of food the moment they hunted the monsters.
“And since it’s Athenae: Korean War, won’t it be good if we can showcase our country’s local food as drops, right?”
“Right.”
“And with the consensus between the supercomputer, Athenae, and our development team, we have already decided which food will be dropped.”
It was as if the staff of the development team was telling them that it was something to look forward to.
“It’s ‘market food’.”
“That’s interesting?”
“It’s good.”
Everyone let out a small sigh. However, President Kang Taehoon knew why the food was good.
“Our country has its own unique flavor. When I was young, I used to go to the market with my parents. But these days, the huge supermarkets have already overtaken the traditional markets.”
“That’s right. And you can really taste a lot of market food in this event. In addition, it will be an opportunity for our country to introduce our market food and culture to foreign media. With this, we can naturally attract tourists.”
President Kang Taehoon nodded, while Manager Kim Daesik said, “What food are there?”
Team Leader Park Minggyu’s ears perked, already gulping his saliva. His mouth could not help but water at the thought of such food. Right now, he was imagining himself as Player Minhyuk.
“Sugar-coated twisted donuts, mochi donuts filled with red beans, mung bean pancake, japchae and nude kimbap combination which is the current hottest trend in Gwangjang Market, market chicken, market pork trotters and noodles.”
Team Leader Park’s mouth was overflowing with his drool. Even President Kang Taehoon gulped as if his mouth was watering too.
“It’s a combination of food that will make your mouth water, right? Haha!”
A thought flashed through Team Leader Park’s mind, ‘Player Minhyuk will probably be drooling once he hears this.’
Team Leader Park shook his head and grinned at the thought.
***
[You can acquire the Active Skill: Save.]
[You can acquire the Active Skill: Dark Fire Storm.]
[You have a total of three skills that can be saved using the Eccentric Food God’s Skill.]
[You can either delete ‘Earth Quake’ or ‘Absorption’ to acquire both new skills or only select one of the new skills.]
Minhyuk had successfully acquired two new skills, but he could see that he was given two options. He could either delete his existing skills or give up one from his newly acquired ones. Before making his choice, he first checked the information on the skills.
(Save)
Active Skill
Level: None
Mana Required: Depends on the skill
Cooldown: 72 hours
Effects: You can store one of your active skills in your weapon. The skills stored in a weapon can be used immediately regardless of its cooldown.
The first skill was ‘Save’.
‘Isn’t this very useful?’
The skill’s concept was literally storing one of Minhyuk’s active skills in his weapon. For example, if he used ‘Rampant Sword’ then he would consume his MP and the cooldown time would start. However, if he activated the ‘Rampant Sword’ that he had stored in his weapon, he would be able to use the skill again without waiting for the cooldown to finish. In a way, it was similar to the way mages store their magic in their staffs, parchments and wands. The higher their level, the more magic the mage could store in their artifact, which could sometimes make it seem like they were not restrained by cooldowns. However, no matter how outstanding the skill ‘Save’ was, its cooldown was still too long. Which meant that he could only store one skill within three days.
Next, he checked Dark Fire Storm.
(Dark Fire Storm)
Active Skill
Level: Sixth Tier
Mana Required: 400
Cooldown: 1 hour
Effects: A storm of dark fire will engulf and devour your enemies within a radius of six meters dealing a damage of 600~1,000 per second.
It was an AOE attack skill. It might not be comparable to Blooming Sword or Lightning Hell, but it was a Sixth Tier magic. Players that could reach the Sixth Tier were few and far in between. In addition, it was much more superior to his currently saved skill ‘Earth Quake’.
After looking through the skills, Minhyuk finally decided. He said, “Delete Earth Quake.”
[Are you sure you want to delete Earth Quake?]
Minhyuk nodded in answer.
[You have deleted the skill Earth Quake.]
[You have acquired the Active Skill: Save.]
[You have acquired the Active Skill: Dark Fire Storm.]
Then, without hesitation, Minhyuk used the skill ‘Save’.
[Please choose the skill you want to store.]
[You have stored ‘Blooming Sword’.]
Minhyuk nodded in satisfaction and thought, ‘Well then, let’s do it again...’
It was time to hunt Bachran Guild again.
***
Crone was already on the verge of tears.
[Guild Chat: Hayac has left Bachran Guild.]
[Guild Chat: Carcass has left Bachran Guild.]
[Guild Chat: Hekhek has left Bachran Guild.]
[Guild Chat: Downpour has left Bachran Guild.]
[Guild Chat: Robin’sButt has left Bachran Guild.]
[Guild Chat: Damn has left Bachran Guild.]
His guild members were constantly withdrawing from the guild. The Four Hyenas, the Frying Pan Killer, and even Legend Guild had been hunting and slaughtering them mercilessly. The massacre only lasted for four days, but the damage that the guild had incurred was extremely severe. A few days ago, Pharaoh moved to meet with the nobles to find a different way to break through, but he ended up in prison.
‘It doesn’t make sense!’
The nobles suddenly turned their backs against them and Pharaoh was imprisoned. And it was not only that, there was even an imperial warrant placed against Bachran Guild in the empire.
One of the noblemen told him, ‘Why would you even dare to touch...’.
‘Who the hell was behind the Frying Pan Killer?’
There was even a post on the official bulletin board.
[We will pay 10 million gold for information about the guild members of Bachran Guild.]
This was the reason why no matter what they did, players still tried to ‘find Bachran’. In the end, the guild members could not endure the hunt anymore. They started leaving Bachran Guild one after the other.
Even the netizens were still commenting.
[gadad31: But didn’t Legend Guild started this first? Legend’s Ace killed a player for no reason at all, right? Or, is that not the case? Anyway, Bachran Guild is a rude mannered guild so no one’s going to tell Legend off for killing Bachran~]
[cbcvb: I feel like that too. But, Bachran Guild is not entirely filled with trash... To be honest, is this a witch hunt or not?]
[baddadd313: Yeah~ No~ It was manipulated by Bachran Guild. Ladies and Gentlemen, it was obviously rigged so Bachran can make a name for themselves.]
Very few believed in the validity of their reason for attacking. However, Crone was already on the verge of losing everything. He was someone that had quit his job, ran a guild with all the money that he got and made a fortune! If everything kept on going like this, he would definitely be ruined. So in a desperate attempt, he posted on the official bulletin board so they could reach an agreement.
‘Frying Pan Killer, please contact me.’
Finally, he got a call from the real Frying Pan Killer. With his trembling heart, Crone met with him at a luxurious restaurant that sold the most expensive food in Eivelis Empire.
Minhyuk was wearing a helmet while looking at Crone with a frosty expression. Meanwhile, Crone looked bitter. He felt as bitter as those sinners in prison. Even right now, his guild members were either being captured by the Imperial Army, or hunted by the other bounty hunter players.
Then, Minhyuk asked, “Are you paying for the meal?”
“Ah. Of course! Eat as much as you like!”
Right now, Minhyuk was party ‘A’ while Crone was party ‘B’[1].
‘How much do I even need to pay for his food?’
When Minhyuk heard Crone’s words, he drove the wedge deeper to make sure.
“You’re really paying for the meal? You shouldn’t complain later then.”
Then Crone burst out laughing and said, “It’s alright even if you eat here for seven days and six nights!”
“...Is that so? Well then...”
The corner of Minhyuk’s lips lifted up in a smirk.
1. A reference to contracts. Party A has the upper hand while Party B has the lower hand. ☜