“Aaah… I want to eat it so bad.”
Letisia, one of the administrators of Real, was once again watching Irim’s every move today.
Her physical form was nowhere to be seen.
Game administrators normally existed in a transcendent state.
Transcendents had no body; they could go anywhere and see anything.
Right now, Letisia was watching Rice’s bean sprout hangover soup mukbang.
If she had her way, she would have manifested a body on the spot and begged for just one bite.
But administrators were strictly forbidden from any direct interaction with players under any circumstances.
So she could only swallow her saliva and endure.
Having finished his bean sprout hangover soup, Rice was now heading toward Badran.
At that moment, the God of Cooking Michelin showed interest in Rice once more.
Then a new stat, “Michelin’s Interest,” appeared in Rice’s status window.
Seeing this, Letisia was utterly shocked.
“Already caught a god’s eye?”
In the world of Real, there were many professions, and each had its own guardian deity.
The gods watched over the players who chose the professions they protected.
When someone displayed exceptional talent and brilliant achievements, the gods would eventually reveal themselves to that person.
‘Well… at Rice-nim’s level, it’s no wonder Michelin took notice.’
Even so, it was far too fast.
Letisia had personally planned everything related to crafting and production jobs in Real.
According to her projections, the gods were supposed to start moving only after the player base had sufficiently activated the Rubarton region.
Yet this was happening before he had even reached the second city.
Rice was truly no ordinary person.
Every footprint he left was already changing the history of Real.
He had already cleared five sub-scenarios.
No one else had solved as many sub-scenarios as him yet.
Rice finally arrived at the second city, Badran.
Thanks to his risen fame, the guards recognized him immediately.
When asked the purpose of his visit to Badran, Rice answered:
“I came because I want to eat beef.”
“Pfft!”
Letisia burst out laughing at that pure, almost childlike desire.
The Rice reflected in her vision right now looked impossively cute.
At that moment, a warning appeared in her sight.
[You have been connected for over 8 hours. Rest is recommended.]
‘Already? I wanted to watch more… but I have work outside too.’
Letisia logged out.
***
Oh Hayoung opened her eyes.
She removed the Connector and sat up in bed.
Letisia of Real had returned to being Oh Hayoung, team leader of Illusion’s Korean Integrated Server Management Team 3.
She checked the time.
It was nearing 4 a.m.
Yet she knew.
None of the members of Management Team 3 would be asleep.
They were all night owls, completely immersed in the world of Real, to the point that even if you told them to stop working, they kept going voluntarily.
Oh Hayoung typed a message into the team group chat.
– How about a lightning meetup for bean sprout hangover soup?
Replies flew in instantly.
– Team leader, you were stalking Rice user again and watching his mukbang, weren’t you?
– Last time you suddenly called for samgyeopsal, then you were the only one who couldn’t eat anything, remember? ㅠㅠ
– Fix your anorexia first, then call a meetup.
– Stop whining about bean sprout soup and go to the hospital regularly.
– Forget the meetup, I’ll buy it for you.
– Team leader. I know you haven’t slept for 24 hours!!!!!! Go sleep first?^^ +
Reading the messages, Oh Hayoung flung her smartphone far away.
She made one wrong suggestion and suddenly got a bunch of nagging stepmoms.
Growl.
She was hungry.
‘Is there a 24-hour bean sprout soup place nearby?’
In the end, she went out alone.
***
She managed only three spoonfuls of bean sprout soup rice.
Any more was impossible.
Still, Oh Hayoung felt good.
Slowly, very slowly, her stomach was starting to accept food again.
There was no longer the instant nausea she used to feel the moment she swallowed.
The condition that hadn’t improved despite countless hospital visits was finally beginning to heal while watching Rice’s mukbangs.
Badran was a considerably large city.
Its scale was roughly twice that of Tirko Village.
The population was correspondingly higher, and the atmosphere felt far livelier than Tirko Village.
Badran had a proper commercial district.
Restaurants, general stores, weapon shops, armor shops—various businesses were clustered together, and unlike Tirko Village, they all seemed to be open for business.
However, because of the late hour, very few had their doors open.
Instead, players had set up stalls between the shops and were doing business.
In Tirko Village, most sellers shouted at the top of their lungs about their wares, but here it was different.
Every player had made a signboard and written what they were selling.
Some had even built proper stalls, beautifully laid out mats, and displayed their goods on top.
There were also players cooking and selling food.
Irim walked straight up to one such player.
“Welcome~”
The player was about to greet him warmly when he suddenly shouted in surprise.
“Rice-nim?”
“Ah… KoreanFoodKing-nim.”
“Wow! We meet again here. I thought you’d be way ahead of me by now, but you only just arrived? Haha.”
“Yes. That’s how it turned out.”
KoreanFoodKing wore a smug expression, as if he had won something.
“Looks like I’m the one playing the game itself more skillfully, even if I lose at cooking.”
“It does seem that way.”
He had thrown the words to provoke pride, but when Irim simply agreed, KoreanFoodKing was the one who felt worse.
“Well, did you come to buy food? Someone like you who can just cook anything—why bother buying?”
Irim ignored the sarcasm and looked at the menu written on KoreanFoodKing’s sign.
[Egg Fry 2,000 won. Chicken Skewer 5,000 won. Chicken Steak 10,000 won. Pork Belly 15,000 won. Beef Sirloin Steak 25,000 won.]
Seeing the prices, Irim shot a shocked glance at KoreanFoodKing.
“What?”
“Why are the prices so expensive?”
“People still buy them anyway. My cooking skills have gotten pretty decent. Especially the beef sirloin steak—it’s quite good. Want to try? Since I respect Rice-nim, I’ll give you a special 10,000 won discount. How about it?”
“Yes, please.”
KoreanFoodKing’s attitude was unpleasant, but Irim still wanted to try food made by someone else for once.
When Irim paid in advance, KoreanFoodKing took a pre-made steak from his inventory, placed it on a large leaf, stabbed a crude wooden skewer through it, and handed it over.
“Enjoy.”
Irim examined the steak on the leaf.
[Beef Sirloin Steak]
– Satiety +25 upon consumption
‘Hmm.’
There was no flavorful prefix attached to the name.
All the dishes Irim made had words like “mouth-watering” or “delicious” in front.
In short, this dish probably wasn’t very tasty.
Moreover, satiety only increased by 25.
The steak Irim received was cut into cubes, and even at a glance, the portion looked pitifully small.
‘Charging 25,000 won for this little amount.’
If the taste was bad, it should at least have a large portion, but KoreanFoodKing had failed at both.
Irim speared a piece with the wooden skewer and tasted it.
KoreanFoodKing closely watched Irim’s slowly moving mouth.
When he himself had eaten it, it was a pretty decent steak—hard to find in Real.
But Irim thought differently.
‘Tough. It has a gamey smell. This isn’t well-done; it’s just overcooked. Way too salty too.’
It screamed of someone who had no idea how to cook a proper beef steak.
In truth, KoreanFoodKing had almost never eaten beef steak before.
He liked Korean and Chinese food.
He didn’t care for Western or Japanese cuisine.
So the only beef he had ever eaten was grilled galbi at regular beef restaurants, and even that was just as drinking snacks.
Of course he couldn’t cook a proper steak.
Yet the reason he stubbornly sold steak was because the environment was so harsh that there was nothing else he could make.
“How is it?”
KoreanFoodKing asked.
Irim pondered for a long time before finally answering.
“Um… I think it would be best not to sell this. If you keep going, you might only get cursed at by customers.”
“Huh? Isn’t it at least okay?”
“No. It really isn’t. The meat is tough and very gamey. It’s overseasoned with salt. And the portion is tiny. The cost-performance is terrible. Above all, steak isn’t grilled like this. This can’t even be called proper food. I think it’s better not to sell it.”
Stunned by the sudden flood of criticism, KoreanFoodKing froze.
The Rice he remembered was a gentle guy who could cook decently.
He never imagined he could spit such sharp words so casually.
When it came to food, Irim showed no mercy.
If someone asked him to evaluate their cooking, he would tell the truth exactly as it was, even if it hurt the other person.
He had done the same when critiquing Rozelan’s food.
In front of food, one must be honest—that honesty becomes the fertilizer for the other person’s growth.
But if the receiver took it the wrong way, growth would fly far away.
Exactly like KoreanFoodKing right now.
“Hey, aren’t you getting a bit too full of yourself just because people praised you a little in the game? Sure, I admit Rice-nim is good at cooking. But I don’t think my food deserves that level of harsh criticism.”
“…Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
Irim felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
When they first met, this man had definitely said he worked in the food industry.
The thought that someone with that mindset and skill level was making and selling food to customers…
Irim barely suppressed the sigh that threatened to escape and bid KoreanFoodKing farewell.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t say anything nice. I have somewhere to be, so I’ll be going now.”
KoreanFoodKing glared at Irim’s retreating back.
Irim headed to a restaurant located at the entrance of Badran’s commercial district.
Fortunately, the restaurant was open 24 hours.
They couldn’t let players go hungry, so the game company had apparently set it that way.
Ding-a-ling—
Irim pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The dining hall was fairly spacious.
Maybe around 100 square meters?
Yet only five parties were eating there in total.
And none of them looked like they were enjoying particularly tasty food.
Irim tried to see what they were eating.
At that moment, a server approached.
“Welco—huh? Rice-nim!”
The server who recognized Rice was Melina.
“Melina-nim. You work part-time here?”
“Yes! What a coincidence.”
It wasn’t really that much of a coincidence.
After all, the path for players was a single road all the way to Rubarton.
Branching routes only began at Rubarton.
Rubarton was where the mansion of Countess Beatrice was located, and many cities were scattered around it.
“I’m really glad to see you, Rice-nim!”
Melina said excitedly.
At that moment, the NPC owner of the restaurant, Moit, who had been standing behind the counter, spoke in a trembling voice.
“What did you say, Melina? Rice… nim? The Rice-nim who’s currently the talk of the town?”
Irim looked at Moit.
A yellow question mark floated above his head.