Chapter 1: Unicorn Chicken’s Fried Egg

Gulp!

Irim swallowed hard as he looked at the brainwave sensor “Connector” and a thumb-sized bottle containing thirty “Connection Waters” delivered by courier.

To the naked eye, they seemed unremarkable, but these were the gateway to the virtual reality game Real.

Irim plugged in the Connector, turned it on, and placed the black, headband-like brainwave sensor on his head.

Then he opened a bottle of Connection Water and swallowed it in one gulp.

The water had no smell or taste.

But it was filled with billions of nanoparticles that linked the human mind to the game.

These particles were completely harmless to the body and would be fully expelled within one to ten hours, depending on the amount consumed.

Once the nanoparticles were expelled, the player could no longer stay connected to the game.

In other words, the continuous playtime limit for the virtual reality game Real was ten hours.

Of course, drinking more Connection Water would allow reconnection, but the game company advised taking sufficient rest in between.

Moreover, since purchasing Connection Water was mandatory to play, it essentially served as the game’s usage fee.

Irim lay down and closed his eyes.

When he pressed the connect button on the Connector, his consciousness was sucked into a distant realm.

When he opened his eyes again, he was standing on a vast grassland.

Irim was wearing the basic cloth attire provided by the game.

“Status window.”

Irim opened his status window.

Character: Rice

Class: None

Health: 100

Attack: 10

Defense: 10

Agility: 10

Satiety: 70/100

Equipment

Weapon: None

Armor: None

Accessories: None

Skills

Passive: None

Active: None

Rice.

That was the name Irim would use in the virtual reality game.

From now on, in this world, Irim would become Rice.

Next, he opened his inventory.

Inventory

Items: Dagger [1], Torch [1], Blanket [1]

Money: 0W

Checking his inventory, Irim gave a wry smile.

At that moment, a woman’s voice echoed.

“Welcome to the virtual reality game Real. Brave hero Rice, you may visit the world of Real whenever you wish. Are you aware of the precautions?”

“Yes.”

Irim had already been informed of all the precautions when he signed the contract with Illusion, the company behind Real, while entering his personal information.

The most emphasized point was that playing for more than ten hours would result in an automatic disconnection to prevent harm.

Getting disconnected in the middle of a party hunting a boss monster could cause significant inconvenience to others.

The next point of emphasis was how to disconnect.

Players could say “Disconnect” at any time to exit, but it was common to accidentally say the phrase.

In such cases, a prompt would ask for confirmation, and repeating the phrase would safely disconnect the player.

Lastly, they informed him that sexual interactions between players were systemically blocked, and committing crimes like murder or theft would result in appropriate penalties.

Other than that, players were free to do as they pleased.

“All of Rice’s senses are now synchronized with Real. Synchronization complete. Enjoy this other world to your heart’s content.”

The moment the woman’s voice ended, his five senses came alive.

Irim’s eyes widened as if they might pop out.

Huuup—Haaa.

He could smell.

The earthy scent of the vast green grassland, the fragrance of the grass, and the cool breeze filled his nostrils.

How dearly he had missed this sensation.

Hundreds of times a day, he wished he could smell again, praying for a miracle as he fell asleep.

And now, that miracle had happened.

Huuup. Haaa.

As he inhaled deeply once more, Irim’s eyes reddened.

What he couldn’t achieve in reality, this virtual reality game had restored.

Here… I can do it.

Life returned to Irim’s eyes.

Around him, new players dressed in the same clothes kept appearing.

They all looked like handsome men and beautiful women straight out of a novel.

Since players could customize their appearance as desired, this was only natural.

This was the Korean server, so most of the players connecting were Korean.

He’d heard that heading to the central continent would allow him to play with people from around the world, but that was a matter for later.

For now, Irim wanted to cook.

The vast grassland was filled with monsters resembling chickens.

They were called “Unicorn Chickens,” with a single, sturdy horn on their foreheads.

Unicorn Chickens weren’t aggressive and wouldn’t attack unless provoked first—a consideration for beginner players.

Newbies all around drew their daggers to hunt the Unicorn Chickens.

Here and there, the chickens let out pitiful cries as they fell.

Defeated monsters had a chance of dropping money, which automatically went into the inventory of the player who killed them.

By butchering a Unicorn Chicken’s corpse, players could obtain meat.

“There’s no typical leveling system in this game, right?” Irim muttered.

Though he’d never played a game like this, he understood the concept of a leveling system.

Real wasn’t a game where you gained experience points by killing monsters to level up.

Instead, repeated actions in this world would grant related abilities.

Players developed their characters by honing those abilities.

Multiple abilities could be acquired depending on one’s efforts.

That’s why everyone was hunting chickens—to gain combat-related abilities.

But Irim had no interest in that.

He was utterly captivated by the vivid scents of this world.

Then he picked up an egg from a Unicorn Chicken lying nearby.

As this was their habitat, such eggs were scattered everywhere.

They looked no different from regular eggs.

Can I… taste it?

With anticipation, Irim tapped the eggshell with his front teeth.

Then he slurped the raw egg.

His mouth filled with the thick liquid.

Instead of swallowing right away, he burst the yolk and savored the taste.

I can feel it!

The yolk’s rich, nutty flavor spread across his mouth.

The raw egg’s fishy scent rose to his nasal passages, but even that was pleasant.

Gulp!

A smile spread across Irim’s face as he swallowed the egg.

He could taste.

He could smell.

The world of Real had given him a tremendous gift.

Irim picked up another egg and tasted it.

Gulp!

The taste was absolutely divine.

Experiencing “taste” for the first time in a year was indescribable, beyond words.

Irim picked up another egg.

Gulp!

When he tasted his tenth raw egg in a row, a notification appeared.

[Achievement Unlocked!]

Achievement Acquired: Egg Connoisseur

Condition: Taste ten raw eggs “consecutively”

Reward: Egg Freshness Indicator

With this unexpected message, freshness indicators appeared above the eggs scattered across the grassland.

<Freshness: High>, <Freshness: Medium>, <Freshness: Low>

Irim gathered eggs by freshness level, cracked them open, and checked their contents.

Eggs with “High” freshness were perfectly fresh, “Medium” eggs were edible, but “Low” eggs were rotten.

“An achievement for something like this? Then now…”

Irim carefully surveyed his surroundings.

Something had been catching his eye for a while.

Among the many stones scattered around, he occasionally spotted flat, wide stones called “Coating Stones.”

When Irim touched one, its smooth surface felt like it wouldn’t stick, even if used to fry something.

Perfect.

Irim gathered a Coating Stone and some branches.

He dug a pit in the ground, filled it with branches, placed the Coating Stone on top, and lit the branches with the torch from his inventory.

He put the used torch back into his inventory.

This ensured the fire wouldn’t go out—a convenience of the virtual reality game.

Whoosh!

The branches quickly caught fire, heating the stone.

Irim cracked an egg he’d prepared and dropped it onto the stone.

Tap tap. Crack. Sizzle!

The egg began cooking as soon as it hit the heated stone.

As expected, it didn’t stick.

“First, a sunny-side-up.”

Sunny-side-up.

An egg fried with the yolk left runny and only the white cooked.

It’s named so because it resembles a rising sun.

In simple terms, a half-cooked egg.

Irim loved sunny-side-up eggs.

Though he couldn’t control the fire’s intensity, the egg cooked evenly without burning.

Watching the egg like a hawk, Irim took out his dagger at the right moment.

He lifted the cooked egg off the stone and placed it on the flat of the dagger.

The egg sagged slightly but the yolk remained firm and intact.

How long had it been since he’d made a proper fried egg?

As soon as the fried egg was complete, a message appeared above it.

[Delicious Fried Egg]

Satiety +10 upon consumption

The satiety gain from a fried egg seemed to vary depending on how well it was cooked.

Irim had considerable experience winning awards at national cooking competitions.

A craftsman doesn’t blame their tools.

Despite the lack of proper equipment, his skill hadn’t gone anywhere.

But Irim wasn’t focused on that.

“Phew, phew.”

Irim blew on the hot fried egg to cool it before putting it in his mouth.

The crispy edges crunched, and the soft white broke apart like pudding.

Irim pressed the yolk with his tongue, bursting it.

The yolk, warmed by the heat, popped and released its rich flavor all at once.

“Mmm.”

Savoring the true essence of a fried egg for the first time in a year, Irim let out a moan and shuddered.

This was it.

This was what living tasted like.

“Let’s make another.”

Before the wave of emotion subsided, Irim gathered more eggs marked with “High” freshness.

He cracked three at once and fried them.

Sizzle!

The savory aroma of frying eggs spread in all directions.

Some newbies, focused solely on hunting Unicorn Chickens, began gathering around Irim.

“Why are you frying eggs here?”

“Dude, aren’t you going to hunt?”

“Hey, let’s just go.”

They couldn’t understand Irim’s actions.

Irim was ready to fry eggs all day.

He stored each fried egg in his inventory as soon as it was done.

They were just fried eggs, but after a year of avoiding cooking due to his lost senses, it was endlessly fun.

When he had fried about a hundred eggs, another notification appeared.

[Achievement Unlocked!]

Achievement Acquired: Master of Fried Eggs!

Condition: Fry 50 eggs to a “Delicious” level of quality

Reward: Satiety value of fried eggs increased by 5

Oh?

He had unlocked another achievement.

The delicious fried eggs Irim made already increased satiety by 10.

With the achievement reward, eating one fried egg would now provide 15 satiety.

As Irim smiled with satisfaction, he heard an annoyed user’s voice in the distance.

“Ugh, it’s fishy!”

“Blech! This egg is rotten!”

“Someone grill a chicken leg or something!”

“If you’ve got time to grill, hunt hard, get some combat skills, and leave the newbie zone. There’s a village out there with a restaurant, so just hold on a bit.”

“Oh, really? Do they sell anything decent at the restaurant?”

“Just bread and some watery soup, I heard. Better than raw eggs, though.”

“That’s depressing.”

“It’s like they expect us to develop the food culture ourselves, but who’s got time for that? Real isn’t a gourmet exploration game. Think of the money at stake.”

“Yeah, true.”

The virtual reality game Real had a clear goal.

To defeat the demon king’s army threatening to destroy the world.

The first to defeat the demon king would win a real-world prize of 10 billion won.

In Real’s commercial, Yuria said:

“In Real, everything in everyday life is possible. Do you really need to defeat a demon king? Just do what you love and enjoy yourself. Will you join us, brave hero?”

That was just a tactic to draw users into Real.

Once in the world, most players were swept up in the larger flow.

That was the power of 10 billion won.

“But seriously, eating raw eggs all the time is torture. It’s not like we can turn off our sense of smell or taste.”

“Exactly.”

Seeing the situation, Irim’s heart began to race.

Could it work?

Maybe he could sell the fried eggs he’d made.

In reality, his dream of opening a restaurant had collapsed.

So he wanted to at least play at running a “restaurant” here.

“Hey.”

Irim approached two users who were talking.

Both were tall, handsome, Western-style characters named “KoreaJu” and “Sinking.”

They looked at Irim.

Above his head floated the nickname “Rice.”

“Yeah?”

“If raw eggs are tough to eat, would you like to try a fried egg?”

Irim took out delicious fried eggs from his inventory and handed them to the two.

“Oh? Fried eggs?”

“How’d you make these?”

“Whoa, they give 15 satiety?”

Their eyes widened at the sight of the fried eggs.

Raw eggs only provided 5 satiety.

Worse, eating a rotten egg reduced satiety by 3.

In unlucky cases, food poisoning could deplete health for a minute.

Above all, the fishy smell was unbearable.

So when a warm, sunny-side-up fried egg appeared, their mouths watered.

The two hurriedly ate the fried eggs and gasped in amazement.

“Wow, it’s delicious.”

“Insane.”

It was just a plain fried egg with no salt, but it was ten times better than a raw egg.

“How many of these do you have?”

“Will you sell a few?”

Before Irim could propose, they made an offer.

“How about 500 won each?”

Fittingly, since Real was made by a Korean company, the currency was “won.”

The two users nodded without hesitation.

Five hundred won was pocket change—equivalent to killing two Unicorn Chickens.

“Five for me.”

“Ten for me.”

Irim took the fried eggs from his inventory, handed them over, and received the payment.

“We’ll come back if we need more.”

The two thanked him and went back to hunting Unicorn Chickens.

I sold them.

He had earned money by selling the food he made.

Irim was certain.

The dream he couldn’t achieve in reality could be realized here.