KoreanFoodKing stood frozen for a long while, deeply moved by the flavor of the bean sprout hangover soup, before he suddenly began devouring it like a man possessed.
Seeing this, Irim also started his meal.
He first tasted the bean sprout soup.
Slurp.
‘Good.’
Thanks to the green chili peppers and black pepper, there was a pleasantly spicy and sharp tang that felt just right.
The broth had completely banished any fishy smell from the bean sprouts, retaining only their pure fragrance while embracing the rich umami and depth of the blue crab and shrimp; it was refreshingly clean.
At that moment, KoreanFoodKing lifted the entire stone pot of bean sprout hangover soup, blew on it with a “Hoo hoo,” and took a huge gulp.
Gulp!
“Kkeuh.”
It was incredible.
He hadn’t even drunk alcohol, yet he felt like the hangover was melting away.
How much more intense must it be for Irim, who had drunk beer yesterday?
Getting hangover relief in the game after drinking in real life.
The feeling was strangely amusing.
Irim scooped a spoonful of steaming white rice and put it in his mouth.
The hearty, comforting aroma that only well-cooked rice can give always lifted his mood.
Each grain released a subtle sweetness the more he chewed.
While the rice was still in his mouth, Irim added a spoonful of the bean sprout soup.
The cool broth coated his tongue, and the bean sprouts crunched crisply.
‘Haa, this is the best.’
Even though he had made it himself, it was genuinely delicious.
Yet there was one small regret.
“If only there were eggs, it would have been perfect.”
Cracking a raw egg straight into the bubbling stone pot of bean sprout hangover soup and mixing it right away would be great, or letting it cook just a little before eating.
Or even serving it like bean sprout soup rice, cracking the egg into a small bowl first and pouring the hot broth over it; that would be pure honey flavor.
Hearing Irim mutter this, KoreanFoodKing immediately pulled two eggs from his inventory and held them out.
“An excellent idea, hyung-nim!”
“Huh? You had eggs?”
“I brought a bunch of unicorn chicken eggs just in case we could hatch chicks.”
“The soup is still hot, right?”
“It’s practically lava level, hyung-nim!”
“Then let’s crack them in quick.”
“Yes!”
Irim and KoreanFoodKing each cracked a raw egg into their bean sprout hangover soup.
The moment the raw eggs hit the scalding broth, the whites began to cook instantly.
Irim watched the sight with satisfaction and pulled out the blue crab that had been simmering in the soup.
He removed the top shell, cleaned it, split the body into two pieces, and put them back in.
It was a crab full of roe; the pure white flesh and the brilliantly ripened orange-red roe looked impossibly appetizing.
‘Boiled crab roe…’
Irim started with the roe.
The firmly cooked roe melted in his mouth, delivering an indescribable nutty richness.
‘It’s always the truth.’
Next, he picked at the snow-white crab meat.
The tender flesh unraveled like silk threads and melted on his tongue.
“It’s delicious.”
A smile bloomed on Irim’s face.
KoreanFoodKing watched him as though his soul had been stolen.
“Wooow.”
Astonishment burst from KoreanFoodKing’s lips.
They were clearly eating the same dish, yet somehow the way Irim savored it made it look far tastier.
He had a genius talent for captivating people just by eating.
And it wasn’t only KoreanFoodKing who was entranced by Irim.
Before anyone noticed, a crowd of players had gathered around the two men enjoying food that was hard to find in this world.
They didn’t whisper among themselves; they simply stood in silence, completely focused on Irim’s mukbang.
Irim skillfully peeled the shrimp next and ate only the flesh.
Unlike the crab, the shrimp meat had a delightfully bouncy, chewy texture.
A natural sweetness spread from the shrimp.
After quickly finishing the flesh, Irim put the shrimp head in his mouth and sucked hard.
The rich, creamy innards were drawn out with a “Sssk ssk.”
Those creamy innards delivered an extreme level of savory richness.
“Ah, that’s insane.”
One player who knew the taste unconsciously muttered.
The player beside him silently pressed a finger to his lips, signaling for quiet.
Everyone was concentrating on the sounds of Irim eating, as if watching an ASMR broadcast.
Having cleared the crab and shrimp, Irim checked on the eggs.
The whites were perfectly cooked, while the yolk inside remained liquid.
It had become a perfect soft-boiled egg.
Irim mixed rice into it.
He carefully stirred so the yolk wouldn’t burst prematurely, and soon a magnificent bowl of bean sprout soup rice was born.
“……!”
A player who loved his liquor almost exclaimed but quickly clamped his own mouth shut.
Bean sprout soup rice.
Was there any hangover food more perfect than this?
No, it was that demonic dish that made you crave soju again because of its clean, refreshing taste.
Irim took a big spoonful of the soup rice and put it in his mouth.
The grains of rice, bean sprouts, and clear broth in his mouth formed a beautiful harmony and crunched delightfully.
‘It’s seriously delicious.’
Oblivious to the players watching him, Irim continued eating his soup rice.
For a moment, the players watching Irim eat so earnestly saw an overlapping vision.
A biting cold winter dawn.
The image of someone eating bean sprout soup rice served in a stone pot at a shabby old restaurant that had sold nothing but that dish for fifty years, blowing on it with white breath.
Everyone watched as though hypnotized.
Gulp!
The sound of swallowing saliva echoed here and there.
When Irim had eaten about half his bowl, he took out some chili powder and lightly sprinkled it in.
The clear broth now exuded a different charm.
Watching Irim taste the slightly spicier soup, the players thought:
‘When is he going to eat the egg?’
‘Please eat the egg now.’
‘It’s time for the egg, right? I can’t hold it in any longer.’
‘Egg. Egg. Egg. Egg.’
As if their collective wish reached him, Irim finally attacked the egg.
He stabbed the very center with his spoon and cut it in half.
The white parted, and the liquid yolk came oozing out.
Before all of the yolk could spill, Irim scooped up one half-egg and quickly put it in his mouth.
“Mmm.”
As expected, a runny yolk was always right, no matter when you ate it.
It coated his mouth with a richness different from the crab roe he had tasted earlier.
And that wasn’t all.
The pudding-like soft white was also mind-blowing.
Irim scooped the remaining half-egg together with rice and ate it.
The combination was insane.
Now Irim’s bowl was nearly empty.
The remaining broth had turned into a true elixir, lightly mixed with chili powder and egg yolk.
‘The rest has to be drunk straight from the pot.’
‘Finish the pot, let’s go!’
The players once again wished for their desired mukbang style.
As if granting his viewers’ wishes, Irim lifted the stone pot and drank the rest with a “Slurp slurp.”
Tak!
Irim set the pot down on the cutting board and let out a long, satisfied breath.
“Phewuuu!”
In that instant, applause erupted from all around.
Clap clap clap clap!
Startled, Irim looked around and finally realized a large crowd of players had been watching him.
“You really eat so deliciously.”
“You know how to enjoy soup rice.”
“You’re definitely Rice-nim. As expected of someone truly trained.”
Irim couldn’t understand the situation at all.
He had simply eaten a bowl of soup rice deliciously, yet people were clapping?
It felt like being a pet dog praised by its owner for eating well.
At that moment, KoreanFoodKing bowed deeply to Irim.
“I respect you, hyung-nim! I thought you were only good at cooking, but to put your all into the very act of eating…! Life is a battle. We must give our best in everything! I have learned yet another lesson.”
“…Huh?”
To top it off, he claimed to have learned a life lesson from watching Irim eat.
“If we’re done eating, shall we get going?”
Receiving more attention than necessary was burdensome, so Irim quickly gathered his things and tried to leave the area.
However, there was someone else besides the players showing interest in Irim.
[The God of Cooking ‘Michelin’ is taking an interest in you.]
‘Huh?’
The message he had seen before appeared again.
But this time it didn’t end there.
[The God of Cooking ‘Michelin’ cannot take his eyes off you.]
[The ‘Michelin’s Interest’ entry has been added to your status window.]
Irim opened his status window and indeed found the new entry.
Michelin’s current interest level was 10%.
[Michelin’s Interest will increase each time you leave a mark on the history of the Azelran continent through cooking.]
The message ended there.
It explained when the God of Cooking Michelin’s interest would rise, but said nothing about what would happen when it reached 100%.
‘How unkind.’
Irim thought to himself.
Real did not provide players with much information.
In a way, it was a game that took unfriendliness to the extreme.
Yet because it perfectly recreated virtual reality and offered 10 billion won to the first person to defeat the Demon King, almost no one complained about the lack of guidance.
Anyway, it felt strange to have attracted the attention of a god that existed in this world.
For the time being, Irim left the area together with KoreanFoodKing.
The players who had been watching him with interest also had their own things to do and did not follow.
As Badran Village drew nearer, monsters began appearing in the fields.
Just as information from the fan cafe had said, the fields were filled with monsters called “Mini Cows.”
They had an adorable appearance, as if a normal cow had been compressed to one-twentieth its size.
Mini Cows were 2-star monsters.
Thanks to that, Irim could see their death points.
‘Ah, I want to hunt them and eat them soon.’
That was the only thought in Irim’s head.
Because of it, he completely missed what KoreanFoodKing had just said.
“…right?”
“Hm? What did you say?”
“I asked why you play this game, hyung-nim.”
To that question, Irim answered immediately without any hesitation.
“Because I want to cook, and I want to taste the food I cook.”
“Kkeuh. That’s cool. As expected, hyung-nim isn’t blinded by the prize money like everyone else.”
“Then why do you play the game, KoreanFoodKing-nim?”
At Irim’s question, KoreanFoodKing gave a bitter smile.
It was an expression Irim had never seen from him before.
KoreanFoodKing slowly opened his mouth.
“I want to achieve in the game the dream I couldn’t achieve in reality.”
Irim neither pressed for details nor asked deeply what he meant.
He simply nodded and replied, “I see.”
That was Irim’s own form of consideration.
Everyone has circumstances they find difficult to talk about.
Yet KoreanFoodKing seemed to want to confide something in Irim.
Just as he was about to continue speaking—
Flash—
KoreanFoodKing’s figure vanished.
He had logged out.
But it didn’t seem like a voluntary logout.
‘What happened?’
Irim worried for a moment, but worrying wouldn’t change anything.
By then, he had reached the gates of Badran.
Unlike Tirko Village, Badran was surrounded by high walls.
Two soldiers stood guarding the gate with spears in hand.
As Irim tried to enter Badran, one of the soldiers asked him,
“What is your name?”
It was a minor procedural event given to players visiting Badran for the first time.
As long as Murderer mode wasn’t active, anyone who gave their name could enter.
“Rice.”
Upon hearing Irim’s name, the soldier’s eyes widened.
“R-Rice? The Rice-nim who subjugated the witch Marina and reclaimed the Plains of Abundance?”
“Yes. Haha.”
“It is an honor! I am Actien, the south gate guard of Badran.”
Not to be outdone, the other soldier beside him introduced himself.
“Rice-nim! I am Person! It would be an honor if you remembered my name!”
“Yes. I’ll remember both of you.”
Irim responded gently.
[Actien’s and Person’s favorability has increased.]
Just that was enough to raise NPC favorability.
Actien cleared his throat lightly and asked Irim,
“This is merely a formality, so please answer honestly. Ahem. What is the purpose of your visit to Badran?”
Irim smiled brightly and answered.
“I came because I want to eat beef.”
“…Pardon?”
“…?”
Actien and Person could not immediately comprehend Irim’s words.