Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 273: Good Guy, Bad Guy, Weird Guy

Roven was completely dumbfounded. A puny human had just told him that he would conquer the Demon World’s Tower in just a single day. Of course, he was aware that these kinds of people were just conceited and too full of themselves. However, Minhyuk’s unique way of teasing had made him fume with anger.

The Demon World’s Tower was a magnificent and massive architecture, comparable to the Great Wall of China and was created by countless demons. Baal, the Demon King from hundreds of years ago, together with the Four Heavenly Kings, the main pillars of the Demon World, had created this stunning tower together. This was the Demon World’s Tower that no one had been able to go beyond the 30th floor.

‘This impudent punk! I’ll definitely smash your nose flat!’

Then, Roven said, “60%. If you pass the first floor with just 60% of the current record, then I’ll acknowledge you.”

“Eeeeeh~? 60%? Doing 130% is easy~”

“This human bastard!” Roven shouted, completely losing his temper.

However, there was only one reason why Minhyuk continued to tease him just slightly. According to the quest rewards, he would be able to receive some information about the Demon World’s Tower. However, he believed that he could coax more information out of Roven if he continued to provoke him.

“Then, let’s do this bastard. If you can’t break the previous record, you will give me a lot of artifacts?”

“Hmm… And what if I set a new record?”

“I’ll tell you everything I know about the tower!”

There were a lot of things that Roven had to consider but giving all of the tower’s information could be done. It was because he knew that the tower could not be targeted and broken easily, even if one had all of the information given. It was just like how a Level 10 player could not pass any of the higher leveled quests just because they knew the methods and rewards.

Minhyuk had also heard the notification about the changes in the quest. After hearing the happy results, Minhyuk and his group began to move towards the Demon World’s Tower.

Meanwhile, Conir said, “Conir. Conir wants to cook ramyeon here…!”

“Hmm?” Minhyuk hummed. Contrary to what others thought, Conir did not like to fight that much. However, Minhyuk did not hate him for that.

“However, we can also climb and cook there?”

Conir spoke proudly, “When Conir goes inside, Conir can’t ‘anguish’. Too noisy. Conir has to anguish!”

‘Conir has to anguish?’

His words did not fit, but it seemed like Conir liked to study cooking ramyeon in a quiet environment just like a team of researchers.

Minhyuk just shook his head at his thoughts. Conir was not a child that needed to live under his wings. The three men that attacked him earlier were clearly not there to tease him but to cause trouble, but he dealt with them easily. If necessary, Conir could be sent to the summoner’s room. If he summoned Conir again, the latter would appear in front of him so he was not that worried about Conir’s safety.

“Then, play safe. Alright?”

“Thanks, hyung!” Conir said, smiling happily as he squatted down on the floor while Minhyuk and the rest of his party entered the tower.

***

Mage Monarch Aincarr ranked second in the Global Mage Rankings. His one and only goal and standard was Alex, the first on the same list.

Aincarr and Alex were only separated by a level or two, but their differences were quite distinct and clear. Alex had excellent magical control which brought him to the top spot in the Global Mage Rankings. Alex even had a special magic that allowed him to predict his enemies’ skill casting time. That skill brought endless despair to most of Alex’s mage enemies. After all, he could easily prepare a spell that would counter theirs once he used the skill.

However, that did not mean that Mage Monarch Aincarr was inferior to Alex. He was the leader of the guild Golden Staff, a guild that had 250 people and all of which were elites. There were around 150 mages that mostly consisted of rankers from France while the remaining 100 were all archers. In addition, Mage Monarch Aincarr was also a member of Blackstone.

He had arrived at the Demon World Shelter at the call of Calauhel. Aincarr waved his shining golden wand in front of the shelter. Following the will of his wand, the space was torn and a circle opening opened in front of him.

[Monarch’s Summons]

[Calls for the guild’s designated targets.]

Each day, Aincarr could summon around 20~30 people. The monarch class especially had the class ‘Monarch’ in addition to having another class. In addition, possessing the monarch class would not impose any restrictions or penalties on the player’s other class.

Mages and archers wearing golden robes began to walk out of the opening in front of him.

‘The Frying Pan Killer…’?Aincarr thought as he turned to look at the Demon World Shelter.

One of the archer classes quickly moved inside the Demon World Shelter. When the archer came back, he reported, “He’s gone.”

“As expected.”

40 minutes had already passed from the time that Calauhel had given his orders.

‘We’ll be able to catch up with him in no time at all.’?

Aincarr immediately led his guild members towards the Demon World’s Tower’s entrance. Monarch Arch still had not arrived yet. Since Golden Staff Guild mainly consisted of long-distance attackers, they would be able to work efficiently if Monarch Arch and his melee guild got together with them before they started.

As they walked towards the tower, Aincarr could not help but frown at the sight that he saw. He said, “…What’s that?”

An extremely strange sight had unfolded in front of his eyes. There, in front of a tower was a boy and a man. The boy was sitting while eating something, while the man was standing in front of a dragon. Then, the man addressed the dragon. He said, “Sit.”

Fwoosh!

“Stand.”

Swoosh!

“Oh my,?my child. You did well!”

Then, the man touched the head of the dragon before throwing a snack at it.

Is this really a huge black dragon? This one that is enjoying its snack while lying down with its belly high up in the sky?

“…”

“…”

“…”

“I…Is that really a dragon?”

“He’s training a dragon like a dog…”

The boy was smiling happily as he watched the man look at the giant black dragon. Then, the man turned to the boy and asked, “Isn’t our Poisonnie really cute?”

“Ack. I… its name is Poison …?”

“N…no. What kind of dragon is that…”

The dragon in front of them was clearly the Poison Dragon but the ‘nie’ added at the end of its name made them feel like they were looking at their neighbor’s and friend’s dog, Poppy.

***

Twenty minutes ago.

Minhyuk climbed the tower, leaving Conir by the entrance in his own anguish.

‘What is the basic method of cooking the most delicious ramyeon?!’

“Keuaaaack…?Conir… So hard…”

In the end, Conir slumped down and laid on the ground. At that time, a man wearing a black mask arrived in front of the Demon World’s Tower. The man crouched down and looked at Conir’s glistening eyes. He said, “Kid, you’ll catch a cold if you sleep here.”

“Conir didn’t fall asleep! Conir is training to become a ramyeon master!”

“Ho? So it’s ramyeon,” The man in the black mask said with interest.

Conir could somehow faintly feel a strange sense of familiarity from the man in front of him. He knew that he had seen the man before, but he could not remember where.

Then, the man said, “It’s good for you to have a goal. What is the current level that you’re trying to reach?”

Conir answered, “Conir wants to cook the best basic ramyeon!”

Conir was filled with determination. Perhaps it was because he thought that the man in front of him was a reclusive master that he bared his feelings like that.

The man scratched his head for a while before saying, “If it’s about the way to make the best basic ramyeon, then it seems like I know a little about it.”

“Wh…what is it?!!!”

“It’s to cook ramyeon according to the instructions in the packet.”

“…!”

Conir was very shocked. He felt like he had suddenly been hit on the head.

Then, the man continued to say, “The instructions written behind the packet will give you the most delicious ratio of ingredients. It has undergone hundreds of thousands of studies by many researchers, so if you cook the ramyeon following those instructions, you will be able to get the best taste.”

Conir immediately tried it. Just like the instructions had said, he added 550 mililitres of water. Then, he only added the soup packet and the noodles after the water started to boil. Then, just like Minhyuk had told him, he started to lift the noodles with his chopsticks when they began to loosen up in the pot.

“Hoo. You know how to do that, huh? What a good kid.”

“Conir! Conir was praised!”

The man in front of Conir looked like he was quite nice and friendly to children. He was completely unlike the men who came and disturbed him earlier. As soon as the ramyeon finished cooking, the notifications started ringing in Conir’s head.

[You have successfully completed the Level 1 Quest: Cook the Best Ramyeon.]

[You have learned the Passive Skill: Chewy Noodles.]

[The Level 2 Quest: Ramyeon and Ramyeon’s Combination has been created.]

Compared to other vassals and NPCs, Conir received quests through his ‘tenacity’ skill. He finally accomplished his first quest. Conir could not help but be shocked when he checked the passive skill ‘Chewy Noodles’.

‘…Conir can make more chewy ramyeon when Conir stirs the noodles! Wow!’?Conir thought in shock.

Then, he approached the man, who was only below Beanie in greatness, and said, “Wow!!! Uncle’s so cool!!!”

“Hahahahaha! You made it, right? That’s really great! Hahahaha!” The man laughed happily. He looked extremely pleased to see Conir achieve what he wanted to achieve.

Then, Conir asked with a bright smile on his face, “Uncle, what’s your name?”

“I’m Black Dragon.”

That was right, he was Minhyuk’s father, Black Dragon. Black Dragon came to the Demon World and met with the Dragon Knight after receiving a linked quest. He came here after hearing that the Dragon of Destruction was asleep in the Demon World’s Tower.

“Uncle’s name is so cool!!!”

“Thank you.”

“Hmmm.?Conir has a second homework!”

“Oh. So your name is Conir.”

“Yeah! Conir’s second homework is ramyeon and ramyeon’s combination. Hnggh… What’s combination? Conir! So hard!”

Black Dragon listened to Conir’s mumbles. He also pondered about it before saying, “Combination… Kid, do you know chapaguri?”

“Chapaguri?”

“That’s right.”

“Don’t know!”

“Well then, you should follow my instructions.”

Black Dragon, Minhyuk’s dad, always dreamt of the day that his son would be completely cured. He kept learning how to cook while eagerly waiting for that day to come. He wanted to cook and set a table that was filled with food that his brat liked. That was when he learned about the combination of ramyeon, chapaguri.

Black Dragon smiled as he taught Conir the step-by-step process. He could see that he was trying very hard even though he was clumsily following him.

Conir was also able to follow the caring, considerate, and kind Black Dragon. With his kind help, he was able to make the combination ramyeon by using the soup and noodles of Neoguri Ramyeon and Chapagetti Ramyeon. He even placed a fried egg on top of it.

Then, the notifications rang in Conir’s head.

[You have successfully completed the Level 2 Quest: Ramyeon and Ramyeon Combination.]

[You have learned the Passive Skill: Master of Combination.]

[The Level 3 Quest: The Way to Deliciously Eat Mixed Noodles has been created.]

Conir was in awe. Thanks to the man in front of him, he had successfully completed two of his quests! He even gained the skill: Master of Combination, an amazing passive skill that allowed him to determine the best possible combination of ramyeon with just a glance.

“Conir likes Uncle Black Dragon! Respect!”

“Hahahahaha. How about we eat first?”

Conir looked at the chapaguri that he and Black Dragon made. It was chapaguri ramyeon with fried egg on top of it!

Conir quickly poked and tore the fried egg with his chopsticks before clamping them with some noodles. The glossy noodles and the spicy scent of the Neoguri ramyeon soup tickled his nose and made his mouth water.

1. [????] Chapaguri - a combination of two KR instant noodles “Chapaghetti (????)” and “Neoguri (???)”.