Leveling Up Through Eating

Chapter 30: Food Fighter Becomes a Cook

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

QC: MattForgenti

However, the foreigners snorted when they heard that. They paid no attention whatsoever to the soldier's words. It was as if they were some lazy reservists.

"That thing? It would definitely give you diarrhea!"

"Help yourself, Nims."

On the other hand, Minhyuk looked very shocked.

'I, it's hamburger!'

Everyone knew what kind of existence a hamburger was.

It was one of the most convenient fast food meals. Together with pizza, the two were considered to be the two mountains of the flour-based food industry.

"A beef patty sandwiched between two sesame buns with a special sauce and lettuce~ cheese, pickle and onion, yiiih."

He even hummed a strange song happily.

Hamburger with fries on the side and a refreshing iced cola!

It would be a bit heavy as a breakfast but Minhyuk still welcomed it with open arms.

Not long after, he returned to where Rand was and sat in front of him. Then, Minhyuk stared at the big hamburger in amazement.

'Kyaa……This thick patty and crunchy lettuce, oooh, it even has cheese on it.'

Minhyuk personally liked a hamburger to have plenty of vegetables.

"Please have some!"

"Yeah. Boy, you should eat too. You'll definitely be surprised."

Rand nodded at him as he picked up his own hamburger.

Minhyuk pressed on the bread tightly so as not to let the lettuce fall off. He heard the notification for the true worth of food as soon as he touched the hamburger. Minhyuk quickly finished setting it up. He then focused all of his attention on the hamburger.

"Chomp!"

He opened his mouth as wide as he could and bit as much as he could bite in one go.

He could feel the texture of the soft buns and the crunchy lettuce. The tomatoes added freshness to the overall taste while the patty gave off a rich, meaty flavor. The cheese, with its tasty, creamy flavor, was responsible for the cohesion of the harmony of flavors in the hamburger.

Chew, chew—

And once the sweet sauce met with all of the different ingredients in the hamburger, it created a pleasant taste that slowly spread in his mouth.

And when he felt that he was a bit thirsty, he would then take a sip of the cola beside him. The freshness that the ice cold cola could bring and the greasy fast food meals were a tried and tested combination.

Minhyuk gulped down the iced cola, the first sip was always the best. His throat was tingling, however his mouth was filled with the sweet and unique flavor of the cola.

Minhyuk laughed happily as the cola washed away the greasy taste of the hamburger. He then reached out towards the fries.

The fries were golden in color.

The taste of the catsup was always stronger than that of the hamburger. He then dipped the fries in the catsup and placed them in his mouth.

Crunch, crunch!

As if to prove that it was just fried perfectly, the hot fries gave off a crisp and crunchy sound. Fries were best eaten fresh from the pan and dipped with catsup. Eating soggy and cold fries was never a good idea.

"Aaaaaaang, chew!"

Minhyuk once again chomped on his hamburger. He mumbled something after he finished swallowing the food in his mouth.

"Aren't your military cooks really skilled?"

"Yeah, huhu. Foreigners usually say that our food is just barely passable but I'm really proud of it!"

Rand banged on his chest proudly.

"Our Isbin Village's military cooks are the best in all of the Eivelis Empire [1]."

He stealthily looked around and said…

"I'm telling you this, Len-nims cooks the most delicious dishes. None of the other dishes I've ever tried could try to surpass his. Whether it's for a single person or for a large number of people, he will cook it deliciously."

Minhyuk's eyes widened in surprise.

If Joseon has Jang Geum, then does Isbin Village have the chef named Len?

"So, is it delicious?"

"Yeah, it tastes very, very, very great!"

It's delicious.

It was just those three characters [2]. But wasn't it enough for Minhyuk?

In addition, he has tasted it himself. The dishes prepared by the military cook Len were truly delicious.

Just by looking at the fries he could tell that the chef was both meticulous and could prepare well. The fries came out hot and crispy. It was the best way to serve french fries.

At that moment, his notifications went off.

[True Worth of Food.]

[You have gained +1 STR and +1 STM.]

[The Ability of a Skilled Chef.]

[You have gained +1 STR.]

'Oh…!'

Minhyuk softly exclaimed.

'So it can also give me additional stats if I eat well-made dishes!'

His forehead suddenly creased in thought.

'What the hell, so is my situation really terrible?'

In a way, Minhyuk was only able to cook because he looked it up on the internet. It was completely different from the people who really knew how to cook.

'As I thought, I really need to learn cooking skills…'

Minhyuk continuously thought about learning the skills to cook.

Cooking skills were freely available to all of the users. It was usually classified under the production skills.

Some people would even learn this cooking skill to have it as their main job class. But their numbers were only few and far between.

'The reason was because the buff created from the food was usually lower than an ordinary priest' s buff. '

Furthermore, in the case of the ordinary priests, a user only needed to prepare and walk the path of priesthood. It was a lot easier compared to the chefs who needed to make food and let others eat it.

Minhyuk, who played this game just so he could eat, was different. He definitely wanted to learn cooking and the skills attached to it.

It's not for the buff, it's to make the food I eat more delicious!

However, he already knew that there were no NPCs in Isbin Village that could teach him to cook.

But there's someone here. He's hiding in the subjugation force.

Who would think of doing this? It was only him. He was the only one crazy enough to learn cooking skills from a military cook in the subjugation force!

"Rand-nim."

"Huh?"

"I'd like to volunteer to go and support the military kitchen, is it possible?"

"...The kitchen?"

Rand tilted his head in confusion.

"Boy, do you not need to level-up?"

The guardians of Athenae would also grow stronger by leveling up. And they knew that the foreigners were more hung-up on leveling up compared to them.

But he wants to go to the military kitchen?

"He…… I'd love to do some chores and help make the soldier's meals more delicious!"

"Oooh. Boy, you have a good attitude."

It was very difficult for guardians to manage the users. Of course, they could choose not to give the rewards to those users in some cases, but they just wouldn't listen and tell them that they were just NPCs.

But weren't Minhyuk's eyes shining brightly as he talked to him?

"Well, the kitchen is a bit full so it's best not to send foreigners over there but… eyy, I'll make room for you."

Rand has a lot of experience in the subjugation force. He could be considered a veteran but he was also the soldier in charge of personnel management.

"A foreigner volunteered himself to go to the military kitchen. Ah, I have to tell you one thing. Len-nim is very tough and strict and he also hates foreigners."

"I, is that so?"

"Yeah. But boy, I think you can coax him well."

"I see."

Minhyuk nodded his head at him and at that moment…

"There's still plenty of food left, are there any more soldiers or foreigners who still want to eat?"

"Yeah. With that glib tongue of yours… Huh?"

Rand was shocked at Minhyuk, who was just chewing on his hamburger, disappeared right in front of him.

Minhyuk had already flown in front of the food stand. He saw him coming back after sweeping most of the remaining hamburgers up in his arms.

He then started to munch on it happily.

"Hahahahaha, boy you really weren't kidding when you told me that your specialty was eating well!"

Rand laughed loudly at his antics.

[Rand's favorability has increased.]

***

After Minhyuk ate his fill of the hamburgers, he followed Rand closely. Not long after, he saw the military cooks in front of the kitchen carriage.

The kitchen carriage was one of the mystical magical items. It was quite similar to the kitchen trailer used in the military in real life.

When they went inside, he found that the space was quite big and he could see a lot of military cooks lined up.

"Oh. Isn't that the foreigner who ate a lot of the hamburgers earlier?"

"Brock. This friend, I will place him here with you military cooks."

"Huh? Aren't we already full?"

"Eyy. Let this slide just this once. He'll definitely work hard. Why don't you give him some miscellaneous chores?"

The cook named Brock has a bigger build compared to ordinary soldiers, his biceps were even as big as a melon.

"You know our Captain Len's personality, right?"

"Anyway, please help me just this once!"

Rand quickly escaped after saying his piece. Minhyuk stepped up and made a gesture to introduce himself.

"Hello!"

He bowed his head courteously.

Then a man came out of the kitchen carriage. The man was almost as tall as Minhyuk. His hair was short to the point where there were no strands of hair swaying by the wind. He even had a knife scar on his eye.

"What's this? A foreigner?"

This was Len.

When he saw Minhyuk standing in front of the carriage, Len's expression stiffened. He then saw Minhyuk nodding his head.

"Yes, I would like to apply in the military kitchen."

"We're full. Find another place."

"But I really want to stay here."

"But I don't want to, didn't you come here just so you could get a ride on our coattails?"

Riding on a coattail.

He was a bit taken aback with his remarks.

He came here to see if he could eat more delicious food if he became a cook. Another reason was because he wanted to learn cooking skills.

However, Minhyuk did not give up.

"I'll do all the chores you want me to do. I'll do a great job on it!"

Minhyuk bulged his biceps and tapped on it while Len's forehead creased as he looked at him.

'Chores…'

However, even doing miscellaneous chores need cooking skills. And if someone unfamiliar, like him, is brought in… I will definitely have a hard time training him. And then once the subjugation quest is over, he would definitely leave.

Len went back to the carriage after he thought about things. When he came back outside, he had a sack on his hands. He then threw the sack in front of Minhyuk.

"Peel all of the garlic in this sack in 20 minutes. If you're able to do that, then I'll take you and teach you how to cook."

[Quest: Peel the Garlic in 20 minutes.]

Rank: D

Limit: None

Rewards: You will be able to join the Military Kitchen.

Penalty for Failure: Len's favorability will decrease.

Description: Len doesn't need a useless person, he will take you in if you are able to help and assist the military cooks. However, it's very difficult to peel all of the garlic in the sack in 20 minutes.

"Captain, you're very sly aren't you? How can he peel all of that in 20 minutes?"

Brock whistled slyly.

Apparently, Len did not want to have a new addition to the military cooks.

In the first place, it wasn't easy to peel those garlic at all. It was just garlic, but the difference in speed between a skilled and an unskilled person was entirely different.

"Ingredient Acquisition."

'What did he say?'

Brock was puzzled when he heard the foreigner murmur something.

"Well, you should go back and use your sword or spear to hunt those goblins."

The moment he turned around to leave…

"I'm finished, Brock-nim."

"......Huh?"

Brock was dumbfounded.

It has only been 30 seconds since Len went inside.

But what's this? He's already done? What kind of nonsense is that?

Even he did not know how long it would take to peel all those garlic himself. He could take 20 minutes at the earliest or 30 minutes at the latest.

He strode towards Minhyuk with a stiff expression on his face.

"No matter how much you want to join the military kitchen you can't lie…… hmm?"

Minhyuk opened the bag in front of him. All of the garlic in the bag was peeled.

***

Footnotes

[1] The Empire's name was written as 이필립스 제국. I named it as Eivelis Empire but if you have any suggestions for the name or the romanization of the empire name please do help me by commenting here or commenting on discord. Other TLs have recommended the ff: Effilipse, Eplyse, Efflyse, Iephyllips, Iephylpse, Efflypse, Ipelips, Ephilips, Evelis. And our dear friend Skye wanted me to use Apple lisp. So pick your poison. XD

[2] it's 3 characters because it's delicious is written as 맛있다. The first character is 맛 the 2nd is 있 and the third is 다.

TL's corner!!!

LOL. That's a cheat!!! Ingredients Acquisition is a cheat! How I wish I had that in real life. Ugh so hard to peel garlic.

ALSO!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR DEAR BOSS, NINJA!

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