CH 338

“Slurp!”

Conir hurriedly wiped the drool that dripped down from his mouth. He thought to himself, ‘Get, get your act together.’

My goodness! He was once hailed as the continent’s Sword Saint. Rudor, the best Black Sorcerer of that time, could not even shake Conir’s mental power with his brainwashing magic, but now!

‘I can’t believe I actually got entranced just by watching others eat.’

Conir knew that the man was strange. Then, he looked at the Second Trial.

‘The Second Trial… the Trial of Desire.’

The Second Trial, the Trial of Desire, was literally a trial that gave the challenger what they wanted the most.

‘Beautiful women, money, honor or power.’

These were the things that men wanted the most in the world. Basically, the Second Trial’s challenge was to get out of the place that was filled with what the challenger desired the most within the time limit.

‘Anyone with a strong mental prowess can get out of there,’ Conir thought as he focused on the crystal ball to monitor the situation once again.

***

Special Players Management Team.

Team Leader Park was staring at the monitor gravely. Player Minhyuk had entered the Innocent Hero’s Trial and had performed a spectacular job by taming Cerberus and turning them into his subordinate during the First Trial.

“For some reason, I think there will be a ‘Love, Hope, Happiness’ house placed in front of Atlas Territory from now on. Right?”

“…”

Team Leader Park Minggyu became speechless.

‘My god! These names would actually be written on the house where Cerberus, Hell’s Gatekeeper, would live?!!!’

What was more surprising was the fact that Cerberus willingly turned their belly up and wagged their tails for their owner, Minhyuk!

“Ugh,” Team Leader Park groaned lightly and saw that the Second Trial was now about to begin.

“The Second Trial is the Trial of Desire but… Player Minhyuk’s desire is…” Team Leader Park murmured as he continued to look at the monitor. Both Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa had their guesses.

The Second Trial was something that was meticulously created by the Athenae Production Team and was very different from other trials. The game system would read the player’s desire and literally express it in front of them. The trial would literally create the most wonderful dream that the player could ever have.

Usually, ordinary people would not want to wake up from their happiest dreams. The trial’s challenger would not even realize that they were inside the trial, albeit only temporarily, upon entry. It would just feel like a wonderful dream that they would not want to wake up from. The player just needed to do one thing, and that was to leave behind the desires laid in front of him. The player had to come back to their senses by themselves, and escape the trial.

Team Leader Park shook his head and said, “There’s no one else in the world that loves food more than Player Minhyuk. He’s always been greedy for food, more so than anybody else.”

If anyone looked closely at Minhyuk, his love for food would look like ‘greed’ itself. Anyone that saw him would wonder how he could become someone that was so gluttonous. He was more greedy for food than powerful artifacts and rewards. So, it was a foregone conclusion that this trial would not be easy.

Then, Minhyuk appeared in front of the monitor as Lee Minhwa exclaimed, “Wow, the trial… is an Aeshley Buffet[1]?”

Aeshley Buffet was said to be famous for their affordable prices and delicious array of food!

Lee Minhwa said, “If you go there, you have to eat their boneless chicken. Gulp—.”

Then, she gulped loudly. Team Leader Park turned his head. For some reason, Lee Minhwa felt that Team Leader Park had become just a tad bit restless. But then, he said, “…I agree.”

“…?”

That was right. Aeshley’s chicken was the way, the truth and the life!

***

Minhyuk burst out in exclamation, “W…wow…!”

He looked around in admiration at the sight in front of him. This was because he was in Aeshley Buffet, a place that he wanted to go so much to. The buffet that his dad’s friend, the CEO of Carend Enterprise built! He used to go often with his friends when he was younger, each time with fierce determination on his face.

‘Hey, let’s go to Aeshley today and eat our money’s worth?’

‘Fufufufu. It’s not that hard to eat our money’s worth. Let’s go, I’m hungry!’

Whenever Minhyuk said that, he would always stay true to his words and eat his money’s worth. As for his friends, they would usually stop after around two or three plates.

“Welcome~”

The employee guided Minhyuk and asked, “Have you dined at our shop before?”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

Surprisingly enough, Athenae was able to copy the exact same Aeshley Buffet in reality inside the Second Trial.

‘This place is heaven!!!’

Minhyuk’s steps were swift and quick as he took a plate and served himself food. His plate was piled up with boneless chicken, Aeshley’s main attraction! And that was not all, he also served himself carbonara, tomato spaghetti and even the pizza slices from the pizza corner! Minhyuk also did not forget the dish that he always had as his first dish whenever he came to Aeshley. It was none other than corn cream soup.

The bowl of corn cream soup, an array of plates filled with different dishes, as well as cider and glasses of ice were prepared and laid out on Minhyuk’s table. He smiled brightly as he exclaimed loudly, “Thanks for the food!”

The main advantage of a buffet was that one could taste a variety of dishes. Some would choose to focus on one dish before going to another, while some would choose to taste a variety of dishes in one sitting.

The first thing that Minhyuk tasted was a spoonful of his corn cream soup. The warmth and sweetness of the soup spread in Minhyuk’s mouth and stimulated his appetite.

‘Eating soup first in a buffet protects your stomach and allows you to eat more in a buffet. Fufufufu,’ Minhyuk thought as he continued to whet his appetite with the cream soup.

Meanwhile, the timer kept on ticking in the upper left corner of his vision…

[57M 56S, 57M 55S, 57M 54S…]

Minhyuk grabbed his fork and stabbed the steaming boneless chicken in front of him and said, “Kggghk. This is really Aeshley.”

Then, he put the chicken in his mouth after admiring it. The soft and juicy texture of the meat that immediately followed the crunchy texture of the chicken skin made Minhyuk’s mouth curl up in a smile.

After finishing the boneless chicken, Minhyuk turned his attention to the spaghetti. He dragged the carbonara and tomato spaghetti to him and used his chopsticks to roll the carbonara, before putting it in his mouth. The carbonara was cooked moderately as seen with its light and taste flavor in his mouth. The tomato spaghetti, on the other hand, tasted sweet and sour at the same time.

“Wahahahaha!” Minhyuk laughed happily as he stood up from his seat to get more food.

Although this was a virtual world, the employees and staff of this restaurant could also think and communicate since this was a world that was temporarily created. Adelei, the employee that was on duty, watched Minhyuk before rushing to her manager.

“M…Manager.”

“What is it?” Barrod, Adelei’s manager, asked curiously.

“A customer has emptied his plate in 22 seconds.”

“…?!”

‘Emptied their plate in 22 seconds? Is that a speed a human can accomplish?’

“Are you joking with me right now?” Barrod asked angrily. He was known for his bad temper so Adelei immediately placed her hands together and bowed after seeing him become angry.

“How can a person only take 22 seconds to empty their plate? Did he place two pieces of boneless chicken on his plate and ate it all in one go, huh?”

“N…not at all!”

“Ha! I’m already so busy that I feel like I would keel over but… Kid, you’re really…”

Barrod looked really pissed. It was dinner time, their hottest and busiest period. It was only normal for him to get angry at his employee that had the gall to play jokes on him, right?

Barrod walked to check the situation for himself as he said, “If what you said was true then I will give you my salary this month. But, if you’re not telling the truth, you better be prepared!”

The store manager strode forward angrily only to stop in his tracks.

“…?”

Barrod tilted his head in confusion.

‘What’s that?’

He could see seven clean plates piled up on the table, which made his already tilted head to tilt even further.

“By any chance, did some athletes come to that table?”

“N…no sir.”

Aeshley Buffet always removed empty plates the moment they were emptied. There was no way that their employees would fail to clean them up. In other words, those plates were emptied in record breaking time.

“…”

The manager hurriedly rushed to check the bill for that customer, to determine the time that he started the buffet. He was appalled after confirming the time.

‘He ate seven plates in 4 minutes and 38 seconds…?’

Was he even human? Then, someone coughed beside Barrod and said, “Since you made a promise, I will take your salary this month.”

Adelei rubbed her middle and index fingers with her thumb!

“N…no. That, no…”

“Manager, you’re not going to take back your words, right? Hoho. There’s no way, right~ A man should never go back on his words, right? Are you telling me that Manager is not a gentleman? Eyyy~ That’s. Not. Possible, right? Hohohoho!!!”

“…”

Adelei made her manager shut his mouth before he could even retort. She was a woman that truly knew how to talk and converse with others!

***

Minhyuk never stopped eating. This time, his plate was filled with meat: pork ribs, smoked salmon, and even duck! He only gently grabbed a piece of ribs and it had already ripped apart. When he placed it in his mouth, the soft and sweet flavor of the ribs filled his mouth. There was not a single piece of meat left on the bone when he chewed on it. It was divine! Minhyuk dipped his duck in mustard sauce, while he enjoyed his smoked salmon with some apple dressing and onion!

“Keuhahaha! Buffet is really delicious!”

The employees eventually gave up on cleaning up his empty plates. For the record, Minhyuk had already piled up 47 empty plates. It did not end there. This time, he turned his attention to the fruits. Minhyuk attacked the Hawaiian mango salad and watermelon.

“Ugh. So cold! My teeth!”

Hawaiian mango salad was a fruit salad with frozen mango. Biting the mangoes with your teeth would make your teeth ache from the coldness. However, the sweet and crunchy texture of the watermelon was enough to bring a smile back to Minhyuk’s face.

He did not stop there. Minhyuk even asked the employees to make him a bowl of warm rice noodles to warm his chilled stomach.

“Sluuuuurp!”

The bean sprouts, together with the rice noodles, had a crunchy texture as he placed them in his mouth together. The kimchi on top of the noodles were like icing on the cake.

Meanwhile, the timer…

[11M 15S, 11M 14S, 11M 13S…]

…kept on ticking. Minhyuk just hummed as he picked up his plate and went to the dessert section.

***

Conir was both shocked and bewildered as he watched Minhyuk eat. He said, “Your greatest desire is to eat?”

Of course, eating, hunger and appetite were part of a human’s basic instinct. However, Conir never expected that Minhyuk’s desire was eating. Then, Conir thought, ‘He has a weak mentality.’

The man looked like he was not aware that this was a trial as he indulged himself in his desire. He did not even look at the timer that kept on ticking.

‘Will there be no one that can learn my Pinnacle?’

Conir sighed as he watched the man stand up with a bowl and prepared a huge serving of bingsu.

***

The members of the Special Players Management Team shook their heads.

“It seems like even Player Minhyuk can’t overcome the sweetest trial.”

“Yeah…”

There were only a little over two minutes left in the timer, but Player Minhyuk still asked the employee for a large basin, as he began to make some bingsu. He piled up a huge amount of finely ground ice in the basin that was almost enough for 40 people. He also added some rice cakes, cereals and red beans, before adding snacks like Pepperro and the likes. That was not all. Player Minhyuk went to the dessert section and grabbed handfuls of fruits, and around three heapings of vanilla ice cream on top of it. He was like a master in making bingsu. There were now only 20 seconds left.

“…So, there are things that even Player Minhyuk can’t do,” Team Leader Park said as he nodded. Just then, something unexpected happened.

[Lalalala~ I’ve already eaten everything, time to go~]

Player Minhyuk walked to the stairs leading to the next trial. With only two seconds left in the trial, Minhyuk stepped on the stairs while eating bingsu happily.

[Player Minhyuk has completed the Trial of Desire.]

“…!”

“…!”

Team Leader Park jumped up from his seat as he thought, ‘What…what the hell…?!’

He was left flustered and unable to understand the situation.

1. A reference to Ashley Restaurant, a buffet style restaurant. ☜