CH 721

PD Kim Daeguk understood the reason for the numerous mercenaries that had gathered.

‘With Venteio becoming the God of Mercenaries, those that were being chased down by the Luvien Empire have gathered here.’

They had all gained hope, and believed that they would now be able to fight against the Luvien Empire with Venteio leading them.

As their new master in this new world, Venteio opened his mouth and spoke heavily to the millions of mercenaries that were kneeling on one knee in front of him. “The Luvien Empire is persecuting us under the guise of a mercenary hunt.”

Everyone held their breath as they focused on Venteio’s words.

“Perhaps, just like in the past, countless of our comrades might die or be used as tools.”

Resentment and determination flashed in their eyes as they continued to gaze at Venteio.

“But… are you going to run away?”

No. No longer. Because Venteio was now standing in front of them. Now, they had the courage and confidence to fight against the empire. They took their weapons and slammed them on the ground, their voices ringing loudly in the area.

Thump! Thump!

“Venteio!”

“Venteio!”

“Perhaps we’ll have to hide like fugitives and die fighting to protect our pride until the very end. But isn’t it fine?”

Thump! Thump!

“Venteio!”

“Venteio!”

“Nevertheless, it will be glorious and honorable. The fact that we will fight for our pride until the very end will definitely make its mark in history!!!”

Thump! Thump!

“Venteio!”

“Venteio!”

“Right here and now, I declare war. We will fight for our Mercenary’s Pride. We will take arms and punish those that try to suppress us!” Venteio pulled out his bloody sword and raised it high to the sky.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“Venteio! Venteio! Venteio!”

Their loud roars shook the heavens and the earth.

ATV Broadcasting Station’s PD Kim Daeguk could not help but gulp dryly at the sight.

‘The man that rules and commands the top ten mercenary corps in the world.’

Even if the Mercenary Kings ruled over the mercenaries, based on the articles recorded in history, there was only one Mercenary King that had received the support of all the top ten mercenary corps in the world. It was none other than the man that they hailed as the Mercenary Emperor. Now, another person like that had made an appearance.

“S, Sir… Our viewership ratings have surpassed 27%!”

PD Kim felt his lips turn dry when he saw Mercenary King Venteio turn his head back and look inside the palace. Everyone knew that the person that would come out of that place and appear in this situation was none other than the player that contributed greatly in helping Venteio sit on his throne.

Who was the player that helped Venteio become the Mercenary King? After all, the Mercenary King was supported by the top ten mercenary corps in the world, along with over two million mercenaries that were present here!

“Our viewership ratings have gone over 30%! Meanwhile, the ratings of the Rothschilde Kingdom’s founding ceremony have dropped by around 5%!”

PD Kim’s hands were filled with sweat.

“Let me introduce to you the one that helped me defend our pride.”

Everyone turned nervous as their eyes focused behind Venteio. Who the hell helped Venteio become the Mercenary King?

Thud, thud, thud, thud—

The sound of footsteps rang amidst the pin drop silence. The viewers, commentators, broadcasting officials, and even the world rankers that were tuned in, were all staring intently, waiting to see who the person was.

What greeted them was a 1.85m-tall, fair-skinned, young man with soft and gentle eyes, a straight nose and sharp jawline, framed by his neat black hair. He was none other than Minhyuk.

“The, the viewership ratings have exceeded 35%! It’s starting to increase at a rapid pace! 36%! 37%, 38%! We have reached 40%!!!”

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".

“Food, Food God…”

“Isn’t that Minhyuk?”

“The Beyond the Heavens’ King…”

The entire world was in a huge uproar. However, they all noticed something off. Minhyuk’s expression was sullen, when they were supposed to be celebrating a glorious and thrilling occasion.

‘Why does he look so sullen?’

Everyone watching the broadcast in one of the meeting rooms of Joy Co. Ltd. knew the reason why.

Kang Taehoon chuckled. “He’s sullen because Venteio did not give him the dish, right?”

“That’s probably the case. It’s just like Player Minhyuk.”

Indeed. Minhyuk had yet to receive the rewards from Venteio. There was also the dish that the God of Mercenaries had bestowed upon Venteio! No, perhaps he would not be able to get it. After all, the reward section of the quest did say ‘???’.

Even with Minhyuk acting all sullen like that, the entire world was still envious of him. Especially after hearing Venteio say, “I promise you, the Beyond the Heavens’ King, that I will run to you when you call for it, or whenever you are in danger.”

[Mercenary King Venteio promises the Beyond the Heavens’ King Minhyuk that he will run to his aid!]

Even so, Minhyuk still had a sullen expression on his face. He tried not to show it, he really did! However, it was very hard to hide the disappointment that he was feeling.

Then, all of the cameras took a close-up of Venteio and Minhyuk. Venteio grinned at Minhyuk. At the same time, a mercenary appeared behind Minhyuk carrying what seemed to be an item that was wrapped in golden cloth.

Venteio said, “Didn’t you ask me before if we could be friends?”

Since all of the cameras were zoomed in to them, they did not miss the conversation between the two. Goodness! Minhyuk was on an entirely different level to ask the Mercenary King to be his friend!

Minhyuk nodded slowly. However, Venteio shook his head.

“…!”

“…!”

Everyone was shocked. He did not want to be friends? As expected, it was very difficult to make friends with a big-shot like Venteio. Perhaps he thought that the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was beneath him?

But then, Venteio said, “How about a brotherly relationship? You can call me hyung. After all, I’m twenty years older than you.”

However, the sullen look on Minhyuk’s face did not disappear. The entire world that watched this scene were all shocked.

[My god. I don’t know the reason why but Minhyuk just nodded with a sullen look on his face even though Venteio is suggesting that they have a brotherly relationship.]

[I don’t understand either. He’s going to take Venteio as his hyung but… no. As long as he forges a friendly relationship with the Mercenary King then it would be like putting wings on the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom, no?]

[I really don’t get it.]

Then, the mercenary that appeared behind Minhyuk handed over the item wrapped in golden cloth. The moment he checked the item, the sullen and gloomy look on his face instantly disappeared, replaced by a bright and happy smile.

With a charming voice, Minhyuk called out, “Venteio hyuuuuuuung~♥”

“…?”

“…?”

[…?]

[…?]

What was this change of attitude? It changed so fast it could be considered to be as fast 5G LTE!

“Hehe. Venteio hyung is so cool!” Minhyuk exclaimed coquettishly.

[Ahem, ahem. Anyway. Player Minhyuk now has Ellie noona, Uncle Raldo, and even Mercenary King Venteio hyung by his side.]

[I’m so jealous. A prett… no, a cool hyung buys him a good meal.]

The entire world was envious of Minhyuk, while the viewership ratings painted an impressive picture as well.

“PD Kim, we reached the highest rating at 44.1% today at the ‘Venteio hyuuuuuuung~♥’ part!”

ATV Broadcasting Station had hit the jackpot once again.

***

Mercenary King Venteio had no reason to give Minhyuk the dish that the God of Mercenaries had bestowed upon him. All Brod had said was that the God of Mercenaries would bestow a very rare dish to the newly crowned Mercenary King.

However, Venteio clearly remembered the words that Brod told him before he disappeared completely.

—His Majesty gets very sensitive whenever he’s hungry. He’s probably very hungry right now.

Of course, Venteio understood the meaning of those words. Actually, this dish had the power to make the Mercenary King stronger. However, Venteio had already gained more strength after he became the God of Mercenaries’ successor, so there was not a need for the dish.

Right now, this was the only thing that he could do for Minhyuk. After all, he and his mercenaries would have to live in hiding for a while. They had to move and change their territory somewhere that was far away from the empire’s reach so that they could prepare for the desperate battle that awaited them.

However, although it was just a dish, Minhyuk still smiled brightly and innocently like a child when he saw it.

‘Master. I think I understand why you care so much about him.’ A warmth bloomed in Venteio’s chest as he watched Minhyuk with the heart of an older brother.

After the inauguration ceremony ended, Minhyuk fidgeted, his eyes darting around. Venteio looked at him, nodding indulgently as he said, “Go ahead and eat it.”

“Yes, hyung!” Minhyuk shouted as he unwrapped the golden cloth. However, what greeted him was a blast of steam that escaped from the seams of the lid, which was completely covering the contents of the pot.

Sniff, sniff—

Minhyuk’s nose twitched. He knew this smell. He could recognize what it was. It was the dish that one would think of when they wanted some hot soup and good food to eat on a cold day, especially as one’s hands had been frozen stiff after swinging a sword all day outside and their nose was running.

Shwaaaaaaaaaa—

When he opened the lid, the contents inside the pot that greeted him was none other than seafood kal-guksu[1].

“Hiyaaaa…”

Minhyuk could not help but gulp down the drool that threatened to drip down his chin as he looked at the glossy noodles, the zucchinis, the carrots, and the largely chopped green onions inside the pot. There were also mussels, shrimps, clams, and blue crabs floating inside that would definitely add a refreshing flavor to the soup.

Gulp—

Looking at the extremely appetizing dish in front of him, Minhyuk quickly made some fresh kimchi while placing some of it inside Gorac’s Aging Jar. After a few minutes, he took out the now well-ripened kimchi and began to set the table. The best way to eat kal-guksu was to eat it with some mouth-watering, well-ripened kimchi, as well as some fresh kimchi.

Minhyuk first scooped some noodles on a small bowl before scooping out a ladle-full of soup.

“Ugh. So cold.” Minhyuk lifted the small bowl of noodles to warm up his frozen body. Then, he blew on it lightly before slurping away.

“Sluuuuuuuuuuuuurp!”

He felt very refreshed as the hot soup warmed up his frozen body. Then, he grabbed his chopsticks and clamped a mouthful of noodles and sucked them all up in one go! Minhyuk’s cheeks bulged from how full his mouth was. However, it did not stop him from admiring the chewy texture of the noodles. Of course, he did not forget to eat some of his fresh kimchi.

Crunch—

Since the kimchi was freshly made and had only been soaking in its seasoning for a short time, its flavor was not yet sour. It was the perfect complement to the noodles. The combination tasted divine in Minhyuk’s mouth.

This time, Minhyuk took a bite of the knife-cut noodles along with a mouthful of soup.

Sluuuuuuuuurp—

Then, he took another sip of soup.

“Haaa—”

The deep and refreshing flavor of the soup was enough to warm one’s heart. There was also the joy of taking out the meat of the mussels and clams one after another.

After he finished picking the meat of the shellfish, he placed them back in the soup. Then, he clamped another mouthful of noodles along with some of their meat.

Sluuuuuuuuurp—

“Kghhk…” A burst of admiration unknowingly escaped from his mouth.

After that, he ate some well-ripened kimchi with the noodles of the kal-guksu.

Crunch, crunch, crunch—

The taste of the well-ripened kimchi added to the flavor of the soup was like the icing on the cake. Minhyuk finished the contents of the pot in no time at all. He even lifted the entire pot and gulped everything down until the very last drop.

“Fwaaa!”

Venteio watched Minhyuk finish the dish with a happy smile on his face. While the notifications rang in Minhyuk’s ears, Venteio approached him and said, “Ahem, ahem. Minhyuk, can you do this hyung of yours a favor?”

***

Haze was pondering deeply as she looked at the wide stretch of land in front of her. ‘We have to expand our territory, even if it comes down to force.’

The current population of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom was quite large. They had already expanded their territory before, but they still had to expand even further and obtain various territories so they could create new attractions, develop new and wide hunting grounds for others to experience, as well as for the people that would move into their kingdom in the future.

There was actually a notorious hunting ground in the vicinity of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom. It was called Akkravo, a land that they planned to pioneer.

Many people from the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had devoted their blood, sweat and tears to try and pioneer the land. However, Akkravo was a land where strong monsters regularly appeared. If these monsters were taken out of the equation, Akkravo was a very fertile land where the sun shone brightly on. In other words, it would be a perfectly good land to live in.

They also had another problem. Even if they decided to move some of their people there, the population was not enough to fill Akkravo. When establishing a new territory, one had to build several buildings, markets, and various other facilities.

Although the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom had a huge population, a huge chunk of that was made up of ‘players’. In comparison, the number of their NPCs was remarkably small.

In the case of players, they could attract them with sweet offers of artifacts and cooking quests given by the Food God. They were also attracted by the huge number of rankers in their kingdom. However, for the NPCs, they did not feel the need to have those.

“If things continue like this, perhaps we should just give up on Akkravo?”

As mentioned before, Akkravo was teeming with strong monsters. In other words, if they established a territory here, they would be frequently attacked by these monsters. That meant that they had to have people capable of defending against them. Also, they could only deploy soldiers if there were plenty of people. Otherwise, it would be a waste of manpower if they deployed soldiers in a place that was inhabited by a very small population.

“Ugh…”

Haze, who was pondering deeply over their next course of actions, heard something from one of the foreigner executives.

“Minhyuk will be coming back soon.”

“Is that so?”

Haze was delighted to hear that His Majesty was coming back.

‘Did he succeed in befriending Venteio?’

Haze was not aware of the happenings since she had been stuck in this place for a long time, watching the situation.

‘Did he die…?’

What if Venteio died? If that happened, then His Majesty would definitely be heartbroken. After all, their goal was to befriend Venteio, not the Mercenary King.

But then, at that moment, something happened.

Rumbleeeeeee—

“…?!”

Haze’s eyes grew wide as the ground beneath her feet started to shake and tremble. “Don’t tell me…”

Were Akkravo’s strong monsters going to launch a combined attack now? If that was the case, they would be in trouble. The number of soldiers that accompanied Haze right now was not large enough.

“Around seven? No, eight thousand…?”

She listened to the sound of footsteps, but still did not understand. However, she still ordered the soldiers to prepare for battle.

“We have to check the situation first then return quickly.”

They had to at least check the number of monsters before retreating.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud—

A thick cloud of dust was kicked up as the visitors approached them. To their pleasant surprise and relief, the one that appeared in front of them was none other than Minhyuk.

“Haaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzeeeeeee!!!” Minhyuk shouted, his hands waving widely above him.

Haze looked at Minhyuk in confusion. “Your, Your Majesty, the people behind you…?”

There were around 9,000 people, perhaps even more, behind Minhyuk.

“They’re the mercenaries’ families. Venteio asked me to take them. Ah. There are around one thousand skilled mercenaries among them. From today on, they will move to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.”

“…!”

—Please accept and take in the family members of the mercenaries. They have nowhere to go. Since the mercenaries need to fight a lonely battle for a very long time, we need someone to protect their families. I will send a few mercenaries with them to help out.

As it happened, the favor that Venteio asked him was about taking care of the family of the mercenaries that would be fighting in the war that they declared on the Luvien Empire.

With the number of people that Minhyuk brought over, it would be very easy for them to turn Akkravo into their territory and settle down in the area.

Haze was quickly struck by the realizations of what had happened.

‘His Majesty said that he would just build a friendly relation with Venteio, but he came back with almost 10,000 people?’

‘Venteio became the God of Mercenaries’ successor and became the leader that all of the mercenaries in the continent will follow?’

But it did not end there.

‘And he also formed a brotherly relationship with Mercenary King Venteio…?’

Haze could only bow down to His Majesty’s class and efficiency.

1. knife-cut noodles ☜