Leveling Up through Eating

Surprising notifications rang in Minhyuk’s ears when he came back after exercising.

[Your vassal, Corr, has risen to the position of a god and has become the God of Hair Growth.]

[He will be the light who will save those suffering from baldness.]

“Eh…?”

For a moment, Minhyuk wondered if there really could be a god like this. But then, he remembered something that made him choke up and cover his mouth.

‘Uncle Munsoo…’

His father’s secretary was slowly turning bald. This was a fact. And he could no longer hide it no matter how much hair fiber spray he used. His Uncle Munsoo even told him that he was so sad one windy day because his wig was blown away. Since a person was balding close to him, Minhyuk could understand the pain these people were suffering from.

Then, something more shocking happened.

[12,313,000 people are applying to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]

Minhyuk was left dumbfounded.

The Battle God’s religion was currently only accepting members on a first-come, first-serve basis. Although it was only temporary, the migration applications for the people who wanted to join the Battle God’s religion were limited. In other words, that and this application to relocate were utterly different matters.

Then, he saw Haze running to him. She said, “Your Majesty, the baldi… no, the ones with rich silky hair want to serve the Talmor Religion. They are all lined up in front of the empire’s walls!”

At this moment, Minhyuk realized how many bald people were there worldwide.

Haze said, “Around 80% of them are guardians living in Athenae.”

Guardians was the term for NPCs.

Of course, Haze was not yet done. She said, “They have already paid two million platinum as a donation to support the construction of the Talmor Religion’s temple.”

The more Haze spoke, the bigger Minhyuk’s eyes grew.

“If the baldies, no… the ones with rich, silky hair, continue to come to our empire, then we will probably be able to secure ten million platinum in funds.”

Minhyuk was deeply moved. He was very grateful to them for giving funds to the empire even though they were only given a head full of hair. But even more surprising was the number of migrants applying to move to the empire constantly increased.

Minhyuk, who just started Athenae, was in an excellent mood. He was in this very same mood when he met his father. But when he told him the story, Chairman Kang Minhoo chuckled dryly.

“The truth is… this father of yours is also worried. What if I get bald, too? That’s why I understand why they feel that way.”

“Eh…?” Minhyuk looked at his father in confusion.

“Your great-grandfather was bald.”

“...”

In other words, the curse of baldness skipped two generations. The thought that there was a chance that he would suffer the same fate brought a chill down Minhyuk’s spine.

***

Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado died comfortably in Herakel’s arms.

When Minhyuk returned to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, he relocated Eirin’s grave. This, along with the fact that the God of Death had given him and Eirin permission to stay together in hell, brought a slight smile on Rocado’s lips. And this smile remained until he laid in his eternal rest.

Minhyuk ordered a solemn and sincere funeral service for Rocado. Rocado was buried in a grave beside Eirin’s own at the end of the service.

However, there was something on Minhyuk’s mind. He was apprehensive about Herakel.

‘I wonder if Herakel will be able to adapt in the Beyond the Heavens Empire?’

Rocado had asked Minhyuk to look after Herakel. That was why he was apprehensive about the man. During the funeral, Herakel seemed very sad. However, no tears dripped down his face. Seeing this, Minhyuk told him, “Herakel. If you go to the central plaza, you can find a ramyeon stall. The ramyeon there is fantastic. You should try it.”

“Herakel! Herakel likes new food!”

The bored Herakel immediately headed straight to the central plaza. Standing in front of the ramyeon stall, he saw a small boy.

“I am Conir!”

A sudden self-introduction? Herakel received a very fresh, novel, yet shocking experience.

“Herakel came to eat ramyeon!” Herakel, with his vast build, sat down in front of the stall.

The moment he sat down, the boy making ramyeon asked him, “When making ramyeon, what do you put first? Noodles or soup?”

The boy has never met anyone who could give the best answer to this question in his entire life.

But then, Herakel said, “Anyway, Conir will cook for Herakel!”

“...?”

The eyes of the boy, Conir, grew the size of saucers. He could not help but be shocked by this new experience.

‘Ramyeon… tastes better when someone else cooks it for Conir! Just like how Minhyuk hyung likes eating Conir’s ramyeon!’

That was right. As someone who had reached the level of god when it came to cooking ramyeon, he realized that it would be better to eat the ramyeon made by other people than eat the one he made on his own.

“A– Amazing!”

Seeing how Conir was in awe of him, Herakel began to brag. He said, “Herakel is a true man! Herakel is good at addition and subtraction!”

Conir’s eyes grew even wider when he heard that. He said, “S– So cool! Herakel is good at addition and subtraction. Wow…”

“Fu– Fufufufufu!”

This was the first time that someone looked at Herakel with sparkling eyes after he bragged. So, this was a very fresh experience. When the two made eye contact, they saw the slight smile on each of their faces.

Meanwhile, Minhyuk hurriedly walked to the central plaza. He was distraught when he heard that Herakel immediately went to the ramyeon stall.

‘Because they both have similar personalities and way of thinking, there’s a chance that they might not get along well.’ This thought ran through Minhyuk’s head as he headed straight for the ramyeon stall.

“Irasshaimase!”

“Irasshaimase!”

“...?”

Herakel, who had “Deputy Kaptain, Kitchen Helf” written on his forehead, stood with Conir and welcomed Minhyuk.

Goosebumps rose all over Minhyuk’s skin when he saw the two standing together.

‘This is nuts…!’

On the surface, it might look like Conir and Herakel were two simple and naive men running a ramyeon stall to get by in this cold and harsh world(?). If the two ventured out into the world, there would be countless people ignoring the two. Perhaps they might even take advantage of Conir and Herakel’s things.

‘The Sword God and the God of Strength.’

The mere sight of the two standing together was enough to frighten Minhyuk. What would happen if Herakel learned how to wield a sword from Conir and how to swing his sword more systematically? Unbeknownst to Minhyuk, what he was imagining would soon become a reality.

The story of the Supreme Ramyeon Brothers, which would later become a legend, was about to begin.

***

Minhyuk sat inside the conference hall along with his executives.

“How’s the advertisement video?” Locke asked.

However, Minhyuk just shook his head. “Carron is keeping his mouth shut, especially with the people involved. We will only know once it’s released.”

Everyone nodded in understanding. Carron’s penchant for being strict in keeping secrets was not necessarily bad.

“However, he told me, ‘I’m very proud and confident about it.’ I think?”

“Oh.”

The executives nodded as if these words were more than enough. Not long after, a notification window popped out in front of everyone present and waiting inside the room.

[You can now view the Battle God’s advertisement video.]

[Would you like to view it?]

Of course, the same notification rang for all the players worldwide. And Minhyuk? He agreed without any hesitation.

***

[Year 719. Asgan Continent. The entire world was at peace.]

[Somewhere in this peaceful continent. Countless children gathered around a single man.]

“Uncle Tsun-tsun! Please tell us about the past!”

“These idiots. Tsk. You want me to talk about the past again, huh? Hmph.”

“Uncle Tsun-tsun, you say that, but you’re still going to tell us,” one of the naughty children said to the man called Uncle Tsun-tsun.

“A hundred years ago…”

[There were beings hailed as the Eight Pillars.]

[As their name suggested, there were eight of such beings.]

[The first of them was…]

As Uncle Tsun-tsun began to tell his story, the scene in front of all of the children changed. At the same time, the scene that the viewers were watching also changed.

With her face covered by a bright light, a woman appeared in a world filled with clouds.

[The mother of all creations and the God of Origin who rules and maintains the balance of the world, Athenae.]

Uncle Tsun-tsun continued to talk and describe them, the scene in front of the children changing with every word he spoke.

[The father of all the world popes, Kronad.]

A shudder ran down the children’s spines when they saw Kronad, with his stunning appearance, appear in front of hundreds of thousands of popes.

[The King Above Gods, who reigns over the Tomb of all Kings and Emperors, Aegaeon.]

On top of a huge tomb, the figure of the one who ruled over tens of thousands of dead kings and emperors appeared.

[The Weapon Master, who reigns and controls all of the weapons in the world, Fabro.]

Tens of thousands of weapons with a sharp glint in their blades floated around Fabro, who stood alone.

“Wow!”

“Woah!”

The children shouted in admiration.

[There’s also the Father of Dexterity, Jack-of-all-Trades Rocado.]

The image of a man surrounded by hundreds of hands and creating several artifacts all at once appeared in front of everyone.

[And among the Eight Pillars, two beings were hailed as the cruelest and most vicious beings in the history of the Asgan Continent.]

Some of the children could not help but gulp dryly.

[Immortal Sorceress Helenia.]

The scene changed. It showed a woman with flaming red hair walking among hundreds of thousands of corpses. Annoyed, she waved her hand and burned all of the corpses around her until there were no traces of them left. A flash of a smile appeared as if she had finally found her surroundings clean. It was a very grotesque and shocking scene.

[And…]

Although they had heard this story countless times before, the children still listened with rapt attention.

[The devil who killed millions of humans without mercy and hesitation…]

[...and the most outstanding out of all the Eight Pillars…]

The scene changed once again. This time, the scene showed Uncle Tsun-tsun and the children.

[His name is none other than Obren. It’s me.]

“Boo!”

“Uncle Tsun-tsun, you always say you’re the devil just because you have the same name.”

“If uncle is the devil, then I’m Athenae!”

“Idiots!”

“Uncle, you’re the Guardian Deity of the Beyond the Heavens Empire!”

Uncle Tsun-tsun, or Obren, knocked the kids' heads. However, the children looked at him indifferently, as if they were used to his antics. One of the children, a five-year-old girl, sat naturally on Obren’s lap to listen to his story.

“Are you going to listen or not?!”

“Pff… you always lie, though.”

“But I still want to listen to the story.”

“Anyway, let’s continue.”

[The most cruel, brutal, and cool devil, Obren.]

[However, even the Eight Pillars could not live for eternity.]

[Pope Kronad went to hell himself to pay for the sins that he had committed.]

[And Rocado, who was an ordinary human, found himself at the end of his life and succumbed to his death.]

[As for Obren, he found salvation through him and could live a new life.]

[Obren became the lovely, kind, upright Guardian God.]

Glance–

Obren sneaked a peak at the children. Then, he continued to tell the story with a hum and a cough.

[Then, one day…]

[The Immortal Sorceress Helenia, who failed to complete a descent, awakened to the world.]

[The awakened Helenia realized that she could not do anything on her own. So, she went out to find and awaken someone else.]

[And the one she found was none other than the King Above Gods Aegaeon.]

The scene changed once again. It showed Helenia talking to the awakened Aegaeon.

“Come with me and help me kill Athenae.”

Then, Aegaeon chose to side with Helenia.

[Tens of millions of Aegaeon’s troops, who could rival the Heavenly Army, charged into the Land of the Gods. It was hell on earth. Countless people died.]

Stab–

The scene showed someone’s splendid temple littered with the corpses of thousands of gods. In the end, the last man standing was also stabbed straight through the heart.

[And…]

Thud, thud, thud–

The man slowly crumbled and turned to dust when Aegeon pulled his sword out.

[...the Battle God died.]

ChubbyCheeks's Thoughts

At this point, you might have noticed that only seven of the Eight Pillars have been mentioned. After looking back, with the help of Namu and the rest of the team, we realized that Vampire Bella, the mother and queen of all vampires, has not been mentioned. However, if you look back at the arc before the War in Edea, she has been summoned by Rex(?) to take revenge on Minhyuk by targeting Black Dragon, Beanie, and Luna.

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