Leveling Up Through Eating

Chapter 557: God of Cooking’s Trial

Minhyuk came to a conclusion. He would never be able to hunt the sealed Bull Demon King. However, he also realized that he did not need to hunt the Bull Demon King. His only goal in coming to the Abyss Field was to gather ingredients and cook a dish to unseal Arlene’s powers. Of course, it would be great if in the process, he was able to get other ingredients. Because of that, Minhyuk changed his mindset and decided to coax the Bull Demon King to his side.

The method that Minhyuk chose to use was simple.

‘Let’s get him to eat.’

It might be simple but it was the best method. Minhyuk slowly took out some hay from his inventory. One might wonder why Minhyuk had some hay in his inventory, but it was not that surprising since Minhyuk always carried anything that was edible with him.

“Cow head? Coochiecoo~ here’s some of your favorite hay~” Minhyuk shook the hay in his hands confidently, knowing that the sealed Bull Demon King would not attack him unless he did something to the crops in this place.

The Bull Demon King looked at the hay, a corner of his lips curling up into a smile.

“Mooooo~”

Yes. He was smiling. To be exact, he was mocking Minhyuk. But that was not all…

Poooooooooot—

…he even farted loudly and strongly to the point that his tail swished upwards from the force.

‘That ox head rice soup bastard…!’

Minhyuk hated anyone, even cows, that played around with food. However, he could not get angry since his goal was to appease and coax the cow head in front of him.

‘He’s not your ordinary cow, he’s the Bull Demon King.’

At that point, Minhyuk realized why the Bull Demon King reacted like that to hay. There was no way someone like that would just eat hay. Thankfully, Minhyuk had a way to check what the Bull Demon King wanted to eat the most. It was none other than his ‘Create a Recipe’ skill, a skill that could show what the other wanted to eat the most.

[Creating a recipe that the other party desires.]

[You can now check the recipe for Various Mixed Vegetables(?).]

[The amount of buff that can be used has been decreased due to creating a recipe.]

(Various Mixed Vegetables(?) Recipe for the Sealed Bull Demon King.)

Required Ingredients: ???

Expected Effects:

????

Description: The Sealed Bull Demon King just wants to eat a dish filled with plenty of vegetables.

“Hmm…”

Minhyuk groaned lightly. For the first time since his acquisition of the skill, the Create a Recipe skill presented him with plenty of ‘???’. It was basically telling him that the Bull Demon King did not really know what he wanted to eat, but he knew that he wanted to eat a dish with many vegetables.

‘A dish filled with vegetables…’

Minhyuk pondered deeply about a dish that matched the requirement, a dish that had a lot of vegetables in it. Minhyuk thought deeply and only came up with two dishes.

‘Bibimbap and japchae?’

Finally, he decided on what dishes to cook.

***

Special Players Management Team.

Team Leader Park Minggyu groaned as he watched the scene on the monitor, “Why does this happen wherever Player Minhyuk goes…?” His words were a bit slurred but what Minggyu meant to ask was why did new and special things always happen wherever Minhyuk went? “Employee Lee Minhwa. Do you know the story about the Sealed Bull Demon King?”

“Yes, of course. The Bull Demon King is one of the Four Great Heavenly Kings from the new world that is yet to be opened. Even though his power is currently sealed, the power that he can still wield now is powerful enough to decimate an entire territory. Once the seal has been lifted, the power that the Bull Demon King can exert will be beyond anyone’s imagination.”

“That’s right. And what’s the most important takeaway here?”

Lee Minhwa looked at the monitor and said, a slight tremor in her voice, “An easter egg will be triggered when someone achieves a high level of favor with the Sealed Bull Demon King.”

Park Minggyu nodded as he watched Minhyuk start cooking through the screen of the monitor.

***

Minhyuk started making the bibimbap and japchae.

The good thing about bibimbap was that one could use any kind of vegetables in it and it would still match well. Spinach, Chinese bellflower, bean sprouts, cucumbers, shiitake mushrooms, zucchini, sprout vegetables, any kind of vegetable would go well with it. Also, the ingredients used for bibimbap could also be used for japchae. Minhyuk blanched the spinach and stir-fried the shiitake mushrooms, zucchini and julienned carrots one after the other in a frying pan.

Shwaaaaaaaa—

Smoke fluttered from the pan as the sizzle of the oil rang in the air. Since the vegetables were going to be used for both bibimbap and japchae, it was better for Minhyuk to stir-fry them for some time. After the vegetables had been tossed in the pan for a bit, Minhyuk moved to add a spatula, no… based on the Bull Demon King’s size, fifty spatulas of hot rice in a bowl.

‘Since I will dig the ingredients while the Bull Demon King is eating, then I should prepare a lot of food for him.’

The warm white rice was made from high-quality rice that Minhyuk was sure would taste sweet the moment it entered one’s mouth. Then, Minhyuk placed the stir-fried vegetables on top of the hot rice. For bibimbap, the color of the ingredients was also a very important factor. Using vegetables with the same colors would not look pretty when plated. Minhyuk gently placed the bean sprouts, the julienned carrots, the stir-fried zucchini and the shiitake mushrooms around the bowl. Then, he placed the sprout vegetables on top of everything before proceeding to fry some eggs.

Shwaaaaaaaaaa—

The eggs that Minhyuk fried were the ‘Gryphon’s Eggs’, an ingredient that he acquired before. Its description said: ‘eggs with no known use’, but since the Bull Demon King was also a ‘monster’, Minhyuk thought that he might enjoy the Gryphon’s Egg. The huge egg was fried perfectly, with its golden yolk sitting in the center.

After preparing the bibimbap, Minhyuk immediately prepared the japchae. Since the basic ingredients were similar, the preparations were also similar. Minhyuk stir-fried and blanched the same ingredients that he used in the bibimbap. Minhyuk hesitated when he was about to stir-fry the beef.

‘Feeding beef to a cow…’

Right then and there, Minhyuk decided to skip the beef and just cook japchae without it. Minhyuk quickly wore clean rubber gloves and began to mix the various vegetables and the perfectly-cooked glass noodles. Whenever he found the taste to be bland, he would sprinkle a bit of soy sauce in it before mixing it again. Once it was done, he sprinkled some sesame seeds and plated it prettily. When he finished preparing all of the dishes, Minhyuk called out to the Bull Demon King, “Cow head.”

“Moooo?”

“How about this?”

The Bull Demon King looked a bit interested but he still snorted and showed Minhyuk his damn rotten smile, “Moooooo.”

“…”

Minhyuk’s expression turned ugly after seeing the Bull Demon King’s smug grin.

‘This is not working either?’

No, things could not continue on like this. If the situation did not change, then Minhyuk would probably really have to die here. That was when Minhyuk realized that he had forgotten something, ‘I forgot to add some to the japchae…’

So, Minhyuk made a show of placing the bibimbap and japchae in front of the Bull Demon King as he popped open the bottle of his addictive sauce. A savory and mouth-watering aroma drifted in the air from the bottle in Minhyuk’s hands.

Sniff, sniff—

The Bull Demon King’s nose twitched at the scent. The addictive sauce in Minhyuk’s hands was none other than sesame oil. It was a bottle that Rocard Kingdom’s Queen Iris had gifted Minhyuk. In fact, it was so amazing and hard to come by that they could only give Minhyuk one bottle of this. Minhyuk had tasted this sesame oil with his soy sauce egg rice and found the taste to be so delicious that he almost drank every last bit of it.

“Mooooo…?” The Bull Demon King cried out in doubt and confusion. The mysterious yet savory scent floating in the air stimulated his appetite. There were cases where a person would smell the savory scent of sesame oil in the air and unknowingly taste the flavor in their mouth. That was what the Bull Demon King was experiencing right now. Minhyuk also poured the golden sesame oil over the bibimbap, making the scent in the air stronger and tickling the nose and the appetite of the Bull Demon King.

“Moooooo?”

“That’s right. That’s right. Come closer.”

The Bull Demon King, with his tail swishing from left to right, approached the bibimbap and saw the beautifully arranged vegetables with their bright and wonderful colors on top of the rice.

“Mooooooo!”

There was also the scent of the savory sesame oil and the spicy gochujang tickling the tip of the Bull Demon King’s nose.

“Ah. Wait a moment, I’ll mix it for you,” Minhyuk said, mixing the huge bowl of bibimbap for the Bull Demon King. When Minhyuk poked the Gryphon’s Egg, the golden yolk flowed gently down the rice and mixed together with the rest of the dish. With this, the scent of the sesame oil spread even further.

Drip, drip—

“Whoa, whoa. You’ll get in trouble if you drool over your own food,” Minhyuk said when he saw the Bull Demon King drool, the dish in his hands turning even more appetizing the more he mixed it.

Shwa— shwa, shwa—

The sound of the dish getting mixed together was divine, its color turning more beautiful as it caught on a red hue. When everything was finally mixed together, the Bull Demon King immediately buried his head and took a bite of the bibimbap.

“Mooooooooooo!” The Bull Demon King raised his head and cried loudly.

Minhyuk could tell that this cry was a cry of joy. Seeing that it was finally his time, Minhyuk immediately ran with his hoe.

Thump— thump—

[You have acquired the Abyss’ Wild Ginseng.]

Minhyuk was in a hurry, he had to quickly gather the ingredients that he needed before the Bull Demon King finished eating. He had to move even faster after seeing the Bull Demon King eat huge amounts of food with every bite. As for the Bull Demon King…

“Moooooooooo!”

…he could feel the crunch of the vegetables with every bite. The Bull Demon King was not like any ordinary cow, he was more of an omnivore. Amazed by the savory flavor of the sesame oil, the crunchy texture of the vegetables, and the spicy taste lingering in his mouth, quickly finishing bibimbap. The Bull Demon King then turned to look at the japchae filled with colorful vegetables right next to him.

Chomp, chomp—

The Bull Demon King buried his head into the bowl of japchae and was once again impressed by the savory flavor and chewy texture of the noodles. The Bull Demon King hurriedly finished everything. Then, he jerked his head back to look at Minhyuk. The Bull Demon King was only tasked to stop anyone from harvesting the ingredients in the Abyss Field. Thankfully, Minhyuk was already almost finished with harvesting the final ingredient.

“Phew…” Breathing a sigh of relief, Minhyuk turned vigilant when he saw the Bull Demon King approach him.

‘It’s alright. I already got everything that I need.’

There was a chance that the Bull Demon King would still charge at him and attack. If that happened, then he would surely die. But contrary to his expectations…

“Moooooo?” The Bull Demon King cried gently, his tail swishing gently to express his friendliness towards Minhyuk. Then, the notifications rang in Minhyuk’s ears.

[You have acquired the Easter Egg: The One that Opened a Closed-off Heart.]

[The Sealed Bull Demon King can be with you.]

[Even though you can be with the Sealed Bull Demon King, you still do not have the right to summon him.]

[You can now receive help from the Sealed Bull Demon King.]

“Moooooo?”

Minhyuk gently rubbed the head of the Bull Demon King. This was the start of the relationship between Minhyuk and the Bull Demon King, or ‘Hanwoo’, who would rescue him from countless dangers in Athenae in the future.

With this, Minhyuk was no longer restricted by Hanwoo the Bull Demon King and was able to harvest all of the ingredients that he could get his hands on in the Abyss Field, with his high DEX.

Minhyuk waved to Arlene, who was still reeling from the shock of seeing the scene in front of her. The teary Arlene had no choice but to approach Minhyuk.

“You’re here? Haha. I was able to get all of these. But don’t worry, I still have a conscience!”

This was the Abyss Field that Arlene cared for and cherished like her own child for a thousand years! Hearing Minhyuk’s words, Arlene nodded, ‘That’s right. Since you have a conscience…! I’m sure you left a lot for me!!!’

But then, Minhyuk handed over one ingredient to her, a very, very small mango.

“I had a hard time controlling myself just to save this for you. I always thought about eating this, you know?”

“…”

Arlene trembled fiercely as she looked at the mango in her hand, dumbfounded. She, the God of Cooking, felt tears start to well up in her eyes again.

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