Leveling Up Through Eating

PR: MattForgenti

26 Chocolate Mine

Not long after Hyemin’sDad disappeared, to who knows where, Ron suddenly barged in and came inside the smithy. He looked at Minhyuk with astonishment and awe.

“Boy…… What in the world did you do?!”

His expression right now was closer to shock than awe, he had no choice but to show such an expression. Why?

I’ve lived here for 5 years but the people are closer to Minhyuk than me!

And it wasn’t just that. Aside from the contracts that were renewed, the number of new contracts that were being signed were not small in number either!

“I just ate delicious food, walked around, helped others with their work and even cooked for them.”

“......R, really?”

Ron was left speechless with what Minhyuk said.

As he was reminded by Ron, he went ahead and checked his fame progress bar. His fame was already at 100% before so his face was filled with great expectations.

“You’ve worked hard.”

It hasn’t even been a week but Ron thought that he already did enough.

The notification sounded as Ron finished speaking.

[You have completed the Hidden Quest: Solve Blacksmith’s Ron’s Worries.]

[You have acquired 300,000 EXP.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[......leveled up.]

He heard eight notifications about leveling up, however, the notifications did not end there.

[You have achieved 100% fame.]

[If you wish to learn blacksmithing skills from Blacksmith Ron you can immediately learn the skill.]

[You can get the Fantastic Special Jeon Dish Set.]

Then, after hearing the notifications, Ron handed over a box over to Minhyuk. At a glance, the box looked extremely luxurious.

Once he opened the box, he saw all of the ingredients of the jeon dish set!

The first set of ingredients he saw was the ingredients for ‘kkochijeon’. Kkochijeon was made by putting meat, ham, crabstick, pickled radish, leeks, and mushroom. Then it would be coated with flour and egg before frying it in sizzling oil. This was how a tasty skewered kkochijeon was made!

I know that kkochijeon’s name differs from region to region.

Then, there were the ingredients for donggeurangttaeng, pumpkin jeon and pollock jeon!

All of these jeons are delicious! It’s like I can snoop around next to my Mom who’s making these well done and delicious jeons and sneak the cooked ones away!

As he looked through the box, he could see plenty of ingredients for jeon.

And it did not end there…

Ron kept on piling up similar boxes in front of Minhyuk and the contents inside were all the same. It was quite a fair amount of boxes.

Minhyuk smiled slightly as he looked at all the jeon ingredients placed in front of him.

In fact, Minhyuk has never experienced or celebrated any national holiday. He never had a chance to experience a proper holiday ever since he suffered from bulimia. It was because all of the people around him knew what would happen to Minhyuk if he ever smelled the scent of the savory oil when someone was cooking.

It was a long time ago when he experienced someone nagging at him during the holidays. It was also a long time ago since he ate holiday food that anyone could eat easily. And because of that, Minhyuk felt that these ingredients for jeon were a bit more special and dear to him.

“Let me check the ingredients.”

As he said so, Minhyuk picked up a perilla leaf among the set of ingredients.

(Fantastic Perilla Leaf)

Material Grade: B

Special Abilities:

━ +10 to WIS

━ +30 to Magical Defense

Description: If you think that this is a regular perilla leaf, then you’re mistaken. This is a fantastic perilla leaf that is one in ten thousand perilla leaves. It has a deeper fragrance and flavor compared to others.

“Wow! Wow! Wow!”

Minhyuk burst out in exclamations not because of the increase in WIS or magic defense but because he could eat a perilla leaf that has a deeper fragrance and flavor.

Minhyuk liked dishes with perilla leaves. However, the taste would significantly change depending on what dish it was used. It tasted differently when it was in a stew and it also tasted differently when it was in kimbap.

The same was true for any other ingredients. When he clicked on the ham, he saw the description as ‘A ham made with great care by a master craftsman, it is so delicious that no regular ham could ever compare.’. The ingredients for the Fantastic Special Jeon Dish Set had a lot of special abilities but it was also more delicious compared to normal ingredients.

In addition, there were also ingredients that say ‘Greatly increases the skill proficiency of blacksmithing skills.’ This only meant one thing… if he had the blacksmithing skills, then he would be able to easily level up because of this ingredient’s special ability.

Minhyuk heard from the notifications before that he could learn the blacksmithing skills from Ron right away. Originally, they were supposed to be taught like what he did with the Beginner’s Bandaging Skill with McCann but it seemed like he got preferential treatment since he filled the fame progress bar to 100%.

If I increase my proficiency by eating all of the ingredients here then my blacksmithing skills will definitely be high in level!

“I’d like to learn the art of blacksmithing from Ron-nim!”

“I understand.”

[You have mastered the Beginner’s Blacksmithing Skill.]

[You have gained 20 DEX.]

And without wasting any time, Minhyuk quickly checked on the details of his newly acquired skill.

(Beginner’s Blacksmithing)

Passive Skill

Level: 1

Effects:

━ Additional +5%+3% on repairs.

━  There is a possibility of an additional +4%+2.4% during smelting.

Repair meant that it restores or increases the durability of any artifact that has low durability while the smelting meant that there was a probability of removing impurities of the ore and getting the pure ore.

He had heard before that these two effects were the basic foundation of beginner’s blacksmithing. He also heard that when the beginner’s blacksmithing evolved into intermediate blacksmithing then he could start producing artifacts.

After checking everything, Minhyuk smiled widely as he rubbed his hands together.

“Shall we start?”

He looked completely serious and somber.

“Can I cook here?”

“Sure.”

When Ron came in earlier, he had heard a lot of notifications about his favorability with Ron increasing. That was also the reason why he happily agreed to his question.

I should first set things up!

He poured flour on a flat surface then prepared some egg water that he would use to coat the jeons before frying. At this point in time, it was better to season the egg water with salt and pepper. Then, he skewered the ingredients for kkochijeon on a toothpick. In the case of perilla leaf jeon, it was better to wrap the ingredients used in donggeurangttaeng inside of the perilla leaf before frying it.

After he finished setting up the ingredients, he greased the frying pan with oil and let it heat up. When he judged that the pan was hot enough, he picked a skewer and coated it with flour and egg water before placing it quickly on the frying pan.

Sizzleeee!

The kkochijeon was slowly being fried and cooked deliciously in the savory oil. Once the one side was golden brown, he flipped it over to cook the other side. And just like that, the jeons were cooked until they were golden brown.

“It smells delicious.”

Ron’s nose twitched as the smell of the oil and freshly cooked jeons wafted in the air. He could even hear the sizzling sound. It was torture to someone who was just watching by the sidelines. He wanted to eat something right away.

Minhyuk finished cooking donggeurangttaeng, perilla leaf jeon, pollock jeon, zucchini jeon, leek jeon, tofu jeon, and kkochijeon. The plate was overflowing with jeons.

Then, one hand was slowly reaching out to take a piece of jeon…

Thwack!

“No!”

With Minhyuk’s serious look, Ron had no choice but to suck on his fingers that had been slapped by a spoon. Then, Minhyuk finally prepared the soysauce based dip as he started to prepare to eat.

And the highlight…

Something that could never be left out…

The thing that you would always think of during the holiday…

The continuous nagging of the adults around you.

“Can you please nag at me?”

“Huh? What in the world are you saying?”

“It’s because I really wanted to eat jeon while feeling the spirit of the holidays!”

“......Boy. Aren’t you really someone strange?”

However, Minhyuk just shrugged his shoulders. It was as if he was telling him that he would not give Ron any jeons if he did not do it. So Ron started to nag at Minhyuk just like what his mother did to him in the past.

“I heard that the next door’s Lumie is now working at a good smithy. Minhyukie, shouldn’t you go and get a job quickly?”

“Good, good. This really feels like a holiday!”

Hyemin, who was sitting beside him, muttered to herself.

“Poopy piggy is really strange……”

But Ron continued on nagging that he even started to get over excited.

“Huh?! You should start being independent and get a job and stop eating off of your parents back! Yeah? When are you getting married?! Do you even have a girlfriend? Are you going to keep on playing everyday? How will you get a good job if that’s what you do all day?!”

“......”

“And Minhyukie, you… how will you even get married if you eat so much? When will you even get married? How will you be able to live in this tough world if you’re like this? When I was younger, chatter, chatter, chatter……”

There was no such thing as ‘When I was younger.’ However, Minhyuk mumbled unknowingly as he continued to listen to him nag…

“I know that I was the one who asked this of him but now I just want to turn over a table or something……”

“What? What did you just say to your mom?!”

Ron seemed like he was truly and genuinely overexcited that he couldn’t even distinguish whether he was the blacksmith Ron or Minhyuk’s mother(?).

“Then, shall we eat?”

“Chatter, chatter, chatter.”

Ignoring the still chattering and nagging Ron behind him, Minhyuk picked up a kkochijeon.

Then, he bit on one side of the kkochijeon. This was the best way to eat kkochijeon since you could taste all of the flavor of all of the ingredients in the skewer.

As soon as he bit down on the kkochijeon, he could taste the savory flavor of the oil spreading in his mouth. On top of that, the deep flavors of chives, ham, meat, pickled radish, crabstick, mushrooms and eggs blended well in his mouth.

“Wow….. It’s really delicious.”

Minhyuk had never eaten any jeon in years.

If you haven’t eaten it at all, then you wouldn’t know the pain of knowing the taste but never being able to eat the food in front of you.

I really wanted to eat kkochijeon!

He was smiling brightly as he savored the taste of the jeons.

Then, he picked up the pollock jeon next.

He dipped it in soysauce before taking a big bite out of it. His lips naturally curled into a smile as he tasted the salty and meaty flavor of the jeon.

Then the perilla leaf jeon.

The remaining flavor of the previous jeon along with the ingredients from the donggeurangttaeng that he placed inside the perilla leaf jeon improved the flavor of the bland perilla leaf and made it more delicious.

Then the tofu jeon.

Tofu was a very unique existence. The tofu that was made from soybeans could work well with any kind of cooking method. It was delicious no matter which way you eat it. Whether you ate it as it was, boiled it, grilled it or even fried it, it would still remain delicious. It was even more delicious when it was salted and fried with egg.

“Heuhaha.”

He laughed loudly as he continued to taste more delicious jeons.

Then the donggeurangttaeng.

It was a delicious jeon whether you dip it in soysauce or not. Once he placed it in his mouth, he could taste the rich meaty flavor of the meat and vegetables. The more he chewed, the richer the flavor that spread in his mouth became.

“......Boy, are you crying right now?”

“It’s because it’s really really delicious.”

Ron who was still continuing his nagging spree suddenly stopped. Right now, he was watching Minhyuk cry as he ate the jeons. He was crying but his face was painted with a bright and happy smile.

Ron, who was watching him, laughed out loud.

It seems like the Fantastic Special Jeon Set is really delicious to make him laugh and cry like that!

With a happy smile like that, Minhyuk finished all of the dishes in front of him.

“Delicious food really is the best!”

Hyemin, who was also clamoring for the jeons earlier, handed him one skewer of kkochijeon as she spoke in agreement with what Minhyuk said.

“Delicious food really is the best!”

“......I want to say that too.”

Ron looked at them with a sad face.

It was because he wasn’t able to eat a single thing!

Earlier, as Minhyuk was eating, he continuously heard notifications ringing in his head. So he decided to check his notifications window to check what notifications he got.

[You have eaten the Fantastic Special Jeon Dish’s Kkochijeon.]

[You have gained 7,000 blacksmithing skill proficiency.]

[Your Beginner’s Blacksmithing skill has leveled up.]

[Your Beginner’s Blacksmithing skill has leveled up.]

[Your Beginner’s Blacksmithing skill…..]

[You have eaten the Fantastic Special Jeon Dish’s Donggeurangttaeng.]

[You have gained 10,000 blacksmithing skill proficiency.]

[Your Beginner’s Blacksmithing skill has leveled up.]

[Your Beginner’s Blacksmithing skill…..]

The leveling up notifications for his blacksmithing skill rang for 9 times. In other words, his Beginner’s Blacksmithing Skill had reached Lv10 in one straight go.

[You have eaten the Fantastic Special Jeon Dish’s Perilla Leaf Jeon.]

[You have gained 10 WIS.]

[You have gained 30 Magical Defense.]

[You have eaten the Fantastic Special Jeon Dish’s Pollock Jeon.]

[You have gained 30 DEX.]

[You have achieved 1,000 Dexterity Points.]

[Your privilege for achieving 1,000 Dexterity Points has been given.]

Minhyuk continued to check his notifications with great anticipation.

***

Food Discussion Corner

Kkochijeon (꼬치전) - A skewered jeon made with both vegetables and meat and pan fried. I think it’s usually a term for skewered pancaked that’s why it’s name differs from region to region.

Egg water - I’m basically guessing at this point, I think this is what we commonly use as an egg wash. A mixture of egg and water.

TL’s corner!!!

I want to eat jeon. I WANT TO!!! Man… Where do I buy perilla leaves? I believe we have a version of the pollock jeon and the donggeurangttaeng in my country (and I believe I always eat it lol). TBH I love eggs and any dish with eggs. I can live with just eggs. LOL.

PR’s corner!

Whew, I can’t wait for my big food holiday to roll out in a couple of days. My appetite grows every time I read this.

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