Gourmet Gaming-Chapter 1321

Chapter 1321

The entire world was almost turned upside down. Commentators from across the globe began to heap praise on Minhyuk in various languages.

[Supreme Minhyuk has successfully sent the Abyss’ Calamity back into Hell’s Abyss with a frying pan.]

[Minhyuk has prevented Athenae’s forced termination.]

[All of the people in the world are watching Minhyuk and the situation in Athenae!]

[The Frying Pan Killer has returned! He even smashed the Abyss’ Calamity’s head!]

[Do you know what’s even more surprising? Minhyuk had completed his quest and created the best dish in the world. Everyone had heard the world message that announced it. However, Minhyuk, who loves to eat, chose to use Overlapping Delight at that moment.]

[Yes. Overlapping Delight allows him to eat the dish without actually eating it. This means that Minhyuk has given up on tasting and savoring his prized dish just to protect Athenae.]

It was not just the commentators.

[Hyung, take me! ㅠㅠ. Hyung, take me! ㅠㅠ. Hyung, take me! ㅠㅠ. Hyung, take me! ㅠㅠ.]

[That’s freaking sick~]

[I’ll donate all of my pocket money.]

Minhyuk’s chat window was almost paralyzed. Even the notifications in his donation window continued to rise at an unimaginable rate.

[SamsongCEO Using APhone has donated 1,500,000,000 won.]

[OMG... I heard that Samsong’s CEO is playing Athenae, but I didn’t expect that it’s true. Lololol.]

[No. Wait. What’s with his nickname?]

[Beansprouts AirPoPods has donated 3,003,031,724 won.]

[Woah. Apel’s CEO too? For real...?]

[Ilhwa Group’s Black Dragon has donated 100,000,000 won.]

[Meanwhile, Minhyuk’s father has made an appearance. Lolololol.]

[Ilhwa Group’s Black Dragon. Lmao.]

The world’s wealthiest men started to donate one after another. According to rumors, around 70% of the world’s wealthiest men played Athenae. Most of them were suffering from a dull life and had only discovered joy by playing the game. So, sending these donations was a thank you to Minhyuk for protecting their only joy, Athenae.

[Athenae’s Chief Kang Taehoon has donated 1,000,000,000 won.]

[Woah. Shit. Lololol. Even President Kang Taehoon. Lmao.]

[President Kang Taehoon was about to close down the servers, but thanks to Minhyu,k he’s now free of worries.]

[President Kang Taehoon’s nickname is also weird. Lololol.]

Minhyuk descended amidst the loud cheers of the people.

[Hell’s Abyss’ exit has been completely sealed.]

[The forced termination has been stopped.]

[The one who sent the Abyss’ Disaster back into the depths of Hell’s Abyss will be given rewards.]

[You have gained 187,713 platinum.]

[You have gained 3,913,051,065 EXP.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up...]

[The Abyss is measuring your rewards. Choosing a reward that fits your class.]

Ring!

[You have acquired the Abyss’ Ingredient Box.]

Minhyuk had already reached Level 750 and was in the middle of the level. In this state, he had increased his level by five all at once. On top of that, he also gained a considerable amount of platinum. Aside from these two, nothing else had dropped. This was what they commonly called beggar's rewards. After all, the rewards were too stingy compared to the high level of difficulty of the task at hand.

Thankfully, there was the Abyss’ Ingredient Box, which Minhyuk was looking forward to. And when he checked it...

‘OMG...’

According to the description, he could only release the seal on the box once he reached Level 800.

Meanwhile, Kronos stared at the descending Minhyuk. He was so surprised that his mouth kept opening and closing.

[You... sent back the Abyss’ Calamity...? With just a frying pan...?]

It was utterly absurd. Kronos still could not bring himself to believe it even after he witnessed the Abyss’ Calamity being sucked by the opening that he created after being hit by the frying pan with his own eyes. It was not just him who could not believe it. Even the Abyss’ Calamity that was being sucked back inside the Abyss was also showing a look of utter disbelief.

Minhyuk approached Kronos, who was still being suppressed by the power of Evil God Obren. Minhyuk did not show any mercy to this person who had killed Bender and humiliated the man even until his very last moments.

Thump!

He swiftly and cleanly cut Kronos’ head off.

[You have killed Kronos.]

[You have gained 98,713 platinum.]

[You have gained 1,113,051,065 EXP.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have acquired Kronos’s Clock.]

[You have acquired the Skill Book: Kronos’ Reversal.]

[You have acquired the ore: Tigranium (3).]

[You have acquired the ore: Rogdinium (4).]

[You have acquired the Abyss’ Shattered Fragment.]

[You have acquired the Chaos’ Voice...]

(Kronos’s Clock)

Rank: Olympus

Requirements: The one who killed Kronos.

Durability: 10,000 / 10,000

Special Abilities:

•You can choose a target and turn back time. You can reverse their time up to two hours in the past.

•This item will be destroyed after all of its uses have been used up.

•Remaining number of uses: 3/3

Description: Kronos’ Clock is the artifact that represents him. It can be used a total of three times.

Minhyuk gripped the clock tightly.

[Please choose the target you want to use Kronos’s Clock on.]

[Please decide on how much time the target’s time has to be reversed.]

“Bender. One hour ago.”

Everyone has witnessed Bender’s death. They all knew that he willingly sacrificed himself for the sake of humanity. In a world where the strong usually chose to bully and trample on the weak, he decided to protect them. Why? Because he was standing at a higher position than everyone else here. He did not have any other special reason or any sense of duty. He did it purely because he was stronger and superior to the humans.

[Kronos’s Clock has been activated.]

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.

The countless players who had warped to the Beyond the Heavens Empire and the members of Bender and the Attention Seekers all looked up at the sky where a clock had appeared with bated breath. They watched as the clock’s second hand turned in reverse.

Bender’s entire body had shattered and turned into dust that was scattered by the wind. This was the effect of using Transcendence. Right now, the dust began to gather in one place. Starting from one speck of dust, it gathered and piled up until it had created the figure of a man.

Minhyuk cried as the body gradually took shape. And he was not the only one crying. Many people present cried. Why? Because they were watching the person who sacrificed himself for their sake come back to life.

At that moment, a delightful thought flashed in Minhyuk’s head. He turned to the people and said, “Bender loves attention. So, I hope everyone here will give him the loudest cheers and the hottest attention once he reappears.”

The others looked at Minhyuk in confusion. Not everyone knew the name Bender and the Attention Seekers. In the Beyond the Heavens Empire, only Minhyuk’s aide and his closest executives were aware of this.

The person who fought Helenia loved attention? Did he always enjoy it when others shouted ‘Wow!’ and showed him their respect and admiration? That was ridiculous! Nonetheless, it was not a difficult thing to do. So, they just agreed.

Unlike them, Ellie and the other attention seekers understood what Minhyuk meant. They understood it better than anybody else.

“Leave it to us.”

The attention seekers cried out, their hands thumping on their chests.

[Kronos’ Clock has successfully reversed the target’s time.]

Not long after, Bender’s body was fully restored.

***

Bender’s eyes remained closed after he returned. He knew that his time had been reversed, and he came back to life.

It just showed how amazing Kronos’ Clock was. Although Bender’s body had shattered into pieces and had to be reconstructed, his memories of the time remained intact.

Bender smiled bitterly, ‘To be honest, I thought that dying like that wasn’t that bad.’

Bender had lived for thousands of years. Yes, humans longed to live forever. Unfortunately, to those who lived like that, living felt more painful than dying.

Bender had also once loved someone and even had a child before. His wife was human, and his child was a half-Transcendental. Because of that, they could not live forever. He could only watch as his wife grew old while he remained young. He watched as his wife left and his child got married. He watched as his child’s face was filled with more wrinkles than his. Even his child left him first.

That was the life of a Transcendental. But did that mean that they had to die just because they wanted to? No. There was no way that they would do something so stupid.

The disappointed Bender slowly opened his eyes.

‘Ah. I have to live this tedious life again...’

“UWAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

“Be-Bender! The hero who saved the world!”

“WOAAAAAAH! The hero who saved the world has awakened!!!”

Bender was greeted with the sight of thousands of people surrounding him. Their roars and cheers echoed and almost shook the sky. Weren’t the Koreans known as the heung-ui minjog?[1] Their cries were the most remarkable of all the people present.

“SO HANDSOME~~!!!”

“Kghk! What an arrogantly stunning look!!!”

“You’re our hero!!!”

A brave player approached Bender with his hands clasped together in a prayer. He looked up at the Transcendental with a face that was filled with yearning and admiration. However, Bender remained expressionless. The player was suddenly doused with cold water and forced to face reality.

Bender was a Transcendental. He was stronger than anybody else in the world. And he probably would not like it if someone tried to touch his body carelessly. Even though Minhyuk had said so, there was a chance that the Transcendental would not be happy with something like this...

Twitch–

The corners of Bender’s mouth twitched. It looked like the corners were trying to go up, but he was forcing his lips to remain still. Yes. Bender was trying not to grin, although he could not stop the corners of his lips from curling up.

“Y-You’re so handsome!!!”

Twitch!

Bender really could not control the corners of his mouth. They could not stop twitching. Then, Bender stared at the crowd of people.

“I just did what I had to do...” He looked at the distant mountains and, with a look of arrogance and superiority, he said, “...as a Transcendental.”

“WOAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

“Bender-oppa! I love you!”

“Oppa! Take me!”

“Bender! Bender! Bender! Bender! Bender!”

Then, Ellie stepped forward and approached him. Ellie had already heard the story from Minhyuk. Besides, she had already seen Bender up close before. So, she was pretty used to dealing(?) with the Transcendental.

Ellie said, “...Lord Bender, your figure as you transcended the limits several times over and cut even the sky is still vivid in my eyes. Ahh. Even I, who holds the title of the Hegemon King, know that I will not be able to reach you.”

Twitch, twitch!

“Ha- Haha! Ellie. Aren’t you cool enough yourself? Huh?! Cheer up!”

All of the attention seekers gathered around Bender.

Gremory said one word, “Handsome...”

Then, she bit her lips and looked up at him with a gaze filled with admiration.

Twitch!

Raldo looked down at his sword and said, “My sword is nothing but trivial in front of Lord Bender’s own.”

Twitch!

The Dragon King cried, “Even the hair sticking out of your nose is so handsome!”

Twitch!

Ben declared, “Hoho. From now on, I will call you Our Hero Bender instead of Transcendental Bender.”

Twitch, twitch!

Then, the being standing at the pinnacle of all things appeared.

[God of Origin Athenae looks at a Transcendental.]

[Athenae looks at him and says...]

[So cool...]

Minhyuk looked up at the sky in disbelief. ‘E-even you Athenae...?’

It seemed like Athenae had also decided to join their cause.

‘Come to think of it, Bender had helped save the world from destruction...’

He deserved this much.

Bender, who had been trying hard to endure, finally broke out in laughter. “Wa-wahahahahahaha! Keuhahahahahahahaha! Ahem. I see. Athenae. You think that I’m a hero, too, huh? Aaaah. Now, the world is paying attention to me. This is tiring.”

Bender, with his eyes filled with stars, looked up at the sky with the happiest smile on his face.

‘If it’s like this, then it wouldn’t be bad to live a bit longer for the sake of humans who are crazy(?) for me, no?’

[Bender’s cute. Lololol.]

[Lmao. He’s so happy, not knowing that Minhyuk’s the one who asked everyone to give him some attention. Lolololol.]

[No. This really works? Rofl!]

[Did you see the corners of his mouth? I have never seen such a happy smile in my life. Lololololol.]

[No. Look closely. He was trying hard not to laugh, but he still ended up laughing loudly. Lmao.]

“I already know how you feel. So, please don’t take it to heart too much.” Bender looked at the world with a gaze filled with heroic spirit. “I just did what I had to do as the hero.”

Then, Bender approached Minhyuk.

Minhyuk had a happy(?) look on his face. ‘As long as he’s happy, then I’m happy...’

“Minhyuk. If you run toward the end like me, then a day like this will come for you, too. Fufu. A day like this, when Athenae will also show her love for you.”

“...”

“Aaaaah. It’s still quite a long time away for you. You’re outstanding, but it’s not that easy to get as much attention as I have. Run and chase after me. I’ll be waiting,” Bender said, winking as he smiled at Minhyuk.

Then, he turned into a bright and brilliant light and disappeared from everyone’s sight. And Minhyuk? He just stared at the place where Bender vanished.

[HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA.]

[lolololololololololololol.]

[Shit. This is crazy. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA]

[Minhyuk was the one who asked us to give him some attention. f*ck. HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAA.]

[Minhyuk’s expression right now is so freaking funny. Lolololololol.]

Minhyuk just stood in place and remained quiet for a very long time.

1. 흥의 민족, roughly translated to People of Joy. ☜