Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 794

A quadrillion is equivalent to a thousand trillion. A hundred million might be shabby when compared to such an amount, but it was already enough for someone to buy a house in the countryside.

If one had a billion, then they would be able to buy a decent apartment in Seoul. If they had ten billion, then they would be able to build a building in a good spot in Gangnam.

If someone had a trillion, then they could already be considered to be super rich. They could even own several supercars and buildings and live a life of luxury and leisure. A trillion was already enough to consider one wealthy; now imagine one having a thousand times of that. That was how much a quadrillion was worth.

When referring to public data, the Rothschilde Family was known to possess assets and properties worth five quadrillions. According to the rough estimate of some experts, the Rothschilde Family probably had assets above seven quadrillions in total.

Hence, when Rausch declared that he would build an airport, he truly meant it.

“What should we name the airport? What do you think about MinRa Airport?”

“What does MinRa mean in MinRa Airport?”

“I just combined the first few letters of Minhyuk and Rausch.”

“…” Minhyuk shook his head when he saw Rausch speak about building an airport as if it was a very trivial matter. “That’s enough. What good will it bring for me to have an airport?”

Although Minhyuk was infected by Rausch’s enthusiasm and felt excited about the prospect of having an airport, he knew that it was not a matter to be taken lightly.

‘What airport? It’s already funny to think that I was going to receive a private jet earlier.’

If an airport was truly built for Minhyuk, the impact would definitely be unusual.

“More than that, is there something that you want to do?”

“I want to go to a place that will help me see and experience Korea’s unique culture. I also want to try unique food and also do something fun with you.”

Now that Rausch had a friend, things like that suddenly felt fun and interesting for him.

Thankfully, he came at the perfect time. Today was the once-a-month outing day where Minhyuk was allowed to play and eat delicious food. Minhyuk thought for a moment. Then, excitement started to fill his eyes as he said, “I know of a good place.”

***

Rausch followed right after Minhyuk. As they continued to walk, the surroundings turned dark and a mysterious smell wafted at the tip of his nose.

‘Is this… a gambling den? I heard that Korea has Hwatu[1] and they’re very good at it… but does Minhyuk gamble?’ Rausch thought, his expression filled with confusion.

Clang~

When Minhyuk opened the door and entered the shop, the dazzling and colorful lights from hundreds of computers illuminated the darkness and greeted them.

“…”

“This is Korea’s PC Room.”

“PC Room? I know that. There are quite a lot of PC Rooms all over the world.”

Rausch could not hide his disappointment. Why did they come to this place called PC Room where plenty of low-class people mingled? Even though he was disappointed, he still sat in one of the booths. However, there was this unknown smell lingering on the tip of his nose.

‘What’s this? What’s this strong yet appetizing smell?’

When he turned his head to his side, he saw a young student with a headset on his ears eating ramyeon while playing a shooting game with his friends.

‘Ramyeon?’

Rausch had been running on an empty stomach for quite some time now. He could not help the rumbling from his stomach at the smell. On top of that, Korea was known as one of the ramyeon powerhouses in the world.

When Rausch clicked the mouse to browse the internet on the computer in front of him, he practically jumped up from his seat in shock.

“Heok…!”

“What’s the matter?”

“The, the internet…”

“???”

“How can it load in less than 0.3 seconds?!”

When it came to IT, South Korea was known as the top global powerhouse. Even if Rausch’s family was rich, there was no way that he could increase the speed of the internet in their house if their country’s own speed was only at that level.

“Fufufufu. What do you think? How’s Korea’s unique culture?”

“…”

Rausch slumped back in his seat in shock. That was when he saw Minhyuk click away busily on something on his screen.

‘What’s sotteok-sotteok? Cow[2] and rice cake? What in the world is it? Hmm? Chicken mayo? What’s this? Ho, samgyeopsal rice wrap? I think samgyeopsal is a very famous dish in Korea, right?’

He watched as Minhyuk kept on clicking on food on his computer.

“Our PC Rooms also serve dishes. The quality is as good as that of restaurants. Also, if you click on a few buttons, they will deliver it to your seat.”

“They will deliver the food to me? You only have to click a few buttons?”

“That’s right. How to say this, it’s similar to room service or something like that.”

“…!” Rausch was very surprised. ‘This is a state-of-the-art system…’

In order for someone to order room service in a hotel, they had to dial the phone and recite the menu that they wanted to order themselves. But in Korea, they would deliver the food directly to their seat after clicking on a few pictures and buttons on the screen?

While Rausch was busy appreciating Korea’s cutting-edge system, Minhyuk continued to click away. In fact, Minhyuk just wanted to eat the food in the PC Room.

‘Fufufufu. Eating delicious food while playing games in a PC Room is the best!’

“Here’s your order.”

Then, plenty of dishes were served one after another in front of the two of them.

“We will bring the food to you after they have been cooked. The total amount for your order is 187,000 won.”

Rausch was shocked once again. ‘From what I remember 187,000 won is roughly around 150 dollars, right? That’s quite cheap for this amount, and it’s even room service!’

Of course, whether it was 150 dollars or 1,500 dollars, it was nothing in Rausch’s eyes. When his eyes strayed to the table of dishes served in front of him, Rausch could not help but be in awe.

“Is this the samgyeopsal rice wrap?”

“That’s right.”

The staff was kind enough to put the rice, meat, garlic, and ssamjang into a wrap to make it easier for the people to eat while playing games. All they had to do was eat the dish as it was.

But that was not the only thing on Rausch’s table. There was also a bowl of ramyeon, sotteok-sotteok seasoned with spicy chicken sauce, and a chicken mayo rice bowl. Of course, the dishes on Minhyuk’s table were far more than those on Rausch’s table.

“Eat as much as you want, Rausch. This is a banquet prepared for you who came all the way here to Korea.”

“…”

Rausch was deeply moved. Minhyuk did not ask or talk to him about business. He was completely different from the other business acquaintances and friends that he met before. He was as normal as it could get.

‘A friend that I met to do fun and enjoyable things with.’

Minhyuk was the first friend that Rausch had ever made. He found their current situation to be very exciting and enjoyable.

Then, Minhyuk said, “To be honest…” He rubbed his hands in excitement. “After I got diagnosed with eating addiction, it has always been one of my small dreams to go to a PC Room and eat their dishes.”

Rausch listened silently to his friend.

“It might be something that was normal and ordinary for others but…”

If one looked around them, there were young friends, couples, middle-aged people around them. Regardless of their age or their gender, they were sitting here and clicking away on the computers in front of them.

“For someone like me, coming here often to play games and eat delicious food was something that had been beyond my reach. But now, I’m getting closer and closer to achieving it.”

Rausch looked at Minhyuk, his eyes filled with an endearing look, and said, “Everything will turn out well. I’m cheering for you.”

“Y, yeah… Th, thank you.”

Minhyuk immediately turned to his food to avoid Rausch’s burdensome gaze. In front of him was a table of delicious dishes.

“Eat the ramyeon first. Otherwise, it will get soggy,” Minhyuk said as he clamped a huge mouthful of the steaming ramyeon. He personally preferred to eat ramyeon in huge bites.

Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp!

The chewy noodles were enough to make anyone feel happy the moment they took a bite of their own ramyeon.

Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp!

After eating the noodles in big bites like that, Minhyuk grabbed the disposable bowl and drank the ramyeon soup inside.

“Kghhk…”

A small burst of admiration escaped from his mouth, before he dove into the stir-fried kimchi that he ordered along with the ramyeon.

Crunch, crunch—

A shiver ran down Minhyuk’s spine when he took a bite of the delicious and well-made stir-fried kimchi. Then, he grabbed the straw inserted in his cold glass of coke that was filled with ice and took a sip.

Gulp, gulp, gulp—

After that, he pulled the chicken mayo rice bowl that was complete with a huge helping of chicken and topped with plenty of seaweed powder. He grabbed his spoon and carefully mixed the chicken mayo rice bowl.

Once everything had been mixed evenly, Minhyuk immediately scooped a huge mouthful of the chicken mayo in his mouth. The sweet and savory flavors of the chicken mayo rice bowl danced around in his mouth.

Crunch—

The chicken that was covered with its crispy-fried skin was all lean meat and juices inside. In just four bites, Minhyuk finished the entire bowl of chicken mayo rice bowl. When he felt like his throat was a bit dry, he grabbed the bowl of ramyeon and drank the remaining soup inside.

“Hiyaaa…” Minhyuk sighed in admiration and turned to look at another bowl of noodles in front of him.

The bowl of noodles was none other than chapagetti. The smell of chapagetti wafted all over the PC Room, which made the other customers press on the ‘order’ button.

“This PC Room’s staff is very good.”

There was a perfectly fried egg placed on top of the chapagetti. When Minhyuk poked the egg with his chopsticks, the yolk immediately flowed down and covered the noodles beneath it. Then, he mixed everything together before taking a huge bite.

“Sluuuuuuuuuuuurp!”

The sound of someone slurping their noodles rang loudly amidst the clicking of the mouse and the clacking of mechanical keyboards inside the PC Room. The chapagetti was sweet and the seasonings had been mixed very well.

Sluuuuuuuuuuurp!

Minhyuk then grabbed the two pieces of pickled radishes served with the dish and placed it in his mouth.

Crunch, crunch—

After eating like that, he turned to look to his side. There, he saw Rausch eating the dishes in front of him with awe and admiration flashing on his face.

“My god. I can’t believe they wrapped it like this already for us to eat it easily.”

Then, Rausch placed the samgyeopsal rice wrap in his mouth. The garlic tasted a bit spicy in his mouth, but its flavor complemented the other flavors and made the dish even more delectable. After that, he turned his attention to the dish named sotteok-sotteok.

“What a unique name.”

Rausch remarked after smelling the dish a bit. As he took a bite, Minhyuk said, “When it comes to sotteok-sotteok, you have to eat the ham together with the rice cake.”

“Ah, is that so?”

Following what Minhyuk said, Rausch took a huge bite of the ham and the rice cake that was covered with the spicy chicken sauce.

“…!”

Rausch’s eyes grew wide in surprise. ‘My, my god…’

The rice cake, the ham, and the slightly sweet spicy chicken sauce met together and created a perfect harmony of flavors in his mouth. When he chewed, the ham complemented the rice cake that had been fried to a golden brown yet was still juicy and chewy on the inside.

“…”

A shudder ran down Rausch’s back. Minhyuk brought him here with no specific reason in mind. They came here purely to have fun.

‘A top-class hotel room-like service, super yummy Korean authentic dishes, and fast internet speed. This is really fun!’

Rausch wanted to repay Minhyuk for bringing him here. So, he approached the counter and said, “How much is this PC Room?”

“You have to pay 1,000 won per hour.”

“No, I mean the purchase price of the entire PC Room.”

“Around 400 million…?”

“I’ll buy it for four billion.”

“…?”

Rausch wanted to do anything, something, for Minhyuk. It was to the point that he was willing to buy the PC Room that he liked.

“Ah! You’re doing it again.”

However, that was not what Minhyuk wanted. To him, doing something like this was burdensome.

“Rausch. I did not meet you because I wanted something from you. Ah, it seems like you still don’t know much about the meaning of the word ‘friend’, huh?”

That was right. Rausch truly did not know much about it. He thought that it would be fine and they would like it if he bought his friends expensive things. After all, Rausch had been surrounded by greedy people from a very young age.

“Friends are people that will stay by your side, encourage you, give you strength and have fun with you. Understand? All you have to do is stay by my side, like that. But what are you trying to do? Do you not want to come and see me anymore?”

“…”

Rausch realized something after hearing those words. “Is it enough if I just stay by your side?”

“That’s right.”

“I don’t have to buy you cars or expensive luxury items?”

Minhyuk nodded. Rausch finally realized the true meaning of the word friend. Just like that, Rausch played and had fun with Minhyuk in the PC Room. And on his way back, Minhyuk went to see him in the airport.

“Come visit me again next time, Rausch.”

Minhyuk did not hate Rausch either, especially since he had treated him kindly and with grace. Rausch had a small smile on his face as he entered his private jet.

“It looks like you had fun.”

“Yes. I’ve also made a firm decision.”

Then, Rausch’s plane took off.

***

Beyond the Heavens Kingdom’s conference room.

All of the executives of the kingdom, with the exception of Minhyuk, had gathered inside the conference room. It was not because they did not want Minhyuk to be here, it was because he had logged out to get some rest. Also, there was something that Haze wanted to discuss with them without Minhyuk.

“So, you’re saying that our situation is much worse than we expected?”

“That’s right. After the recent fiasco with the kings and our choice to abandon them, several kingdoms had and cut off their deals and businesses with us. Of course, the kingdoms that wanted to join us have been supporting us but there are obvious limitations to this. The areas where we can grow financially are facing restrictions and limitations.”

“Is the money that we raised together with Minhyuk not enough?”

“The more migrants we have, the more funds we need to settle them down. Of course, this fund will come back to us in the form of tax. However, if things continue at this rate, we can expect our treasury to be tight in just two years.”

They certainly did not have anything to say about Minhyuk abandoning and cutting off those kings. They did not need to nor plan to drag those kings that did not want to be with the Beyond the Heavens anyway. Besides, the kingdoms that truly wanted to be with them had already subordinated themselves to Minhyuk and had pledged their allegiance to his throne.

However, the problem was that if things went on at this rate, then the Beyond the Heavens would be faced with great financial troubles.

“What’s the quickest solution to this problem?”

“War. We have to wage war and absorb other kingdoms.”

Everyone turned silent. War was not an easy topic to discuss. If the opponent was the one that attacked first, then it would be alright. But if they waged war to loot other kingdoms, then their image would become unfavorable.

“We don’t have any other options to solve this problem. How about asking His Majesty to prepare for war right away?”

War might not be good, but Haze knew that there was no other way. The executives could only groan. Just then, something unexpected happened.

“Huh?” Genie looked confused. She received a whisper from a completely unexpected person.

“Wait.”

Just when Genie said those words, someone from the outside urgently shouted, “Rothschilde Kingdom’s King Calauhel has arrived!”

Haze, together with all of the executives, hurried outside. Haze was aware that Minhyuk had been with Calauhel in the Tomb of the Kings.

‘Don’t tell me… are they going to wage war?’

Well, that would be good for them. After all, the Rothschilde Kingdom was known for their financial power that could rival that of an empire. However, that was only the case because Calauhel had a lot of money.

When they finally climbed the walls, Haze saw Calauhel leading his elite troops. There was a strange tension and anxiety in the air. Even the Beyond the Heavens’ soldiers were nervous.

“Can you please convey this to your king?”

Calauhel looked around with a small smile on his face. He had already finished the conversation with the executives of the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom.

“From this day forward, the Rothschilde Kingdom wishes to be under the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom’s rule.”

“…!”

“…!”

Everyone was surprised.

‘Just like you said, friends only needed to stay by each other’s sides to enjoy and have fun together. It’s already good like that.’

That was what Calauhel wanted to fulfill.

“Please receive this as a small gesture of my sincerity.”

[The Rothschilde Kingdom is giving 2,000,000 platinum as a gift to the Beyond the Heavens Kingdom!]

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

Two million platinum was enough money to buy a small kingdom on the spot. It was a huge amount of money that could only be earned if one killed at least a monster at the level of the Six Monster Gods.

Haze and the executives stepped forward, and with her most solemn expression, Haze said, “Welcome♥.”

1. Usually refers to the cards but can also be used to refer to the game itself. Similar to Japan’s Hanafuda and is used to play games/bets. ☜

2. the 소 in 소떡소떡(sausage and rice cake skewer) can also be read as cow ☜