Chapter 89

[If MuTube World Ranking is 250th or higher: Total Ability +200%] [1 use]

[If MuTube World Ranking is 10th or higher: Additional trait unlocked (cannot unlock if 3 or more traits already held)] [1 use]

[If MuTube World Ranking is 1st: Acquire 2 Skill Evolution Tickets] [1 use]

Aside from the 5,000 Skill Points earned for breaking into the top 500, three rewards remained.

“Well, I’ll take the rest slowly. It’s not like there’s any pressure anyway.”

Jaeha smiled and rose from his seat.

“What rank?”

“Korea is obviously 1st, and World Ranking is 491st.”

“That’s not as high as I expected.”

“It’s true that it’s lower than expected, but what can I do? The penalties are all gone anyway. I’ll just rest a few days and then start broadcasting again.”

“That’s true.”

With that, Jaeha headed up to his room.

* * *

After the rankings were announced, Jaeha rested for about six days. And on the seventh day, he started broadcasting again.

“Welcome back, everyone.”

After exchanging a few words, Jaeha spoke.

“Today, I plan to do some ordinary hunting.”

—But Jaeha, you thinking of going to an SS-Rank Dungeon?

—Right. I’ve seen foreign streamers broadcast SS-Rank Dungeon runs and completely crash and burn.

—Some streamers have even died.

—True, but somehow I feel like Jaeha would clear it easily. I also wanna see the SS-Rank Dungeon boss.

“An SS-Rank Dungeon, huh.”

After thinking for a moment, Jaeha smiled and said,

“I’ll prepare for it in the near future. If I decide to go, I can go.”

—Do you happen to own a dungeon?

“No, I don’t own one. But I have some connections with the Blue Dragon Guild. So if I ask to go, they’ll probably let me in.”

—I’m genuinely asking, but are you really some kind of mastermind?

—Right? Every time, you’ve got connections to everything……

“A mastermind? I don’t go around doing bad things. I’m just a hidden master living in seclusion.”

—A ‘hidden’ master?

—??

“Anyway, the dungeon we’re going to today is—”

With that, Jaeha walked toward the dungeon and began hunting.

* * *

Seven more days passed after the ordinary hunting broadcast. And today, another seven days later, was the day the rankings would reset. Jaeha figured his rank would drop a bit since he’d broadcast diligently for seven days but hadn’t broadcast properly for the other seven.

Either way, he’d already earned 5,000 Skill Points for reaching the top 500, so a slight drop in rank didn’t matter much.

Jaeha, who had been sitting and resting, checked his ranking the moment midnight passed.

[Korea Ranking: 33]

[World Ranking: X]

“……”

“What’s wrong?”

“Looks like my World Ranking dropped below 1000 again. Ugh, annoying! I got penalized again.”

With that, Jaeha checked his status window.

[Na Jaeha]

[Traits: Ranged Dealer, Knight]

[LV: 81]

[Total Ability: (3024 * 1/2) = 1512]

“Hmm. Well, at least my Korea Ranking didn’t drop much. That’s a relief.”

As Jaeha muttered that, Sia asked,

“So what are you going to do?”

“Haah, I don’t know.”

Jaeha let out a sigh and sank into thought.

“Why not add one more piece of content?”

“I suppose so. Ugh, I can’t be bothered to prepare it, and I can’t be bothered to do it either.”

Saying that, Jaeha sprawled out on the bed.

“Then just keep broadcasting moderately and maintain your current state. If you just maintain where you are now, dungeon runs won’t be too hard, and it’ll be fine, right?”

“Hmm. Well, with a Total Ability of around 500, hunting isn’t much of a burden. But……”

“You need to raise your rank at least once more?”

“Right.”

“That’s a bit awkward.”

“Exactly. I need to raise my rank to get the Skill Evolution Tickets. And I just got penalized too. No choice. I’ll have to prepare one more piece of content.”

“What are you going to do this time?”

“Preparing content isn’t really the issue. It’s not that hard anyway, so it doesn’t matter much. The problem is what kind of content to do. ……Haah, that’s the real problem.”

After thinking for a moment, Jaeha looked at her as if something had come to mind.

“Yeah. That’s what I’ll do.”

“That?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm. What is it?”

“Remember when I turned on the broadcast in the living room that one time? I was thinking about content but it didn’t work out.”

“Yes.”

“That’s when it came up — apparently some streamer on another platform tried it, but couldn’t pull it off and failed.”

“So? What is it?”

At her question, Jaeha smiled as he spoke.

“Ever heard of a mukbang?”

“A broadcast of eating food?”

“Yeah.”

“Isn’t that a sudden shift in style? There are so many streamers who do mukbangs. Well, none among Hunters, of course. I mean, occasionally you see someone eating while hunting or something on a broadcast, but still.”

“Ahh, no, that’s not it. There’s no way I could gain popularity with some ordinary mukbang.”

“Then what?”

“What else? A monster meat mukbang.”

“……Master, was my cooking really that bad?”

“What? Lately I’ve been pretty satisfied with it.”

Saying that, Jaeha got up from his seat.

“You said it yourself last time. Things like food, clothing, and shelter are indispensable needs in people’s lives, and those are what draw people’s interest. And a lot of people have wondered for ages — can’t we eat monster meat?”

At Jaeha’s words, Sia nodded.

“True enough. Aside from the parts that are needed, all monster byproducts get burned or thrown away.”

“Right.”

Jaeha smiled and looked out the window as he spoke.

“So. Let’s give that a shot.”

“But isn’t monster meat inedible?”

“Yeah. That’s right. It’s toxic.”

“Then you can’t eat it.”

“I’m immune to toxins.”

“Ah, right. You did eat a bunch of bugs before.”

“……Could you not bring up bad memories?”

Having said that, Jaeha smiled and spoke to her.

“Anyway, let’s get some rest for now.”

“Yes.”

At Jaeha’s words, Sia nodded and began to move.

Chapter 10

“What are you going to catch and eat?”

At Sia’s question, Jaeha nodded as he spoke.

“First, I’ll catch two kinds of monsters and try them.”

“Two kinds on your first try?”

“Yeah. The first one will be a Fire Boar. It’s a boar that breathes fire. Since it’s a pig, there’s relatively less aversion to it. And to finish, an Iron Chicken. Well, as you know, not many people dislike chicken, and it’s not a religious issue either. Plus, Koreans especially love chicken, right?”

“Hmm. Not bad. Still, there’s bound to be some aversion no matter what.”

“Same for me. But what can you do? That’s how you start. And if it tastes good, all that will disappear.”

Having said that, Jaeha got up from his seat.

“You’re leaving right away?”

“Yeah.”

After answering, Jaeha immediately left the house. And Sia followed after him.

Heading to the dungeon where the two kinds of monsters he’d mentioned to Sia appeared, Jaeha caught them in no time.

Actually, the travel took a while. The catching itself was instantaneous. Which made sense — both Fire Boars and Iron Chickens were low-rank monsters.

After catching them, Jaeha stored their carcasses in his Inventory and moved to a place with no people around. No matter how you looked at it, it could cause problems if people saw.

Then Jaeha looked at Sia and spoke.

“You’re way better at cooking than I am. Go ahead.”

“We’re not eating it raw?”

“Do you buy meat and eat it raw?”

“I like yukhoe, you know?”

“……Shut it. Raw pork is barely sold anywhere, you know?”

“Hehe. Let’s just try grilling it for now?”

“Sure, let’s do that.”

Jaeha nodded and pulled the monster carcasses and a grill out of his Inventory. Then he spoke to Salamander.

“Could you light a fire here?”

<Sure.>

And once the fire was lit, Sia fixed the grill over the flames and stared at the monster carcasses for a moment.

“Master. Could you do the butchering?”

“Got it.”

Jaeha approached the carcass.

“Let’s start with the Iron Chicken.”

“Okay. But chicken is better fried or steamed than grilled, you know.”

“Well, let’s just cut off a leg and try grilling it.”

Among the byproducts that came from an Iron Chicken, only one thing was useful. That was its feathers—Iron Chicken feathers were harder than ordinary steel. That’s why they were frequently used to forge Hunter weapons.

After plucking all the feathers, Jaeha looked at the Iron Chicken’s body.

“It really just looks like a raw chicken.”

“I heard that’s exactly why it got the name ‘chicken.’”

“Is that so.”

With that, Jaeha quartered the Iron Chicken’s carcass. Then, excluding the parts with the wings and breast meat, he handed the leg portion to Sia as he spoke.

“Undine. Drain all the blood from inside.”

<Got it.>

The blood drained out in an instant, and Sia, who had been kneading the fully bloodless meat, placed it over the fire right away. Before long, the meat began to cook little by little. But as expected of monster meat, it didn’t cook easily.

“Salamander, turn up the heat.”

<Okay.>

Once the heat reached about ten to fifteen times that of a standard household gas stove, the meat visibly began to cook.

“It really is monster meat, isn’t it.”

“Yeah.”

Sia seasoned the meat with salt and pepper as it cooked, and before long, she managed to cook it all the way through.

“Here you go. It’s done.”

Sia handed Jaeha the fully cooked chicken leg, and looking at it, he said.

“Just in case. Keep an antidote ready when you eat.”

“Don’t worry.”

At her words, Jaeha nodded and lifted the chicken leg. Sia was staring at him intently.

“Aren’t you eating?”

“Even setting aside the poison, it might taste bad, you know.”

“…….”

Letting out a sigh at her words, Jaeha brought the chicken leg to his hand and took a big bite.

“…….”

“How is it?”

*Chew, chew.*

Jaeha, who had been chewing the meat, smiled as he spoke.

“It’s delicious.”

“Really? You’re not lying to me, are you?”

“If you don’t want it, give it here. I’ll eat it.”

“No. I want to try it too.”

At her words, Jaeha ate the rest of the chicken leg.

“It really is delicious, though?”

After tasting the meat, Sia’s eyes went wide as she looked at Jaeha and spoke, and Jaeha nodded with a smile.

“Yeah. It just tastes like chicken. But it’s way more tender and…… how should I put it? Would you call it depth of flavor? Anyway, it has a lot of that. Even though it was directly over the fire, the inside is full of juices. If a proper chef had cooked this, it probably would’ve been amazing.”

“I agree.”

Sia nodded and, just like Jaeha, cleared an entire chicken leg in no time. Holding the bare bone, she looked at Jaeha.