Chapter 16: Mukbang & Beauty

Today’s mukbang is this.

The center and core of Korean food.

There are even elders who say it doesn’t feel like a meal if they don’t eat this.

A crop that was painstakingly grown even in the wasteland just to eat this.

A grain that protagonists often find and obtain by any means necessary, even when they go to another world.

A versatile ingredient that can be boiled, stir-fried, steamed, or mixed.

Thump.

Rice.

20kg.

I am a popular W-tuber.

And a mukbang W-tuber who emphasizes ASMR.

Of course, I’ll eat it raw.

And there’s something I learned through the great success of the tanghulu video.

The color of the food you eat is subtly important!

So I prepared.

5kg of white rice.

5kg of black rice.

5kg of red rice.

5kg of brown rice.

Isn’t this paying a lot of attention?

Swish swish.

Crunch.

Swish swish.

Crunch.

Mukbang ended!

Anyway.

Where did I buy this white rice?

Why are two types of rice suspiciously mixed together?

Where should I report origin violations?

Ah, the Center for Reporting Illegally Distributed Agricultural and Livestock Products?

OK.

I made a call and continued eating raw rice.

I don’t buy rice in stingy 5kg units. I buy it in 20kg sacks.

I still have 79kg of rice left to eat.

Ding.

Counselor Park Taeyang sent an email.

Ah, so they finally offered sponsorship.

The other party accepted immediately.

Not a celebrity, but the W-tuber I mentioned.

Well, I thought they would.

It seems they’re a huge fan of <Insole Slime>.

It looks like they’re willing to reveal their bare face for me.

[You have consumed more than a certain amount of rice. The amount of experience points gained decreases.]

Oh dear.

As expected, there seems to be a limit to the level that can be raised with food.

That alert doesn’t pop up as quickly as with salt or plastic.

But if it’s within the rice category, whether it’s red rice, brown rice, black rice, white rice, Indica, or Japonica, if you keep eating it, you’ll eventually encounter that alert.

“I need to reach 15 or 20 quickly.”

Since the speed of leveling up with food isn’t to my liking, I definitely need to buy monster materials.

The problem is that the only people who buy monster materials in large quantities are alchemists.

I just managed to divert attention by being a Gongdori, so I shouldn’t advertise that there’s an alchemist here.

There is a sky-and-earth level difference in value between Alchemy Slime and some unknown alchemist.

Still, I should reduce potential risks as much as possible.

“Should I buy alchemy products?”

There is also a way to buy and eat alchemy products.

Because monster materials go into making alchemy products.

But if I buy the raw materials, half or even a quarter of the price is enough, so it’s a waste of money after all.

A lot of money is coming in these days, but I can’t just waste it recklessly.

Unless the full-scale sales of <Insole Slime> and <Pack Slime> begin.

By the way, I became a Grade D Alchemist.

As I started selling <Insole Slime+> and raised the price to 20,000 won per pair, I instantly exceeded the 10 million won standard for a Grade D Alchemist.

The limit for ranking up based on sales is Grade D.

To get to Grade C or higher, you have to take an exam.

A face-to-face exam, not online.

I give up.

The benefits of a Grade D Alchemist are 15% safety inspection and 40% commission.

The biggest benefit, more than anything, is probably that items sell in the Grade D category.

It doesn’t mean much to me.

Because even now, I can’t keep them in stock.

And another benefit.

I can buy monster materials at a slightly lower price.

Things will sell a lot in the future, and I can buy things cheaply too.

It would be a waste not to enjoy such good benefits, right?

I should diligently buy and eat.

And it shouldn’t end with just buying and eating.

I also need to sell diligently.

Because I need to raise the levels of the [Control] and [Divide] skills too.

The speed of growth slows down as skill levels increase.

To raise the level of [Trait: Slime] and gain new skills, I need to level them up in a balanced way.

So, I can’t help but use the [Control] and [Divide] skills.

The problem is the items created with [Divide].

There’s no place to store the products.

The storage capacity of the [Store] skill is limited.

It would be really great if I had a warehouse or a workshop.

Since I can’t leave the house.

Outside the house was dangerous before, but now it’s even more dangerous.

Especially because of the rumor that SLimelove and Alchemy Slime are the same person.

If I go outside dressed as SLimelove, I’ll be immediately surrounded by a crowd.

And I’ll be attacked by people shouting ‘Give me my leg back!’ and trying to cut off my foot to use it as <Insole Slime UR>.

It’s horrifying.

But wearing a different mascot suit or bundling up in winter clothes also feels strange.

Like it or not, the items I make are slime. The unique feel of slime doesn’t completely disappear even with the [Transform] skill. Even if I make a new mascot suit, someone with a keen eye might recognize that it’s an item made by Alchemy Slime.

How great would it be if people didn’t recognize you just by wearing a cardboard box over your head in a game?

In reality, if I disguised myself with a delivery box, I might be able to go next door, but what would be the point…?

“There is.”

Who cares about the person living next door to an alchemist? The downstairs or upstairs neighbors are also fine.

I’m sure real estate contracts are possible online.

I wish there was an empty house among the houses above, below, left, and right.

There’s a good possibility there’s an empty house. Because it’s vacation now.

This apartment is quite close to the school, so many students live here.

There might be someone who has graduated or taken a leave of absence and left their place empty. Or maybe someone wants to save on two months’ rent.

Is there one? I hope there is.

“There is!”

And it’s the place next door that’s empty.

I didn’t know because I wasn’t paying attention.

I should sign the contract.

Deposit and monthly rent?

The money from selling <Insole Slime+> yesterday is more than enough.

Contract completed.

The place next door is mine from now on.

I can do whatever I want with it.

These days, real estate transactions can be done through electronic contracts, which is really convenient.

Ah, but that doesn’t mean I plan to use the front door. Nor do I plan to use the window.

As soon as I touched the wallpaper, a hole started to form instantly.

I don’t intend to make a very big hole.

Just big enough for a slightly chubby snake to pass through is fine.

I’ll definitely fix it later.

If push comes to shove, I can always buy this house and the one next door.

Hole drilling complete.

I stretched my body long like a snake and passed through.

[The level of Control Skill has risen to 7.]

Since it’s fully furnished with basic furniture, there’s no special need to fill it up.

If I receive deliveries here and send items from here, I become the Slime living next door to an Alchemist.

The items sent to the Alchemy Center will be sold under Alchemy Slime’s name, so the value of a virtual Alchemist won’t get too high. Few people will pay much attention to an unknown Alchemist.

If I’m unlucky, I could still be tracked down.

[Shocking! Alchemy Slime sells someone else’s items under their own name.]

There’s a chance a news story like that could come out.

Anyway, the Alchemy Center can’t abandon me.

I looked it up and found an article like this.

[Seoul Central Alchemy Center. Embarking on building a new system to dramatically reduce alchemy waste.]

The article contained this sentence.

-Seoul Central Alchemy Center announced that they will expand this system after sufficient testing.-

A new system, my foot. They’re talking about our Gongdori.

If I’m gone, all their public promises will go down the drain, and their reputation will suffer.

As long as Gongdori holds such a solid position, I don’t have to worry about my future.

Then, let’s start the secret double life of a Slime!

Ah, if I include Gongdori, does that make it a triple life?

***

The graduate student put on headphones.

She even bought high-quality headphones to listen to Lime’s videos.

Sss.

Following the sound of rice brushing against something.

Crunch.

The sound of chewing rice with a crunch.

“Uwaa~.”

A strange sound involuntarily escaped from her mouth.

After changing the mask, the sound became even more sticky and chewy.

Wearing headphones and playing the video fills my ears and head with a sticky sensation, isolating me from surrounding noises.

She started reading a paper.

And before she realized it, two hours had already flown by.

This is why I can’t quit Lime.

She was already severely addicted to Slime sounds.

‘How great would it be if she recorded a sugar video again with this sound?’

At one point, delivery food friends threatened sugar’s place, but the original is still the best.

She ultimately returned to sugar.

But since it’s an early video, compared to the newly uploaded ones, it does lack in quality, both visually and audibly, to be honest.

-Lime! Your sound is the best today too! And please, upload another sugar video…

She left a comment like this, but she was certain Lime wouldn’t see it.

And understandably so, since the comment section right now is a total mess.

In just two hours, a whopping 173 comments had piled up.

With one refresh, another 10 comments were added in the meantime.

Comments saying PengRhyme is cute.

Comments begging for something.

Comments cursing.

Comments asking to be contacted.

And the most common ones are comments asking for more <Insole Slime>.

There’s hardly any content about the actual sound.

‘<Insole Slime>, what’s the big deal?’

The graduate student had no interest in <Insole Slime>.

With a lifestyle that rarely involves walking, the only shoes she equips on her feet are sneakers or slippers.

Since she has no issues with foot health, she doesn’t need insoles or anything like that.

Spending all day sitting, she’d rather buy a cushion if one came out.

A doll would be fine too.

‘A Lime doll. That might be super cute. If it made a sugar-eating sound every time I pressed it, that’d be the best.’

Because of this, it didn’t matter to her whether Lime was Alchemy Slime or not.

No, she’d rather they weren’t the same person.

Then all the trolls stirring up trouble would disappear.

And there wouldn’t be any issues with uploading videos either.

With a lot of papers to read and organize, the graduate student just licked her lips and started studying.

And the next day.

“Lime!!!!!”

The ingredient chosen by Lime was none other than sugar.

It was a sugar mukbang, made even more vibrant with colored sugar coating.

A video that felt like it was made after seeing her comment.

On top of that, a sound that tightly gripped her brain.

Half out of her mind, the graduate student absentmindedly left this comment.

-Lime, I love you! If you release an album, I’ll definitely buy it!

***

With so many random comments, it’s hard to sift through, but since there are occasionally useful opinions, I checked the comments.

The theme of the video uploaded today was none other than sugar.

Sugar is practically my starting point, and currently, the sugar short has surpassed 110 million views.

A great material like this should be milked as much as possible.

Since changing the mask, there have been a lot of comments saying the sound is different, so there’s justification to shoot a new video.

Since it’s a new video, I paid attention to the colors as well.

Having put in this much effort, I can’t help but be curious about the reactions.

So, while scrolling through, I came across an odd comment.

-Lime, I love you! If you release an album, I’ll definitely buy it!

“Album?”

I’m not an idol or a singer, after all.

I thought they might have written the comment by mistake, but the ID looks familiar.

It’s someone who has been consistently leaving comments since the early days.

In other words, one of my core fans.

Do they genuinely want an album from me?

Well, whether it’s a slip of the tongue or not, it’s a pretty amusing idea.

If I don’t think about profits, there’s no reason I couldn’t release one.

How about making a commemorative CD album to give out once I hit a million subscribers?

I have enough revenue for that.

As I’m imagining it for a moment, an alarm goes off.

It’s a notification that a channel I’m subscribed to has started a live broadcast.

[<Pack Slime> Review~!!!#sponsorship#<Insole Slime>#AlchemySlime]

“Huh? They’re posting this in real-time?”

I didn’t expect them to do a review on a live stream.

Will it be okay?

I’m not worried about the products. I’m confident in the stats of the <Pack Slime> that Gongdori told me about.

What I’m worried about is none other than the beauty W-tuber.

It’s not going to be makeup that looks like a bare face, but an actual bare face, right?

And shortly after.

As I feared, an incident occurred.