Chapter 1394: Side Story 3
Chapter 1394 - Side Story 3
With the help of Nerva and Cardin, Minhyuk was able to quickly become the rightful master of the Luvien Empire, widely known as the immortal empire. The name Luvien was slowly disappearing as the empire integrated with the Beyond the Heavens Empire. Now, there was no longer any distinction; it was just called the Beyond the Heavens Empire.
In the audience hall of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.
“In the end, that Park Jae-Sok… resigned from his position as the team leader and left Your Majesty’s company on his own. As expected of you, Your Majesty. You’re competent!” Haze declared.
Haze had been doing an even better job as the prime minister of the bigger and greater Beyond the Heavens Empire.
“It has been more than a year since the Luvien Empire was integrated and carried the name of the Beyond the Heavens Empire. The unified empire now fully recognizes Your Majesty Minhyuk as the true and sole master.”
Indeed, more than a year had passed in the world of Athenae, which roughly translated to half a year in the real world.
“Isn’t it tiring?”
“No, not at all. I think it’s easier compared to when I was still suffering from eating addiction in the past.” Minhyuk’s schedule when he was still suffering from eating addiction was downright bloody. Compared to the tight and murderous schedule back then, this was a lot easier.
While Minhyuk discussed with Haze, he checked the quest window of the quest that had popped up for him just recently.
[Pillar Quest: Befriending the Masters of Olympus.]
Rank: Pillar
Requirements: Master of the Western Continents.
Rewards: ???
Penalty for Failure: Interactions and diplomatic exchanges with the Gaia Continent will be disrupted.
Description: Through interactions and exchanges with the Gaia Continent, the Western Continents can and will be able to develop a better culture and live a higher quality of life.
Achieve a 100% Relationship Rate with the Gods of Olympus. You can choose to do this quest or appoint someone closely related to you.
Current Relationship Rate: 0%
This was the quest he obtained immediately after becoming the Master of the Western Continents.
“I hope to finish this relationship quest quickly, but…”
“Indeed. Both guardians and foreigners alike are looking forward to the development and advancement of the Western Continents under your rule.”
As the Master of the Western Continents, Minhyuk had to make their lives better and let the players play a better game. That was his duty and responsibility.
Of course, Minhyuk had met the Olympus Gods. Unfortunately, the relationship between the two sides could not be described as friendly, despite the gods of Olympus aiding them during the war against Heaven.
While he and Haze discussed how to go about this quest…
“Your Majesty! We have a problem!”
Minhyuk was left confused when he heard the shout coming from behind the doors of the audience hall. At that moment, the doors burst open. Ben rushed inside the hall, a letter clutched tightly in his hands.
Minhyuk looked as confused as ever. He asked, “Who left the letter?”
“It… It’s Philos! She left this letter behind!”
“Philos?”
Six months had passed since it was declared that Minhyuk had achieved a complete cure. Nevertheless, he remained in touch with the institute. Now, he was paying attention to Philos and the treatment of her eating addiction. Unfortunately, even Philos seemed to be showing signs of improvement; she had never scored more than 50 points in the eating addiction tests.
Philos’ full recovery and complete cure of eating addiction was not only crucial for her, but it was also important for Minhyuk and the rest of the world. It could prove that Minhyuk was not the only case, and show the medical community and anyone with signs of the disease that there was a way to treat eating addiction.
Anyway, Minhyuk read the letter that Philos left behind.
[I’m running away from home. I will never come back!!!]
“Philos!”
Minhyuk jumped to his feet. He treated Philos dearly, as if she were his true younger sister. She was the apple of his eye. The fact that Philos would leave such a letter for him left him devastated.
Minhyuk looked pale, his expression fragile as his heart thumped wildly from panic. Even his legs began to shake. With a trembling voice, he said, “Haze, gather the troops right away! We have to find Philos!”
Despite the panic in Minhyuk’s voice, Haze remained calm. She said, “Your Majesty, Lady Philos might have run away, but it is impossible for her to leave home.”
“What are you talking about?! Didn’t Philos already run away? She even said that she will never come back! What do you mean impossible?!”
Minhyuk could not understand what Haze meant at all.
“Lady Philos will definitely not be able to leave home. You have to calm down first. It’s better to find out the reason why she decided to run away first.”
Minhyuk still failed to understand what Haze was implying.
‘Why? Why did she run away from home?’
Even an inkling of the reason why she ran away from home did not come to him.
***
The young Philos was mad. In the past, Minhyuk always ate with her when there was something delicious. The two of them would eat fifty bowls of that dish together and laugh happily, patting their bellies after they were done.
Then one day, Minhyuk suddenly stopped eating a lot of food together with her. Of course, they still ate delicious food together occasionally. Unfortunately, the number of times that they ate together had been significantly reduced.
‘Minhyuk oppa! You’ve changed!’
For Minhyuk, being cured of eating addiction was a good thing. However, it was a bit different for such a young girl like Philos.
Having a rare disease like eating addiction was terrifying for a child. That was why she felt relieved knowing that Minhyuk had the same disease as her in the past. However, that similarity has now disappeared. To her, it felt as if she were alone in the world. Now, she was the only one who had a rare disease in the world. She was different. While the others would stop after eating one serving, she continued to eat.
To make matters worse, Minhyuk was extremely busy juggling his responsibilities as an emperor in Athenae and as a successor to the Ilhwa Group. As a result, Philos felt even more alone. Hence, Philos finally made a decision.
‘I will never go back to Minhyuk oppa’s side, ever!’
This was a rebellion from a young girl approaching puberty, a widespread occurrence in almost every household.
The first thing that Philos did was to leave the Beyond the Heavens Empire. She decided to leave the empire and set off to a very distant place, a place where her Minhyuk oppa would never find her.
Philos wandered aimlessly while buying delicious food and eating to her heart’s content. Surprisingly enough, she found that it was alright even if she left her brother’s side. Because for the first time, she was away from her moms, her dads, her uncles, and her aunts, who had always been hanging around her. At this moment, Philos vowed to live in a place where no one could ever find her.
Unbeknownst to her, someone was watching her with Hawk Eyes.
***
Minhyuk was truly frustrated when Philos suddenly ran away from home.
‘Goodness! How can my rabbit-like child run away from home and go to scary places alone?’
Just then, Haze said, “Your Majesty, the 376th carrier pigeon from the people watching over Lady Philos has arrived today.”
“...?”
“And to be honest, Evil God Obren has always been watching over her without her knowing it. It is totally impossible for a child like Lady Philos to run away from home.”
Nevertheless, Minhyuk’s heart remained empty. After all, Philos had already set her heart and mind to leave his side forever.
“I can never see Philos up close again!”
Philos said that she did not want to see him forever. So, the only thing that he could do was to watch her from afar.
But Haze just chuckled. “No, Your Majestyyyy~ That’s something that will never happen.”
“Why can’t it happen?!”
“That…” Haze kindly explained it to the distraught and panicked Minhyuk.
***
It had been sixteen hours since Philos ran away from home. All of the money that she brought had long been exhausted. Well, it was only natural. After all, her food consumption was already large to begin with. Then, there was the fact that she bought anything and everything that she found delicious. It did not even matter if it was legendary-grade or god-grade. If it were delicious, then she would buy it.
Philos did not exactly know the value of money. She had always believed that Minhyuk would show up to help her. So, it was fine if she did not have any money.
“Brat! Since you ate, you have to pay!” The restaurant owner shouted angrily at Philos.
Whenever something like this happened, Minhyuk would always appear and pay for Philos. But no matter how long she waited, Minhyuk did not appear. Tears began to well up in the young girl’s eyes.
‘Running away from home is very difficult…’
Even so, she remained resolute in her decision not to return. She would do whatever it took to pay for her meal, even if it meant washing dishes or doing odd jobs.
“This runt! You’re a naughty brat! You have to work in our restaurant…”
“Wait!”
At that moment, someone stepped forward. It was a player named Hou. Player Hou was the type of person who was a… pushover. To put it nicely, he was a good person.
In fact, Hou was more ignorant of the ways of the world of Athenae. Unlike everyone else, he did not watch live broadcasts related to Athenae. Because of that, the only thing he knew about Minhyuk and Alexander was that they were ranked on the ranking boards.
Surprisingly enough, Hou possessed a special class called the Knight of Encounters. It was a special class that could grow whenever he met powerful NPCs and players. He had to actually shake hands with them, not just see them across the street. If he could achieve a 100% handshake rate, then his class could change into the King of Encounters. If he did well, then Hou would be able to grow amazingly well.
Unfortunately, encounters with strong people did not happen so easily. There was also the fact that this strong person had to be recognized by the system. From what Hou had gathered, the strong that the system recognized should be those who were much more powerful than usual.
To put it simply, it was not a class that could easily achieve growth.
The only reason he obtained this class was that he was particularly nosy. Yes, Hou always tended to stick his nose into others’ businesses.
“Owner! Isn’t your reaction a bit too much? This young girl had just eaten a meal too!”
“A… ahem!”
“How hungry this young girl must have been!” Hou shouted as he berated the restaurant owner.
Philos quickly hid behind Hou.
“Young lady, it’s going to be fine.”
At that moment, the restaurant owner glared at him. “No! Who are you to tell me off?! We must separate what’s right from what's wrong! If you don’t have the money, then don’t eat so much! And don’t eat in a restaurant!”
Hou found it ridiculous. He countered, “How much can a small girl like this eat?!”
Hou did not know who Philos was. Additionally, he had just entered the restaurant and was unaware of the full extent of the situation.
“What?! How much is her bill? I’ll pay for it! How much is it?!” Hou shouted, agitation evident on his face.
He could not help but mutter to himself, “Oh my god. How did the world become like this? This is too much. It’s just a little kid’s meal. Why is he making such a fuss…”
“That’s 109 plates of Hanwoo steak, 404 plates of carbonara, 234 plates of rose spaghetti, 366 bowls of chicken salad, 413 glasses of cola, 905 glasses of cider, 403 bowls of mushroom soup… murmur, murmur… Additionally, our restaurant is exclusive to nobles, so our food is accordingly priced. That’s ten platinum in total.”
Ten platinum was equivalent to around two hundred million gold. In other words, that was around two hundred million won worth of gold. Hou was left dumbfounded by the words that the restaurant owner said.
“N… no… wh… what? What kind of…? Who eats two hundred million won worth of food…?”
Nevertheless, Hou did not lose his momentum. Even if the child ate so much, how could they tell off such a young kid so harshly?!
“Owner!!!”
“???”
“Pl-please give me a discount!”
Hou had no choice but to take out all of his assets.
***
Philos was able to safely escape from the restaurant because of Hou, who used up all of his assets to pay for her meal. In her eyes, this man named Hou was truly a good man.
“Young lady, I know that you feel a bit heartbroken. So, how about going around with this uncle for a bit?”
Hou’s intentions were pure. He just wanted to help the runaway Philos.
Philos readily agreed. She discovered that her plan to run away from home could be easily executed in this manner. At this moment, she planned to go around the world with Hou for the rest of her life! This was her revenge for Minhyuk, who no longer ate with her.
[Would you like to log out?]
Philos was determined to never return to Minhyuk’s arms again after she had run away from home. That was what she relayed in her letter. After choosing to log out, Philos thought of Minhyuk. By now, he must be crying and whining as he looked for her.
Fwiiiiiiish!
Philos stepped out of the capsule and made eye contact with Minhyuk, who had just come out of the capsule right next to hers.
“Ah… aaaaaah…. Ah….”
At this moment, Philos realized that even if she ran away from home in Athenae, she would never be able to truly run away. After all, she was living in Minhyuk’s house.