SCT-Novel Chapter 1221
Chapter 1221
Chapter 1221
Emperor Cardin had quite a lot of worries these days. Not only was he worried about the Beyond the Heavens Empire, a newly emerged and fast-rising empire, but he also had to worry about the emergence of the hidden Pillar Candidates and their constant threats to the Luvien Empire. Specifically, it was because there weren’t many people in the Great Luvien Empire who had the power to handle and deal with the Pillar Candidates. The constant worrying had left the emperor without an appetite.
As Cardin stood on the walls of his empire, he said, “What’s that line for? And why is it so long?”
Even though it was late at night, many people had been waiting in the capital. He had been curious and concerned because this line had been going on for a few days.
“It’s Conir’s Ramyeon & Herakel’s Gimbap’s 45th Branch.”
“...From the Beyond the Heavens Empire?”
The Luvien Empire and the Beyond the Heavens Empire maintained friendly relationships. Of course, they were just keeping up appearances. The two empires could go to war at any given moment. Yet a restaurant from the Beyond the Heavens Empire had entered and opened a store in their territory.
Everyone knew that Beyond the Heavens Empire boasted of having the continent's most outstanding and flavorful ingredients. Many people who had visited and tasted the food at its restaurants hoped that the Beyond the Heavens Empire would come to the Luvien Empire and open a branch.
Of course, the Luvien Empire would gain something from them. After all, they would have to pay taxes to the Luvien Empire with the money they had gained from their sales.
Nevertheless, Emperor Cardin remained reluctant. The problem was that they still owed the Beyond the Heavens Empire a lot because of the incident during the recent kiddie swordsmanship competition. He could only console himself by saying that all nations had to coexist and supply each other with what they needed, even if it meant contributing to the Beyond the Heavens Empire’s steadily increasing financial prowess and adding to the more than a hundred branches of their restaurants all over the continent.
“It doesn’t look good. Have the nobles of the Luvien Empire... have you tried it?”
Cardin’s aide blushed in embarrassment.
Emperor Cardin was not an old and stubborn emperor. He did not embarrass his aide further, saying, “If it’s delicious, then it’s fine. How much is it?”
Emperor Cardin, who had had no appetite these past few days, walked down from the walls with his aide and visited the restaurant. As he, who had his face covered with a mask, approached the restaurant, he realized that it was much more popular than he expected.
“There are currently 1,074 people waiting in line!”
There were even nobles waiting in line! Thankfully, Emperor Cardin had an emperor’s free pass and could go straight inside. When he sat down, he ordered the most popular dishes: ramyeon and gimbap.
Emperor Cardin’s expression looked ugly as he thought, ‘Are you telling me that the nobles line up to eat this kind of food?’
Aside from not looking good, the piping hot ramyeon looked utterly unhealthy. And the food called gimbap? It looked like something that only miners would eat. Even so, Emperor Cardin still decided to try it. With his sloppy chopstick skills, he tried a few strands of noodles.
“...?”
As mentioned before, Emperor Cardin had no appetite these past few days. However, when these strange yet chewy noodles entered his mouth, an unknown flavor burst and stimulated his appetite. raɴՕᛒЕs
He immediately took another bite, this time a considerable one.
“Sluuuuuuuurp!”
The moment the noodles entered his mouth, his appetite was instantly revived. Then, he slowly tasted the soup.
‘How can this taste so...’
Emperor Cardin was completely unfamiliar with the flavor. After all, he had only been eating healthy, bland dishes daily, and his dishes did not have the mighty seasoning MSG.
The taste of instant dishes, which he never had before, made him shudder.
“Sluuuuuurp!”
As Emperor Cardin inhaled his ramyeon, he slowly picked up this red thing in front of him and put it in his mouth.
Crunch, crunch–
A cool and refreshing flavor spread in his mouth when he bit the red thing. As he continued to slurp his noodles, he grabbed the gimbap, which he deemed was something that only miners could eat. @@@@
When he took a bite, he felt like he had tasted various delicacies simultaneously. However, it made his mouth and throat feel a bit dry. So, he grabbed the ramyeon bowl and sipped the soup. He could not help but sigh in admiration as the gimbap, pushed down by the soup, finally went down his throat.
Even the eggs cracked on top of the ramyeon and cooked with its heat tasted like a delicacy. The astonished and awestruck Emperor Cardin even put cold rice in the soup.
After eating, he went back to his castle. However, he could not shake off the afterglow of the dish. He continued to recall the flavor of the dishes even if it was already late into the night.
‘H-how? How can it taste like that...?’
It was pretty strange. And when dawn came, he could not help but feel hungry as he thought of that dish called ramyeon. Of course, it was not just him. Even his aide was thinking about the same thing.
When morning came...
“It’s already morning. Shall we have a bowl of ramyeon?”
During lunch...
“How about eating some chapagetti for lunch today?”
By dinner...
“For today’s dinner, I’ll have some cuttlefish jjamppong.”
And the next day...
“I want to start my morning great and relieve my stress. Let’s have some fire chicken noodles!”
The aide, who had finally felt another surge of vitality from the young emperor, smiled bitterly.
‘They’re even willing to pay ten times the penalty and offer him three times what we had offered.’
It was no small sum. However, Brau’s worth was not just three times his initial worth. Minhyuk believed that he would become thirty times more valuable than he was now.
‘If our branches reach 400, Brau will be in the top 5 of the global merchant rankings.
[Brau: Ah, and Minhyuk...]
Brau, the boss of the Amazing Gukbap, had finally taken ownership of the building and kicked out the building owner.
[Brau: I’ve recently taken ownership of the building and have opened my Amazing Gukbap again!]
A smile unknowingly crept on Minhyuk’s face when he saw what Brau had written. He felt very happy for the man. He had been there in his moments of despair. However, he believed in him even if he was at his lowest. And now? He was shining brighter than anybody else.
[Brau: You must be feeling happy right now, right? You must be smiling as if you’re also very proud of me. But Minhyuk, you’re much younger than me.]
Minhyuk looked confused at the sudden mention of their ages.
[Brau: Let’s disregard our ages for a moment. I want to say something to you. And I’m not saying this just in the game.]
[Brau: I will follow and respect you forever, Minhyuk. If something goes wrong and you are dragged down on the ground, I will protect you.]
Minhyuk smiled awkwardly at the words from this hyung’s mouth.
[Minhyuk: It’s fine. Just buy me a meal next time.]
[Brau: Is there anything that you want to eat?]
[Minhyuk: From what I heard, unlimited galbi are famous these days. I want to go and try them.]
[Brau: Alright. I’ll take over a buffet restaurant for you. Of course, I’ll do it with my abilities!]
“...?”
‘Huh? Weren’t things going well? Why is he suddenly...?’
[Minhyuk: B-Brau hyung...?]
[The player is offline.]
“...?”
A few days later, Brau presented Minhyuk with an unlimited galbi restaurant. This was the class of the Beyond the Heavens Empire’s most famous merchant!
***
Minhyuk and Haze were having a discussion.
“You asked Brau to treat you to a meal and buy you meat but... he took over an entire meat restaurant and changed its name to ‘Minhyuk’s Galbi’ and gave it to you as a gift...?”
“Yeah. I just really asked him to treat me to a meal.”
Haze first thought, ‘I also wish I had an oppa or an unnie who will buy me an entire building even though I just said that I want to eat something...’
After all, this must be everyone’s dream. Anyway!
“The branches of our restaurants are contributing much more to the development of our Beyond the Heavens Empire. It’s much larger than we had expected. However, the taxes we must pay in each kingdom and empire we enter are enormous. It will probably be hard for us to have an 8% profit margin.”
Even so, the profits they would obtain from this would be enormous.
“The number of migrants is also increasing because of them. Hundreds of chefs are coming in every day in hopes of running their own chain stores.”
The branches were showing many benefits in many different areas.
“Did you say that the second condition for becoming the Great Food God is to make an achievement that no other Food God has ever achieved?”
Minhyuk nodded. “That’s right. No matter how much I think about it, I can’t come up with anything.”
Haze smiled faintly. When Minhyuk saw that, he realized she had already devised something.
“Your Majesty, I have thought of a great plan. This plan will increase the profit margin from the 8% we have gained from all of our branches and franchises to a whopping 16%.”
“Huh...? Is that even possible?”
That was double the profits! Was that even genuinely possible? However, considering the cost of labor, the taxes, the price of the ingredients, the rent, and many more, it was impossible unless they raised the price of their products. But if they tried to do so, they would face opposition from the kingdoms and empires.
“Perhaps it’s even possible to increase it to 25%.”
The suspense was killing Minhyuk. He wanted her to tell him about her plan right away.
Then, Haze said, “The accomplished and outstanding chefs, blacksmiths, craftsmen, and even merchants, everyone in this continent regardless if they were from the past or the present, has one dream.”
“Dream?”
“Yes.” Haze pointed to the sky. “That dream is to sign a contract with the Land of the Gods and trade their supplies. We will become the first humans to open a franchise there.”