Prologue
Sizzle, crackle.
Steam rose, carrying a warm, comforting heat. The aroma of salt, pepper, and the rich juices seeping from the meat mingled together in the air.
The campfire blazing in the dark forest and the pot resting above it evoked a nostalgic illusion, making me feel as if I were back at a school retreat campfire from my distant childhood. But more than that, I was struggling to keep the drool from escaping my mouth.
"Gulp."
The camera didn't catch that, did it?
The people watching my stream were like a pack of hyenas. The moment I accidentally drooled or made a stupid face, it would be clipped, turned into a donation meme, and peddled across every stream out there.
Actually, if it ended up as just a donation meme, I'd be lucky. I really wanted to avoid having my face photoshopped into weird images and spread all over the internet.
"Ah, it looks so good..."
"This? Well... what does it look like to you?"
Standing up for the viewer who had just clocked into the stream, I showed the campfire head-on. As if reading my mind, the drone camera automatically began filming the fire and the pot bubbling away on top of it.
Inhale, exhale... I'm seriously going to drool.
Watching it bubble and boil for hours like a pot of gukbap at a 24-hour joint, I knew that if I had been truly starving, I would have thrown cooking to the wind and started stuffing my face long ago.
No, I can't... I must maintain my dignity as a civilized human being who hasn't lost her reason yet.
"Hey, if you actually eat it, it's pretty tasty, you know?"
"Aren't you guys treating me like too much of a weirdo?"
"No, really, the centipede soup was delicious! If you want, I can feed it to you guys too. Oh, if we ever do a viewer participation event, maybe I could catch some blade centipedes myself and cook soup for you all."
"It's really good, I swear! Ah, did I overcook it?"
Opening the lid, the appearance seemed fine.
Although it was hard to control the flames outdoors, the fire conjured by holy power was much stronger than most modern appliances, making it excellent in terms of heat output.
A large tin pot sat atop the flames fueled by holy power.
With steam rising thick from the tin pot, it looked like a dish that would be impossible to mess up.
"This is bound to be delicious."
A moderate amount of salt, a balanced touch of spices and pepper.
I had added just the right amount of garlic and onions too.
And above all, I had added oyster sauce, the ultimate cheat key of the culinary world.
The viewers' reactions should be pretty good...
I tilted my head as I looked at the hologram chat window.
What? This isn't the reaction I expected...
"Strange. I definitely cooked it properly. Does it look that weird?"
"No, I completely sterilized and butchered it before cooking, so there's no way we'll get sick. Besides, even if I eat anything, I don't get sick..."
"Huh? Then... what is the problem?"
"Oh..."
Only then did I realize why the viewers' reactions were so strange.
"Uh... maybe I should have taken the eyeballs out before boiling it?"
"Uh, um... was that not it?"
It seemed I still... hadn't adapted well to the modern era.
Is my sensibility weird?
But... goblin head gukbap... it looked delicious, didn't it?
Ox head gukbap was delicious too...
Was it different?
Goblins—most people knew what they were, but to explain briefly, they were the weakest trash mobs that frequently appeared in fantasy novels, movies, manga, and most other subculture media.
They were a dirty, filthy race with an average height as small as a ten-year-old human child. They possessed bizarrely slit mouths and ears, green skin, and animal-level intelligence.
Naturally, among the countless monsters and magical beasts that emerged from dungeons and gates after the Great Rift, goblins were treated as the lowest-grade trash mobs.
Filthy, small, and annoying, but not a major threat.
Nowadays, even students could easily beat them to death as long as they had weapons.
However, even if you tried to wipe them out to extinction, they would pop up from somewhere like cockroaches and multiply. Their numbers and survival skills were truly mind-boggling.
Moreover, one couldn't completely ignore their numerical advantage. There was a story about a female hunter who let her guard down, got surrounded by a horde of goblins, got knocked out from behind, and was dragged away by them...
Well, anyway... the goblin I hunted today was no ordinary goblin.
Goblins might occupy the lowest bacterial position among the monsters crossing over from the gates, but there were many subspecies and evolved forms derived from them. There were even boss-class goblins that ruled dungeons.
"By the way, this is a hobgoblin."
The one I caught this time was a hobgoblin, which was called a subspecies among goblins.
Their strength and speed were far superior to normal goblins, and above all, they possessed the intelligence to hone their skills.
And what did having intelligence mean?
"It means their brain capacity is larger. And if their brain capacity is larger, it means their brain is big, which makes it incredibly delicious."
"No, I heard that before the Great Rift, there was a dish called monkey brain in China. Haven't you guys tried it at least once?"
"Uh, um... no comment on my age... Ha, ugh..."
Growl...
The viewers' chat, bubbling like a pot on the verge of exploding, was quite a sight, but my hunger was also reaching its limit.
Just to be clear, a human's hunger and the hunger of this body were on completely different levels.
If I starved, I would truly lose my mind.
"...Ugh, ahem. Well, anyway, since I cooked it, I should try it first, right?"
"Right?! I told you! I worked hard to cook this!"
"Stop. Stop. You're being too harsh. Apologize to the weebs or I'll ban you."
"I may not look it, but I'm a saint. I'm used to being insulted or blamed for no good reason, so it's fine. I can take most of your insults as a joke, but don't insult someone else or a random group of people. Above all, it hurts my heart when the people who came to watch my stream fight."
"It's fine. As long as you apologized, it's okay. You probably didn't mean it. I should make some new chat rules soon. You can insult me, but don't fight with each other."