Chapter 110: The Tower of Death - Floor of Cooking (1)

“Puhah!” The last one to surface from underwater, everyone arrived at the 2nd floor, the Cooking Floor.

After entering the 2nd passage, swimming upwards for about 30 seconds, we reached the 2nd floor.

It was unbelievable that we had been pondering over a 2nd floor so close by for hours.

And when I arrived, the message appeared.

“Hahaha. So the 2nd passage was really the passage, huh? How did you know that?” “Yeah. With just that hint, could you figure it out?”

Kim Pu-reum, who had been certain it was the 2nd passage.

But the others had no time, so they had simply followed Kim Pu-reum’s words and entered. They were clearly wondering how everyone else had known.

“Ah. That? You’re curious?” “Of course. How did you know?” “Yeah. Teach us.”

“Well, at first I was surprised because it wasn’t the 1st passage.” The 1st passage Kim Pu-reum had entered with such certainty.

But there were no visible traps, only a flow of miasma seeping from the side of the passage that could drive people’s minds to madness.

“But thanks to that, we got a hint too.” “A hint from there?” “Yeah. It was that every passage had some device in place.” She said that while reminding herself of what she had said.

“Do you remember why I chose the 1st passage? It was one of the passages that seemed possible for people to go through, without duplicates.” “But?” “That means every passage has a device making it impossible for people to go through. It wasn’t just the 1st passage that was unique.” Everyone nodded at her words.

It seemed everyone had some understanding of these points.

“Among them, there are 5 passages without duplicates. But there wasn’t enough time to check all of them, and since we didn’t know what devices were in place, we couldn’t move recklessly. At that moment! A hint was given.” “Yeah. That hint. How could you know with that?” “Yeah. It seemed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like it was just the explanation about this floor?”

When people said that, Kim Pu-reum smiled with a smirk and pointed to the delicious foods arranged on the table.

“It’s because of these.” “These?” “Yeah. As I said in the hint. There are foods that will make your eyes, nose, and mouth happy.” “How did that become a hint?”

Everyone looked at her with puzzled expressions.

How could food be a hint?

Then she pointed to her nose.

“Smell.” “Smell… Ah!”

“Differently from other passages, exactly the 2nd passage. This passage was blocked by water, so you couldn’t smell the scent. Of course, the scent wouldn’t spread to the surroundings depending on the distance, but explaining it as a hint means that the 2nd passage is the answer.” Upon hearing her explanation, it was clear.

Why such a hint was given.

And how she used that hint to determine the passage.

“Haa. So now we can rest a bit?” “Probably. There’s still one hour until it starts.” “Speaking of which, we haven’t done the self-introduction yet. Let’s greet each other.”

The Wisdom Floor had started as soon as people gathered, so we had gone straight to the door to the 2nd floor without time to chat.

There was no other choice, because whether a calamity would occur depended on us.

If we failed in the 1st stage, the calamity would occur immediately, so in the situation where the 1st stage was ongoing, we really had no time to greet properly.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Pu-reum, who has the Scholar job.” Starting with Kim Pu-reum, the self-introductions followed.

Actually, since I already knew half the people here, the introductions were for only three people.

The scholar Kim Pu-reum who started the introductions now.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Ha-seong.”

A man who looked quite blunt.

Kim Ha-seong, who had confronted me in the illusion and his terrifying abilities.

I don’t know exactly if those abilities are real or not, but if I face him again here, I wouldn’t have any confidence in winning.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Yu Mi-ri.”

And Yu Mi-ri, the woman I hadn’t seen before.

She had the Treasure Hunter job, so she seemed to have various exploration tools suitable for her job.

Then the introductions continued.

Geum Bit-na-ra, Gong Jin-sa, Jin-hwan and me.

After giving these simple greetings to each other, we moved to the table where the food was arranged.

“Is this really edible?” “Probably is.”

“Wait. There’s a guy I can use in times like this.” “What?”

I said that and summoned a guy.

A white White Dragon summoned with him.

When the large White Dragon was summoned, people who didn’t know about the White Dragon looked a bit surprised.

“Yawn. What’s this… I was sleeping…” “I’m doing it because I want to give you delicious things.”

“Delicious things?!”

Blink.

The White Dragon’s sleepy eyes opened wide at my words.

Then, sniffing with his nose, he seemed to detect the delicious scent immediately.

“I’ll eat!”

The delicious foods arranged a lot on the table.

The White Dragon, seeing those foods, approached them and started eating.

Chew. Chew. Chew.

The White Dragon starting to eat the foods arranged on the table deliciously.

“Hey. Is there no poison in there?” “Huh? Poison? Doesn’t seem so.”

“Everyone eat. It seems no poison. You eat only up to here. Got it?” “You’ll give me hu-tu later?” “Got it. Here.”

With that, the White Dragon sucked up about half the foods on the table.

Looking at such a White Dragon, everyone sat down and started eating the arranged foods.

“Ssaem. Speaking of which, did you have a separate summon function for the White Dragon?” “I didn’t know either, but it turned out there was. So if you don’t listen to that guy, I’ll just send him away.” “Puhahaha. Now you can’t act recklessly.”

“Sigh. It’s the same. Same thing.”

I tried various ways to control the White Dragon who acts according to his own will, but it seemed nothing was easy.

“Wow, but these are really delicious.” “The meat melts in your mouth as soon as you put it in?” “I’ve never tasted such delicious food before.”

People who ate the food didn’t spare their praise.

I also, while eating the foods arranged here, found it hard to shake off the mind-boggling taste that was as good as or better than my Monster Cooking.

“I’ve eaten Baek Joongwon’s cooking before, but it seems even better than that?” “This is really food given by the gods.” People saying it’s more delicious than the cooking Baek Joongwon competed with.

I also nodded and slowly ate the food, asking the people.

“What will be conducted here?” “The Cooking Floor, so what cooking won’t be done?” “Probably that.”

In the Wisdom Floor, things that required using wisdom were done.

That means in this Cooking Floor, it’s likely that cooking will be conducted.

“What if I do normal cooking?” In my case, I’m specialized in Monster Cooking.

Because of that, if a situation arises where I cook with normal ingredients, it will be a difficult situation.

To prepare for such a situation, I tried cooking with normal ingredients, but it was just delicious, not the mind-boggling taste of Monster Cooking.

In a situation where there seemed to be no one with cooking-related abilities except me, a sense of burden began to arise.

Just as I was eating some cooking, a sound began to come from one side of the wall in this floor.

Dududududu.

“What’s that?” “Is it a monster?!”

With the sudden vibration felt, everyone tensed up, pulling ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out weapons.

Just as they were tense, a part of the wall opened, and a man slowly walked out from there.

A man in white chef attire.

The man walked slowly towards our tense group, gave a bright smile, and looked satisfiedly at the empty table.

“Hahaha. Nice to meet you. I am Rote, called the God of Cooking. Did you enjoy the foods I prepared?” “You made this?”

“Yeah. That’s right. I prepared it for all of you who suffered on the 1st floor and came ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up.” The foods with fantastic taste.

It seemed that the person who made this food was probably that man.

A man who seemed confident in his own cooking, to the extent of calling himself the God of Cooking.

“Really delicious! Is there no more?” The White Dragon, seeing the owner of the cooking who made the delicious food he ate, sent sparkling eyes and asked if there was no more cooking left.

“I’m sorry. For now, what I made is that. But don’t worry. I’ll make new food soon.” His words that he would make new food.

That meant that what would be conducted here was likely a cooking duel with that man.

And whether my prediction was correct, when the time to rest here ended, a message began to appear.

“So it’s a cooking duel?” “We’ll trust only Min-seong.” “Still, it should be fine?”

There was no one here except me who could cook.

If a cooking duel is held, I have no choice but to be at the forefront.

“Then, let us introduce the three judges who will evaluate the cooking.”

After this message, three people appeared.

One was a man boasting an enormous build.

And the other was a child who seemed about 6-7 years old.

“And the third one?”

Tap. Tap.

The last judge slowly walking over.

When the appearance of the judge was shown, all the people’s gazes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in this place focused.

“Wow, really pretty.” “How can she be so pretty?”

Regardless of gender or age, one beautiful woman who caught everyone’s attention.

“Eh? That person?”

That woman was someone I knew.

The Goddess of Job Advancement who seemed to have some relation with the White Dragon.

She appeared as the last judge of this Cooking Floor.