Night had already fallen by the time Kai finished cleaning everything up. The people who had come for his food had already left, leaving him alone beside the dying fire.
Kai leaned back against the large tree and looked up at the sky. He had been too busy cooking and dealing with people all day that he hadn’t really paid attention to his surroundings.
The sky was beautiful, but something about it felt wrong. The moon was much larger than the one he was used to seeing, and there were strange stars scattered across the dark sky that he didn’t recognise.
Kai took out his phone and pointed it upwards, taking a picture.
"At least the view here isn’t bad." Kai said, looking at the picture.
He opened Hugrum, planning to upload the picture before he noticed something strange. People were still posting.
Kai frowned as he scrolled through the feed. There were countless posts from different people, and most of them were talking about the dungeon.
Some were showing off rare items they had found, while others were sharing maps and warnings about dangerous monsters.
"People are still awake?" Kai asked, scrolling through the posts.
Then he noticed something even stranger.
There were people doing live streams.
Kai tapped on one of them out of curiosity.
The screen showed a man walking through a dark dungeon corridor while speaking to his viewers.
"Alright, we’re heading into the second area now. If you see anything weird, let me know in the comments." The man said.
The comment section was moving so quickly that Kai could barely read it.
[Turn left!]
[There’s something behind you!]
[Bro, RUN!]
[WHY ARE YOU GOING TOWARDS IT?!]
Kai stared at the screen.
"So people are actually watching this?" Kai asked.
He scrolled through several more live streams. Some people were exploring dungeons, some were hunting monsters, and others were simply showing what their current area looked like.
Kai suddenly realised something.
This wasn’t just a dungeon game anymore.
People were treating it like the biggest event the world had ever seen.
Everyone had access to their phones, everyone could share what they were experiencing, and people who were still in the starting areas could watch those who had gone deeper into the dungeon.
Kai continued scrolling until he noticed his own name appearing in the comments of another post.
[Has anyone tried that F-rank chef’s food?]
[YES! It’s actually insane.]
[Someone said his food heals you.]
[Not just heals. Apparently some dishes restore mana too.]
[Where is he?!]
[I heard he’s somewhere in the forest area.]
[Bro is literally running a restaurant in a dungeon ]
Kai stared at the screen.
"Restaurant?" Kai muttered.
He had never called it that. As far as he was concerned, he was just cooking beside a tree and trading meals for things he needed.
Another post appeared.
[THE F-RANK CHEF’S FOOD IS REAL!]
Underneath it was a picture of one of the meals Kai had made earlier.
The post already had thousands of likes.
Kai’s eyes widened
He kept scrolling and found more people discussing him. Some were asking what rank he was, others were wondering what his skills were, and a few were already trying to find his location.
Kai’s expression slowly changed.
"Wait..."
He looked around his small campsite.
People knew about him now.
And if more people found out about his food, more customers would come.
The thought should have made him happy.
Instead, Kai suddenly remembered something important.
He was still in a dungeon filled with monsters.
"Maybe I should find somewhere safer before this gets too popular." Kai said.
He looked back at his phone and saw another live stream where a group of adventurers were discussing his food.
One of them was holding up a picture of Kai’s meal.
"We need to find this guy. If his food really has these effects, he’s going to be extremely important for anyone trying to clear the dungeon." The adventurer said.
Kai’s eyes widened.
"Extremely important?"
He slowly looked at the frying pan beside him.
Until now, he had only been thinking about surviving.
But suddenly, Kai had a new problem.
People were coming.
And they weren’t coming just because they were hungry.