It’s an Academic Fact That Rankers Are Model Students – Chapter 102

Chapter 102: My Body Became Strange After Only Playing Games (2)

While Kyung-joon’s family, who had never eaten such food in their lives, were tearing into the ribs with tears in their eyes.

“Excuse me, Chairman……!”

A slight commotion arose near the counter.

Of course, it was a commotion that Kyung-joon wouldn’t have noticed at all.

‘Huh……?’

Had he always been this sensitive?

He had lived in a small apartment with three younger siblings, so he thought he was quite dull.

Putting the unknown sense of discomfort behind him, he glanced over at the counter.

He saw a few men in black suits, an old man, and his granddaughter.

‘What the. Isn’t that Yoo Seol-ha? Then that old man next to her is probably……’

Yoo Geun-chul, the chairman of Seolha Group.

Comparing him to the face he had seen in the media, it was definitely him.

Well.

He must have something to talk about with his granddaughter since they came together.

“…….”

Looking at Yoo Seol-ha next to Yoo Geun-chul, she had a slightly different atmosphere than before.

At school, she always had a cold expression and never spoke to anyone first.

She was still silent now, but the coldness had disappeared from her expression.

Looking at the corners of her mouth, she seemed a little happy.

It seemed that even the daughter of the Seolha Group, known as the Ice Princess, was just an ordinary granddaughter in front of her grandfather.

‘I saw an interesting side of her.’

Afterward, he ignored them and focused on eating ribs while chatting with his family.

But then.

‘What the. Why is he staring at me like that?’

He felt a gaze on him and glanced over, and sure enough…

It was Yoo Geun-chul, staring right at him.

“Ahem.”

It didn’t end there.

Yoo Geun-chul slowly approached Kyung-joon.

And then.

“So you’re the Kyung-joon. Cheongshin High School. Am I right?”

“Yes?”

Kyung-joon and his family were greatly flustered by Yoo Geun-chul’s sudden intrusion.

At that moment, Woo-bin, who realized something, shouted energetically.

“Oh? It’s the Rib Grandpa! Ribs! Eat ribs!”

“……Aha.”

He finally understood.

The reason Woo-bin kept mumbling about ribs and grilled meat restaurants was because of this old man.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

“Well, this is a surprise. I never expected to see our granddaughter’s classmate here.”

Yoo Geun-chul asked Kyung-joon’s family for permission to speak with Kyung-joon privately.

It was a request from the chairman of Seolha Group, the world’s No. 1 company.

Of course, Kyung-joon’s parents couldn’t refuse.

They were already on edge just being at Silla Ribs, and now the chairman of some conglomerate suddenly appeared and was acting familiar with their son.

It was too much for his parents, who had always lived as ordinary people.

Of course, Kyung-joon had also lived as an ordinary person.

But there was one difference.

‘……His eyes are like looking at my younger self.’

Yoo Geun-chul, who could move trillions of won every day.

Even in front of him, Kyung-joon wasn’t fazed at all.

Those were the eyes of a ruthless person.

Like when he was young, desperately crawling and constantly striving for the top, they were the eyes of someone fiercely chasing something.

But there seemed to be a hint of hostility in them.

‘Does he hate Seolha Group……?’

To think that he would be met with hostility instead of being welcomed by the chairman of the prestigious Seolha Group.

Of course.

It wasn’t the kind of hostility where ordinary people hated chaebols for no reason.

Well, to put it in terms of the current trend……

Imagine being engrossed in a game, and suddenly someone pokes you, making you angry. That’s the kind of look Kyung-joon had.

“Is there something you’d like to discuss separately with me?”

“That’s right.”

“Hmm……”

Kyung-joon rested his chin on his hand and fell into thought for a moment.

Then he nodded.

“Alright. But it’s okay if Seung-hak eats with us, right? I came here to feed Seung-hak ribs.”

“Of course. I came here to feed my granddaughter too.”

“…….”

Yoo Seol-ha’s eyes widened slightly at Kyung-joon’s confident counter-proposal.

What, there was a kid like this?

Of course, he wasn’t being disrespectful.

It was just that she had never seen anyone treat her grandfather, the chairman of Seolha Group, like this before.

‘Even Mom and Dad treat Grandpa with respect, but who does he think he is……’

There was only one reason why Kyung-joon could act like this.

Even though the old man in front of him was the head of Seolha Group, a global conglomerate.

‘If I met him on the street, he’d just be another old man. It’s not like I work for him.’

So there was no need to be intimidated.

He just had to treat him like an elderly man while maintaining basic courtesy and act as he normally did.

Telling his family that he’d be back in a bit, Kyung-joon sat down to eat with the Yoo family.

“I’ll grill the meat.”

Sizzle!

Chairman Yoo started grilling the meat himself.

Originally, a staff member would have done it, but Chairman Yoo insisted.

By the time Kyung-joon offered to grill, Chairman Yoo was already at it.

“I’ll grill next time.”

Thinking it was the Seolha Group’s characteristic swiftness, Kyung-joon called dibs on the next round.

Chairman Yoo narrowed his eyes slightly at this.

“Oh? You know how to grill meat?”

“As well as anyone else.”

“Then you can grill next, Kyung-joon.”

“Yes.”

Chairman Yoo focused on grilling the meat.

Yoo Seol-ha next to him also remained silent.

It was unclear whether she was feeling awkward or not, suddenly having to share a meal with a male classmate who wasn’t even a friend. Her expression was unreadable.

The silence was very awkward.

However, Kyung-joon had no intention of breaking the ice.

‘If they have something to say, they’ll say it first.’

In the first place, Kyung-joon came to Silla Ribs just to enjoy some ribs with his family.

And he was interrupted.

They must have something to say to him if they were willing to pull him away from his family dinner.

Kyung-joon was quite curious about what it could be, but for now.

“It’s done.”

The meat came first.

“You two can dig in.”

At Chairman Yoo’s words, both Kyung-joon and Yoo Seol-ha said, ‘Thank you for the food’, and picked up their chopsticks.

‘I need to feed cute Seung-hak a lot.’

Seung-hak was asleep when he was eating with his family earlier.

He had just woken up and must be hungry, so it was time to feed him plenty of Chairman Yoo’s free ribs.

Munch munch.

First, Kyung-joon took a bite to check if it was cooked properly.

‘It’s cooked perfectly through.’

After confirming that the meat was cooked well, Kyung-joon fed a piece to Seung-hak.

“Yummy!”

“My younger brother also says it’s tasty. I agree.”

“Haha. Of course it is. Who grilled it? Seol-ha, do you like the ribs Grandpa grilled?”

“……Yes.”

Yoo Seol-ha still seemed awkward and kept glancing at him.

She was picking at her food instead of properly enjoying the ribs.

She wasn’t acting like the granddaughter of the Rib Grandpa.

“Seung-hak, ah~”

“Aaang~”

One less mouth to feed meant more for everyone else.

Kyung-joon didn’t miss this opportunity and diligently picked up the meat.

‘One piece for Seung-hak, two pieces for me.’

They were basically free ribs anyway.

There was nothing as precious as free food, so he had to eat a lot while he could.

Munch munch.

Munch munch.

The ribs grilled by Chairman Yoo were gone in an instant.

Yoo Seol-ha seemed dumbfounded by Kyung-joon’s completely at-ease demeanor, while Chairman Yoo chuckled.

“Haha! It’s good to see you eat so well!”

“Thanks to you, I’m stuffed.”

“I wish our granddaughter would eat like that so she could grow taller.”

“……I’m eating. And unless it’s a nutritional deficiency, the amount of meat consumed has no correlation with a child’s height, as Professor Choi Min-young’s team at Kyung Hee University concluded their regression analysis study a long time ago.”

‘Wow…….’

Kyung-joon was a little taken aback by her words, which sounded like she had read the paper herself.

Regression analysis? Did she know something about statistics?

As expected of the Ultimate Daughter’s level of knowledge.

“I’ll grill now.”

“Alright. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Kyung-joon received the tongs and scissors from Chairman Yoo.

First, he started by wiping the grill with the provided wet wipes.

Sizzle.

He waited a moment for the moisture to evaporate, and then immediately placed the meat on the smooth grill…….

……but not before.

He picked up a piece of fat and rubbed it all over the grill like he was spreading butter.

His movements were practiced.

“Oh? You seem very familiar with this.”

“I worked part-time at a barbecue restaurant.”

Mojeon Pork Ribs.

He had often handled the grill when he worked there.

Sizzle.

Kyung-joon held the back of his hand over the empty space above the grill.

It was one of the habits he had developed from baking bread in the game.

Feeling the temperature with the back of his hand.

Usually, Teemo would tell him the exact temperature when he did this.

But unfortunately, this was reality, not a game.

Kyung-joon chuckled to himself at his silly action and was about to pull his hand away.

But then.

‘……What the. Isn’t this temperature too high?’

He felt it.

The temperature of the grill.

He didn’t know the exact temperature.

But he could feel it.

It was definitely over 200 degrees Celsius.

It would soon surpass 250 degrees and head towards 300.

Kyung-joon immediately closed the vent slightly to reduce the heat.

“Hmm? Is the fire too strong?”

“Yes. Or rather, I think it’s about to get stronger.”

“……About to get stronger?”

At Chairman Yoo’s questioning words, Kyung-joon just nodded slightly and reached out his hand again to check the grill’s temperature.

At this rate, the temperature was dropping too quickly.

He had closed the vent too much.

Kyung-joon adjusted the vent again.

His delicate movements were reminiscent of a diamond craftsman.

“There.”

He adjusted the grill’s temperature to about 180 degrees Celsius.

The optimal temperature for grilling meat.

He learned it while studying.

Grilling meat at temperatures above 200 degrees Celsius produced carcinogens.

That’s why he adjusted the grill’s temperature to below 200 degrees Celsius.

‘The center is about 200 degrees, and the edges are about 150 degrees.’

In the game, he used Energy Bolt to heat things evenly, but he couldn’t do that in reality.

‘Ah.’

An interesting thought occurred to him.

He would grill the meat rare in the center where the temperature was 200 degrees, giving it a crispy exterior and a pink center.

And he would grill it well-done on the edges where the temperature was around 150 degrees.

Then the area in between would be medium.

Sizzle!

Kyung-joon placed the meat on the grill and began flipping it over as time passed.

He flipped the meat in the center, middle, and edges at different intervals.

“Hmm? Aren’t you going to flip the ones on the edges? And you flipped the ones in the center too quickly.”

“I’m trying to cook them differently. Seung-hak is young, and you prefer your meat well-done since you’re older, but I think people my age prefer medium or rare. What about you?”

“……?”

Kyung-joon glanced at Yoo Seol-ha.

She seemed momentarily flustered at being asked a question.

But that expression lasted less than 0.1 seconds before returning to her usual cold demeanor.

Nod.

Yoo Seol-ha only nodded slightly without a word.

She was quite different from when she talked about regression analysis earlier.

Anyway, it seemed like Yoo Seol-ha also liked her meat rare.

‘They say beef is best when it’s not overcooked.’

Sizzle!

The meat was cooked.

He served three pieces of cooked meat on everyone’s plates.

One was well-done.

Another was medium.

And the last one was rare.

“Oh my! This is amazing!”

“……Munch munch.”

Both Chairman Yoo and Yoo Seol-ha were amazed after tasting the meat grilled by Kyung-joon.

As Kyung-joon had said, each piece was perfectly cooked to well-done, medium, and rare.

It wasn’t easy to achieve such a feat on the same grill at the same time.

Of course, Kyung-joon himself was also surprised.

‘What the. Is my experience in the game affecting reality……?’

The experience he had gained from handling the furnace countless times while baking bread in the game.

It wasn’t just in his head, it was ingrained in his entire body.

He had never heard of such a thing.

‘Even when my friend, who became a Swordsman in World, tried to show me his swordsmanship with a broom and ended up breaking a window, this didn’t happen…….’

The way his friend moved back then wasn’t like a Swordsman at all.

The experience of wielding a sword in the game didn’t translate to his real body at all.

That was because it was the character in the game that got used to the sword, not his real body.

This had been pointed out countless times since the advent of virtual reality, not just in The World.

‘But why am I different……?’

The skills he learned in the game were affecting his real body, though not perfectly.

If he had to guess, it was probably because of his Mythical Job 『Infinite Knowledge Seeker』…….

‘……What is going on?’

It was a complete mystery.

He almost wanted to ask Yoo Seol-ha if there were any papers on this phenomenon.

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