When Minhyuk regained his consciousness, he heard Lee Jinhwan and his father talking.
"The complications are too severe. High blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis… and there are even more. He has already reached the level where it's unbearable to his body."
"…Can we do liposuction, like before?"
"We can't do that. When we did liposuction before, he just ate and gained what we have taken out before. It will be just a temporary improvement."
"What did I do wrong…"
Minhyuk stared blankly at the ceiling.
I worked harder.
I kept my appetite in check as much as possible.
But I didn't get better.
My appetite grew bigger and the amount of food I ate also increased. My body kept growing bigger and bigger.
Even so… I still want to live longer.
Creeaaak—
The door slowly opened and Minhyuk saw his father enter.
"Awake?"
"Yep."
His father sat in front of him with a wry smile.
"They said that you went overboard with exercising and went into shock briefly."
Minhyuk laughed bitterly.
This is the CEO of Ilhwa group, Kang Minhoo. He's a man that everyone aspires to be. And Minhyuk, who had this man as his father, felt extremely grateful.
He should be embarrassed to have a son like me yet he continues to treasure and love me.
When Minhyuk only smiled bitterly his father coughed lightly — Huh.
'He must have heard us talk.'
What should I do to clear this tension… I should speak.
"Tangsuyuk [1]."
"Yukgaejang [2]."
"Jangeo [3]."
"Eomuk [4]."
"Muksabal [5] ."
"Bal? Bal…"
Minhyuk tried to think carefully of a word but he couldn't think of anything. They laughed at each other.
Although the food they used were not good for Minhyuk, he could at least use those to play shiritori [6] with his father sometimes. The only subject that they use for shiritori would be food.
This gradually resolved their tension.
"Father."
"Yeah?"
"Would you hate me if I played games?"
"…Even if the only thing you do is eat and play games, it will be fine with me."
Kim Minhoo also heard about the new treatment from Lee Jinhwan but Minhoo fully-respects whatever decision his son would make.
"There's just one thing. If you're going to play a game, you have to remember one thing."
Minhyuk's father had an unusual solemn expression on his face.
"Have fun. I'll be happy if you have fun and find it's interesting."
The reason why people play those games was to have fun. But Minhyuk has no choice but to play a game to survive.
He smiled at his father's words.
"I'll do it. Athenae [7]."
He has finally decided.
When Minhyuk entered the room, he found that the Athenae access capsule was already installed. The capsule was much larger than what he knew.
"We've prepared a larger-sized capsule for you."
Changwook joked with him to release even a bit of tension from him.
The existing equipment was 7 million won, and this special extrlarge sized capsule is worth 13 million won [8].
Aside from the capsule in front of him, there were still medical personnel on stand-by just in case of an emergency.
This was to make sure that nothing would go wrong when Minhyuk comes out of the game since he would stop eating for a long time while he's playing.
Chagwook hooked his arms on Minhyuk's shoulders.
"The novice zone is off-limits to higher leveled players, you should clear it as soon as you can so we can meet up in game."
"Yep. Ah, right. Hyung, what's your nickname in-game?"
"…uhm."
Oh Changwook looked around sneakily and whispered in Minhyuk's ears.
"It's Ge-general…"
"Eh?"
Minhyuk snickered. The atmosphere was so heavy that's why he wanted to laugh.
"Hyuuung! Your nickname is General?!"
"Pfft, General…"
"Omg… Mr. Changwook… That name…"
"Hey! You weren't supposed to say that."
"Hyung, perhaps…"
"You also have a black dragon somewhere?"
"Just get in already!"
"Yessir!"
Minhyuk entered the capsule with a smile. He could see everyone's faces.
Well, shall we start?
Fwooom—
The capsule slowly closed and the wires stretched and covered Minhyuk's body. The light was slowly covered by darkness.
A mechanical voice sounded through the darkness.
[Welcome to Athenae. Do you want to get started?]
"Yes."
Flash!
As soon as he gave his answer, there was a flash of bright light. Minhyuk could see himself completely naked in front of him.
Blobs of fat adorn his body, he couldn't even see the outline of his face because of all the flesh.
This is me. This is Minhyuk.
[This is your first log-in. For your character customization, only the hair, weight and skin tone could be changed.]
'…There's nothing like this in Versal.'
Even though Versal boasted upon its realness, it deemed this feature unnecessary.
That's why I couldn't even change my weight there.
Minhyuk only wanted to change one thing.
"Change my weight to 73kg."
With his words, a bright light covered Minhyuk's body.
When the light disappeared, what appeared in front of him was a tall, slim and handsome Minhyuk.
This was the Minhyuk from 5 years ago, his figure when he was still not afflicted with bulimia. His tears welled up.
"Ar… aren't you handsome…"
He had a small nose with a big pair of eyes and a sharp jawline. It's not a lie to say that he looked like a model especially with his 185cm height. It was what it should be.
He's a very handsome man.
Minhyuk reached out his hands.
I want to touch it.
But it was impossible. However, he still couldn't stop smiling at the image in front of him.
"This is me…"
He smiled wider. His fat self was like the scratch lottery.
That's me after I was scratched.
'I can do it!'
Minhyuk got another notification while thinking about things.
[Are there no more other changes you wish to make?]
"No."
This is already enough. I already look close to Kang Dongwon [9].
[Please name your character.]
"Minhyuk."
He had decided before that he would use his own name.
[Would you like to start connecting to the game?]
"Yes."
Bright lights filled Minhyuk's vision.
Footnotes
[1] Tangsuyuk : sweet and sour pork
[2] Yukgaejang: spicy beef stew
[3] Jangeo: eel
[4] Eomuk: Fishcake
[5] Muksabal: or mukbap, cold soup made with muk (jelly made from beans or grains) and shredded vegetables.
[6] They are playing (word chain game) or shiritori. It's a word chain game where you use the last syllable from the previous word to make another word.
[7] I previously translated this as Athens but in the original Manhwa it is called Athenae so I will be using Athenae for it starting from now. ^^
[8] If you're wondering, this costs about 13,000 dollars
[9] Kang Dongwon : a Korean actor, he stars in the movie The Priests.