Side Story: Busan Trip (2)
Side Story: Busan Trip (2)
"Wow, the godori are really biting here."
"Bring me one more bucket over here!"
"Haah...."
Jeong Hwan-yi and Lee Min-ho had come fishing and hadn't caught a single one.
The two of them shifted their attention to the baby mackerel swimming in the shallows.
Seeing a six-year-old Arin haul one in every time she dipped her rod while they couldn't catch a single fish must have stung.
And so it came to this unprecedented sight: the two of them, using the expensive rods and reels A-ra had given them, were fishing for godori.
"Daddy, the godori aren't biting anymore."
Our daughter was on the verge of tears.
Because those two idiots were hauling them in like crazy, not one godori was finding its way to our daughter's short whip rod.
A kid is trying to have fun, and grown adults are acting like that. Tsk, tsk.
I scooped up Arin and then lifted the icebox holding the godori the two had caught.
"Hey, where'd the icebox go?"
"What the? Why can't I see it?"
They'd reached over to drop in the godori they'd just caught, but their hands met empty air.
After flailing around and glancing about, they finally realized the icebox that had been holding the godori was gone.
"Hey, why are you holding that?"
"Give it here, quick. We gotta put these in."
"Can't you see our daughter is upset because of you two right now?"
The two glanced at Arin, whose cheeks were puffed out, and chuckled.
They seemed to think she was just throwing a tantrum because they were catching more.
"Arin~ The oppas will catch a whole bunch and grill them for you."
"Okay?"
"Hiiing....."
Now our daughter really was on the verge of tears, her lips jutting out in a pout.
"You two, even if you get married, don't have kids."
I could put up with a lot, but I couldn't stand by and watch my daughter and wife looking that upset.
I flipped the icebox over and dumped the entire contents back into the sea.
The godori that had been thrashing just moments ago all dove back beneath the surface.
A few looked a little worse for wear, but they'd likely be able to feed again.
"Kyaaak! The godori we caught!"
"A la-landing net! Quick, scoop them all back out!"
"Arin, before those idiots fish them all back up, hurry and have some fun."
"Okay!"
The two of them ran off somewhere to find a landing net, since we hadn't bought one.
Even those two idiots could read the room.
Going off to find a landing net was just a joke; they'd probably gone to take a breather.
"Arin, are you having fun?"
"Yeah!"
"Then give Daddy a kiss on the cheek."
Arin immediately set down her short whip rod, trotted over, and planted a kiss on my cheek.
This is why I'm utterly hopeless when it comes to my daughter.
"Our daughter, aren't you going to give Mommy a kiss?"
That was A-ra, of course, pouting her own lips and asking why she wasn't getting one.
As if she had no choice, Arin gave her mom's cheek a kiss too, then picked her short whip rod back up and resumed catching godori.
"Noona, did you catch anything?"
"Umm... I caught a few small ones..."
When I went to check out the fish A-ra had caught, she really had only reeled in things the size of minnows.
Baby pufferfish and... hmm...
"Do you want to try catching godori too, Noona? They look about twice as big."
"Hmph! Noona has her pride! Godori, honestly!"
"Eyy, can you eat pride?"
Well, actually.
In our A-ra's case, pride did indeed fill her belly.
She was this sweet and gentle, but her idol concept had been the cold, aloof woman.
Looking back on it now, it was kind of funny.
"My husband, you've gotten bold, huh? Now you even know how to tease Noona."
"Ahem... This is what eight years of marriage does to a person."
"Oh really? Then maybe Noona should just devour..........."
"A...Arin. Should we fish together with Daddy?"
I edged over to my daughter's side, trying to put a little distance between myself and A-ra.
But this woman, who normally never leaves her rod, set it down and came right up next to me.
Then she began gently stroking my thigh.
The way her hand kept subtly brushing against 'it' was the kind of thing no one could call an accident.
"N...Noona, Arin is watching."
"Don't worry. Arin's way too absorbed in catching godori."
Using Arin as an excuse to get out of this seemed unlikely to work.
She was right in front of us, completely locked in on hauling up godori—would she even have time to glance over here?
It wasn't that I disliked that sort of thing.
But weren't we outside?
A-ra had occasionally fondled my junk in public before, so I was even more on edge.
A woman's libido really was a desire that erupted from unimaginably deep places.
"J...Just a little bit, okay?"
I'd also given in to the demon of lust.
Let her touch it, sure. Whatever.
***
What the two who'd gone to fetch a landing net returned with were snacks and beer.
Along with orange juice for Arin and a few other things.
We cast our rods far out and spent the time eating snacks and drinking beer.
Isn't this the real pleasure of fishing?
A deeper pleasure than just endlessly hauling up godori.
Kang Tae-gong's words about fishing for leisure and time weren't wrong.
"Doesn't quite land the same when it comes from a useless guy who can't even catch a single godori."
"What?"
Sure, it was true that I hadn't caught a single one... but to come at me like that.
And right in front of my daughter, no less.
"Hey, I'm holding back on purpose so Arin can have fun, alright? Unlike some guys who try to wipe out an entire godori family just to beat a six-year-old kid?"
At that one line, A-ra chuckled.
Because that part also wasn't exactly wrong.
The two of them had been so dialed in they'd fished up every last godori.
If I hadn't flipped the icebox and released them, Arin would probably still be standing there pouting with her lips sticking out.
"Arin. Daddy's right, isn't he? Right?"
"Yeah. When the oppas caught all the fish, there was nothing left for me to do."
"See. She said so."
"Keung...."
The two quietly settled back into their spots, since there wasn't much they could say to refute that.
They'd admitted they'd been a little immature.
"Arin. Tomorrow, Daddy will take you to the aquarium."
"Aquarium?"
"You've never been to one yet, right? It's a place full of fish."
"Fishing cafe?"
"No, it's a little different from a place like that."
I considered pulling up a visual reference to show her, but decided against it.
If she saw that sort of thing ahead of time, wouldn't it spoil the wonder she'd feel tomorrow?
Personally, I couldn't wait to see Arin's eyes go wide as she watched the sharks and fish swimming in the biggest tank.
It was still the off-season, so the aquarium should be less crowded tomorrow, right?
"Ah, seeing those godori makes me want to grill them up and make sandwiches."
"Have you guys tried the mackerel sandwiches they sell in Istanbul, Turkey? They taste fucking awful there."
Looking over the godori Arin had caught, they smacked their lips.
Was it just a matter of buying some bread and grilling the mackerel to put on top?
"You'll make them? They said they lend out shichirin grills and stuff here."
"Really?"
"Whoa, damn. How good would the mackerel sandwiches you make be?"
The two of them were already licking their chops, practically drooling.
No, actually, that made three people drooling total.
"Noona's drooling. Here, a handkerchief."
"Thanks. But when are you going to make the mackerel sandwiches?"
"......I'll make them right now."
First, I'd have to get back to the hotel, borrow a shichirin, and buy charcoal and some bread.
Busy, busy....
*
"Wow. Godori don't have a single bone."
"No way they don't. They're just so small the bones don't get stuck in your throat, but they probably have tons of tiny ones."
"At this level, it's the same as having none. Make me just one more sandwich."
"Sure... there's still plenty left, so at least eat slowly."
Did they have tapeworms or something?
How could they eat that many sandwiches after already eating so much earlier?
Even A-ra, that glutton, was eating slowly because she felt a little full.
Honestly, these guys gave the male species a bad name.
"Arin, is it good?"
"Yeah, but there are a lot of bones."
"Pick them out carefully as you eat. Daddy already took out a lot from Arin's, but you're still finding them."
I stroked Arin's hair as she chewed away, little by little.
Since godori were young blue-backed fish, they were pretty bony, so I'd waged quite a battle picking them out.
As I thought, for mackerel sandwiches, you really should buy mackerel that's already been deboned.
Or I should've just bought some canned sardines and used those.
"Seong-hwan-ah. This is seriously delicious."
"Is it?"
Still, the response wasn't bad.
Except for Arin, they could all crunch the bones with their strong teeth, so the reviews were actually pretty good.
"I think you could make a business out of this."
"Hmm... But running a mackerel business in Seoul is a little iffy."
"Eyy, it's not like you're serving it raw. If it comes up early in the morning from Incheon, the mackerel should still be plenty fresh, right?"
"Is that so..."
Hearing that got me thinking about expanding the business.
The fried food shop I was currently running was doing so well that franchise inquiries were pouring in like crazy.
Especially since the chairwoman of the biggest company in the food service industry had come to propose doing food business together.
"Hmm... I'll give it some thought."
"Seong-hwan-ah, if you start a mackerel sandwich business, Noona would be happy since I could eat it every day."
"So that was your goal all along. But as long as I have the ingredients, I can make it for you anytime, you know?"
"No. I'm saying this because it's too good to keep to myself. You seriously need to franchise this and spread it nationwide."
Certainly...
In the Republic of Korea, mackerel sandwiches were a rare find.
So the market potential wasn't bad.
If we could just figure out the unit cost, it would be marketable.
But still, wasn't Norwegian mackerel way tastier than the domestic kind?