Hobby
After wrapping the first day of filming, they lit a fire in the hearth and all collapsed into the toasty-warm rooms.
The three men shared the larger room, while the smaller one was given over to Han So-hyun.
Come morning, Son Jin-uk stirred awake and pressed his lower back flat against the heated ondol floor, letting the warmth bake every last corner of his body.
"Hwaaah, this is nice and toasty. I thought my back was going to give out shooting Dawn Market, but it feels like all the fatigue is melting away."
"Yeah. I'm getting all drowsy, and the tiredness really does seem to be lifting."
Lying on the opposite side, Yeon-woo felt the fatigue that had quietly piled up during the filming of Survival Island begin to ease, little by little.
There was a charm to a traditional heated floor that no city boiler or electric blanket could ever match.
"Ugh, I need to get up, but I feel like I've fused with the floor. By the way, they said a guest's coming today, right? Who do you think it'll be?"
"Hmm. Cheol-min-ssaem? Or maybe Han Byeol's coming."
From the corner, An Jun-ho looked up from the YouTube video he was browsing on his phone.
"I don't really know any of the other actors, so whoever shows up, I should use this chance to actually talk to them."
"Oh, is that right? So you haven't really hung out with the Saebyeol actors, Jun-ho."
"Yes. I've only met Jeong Cheol-min-seonsaengnim a few times."
Even before the unfortunate incident, An Jun-ho hadn't been under LN, so outside of the Summer's Closet cast, he didn't have any real connections to speak of.
Of course, if other celebrities heard that, they'd say the Summer's Closet network alone was a golden Rolodex.
Then Yeon-woo quietly sat up.
"I'm going to take a walk around the island and check on the fish traps I set yesterday."
"You're not going to rest a little longer?"
"Gotta get breakfast started early. It's just three meals a day, but somehow we're always busy."
Yeon-woo pulled on a pair of floral-print work pants and a coat and headed outside.
The staff bustling around the yard with filming prep looked up as he appeared.
"Where are you headed?"
"Morning exercise, and I want to check the traps."
Joo Hyun-seok PD nodded at that and gestured to a staffer. One of them picked up a camera and fell in behind Yeon-woo — the same camera director who'd been racing around the mudflats with him the day before.
Yeon-woo grabbed a rubber basin in case anything had been caught in the traps, and left the house.
Basin tucked against his hip, he strolled the island's edge, soaking in the quiet stillness of morning, and before long he'd reached the spot where he'd set the traps the day before.
Wonder if anything got caught…
He'd used raw ramyeon as bait, but there was no telling how well that would work.
"Not sure if our friends under the sea know what ramyeon tastes like."
Talking to himself, Yeon-woo began slowly hauling on the rope the trap was tied to.
The weight coming through the line was solid enough, but with the trap still underwater it was impossible to tell whether something was actually inside or if it was just the current.
As he pulled the rope up bit by bit, the camera director — clearly curious — kept switching between the rising trap and Yeon-woo's face, holding his breath.
When the trap finally broke the surface, there was, surprisingly, something in it.
"Huh? There's more in here than I expected."
It wasn't just one thing, either. The raw ramyeon bait he'd put in the day before had vanished without a trace.
"Did you catch something?"
The camera director couldn't hold back his curiosity any longer.
Of course, both of them were looking at the same rising trap, so neither of them actually knew what was in it. It was really just a "hurry up and pull it out" signal.
Yeon-woo gripped the rope hard and hauled the trap up.
"One second, Director."
He waved the camera director a step back, then set the trap down on the ground.
The camera director immediately crowded in and zoomed tight.
"These are too small to be octopus — webfoot octopuses, right?"
At Yeon-woo's question, the camera director gave a quiet nod.
"Four of them."
Just then the webfoot octopuses inside the trap writhed and shifted left and right — and something that had been hiding beneath them came into view.
"Oh?"
A dark brown fish. The one that had been concealed under the webfoot octopuses had spines running down its back and distinctive black spots.
Its official name was jopibollak, but every Korean knew it by another name.
"…We caught a rockfish."
And it was a decent size — big enough that there was no need to throw it back.
Yeon-woo scratched his head.
Last time, during Season 1, they'd caught an octopus. He'd made octopus carpaccio, a drinking snack he'd often prepared while living abroad — but it wasn't as if Yeon-woo was some culinary expert. He just had a handful of dishes he could do well.
"How do you even clean a rockfish…?"
He was glad they'd caught something, but he had no idea how to cook it.
Sole meunière, maybe? Except we barely have any ingredients…
It was a French home-style dish usually made with flounder — basically a butter-fried fish, Korean-style. But there was zero chance of finding lemon or parsley out here, and even if you skipped the fancy extras, trying to make a butter fry without butter was a serious problem.
Even a real chef couldn't pull that off.
He was grateful the rockfish had shown up, but figuring out what to do with it was giving him a headache.
Yeon-woo's thoughts naturally drifted to the other members back at the house.
Jin-uk hyung… yeah, he can drink, but he can't cook a thing.
Han So-hyun seemed reasonably capable in the kitchen, but mostly basic stuff like fried rice. An Jun-ho probably hadn't leveled up much since Season 1.
One way or another, it looked like Yeon-woo would have to cook.
He transferred everything from the trap into the rubber basin, loosely covered it with a cloth, and tucked it against his side.
Lost in thought, he was trudging back toward the house with the basin when he spotted a boat approaching in the distance.
"…The guest?"
Basin of webfoot octopuses and rockfish still clamped against his hip, Yeon-woo walked toward the dock like a fisherman's wife heading home from the shore.
Far off, someone was climbing down from the boat. A staffer with a camera was getting off with them — so yes, the guest had arrived.
As he drew closer, he could see who today's guest was.
Yeon-woo smiled and waved.
"You made it. Seasick on the way over?"
"Nah. I was fine."
The guest nodded quietly, his expression barely changing.
It was Jin Yu-han.
Yeon-woo eyed the large backpack slung over Jin Yu-han's shoulders.
"So what's in the bag? Looks ridiculously heavy."
"This and that. Figured my hobby might come in handy for island living. I'll show you later."
As he answered, Jin Yu-han looked Yeon-woo over — the long, loose work pants, the rubber basin under one arm. Yeon-woo already looked fully optimized for the local environment. The outfit didn't match his striking looks at all, and yet somehow there was no sense of dissonance. It was oddly impressive.
"One day on the island and you've already adapted completely."
Yeon-woo returned to the house with Jin Yu-han.
The place looked for all the world like an abandoned ruin, and Jin Yu-han seemed briefly taken aback — but once Yeon-woo strode ahead and opened the gate, he had no choice but to follow.
"Everyone, the guest is here!"
At Yeon-woo's shout, the actors came tumbling out of the house.
"Oh, it's Yu-han!"
"Hello."
Son Jin-uk already knew him well, but An Jun-ho and even Han So-hyun had barely crossed paths with him — the kind of acquaintances who exchanged polite hellos at events and award shows and otherwise didn't really know each other.
Then Yeon-woo introduced another guest.
"We've also got some overnight visitors who found their way into the fish traps."
The actors greeting each other — and the staff in the yard — all found their attention drifting, almost involuntarily, toward the rubber basin Yeon-woo was carrying.
"What'd you catch?"
"Don't tell me it's octopus?!"
Yeon-woo shook his head at Han So-hyun's words and set the basin down on the wooden platform.
"Not octopus."
He pulled the cloth off the basin, revealing four webfoot octopuses and the rockfish inside.
"Whoa! You caught a lot. What's that fish?"
"Rockfish."
The camera moved in for insert shots of the webfoot octopuses and rockfish in the basin.
"Rockfish? That's insane. So are we gonna raw-slice this guy and eat him?!"
"……."
The rough phrasing coming out of Han So-hyun's pretty face left everyone wearing a peculiar expression. Even she seemed to reconsider her own words, and shook her head.
"Nooo, not raw-slice him — I mean… are we going to cut this little guy into thin sashimi and eat him?"
"…Yeah, explaining it out like that somehow makes it worse."
Yeon-woo stared blankly at the "friends" in the basin, then looked troubled.
"The webfoot octopuses we can stir-fry, and even though they're small, we could probably do any of the dishes we used to make with octopus. But the rockfish — honestly, I don't even know how to clean it. Other than spicy fish stew, I can't think of a single thing to do with it."
Then Jin Yu-han, who had been watching quietly, unslung the large backpack from his shoulders.
"I'll handle that."
At the sound of his voice, the other actors all turned to stare as Jin Yu-han opened the bag.
Yeon-woo tilted his head.
"You will?"
"…What's with that tone, like you're writing me off."
"No, it's just — you cooking? I genuinely can't picture it."
Jin Yu-han pulled a mysterious black bundle from the bag. He unrolled the tightly wrapped package with a long, smooth flourish — and inside, knives of every size and shape were packed in tight rows.
"Cooking's my hobby."
Joo Hyun-seok PD, who had been watching, added,
"Jin Yu-han-ssi holds Korean and Japanese cuisine cook licenses. Cooking is his biggest hobby by far."
At the PD's explanation, everyone's eyes went wide.
"For real?"
"Yes."
Son Jin-uk clapped Jin Yu-han lightly on the back.
"Man, I've always wondered what Yu-han does with his free time. You've had a hobby like that? That's awesome."
"No way. So we can throw a gourmet feast on this island?"
"I don't know if it'd qualify as gourmet, but I enjoy cooking, so I'll give it a try."
Meanwhile, Yeon-woo was looking at Jin Yu-han with a gleam in his eyes.
Ohh. Jin Yu-han cooks…
At first it had seemed completely out of character — but watching him arrange the knife roll, it somehow looked surprisingly right.
They said Saebyeol's official YouTube channel didn't have any original content worth uploading, right? They were fretting about it at the last meeting too…
Looking at Jin Yu-han, a content idea that made his mouth water sprang to mind.
Chef Jin Yu-han… Jin Yu-han's Yori-jori Cooking Class?
Sensing Yeon-woo's gleaming stare fixed on him, Jin Yu-han instinctively shuddered.
"…Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Hmm? No reason. Just had a good idea."
"……."
Yeon-woo had gone past gleaming eyes and was now practically licking his lips.
"So cooking's your hobby, Yu-han. Fans would absolutely love this if they knew. And good things are meant to be shared, right?"
He'd heard SaebyeolTube's growth had been slowing lately — and here was excellent content hiding right under their noses.
Yeon-woo looked up at the clear, early-winter blue sky.
The weather was perfect.
Perfect for starting a new kind of labor.