Chicken
The Spanish mackerel that Han So-hyun had hooked and Yeon-woo had reeled in was cleaned by Jin Yu-han’s hands and transformed into a Spanish mackerel steak that still held every drop of juice from its thick flesh.
“Somehow this tastes even better than when we were in Seoul, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah. I really feel like I’m eating more. I might end up gaining weight at this rate.”
Jin Yu-han’s cooking was excellent. The Spanish mackerel steak had been grilled to the perfect doneness and seemed to melt on the tongue.
After a thoroughly satisfying dinner, there was simply nothing left to do on the quiet island. If this shoot had been for Saebyeol Family, they might have staged a late-night snack quiz or handed out personal missions and forced everyone to keep watch on one another until morning. But this program was the healing variety show Summer’s Table.
Of course JNBC would have to accept it, but if they refuse, we can just change the title and take it to another network or upload it to our YouTube channel.
Joo Hyun-seok PD had said as much, and Yeon-woo likewise believed there was no chance JNBC would turn the proposal down. Objectively speaking, in the current domestic entertainment market Saebyeol was a goose that laid golden eggs.
Hmm, anyway, what’s important right now isn’t the goose—it’s the chicken.
Yeon-woo thought about the quest the grandmother had given him.
I wonder how many chickens there are. Island life only has two days left, so it’d be nice if I could catch them all by then.
At that very moment Han So-hyun stepped out of the room to use the bathroom and suddenly froze, a creepy sensation crawling up her spine. It felt as though someone was staring straight at her, and her body instinctively shrank in on itself.
Th-the staff all just set up the fixed cameras and went back to their lodgings…
Han So-hyun carefully turned her head. In a corner of the yard something pitch-black was staring at her, only its eyes gleaming white.
“Kyaaaah!”
She screamed before she even realized it. Instantly the men’s room door flew open and Yeon-woo burst out. The moment he appeared he confirmed it was Han So-hyun who had screamed and charged straight toward the spot her gaze was locked on. There was no need to check anything. If Han So-hyun had screamed at this hour, it had to be that chicken again.
Without even time to put on shoes, Yeon-woo kicked off the wooden floorboards and closed in on the wild chicken covered in pitch-black feathers. Startled, the creature flapped its wings, puffed itself up, and scrambled on its two feet. Yeon-woo immediately occupied every space it could use and narrowed the gap at high speed. The bird scraped the dirt hard with its claws and feinted left. Yeon-woo was already blocking that escape route and shot out his hand.
Grab—.
Flap—!
He clamped down hard on the rear of its body between the wing joints and hoisted it high. Resentful at being caught, the bird shook its head and squawked.
Kkok-gok—.
“Gotcha, you little thing.”
The bird he held aloft was an oke—a black chicken whose entire body shimmered with a dark blue-black sheen. Written with the characters for “crow” and “chicken,” it was no wonder the junior PD had been terrified enough to claim he’d seen an eagle.
Only then did the other men inside the room awkwardly rise and come out.
“What? So-hyun, what’s going on?”
“Did you just scream?”
Han So-hyun pointed toward one side of the yard while covering her open mouth with her other hand.
“C-crazy. Something was staring at me so I screamed in shock, and Yeon-woo flew over like lightning and caught it.”
“Caught? Caught what?”
Yeon-woo walked over holding a pitch-black chicken in one hand.
“This little guy. I caught a chicken.”
Son Jin-uk yelped and ducked behind Jin Yu-han.
“Ugh! I have ornithophobia! I’m even scared of sparrows!”
“Pfft!”
Even Han So-hyun, whose heart was still pounding, burst out laughing at the sight of the large-framed Son Jin-uk burying his face while hiding behind Jin Yu-han.
“What. So does that mean Grandma’s request is all taken care of?”
Yeon-woo shook his head while looking at the chicken in his hand.
“No. Earlier I heard there are about five or six on the island. I just caught one of them.”
“Still, the island’s pretty big. Can we really catch all five or six?”
Jin Yu-han nodded at An Jun-ho’s words.
“That guy might be able to. On another island thirty people were roaming around and he caught them all.”
Yeon-woo laughed awkwardly.
“Umm, well, I didn’t catch all thirty myself…”
Still looking at the chicken, he continued.
“First, the chicken coop is still at the lower house, so I’ll put this guy there and close the door.”
Yeon-woo ambled down the path holding the chicken in one hand. Having heard Han So-hyun’s scream, Joo Hyun-seok PD and the other staff came climbing the hill.
“Ah, PD-nim.”
“What was that sound? Did someone get hurt?”
“No. Because of this guy.”
To the PD who was asking urgently in case of a safety accident, Yeon-woo held out the chicken. Joo PD came face-to-face with the bird tilting its head and took a slight step back. Compared to ordinary farm chickens, this one was large and entirely pitch-black; the intimidation factor was real.
“You already caught it. How on earth?”
“Just, So-hyun noona screamed so I rushed out and this guy was in the yard, so I picked it up.”
When he explained it as if it were nothing, Joo PD’s eyes lit up.
“Th-then it was captured on camera, right?”
Yeon-woo thought for a second and nodded.
“Hmm, probably?”
Considering the angle of the fixed camera in the yard, it had almost certainly been caught cleanly.
“Then it’s an opening kill, I suppose.”
Looking at the PD who was using a term from Survival Island, Yeon-woo smiled slightly.
“Well, I don’t really plan to kill it, but if you put it that way, I guess so. I’ll go put this guy in the lower house’s chicken coop.”
Kkok-gok—.
While watching Yeon-woo head down the hill path gripping the crowing chicken in one hand, Joo Hyun-seok PD settled on an editing direction.
I don’t know how many chickens Actor Ryu will catch, but if we edit it as a slight parody of Survival Island, it might be fun…?
The next morning.
After a light breakfast of fried rice made by Han So-hyun, they were clearing the remaining vine trees from a corner of the yard when Joo Hyun-seok PD spoke up.
“Everyone, I have an announcement.”
“An announcement?”
“Tomorrow the island life for this shoot ends, so if a new guest arrives around today, it’d be perfect, right?”
Hearing that, Yeon-woo looked at Jin Yu-han.
“Is there another guest besides Yu-han?”
“Yes. You all are so popular that there are plenty of actors who want to come to the island.”
At Joo PD’s banter Yeon-woo scratched his head, running through possible names.
Hmm, Teacher Jeong Cheol-min? No—there are already too many men in the current lineup, so they probably invited an actress. That makes Seo Ji-eun the most likely.
Among Saebyeol’s members, Seo Ji-eun had appeared on variety shows the most and had openly declared herself a fan of Han So-hyun, so the odds seemed highest.
“The boat is supposed to arrive after lunch, so until then shall we discuss how to resolve the request we received yesterday?”
“The wild chickens, right?”
Joo PD nodded at Yeon-woo’s question.
“First, as you all know, Actor Ryu Yeon-woo succeeded in capturing one last night. This morning our staff also fed it well. If you capture the wild chickens roaming the island and put them in the chicken coop, the grandmother who made the request yesterday says she’ll raise them properly.”
Yeon-woo fell into thought.
Hmm, capturing is twice as hard as hunting…
When he first heard they would catch chickens, the first idea that flashed through his mind had been to pick a knife of suitable size from the tools in Jin Yu-han’s knife case, use it as a hunting knife, and take them down with throwing techniques. After a moment’s reflection he immediately changed his mind—killing had no place on a healing variety show.
Honestly, after catching rockfish, octopus, and Spanish mackerel, what’s so different about a chicken? But given people’s sentiments, slaughtering a familiar livestock animal is probably unsuitable for broadcast.
When people thought of “chicken” rather than fried chicken, two images came to mind: a living bird walking on two feet, bobbing its head and clucking, and the pale-pink raw chicken packaged at the supermarket.
The intermediate process is naturally omitted from the mind.
You had to wring the neck, pluck the feathers, cut off the legs, slit the belly, and pull out the innards before it became raw chicken for cooking. Since none of that could air, they would have to capture the birds alive no matter what.
Fried chicken is out of the question, but if we come back for the next shoot we can at least get eggs.
At Joo PD’s call for a strategy meeting, the first to raise his hand was Son Jin-uk.
“I’m really sorry, but as I said yesterday, I have ornithophobia.”
Everyone expected a plan; what came out was a declaration of abstention. Han So-hyun smiled playfully.
“From what I saw yesterday, if a chicken appears Jin-uk sunbae would hide behind me.”
“Umm, I’m not joking—I really might.”
“Okay. Then Jin-uk hyung will stay at the house.”
Next to raise his hand was An Jun-ho.
“You see, I once caught a wild boar in the military. A chicken is a piece of cake.”
Son Jin-uk and Yeon-woo both snickered at the same time. The exaggerated military speech style that only ever appeared in comedy sketches these days made it obvious he was bluffing for laughs. But Han So-hyun believed him completely and her eyes went round.
“Wow, really?! With what?! Don’t tell me bare hands?!”
“…Noona, you’d probably buy those jade floor mats without a second thought.”
Realizing she had been played, Han So-hyun glared lightly at An Jun-ho.
“Ugh, I knew it. What wild boar would a coward catch.”
“Ahem. Anyway, since I lived in the countryside I’ve really caught quite a few chickens since I was little. Sometimes when a hole opened in the coop a few would escape.”
“Is that so?”
“Ah, this part is real.”
Han So-hyun looked at him as if telling him to continue. An Jun-ho obliged.
“First, the key with chickens is to surround them from all sides. These guys move left and right so fast that if you chase alone it’s nearly impossible. Chickens have a habit of trying to dart between people’s legs when they’re surrounded—if you snatch them then, you’re done.”
It sounded reasonable enough that Jin Yu-han and Han So-hyun both nodded. Yeon-woo, who had been listening quietly, raised his hand.
“Then including the staff, you all follow Jun-ho hyung’s plan. Since Plan B should always be ready, can I prepare a bit on my own?”
Jin Yu-han nodded.
“This guy is the one who catches even thirty people, after all.”
“Well, I didn’t catch all thirty myself, I keep saying.”
Far to the northeast of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia there were still minority ethnic groups who lived as traditional nomads. While staying with them for a short time, Yeon-woo had learned several methods of capturing wild animals, thinking he might need them on an operation someday. With guns and knives always available, however, he had never once used those techniques in his entire previous life.
I never thought I’d use this while living as an actor, but as expected—if you learn it, you can use it anywhere.
Yeon-woo smiled, thinking of the wild chickens somewhere on this island.