Vacation Beach Trip # 6
Vacation Beach Trip # 6
"Hehehe! Damn! The mackerel is freaking amazing too! Here!"
Watching Kim Geun-cheol happily gobble up the mackerel she had deboned for him, Woo Yu-ri thought:
'Bastard... he sure knows how to eat.'
He was eagerly accepting every piece she gave him, rejoicing loudly.
"Is it that good?"
"Yes!"
Woo Yu-ri propped her chin on one hand and kept deboning the mackerel as if she were feeding a pet.
'He takes it so well.'
For some reason, feeding him was proving more fun than eating herself. Woo Yu-ri moved her hands almost mechanically, lost in thought.
'Food, and swordsmanship too.'
He really was the type who received things well.
"Yu-ri! The mackerel's going to go extinct!"
"So you're not going to eat it?"
"I'll make the mackerel go extinct today."
She'd lost count of how many mackerel she'd already taken down. The cycle of quickly deboning and handing over the fish every time the grilled mackerel was refilled.
'This guy... has anyone ever treated him this well before?'
Woo Yu-ri watched the delighted Kim Geun-cheol and thought about it.
'Probably not. That's why he's so happy.'
She could feel his pure, genuine joy.
Woo Yu-ri liked that.
* * *
In the end, after continuously receiving fish and spicy stew from Leona and Yu-ri, I was about to burst. I'm so full I could die right now.
"Right now, it feels like omega-3 is flowing through my veins instead of blood. Damn, Si-hoo. Poke me. I bet omega-3 just pours out."
"Geun-cheol, stop talking crazy. Ah, but you really ate a lot."
"Seriously, how many did you eat?"
Leona deboned the hairtail, and Yu-ri deboned the mackerel. They said watching me accept it all was like watching a mukbang, so it was fun for them.
Anyway, the grilled fish was extremely good, but what really stood out the most was the spicy fish stew.
"But seriously, wasn't the stew crazy delicious? How is it this tasty? Could it be the most delicious thing in the world?"
"Hehehe, well. It was good. The broth was killer. Honestly, the grilled fish was just decently tasty, but that stew was truly unique."
"Right? I've never eaten anything this good before."
Usually, stews are bland, too salty, or the fish doesn't absorb the broth well, but the stew we had today was just fucking perfect.
"I need to add this place to my must-visit list."
"Hey! What did you just say!"
"Huh?"
Leona's must-visit list—isn't that the one with that jjamppong on it?!
"Are you saying you're going to use it as execution food?!"
"What did you say! Kim Geun-cheol, do you want to eat jjamppong again?! After I so diligently deboned the hairtail for you, you're talking shit about execution food!"
"Ah, I'm sorry!"
But still, I can't let her add it to the list!
"Hey, hey. You have to pay your debts with words, right? Don't you?"
"Ugh!"
Yu-ri giggled and poked my side.
"Hmph! I have pride in my must-visit list, I'll have you know. The jjamppong there is extremely spicy but really delicious. The important thing is the taste, the taste."
"I thought my tongue was on fire."
"Woo Yu-ri, you'll get to know its charm if you keep eating it too."
"You're trying to kill me!"
The food talk never ends, maybe because we're all students in our prime. As I was thinking that, Leona said to me.
"Anyway, is there anything else you want to eat?"
"I'm full right now... And it's about one o'clock."
It was still the bright, shining lunchtime.
So, what do you do during lunchtime?
If you ask, there is only one answer.
"Obviously, we prepare dinner."
"What?"
"If you play at the beach, you burn through energy fast. We need to prepare what we're eating for dinner, and how to eat it, starting now."
At my words, Leona stroked her chin and said, as if something had just occurred to her.
"Then isn't it already decided?!"
Yes.
It's already decided.
"Let's go! To catch crabs!"
—Sparkle!
Leona shouted, her eyes shining.
It's time to catch crabs!
—Thump.
My blood boils. Catching crabs in the mudflats? There isn't a single man who wouldn't get excited about catching crustaceans and shellfish in the mudflats.
"Alright! I'm going to catch every last one of them! Let's head to the mudflats right now!"
"Let's run to the mudflats! Commencing superhuman dash!"
"Commencing!"
"Ah! I said let's take the car!"
"We're wearing slippers!"
Yu-ri and Si-hoo were talking nonsense, but this was also part of the training.
"Stop talking nonsense and run!"
And so, we superhuman cadets ran to the mudflats.
* * *
The mudflat adjacent to the beach.
Life was breathing here. Traces of our mudflat friends were overflowing everywhere. Today, we decided to reign over this place.
"Alright! Everyone, grab an ice box! Let's catch them all!"
"Let's just catch as much as we can eat! Then, move out!"
"Yes!"
—Squelch!
We immediately stomped into the mudflat and charged.
From now on, we're conducting Operation Crab Catch.
But we didn't scatter. We were all moving together, sticking close. We moved to a decent spot and started gathering.
"Wow. There are so many crabs here. They'd be really delicious in ramen."
"They'd be nice fried, too."
"Geun-cheol? Fried, you say?"
"The small ones—you can purge all the mud from them, coat them in flour, and fry them in oil."
Then they become a real snack.
"Anyway, let's just catch them."
I saw Yu-ri was already squatting down and catching something.
"Yu-ri, what are you catching?"
"Hey. Come here a sec."
"What?"
"Check out this bastard."
Yu-ri pointed to the ground.
What was there...
"Uh."
"This freak's totally messed up. One claw is just ridiculously huge."
"This is a fiddler crab."
"A fiddler crab?"
"It's the kind where one claw is way bigger. You can eat it, so toss it in the box."
"Oh. You know your stuff, Kim Geun-cheol. What gives? How'd you know?"
"Yu-ri. Is there a guy who wouldn't know this?"
As if I wouldn't know.
When I was a kid, elementary schoolers gathered in arcades to play games or watched documentaries on TV.
Back when we had no phones or anything.
Every parent in the world, thanks to the bias planted by the news, thought game addiction was death itself. So the time we were allowed to enjoy computer games at home was very limited.
Therefore, boys went outside, roamed the neighborhood, worked out, or screwed around.
Then when they went home, they watched TV. The popular channel was the cartoon channel, but about half of the elementary schoolers back then turned their eyes to the documentary channel.
Because insect documentaries or jungle and marine life documentaries were enough to make a boy's heart beat.
So I became well-versed in both insects and marine life, and beyond that, I grew up to be someone who enjoys collecting them. At least, the kids of my generation all took that route.
But I heard kids these days don't do that and just watch YouTube...!
"What's with you? That look on your face? Why are you getting all sentimental?"
"No. It's nothing. Let's just catch crabs."
"Okay."
—Hey!
Just then, Leona shouted.
"Over here! There's a ton of crabs!"
"What kind!"
I ran straight over to check!
"But they're peculiar? They don't have a pointy feel and seem kind of round."
"Wow, these are chestnut crabs. Chestnut crabs."
"Chestnut crabs?"
"They walk forward."
"Oh my, you're right. Wow, you really know your stuff, Kim Geun-cheol?"
"Hehehe, told you. Anyway, let's catch them!"
"Yes!"
We put all sorts of crustaceans into the ice box. Clams kept coming up too, and occasionally we could gather pen shells. Every time, I explained the names of the creatures.
At first, we competed with a scoring system, but after a while, it fell apart. Everyone just ended up catching them with one heart and one mind.
"Geun-cheol! What's this!"
Si-hoo ran over holding something.
Looking at it... No way!
"Whoa! You caught a mud shrimp?"
"Mud shrimp?"
"It kind of looks like a shrimp crossed with a crayfish. It lives in the mudflats. Hehehe, good catch."
Feels a bit like I just caught a stag beetle.
"Was it a good catch? Looks like it's rare. Heh."
"It's not rare, but it's fun to catch. Put it in the container."
"Okay."
We caught stuff like that until the container got full.
Truly.
It was a peaceful time.
"Hehehe, with this, crab ramen is a cinch."
"I'm already salivating. Shall we go back to our room and purge the mud?"
"It'll take some time, so let's go straight there and do it."
"Yes!"
Leona was literally dying of happiness at the thought of eating crab ramen. She really, really loves food.
"But."
"Hm?"
Suddenly, I looked out beyond the mudflats and spoke.
"The sea is peaceful."
"What?"
"Nothing. I just thought maybe some small, naturalized monster species might be living in the mudflats. Like those unranked bugs."
"Ah, things like that exist. They do. I heard they exist."
They do?
But I don't see them here.
"From what I know, though, they get eaten up in the sea."
"Oh? Really?"
"Yes. It's kind of the reason why there are so few sea monsters. I heard that most monsters who can survive in the ocean are actually weaker than sea creatures. They don't even have dimensional shields. There are naturalized otherworldly species, but they aren't much of a threat."
Is that so?
"Actually, if monsters ruled the sea, trade would be impossible, and there's no way the world could function. The fact that you and I are standing here together right now is all because the sea monsters are weak."
"Right."
Come to think of it, if a real sea monster was out there wrecking ships, the world wouldn't be like this. Diplomacy and trade would be cut off, and life would be much tougher.
"Alright, then! Let's go back and purge the mud! Woo Yu-ri! Lee Si-hoo! Come this way! We'll take the car on the way back!"
"Okay!"
"Got it!"
Let's go get ready to eat dinner now!
* * *
[Take a look. Around 8 AM today, an anomalous gate appeared over the West Sea. The gate soon spewed out monsters, but the monsters fell straight into the sea and all drowned, which has been confirmed by the navy.]
We purged the mud with the TV on in the lodging.
Since they're creatures that live in the mudflats, their guts are full of mud.
[It's an occasional occurrence. The phenomenon of monsters being wiped out en masse after a gate appears over the sea... In military jargon, it's called a Well Kill. It's such a special occurrence that fishermen say just seeing it brings good luck.]
You have to make them drink water, then drink again, rinse them to make them spit out the mud, and then scrub them down with a toothbrush.
[However, in the past year. This 'Well Kill' phenomenon has increased dramatically. It's happening 2700% more compared to the same period. If it only occurs over the West Sea like now, there's no issue, but if this phenomenon occurs near land...]
"Kim Geun-cheol? Should we fry these?"
"Yeah. We can take a small portion and fry them up as a side dish."
"Okay."
[Next up on the news. The villain group, the Human Federation, and the otherworld-worshiping cultists have issued a criminal manifesto against the world government...]
"Ah, anyway. Should we grill some meat too? I feel like just seafood ramen might be a bit lacking."
"Hehehe, shall we? Should we grill some meat?"
"Let's just grill it! Let's just eat until we explode!"
Nice!
"Yu-ri! Si-hoo! Let's go buy meat!"
"What? Meat?"
"You can't have ramen without meat."
"Hell yeah! This guy knows what's up!"
Yu-ri immediately nodded.
"Guys, we're gonna get fat."
Man, why is Si-hoo worrying about gaining weight?
"We'll burn it all off training, dude. Now, let's go buy that meat!"