Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: No Such Thing as a Beastly Girl
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"Kyaaahooo~!"
I scarfed down Mom's delicious kimchi fried rice and stepped outside... Hmm. Yeah, it's as quiet as ever.
Ulleungdo.
To city folk, it's basically treated like a byproduct of Dokdo—an island village on that level.
Hmm. Fair enough. Honestly, Dokdo's way more famous than Ulleungdo.
Anyway, I was born to parents living their peaceful healing life—not quite farming, but close enough—in a detached house in this tiny island village smaller than Seoul itself. Does that make me a total gold spoon baby?
In your average webnovel, whenever there's a TS, the protagonist's always born to parents cosplaying as commoners in the city and grows up without a care in the world.
Why cosplay? People with houses in their name on the outskirts of Seoul aren't commoners!
Real commoners live in rented villas, both parents work their asses off, and the kid's left alone boiling instant ramen and watching the house!
So yeah, I'm a gold spoon too!
A countryside hick girl, but still a gold spoon, right? Cheers~
"Hmm~ What should I do for fun today~?"
I head down the hillside with light steps.
Unlike Dodong or Sadong, options for fun in Tonggumi of Namyang-ri—where it's mostly quiet with just the elders living—are pretty limited.
Last time I climbed Turtle Rock, I got scolded by the patrolling cops, and then Mom spanked my butt red. Pass.
I did three somersaults into the sea, came up with an octopus in my mouth, and ran into Dad learning to drive the cultivator from Denture Grandpa. Got chewed out, so diving's a pass too.
'Hmm. So the only spot left to conquer this time... is that one place!'
Crayfish Rock.
Not marked as a tourist spot, but anyone who's hung around Tonggumi for a bit knows it's a prime fishing hole!
The name's crayfish, but it looks more like a rock—or mountain?—shaped like a rhino shoving its snout into the sea to drink.
Guys from other neighborhoods fish there sometimes, pulling up rockfish or horse mackerel now and then.
After dominating octopus tentacle play, there's no way I'm losing to some hermit rockfish stuck to the bottom like a total hikikomori!
'Dinner tonight's sashimi!'
Dad's gonna love it, right?
Soju with thick slices of rockfish dipped in chogochujang... Ahh!
Dad, who loves that green-bottled adult drink, will go nuts.
And for the finale, a spicy stew boiled with green onions, minari, and sea squirts!!
Whoa, my mouth's watering already! Spit!
It's settled! I'll hit the back of Crayfish Rock, snag some rockfish and horse mackerel, and set a feast for dinner!
Dad, who's learning to tend fields from the grandpas, will jump up and down going, "Oho~ Nice one~!"
...Mom will probably clutch her chest, yelling about her daughter doing weird shit in the sea again, but hey, it's not the first time. She'll forgive me, right?
I do bring home dinner ingredients, after all.
That's what counts. Whatever.
"Senior. This really a prime fishing spot?"
"Agh, yes it is! Why are you nagging? Hey? The fish'll all scatter from the noise. Quiet."
No. What does that even mean?
How do fish living under the sea scatter from human voices? Geez.
'I finally get vacation time off work, and I end up fishing with my office senior...'
I'd planned to hole up at home gaming, but couldn't say no to his invite and got dragged along.
Fine, I figured it'd be fun like a tourist trip... but now he wants to fish here all day. Ugh.
'I've never even fished before.'
Shouldn't have come.
Why didn't I just stay home and play Sons of the Forest?
I sigh inwardly, squatting and gripping the unresponsive rod, yawning my head off... Huh?
'A kid? Local?'
The path here's super treacherous. How'd a little kid get here?
No paved road—just clambering over small rocks, then jumping down about chest-height for an adult. She came through that?
Isn't that dangerous?
"Baby goes to the rocky shade~ to pick oysters~"
A childish hum from behind me.
?? What? Those the right lyrics?
"Mom stays home alone~ watching the house... Oh? People fishing already? Hi~"
"Uh, uh... Hi."
"Y-Yeah. What brings you here, kiddo?"
"??? I'm here to catch fish too?"
Unlike your typical country kid, she's got pretty black hair, pale skin, and a cute face that'll break hearts when she grows up. She bows at the navel, and even Senior stammers, looking puzzled.
Here to catch fish? Fishing?
But no rod...
"Daytime here, only parrotfish nibble. No bites."
"Oh, r-really?"
"Yep. That's why other uncles only come at night."
No wonder.
That's why every time we reeled in, the bait was gone.
Sigh, really shouldn't have come.
Should've come with an experienced fisherman.
Followed this show-off senior and just suffered all day.
Come back here at night through this hellish path? No way.
It's not just rough—you could get seriously hurt if you slip.
'But she knows that and still came? Why?'
The little girl casually stands at the rock's edge like it's nothing, stretches languidly, and shrugs off her yellow cardigan.
"Uh, got any parrotfish caught?"
"Caught a few... Why?"
"Hehe. Even the tiny ones are super tasty~ Mix with chogochujang and veggies for hoe, nothing beats it!"
??
Eat hoe with these puny things? Possible?
"Figured we could trade with what I catch! Parrotfish taste good but have tons of tiny bones—such a pain to eat plain!"
"Uh. Yeah. S-Sure, we'd love that."
I'd been stressing over what to do with these small fish, but the local kid's words make Senior nod.
The girl beams at his reply, then hurls herself into the sea...?!
"Wha—what?!?"
"I-Is that for real?! Sh-Should we save her?!"
Splash!
She plunges straight in and doesn't surface. Senior and I drop our rods in a panic and rush to the jump spot... but the crashing waves and bottomless depth make us gulp.
Sh-She didn't just die, right?
What do we do? Police? Call the cops?
Freaking out at my first-ever suicide dive, fiddling with my phone uselessly—
Flop!
"??"
Three mackerel—right?—with stark white-and-black stripes land on the rock, tossed up.
The fish arc perfectly from the sea to our feet in this bizarre scene!
Splash!!!
"Aaaahhh!!"
A girl shrieking monstrously, mouth clamped on a huge octopus, arms hugging a bunch of fish.
"...Roe Deer?"
"......"
Hmm. Calling a kid Roe Deer feels off...
'But she really looks like one.'
Ulleungdo has a sea-dominating kid roe deer, huh.
Yahoo! Traded three rockfish for six parrotfish!
Normally, rockfish are rare 'cause they're hikikomori losers living way down at the seabed—they don't bite easy... but hmm.
'So just go in and grab 'em?'
Dunno if it's this invincible TS body or if I inherited the roe deer's flashy footwork—that peak human intellect would applaud—but it works.
I can hold my breath 3-4 minutes underwater. Looks like a normal kid body, but I've got freakish strength defying buoyancy.
A physique that's top-tier corruption on land and sea alike!
"Our Peerless Warrior. Out swimming again?"
"Yep! Look~ Got tons for dinner with Mom and Dad!"
"Kehkeh. Regular dutiful daughter, you are."
"Hehe. Oh, right! Grandpa! These. Thought of you and picked 'em!"
On the way home, I brag today's spoils to the bald Supermarket Grandpa at the hill's base.
He used to freak at my roe deer vibes, grabbing his neck and passing out. Now he's used to it, just laughs it off.
About time he adapted.
He saw me beat a wild boar head-on. If he still couldn't handle it, he'd get weeded out in this harsh world.
"Aigoo~ Picking all this? You okay, no hurts?"
"I'm super tough~ You love oyster stew, Grandpa!"
I pull out a heap from my shorts pockets—couldn't fit 'em all, so stuffed in my undies. Shells that look like rocks or whatever.
Last year at the village festival, he only ate oyster stew, so I grabbed some when I saw 'em... Not like I'm a total angel. Ahem.
Th-They were a pain to pick, so how 'bout a soda at least?
Grandpa's eyes well up like he's touched, ducks into the store, and stuffs a huge bag with snacks and drinks.
......Isn't that too much?
Left hand: Basket full of tonight's snacks from the tourist uncles.
Right hand: Black bag Grandpa shoved at me.
"Grandpa! One soda's enough! You don't gotta give this much!!"
"Aigoo. Like my granddaughter, so I give. Can't slip you pocket money, so this instead."
No. Even so, you'll go broke giving like this!
Though it's a profitable deal.
I look like a cute, eye-wouldn't-hurt-to-put-in 'em kid, but Han Yuna with roe deer strength? Dunno. Point is, wild oysters fetch 1,000 won each this season.
One oyster tops a snack pack or a drink. Win for Grandpa, but that ain't the point.
Unlike the cutthroat world of haggling profits, this neighborhood's still got warm hearts alive and kicking.