Summer Vacation.
We'd had a restless night, but Da-yeon and I got up early anyway, out of habit.
"Si-yoon..."
Da-yeon opened her arms, and I crawled right into them.
She buried her nose in the top of my head for a minute, breathing, then spoke in a voice still thick with sleep.
"Wanna go check the traps...?"
"Tide's coming in. Might be dangerous with just the two of us."
"Mmmnnn... haah... the rain's way lighter now~"
We squirmed in each other's arms a while longer before I threw off the blanket and got up.
"Think we caught anything?"
I crept over to Park Ji-hoon, who was still asleep across the way, and nudged him with my foot.
I was about to kick him harder, but he reacted right away.
"Private First Class Park Ji-hoon. What is the—"
"Ack."
"..."
"This prick's giving his full rank and name."
"Ah... quit messing with me."
Park Ji-hoon looked like he was still beat and tried to pull the blanket back over himself, so I yanked it off him fast.
"Hey. Let's go pull the traps."
"Ugh, what a pain... I'm tired, man."
"All the loaches you're gonna eat are about to swim off."
He shot upright at that. Before anyone else woke up, the three of us moved to go collect the traps.
Da-yeon and I each held an umbrella in one hand and took one side of the water-filled box handle with the other.
Walking along, I enjoyed the sound of rain lightly pattering against the umbrellas.
The squelching underfoot and the rainwater slipping between my toes weren't half bad.
When we reached the irrigation channel, we could spot the line we'd marked from a distance.
Park Ji-hoon set down his umbrella and waded straight into the brush to retrieve the trap.
He went in as far as the trap line reached, pulled it out, and climbed back up.
Da-yeon was worried about him.
"Ji-hoon, be careful."
Park Ji-hoon waved a hand at Da-yeon like he was fine and kept pulling out the trap.
There were way more loaches inside than I'd expected.
"Oh, good sign."
"Whoa~ so many fish~"
We caught even more at the next spot, so before heading back to the lodging we kept just what we'd eat and let the rest go.
The moment we got back, we went into the snack shop run by the old couple who owned the place.
True to country folk, the grandmother and grandfather were already up and about early.
I asked to borrow a cauldron, then loaded in firewood and got a fire going.
We'd caught enough loaches to fill a whole pot.
To draw the slime out, I sprinkled them with coarse salt and pressed down with a colander, and the loaches started thrashing wildly.
Da-yeon was next to me, looking up the recipe on her phone.
"I've never had chueo-tang before."
"People are split on it, but... sitting right here next to the valley like this, anything's gonna taste good, right?"
"Yeah!"
With rubber-gloved hands, I scrubbed the loaches hard, then rinsed them over and over with water.
Park Ji-hoon, who'd gone to get vegetables from the grandfather, came back and pointed at the fridge.
"They said take out whatever you need."
I dropped the still-squirmy loaches into boiling water, and since there were so many, I cracked a bottle of soju and poured the whole thing in.
Da-yeon and I prepped the vegetables together—onion, chives, bracken, green onion, the stuff that goes into the stew.
I took out the fully boiled loaches, put them in a colander, and pressed down hard with a ladle until only the bones were left.
While Da-yeon seasoned it with fermented soybean paste, gochujang, and black pepper, I mixed flour into the prepped vegetables.
"Si-yoon, you wanna add eggs too?"
"Let's do it."
Once the vegetables were cooked down soft, the chueo-tang was done.
We set aside portions for the grandmother and grandfather and brought them over, then carried the rest to the raised platform by the river.
"Everybody up! Time to eat~"
"Food?"
"Yeah, Si-yoon and Da-yeon made it this morning."
I could hear Park Ji-hoon waking people up in the distance. After finishing his alarm-clock duty, he came with Tae-oh carrying the whole pot of rice.
"Whoa... we'll do the dishes."
Min-ji said it in a sleepy, croaky voice, but her stomach must have been growling—she was gripping her spoon tight.
Tae-oh and Yeon-woo came back from the grandfather with the side dishes we'd eaten yesterday.
They said he'd cursed them out with a grin, telling them they were gonna take his whole kitchen.
Once we finished setting up, I looked out at the river. The water had risen, and there was no way we were getting in.
"Hmph, I wanted to swim..."
"We can go hard tomorrow. Anybody need to head back in the morning?"
"Um, I'm okay, but..."
Looking around at everybody nodding, I guess nobody had any other plans.
I tried a spoonful of the chueo-tang Da-yeon had seasoned.
First time making it, but it was exactly what you'd expect from Da-yeon, who had an uncommon instinct for cooking.
The cool sound of the valley stream flowing by and the soft rain tapping on the tarp only worked up our appetites more.
Rice in hot chueo-tang, a piece of kimchi on top, in the crisp air. The warm broth settled my stomach.
"Ahh... right. Anybody wanna hit the mart with me? Let's grill some meat tonight."
"Oh?"
"Sis, you rest. We'll go."
"Who's driving?"
"Yeon-woo or Tae-oh can do it."
"Then buy plenty so the grandfather and grandmother can eat too."
Min-ji took the card I handed her with both hands.
We cleaned out every last bit from our chueo-tang bowls until they practically shone.
"Hoo-eeck... that was good."
"It was so good~"
They told us to rest since we'd been at it since morning, so Da-yeon and I stretched out our short legs and flopped onto the floor the moment we finished eating.
From where I was sitting, it didn't look like Park Ji-hoon had done much of anything, but he pulled a fishing rod out of my car and started enjoying himself fishing.
I watched the others cleaning up and scratched my shin with my toes. Da-yeon looked at me and smiled.
"You're totally like an old man~"
"Yeah?"
It was barely eight, but with full bellies and the weather nice and cool, we just fell asleep right there.
Around the time the sun was showing off, slipping past the clouds.
When I opened my eyes, the rain had stopped without me noticing. The only sound was the water running in the valley.
Somebody had thrown a blanket over Da-yeon and me. I wriggled out from under the stuffy blanket and checked my phone.
There were dozens of photos from shooting all day yesterday, tons of them taken underwater too.
I was about to turn my phone off after sending them to Dad.
But the 1 was gone, so I gave it a moment and called.
"Hello?"
- "So jealous~"
"Hehehe... Dad, what're you up to?"
- "Hm? I'm fishing with Si-yoon's friend's dad and Mr. Jin-seok~"
"This early? Alright, I'll send you the Su-ho and Da-yeon pictures too. Hang on."
- "Got it~"
Da-yeon had woken up at some point. She was squirming under the blanket and looking over at me.
Da-yeon mouthed the words: is that my dad?
"Yeah. He says he's with your dad."
-"Is Da-yeon next to you?"
"Yeah."
Dad asked me to put her on for a minute, so I handed Da-yeon the phone.
Da-yeon must have been talking to Lee Jin-seok—she was smiling and answering in polite speech mixed with a little aegyo.
I turned my head to check out what the others were up to.
Park Ji-hoon had taken Su-ho and Tae-oh and was fishing with the rods from my car.
The rest of them were chatting under the thatched pavilion.
I crept closer and caught Min-ji and Jun-su talking about me to Yeon-woo.
"She acts all cold, but she's actually, like, really kind? She looks totally uninterested but she handles everything. Seems like the more pitiful someone is, the more she looks out for them?"
Huh. So that's how I look from a third party's perspective.
"Plus she looks so delicate, but she's crazy good at fighting. That time Jun-su was getting hit, she just threw a straight and it was like, bam..."
Jun-su was nodding furiously next to her.
"I've never seen anyone fight that good before."
"Seriously? She's that good?"
"Watch how Tae-oh and Ji-hoon treat her. Feels like they'd both lose if they fought sis."
But Jun-su, who sided with Tae-oh and Ji-hoon, argued back.
"Come on, they're going easy on her. How would she beat those two? You can tell just watching how Ji-hoon holds back against normal people."
"No way? Sis would win. Just look at how they treat her—the hierarchy's obvious."
"I dunno about hierarchy, but Ji-hoon lets her win, I'm telling you."
Yeon-woo looked like she'd realized they were both dead serious and had no idea what to say.
I guess she couldn't imagine me being better at fighting than your average guy.
I smoothly joined the conversation.
"I do win."
""...!!""
"And not just me. Su-ho's seriously strong too. If there are rules, Ji-hoon wins every time, but in a street fight, Su-ho takes it."
"That guy?"
They stared like I'd said something shocking.
I guess it didn't match Su-ho's image—only a centimeter or two taller than Da-yeon and looking all soft and gentle.
"Yeah. Originally the top fighter among HSW security was Ji-hoon, second was Tae-oh, but now they've both been pushed down to second and third."
"No way..."
Off in the distance, we could see Su-ho catching a fish and getting excited about it like a little kid.
"Wow... guess you really can't judge people by how they look."
"I thought he was some kind of nobleman."
"He is a nobleman. He's the grandson of a U.S. governor. The eldest son, at that."
""Seriously!?""
Da-yeon and I went inside the mosquito net and wiped our damp bodies down roughly with the towels hanging there.
Looked like somebody had packed all the blankets into a box, except for the thin mat laid out on the floor.
Min-ji returned my card. I took it and put it in the wallet in my pocket.
"So what'd you guys buy?"
"Ji-hoon bought meat—all different cuts. And we got frozen buffalo wings, all kinds of sausages, shrimp, mushrooms, canned corn, stuff like that. Drinks too, a ton of them."
"Nice. Ji-hoon's gonna eat most of it anyway, so you gotta stock up."
I lay down with my head on Da-yeon's lap while she sat there playing a game, and I stared at the ceiling.
The air felt damp, but it didn't feel muggy thanks to the sound of rain starting up again.
The crisp sound of the valley stream in the distance, combined with Da-yeon's soft, pale thighs—perfect healing.
Min-ji saw us completely melted like that and gestured at Jun-su to go play over there.
Jun-su took the hint and scampered off to where Ji-hoon was.
Min-ji watched him go, then looked at Yeon-woo's thighs. She thought about it for about five seconds, then lay right down.
If I stayed lying the same way and stared at the ceiling, amazingly, over half my field of vision was blocked by a certain large something belonging to Da-yeon.
Worried Da-yeon might be getting uncomfortable, I pulled a pillow out of the box and we rolled around for a while, then started taking pictures.
It got noisy outside, so I stuck my head out and looked. Su-ho and Tae-oh had Park Ji-hoon suspended between them and tossed him into the water.
"Aack!!! I said I don't have that many clothes!!!"
"Come on, Ji-hoon, you brought like six pairs of underwear."
"Hey! You think I just wear underwear?"
If Park Ji-hoon seriously thrashed around, he wouldn't get thrown—at least not until Su-ho knocked him out cold—but it looked like they'd probably made some kind of bet.
The water was still swollen, too. Bold as hell.
I half-wondered if Su-ho would die if he got swept away, but... eh, he'd figure it out.
Park Ji-hoon went into the lodging all soaking wet, then came back out after a shower.
Ji-hoon pushed aside the insect screen and stepped into the pavilion.
"Get lost, you shit."
"What, you rent the whole place?"
"I did rent it with my money."
"Oh... well, can't argue with that~"
Park Ji-hoon flopped down right in the middle, then suddenly snatched the pillow I'd been using from under my head.
Thud.
My head hit the floor.
I sat up, and without a second thought, I drove my fist into Park Ji-hoon's face several times in a row.
"You son of a bitch, you wanna die? Use your own damn pillow, you shitstain."
"Aack!!! I said don't hit me in the head!!!"
Yeon-woo was freaking out at the sight of me utterly unhesitatingly punching someone in the face, and she tried to stop me.
What she apparently didn't know was that the bastard had his guard up, so I was only hurting my own hands.
I snatched the pillow back from Park Ji-hoon and lay down again.
Park Ji-hoon glanced at me, pulled a pillow out of the box, and lay down.
He went right to looking at his phone as if nothing had happened after getting hit. Thanks to that, Yeon-woo stared at him in disbelief,
and Min-ji just shrugged at Yeon-woo.
Park Ji-hoon had been watching animal videos on his phone, and he opened his mouth.
"Yeah, tigers are definitely the strongest."
"The hell you saying. Polar bears are stronger."
"Bullshit. Why do you think people talk about getting dragged off by a tiger?"
"What are you even talking about? Even if you go into its den, as long as you keep your head on straight you can walk out. It's nothing."
Park Ji-hoon thought for a second, then started spouting absolute nonsense.
"This dumbass never had Tiger Flakes, huh. The spirit of the tiger doesn't rise for nothing."
"? So you're saying the strength you get from eating something only amounts to that much. If it were stronger, the polar bear spirit would've risen."
"Bullshit?"
"And isn't cola more famous when it comes to food?"
"Guess this one never even watched Power Rangers as a kid. No minor-league shit like polar bears in there."
"This prick's pulling out weird logic again. Famous means strong?"
"No? It's strong because it's a tiger."
"Haah... you moron. In zoos, are there more polar bears or more tigers?"
"Obviously... more tigers?"
"Exactly, they get caught by humans all the time because they're dumb as hell."
"...Huh?"
To us it was everyday conversation, but I guess it didn't look that way to Yeon-woo.
"If a tiger gets you, all your flesh comes off. Good luck."
"Yeah~ A polar bear grazes you with its front paw and your upper and lower body separate."
"Nope. Think I'd win. Tried it before."
"Bullshit, how do you win that. You two-on-one'd it, and it wasn't even a polar bear."
"Eh? In Iron Fist does the damage change just 'cause it's a different skin?"
"Completely different, yeah? And unlike some loser, I didn't two-on-one it—I took down a tiger bare-handed, solo."
"Stop bullshitting! What, you think you're Hercules?"
"Put it in a choke and it was loving it, dying happy."
"Bullshit? Then I'll take a polar bear's back and suplex it."
"What're you talking about. You'd eat a backspin blow from the polar bear and get downed. Your head becomes lunch. Nom."
"Unbelievable. Backspin blow my ass. A tiger's got a low stance, it doesn't get hit by that crap."
"Yeah, polar bear grabs the tiger by the ear flaps, five knee kicks, and it's over."
"Ack."
"Keheh."
The two of them bickered nonsense back and forth and ended up grinning. Yeon-woo stared at them like they were crazy people.