Chapter 191

<Slowpoke>

***

In the past, Jin-hyeok had read almost every book in the middle school library, from novels to educational books. There’s one story that comes to mind now, something like a folktale. It’s about a region deeper into the seaside than Jin-hyeok’s neighborhood.

‘Was it Iwon-myeon? Or was it the old name, Ibuk-myeon?’

Long ago, there lived a filial son named Son. His father was gravely ill, and no matter how much good medicine they tried, nothing worked. One day, unable to carry his father to the doctor in the big village, he begged and pleaded until the doctor came to them.

The doctor said, “If his stool tastes bitter, he will live. If it tastes sweet, he doesn’t have long.” When the son checked his father’s stool and found it sweet, he wept.

Huff, puff.

Jin-hyeok didn’t know why that story came to mind while digging in the drained sea, but he felt relieved.

‘Nowadays, there are plenty of hospitals, and a medical center will open soon. I don’t have to go through that.’

He might not be as filial as that son, but he could catch sea anemones for his cowardly dad! He’d make a potion of courage out of them!

“Ouch, my back.”

Labor and exercise really do affect the body differently. It was a moment that proved the old folks wrong when they said, “Don’t waste money on exercise; just work.” The superhuman body of Jin-hyeok was evidence.

If there were a status window, it might say:

‘You’ve spent 1 gold on exercise and gained muscle soreness. Spend 1 more gold to convert muscle soreness into muscle. Use it? (Yes/No)’

Exercise and labor use different muscles, so the logic is different.

‘You’ve earned 1 gold and a bad back from labor. You’ve spent 3 gold on treatment.’

In the end, you still lose 2 gold.

“Whew, let me catch my breath.”

Jin-hyeok, who had been enduring back pain with wild imagination, finally straightened his back. Like a fool for his sister, he went looking for her first, running around the tidal flat.

Even though the tidal flat was vast, finding his sister wasn’t hard. She was hopping around like a rabbit, shouting at the top of her lungs.

“Mija-yaaa!”

Yoo-jin was running barefoot all over the tidal flat. Last Sunday, they had stayed out until sunset, just watching the sea. They skipped stones and even rolled up Yoo-jin’s pants to splash in the water.

She had come with high hopes, only to be disappointed by the full seawater. Jin-hyeok had to comfort her.

Even though she loved the sea, she couldn’t play there often because it was dangerous. So, spending time like that was meaningful for Jin-hyeok too. Seeing his sister happy gave him a sense of fulfillment.

Hehehe.

Today, Jang Gun-i and Hong-shi had come along too. Jang Gun-i was a clever dog; last time, he hadn’t joined because he knew the water hadn’t receded.

“You should’ve told me if the water wasn’t going to recede, you rascal!”

Crunch.

The ungrateful dog just chewed on a crab he caught. Still, it was impressive that whenever he caught something, he always brought it to Jin-hyeok to eat. It must mean he felt safe.

His snout, whiskers, and even his belly fur were covered in mud, but Jang Gun-i didn’t seem to care. Well, he’s a dog, so maybe he doesn’t care.

Snap!

The crab pinched his nose again.

“Hahaha! Eat the claws first, you rascal!”

Hong-shi, who didn’t know the taste of crab, just dug in the dirt, chasing after Yoo-jin.

Ugh, just thinking about bathing those long-haired creatures makes me dizzy.

“Oppa! The sea anemones here are huge!”

“Oh, really? Coming!”

Sea anemones are fascinating creatures. They live in tidal flats, sandy areas, and even in tight rock crevices. Their resilience makes them a good tonic, right?

But Jin-hyeok was still skeptical about eating them.

“Hahaha!”

Yoo-jin was having fun poking her fingers into every sea anemone she found. When she touched them, their tentacles would stick to her fingers, and their bodies would contract sharply, squeezing her fingers. She found it amusing.

“They look like butts!”

“Hehe, yeah. Sea anemones’ mouths are like butts. They eat and poop through there.”

“Ohhh?”

Yoo-jin turned to look at her own butt, clearly shocked.

Oh, Yoo-jin.

She must be imagining eating food through her butt.

Don’t wiggle your butt!

No creature is as obsessed with farts, poop, and butts as kids.

Yoo-jin claps and laughs every time Jeong-won farts. It’s a relief she’s not interested in her brother’s butt.

“Oppa! Finding sea anemones is so easy!”

“Oh? Did you figure out the secret?”

“Yeah!”

Yoo-jin nodded confidently.

“Sea anemones only live where water pools!”

“Ohhh?”

Jin-hyeok thought about all the places he’d found sea anemones before.

Sure enough, there were slight depressions where the sea anemones were, as if tiny meteors had hit. The seawater pooled there.

Actually, they exist even where water doesn’t pool, but there was no need to correct Yoo-jin.

“Thanks to you, we’ll catch a lot of sea anemones.”

“Heehee.”

Catching sea anemones wasn’t hard at all. You just had to dig to the right depth with a shovel or hoe.

The hard part was bending over and digging nonstop.

“Ouch, it broke.”

“Ouch, that must hurt. Sorry, Mija.”

“Hahaha, is her name Mija because she’s a sea anemone?”

“This one’s Misoogi. That one’s Mikyung.”

But Mikyung? Really? Jin-hyeok muttered as he dug deeper to pull out Mikyung’s roots.

“Ouch, my back. Let’s take a break.”

“Hooo.”

When Jin-hyeok tried to rest his aching back, Yoo-jin would soothe the sore spot.

She pinpointed it perfectly, even though Jin-hyeok himself didn’t know where it hurt. He couldn’t help but be amazed.

“Can you see where it hurts, Yoo-jin?”

“The sore spots make my heart beat faster.”

Well, she always says that when she touches water, so it must mean she can tell where it hurts.

“You know you can’t tell others about this, right?”

“I know! You said bad men would take me away if I told!”

No matter how many times he warned her, it was never enough.

If someone took an interest in a child like her, who was practically a mutant, peace would be shattered. Jin-hyeok held back his strength out of the same concern.

Even if he could somehow escape, his ordinary family wouldn’t be able to.

Anyway, thanks to Yoo-jin, he couldn’t rest properly.

The brief respite ended with a glance at the tidal flat and sandbar, glowing under the transparent autumn sun. The damp, fishy air cleared his lungs.

Huuu, haaa. The smell of the tidal flat, mixed with the stench, made his eyes water with satisfaction. He was born a country boy.

“Let’s see how many we’ve caught.”

“We need to fill it up!”

“Fill it up?”

The basket was already half full.

Was Yoo-jin planning to wipe out Misoogi and Mija? Even Mikyung?

“There are a lot of people.”

Yoo-jin’s eyes were determined.

“Sorry. I didn’t think it through.”

With SSS, Mikyung’s family, and Jo Il-hun to consider, even a full basket wouldn’t be enough.

We can’t forget Grandpa Cheon Gil-ryong either.

“What are those adults doing over there? They’re waddling like ducks.”

“They’re farming clams. Must be clam-digging day.”

“Ah, clams!”

Yoo-jin might start calling Jo Il-hun “Jo Il-hun-i” soon.

Lately, she’s been adding “-i” to words with 받침 (final consonants), probably something she learned in kindergarten. Or maybe it’s from calling Jang Gun-i.

Where Yoo-jin pointed, adults in sun hats and towels were busy working. They were farming clams in an area mixed with sand, small stones, and mud. Since they farmed over such a wide area, the harvest season wasn’t heavily affected by the weather, except during extreme heat.

“I remember digging clams with you there when it rained a lot.”

“Yeah, we did. That’s why we went home early, right?”

It must have been before the rainy season started.

The fishing village occasionally opened the farm for the villagers, but it happened to be just as the rainy season began. Jin-hyeok remembered carrying Yoo-jin and running for cover when the rain suddenly poured down.

“The knife-cut noodles were delicious.”

“Yoo-jin, are you hungry?”

“No?”

It would be weird if she were hungry.

It hadn’t even been two hours since breakfast.

“Next time we dig clams, let’s make knife-cut noodles again. We can even put them in ramen.”

“Heehee.”

Yoo-jin wasn’t greedy.

She was satisfied as long as she ate well, bathed cleanly, and slept warmly. One stuffed animal was enough for her.

‘Is it natural not to be greedy when you lack nothing?’

Jin-hyeok felt the same.

Every time he came to the sea, he thought about what he lacked.

In this life, Jin-hyeok had everything others had.

Not just wealth, but even though they lived apart, he had brothers and sisters.

‘Now, my only lack is humanity.’

Humans are still difficult.

That’s why Yoo-jin still seems more mature.

She’s like a blank canvas, writing the traces of humanity from the start. That’s why she learns and accepts the world as it is, without error.

Jin-hyeok’s past is too deeply engraved in his cells, so no matter how much he tries to rewrite it, it doesn’t fade.

The gap between Yoo-jin and Jin-hyeok is that big. Like the gap between a bright child and a grumpy old man with eccentric beliefs.

“Wow, it’s heavy. I can’t lift it.”

Yoo-jin tried to lift the now-full basket and stuck out her tongue.

There was no more room, so it was time to go home.

“Good thing we filled it before lunch.”

Jin-hyeok looked back at the traces of his digging.

“Whew, I dug a lot.”

Even after restoring the area where they dug up the sea anemones, the traces of Mija, Misoogi, and Mikyung’s homes remained.

Hehe, I secretly left Mina behind. Be happy, Mina!

***

Suddenly, a sea anemone processing station was set up at the yard’s water tap.

Han Yu-young, Jang Jin-nam, and Kim In-rang joined Jin-hyeok’s work.

“Cut them in half like this with scissors.”

Han Yu-young followed her son’s demonstration. She had eaten them before but had never cooked them. She had learned from Gwak Hyang-rim, but following Jin-hyeok’s example was easier.

“It’s better to scoop out the insides. There’s a lot of mud and sand. Scoop out most of it, and the rest will come out with salt.”

The body was as obscene as the roe of a tasty clam, but no one made any lewd comments. No one would dare make such jokes in front of Han Yu-young.

Snip, snip.

For a while, only the sound of scissors could be heard.

“But what does this taste like?”

“I don’t remember. I haven’t had it since my mom made it when I was little.”

Han Yu-young couldn’t satisfy Jang Jin-nam’s curiosity.

If she doesn’t remember, who can blame her?

‘Mom doesn’t remember anything.’

If she went to a hearing, she’d be a perfect witness.

Han Yu-young’s generous objectivity was, from Jin-hyeok’s perspective, turning into bad memory.

While the adults busily worked, Jin-hyeok set aside two handfuls of unprocessed sea anemones to wash with solar salt. This way, the impurities would come out.

Now, they needed to dry them on a fish drying rack.

“I know! You’re going to dry and grill them, right?”

Yoo-jin, who was bathing Hong-shi, asked.

“Yeah. You’re so smart, Yoo-jin.”

But where should I skewer them?

The stakes in the pepper field are too thick, and iron skewers are unhygienic.

‘Let’s think about it slowly.’

Grilling them on a wire rack and then skewering them with chopsticks would make Yoo-jin happy.

After finishing the processing, Jin-hyeok sprinkled a lot of solar salt on the sea anemones.

Now, he spread his legs wide, bent over, and started sucking the sea anemones in the large sieve.

Slurp, slurp.

“They’re clean. That should do it.”

“Yes.”

Han Yu-young stopped Jin-hyeok, who was cleaning the sea anemones as if they were his enemies.

Since there were so many, they decided to cook them in the pot hung in the yard.

Kim In-rang lit the fire, and Jang Jin-nam hung the cleaned pot again.

“Hussah!”

“Hya! As expected, Senior Jang! You’re so strong, lifting the pot like that.”

“It’s not that I’m strong. It’s that In-rang is weak.”

“Yeah…”

Jang Jin-nam, holding two long wooden spatulas like twin swords, stepped forward to cook.

“The person who usually cooks should do it for better taste.”

It’s best to leave it to him.

Without a word, Jin-hyeok stepped back, giving a suspicious look.

It’s not that he didn’t trust Jang Jin-nam.

‘Can we really eat this weird thing?’

Once doubt sets in, it’s hard to shake.

Jang Jin-nam checked the pot’s temperature by spreading his palm and nodded, then poured perilla oil into the pot.

Sizzle.

He stirred the oil a few times to spread it evenly, then added the sea anemones.

Sizzle, splash.

The deadly white noise. And the rapidly rising steam maximizing the effect.

A spatula show resembling a sword dance unfolded in Jang Jin-nam’s hands.

The sea anemones, which had filled a basket when they arrived, seemed to have multiplied after being cut in half and cleaned.

But in front of Jang Jin-nam, the Goliath wielding spatulas instead of a club, they were just humble cooking ingredients.

Sizzle.

“The fire seems too strong.”

“Yes! I’ll take some out!”

Kim In-rang cheerfully removed a few pieces of firewood.

Even though he couldn’t meet Hwang Ga-yun due to weekend work, Kim In-rang was in a good mood, smiling nonstop.

Is this what being a pro is like? Jang Jin-nam barely opened his mouth while cooking. Maybe he was afraid of drooling. Jin-hyeok, interpreting it in his own way, thought there was something to learn from everyone.

“Senior? But aren’t you adding water?”

“I’m just following what Jin-hyeok told me. He said a lot of water comes out of the sea anemones.”

“Ah! They’ve already shrunk.”

Indeed, without adding water, the plump sea anemones had noticeably shrunk, and the broth was abundant.

Kim In-rang glanced around for a moment.

Han Yu-young and Son Yoo-jin were bathing Jang Gun-i at the water tap. Hong-shi was well-behaved, so Yoo-jin could handle her alone, but Jang Gun-i was so wild that someone had to hold him tightly.

Confirming that the mother and daughter were far away, Kim In-rang leaned in and whispered to Jang Jin-nam.

“It’s kind of similar… after draining the water, it shrinks.”

“Hahahahahaha!”

Without needing to think about what it meant, Jang Jin-nam crouched down, holding his stomach.

Thanks to his flexibility in distinguishing what to say and what not to say, he had held back, but he had been thinking that his long, plump appearance made him manly.

If Zhang Fei from the Three Kingdoms wore an apron and laughed, it would look like that.

Satisfied with his own dirty joke, Kim In-rang also laughed, patting Jang Jin-nam’s back.

They didn’t care if Son Jin-hyeok saw or not.

That sleepyhead is too dense to understand anyway.

‘What’s so funny?’

Even though he was close and had sharp ears, Jin-hyeok couldn’t fully understand their conversation because the subject was missing.

What shrinks when you drain something?

Did the bank balance shrink after withdrawing money?

Hey, let’s laugh together.