Chapter 376
Before the full-scale fight with the fish, a fierce battle with the lugworms was unfolding.
"Owen, I can do this much, so it's okay-."
"No! I swore when I came to film today! I won't let a single drop of water get on your hands! Huh!"
"If you think about it, isn't this not water?"
I looked at Owen with pity as he failed to catch the lugworms again and again.
In
It was heartbreaking to watch him scream in front of a mere lugworm.
I tried to stop him from time to time, saying I would do it myself, but Owen's mind was already filled with thoughts of somehow getting the lugworm on the fishing rod.
After several desperate attempts, Owen finally succeeded in catching the lugworm.
"Ha, hahaha! Look, hyung-nim! I can do it!"
"Now how are you going to put it on the needle?"
"Huh!"
With a shout, Owen stuck the lugworm's body on the needle.
As a result, the lugworm was stuck awkwardly on the front and back of the needle, and it seemed like it would fall off at any moment.
"Owen. No matter how I look at it, it looks like it would fall off the needle right away if it went into the water."
"It's okay. I put the needle perfectly through the body."
".... Owen."
At my soft call, Owen blinked his eyes repeatedly and acted as if he didn't know anything.
No matter how I looked at it, my proud brother didn't seem to want to admit that he put the bait on wrong.
So I just stepped forward and folded the lugworm's body and stuck it deeper into the needle.
"Look. Wouldn't it be better to pierce it twice like this?"
"That's right.... I'm sorry! I couldn't touch it any more!"
"That's quite possible. Raise your head."
"But!"
Owen apologized and shook his head back and forth, hitting the dock.
"I don't have the face to see you, hyung-nim!"
"No, it's okay. More importantly, every scene of you is being captured on camera, so return to your normal self quickly."
Owen finally got up again and watched me catch the lugworm with a slightly gloomy expression.
In fact, when I first saw the lugworm, I felt a little uncomfortable, but thanks to my strong will not to let myself crumble in front of my brother, I was able to finish preparing for fishing.
"Here, here's your fishing rod. Hold it carefully."
"Thank you."
Owen, who was feeling discouraged, quickly received the fishing rod and tapped his cheek.
Then he deliberately gave a loud voice to cheer up.
"I will definitely make sure that you don't get a single drop of water on your hands while fishing!"
"Yes. I'm looking forward to it."
We finally made our first cast.
After confirming that the hook was well submerged in the water, we sat down.
Owen carefully moved the fishing rod here and there to attract the fish.
"Wouldn't this make it more lively and make the fish bite more?"
"If we move too much, wouldn't the fish get scared and run away?"
"Oh, that's what you thought? What should we do?"
We didn't know anything about fishing, so we just hoped for luck.
I said I didn't want to eat earlier to tease the production team, but now it was really time to get hungry.
If we catch something while fishing, we can have lunch...….
If we fail here, we have no choice but to choose another method prepared by the production team.
Then came the endless waiting time.
The calm sea seemed to have no intention of giving us anything, as the fishing rod never bent down even once.
After 30 minutes, Owen started to use the socializing technique he often used in
"Your Majesty, if we don't get a single bite in the next 30 minutes, we will be in big trouble. We heard rumors that the sea is rich in resources, so we came here ourselves, and if you treat us like this, we will be uncomfortable. Didn't you promise? You promised us delicious fish. Is your Majesty the one who breaks promises to people?"
In
Judging from Owen's current psychological state....
It must have been obvious that he wanted to erase the embarrassing scene he had shown at the lugworm earlier.
I wondered if we shouldn't threaten the Dragon King in this situation, but about 2 minutes later.
"Here, here!"
"Oh!"
Owen's fishing rod became noticeably heavier.
Owen sensed success and excitedly reeled in his rod.
"Hyung-nim, we don't have to get on the boat! Just go home and grill some delicious fish!"
I was also happy, swept up in Owen's excitement.
However, Owen's hook rose to the surface faster than I thought.
What was hanging on the end was....
It wasn't a fish jumping around, but a seaweed stem that had fully consumed the seawater.
"...."
"...."
Owen, who was excitedly reeling in the fishing line, froze with his mouth open.
I, who was also enjoying the feeling of victory next to him, just blinked, not knowing how to react.
We all thought it was fish.
In reality, it was seaweed that had absorbed a lot of seawater.
"Ah, ahaha! Hyung-nim, should we take this and eat it? We could make seaweed soup."
"...… How can you make seaweed soup with three seaweed stalks? And I'm against seaweed soup."
"Huh?"
"Because I have bad memories."
In the end, the seaweed stalks returned to the embrace of the sea.
We, who had been so excited by the first bite, put on new bait in a depressed atmosphere.
Owen looked even more gloomy than before as he watched me put a worm on his hook.
"I had high hopes. I'm just disappointed."
"It's okay. Didn't you get anything like a bite? I haven't even moved an inch yet."
"I think it's better to have nothing than to think that seaweed is fish."
After the seaweed, nothing happened for another 30 minutes or so.
The fish were avoiding our hooks, so there was no sign of anything.
I felt my form getting sore as I continued to stare blankly at the ocean.
In the end, the two of us exchanged glances and admitted our failure.
"It seems like fishing is impossible."
"I'm sorry, hyung-nim. I really... I don't have the face to face you."
"No. I didn't do anything either, so why are you apologizing? I was the one who showed off my poor fishing skills."
"Even now, borrow something like a harpoon and......."
"Oh no. No."
There was nothing we could do.
In order to somehow obtain ingredients for food, we had no choice but to use the method prepared by the production team.
The production team, who had been waiting for Owen and me to talk, greeted us with a big smile.
I wondered where they were taking us, but as expected, our final destination was a boat.
"In the end, we're going to catch mackerel."
"It's okay. It might actually be worth it."
"Haha, it's more likely to go fishing with the fishermen than fishing by ourselves."
I had been thinking about going mackerel fishing since they emphasized that mackerel was the specialty of Yokjido.
However, I was a little worried about going out to the open sea on a boat.
"Oh, is there a mackerel farm 5 minutes away?"
"Thank goodness, hyung-nim. You won't have to worry about seasickness—! Ooh!"
The fish farm was very close, so my fear of seasickness disappeared, but the boat was still not peaceful.
Even though it took a long time to get to the fish farm, the rough waves here and there made me feel like I was on a roller coaster.
Still, it felt much better than sitting on the dock and staring at the fishing rod without saying anything.
Soon, we arrived at the fish farm where mackerel were swimming.
Today's task was to drop frozen krill lumps onto the fish farm, which looked like a round swimming pool in the sea.
"If you put in food like this, they will all come."
When he threw the krill lumps into the middle of the fish farm, the water soon seemed to boil.
A festival began as countless mackerel rose to the surface.
"Wow!"
Owen was amazed like a child as he watched the mackerels make splashes to eat the krill.
In
When and where can you see such a large number of mackerels having a festival?
"How many are there in there right now?"
"About 30,000 in one fish farm."
"Thirty, thirty thousand?"
It was truly an enormous number.
As a couple more krill bundles were added, the powerful mackerels now rushed toward their prey, even somersaulting out of the water.
While we were watching this spectacle in amazement, the fisherman climbed onto the fish farm buoy holding a trash can.
The buoy surrounding the entire fish farm had enough space for a person to stand.
I thought they were going to take care of mackerel here.
"Look, if you do this once, everyone comes in."
He really put the trashcan in the water once and took it out, and three plump and lively mackerels came up right away.
"Can I try it too?"
Owen carefully climbed onto the buoy.
Concentrating as much as possible not to lose his balance, Owen scooped up the seawater with the trashcan as the fisherman had done.
Then, four mackerels came in, fluttering in the water without fail.
"Hyung-nim! Hyung-nim, try it too! It's really fun! Just put it in once and they'll come up!"
I joined Owen and looked at the school of sparkling mackerels.
"If they're this close, I should be able to catch them with my bare hands."
"Don't you think the fish are too slippery to catch with your bare hands?"
I was just curious. It really seemed like I could catch a mackerel passing by with my bare hands.
So I put one hand in the school of mackerels passing by just to try it out.
"Is it really this easy?"
"...Your skills are amazing, aren't they?"
When I grabbed a mackerel without a care, the fisherman was genuinely impressed.
"We have to get on our boat starting tomorrow, but you're no ordinary person."
"As expected of hyung-nim! Hyung-nim, what can't you do?"
"...Isn't it fishing?"
"Ah."
We went to the fish farm next door and successfully fed the mackerels, finishing the work.
The captain thanked us for our hard work and cut up a freshly caught mackerel into sashimi on the spot.
When I ate it with the special sauce, I could really see why Yokjido's mackerel sashimi was called a specialty.
"It's really chewy and savory. It's delicious."
As I eagerly ate the sashimi with my chopsticks, the captain looked at me and wondered how a foreigner could eat sashimi so well.
Then Owen smiled pleasantly and said something that Kang Si-yoon would say.
"Hyung-nim, you may look foreign on the outside, but you're Korean to the core."
"Ugh, ugh!"
I coughed because I was hit hard on the spot without meaning to.
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