Chapter 377
We got three fresh mackerels as a reward for finishing the mackerel farm work.
Three would be enough to take care of tonight and tomorrow morning.
Now the problem was how to process them.
"Hyung-nim. Do you know how to process fish?"
"...It would be more appropriate to say I know here, but I can't bring myself to lie."
"As expected, you are honest, hyung-nim! That's something I want to emulate."
When we returned to base camp, we neatly placed the three mackerels on the floor and fell into silence.
We have to cook these mackerels.
Since we didn't know how to process them, we couldn't do anything.
Owen must have thought we had to do something, so he suggested an idea to me.
"I heard somewhere that if you put anything in boiling water, it will be sterilized. Can't we do the same for fish?"
"....."
"Why, why aren't you saying anything, hyung-nim?"
I shook my head and said to Owen.
"Owen, I've heard a lot that my cooking skills are terrible, but you're even worse than me."
"Huh?"
"If you put fish in boiling water, it will not only be sterilized, but it will also cook as it is. But we have to prepare it beforehand."
"Oh, is that how it works?"
Owen blinked a few times as if he understood, and then said something creepy.
"If you say preparation, isn't it the same as for wild animals? Then, I think we should just cut off the unnecessary parts, like the head."
"I-If you just cut it like that, the fish might be ruined!"
"Ah, blood is going to spurt again. As expected, you're smart, hyung-nim!"
"This isn't me being smart, but you're being too reckless.........."
If things continued like this, the special delicacy I had finally acquired would end up in the trash can.
Before Owen could recklessly damage the ingredients, I quickly thought about it and decided to call for help.
'I know what kind of reaction he'll have.... but this is really unavoidable.'
I made an SOS call to someone on my cell phone.
Seleste's
-Hey, weren't you filming? Is it okay if you call me?
"It's an urgent situation right now, so it's okay."
-Why, what's happening again?
Kang Si-yoon's voice could be heard on the other end of the cell phone.
Owen was watching me closely to see who I was calling, and his expression flinched when he heard Kang Si-yoon's voice.
I glanced at him and then focused on the mackerel again.
Could it be that he was feeling jealous?
"I just got three mackerels. I didn't know how to prepare them, so I called you. You're the best at cooking."
- Ha, you miss this hyung-nim, don't you? Is it too hard without me?
".........It's not that hard."
- Then do it yourself. I'm hanging up~.
"Okay, wait a minute! That's not what I meant!"
- Haha.
I knew this would happen.
However, even though I knew it, I couldn't help but be taken advantage of by Kang Si-yoon.
I apologized to the crown prince self sleeping inside me and took a step back.
"...It's definitely hard without you."
-Yeah, you should have admitted it earlier. So, what's the problem? Cleaning? Cleaning the fish is a bit difficult.
"I don't want much. I just want to clean it enough to eat."
-Hmm.........…. Did you wash the fish in water?
"No. I just left it alone."
- First, you have to wash it cleanly in water and then scale it. Use a knife or something to quickly scale it, and um.... You have to remove the intestines, right? But that's a bit difficult. You have to cut open the belly and remove the veins.
Scaling. Removing the intestines. Removing the veins...?
I got a little dizzy from the series of tasks I've never done before.
"First, it's right to remove the head, right?"
-Yeah, it's right to remove the head. There's the mackerel's gills, right? You have to cut it diagonally to the side based on that. But the bones can be a little hard, so I recommend cutting it to one side, flipping it over, and removing the other side. If you cut off the head, the internal organs can come out as well, but this seems a bit difficult.
"So, if we summarize what you've said so far... Remove the scales, cut off the head, cut open the stomach and remove the internal organs. Is that all?"
- If I were to put it simply, that is right.
I exchanged glances with Owen after hearing Kang Si-yoon's explanation.
A look of confirmation that we could solve the task in front of us.
Owen nodded silently while looking at me.
- YouTube algorithm often talks about preparing raw fish. When I looked up cooking-related stuff, it even recommended things like how to make sashimi with an algorithm.
"Okay. I'll try my best to prepare it. Thanks for telling me. Si-yoon."
-Okay. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
"But how do you even know how to prepare fish?"
- YouTube's algorithm really seems amazing.
I thanked Kang Si-yoon again and hung up.
".........I have something to do when I go back to Seoul."
"Hmm?"
Owen spoke in a serious tone as soon as Kang Si-yoon and I finished talking on the phone.
It seemed like the strange jealousy I felt earlier was still there.
"I'm going to sign up for a cooking class right away when I go to Seoul. So next time I film this kind of content with you, I'll make sure we can do it without asking anyone else for help."
"Haha, you're really determined."
"I didn't do anything all day today.........."
Owen, who had a strong competitive spirit and obsession just like me, seemed to have been disappointed with today's schedule that started with fishing.
On top of that, he must have been worried that I had asked for someone else's help instead of his own.
So Owen must have felt even more like he needed to make up for it, so he headed to the sink with a knife and mackerel, saying that he would scale the fish first.
"This is nothing, I'm used to holding a knife~!"
The moment I heard Owen's line, I felt a strange sense of deja vu.
I've heard this line somewhere............…
Yes. It's the line I said myself when I held the knife in a strange way like I did in
Didn't they say that brothers resemble each other? But he doesn't have to do things exactly like me.
'No. He can do things differently than me-.'
I thought this for a moment, but when I walked over to the faucet and checked Owen's current situation, it was a total mess.
"Owen. It was clearly said that we had to scale it."
"Oh, haha. It ended up like this."
"This isn't scaled, it's more than half of the skin peeled off."
The mackerel's scales were scattered all over the faucet.
The poor mackerel that was hit by Owen's knife trick boasted a tattered visual with not only its scales but also its skin peeled off in some places.
I touched my forehead and pondered what to do about this disaster.
I had no idea, but Owen really doesn't have the same talent for delicate knife skills as I do.
What kind of DNA trick is this?
"I think the scales are almost all removed, so it doesn't matter."
"I'm going to cut it all up anyway, so don't worry about its appearance right now, hyung-nim. It'll all be the same once it's in the stomach."
"........In my memory, you were always picking on even the subtle differences in taste when you were eating food."
"That was then, and now it's a different situation, hyung-nim."
"You're very generous to yourself."
Just as Owen said, no matter what it looks like now, it'll all be the same once it's cooked.
I confiscated the mackerel from Owen before he could do anything worse.
I thought it would be better for me, who had gained cooking experience through various content, to take charge.
But when I actually held the knife and looked at the mackerel's miserable state, I had no idea what to do.
'Siyoon clearly told me to separate the head and intestines after cleaning the scales.'
I remember the order to cut off the head by inserting the knife diagonally next to the gills.
I carefully placed the mackerel on the cutting board and cut the sheath next to the gills.
Owen, who was watching from behind me, instinctively praised me.
"As expected, you're different from me, hyung-nim. Your posture is perfect."
"...It's not that great of a posture."
"No. It's pretty cool when you look from behind."
Is this half-lying posture with your head as close to the cutting board as possible cool?
The thought crossed my mind that I should have Owen get his eyes tested when we return to Seoul later.
To be honest, detailed work like scale cutting was difficult, but tasks like cutting the fish head didn't seem difficult for me.
However, the fish-cleaning knife, not the holy sword, still didn't fit my hand.
"Hey, why is this so hard to fit in?"
"With your brute strength, I think you should be able to cut it more than enough?"
"The bones here are stronger than I thought."
As Owen said, with my strength, I should be able to easily cut fish bones.
However, I struggled a little with the mackerel bones, which were stronger than I expected, and I couldn't make the clean cut I wanted.
In the end, I was able to cut more than half of the spine after moving the knife back and forth several times like a saw.
I decided to throw away the knife as I looked at the mackerel, whose skin and flesh had already been crushed to the point of being crushed.
"It seems like it would be faster to just tear off the remaining head by hand."
With all my might, I pulled the head of the mackerel away from its body.
-Dudududuk!
I must have pulled too hard, because some of the intestines came out along with the head.
"..."
I was speechless at the unexpectedly spectacular dismemberment show and quietly looked at my T-shirt with the remains of the mackerel splashed on it.
However, Owen, who was watching this whole mess from behind, couldn't hide his excitement, even clapping.
"You're thinking of separating the intestines all at once? I don't think I'll be able to keep up with you for a hundred years!"
"... Owen."
"Yes, hyung-nim!"
"Enough with the applause, but can you hurry up and throw away the head and intestines?"
"Of course!"
Owen boasted of his great tension and threw away the mackerel head that I had separated.
My younger brother was humming a tune, wondering what was so enjoyable about this mess that would have made Kang Si-yoon faint.
I was actually sweating from the continuous failures.
After countless twists and turns and the sacrifice of the poor mackerels, our dinner was ready.
Without anything grandiose, we simply made a dish that was within our capabilities.
The dish was simply frying the mackerel in oil and frying it until crispy, but it was enough.
"Hyung-nim, I think I'm going to cry."
"Is there something wrong? Is there dust in your eyes—"
"No, I just feel like crying because I'm eating the food you made yourself."
"Ah."
"This is the most delicious food I've ever had in my life. I think I could sell this."
"It won't be that good.........…."
It was time to get used to Owen's one-sided banter, but I was still unable to keep up with Owen's pure banter, having been accustomed to the countless pranks of the Seleste members.
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