Chapter 93: Chapter 93: A Fun Eel Hunt (Part 2)
“Ouch.”
That hurt.
“See. I told you they bite,” Byung-hoon said with a smile. Then all of a sudden, he made a grab for another eel. Unfortunately, he failed.
“Aw, sssshhhh….” He stopped himself from cursing just in time.
“Hmm…”
I looked down at the water. It was very murky. I couldn’t quite make out anything, but there were a lot of eels swimming around me. Are you telling me these men really couldn’t catch them?
“Hehe.” I suddenly giggled.
“What?” Byung-hoon said, looking at me.
“I got one.”
“What?” Byung-hoon said, looking confused. Of course, it’s true. I stepped on the eel that had bitten me on the heel. It was struggling, but my foot had a firm grip on it.
“You caught one?”
“Where?”
“Under my foot.”
“Huh, let me see.”
Byung-hoon then bent down and reached for my foot. Not long after, he smiled.
“Wow, she really got one! Move your foot.”
“Okay.”
I moved it and then, Byung-hoon held up the eel.
“We have one!” he shouted. Everyone gasped and gave an applause, looking equally shocked and impressed.
“Wow!”
“Whoa! Look at the size of that thing!”
It was surprising enough that I caught one, but the size was rather impressive as well. Byung-hoon also exclaimed in surprise.
“Ha!” he shouted, throwing the eel towards the dry ground.
Flap! Flap! Flap! Flap!
The eel began to flap on the bank, clearly not planning to go down easily. Sadly, it was of no use. The eel will soon suffocate and die. Now that I think about it, since when are eels that big? It was easily the size of Junho’s arms.
“Wow! Great job, Sir!” Hye-jeong said, giving Byung-hoon a thumbs up. Everyone else did as well.
“No, it wasn’t me! It was Sian!”
At Byung-hoon’s words, everyone immediately looked very confused.
“She stepped on it with her foot,” he said.
“Really, Sian?”
Everyone laughed. Yeah okay, it does sound absurd. Just then, Sung-hwan spoke up.
“Sian, you sure are lucky. I can’t believe an eel swam under your foot. Maybe he has a crush on you.”
‘Bastard,’ I said to myself. So they just see me as someone who gets by with luck, huh? They seriously think an eel just happened to slip itself under my foot? If I were the eel, I’d be incredibly pissed. Why would an eel voluntarily swim itself under my foot? He bit my heel and then I seized the opportunity to step on it. I bet the eel finds the whole thing absurd. He probably never expected to be stepped on like that.
“Well! Since Sian caught one, let’s try harder! We can’t lose to a girl!” Byung-hoon shouted.
With a rallying cry, everyone splashed around, trying to catch another eel. Including me. But just before I could do so, Hye-jeong called for me.
“Hey Sian.”
“Yeah?” I said, looking at Hye-jeong. She had her pants rolled up too. Was she planning to come in?
“I want to go in as well,” she said, holding out her hand.
“But you’re clumsy.”
“Am not!” Hye-jeong said. Then, was it her doppelganger that fell on her butt back there?
Anyways, I reached out and took her hand, helping her into the water.
“Wow! F…it’s cold!” Hye-jeong said, barely stopping a curse word from slipping out. Well…not that I’d blame her. It really is that cold.
“Freezing?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, have fun.”
“Can I just step on them?”
“….”
Was she crazy? She can’t possibly think it’s that easy.
“Ask the hosts.”
“Okay…ah!”
All of a sudden, Hye-jeong shouted and ran towards me. She began to scramble upwards, clinging onto me as she screamed.
“Um…Hye-jeong…what are you…”
‘Not bad.’
She had both of her arms and legs wrapped around me like a koala. I know I shouldn’t think about it, but I couldn’t help enjoying myself.
“J-just now! An eel!”
“Did it bite you?”
“Uh-huh! Sniff.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Who knew even Hye-jeong could be this cute when she’s scared? I never expected that. I looked around and noticed all the men looked rather jealous of me. They clearly wanted to be in my position. Perverts. Then again, having Hye-jeong wrapped around me was nice. I could see why they would be jealous.
“Do you want to get out?”
“Yeah….” Hye-jeong said, nodding like a baby. I helped her back onto land. Now back to hunting.
“Alright. Let’s do this.”
Just then, another eel bit me. I stepped on it again.
Whaaaaaa!
The sound of something popping and releasing air bubbles reached my ears. Maybe I stepped on it too hard. I reached down and grabbed the eel. Its head was flat.
“Oops. Guess I stepped on it too hard.”
I felt bad, but on the other hand, it was probably a good thing for the eel. After all, it died fairly quickly. Unlike the other eel that was still weakly flopping and drawing for air on the dry ground. To be honest, it’s better to die quickly, like this guy did. Anyways, I plopped him on the bank with the other eel. That woke Ji-chun up. I accidentally hit him with the eel.
“What’s this?” Ji-chun asked, looking at the eel with the flattened head. The staff all gathered around as well.
“Ugh. These people.”
I resumed my hunt.
Whoosh!
I caught another one and splashed it onto the riverbank. Ji-chun immediately let out another scream.
This one was as big as one of Sung-hwan’s arms. Ji-chun then glared at me.
“Why do you keep throwing them at me, huh?”
“Oh. Sorry,” I apologized.
Surprisingly, I kept throwing it in his direction and eventually, Ji-chun went to go hide behind the staff. Nonetheless, there were others who were more shocked than he was. Those more shocked were the three other men, Byung-hoon, Junho, and Sung-hwan. They watched with shocked faces as I easily caught one eel after another.
“Hey, Sian. How do you catch them so fast?” Sung-hwan asked, looking very impressed.
Just then, another eel died under my foot. I picked it up and handed it to Sung-hwan, who gave a frightened shout. An eel with a flattened head would be shocking, but is it really? Some people need to man up. And so, I handed it to Byung-hoon instead.
“Here. For you.”
“Wow.”
Byung-hoon stared at the eel’s flattened head in amazement, but he didn’t seem frightened nor did he shout. He really is at a different level.
“How hard did you step on it?” Byung-hoon asked, examining the eel. He looked kind of sad. What’s the big deal? We’re going to eat it anyway.
“Let’s go back to hunting,” I said with a bright smile. And with each one I caught, I tossed it towards Ji-chun. Thanks to him, the staff were splashed as well. In the end, I caught around twenty eels.
***
Snap, crackle pop. Snap! Pop!
Four of the eels were on a spit and were cooking nicely. We caught twenty-six, but we gave the other twenty-two to the staff. You’re probably wondering why we didn’t just let them go. Their fates were sealed the moment they were caught. Thanks to us – that is, thanks to me – the staff were happy.
“Sian, you’re amazing. The three of us only caught six in total, but you caught twenty by yourself…it’s scary,” Byung-hoon could not help but say. He looked at me as if he’d never seen anyone like me before…which was probably true.
“You’re a really good hunter. Do you want to go to an eel festival with me sometime?” Sung-hwan asked.
“No,” I said firmly. Sung-hwan’s face fell.
“But you,” Ji-chun said, planting himself next to me.
“Yeah?”
“You know you kept throwing the eels at me, right? You soooo did that on purpose. Do you know how scared I was? I almost had a heart attack!”
“Oh, sorry. Hahahaha….”
It was fun though. The sight of Ji-chun screaming was totally worth it.
“Since you owe me, you should come onto my show,” Ji-chun said.
“What kind of show?”
“Albamon.”
“Albamon?” I repeated. What’s that?
“It’s a show where celebrities work at my restaurant part-time.”
“Part-time?”
It already sounded annoying.
“Yeah. My restaurant is so busy these days. You’ll definitely suffer if you come on the show.”
“It sure sounds different.”
“It’s creative.”
“Well, then I’ll creatively decline,” I said with a big smile. No way am I doing something like that. Besides, it’s time I took a break. I’m so tired of doing all these shows.
“Are you serious? You’re really doing this to me? I’m so mad at you!”
“It can’t be helped anyway. Why don’t you ask Hye-jeong?”
At that, Hye-jeong glared at me.
“Do I look like I’d go on a show like that?” she demanded.
Ji-chun’s face fell.
“Are you trying to hurt my feelings?” He pouted.
“Sorry,” Hye-jeong said.
“Just kidding. You don’t need to be on a show like that,” Ji-chun said. Everyone nodded in agreement. At that, Ji-chun pouted again. Then again, it was true. Ji-chun’s show had a rating of just barely 2%. On top of that, it was a cable show. Who would want to be on a show like that? Ji-chun kept talking as if the show would take off soon, but I don’t see that happening. It will probably be cancelled after a few months. Anyways, as we were chatting, the eel finished cooking.
“Now. It’s two to each eel. If anyone wants more, there’s one more here, but you probably won’t need it,” Byung-hoon said, dividing up the eels evenly.
He was right. The eels are so big, they were plenty for two people. We could’ve probably gotten away with cooking just two eels. Well, for everyone else anyway. For me, I felt like it wouldn’t be enough.
“Here, Hye-jeong,” I said, cutting the eel in half. Hye-jeong’s face brightened up as she took it.
“Wow~ it smells great.”
She sure is happy around food.
“Hey, Hye-jeong.”
“Yeah?”
“Did you wash your butt?”
“What do you mean?” Hye-jeong asked, tilting her head to the side. She’s probably wondering why I’m asking about her butt.
“You fell into your mess earlier, remember?”
“Oh, that? It’s fine. I’m pretty clean, you know.”
“….”
Words had completely escaped me, but Hye-jeong wasn’t finished.
“It’s not like I can take a real shower here. I’ll get by.”
“….”
That’s disgusting. Did she just say she doesn’t intend to take a shower? I stared at Hye-jeong. It looked pretty dirty. She was still pretty though. I guess that’s where all her confidence comes from.
“This is the first time I’ve seen a female cast member not care about their looks on the show,” Byung-hoon said as he stuffed his mouth with eel. Junho nodded next to him.
“Though it’s the first time we’ve had such pretty female cast members to begin with,” he added.
At that, everyone else nodded as well. To them, we were still beautiful, even with how messy we looked.
