“Can I see it up close?”
When your kidnapper asking to see something you have up close, it clearly mean that they want to take it.
Since this is the biggest fish I had ever catch, I was really reluctant to give it up, I had no choice but to ponder while hugging the trap close.
Was it right to give the minnow to the girl?
A week’s accommodation, a spoonful of the most delicious soup I’d ever tasted in my life, luxurious clothes and even a car ride I experienced for the first time in this life.
After all my thoughts, I concluded that I should probably give the minnow to the girl.
“Here you go…”
I approached the girl with the trap in my hands.
The lively minnows inside the trap were leaping about.
“Wow, these fish are really big, aren’t they?”
“Yes. It might be the biggest minnow in the world…”
“Really?”
The girl’s eyes widened in amazement.
Her surprised look didn’t seem fake.
Perhaps this minnow could settle the debt of a spoonful of soup.
“Shall I cook something with this for you?”
“With this? You, Gyeoul?”
“Yes. This is the biggest minnow in the world…”
I kept emphasizing the size of the minnow.
It was my way of asserting that it would be a delicacy to chew.
“Um… then, shall I try a dish made by Gyeoul?”
“Yes!”
My debt was gone!
I happily ran to the tent with the trap in my hands.
As I filled a dented pot with stream water, the girl crouched beside me.
“Gyeoul, I’m curious about something.”
“What are you curious about?”
“Like, what do you do when there’s a typhoon, or when wild boars come out?”
She wanted to know how I dealt with emergencies.
The more capable I seemed, the more troublesome it would be for the girl, who was a kidnapper.
I didn’t want to tell her, but I needed to make it clear to the girl that I was not to be underestimated.
“There’s a shelter over there.”
“A shelter? You have that?”
“Yes. Want to see it?”
I led the girl to a huge rubber container tucked in a corner of the tent.
It was large enough for an adult woman to fit in with room to spare.
“This is the shelter…?”
“Yes. It’s very sturdy. It even withstood a wild boar attack last time.”
“A wild boar attacked…?”
“Yes. But it held up.”
To prevent it from toppling over, I buried the bottom of the container in the ground.
I also filled it with fist-sized rocks and soil to add weight.
It was a safe and comfortable shelter that would never fall over, even in a typhoon.
‘Impressive, right?’
I gave her a look of pride.
I was quite proud of the shelter I spent an entire day creating.
“…This withstands typhoons?”
“Yes. I’ve survived four typhoons in it.”
“That’s… impressive.”
The girl’s expression hardened.
My competence must have taken her by surprise.
I decided to be a bit more assertive here.
“Once, the stream overflowed, and I almost floated away with the container. After that, I moved the house farther away and made the container heavier.”
My ability to handle crises and make quick decisions, earned through experience.
I showed the girl all my skills without holding back.
Realizing that I was not an easy opponent, she tightly closed her eyes.
She also sighed deeply while wiping her face.
“Amazing…”
“Yes. I am amazing.”
She must have felt deeply that I was not a person to be taken lightly.
Satisfied with this not-so-bad outcome, I began preparing the minnows.
There were about twenty minnows in the trap.
“We can’t eat the tiny ones. They’re too hard to clean.”
“Really? So, you’ll release them back into the stream?”
“No, I dry them and then crush them to spread over the garden. It helps the plants grow better.”
To think of releasing such precious catch.
That’d be a waste.
“Ah, you use them as fertilizer…”
“Yes, as fertilizer.”
I spread the minnows on a large flat rock and picked up a blunt knife.
With practiced movements, I cleaned the scales and gutted the minnows.
The extracted innards would be dried and used as fertilizer.
“You’re really good at cleaning them.”
“…I am a master at removing innards.”
Wow.
Did I just say something really scary?
I glanced at the girl, but she was just curiously looking at the minnows.
Apparently, words like ‘innards’ weren’t much of a threat to the crazy witch.
“Are you going to eat these raw?”
“No, we need to boil water…”
Eating freshwater fish raw.