God-Given Business Genius - Chapter 133

"Wow~"

Oh Jun-hee exclaimed as she examined the contents of the basket.

"There's so much! With this many clams and crabs, we could fill our stomachs even if we ate nothing else, right?"

"Indeed."

I nodded in agreement. The basket was piled high with clams that Oh Jun-hee and I had diligently gathered, along with the crabs that An Derek had hunted.

'These crabs are quite meaty. This should be quite satisfying to eat.'

The plump crabs made my mouth water. Crabs can be troublesome to eat if they're not meaty enough, often resulting in a lot of effort for little reward.

If you're not careful, you might end up wasting energy, but these crabs all had plump claws and sturdy shells, promising a delicious meal no matter how they were prepared.

"Let's hurry! We have to show this off~!"

Oh Jun-hee jumped up and down with excitement. At first, she seemed to be restraining herself, maintaining her actress image, but she appeared to be acting more comfortably as time went on.

An Derek and I followed Oh Jun-hee back to the base camp where the others were waiting.

As we walked in silence, I thought the camera directors filming us must be having a hard time.

Feeling pressured to say something, I spoke first.

"You worked hard. Thanks to you, we'll have a full dinner tonight, won't we?"

I intended to create a somewhat harmonious atmosphere. An Derek glanced at me briefly before nodding.

Please, say something to keep the conversation going. I suppressed this inner thought and tried to continue the conversation.

"I saw some mangrove forests on the way. Tomorrow, we could catch mangrove crabs there and steam them. That would be nice."

Palau is famous for its steamed crabs, after all. As I talked about cooking, An Derek's eyes seemed to sparkle a bit.

He's easy to read.

While we were at it, it seemed like a good idea to discuss our plans for tonight's dinner. Since we were the only two chefs here, it was obvious who would be in charge of dinner duty.

"Shall we grill everything directly over the fire tonight? We have clams too. It would be good to grill them together."

"That's fine. As long as they're grilled well."

"Right. The problem with outdoor barbecues is that it's difficult to control the fire. Should we smoke them instead? Everyone already ate the grilled taro earlier. I think it would be okay even if it takes a bit longer."

"Smoking takes too long. The sun will set soon, so it's better to finish before it gets dark. Let's do barbecue."

That makes sense too.

Of course, since we're filming, the lighting team will be with us, so it won't actually get dark at night.

'If we turn on the lights, insects will keep gathering. I'd like to finish filming quickly and go to sleep.'

I was feeling the accumulated fatigue from the long-distance flight with an injury, and constant movement without rest.

In that case, barbecue seems like the right choice over smoking.

"Let's do barbecue then."

As I nodded in agreement, An Derek continued.

"The most important thing when barbecuing is controlling the fire. Because the fat keeps dripping, the fire often gets too strong, burning the outside black while the inside remains raw."

Many people have probably experienced this. The outside looks nicely browned, but when you cut it open, it's almost raw inside, so you have to put it back on the grill.

At least with a gas burner, you can adjust between high, medium, and low. When grilling with charcoal outdoors, that's not possible, so beginners often end up burning everything.

I had an idea I'd been thinking about for a while.

I looked at An Derek and slowly spoke.

"How about this? If we can't control the fire... we can adjust the grill instead, right?"

"!"

An Derek looked as if he had never considered this before.

I had mentioned this to Moon Yu-han before. Unfortunately, since there wasn't much need for large-scale outdoor barbecues, it remained just an idea.

"We could make it in a pulley style, so when you pull the rope, it goes up, and when you release it, it goes down. If the flames get too strong, we raise it, and if the fire weakens, we lower it... Wouldn't that make it much easier to control?"

The method of making it is simple too. Simple enough that we could make it quickly even in the jungle.

Hearing my words, An Derek seemed to imagine a grill moving with pulleys, looking intrigued.

"That sounds interesting. It would be nice to grill meat. We can grill the clams and crabs on the grate."

"Let's hope the chicken hunt was successful then."

We could understand each other's thoughts without needing many words. As we put our heads together in agreement, the makeshift campsite that Kim Byung-man had set up came into view in the distance.

"Over here, over here~!"

Oh Jun-hee waved her hand and approached first.

"Look at this! We brought back so much~!"

At those words, the land team, who had probably been resting after chasing chickens, trudged over. Do-kyung was the first to open his eyes wide in amazement.

"Wow! This many crabs and clams?!"

"Let me see. How many... Whoa!"

Han Dong-woo also gasped in surprise. Finally, Kim Byung-man peered inside and smiled with satisfaction.

"How did it go with the chickens?"

I asked while drying my wet pant legs by the bonfire. The land team members looked at each other.

"Well..."

"We dug a trap, with Do-kyung on standby. The chief and I tried to drive the chickens into the trap, but..."

Just hearing about it, it doesn't sound easy.

Herding sheep is no easy task, let alone chickens that are even more agile.

"I've never seen chickens fly so high! We surrounded the area with fences, but they just fluttered right over them."

"You didn't catch any?!"

"No, listen to me! After all that struggle and hard work..."

Flap flap!

"We caught two!"

"Wow~!"

Han Dong-woo showed us two chickens flapping in a net.

Indeed. They were so strong that they were still struggling fiercely with their claws out.

"Hmm. This is abundant, very abundant. We might even have enough for lunch tomorrow."

"This is almost like a gourmet trip at this point."

Everyone smiled contentedly, swallowing their saliva. As they looked at An Derek and me with expectant eyes, I smiled and picked up the cleaver.

"I'll start by preparing the chickens. Let's make whole roast chicken as the main dish for tonight's dinner."

As soon as I finished speaking, everyone reacted explosively.

"Woohoo!"

"Whole roast chicken! Whole roast chicken!"

"Ah, finally some proper food after grilling plant roots."

They must have found the taro a bit disappointing.

"You'll help, right?"

I nudged An Derek's side with my elbow, and he silently took the net with the chickens and my cleaver.

"I'll prepare them and come back. Start making that movable grill you mentioned earlier."

"What? No, there are two chickens, so we can each prepare one."

Plucking chicken feathers is no easy task, and he's going to do it all alone? As I stood there confused, An Derek walked away without a word.

"...What's with him?"

Well, it's good for me since I don't have to use my injured arm.

Hmm, he must be full of energy. I shrugged and decided to focus on what I needed to do.

Now, Moon Yu-han definitely did this like this... Like this? Connect this part and this part, and make this into a pulley system?

Aha.

As I busily worked with my hands, the movement I had in mind was gradually taking shape.

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"Do-kyung, you're really lucky."

"Am I?"

Do-kyung smiled bashfully at Han Dong-woo's words. Despite his disheveled hair and glistening skin, his face was radiant.

"You know, when staying in this jungle, the three most important things are clothing, food, and shelter. And look, for clothing, you brought it with you. For food, we have two chefs. For shelter, the chief built us a house in no time. Where else can you find such a comfortable jungle experience? Hmm."

"That's true."

Do-kyung nodded.

He had come feeling tense because a senior from his group who had appeared on this program before had scared him with stories.

What was it he had said?

-Don't even ask. It's really tough, I tell you. It's hard to even wash properly. The sleeping arrangements are uncomfortable. Insects gather because of the lighting. The sound of insects is so close... I couldn't sleep well because I was so tense, worried that bugs might get into my sleeping bag. There's not much to eat, but you work so hard that you naturally lose weight. No need for separate diet management.

'...That's what he said.'

But now that I'm here, it's not as bad as I thought. I guess my senior exaggerated a bit to scare me.

Of course, there are quite a few insects, that's true.

'But even that seems to have lessened after that person mixed some kind of dry grass to make smoke...'

My eyes sting a bit, but it's more bearable than swarms of insects.

Do-kyung's gaze naturally turned to Song Woo-yeon, who was busily grilling crabs on the grate.

He had seen her once or twice on <Cold Cooking>. But that was it. There was no particular impression.

But now...

'She's definitely the same age as me, right? But why is she so adept in the jungle? It's like she lived in the jungle when she was young.'

She immediately recognized whether it was taro or some other plant just by looking at the leaves. She handles a knife as big as her forearm like it's an extension of her body.

Her attitude of quietly preparing dinner without showing any signs of difficulty somehow made her seem much more mature than himself.

'Well, they said she's the CEO of some company at that age, right? I heard she has many franchise brands.'

It's amazing how different two people of the same age can be. It felt somewhat fascinating.

Just then, An Derek, who had finished preparing the chicken meat, could be seen returning from afar.

"Oh, looks like the barbecue is about to start. Let's go!"

"Huh?"

"Hurry up and stand in front! That way we can eat at least one more bite! There are so many mouths here and only two chickens."

Urged by Han Dong-woo, Do-kyung also got up and stood in front of the barbecue. People began to gather around the fire one by one.

As An Derek placed the prepared chicken on the grill,

Sizzle~

An appetizing sound was heard. Instantly, the aroma of roast chicken began to fill the air.

'That smells delicious.'

He hadn't even realized how hungry he was. But as soon as the chicken was placed in front of him, his stomach started to growl.

'...Huh? But this looks interesting.'

Upon closer inspection, it wasn't an ordinary grill, but seemed to have some kind of mechanism. Though he couldn't tell what it was exactly.

As he tilted his head curiously, waiting for the meat to cook, that's when it happened.

Drip.

The moment the oil dripping from the chicken fell into the bonfire.

Whoosh!

"?!"

The flames suddenly surged upward.