I'm Having a Mukbang on a Deserted Island

As we kept walking beyond the grove of fake palm trees, I noticed the wind was flowing a little differently.

The sea breeze was taking a strange turn between the low rocky ledges.

So this was where the strange trace of mana I'd sensed was coming from.

After pushing through the bushes and taking a few more steps, the forest suddenly came to an end.

Black rocks were exposed beneath it.

Shallow pools of water remained in the gaps between the rocks, and the ground was covered in white—not sand, but finely crushed seashells.

It was clearly a rocky area that was submerged at high tide and only exposed at low tide.

"What is this place…?"

"There has to be something to eat here."

Right as I said that, something moved sluggishly among the heaps of white shells!

Whoosh!!

I sent a Wind Cutter at it, and it sprang up into the air before it could escape.

"Eek!"

The assistant manager jumped in surprise and hunched her shoulders.

She darted right behind me. It was cute.

"W-what is it? What came out?"

The assistant manager clutched my side and peeked out.

"Look."

It was better to show her than explain.

At first, the thing that had sprung out from between the rocks looked like a big lump of stone.

"Aah!!"

This time, the assistant manager cried out in delight.

"Isn't that a crab? A crab!!"

Correct.

And not some tiny crab or fish the size of a fingernail that we'd found by combing the shore.

It was a super rock crab, with a shell as big as a small pot lid.

"That's dinner tonight."

Maybe this island wasn't so bad after all?

"Wow! It's really huge~."

I only realized how big it was after catching it.

Its shell was like a shield, and each claw was thick enough to crush a rock.

You could tell its legs were packed with meat, joint by joint.

"It's really nice and plump."

The assistant manager swallowed hungrily.

"This is insane. Seriously, it's crazy. Even a premium snow crab that costs fifty thousand won per kilo isn't this big."

"I've never had anything like that…"

The only crab I'd ever eaten was the cheap red snow crab they sell at the supermarket for making ramen broth on your birthday.

"Let's eat it!"

"Here?"

"Of course we have to cook it first! Are there more? Let's take a whole bunch back and eat them!"

The assistant manager was really getting excited.

The sight of those crazy super rock crabs had sent her into a frenzy.

What kind of creature was a crab, as food?

Even in the modern age, with all our seasonings and cooking techniques, its natural flavor was so incredible that just steaming it could put fine dining to shame. There were very few creatures like that.

"Can you catch them without hurting them too much?"

"Without hurting them too much…"

That was a surprisingly difficult request.

"Oh, it's not a must or anything, but this one's left claw is a little damaged, and I feel bad for it…"

"We've gone from 'knock down logs with ease' to 'gently knock down crabs,' huh."

"Mmm~! Please, Woojin."

I laughed at the assistant manager's little nasal "Mmm."

She seemed embarrassed by it herself, because her face turned red.

"You can do it, can't you, Woojin? Please?"

"I'll give it a try."

───All right. In that case.

With our dinner decided, how many crabs I could bring back was up to my skill.

As a man, this was a situation that really got me fired up.

Especially with a pretty woman behind me, watching with sparkling eyes as she anticipated my haul.

I'd already practiced the trick of finely distributing pressure when I made those premium planks.

But… hmm. How much force should I use?

Just enough not to damage their shells…

'I'll sweep them up gently.'

A direct attack wasn't a good idea.

And for the sake of keeping the crabs fresh, I couldn't use an attack that would kill them instantly, either.

If so, there was only one answer.

I wandered around the rocky area, and whenever my detection magic picked up a crab─

"Hup!"

I used the wind like a ladle and scooped it up in one swift motion.

Whooosh!

Before the crabs floating in the air could fall, I made a cushion of air to catch them.

"Ta-da."

It was almost magic—no, it was actual magic.

"Wow~!"

Clap, clap.

The assistant manager burst into applause.

How about that? Air cushion technique.

"It's amazing that you caught them alive, Woojin!"

"Take them before they escape."

"Just a moment."

Seoyoon immediately laid the broad fresh leaves we'd just gathered on a flat rock.

"Over here! Could you put them here?"

It wasn't telekinesis, so it was a little hard to set them down exactly where I wanted…

Still, I could give it a try.

The assistant manager could take care of any that landed off target.

"Here they come."

Whoosh.

I carried the crabs, upside down on the air cushion, over on a gust of wind.

At first, I was a little off target, but with the assistant manager's help, we soon had the crabs laid out on the fresh leaves.

"Watch out for the claws, Assistant Manager. They could cut your fingers off."

"Leave it to me!"

Two large crabs and about three medium-sized ones.

Even if I wanted to take more, we didn't have room.

That was enough for today, right?

The assistant manager carefully folded the leaves over the crabs, avoiding their claws.

We'd successfully caught them alive.

"See? The leaves came in handy, didn't they?"

"They sure did."

I didn't really want to put them straight into the bag like that.

Wrapping them in leaves we'd found made for a pretty neat package.

"I'm ready to gather more."

Seoyoon's eyes sparkled, but I thought it would be best to stop hunting here.

"Let's call it on the crabs and gather some shellfish instead."

"Can't we catch more?"

"……"

I focused on the flow of mana.

Just like the trees whose quality I'd checked, the crabs had their own telltale traits.

Probably…

"The ones left are probably females full of eggs."

"…Oh, I see."

"And if we want to catch more next time, it's better to leave the small ones alone."

"That makes sense. If we want to keep coming back here to gather food… Heh."

The assistant manager was cheerful the whole time, probably relieved not to have to worry about dinner today.

"How do you find places like this so easily?"

"I'm a wizard, remember?"

"I'm glad you're a wizard, Woojin. If it were just us…"

If I weren't here? Hmm.

"You wouldn't have died already or anything, but one thing's for sure: by now, the bugs would be having an all-you-can-eat buffet from head to toe."

"Ugh… That's a frighteningly vivid picture."

Food aside, you should be grateful for the bug barrier.

When I'd used detection magic earlier, I'd seen a black cloud gathered outside the barrier.

I'd realized it was a swarm of flying insects and shuddered.

They were like mosquitoes pressing their snouts against a screen, thinking, 'Why can't we get in when there are delicious humans in there, dammit?'

"Shall we gather some shellfish now?"

"Sounds good. Oh, I hope we're the only ones who know about this place…"

I couldn't agree more.

If other people found out super crabs were roaming around here, they'd be picked clean in no time.

Then my decision to spare the female crabs would be for nothing.

'The shellfish are nice and plump, too.'

They'd make the perfect side dish.

"What do you think of this one?"

The assistant manager showed me a shellfish and asked.

"Let's be ruthless and leave behind any that look even slightly cracked."

"Isn't that a waste?"

"Eating wild shellfish can get you into serious trouble…"

Even mussels and oysters we commonly eat can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing.

No matter how thoroughly you cook them, large shellfish might still have toxins in them.

"I'll pick out the ones that look safe."

I focused on my detection magic.

Using mana detection to check whether food was safe hadn't failed me yet.

Perhaps mana gave me another sense, one that let me judge things in a different way.

Like how we can tell something has gone bad through smell or taste…

Mana, too, had its own extended sense that could distinguish whether something was good or bad.

I couldn't explain it very well…

In short, I didn't have to put something in my stomach and wait for my body to digest it to know.

For now, that much understanding seemed good enough.

In fact, when I checked with detection magic, some cracked shellfish gave off a very bad feeling.

That was proof they had already spoiled or accumulated toxins inside.

I decided to take only a few handfuls of the large shellfish that looked safe.

"We've really found the perfect food spot. I guess the crabs got so plump by eating fish and shellfish washed in from the sea."

"Now it's our turn to eat the crabs."

"That's right. Hehe."

Once our exploring was mostly done, I could see the day gradually drawing to a close.

"Oh, the sun's already…"

"Time really flies when there's no YouTube."

Kang Seoyoon giggled.

"It really does. People in the old days probably weren't all that bored, either."

"Back then, they'd have spent all day getting food ready and taking care of daily life."

At first, I'd fantasized about watching short videos, too.

Muttering things like 'Goodbye' or 'Faker's movement is insane'…

But at some point, those thoughts had stopped coming to me.

Today, finding crabs with the assistant manager had made me a hundred times happier.

"Let's head back and cook them right away!"

"Sounds good."

The assistant manager strode ahead with a happy expression.

* * *

When we returned to our rocky shelter, everyone's eyes turned at once to the fresh leaves the assistant manager had spread out.

The super rock crabs were moving their claws around.

"Wow! Crabs!!"

Luka reacted first.

Ah, Luka was Japanese. Of course she'd go crazy for crab.

"Crabs!? How did you find something like this?"

The manager was speechless, her eyes wide.

She must have been surprised by how huge they were.

I used the Glyph of Wind to push the rock crab back toward the center as it slowly tried to escape.

The crabs were still fresh and alive, scraping at the long leaves with their claws.

"This is dinner tonight."

"Oppa~~! My Oppa's amazing~♡♡"

Luka threw herself into my arms. Haa. So soft……

"Let's eat our fill, Luka."

"Yeah!!"

"I'll start getting dinner ready. We should light a fire first, right? Let's see…"

"I'll go get firewood."

The firewood we'd gathered by hand probably had its limits.

In that case, I was better off cutting green wood into suitable pieces after drying out the moisture inside.

More than anything, I wanted to cut the logs in advance since I had to build a bathroom today, too.

"Then we'll get dinner ready while you do that."

At the assistant manager's words, we all began bustling about, preparing dinner.

I went to get firewood first. Meanwhile, the assistant manager rinsed the rock crabs with fresh water, washing away the sand and shell dust.

Sizzle, sizzle.

Now it was time to light the fire with the lighter.

'Catch. Please, catch.'

Just catch today!

Hiss!

Phew.

Thank you for letting us have fire again today, dear Lighter….

'I have no idea how precious the Glyph of Fire must be.'

I saw fire every day, but I had no idea where the Glyph of Fire was.

Still, the day would come when I got it.

Until then, all I could do was pray like this.

"The tricky part is how to cook them…"

The assistant manager stared at the crabs crawling around and pondered with a thoughtful hum.

"Assistant Manager, are you good at cooking?"

"Let's keep it simple and grill them with salt."

"Salt-grilled…"

Salt-grilled sounded good.

"No… Let's wrap the crabs in leaves and cook them somewhere between grilling and steaming!"

Salt-steamed crab. Perfect!

Fresh leaves were more useful than I'd thought.

The assistant manager immediately rolled up her sleeves, licking her lips.

"Then I'll start preparing them."

"Wait. You could get hurt because of the claws──"

I used the Glyph of Wind.

I cleanly separated the claws from the bodies.

"Thank you."

Seoyoon placed each part of the crabs and the shellfish, wrapped in wet leaves, on a dry stone slab that had absorbed the heat of the campfire.

Sizzle.

She wrapped them in moist leaves, then covered those with another layer of leaves.

Since we didn't know what might happen if we ate them raw, it seemed like she was steaming them thoroughly all the way through.

At first, it smelled like seawater.

A salty, slightly fishy smell. Then the fresh, green scent of the leaves mingled with it.

After a little while, a completely different smell began to rise from inside.

It smelled like crab….

The smell of the sea rising on the hot steam, with a sweet aroma that let us imagine the meat cooking inside the shells.

"Mmm, Unni, Unni, is it ready yet? Is it?"

"It'll be a while, Luka. I can't cook everything at once, so I'll do it little by little."

Steaming them would take a while, considering how big they were.

In the meantime, I prepared the materials to make a bathroom.

Late at night.

When I got back after making a whole bunch of planks, a crab feast was already spread out on the platform.

There was a substantial amount even without the crabs that were still steaming on the rocks.

"I was just about to call you, Woojin."

My mouth was watering, too.

If I let my guard down, I'd start drooling.

Come to think of it, I hadn't eaten anything since this morning. I'd just been working.

I was on a forced intermittent fast.

We didn't have enough food to eat three meals a day, after all.

"Did you cook all of this, Assistant Manager? That's amazing."

"Steaming crabs hardly counts as cooking. I kept it simple."

Their dark blue shells had turned a mouthwatering red.

White steam rose from the joints in their legs.

"Shall we try some?"

I carefully picked up a crab, making sure not to burn my hands.

It was heavy.

Even after cooking, it still had the same heft.

No, it somehow felt even heavier.

I put my fingertips to the shell and applied pressure to separate it.

With a sharp crack, the shell opened. Inside the red shell, I could see rich, yellowish-brown crab innards melting away.

A sheen like oil glistened on the broth of seawater and crab juices.

Hah, the rich aroma was rising up.

It already smelled so savory, even before I tasted it.

The crab innards were especially rich in mana.

I'd checked several times with detection magic, and they were safe.

"Wow…"

Exclamations rose from all around us.

"You're going to eat the crab innards? Isn't that a little dangerous?"

The assistant manager said.

"I've checked, and it seems safe."

"Really?"

Maybe I'd just have a little taste.

Better safe than sorry.

After checking for any strange smell, bitter taste, or tingling in my tongue, I could trust the detection magic and eat it.

Lick.

Just as I'd expected, the crab innards were an incredible bomb of umami.

"Mmm."

"How is it? How is it?"

"We should dip the crab meat in this. I wish we had some white rice."

I immediately twisted the claw and cracked the shell with the Glyph of Wind.

If I applied a little pressure and pulled it apart to either side…

Pop.

The white meat that had been pressed inside the shell popped out.

"Ooh."

"Wow!"

When the white meat, still carrying hot steam, came out whole from between the shells, Luka bounced up and down where she sat.

"Oppa! Oppa! Give me a bite. Just one!"

"Sure."

I pushed a generous piece of white meat, packed with fibers, into Luka's mouth.

Luka opened wide and took the whole thing into her mouth…

"Haa, haaw. Mmm."

Her cheek muscles relaxed with delight, and she closed her eyes, letting out breathless little sounds.

"Is it good?"

"It's sweet…. The meat's sweet~!! I've never eaten anything this delicious in my life."

The rock crabs were full of mana, and detection magic showed no bad reaction.

I even wondered if they might be an undiscovered species of crab found only around this island.

Their size, their flavor, and their incredible yield—it all felt strangely perfect for eating.

I took a bite, too.

Just as Luka had said, the subtle sweetness that had soaked into the meat clung to my tongue and the inside of my mouth. I thought I was going to lose it.

My brain was pumping out dopamine like crazy.

The meat had been shocking enough, but the umami of high-end seafood was downright violent.

All we'd done was wrap it in leaves and steam it, yet it was a finished dish in itself….

I took out another piece of claw meat.

What the hell, how was this crab meat?

By volume, it was almost like chicken breast.

The thick crab meat glistened with clear juices between its fibers, and steam was still rising from the ends.

I pressed it straight into the innards.

Dipping the crab meat, with its clean sweetness, into the innards made it taste like it was coated in a rich sauce.

The salty flavor came first, followed by a rich, savory taste that took over my mouth.

I expected it to taste fishy, but it was unexpectedly…

It was just so delicious.

The flavor grew richer with every chew. Even after I swallowed, the smell of the sea and the savory aftertaste lingered in my mouth.

"Shall we try some, too, Manager?"

"All right…"

The other two must have reached their limit watching me eat, because they reached for the crab, too.

But the crab shells were so hard, it didn't look easy to prepare them.

"Wait a moment."

It'd be faster if I did it.

I lightly scored just the shell with the Glyph of Wind, making the crab meat pop right out.

The assistant manager looked moved as I opened them with such ease.

"Ah…. It's packed with meat."

"Would you like me to dip it in the innards?"

"Yes…!!"

Plunge.

Using a strip of crab meat as a pick, I scraped up a generous amount of the innards and offered Seoyoon a piece of crab meat coated in the rich sauce.

She tried to take it, but it was awkward to hold.

"Say 'ah' and I'll feed it to you."

Seoyoon looked a little shy, but she tucked her hair behind her ear and opened her mouth wide.

I slid it in.

"Mmm. Haa…"

Seoyoon couldn't speak as she moaned softly, chewing the generous piece of crab meat in her mouth.

"Next is you, Manager."

Another piece of crab meat coming up.

"Mmm……♡"

The manager, too, cupped her cheek with one hand, looking happy as she savored the meat melting in her mouth.

There was still plenty of crab meat and innards left.

I was especially careful when checking the innards a second and third time.

How could a Korean and a Japanese person possibly resist eating this?

The moment I tasted it, I felt like all our hardships had been rewarded.

I savored the best seafood sauce and meat nature had to offer.

"I'll peel them for you, so eat as much as you want."

"Thank you, Woojin. I'll enjoy it~."

"Haa, haa. If only removing the shells weren't such a pain, crab would be the best food in the world."

The manager and assistant manager were deeply impressed.

Even after peeling some for the others, I still had plenty to eat myself.

"Oppa, feed me. Say 'ah.'"

"Sure. Ah."

While feeding Luka, too──

"Nom, nom."

I stuffed my mouth full of plump crab meat.

I felt like I could eat as much as I wanted today.