Meanwhile, the Assistant Manager was staring intently at the ingredients we'd gathered, planning today's menu.
"Hmm."
"Assistant Manager, are you sure you'll be okay on your own?"
I wandered over to take a look while drying my hair with a towel.
"Yes. I don't have a chef's license, but I used to cook for myself at home."
"I used to cook for myself, too. Ramen, Spam, spaghetti…"
"……."
I was thoroughly ignored.
Seoyun picked out some well-ripened pieces of pandanus fruit, brushed the dirt off the skins, and started boiling them in water.
Boiling it in water.
What a luxurious cooking method for a deserted island!
But since I could make as much water as we needed, Seoyun pinched one of the nearby Water Pockets and brought it over to use in her cooking.
"Mr. Woojin, send me two more. Make them big."
"Two large ones, coming right up."
I promptly sent her some water spirits.
Whoosh.
It was even better when I sent them over on the wind; they flew right to her.
Hmm!
What was that aroma?
Who knew that tasteless, rock-hard fruit had this much potential?
As the fruit boiled and its fibers softened, a rich, sweet aroma filled the air, somewhere between dates and dried mangoes.
Seoyun picked up a spoon and vigorously scraped out the orange flesh.
Smelling that made me seriously hungry.
"What now?"
"I'll boil the shellfish. Mr. Woojin, could you check that they're still good?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Checking whether the shellfish had spoiled was important.
I double-checked with my detection magic.
"They're fine."
"Good."
"It's a good thing we have cooking utensils."
"The Manager and I gathered them all when we were at the beach."
The women seemed to have brought along plenty of little tools and things like that.
The cooking utensils Seoyun had packed were coming in handy.
On a deserted island, just finding a pot you could put over a fire was a challenge.
We'd have been in a real bind if we didn't have one when we needed it, but thanks to Seoyun's thoroughness, that hadn't been a problem.
"Manager, when the shells open, I'll take out the meat. I'll carefully scoop the broth from the top so we don't get any sand, then mix it into the pandanus paste."
"Sure. Leave it to me!"
So there was no place for a cooking novice to jump in from here on out.
Manager Han Jia and Assistant Manager Kang Seoyun worked together in perfect sync.
I watched the cooking process.
Next, Manager Han Jia brought out some Scarlet Fruit.
"You're making a sauce, right, Assistant Manager Kang?"
"Yes. Please mash these."
Han Jia mashed the Scarlet Fruit, transferred it to a metal cup, and set it on a heated rock to slowly cook off the moisture.
So that's how you make a sauce!
My mouth was already watering.
Mashing the fruit and cooking off the moisture would concentrate the sweetness of the flesh, which was already delicious on its own.
I couldn't take my eyes off it.
"You and the Manager are both good cooks."
"It's just the basics. You're embarrassing me."
"I can't even remember the last time I cooked for my husband. How embarrassing~."
"You're the Manager, after all. You have to work, so it's only natural."
Manager Han Jia said with an embarrassed smile.
"I'm the head of our little camp right now~. Assistant Manager Kang and I will make you something delicious."
The head of the household, huh? Heh heh.
Then who's my wife?
Grinning.
Ah, I'm not that kind of guy. But just imagining the Manager and Assistant Manager as my wives makes me smile, doesn't it?
"Mr. Woojin, we're trying to concentrate right now. Could you step away for a bit?"
I got scolded. (Twice.)
The Assistant Manager tasted the reduced sauce with a spoon and tilted her head, unsure.
"Using just the juice makes it too thin. We need to thicken it up."
"Then let's add about half a spoonful of the paste."
"Half a spoonful… this much?"
"Yes. That's about right."
Stir, stir.
When Manager Han Jia added half a spoonful of paste and stirred, the fruit's fine fibers thickened the sauce.
"Mr. Woojin! We're all done. Could you make us some wooden skewers?"
"But you just told me to step away…"
"Because you were staring at us so intently, it was distracting. Hurry up and make the skewers."
"Leave it to me."
I immediately used the Glyph of Wind to make some premium wooden skewers.
Employee of the Month—and the best woodcarver on the deserted island.
That's Wizard Kim Woojin for you.
Seoyun took the skewers and carefully threaded the boiled shellfish meat onto them.
As she placed the skewers near the fire one by one to grill them, a delicious smell rose into the air.
At that, Luka started edging closer.
"Big sis… it smells so good…"
"You've been waiting a while, haven't you, Luka? Just wait a little longer. I'll make you something delicious."
"Really? Hehe. I love you, big sis! I love you too, Oppa! Can I eat it now?"
"No. Wait until I put the sauce on. If I brush it on now, it'll burn, so be patient."
Seoyun watched the heat of the fire carefully.
Since the shellfish had already been cooked, she didn't grill it for long. As soon as the edges of the meat began to curl,
she brushed on the Scarlet Fruit sauce.
The Manager brushed the Scarlet Fruit sauce onto the skewers alongside the Assistant Manager.
"Is that a cooking brush?"
"No. It's a silicone mask brush."
"……."
They were brushing sauce onto grilled shellfish with a silicone mask brush!?
That flat thing you use to spread sheet masks or wash-off masks over your face?
"What? There was no way we'd have a cooking brush in a situation like this. I sterilized it properly."
A silicone mask brush was rarer than a cooking brush, though!
The limitation of having to make do with whatever modern supplies we had somehow made for a pretty funny sight.
The Manager and Assistant Manager were putting makeup on shellfish.
"I wonder if you could say we're putting our professional skills to use?"
Manager Han Jia burst out laughing at that.
For some reason, she often laughed at my jokes. It made me feel good.
"Mr. Woojin, you've got such a great sense of humor. I guess this really is related to our work~."
"Good grief. You keep laughing at his jokes, Manager, and now Mr. Woojin's gotten used to making silly remarks."
"Believe it or not, I've been like this since birth."
Grilled shellfish seasoned by a cosmetics company's manager and assistant manager using a silicone mask brush…
There couldn't be another grilled shellfish dish in the whole world made through a process like this.
'Ah.'
That smells incredible.
The sauce the Assistant Manager and Manager had spread on as carefully as if they were applying makeup gave off the sweet aroma of Scarlet Fruit.
Then came the shellfish's distinctive, salty scent of the sea!
A red sheen glimmered across the shellfish meat.
Seoyun arranged the finished dish in a large bowl.
On the wide platter, a mound of pandanus paste—for dipping—and Scarlet Fruit-glazed shellfish skewers
lay side by side, spread out like a painting.
She added a few raw Scarlet Fruits, then sprinkled a little pepper over everything to finish.
"How about we call it Scarlet Fruit-glazed shellfish skewers with pandanus paste?"
Gulp.
Amazing.
We'd made a much finer dish than I'd expected on a deserted island.
"Let's take it to the platform and eat."
I immediately took a bite.
The first taste of the glazed grilled shellfish skewer was richly sweet.
It was far sweeter than when I'd just bitten into the fruit. Maybe because the moisture had cooked off, the red juice melted across my tongue like a thin film.
A lightly charred aroma soon followed. The sweetness hadn't burned, but the edges had browned just a little, giving off the rich scent of caramelized sugar.
I chewed.
The salty taste of the sea burst out from inside the shellfish meat.
'Mmm.'
Seoyun watched for my reaction, as if to ask what I thought.
"It's really delicious."
It wasn't a sweetness like dessert; it was the kind that held the shellfish's salty flavor together.
Had she mixed the shellfish broth into the paste, too? It was full of umami, and the rich, fruity aroma of the pandanus paste lingered at the end.
"Mmm!! This is unfair. It's unfairly good~!"
Luka smacked her lips happily, too.
"The sauce is the perfect consistency. And it's got that smoky flavor, too."
"Well, all I did was brush it on and grill it. That's just the basics."
"You and the Manager should eat, too."
"Then I'll have a bite─. Mmm!"
I savored each bite, saving the last shellfish skewer until the end.
We hadn't found the perfect place to settle, but I loved this moment itself—sitting together and eating our fill.
I wasn't usually someone who got sentimental about meals.
A convenience-store haul of food past its sell-by date, or a quick bowl of ramen I'd boiled at home because I couldn't be bothered to cook.
Compared to those, each meal we had here felt all the more precious and worthwhile.
"Let's preserve what's left so we can eat it tomorrow, too."
"You liked it, Mr. Woojin?"
"Yes. The man who marries you is going to be a lucky guy, Assistant Manager."
"Ahem…"
The Assistant Manager bashfully twisted at the waist.
"What is it? I feel weird when you compliment me seriously instead of joking around like usual."
"I really mean it. It was delicious."
"If we gather more ingredients, I'll try making all kinds of things…"
I put the remaining ingredients into the makeshift wooden storage box I'd made.
Naturally, it didn't have anything like a refrigerator, but I'd used the Glyph of Preservation to keep the food from spoiling.
We still had some shellfish and fish left, and just knowing we'd have something to eat tomorrow was a big relief.
"Now it's time to decide who's on night watch."
Everyone finished showering and started gathering on the platform, fidgeting as they got ready for bed.
The night was dark.
We'd conserved our smartphone batteries as much as possible, but they were finally running low.
The only light we had left was the campfire, fueled by the premium firewood I'd made.
"Mr. Woojin is basically guaranteed to be assigned to the scouting team, so you can pick whichever watch shift you want."
"I'll take whichever one is left."
"Hmm… Then I'll take the first shift, the hardest one. You can all go to sleep first."
I stared intently at Assistant Manager Kang Seoyun.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Assistant Manager, you've never done night watch before, have you?"
"I've done plenty of overtime…"
……Right, well. I guess I should let her take the first shift.
If we went by who's on the scouting team the most, then after me it would be Assistant Manager Kang Seoyun.
"?"
She didn't seem to know that the first shift was the least painful one, though.
Waking up in the middle of the night and then trying to fall asleep again is pretty rough…
"Luka can take the second-hardest shift, the last watch. Luka doesn't go outside much."
"Luka? Luka's the last watch? I just have to wake everyone up at the end? They'll all wake up to Luka's smile in the morning!"
I couldn't let her take the second-hardest shift, though.
"Then I'll take the super-easy third shift."
"Okay. Super-easy third shift, Mr. Woojin. You have my permission to suck on me."
Yay~
I got the super-easy third shift, no less.
Naturally, Manager Han Jia was assigned the second shift.
"Let's try this arrangement for now."
"Okaaay~!"
Luka answered energetically, raising her hand.
"By the way, big sis, what does night watch mean?"
"It means keeping watch while everyone else is asleep. You check that the fire doesn't go out, and keep an eye on our stored food…"
"Mm-hmm, because it'd be bad if wild animals came in, right? What do we do then?"
"We wake up Mr. Kim Woojin."
How had the night-watch instructions turned into "wake up Kim Woojin if anything happens"?
"Then could I wake him up and ask him to stand watch with me because I'm scared~?"
Only Luka could come up with that.
She wanted to do night watch with the person from the previous shift…
"No. Mr. Woojin needs to get some sleep, too."
Unexpectedly, the Assistant Manager was good at gently correcting Luka's odd ideas instead of getting angry at them.
I thought they'd fight a lot after how they'd first met.
It felt like she'd gained a little sister who was still a kid at heart.
Time to sleep.
I used the Glyph of Preservation to create a layer of air over the campfire and the platform, fixing it in place like a roof in case of another squall, then went to sleep.
Sleep swept over me in no time.
A little while later──
"Mr. Woojin. Mr. Woojin."
I woke to Manager Han Jia's soft whisper.
Late at night.
Manager Han Jia whispered in my ear.
The Manager's ASMR!
It sent shivers down my spine.
It was a whole different level of happiness from being woken by some burly male junior soldier saying, 「Private First Class Kim Woojin, it's your watch.」
"Are you awake?"
"Yes."
I got up and headed toward the campfire, and Manager Han Jia handed me the fire poker.
Oh, special equipment for night watch?
"The ember is staying lit thanks to you, Mr. Woojin, but just make sure the fire doesn't get too small."
"That's one of the handoff instructions the Assistant Manager came up with, right?"
"Yes. Hehe."
Manager Han Jia smiled softly.
"I'll keep a close watch."
I sat down with the fire poker.
Then the Manager glanced around to see if anyone was watching and suddenly moved closer.
"Mr. Woojin."
Hm?

"Shh, everyone's asleep…"
Well, it was the middle of the night, when everyone was asleep…
Manager Han Jia whispered to me in secret.
"……Want to do that? The thing you like, Mr. Woojin."
So the super-easy third shift had been foreshadowing this!!
I immediately hugged Manager Han Jia and buried my face in her ample breasts.
And inhaled the scent of the Manager's skin!!
Sniff, sniff!! Nuzzle, nuzzle.
"Oh my…"
The Manager seemed a little flustered, but slowly settled into my arms and rubbed her breasts against me.
Unable to hold back, I grabbed the married woman's ass with both hands and squeezed hard.
"~Hngh."
What an overwhelming sensation……!
Grope, grope.
Definitely bigger than Vitoria noona's, isn't it?
"Is it okay if I touch your big, married-woman ass, Manager?"
Manager Han Jia looked away, as if she didn't know how to answer.
A married woman couldn't exactly tell me to go ahead and touch her ass all I wanted.
That was a pretty tacky question.
Instead, I wrapped my arms around her like tree roots and held her even tighter, kneading her with both hands.

"Tell me if you don't like it."
"Ah…♡"
Today's dessert was Manager Han Jia's breasts.
I pressed my mouth to Han Jia's nipple and sucked as if trying to draw it right into my mouth.
Smooch, smooch.
Beautiful female bosses' huge breasts were being sucked, and their asses fondled.
Things I never could've imagined were happening in real life.
My cock had gotten incredibly hard.
Grope, grope♡
I squeezed Manager Han Jia's enormous ass to my heart's content.
I dug my fingers into her soft ass and shamelessly kneaded the flesh beneath.
The Manager didn't stop me.
Her cheeks were flushed as if she were enduring her embarrassment, and her breaths came hot.
After my persistent kneading had made the Manager's ass remember just how deeply my fingers pressed into it, she finally murmured after a long pause.
"I don't hate it♡"
I explored Han Jia's body even more fiercely, her breasts and ass at the same time.
The Manager let me do everything.
As if to say, So this is what you wanted, she opened up her chest to me.
Soft, full, and smelling good.
I love clinging to her like a spoiled child!
Just being wrapped in the elite manager's full breasts and holding her thick ass made it feel like her warmth was enveloping my whole body.
Assistant Manager Kang's breasts tasted good, too, but the Manager's body was on another level.
"Mmm, Woojin, do you really like an older woman's big breasts that much?"
"I do…"
"My butt's gotten fat, too…"
Grope, grope.
I squeezed her ass deliberately, as if to show her.
"Me too…"
Then the Manager said something unexpected.
"I've got something pent up, too…"
It was just the kind of confession that made me wonder if the Manager was sexually frustrated.
I'd thought she was reaching out to help because she couldn't stand watching me walk around with a hard-on all day.
But that was basically the same as saying, "I'm kind of turned on today, too…"
Was Manager Han Jia sexually frustrated?
Sexually frustrated while stranded.
I guess women could get really pent up, too.
A sexy body on a completely different level from the Assistant Manager's……
She'd scold me if I said that, right?
"Ah, that's not what I meant just now…"
"What did you mean, then?"
There didn't seem to be any other way to interpret that besides Manager Han Jia saying she was horny, did there?
"……I-I don't knowww."
As if to tell me to just keep going, Manager Han Jia swayed her shoulders gently.
Her big breasts bounced along with the flirtatious movement.