A Visitor

Slice.

The hide split open along the knife's path, exposing the layer of fat beneath.

Rather than tearing it off by force, she pulled it by hand and casually snipped through only the parts that resisted the knife.

Vica carefully opened the boar's belly without touching the organs.

A heavy smell rose from inside, but it wasn't rotten.

"It's in good shape. I didn't know you could do this kind of thing, Woojin."

Vica said with a pleased smile.

"I'm a wizard."

It looked like we'd get plenty of edible meat this time, too.

Vica's butchering knife moved swiftly.

I carefully took the organs she'd removed and laid them in order on a broad leaf.

Then Big Sis separated the legs at the joints.

She removed the meat from the ribs and back.

Her movements were brisk and sure.

'Huh, I don't really get it, even watching.'

I'd thought I might be able to copy her just by watching, but I still had a long way to go.

If I did it myself, I figured I'd end up throwing away quite a lot of meat.

Still, there were things I could learn by watching.

Roughly how much of the animal was edible, and which parts had to be discarded…

Wouldn't it be easier to use magical tools to cut through the hide and bones?

I imagined what it would look like if I did the work myself.

"There's more waste than I expected."

"This is actually a good yield. The wild boars on this island have unusually clean meat and organs."

I'd known that from my detection magic, but Vica had noticed it, too.

"It's not like these pigs were raised by people. Can they still be like this?"

I figured this was a good chance to ask Big Sis Vica, whose family had owned a ranch.

"They might've been raised by people."

I hadn't considered that.

Could they have escaped from somewhere?

Hmm…

"I'm joking."

"You were joking…?"

"I haven't found any signs of people living here. For now, I have to assume nature can be like this. Those cave shrimp are strange, too, being so big."

The rock crab we'd found was huge, too.

We'd eaten wild crab, even cleaned out its organs, and not one of us had gotten sick.

Could it be the mana's influence?

Given how unusual this island is, maybe it wasn't all that strange.

I immediately cast <Preservation> on the butchered meat so it wouldn't go bad.

Even after Vica had separated out the boneless meat and fat that were easy to eat, there were roughly 40 kilograms.

The rest was meat clinging to bones, which would be difficult to use, but we could eat it somehow as long as it didn't spoil.

"All done, darling."

Vica said as she washed the knife, smeared with blood and fat, in a Water Pocket.

"By the way, when did we start dating?"

"Why ask now? That night, you had me, and I had you."

"…Haha."

The flash of her knife left me unable to think of anything to say.

I still couldn't believe I was dating a sexy Brazilian big sis───.

I could never have brought myself to ask her to be my girlfriend, but if that's how she saw it, well…

Kim Woojin was okay with that.

I generally didn't turn people away.

"Then I should give my girlfriend at least this much."

This was repayment for the shrimp.

I neatly cut a large chunk of meat and handed it to Vica.

Going by its weight in my hands, it was around seven or eight kilograms.

Knowing how important food was on a deserted island, that was a lot for a simple thank-you.

But you could also say that Big Sis Vica's skillful butchering had given us meat we wouldn't otherwise have had.

"This much?"

"You like meat, Big Sis."

"Você sabe agradar uma mulher(You know how to make a woman happy)"

Vica started to come closer, then hesitated, perhaps bothered by the smell of animal blood clinging to her.

I didn't mind.

I leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek.

Smooch.

Heh, this is embarrassing.

"!"

Seeing Big Sis Vica's cheeks turn red made it worth doing.

So she's not very good at defending herself, huh?

"Mmm♡ Are Korean men always this sweet? Maybe Claire wasn't talking complete nonsense after all."

It wasn't the sort of thing I usually did.

But as a man, I wanted to let her know.

That Vica, working hard and soaked in sweat, was attractive.

Smooch.

"Da próxima vez, eu trago mais camarão(Next time, I'll bring more shrimp.)"

Vica said as she returned the kiss.

"Then I'll give you meat that won't spoil."

"「Won't spoil?」"

"Yeah."

As if she'd received a feast, Big Sis Vica's eyes lit up.

"With magic?"

"Yeah. I'm a wizard."

"Oh… You're the best, Woojin…♡"

She's melting right away. Big Sis.

Preservation really was ridiculously overpowered. And in a way, I had Big Sis to thank for getting that absurdly powerful glyph.

There had been that trial where I had to fight the true master of the forest… but I won, didn't I?

"Just don't leave it lying around. Wrap it well in cloth and put it in storage. Then you can take out as much as you need whenever you want."

"Obrigada, meu amor(Thank you, my love.)"

On this deserted island, finding food was a considerable undertaking in itself.

That was true even for Big Sis Vica, who roamed the jungle like a hunting expert and caught animals.

The more you caught, the faster the spoilage timer ticked, until even the meat you'd worked so hard to get became unusable.

In that respect, the magic of Preservation was unmatched.

By now, I could say I'd repaid almost everything I owed her.

And the generous 30-plus kilograms of meat left over? Happily, it was all ours!

"Ha, I want to stay with you longer…"

Vica said, swaying her hips.

…My eyes had wandered to that magnificent Brazilian butt without me realizing it.

"If you want to stay longer, you can."

Vica chuckled and turned around.

Assistant Manager Kang Seoyun was watching us intently, fire in her eyes.

…There's no way she could've heard our conversation from this far away. What was that about?

"Looks like you already have a lot of people depending on you, so I'll head back."

"Haha…"

"See you later, darling."

Big Sis Vica left the camp in a good mood, taking a chunk of meat enchanted with Preservation as payment.

After that, the Manager, the Assistant Manager, and Luka came over.

"Good work~! Woojin."

Jia came closer and wiped the sweat from my face.

"Oppa, Oppa, can we have a meat feast? Can we eat meat again?"

"You can eat until you're stuffed now."

"Waaah!! Oppa's the best!! Oppa is a god~! A god who came to save Luka!"

Haha. Luka sure knew how to react.

"Could you cast Preservation on the meat we got today, too?"

As expected, people who were good at getting things done were different.

She'd gone straight to the heart of the matter.

"Yes. I can."

Now that meat wouldn't spoil.

As long as we didn't physically damage it by grilling or frying it, that was.

And we usually called that cooking.

It meant we could wrap it well in cloth to keep contaminants off it, store it in a box, and take out only as much as we needed!

"That's wonderful! You did such a great job, Woojin!"

Seoyun smiled, looking extremely happy.

"You can praise me even more. Haha."

"You did great! Especially since I can't forget how that meat tasted. How was a wild boar that delicious…?"

"The deserted-island buff probably has something to do with it. If we ate it outside, we'd probably think, 'It doesn't taste like this.'"

"First, we need to eat well and stay healthy so we can plan for the future! Our camp might have more food than any other camp now, don't you think?"

At first, I'd figured the meat would spoil if we left it alone, so we'd held a meat feast to use it up. But things were different now.

Our camp had enough meat to feed everyone back then, and now we had it all to ourselves.

Even if we ate meat once a day and used it up at a reasonable pace, the four of us would go through 1.2 kilograms a day…

Enough meat to last about 26 days.

Even if we portioned it into roughly two-kilogram servings and held a deserted-island-style meat feast every day, it would last two weeks.

Our diet wouldn't have much variety, but at least we didn't have to worry about starving to death anytime soon.

"You really did something incredible, Woojin!"

Seoyun clasped my hand, moved, her eyes glistening with tears.

"I must smell like animal blood. You don't have to stand so close."

"What?? Blood smell? What does that matter? You saved us, Woojin!"

"That's right. You did so well, Woojin~. How did you catch a wild boar while you were on watch?"

"Oppa's the best! Oppa's a god!"

Haha… Well, this is something.

I wondered what would happen when something showed up during my watch, but every time I caught a boar, I became a hero to our little village.

A boar was still a pig.

It was still one of the most common kinds of meat for humans to eat.

The fact that it was suspiciously free of parasites and delicious helped, too.

Seoyun probably couldn't forget the taste of the meat she'd eaten after going hungry all day when our escape plan fell apart.

We still had plenty of basic seasonings like salt and pepper.

"Shall we have a meat feast today?"

"Yes! I'll get everything ready."

A little after four in the afternoon.

To wash off the smell of blood, I used body wash made from natural soapberries and cleaned myself up.

It was much more comfortable than washing with just water. Even soap made a big difference.

My morning had been spent working on the fence, and my afternoon helping butcher the boar…

Even though I hadn't gone anywhere today, I felt pleasantly drowsy and hungry, satisfied with how I'd spent the day.

I didn't even work this hard back in the outside world……

If I could eat fatty meat with this appetite, it would be better than paradise.

When I finished showering and came out, I saw the Assistant Manager and the Manager preparing shrimp together.

Luka was squatting in front of the fire, staring intently at the stone griddle we'd already tested by cooking on it several times.

It was peaceful.

There was a reason people said a full pantry made people generous.

With our food stores packed, everyone had relaxed and started smiling.

We weren't a family, but I wondered if this was what it felt like when peace came to a household.

Here, food was our biggest concern.

Back outside, there'd been countless things to do even while putting food in my mouth, but after getting stranded, some things had become incredibly simple.

If we could eat our fill for the day and sleep somewhere safe, that was the best thing there was.

"Oh, Woojin."

The Assistant Manager called to me with a smile in her eyes.

"Today's menu is salt-grilled meat. We'll grill the shrimp to go with it."

"Sounds good."

Sometimes, the simpler the cooking process, the better.

Sprinkle on salt and grill. That's it.

Simple, but delicious.

Today, I decided we'd bury ourselves in meat, so I took out a pretty generous amount.

The boneless cuts Big Sis Vica had prepared had clearly defined grain.

It wasn't all lean meat; there was a thin layer of white fat along the edges.

Nice.

Fat was flavor, too.

I separated out what we'd eat today and cut it into pieces a little smaller than my palm.

It was time for the sharp Wind Cutter to do its job.

It used to be difficult to make it this sharp, but I could feel how much better I'd gotten at handling glyphs.

I sprinkled salt over the thinly sliced meat.

──Let's wait a little. Osmosis should draw out the moisture.

Then I'd blow that moisture away with the Glyph of Wind and grill it. Wouldn't that be incredible? Hehe.

"How's the meat coming along? Is there anything I can help with?"

The Assistant Manager popped her head out to check on what I was doing.

"I'm preparing the meat."

"Wow. Is it okay to take this much out and eat it?"

"Probably."

"I know we should save some, especially at a time like this, but…"

Seoyun's stomach growled.

"Eat as much as you want today. We can get more meat from animals."

"I guess so, since you're here, Woojin… Hehe."

I could feel that the way the Assistant Manager looked at me had changed a lot.

My shoulders straightened proudly.

"You're not scared of pigs anymore?"

"I think next time, I'll see one as food walking around."

If I spotted one, I planned to chase it down and catch it, too.

So what if it didn't jump the fence? Who cares? Build one yourself—you get meat!!

The more meat, the better.

While I was drying the moisture from the meat, the Assistant Manager washed the shrimp and made a thin cut along their backs.

She opened up the flesh like that and lightly salted it.

She was carefully preparing each shrimp one by one.

That meticulous, detailed way of working was very like the Assistant Manager.

"Luka. Are you keeping an eye on the fire?"

"Yeah, but the fire doesn't seem very strong."

"Move aside."

I stoked the fire with the Glyph of Wind.

Whoosh!!

The stone griddle heated up in no time.

First, I let a few drops of water fall onto it to check the temperature.

Sizzle.

"Mm."

Good. It was hot enough.

I placed a piece of fatty meat on the griddle first.

I wanted to render the pork fat to use instead of cooking oil.

Sssssizzle!!

The sound burst out right away.

Fat melted out of the meat and spread across the griddle.

"Woojin, here's the tongs. I salvaged them from the washed-up supplies."

"Oh, let me use those."

I slid the fatty piece around the griddle, drawing a circle.

I was coating it with pork fat.

At the smell of the fat, Luka's eyes had already glazed over.

"Luka, it's dangerous right now… My stomach is desperately craving meat…"

"Just wait a little. I'll feed you something delicious."

"Mm-hm!"

That smell really was insane.

Sizzle, sizzle…

Haah, I wonder how good it'll taste.

Just as I was putting the cooked meat into a bowl, the Manager and the Assistant Manager brought over the shrimp.

"I'll put the shrimp on, too."

Sizzle.

This time, the smell was different.

If the meat smelled rich, the shrimp smelled a little sweet. As the shells cooked, they turned red, and the white flesh puffed up between the cuts on their backs.

They looked plump even just to the eye.

This is insane.

The Assistant Manager flipped each shrimp with the tongs as soon as the flesh along its back swelled up.

She cooked the other side briefly, then took it right off the heat.

She sprinkled just a tiny bit of the remaining salt on top with her fingertips…

Right on top of the meat.

Done!

It was such a simple dish, but the salt brought out the ingredients' flavor beautifully…

Tonight's dinner was all about the grilling itself.

"All right… Enjoy your meal."

At Assistant Manager Seoyun's signal, as she always prepared dinner, I brought the meat to my mouth.

Our second meat feast was incredibly moving, too.

Even after I returned to society, I might go back to nature now and then to grill meat.

It was such a thrill that it could give me a hobby I hadn't even had before.

Just then…

"Excuse me…!"

A visitor had appeared outside the fence.

Someone had come, drawn in by the smell of grilled meat…

It was something I'd only seen happen in old fairy tales, but now it had really happened.

"Um, well…"

The Assistant Manager stopped eating and got up, and I stood up, too.

Our visitors were Seo Nari, a flight attendant for Sehan Air, and Madam Lin Wei, who had once been one of the VIP clients at our cosmetics company.

Nari, standing at the front, had a gloomy, apologetic expression.

Her cheeks were gaunt.

She looked as though she hadn't washed in days. She seemed to have been through a lot.

More than anything, the slightly dented, empty water bottle clutched in her hand made my heart ache.

We knew at a glance what Nari wanted to say.

But it seemed she couldn't bring herself to speak.

Until recently, she'd had a proper job and lived a diligent life…

I knew how hard it was to suddenly be dropped somewhere with nothing and have to beg for food.

No, the only person who could truly understand how she felt was the Assistant Manager, who'd been through it herself once.

──Woojin.

The Assistant Manager tugged at my sleeve.

"Yes."

I took a deep breath and said,

"Come on in."

All at once.

Tears spilled from Nari's eyes.

I couldn't begin to imagine how hard these past few days had been for her.

That one casual, kind invitation was enough to break the flight attendant.