Chapter 26
There are many ways to catch fish.
The most basic one is fishing.
You put bait on a hook and reel them in.
It takes less effort, and with a little luck, you can just sit still and secure food easily.
Another option is using a fish trap.
You put bait like worms or small bits of food inside and let the fish swim in on their own.
The key is the entrance.
If you make it just narrow enough for a fish to barely squeeze through, it'll lose its sense of direction and have a hard time getting back out.
It's basically a fish prison.
And finally.
The most primitive and the most inefficient method.
A person goes into the water and catches fish directly.
Now that I've tried it myself, I immediately get why it's so hard.
“No, I aimed right at it and jabbed it. Why can't I catch anything?!”
I heard Yerin grumbling irritably.
“Yerin-nim.”
“Yeah?”
“The fish aren't idiots either.”
“…What's that supposed to mean?”
It means they won't let an idiot catch them.
Keeping a straight face, I lowered the spear back into the water.
“Exactly what it sounds like.”
“You're teasing me again, aren't you?”
“No.”
“That look on your face just now was totally a mocking one.”
“I just have a naturally smiley face.”
Yerin snorted like she couldn't believe me.
“Seriously, sometimes you're really annoying.”
“Yep.”
Brushing off Yerin's comment, I slowly scanned the water again.
Baby was watching us sweat it out from the white sand, enjoying a sand bath.
While his owner was working this hard.
With that blissed-out look on his face, he looked just like an old man soaking in the hottest bath at a bathhouse.
Thankfully, the seawater was so clear it was practically transparent, enough that I could see the seaweed and coral below in perfect detail.
A small school of fish slipped past between the seaweed swaying gently with the current.
Holding my breath, I gripped the spear and moved slowly.
Even the slightest rushed movement sent them fleeing at once.
And then.
I matched the timing and stabbed.
Thunk!
The instant the spear struck, the school split apart to either side like the Red Sea parting, then calmly disappeared as if nothing had happened.
-Too slow.
“…….”
I was sure I'd nailed it.
But there wasn't even a single little fish on the tip of the spear.
Because of the refraction of light, even if you aim properly, the spear still goes wide.
If I kept failing a few more times, I'd probably start getting the hang of it little by little.
But I was still sorely lacking in actual experience.
Yerin, who had been watching from the side, giggled.
“Looks like you're just like me, Rills.”
“It takes a little time to get the feel for it.”
“Ah~ sure, sure.”
Out of sheer awkwardness, I gave a pointless little cough and readjusted my grip on the spear.
“…This time I'll really show you I can do it.”
Right then, a wrasse of a decent size came gliding out from between the nearby coral.
With its colorful body and relatively low wariness, it was a good fish for beginners to target.
Holding my breath, I waited for it to come closer.
Splash.
A shallow wave brushed past my calves. The wrasse circled through the seaweed, then slowly came my way.
Now.
Thunk!
I drove the spear down hard.
Splash!
The wrasse I was trying to catch was nowhere to be seen, and all I got was a loud spray of water.
“…….”
Startled, it flicked its tail and bolted like mad.
Yerin's mocking laughter rang out from behind me again.
“Pfft.”
“….”
“You said this time was for real.”
“I still haven't quite gotten the feel for it yet.”
“Most people call that failing.”
She just had to keep teasing me from the side.
I'm confiscating the praise sticker I gave her last time.
This is so unfair.
This time, the feeling really hadn't been bad.
I stared into the clear water again, searching for prey.
Splash!
And I failed again.
Splash!
Yerin failed too.
Before long, the two of us were silently stabbing nothing but seawater.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
“…….”
We came up empty every single time.
“Haaah. This is killing me.”
The sun beating down was hot, and I had to stay tense the whole time with my back bent over.
Even just moving my legs in the water drained my strength fast.
In the end, Yerin was the first to raise both hands and surrender.
“Haa….”
“….”
“I'm gonna rest a bit.”
She dropped onto the beach with a plop and said,
“This is insanely hard. I feel like I'm gonna lose a ton of weight.”
My arms were starting to feel heavy too.
Honestly, catching fish with a trap is way easier.
It's just that.
One of the reasons I came to this deserted island was to catch fish myself with a spear.
Trying to chase the romance of it really came back to bite me.
‘I should've made a fish trap.’
After hesitating for a moment, I decided to use a cheat code after all.
“…Can't be helped.”
The bamboo tube standing on the beach.
Inside, the worms we'd caught earlier were wriggling.
Yerin's expression stiffened a little when she saw what I was doing.
“…No way, right?”
“I told you, I'm not eating them.”
“Phew.”
Seriously, what did she think of me?
Why would I eat worms?!
Maybe if they were loaded with protein like larvae, it'd be a different story.
I picked up a flat stone lying nearby, then placed the worms on top of it.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Then I started grinding them up in earnest.
In an instant, the wriggling things turned into a limp paste.
Sorry.
That's just how nature works.
Yerin frowned at the now-unrecognizable lump of mush.
“…Ugh. Gross.”
“It's chum.”
“Chum?”
“Fishermen use it all the time when they want to gather fish.”
Fish are incredibly sensitive to the smell of food.
If I release this into the water, the small fish nearby will gather in no time.
And if a school of fish gathers.
Then even a rough stab should catch at least one by luck.
I slowly released the finished chum into the shallow water.
The mushy worm bits spread out on the current.
A little later.
A small school of fish that had been swimming together in the distance started edging this way.
At the same time, Yerin's eyes went wide.
“…Oh.”
“See?”
“They're really coming?”
I tightened my grip on the spear again.
This time, I really felt like I could catch one.
@
“Rills.”
“Yep.”
“Who's that supposed to feed?”
Looking dumbfounded, Yerin held up the fish dangling from the tip of the spear.
Two fish smaller than my palm.
And I hadn't even properly targeted them. I'd just jabbed roughly into the school swarming around the chum and gotten lucky.
I fell silent as I looked at the tiny fish on the spear tip.
“….”
“….”
“Still.”
“….”
“I did catch something.”
Yerin laughed in disbelief.
“Rills. You're really positive.”
“In survival, your mentality is the most important thing.”
Honestly, it's not like I don't know the reason.
This softened-up body just doesn't have enough strength.
Water has an insane amount of resistance.
It's kind of like fighting someone in a dream—everything gets ridiculously slow, and you just get pummeled one-sidedly. It felt exactly like that.
I was sure I was thrusting fast, but the moment the spear went into the water, its speed died instantly.
With these soft, jelly-like palms… there's no way I can power through the resistance of the water and catch anything by force.
In the end, what matters is feel.
Since it was my first time spearfishing, I was still lacking experience.
I pulled the fish off the spear tip and sighed.
“Sigh. Nothing in life ever goes according to plan.”
“Seriously.”
“It looked super easy on TV.”
“Those people are actual natives.”
“True. We're only suffering because you're so picky about the menu, Yerin-nim.”
“This is my fault?”
“Yep.”
Before I knew it, the sunset was slowly sinking over the sea.
The red glow of dusk stretched long across the surface.
Looks like we should call it here for today.
We'd burned through a lot of stamina, and the results were lousy.
In the end, dinner would probably be larvae and yam again.
We never should've eaten ramen yesterday.
All it did was make my tastes more expensive.
As we stared at the sunset sea with the wistful faces of defeated soldiers after a lost battle.
A familiar voice rang out.
“Benefactor!!!”
When I turned my head, a large man was hurrying toward us from far down the beach, huffing and puffing. He looked absurdly happy, like he'd just run into an old hometown friend.
‘No way… is he calling me?’
But what is with that title?
I hadn't helped him enough to be called a benefactor.
“……!”
In his hand was the bamboo spear I'd made for him.
Several forearm-thick fish were skewered on the spear's prongs.
Yerin and I fixed our eyes on the fish impaled on the spear. Then we looked at each other and nodded.
‘We can just shake him down for those.’
@
[Looks like our guy can't do anything right today lol]
Posted by: Nongnongnongnongnong
Went out on an ambitious hunt and failed
Tried to catch fish and failed too
ㄴHe did catch something though? Tiny as hell lol
ㄴOnce you clean those, there won't even be a mouthful
ㄴYerin: “Who's that supposed to feed?” lmao
ㄴHow does he not succeed at everything every time
ㄴHonestly, him failing makes him feel more human
ㄴSurvival always has a shit ton of variables
ㄴTheory and practice are different lol
ㄴBut if our guy's that smart, couldn't he just make a bamboo fish trap?
ㄴDidn't you watch the Mr. Rich interview clip?
ㄴHe said he had a dream of catching fish himself with a spear
ㄴHe's the type to go looking for trouble
ㄴThe real veterans enjoy stuff like that
ㄴBut Baby's chill as hell, just enjoying a sand bath by himself
ㄴWhat's a lizard's IQ anyway?
ㄴProbably higher than yours
ㄴYou little shit
[I'm a Kim Woong fan, and I'm seriously grateful to our guy]
Posted by: MuscleheadWarrior
That guy got manipulated by those Korean girls and even had his knife taken ㅠㅠ
Things really looked hopeless for him
Then our guy gave him water and made him a spear, so now there's hope
Oh, Rills, my love.
Oh, Rills, my light.
Oh, Rills, my darkness.
Oh, Rills, my life.
Oh, Rills, my joy.
Oh, Rills, my piss.
ㄴWhy is there something weird mixed in at the end?
ㄴㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴWhy'd you put piss in there, you psycho
ㄴBut Kim Woong really was pitiful as hell
ㄴThe guy who built the shelter getting kicked out, is that for real lol
ㄴI was dumbfounded when they even took his knife
ㄴStill, our guy really did save someone's life
ㄴThat spear honestly seems like a crazy useful item
ㄴIt's wild how he just whips one up out of bamboo
ㄴRills doesn't even try to score brownie points, but people keep liking him more
ㄴHe's the type who naturally stacks good-deed points
ㄴKim Woong, you bastard, pay that kindness back with your life fr
ㄴOur guy: two anchovy-sized fish
ㄴKim Woong: several forearm-thick ones
ㄴㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴNow they just have to take those and it's problem solved
ㄴFor real lol