Episode 74: Preparation
[Day 152] 90kg (―1kg)
“Hello, everyone.”
As soon as the camera turned on, Bangwool thrust her face forward and yawned wide, as if she wanted to show off the tiny white fangs coming in.
“Move aside, you rascal.”
Sihyeon gently pushed her head away with his hand, but it only worked for a split second. After rescuing his phone from Bangwool, Sihyeon held it in his hand and looked around for a suitable spot.
“Bangwool got scolded today. She ate more than half of the butterhead lettuce planted in the vegetable garden. That’s actually part of my diet plan. Seeing her do things she’s never done before, I guess she’s really going through a rebellious phase.”
Sihyeon walked briskly over to the apple tree. He was planning to harvest a few apples that had grown quite a bit. He mounted the camera on top of the wall and adjusted the angle slightly. Bangwool kept circling around him, but Sihyeon pretended not to notice and continued filming.
“I’m going to pick some apples. The color looks quite pretty now. The persimmons still smell astringent and still have a bit of green left, so I’ll save those for next time. Today, I'll just be picking apples.”
Standing in front of the apple tree, the fresh, sweet scent of apples wafted through the air. Sihyeon’s throat gulped involuntarily as his mouth watered.
“It smells absolutely delicious. When picking an apple, if you gently twist it in the opposite direction of where the stem is bent, it pops right off. They say it’s best not to leave the stem behind.”
Plop.
Plop.
Plop.
Explaining softly as he worked, Sihyeon harvested about ten apples that were slightly smaller than a fist.
“Since I’m the only one eating these, this should be plenty. They’re much fresher when left on the tree anyway, so if I want more, I can just pick them again.”
Sihyeon washed the apples thoroughly at the well. Grabbing an apple with both hands, he applied a little pressure, and it split cleanly right down the middle.
“Normally, I eat them whole, but I wanted to show you the inside.”
As he brought the halved apple close to the camera, the bright yellow flesh came clearly into view.
“Is this what they call a honey apple? The sweet smell is no joke either. Let me give it a taste.”
Crunch.
Unable to resist, Sihyeon took a large bite out of the apple. Sweet and tangy juice burst all over his mouth. At the same time, the texture was incredibly crisp—so much so that a loud crunch echoed with every chew. The apple was dense and dripping with juice. Sihyeon devoured half of it in an instant, then finished off the rest in silence.
Just as he was about to give a satisfied smile, he locked eyes with Bangwool’s black pupils.
“Ah. Sorry.”
Sihyeon split another apple open, shared it with Bangwool, and continued talking as if nothing had happened. In the background, the sound of Bangwool crisply munching on her apple served as ambient noise.
“A well-ripened apple tastes great when sliced thinly and put inside whole wheat bread, right? Today, I’m going to show you how to make a countryside-style apple sandwich. Surprisingly, the elders like it too.”
Sihyeon pulled up two heads of butterhead lettuce that had grown to the size of a palm from the vegetable garden, roots and all, and headed to the kitchen.
Whoosh—
“If you leave them submerged in water for a bit, the dirt settles to the bottom. Shake them lightly to wash, then rinse them one more time under running water. I saw a piece of international news recently where someone didn’t wash their garden vegetables properly before eating, and a roundworm got into their brain... Ah, it’s a bit inappropriate to talk about this while making food, isn’t it?”
Sihyeon put on an apron and took out a round container from the sink.
“This is a salad spinner that I highly recommend. Of course, you could just shake off the water. But then water splashes everywhere. This wooden floor is nearly a hundred years old, so I'd rather not splash water on it if possible. Mold might grow, you see.”
Sihyeon packed the vegetables neatly inside the inner basket. After putting the lid on, he pulled the handle connected to the cord; it spun 360 degrees with a whirring sound, spinning the moisture right off the vegetables.
“You can just pour the water collected at the bottom out through the hole on the side.”
Sihyeon set the vegetables aside and brought out the whole wheat bread.
“I bake bread in the kiln once or twice a week. It’s a bit tedious, but I like it because I can put whatever I want in it. I add quite a lot of walnuts, chestnuts, and lentils. I love them because they taste savory when chewed.”
He lightly toasted two thickly sliced pieces of bread in a pan.
Taking out a container of cheese from the refrigerator, Sihyeon explained:
“I love cheese too. Soft cheeses like Brie or cream cheese go better with this sandwich than cheddar, but, well, I don’t have any right now... I ate it all. I’ll lay down the two slices of cheddar cheese I do have onto the bread first. It’s to prevent the bread from directly absorbing the moisture. I really dislike it when the bread gets soggy when eating a sandwich.”
Sihyeon sliced half an apple very thinly.
“I’m not very good with knife work. I can slice things thinly, but slicing fast scares me because I feel like my fingers might fly off. I’ll just slice it very thinly at a slow pace and stack them up neatly on the bread.”
Next, he brought out a honey jar and evenly drizzled a spoonful.
“This is very, very expensive, high-quality honey. It’s domestic Grade 1 acacia honey that the village chief gave me. For the record, since it’s just to add a bit of sweetness, wildflower honey, Manuka honey, or even jam works fine. And I’ll sprinkle a bit of cinnamon, which I love.”
Sihyeon muttered as he tapped out the cinnamon powder.
“I love the scent of cinnamon. Since only a tiny bit goes in, you can barely taste it. Keep this combination in mind. Apple, honey, and cinnamon are a winning combination, and it’s good for your health too. It’s absolutely delicious even if you just brew it as a tea.”
After piling on a generous amount of butterhead lettuce and placing the unspread piece of bread on top to complete it, he pressed down firmly.
“I’ll wrap it in paper and cut it in half. There are a lot of ingredients inside, so it leaks all over the place when you eat it. …The cross-section looks very pretty. I prefer putting in lots of vegetables.”
Sihyeon adjusted the camera angle to show the cross-section of the apple sandwich cut by the knife. Because he had packed it with apples and lettuce, the bulging cross-section made it look even more delicious.
“The original recipe tells you to add crunchily caramelized pecans too, and to spread whole-grain mustard and mayonnaise on one side of the bread. But since I’m still on a diet, I’m skipping the sauces. Well then, I'll give it a try.”
Sihyeon put the sandwich into his mouth without hesitation.
“Mmm.”
The walnuts and lentils inside the bread burst with texture as they mixed with the fillings. The sweet apple and cinnamon created a unique flavor profile that Sihyeon loved, while the finish was savory as the cheese and bread melded together. Forget the video or anything else—he focused his senses entirely on eating.
“Ah, it’s truly delicious. You should definitely make and try it. Right now is the season when apples taste the best.”
After smacking his lips and finishing off the rest of the sandwich, the camera showed an empty plate. Sihyeon felt a bit embarrassed, so he decided to use his 'Geum-Eun-Dong' chance. In fact, Geum-ee was already clinging to his pants, biting at them.
“I’ll end it here for today. Instead, I’ll show you the cats you love the most. Bye!”
You little rascal. As soon as he detached Geum-ee from his pants and set him on the floor, Eun-ee and Dong-ee came running over. The three of them quickly tangled up and began rolling around together. Sihyeon filmed them for a brief moment before turning off the camera and starting to slice the rye bread again.
“Is it because I grew them myself? It tastes even better.”
He figured he should make a few more to share.
Late afternoon. Siwoo placed a phone call.
— Hyung, did you cut your hair?
“Yeah. That’s how it turned out. How did you know?”
— I saw the video you uploaded.
Sihyeon tilted his head. Did his face show up?
— You caught a glimpse of it when you were picking apples.
“Ah, Bangwool kept hitting the camera, so I edited it out, but I guess a bit was left over.”
— Yeah, seemed like it. It passed by so quickly that even I didn’t notice at first, but someone left a comment. But it doesn't really matter if your face shows up anyway, right?
“Yeah. It’s just that there's no real need for it to show. The garden is better to look at than me.”
Through the phone, the wild shouts of the Tracker guys could be heard.
“Hyung-nim! You’re handsome!”, “Ah, so noisy! I can’t hear!”, “Come over and hang out!!”.
…Right. Everyone is doing well today too.
— Yoo Hee-soo said you look pretty with your hair completely slicked back. She said to keep your forehead exposed, so keep that in mind.
“Slicked back, my foot. If it gets long, I'll just leave it be.”
The background noise grew quiet. It seemed Siwoo had stepped out onto the veranda.
“…No news from that guy?”
— His drama started, you know? I saw it briefly while flipping through channels.
“He completely invaded someone else’s daily life without a care, and yet he’s doing everything he needs to do for himself?”
— Funny, isn't it? Hyung, don’t stress over that bastard either, just do what you need to do. It’s because he wants us to feel intimidated. Does he still think we’re just going to sit back and take it?
His younger brother was tougher than expected. Sihyeon tried hard not to look toward where Cerberus was. In his heart, he wanted to plunge the guy in and out of the Avici Hell, but Kang Sihyeon was a model citizen in his own way…….
“…Of course. Anyway, if he contacts you again, you know what to do, right? This time, we pull him out by the roots.”
— I told you I got it. Hyung, you should check the feedback on your channel. Your subscriber count grew a lot too.
“Feedback? Why? Did I make a mistake or something?”
— Not that. Hee-soo told me to tell you not to cut out the mukbang scenes and show them all.
“I cut it out because I ate too fast and ravenously.”
Siwoo’s laughter could be heard.
— Who knows. She says she gets vicarious satisfaction from watching it.
“Alright. I’ll check the comments.”
— Yeah, yeah. I’m heading to the practice room now. I'll call you later.
After hanging up the phone, Sihyeon logged into his YouTube channel. The subscriber count was ticking past four thousand. Even though he had uploaded it just a few hours ago, dozens of comments were already posted.
“Let’s see…….”
— 0:49 Deuvly's face appeared!
└ Since his eyebrows showed, he looks like Siwoo??
└ No, it's not because of the eyebrows, he lost more weight.
└ 222 He definitely has that Siwoo vibe.
“So they’re saying I look like Siwoo.”
— A man who splits an apple in half with his bare hands is so attractive…….
└ His forearms split beautifully too. Hyung-nim, it looks like you're still working hard on your push-ups lately.
Sihyeon muttered with a pleased face.
“I am working out hard.”
— Did you guys see Bangwool's expression when Deuvly finished the apple?
└ Look at this guy? Want me to scream real quick?
└ If he was even 3 seconds later, the audio would have exploded today.
└ You could see the whites of her eyes rolling up ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Glaring fiercely ㅋㅋㅋ
“Bangwool glared fiercely?”
This little rascal.
— What do you mean, a roundworm got into the brain????
└ Argh. How can you cut it off there? You shouldn't have brought it up from the start.
└ That lady had brain surgery. The doctor interviewed that a 10cm roundworm came out.
└ Gasp
└ Shiver
— Ah, please show us the sandwich mukbang too! You made all of it, so why can't you eat it on camera…….
└ Is this a Caffé Bene ending? ㅠㅠ
└ Deuvly, show us the cats AND the mukbang!
“Ah……”
Sihyeon scratched his head. It seemed they hated it when things were cut off in the middle. He didn't think there was any need to show himself eating while dropping food everywhere, but his subscribers certainly had unique tastes.
There are things to prepare when setting off on an adventure.
First and foremost, urgent matters have to be taken care of.
The first person he kept in mind was, of course, Siwoo.
Fortunately, since Kang Seung-hyun was filming a drama, he didn’t show any particular movements.
Next, checking the harvest schedule for the roses and lavender.
Supplying the remedies to Jerome, Jay, and Manshin, as well as keeping Bangwool in check so she wouldn't mess with Kkamangi, and so on.
He handled things so that everything would hold up perfectly even if he left his spot for a few days, and the animal hospital said they could look after Geum-Eun-Dong at any time.
Next, wouldn't you obviously need equipment?
Back when he went on journeys in the West Forest, he used to prepare long-lasting Druid-style rye bread (which doubled as a throwing stone in emergencies) first, but in a place like this where 24-hour convenience stores were everywhere, there was no need for that. The same went for pots or tools to start a fire. Instead of asking a fairy or a witch, he simply packed a lighter. Though Hwaryeong-nim was around, so he doubted he'd ever have to use it.
Also, instead of a compass or a map, he had a smartphone…… and instead of a thick cloak and a Druid's crest, he had a windbreaker that folded down to the size of a palm.
“It’s nice that it’s simple, but there's no romance in it, no romance……”
Instead, Sihyeon stood in front of the medicine cabinet and picked out a few herbs that could be used for emergencies to pack separately. He didn't know where he would end up going, but things in the world never go exactly as planned, so he had to prepare what he could.
Even that took only a few days to finish.
The longer the time spent preparing for the adventure dragged on, the more all sorts of imaginations branched out. He even had dreams featuring the Four Guardian Deities. For instance, Hwaryeong would set a fire and Cheongryong would put it out, while he stood between them, half-burned and soaking wet…….
“It’s taking longer than I thought……”
It was about a week after that when a message finally arrived from the Manshin, Lee Hwa-yoon.
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