Chapter 41: Adventures in Sokcho: A Taste of Summer

A few days in Sokcho.

Kids tend to get bored quickly.

A toy that they were playing with just yesterday can suddenly lose its charm.

They often shift their interest to a new toy that catches their eye.

Of course, there are also kids who stick with one toy for a long time.

And even those kids will inevitably get tired of playing by the sea every day.

Right. This is the story of me and Siyeon.

“I’m bored…”

“I am too.”

I echoed Siyeon’s complaint as I lay on the cool floor of the vacation home, counting the days until we could return home.

Honestly, I got tired of the beach by about the fourth day.

For Siyeon, splashing around in the water is fun for a day or two, but with only one other kid to play with, no matter how much fun we have…

It was hard to fill two weeks of time with just the element of the sea.

So, the second thing I turned my attention to was food.

The only things we had eaten since coming to Sokcho were instant food from the refrigerator and chicken gangjeong.

Eating chicken and instant food that can be bought anywhere after coming all the way to Sokcho?

I couldn’t help but feel disappointed, so we decided to go explore the market.

The goal was to find new foods for Siyeon.

We can’t eat delivery food all the time, and there are so many things to eat in the world; we can’t just rotate between chicken, pizza, jjajangmyeon, and hamburgers.

If we could explore things like sashimi during this trip, it might even lead to ordering sushi at home later…

So I justified my reasoning internally with various excuses…

But honestly, I just came out to look for something I wanted to eat.

‘If I can also solve Siyeon’s meal, that’s a bonus…’

And so, we took a taxi to a market in Sokcho.

Having served in the military in some hated part of Gangwon-do, I had never once tried to visit Sokcho Market.

It’s a market that swallows up the hopes of soldiers wishing their bases were close to home, with army-green uniforms often spotted.

Seeing them out during the day on a weekday, it didn’t seem like they were out for a late-afternoon outing.

If it were the day of their leave, they wouldn’t want to be stuck in Gangwon-do at this hour…

‘It must be the last day of their vacation before returning.’

That was the only option left.

I shook my head, feeling a sense of pity for a topic I normally wouldn’t empathize with.

As my gaze followed the soldiers, it seemed that Siyeon’s little finger also pointed at the soldiers she was looking at.

“Hey! It’s a soldier!”

‘So I look like an ajusshi to her.’

A man isn’t considered an ajusshi unless he’s really handsome, usually until high school at most.

Once he steps out of the uniform, the innocent eyes of a child brutally stick the label of ajusshi on him.

After all, even the guys in the same unit call each other ajusshi.

Once that soldier passed by, my view was filled again with the many foods in the market.

Squid sundae, mulhoe, chicken gangjeong, and the conversations of two public servants.

Along with that, there were various seafood items like shrimp and crabs, typical of a coastal area like Gangwon-do.

And everywhere in the market, there were sweet rice donuts and twisted doughnuts.

Besides that, what’s with the potato pancakes, alcohol bread… honeycomb ice cream?

I can understand the presence of potato pancakes or alcohol bread in any market, but honeycomb ice cream?

I have no idea why that’s here.

“Is there anything you want to eat?”

“Over there, shrimp!”

“Where? Ah, there it is.”

Siyeon’s choice was the safe option of fried shrimp.

The fluffy batter puffed up to fill about two-thirds of her thin arm.

Ten shrimp for ten thousand won.

I shook my head at the market’s ruthless pricing, deciding to mix in half-and-half with fried red crab instead of just gorging on shrimp.

With a body like this, it was hard to eat while moving, so we went inside and sat down.

Inside the shop, Siyeon flailed her legs in a plastic chair without a backrest.

Before long, a plastic basket holding paper and fried goodies arrived.

It was as if the steaming white smoke had just burst out of the oil, and the shiny batter glistened enticingly.

And that distinctive oil aroma of fried food heightened our appetite.

“Enjoy your meal!”

“LH!”

While fried shrimp was something I had seen countless times before, this fried red crab made me skeptical.

With a hint of doubt, I picked it up with chopsticks and took a bite.

It was fried in a stick shape, making me wonder if they had just attached a crab shell at the end and were trying to pass off the fried meat as red crab.

But…

“Oh?”

The bone-like texture of the crab leg got stuck between my teeth, dissolving my doubts.

How to describe the taste… it was an incredibly luxurious crab meat flavor.

I couldn’t help but feel like I was having a cheap thrill, but it was still delicious.

Siyeon, who liked shrimp a bit more, had three fried shrimp and two fried red crabs.

On my side, I had three fried red crabs and two fried shrimp.

After stuffing ourselves with a somewhat indulgent snack, we wandered through the market, our eyes darting around.

“Look, a mudskipper!”

Siyeon seemed excited by the unusual sights, pointing at the seafood in the aquarium of a sashimi restaurant.

“Oh, a black rockfish.”

Even if I didn’t know much about fish, I could recognize that one.

Its prison uniform-like white and black stripes.

It’s more famous for the phrase, “Can you make a fish cutlet with that precious black rockfish?” and for the photos circulating on the internet, which was how I first learned about it.

As Siyeon’s curiosity bubbled up, we stopped for a moment in front of the aquarium.

“What’s that?”

“Sea squirt.”

“What about that?”

“Flounder. Do you want to try it?”

One by one, I named the seafood she pointed at, easing her curiosity as I recalled their names.

Flounder is one of the easier options for sashimi beginners, so I threw a question back at Siyeon.

When I asked if she wanted to try flounder, she looked at me as if to say, “Am I supposed to eat that?” and pulled her finger back.

Indeed, she seemed more interested in just looking than actually eating fish.

If she tried the freshly sliced flounder sashimi dipped in spicy sauce or soy sauce, it wouldn’t look like just a spectacle anymore.

Unfortunately, it seemed like I wouldn’t be able to have sushi at home either.

Would the outcome have been a little different if I had taken her to a sashimi restaurant without letting her try fried food first?

In the end, we settled for some squid sundae and Abai sundae, and after a hearty meal that included some potato pancakes sold by the slice, I asked her again.

“Is there anything else you want to eat?”

“Ice cream.”

“That one?”

“Yeah.”

[Honeycomb Ice Cream: 6,000 won]

Ice Cream: 6,000 won] Honey Dumpling

[Sand Ice Cream: 6,000 won]

[Honey Bee Bread Ice Cream: 6,000 won]

[Honey Ice Cream: 4,000 won]

[Pure Ice Cream: 3,000 won]

‘Damn.’

I cursed inwardly at the prices, which felt like the tourist spot’s specialty was an abandonment of conscience.

Just a vanilla ice cream covered with a shell of so-called pure ice cream?

Truly amazing.

Anyway, the honeycomb something that once heated up the internet.

As I shared with Siyeon, long past its prime, I savored the sweetness that made my tongue tingle.

The already sweet vanilla ice cream, drizzled with syrupy honey, topped with a piece of honeycomb packed with honey…

It was a complete diabetes emergency room one-way ticket for 6,000 won that would make even Tanghulu freak out and wave their hands in refusal.

The total cost for two ice creams was 12,000 won.

The price of a light meal for two fried chickens vanished without a trace, leaving me bewildered…

But seeing Siyeon’s delighted expression and enjoying the sweetness that my body could still handle, I decided to indulge in the joys of youth without thinking about health.

As we exited the market, I scooped up the ice cream with a plastic spoon from a plastic coffee cup.

The intense and artificial sweetness enveloped my mouth.

‘It’s sweet.’

“Mari, Mari! Is this really a honeycomb?”

Was she hesitant to eat it?

Siyeon asked me the question without even taking the first scoop.

I nodded at her question and added an explanation to ensure she wouldn’t make a mistake.

“Yeah. The beehive, you have to suck the honey out and spit it out, right? You can’t swallow it?”

After we exited the market, I threw out that remark while sitting on a nearby bench.

The honey in the honeycomb was one thing, but the honeycomb itself was just beeswax.

It’s not that you can’t eat it at all, but there’s really no reason to eat it.

After searching for tourist attractions and food in Sokcho for days, on a comfortable afternoon without any monsters appearing and my stomach full.

Kong-kong got up from the sofa at the sound of a strange knocking on the cabin door.

Siyeon, curious about the noise, lifted her head from the desk where she had been doing her vacation homework.

“Who is it?”

As she fumbled with various things, she became familiar with the cabin’s intercom system.

Outside the door stood two women. One was a middle school girl with short black hair, and the other was a woman with long hair…

‘This person…’

I felt like I had seen her somewhere before, and then I realized it was Venus.

I quickly ran to the cabin door with short strides and opened it for them.

“Welcome.”

“Hello~”

As I greeted them first while opening the door, Venus responded with a surprisingly cheerful greeting that was more lively than I had expected.

It was hard to believe that this was the same person who had plunged the warm atmosphere of our meeting into chaos.

In contrast to her, the girl beside her hesitantly stepped into the cabin, looking cautious.

“Um, hello…”

She was a typical studious-looking middle school girl wearing horn-rimmed glasses.

*Author’s Note (Afterword)*

A restaurant in a tourist spot filled with food.

If only the prices were a little cheaper… that would be great…

To be continued…