Leveling Up By Surviving Alone - L.U.B.S.A Chapter 37

– The Watcher is surprised and asks if Ji Yeonwoo knows how to make shark fin soup.

“Haha. As expected, you understand my intentions, don’t you?”

Despite his confident reply, Ji Yeonwoo’s expression was gloomy.

“But actually, I don’t know how to make it… It just seemed like the easiest thing to try. Well… I thought it might taste decent, right?”

– The Watcher worries about what will happen if it doesn’t taste good.

– They ask if Ji Yeonwoo remembers that many skills are unlocked if the food tastes good, and if that’s not the case.

“That’s right. But, um… this seemed the simplest.”

Honestly, there was also the option of just grilling it.

But as far as Ji Yeonwoo knew, shark meat wasn’t particularly tasty.

Since the most delicious and famous high-end ingredient was the fin, he thought shark fin soup would be better if he was going to cook it. Plus, it meant he wouldn’t have to dissect the shark.

“Well, wouldn’t the fin taste better than the flesh? It is a high-end ingredient, after all.”

The Watcher didn’t respond for a while.

Meanwhile, the sawing continued, and a massive shark fin was cut off with a thud.

It was so large that when he held it with both hands, it blocked his vision. Even with his increased strength, it felt heavy.

He gently set it down.

A triangular fin, one meter wide and one meter long…

Now he had to cook and eat it.

“Sha, shark fin… soup, so I just need to boil it, right?”

– The Watcher says boiling it won’t work.

“Huh? It won’t?”

– They add that shark fin soup isn’t made that way.

The Watcher spoke as if they knew the recipe.

Ji Yeonwoo’s eyes sparkled.

The Watcher was always knowledgeable, but he didn’t expect them to know how to cook shark fin soup too!

“Can you help me, perhaps?”

– The Watcher says they’ll repay the meals they’ve eaten so far, starting now.

And shortly after,

– Will you accept the Watcher’s memory (12 minutes 15 seconds)?

“……!”

Ji Yeonwoo had experienced this before.

When building the combat raft (…), he had received the Watcher’s memory and successfully completed the bamboo raft.

Now, the Watcher was giving him another memory.

“Thank you!”

Ji Yeonwoo nodded, and

Whoosh!

His vision darkened and then returned as he was drawn into the Watcher’s memory.

  *

The surroundings were bustling.

There was a massive cauldron, and chefs who appeared to be Chinese. Strangely, they were speaking Korean. Or rather, their lip movements didn’t match, but it sounded like Korean, as if dubbed.

It was a curious thing.

Perhaps it was because it was the Watcher’s memory, and it was being conveyed in a way that Ji Yeonwoo could easily understand.

The Watcher’s gaze, like a camera, focused on the Chinese chefs.

Among them, a well-dressed, smiling man stepped forward and bowed to the Watcher.

“You’ve come at the perfect time. Let me show you how to make shark fin soup!”

Soon, many cut shark fins were brought out.

A skilled chef selected one and began preparing the shark fin.

Using a knife, he scraped off the skin around the fin to reveal the flesh, then steamed it whole in a steamer.

After a long wait,

He made a sauce, poured it over the finished shark fin, added various vegetables, and completed a bowl of shark fin soup.

‘Huh? It’s surprisingly simple.’

Was it simpler than expected?

With this, Ji Yeonwoo thought he could substitute the missing ingredients with what he had and make something edible.

And so, the cooking method ended.

But the memory continued.

Like when drying the bamboo raft, the Watcher’s memory jumped, edited, and restarted on a boat at sea.

Strangely, it was a boat that only caught sharks.

The fishermen caught sharks, cut off the dorsal, pectoral, and tail fins, and threw the rest back into the sea.

Even while they were still alive.

And from outside the visible range, someone whispered.

Someone with a voice so impressive it could be a voice actor.

“Sharks can’t breathe without their fins. And they play a crucial role in the ecosystem’s food chain. Every year, fewer than 100 people worldwide die from shark attacks. But we kill over 100 million sharks a year. All for those fins.”

‘Ah… The sharks are pitiful.’

Shark fin is a high-end ingredient.

That’s why so many sharks are dying.

It was heartbreaking to think they were thrown back into the sea to drown, not even killed.

Even though Ji Yeonwoo was in a position where he had to eat the Rift Bull Shark.

Whoosh!

  *

And so, the Watcher’s memory ended.

“Wow… It was like watching a documentary. You’ve really experienced a lot.”

At those words, the Watcher said nothing.

Ji Yeonwoo also felt a strange sense of reverence.

“Sigh…”

Was it because he had watched the Watcher’s memory, which was like a documentary (…)?

He felt a renewed sense of pity for the sharks.

With that in mind, he looked at the Rift Bull Shark again.

The creature that had half-destroyed his combat raft, tried to bite him to death, and left tooth scars on his left forearm.

Ji Yeonwoo’s eyes grew cold.

“I’ll eat you as thoroughly as I can.”

It seemed that Earth sharks were Earth sharks, and Rift sharks were Rift sharks.

“Anyway, Watcher! This is the Rift, and I caught that thing, so it’s okay to enjoy eating it, right?”

– The Watcher says of course it’s okay!

– They add that the reason they showed that much was because they ended up watching it themselves.

“Huh?”

Since it was their memory, it was natural that they remembered that far. But they said they watched it, not remembered it.

Of course, Ji Yeonwoo didn’t feel the need to question it further.

Sometimes, the Watcher had a tendency to phrase things a bit differently.

“Anyway, thanks to you, I think I can make it delicious!”

– Let’s make it delicious!

And so, Ji Yeonwoo began making the shark fin soup.

He scraped off the skin attached to the massive fin with the blade of his knife to reveal the flesh inside.

‘It’s working surprisingly well?’

Of course, Ji Yeonwoo knew.

During their lifetime, monsters strengthen their bodies with their mana or something like that.

That’s why a dead monster’s flesh is easier to cut than when it was alive.

Having handled monster dissection before, Ji Yeonwoo knew this well, but he didn’t expect this rule to apply to a B-grade monster he was encountering for the first time.

The Rift Bull Shark’s fin wasn’t much different from Earth’s shark fins.

It had the same flesh, the same shape.

Only much larger.

Ji Yeonwoo didn’t have a giant cauldron to fit it all.

Swoosh.

He cut it into manageable sizes,

and put it into the largest pot he had.

He layered stones at the bottom to create space, intending to steam it rather than boil it.

After laying about a hand’s width of pebbles, he filled it halfway with water. He placed the prepared shark fin pieces on top, put it on the stove, and closed the lid.

Bubble, bubble~

The water simmered gently. The steam rose. The aroma of the steaming shark fin!

As he smelled it, Ji Yeonwoo prepared the sauce.

The sauce wasn’t anything fancy.

Just water, soy sauce, catfish sauce, sesame oil, and starch to thicken it.

The only unfamiliar ingredient was the catfish sauce, which he had heard of but never used.

But he thought adding oyster sauce would surely make it delicious.

He also added a bit of leftover chicken stock.

After adding the starch and simmering it, a brown liquid with a slightly thinner consistency than sweet and sour sauce was completed.

He added the fully steamed shark fin to it.

The boiled shark fin, unlike before boiling, couldn’t maintain its shape and the fibrous texture became prominent.

What should he call it? Like a cluster of enoki mushrooms…?

When it went into the sauce, the volume pushed the sauce up, threatening to overflow the plate.

But at that moment, something amazing happened.

The shark fin absorbed all the sauce like a sponge, slurp!

“Whoa…!”

So he had to pour the same amount of sauce two more times.

After that, Ji Yeonwoo decided to use the power of the combat green onion for the first time in a while.

He carefully cut off just the right amount of the stem, making sure not to hinder the onion’s growth.

After decorating with it and grinding some pepper… the shark fin soup was complete.

“Phew… Now all that’s left is to eat it, right?”

– The Watcher says their mouth is watering.

– They say they can’t eat it, but they’re curious about how it tastes.

“Alright!”

Ji Yeonwoo picked up a piece of shark fin with his chopsticks and took a bite.

Crunch…!

As soon as his teeth sank in, the collagen strands of the fin scattered in all directions. With each chew, they bounced springily, pushing against his teeth.

The unique juices and flavors that burst out with each bite.

And the rich sauce, which had been absorbed so thoroughly, delivered a ‘hot’ sensation just before cooling on his tongue!

Additionally, the sweet aftertaste unique to Rift monsters was a fresh and new experience for Ji Yeonwoo.

But, it was also a bit bland.

The shark fin itself had no flavor.

The unique texture also reminded him of a few other ingredients with good texture that could replace it.

‘Do we really need shark fin?’

It seemed like this dish was all about the sauce.

Perhaps the Watcher’s memory, which was like a documentary, had an influence.

Do we really need to kill sharks on Earth to eat this? The thought kept coming to him.

But even so,

He thought he could still enjoy the food he had made.

– They ask how it tastes.

– They say they can’t eat it, but they want to know how it tastes.

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