A few days in Sokcho.
Children tend to get bored quickly.
The toys they played with just yesterday suddenly lose their appeal.
And their interest quickly shifts to the new toy that catches their eye.
Of course, there are also children who cling to one toy persistently.
However, even for those children, playing by the sea every day inevitably leads to boredom.
Right.
This is the story of me and Shiyeon.
“I’m bored…”
“Me too.”
As I empathize with Shiyeon’s complaint, I lie on the cool floor of the vacation home, counting the days until we return home.
In fact, I was already tired of the sea by the fourth day.
For Shiyeon, splashing around in the water is fun for just a day or two, but in a situation with only one playmate…
It’s hard to fill the two weeks with just the element of the sea.
So, the second option I turned to was various delicacies.
What I had tried in Sokcho were only instant meals and fried chicken from the fridge.
Eating fried chicken and instant food that can be bought anywhere after coming all the way to Sokcho?
That made me feel a bit disappointed, so I decided to explore the market.
The goal was to discover new foods for Shiyeon.
We can’t just eat delivery food all the time; there are so many things to eat in the world, and we can’t rotate solely between chicken, pizza, jjajangmyeon, and hamburgers.
If I could explore something like raw fish during this opportunity, it might just lead to a chance to order sushi at home…
Thus, I rationalized my various excuses in my mind.
In reality, I just came out to find something I wanted to eat.
“A little bit of this and that, and it would be good if I could solve Shiyeon’s meal too…”
With that, I took a taxi to a market in Sokcho.
Despite serving in some hated part of Gangwon Province, I had never even thought of visiting the Sokcho market.
It seemed like a market that consumes the hopes of soldiers who wish for their base to be near their hometown, with its often visible spinach-like attire.
Seeing them out during the day on a weekday, it didn’t seem like they were out for a short leave or a late afternoon outing on a weekday.
If it were the day of departure for vacation, they wouldn’t want to stay in Gangwon Province at this hour…
“Could it only be the last day of their vacation return?”
That became the only remaining option.
I shook my head, clicking my tongue in pity over a topic I couldn’t empathize with.
It seems Shiyeon’s gaze had followed mine, as her small finger pointed toward the soldier we were just observing.
“Oh! It’s a soldier uncle!”
“It seems I definitely look like an uncle.”
Men aren’t regarded as uncles until really handsome, reaching at least high school age.
Once you get out of the school uniform framework, even the honest eyes of pure children cruelly label them as uncles.
To be fair, even among those in the same unit, soldiers call each other uncles.
Once that soldier passed by, my sight was filled again with the delicious food piled up in the market.
Things like squid sundae, mulhoe, and fried chicken were being discussed by two public officials.
Additionally, true to Gangwon Province, there were various seafoods like shrimp and crabs close to the ocean.
And there were sweet rice donuts and twisted doughnuts everywhere in the market.
Besides that, there were potato pancakes, alcohol bread… and honeycomb ice cream?
For something you’d expect to find at any market, sure, but honeycomb ice cream?
I really can’t understand why that exists.
“Is there anything you want to eat?”
“Shrimp over there!”
“Where? Oh, it’s right there.”
Shiyeon’s choice was confidently fried shrimp.
The large puffed batter was big enough to fill two-thirds of her slender arms.
Ten of those shrimps cost 10,000 won.
I was astounded by the market’s ruthlessness where you couldn’t even buy just one, and so instead of only shrimp, I ordered a mix of half fried shrimp and half fried red crab, five of each.
It would be hard to eat while moving with these bodies, so we entered a shop to sit down.
Inside the shop, Shiyeon was sitting on a backless plastic chair, flapping her legs.
Before long, a plastic basket with paper and fried food was placed before us.
The white steam that seemed to have just jumped out of the oil and the glistening appearance of the fried batter were enticing.
And that typical smell of fried food enhanced our appetite.
“Enjoy your meal!”
“Me!”
Though she had seen fried shrimp often, this fried red crab was different.
With a hint of uncertainty, I picked it up with my chopsticks and took a bite.
It was fried in a stick shape, and I wondered if they just stuck a chicken shell on the end and called it fried crab…
“Oh…?”
The spine-like core of the crab leg came out between my teeth, melting away my suspicions.
How to describe the flavor… absolutely luxurious crab meat.
It felt like I was experiencing only this cheap sensation, but still, it was delicious.
Shiyeon, who liked shrimp a bit more, had three fried shrimps and two fried crabs.
On my side, it was three fried crabs and two fried shrimps.
After stuffing my stomach with a bit of a heavy snack, I wandered around the market, looking around.
“Water puppy!”
Shiyeon seemed thrilled with the exotic scenery too, pointing at the seafood in the fish restaurant’s tank.
“Oh, it’s a stonefish.”
Even if I didn’t know much about fish, I recognized that fish.
With white and black stripes, resembling a prisoner suit.
It’s the kind of fish that’s more famous from a picture that says, “Do you really use that precious stonefish to make fish cutlet?” and what I first knew through an image circulating on the internet.
With Shiyeon’s curiosity growing, we paused in front of the fish restaurant tank for a moment.
“What’s that?”
“Sea cucumber.”
“And that?”
“Flatfish, do you want to try it?”
As I named them in order, touching each with my finger, I answered her queries based on what I remembered.
Flatfish is one of the easiest for beginners to try sashimi, so I asked Shiyeon if she wanted to eat flatfish.
Her gaze turned to ‘Do we eat that?’ and she pulled back the finger she was pointing with.
As expected, it seems she still regarded fish as something to look at rather than to eat.
If she were to eat flatfish thinly sliced and dip it in vinegar or soy sauce, it would no longer look like just an attraction.
Sadly, it seems like she’s out of luck when it comes to eating sushi at home.
Would the outcome be a bit different if I had taken her to the sashimi shop before eating the fried food, promising her delicious food?
In the end, we couldn’t explore raw food. It turned out to be ordinary squid sundae or Abai sundae.
After filling up on those and some sliced potato pancake, I asked Shiyeon again.
“Is there anything else you want to eat?”
“Ice cream.”
“That one?”
“Yes.”
[Honeycomb Ice Cream: 6,000 won]
[Honey Rice Cake Ice Cream: 6,000 won]
[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.
Seeing the prices like a discarded conscience typical of tourist attractions, I cursed internally.
Just wrapping vanilla ice cream with a shell of pure ice cream, is this marketing madness?
It’s truly impressive.
Anyway, this was the honeycomb thing that once heated up the internet.
Now, long after the excitement had cooled down, we sampled it together, savored the almost painful sweetness.
It was already sweet vanilla ice cream.
With syrupy honey drizzled over it and a piece of honeycomb that was filled with honey placed on top…
Even those pushing dessert might gasp in shock at the price of 6,000 won for a potential diabetes emergency room visit.
For two ice creams, the total was 12,000 won.
I was astounded that the cost of dessert could easily be the price of half a chicken…
But seeing Shiyeon’s happy expression, I decided to enjoy this sweet treat and forget about health for now.
As we left the market, the moment I scooped the ice cream with a plastic spoon from the plastic coffee cup, a strong and artificial sweetness wrapped around my mouth.
“It’s sweet.”
“Mary, Mary! Is this really a honeycomb?”
Maybe she thought it was a waste to eat?
Shiyeon asked this before even taking her first spoonful.
Nodding at her question, I added an explanation to ensure she didn’t mess up.
“Yes. The bee’s house, you have to suck the honey out and spit it out, right? You can’t swallow it?”
After stepping outside the market and sitting on a nearby chair, I explained.
The honey of the honeycomb can be excused, but the honeycomb itself is just wax.
It’s not like you absolutely can’t eat it, but there’s nothing particularly good about eating it.
After spending several days exploring tourist spots and food in Sokcho, on a comfortable afternoon where the monster didn’t appear and my belly was already full,
I was startled by a knock at the door, coming from somewhere.
Shiyeon, curious about the sound, lifted her head from doing her vacation homework at the desk.
“Who is it?”
I used the intercom, which I had gotten used to after fiddling with everything.
Outside the door were two women.
A middle school girl who looked about that age with short black hair and a woman with long hair…
‘This person…’
I thought I recognized her from somewhere, and she was Ms. Venus.
I hurriedly ran to the door of the vacation home and opened it.
“Welcome!”
“Hello~”
As I greeted her first by opening the door, I was met with a surprisingly lively response from Ms. Venus.
The warmth she displayed was unexpected from the person who had crushed the cheerful atmosphere at the meetup.
In contrast to her, the girl beside her timidly stepped into the vacation home.
“Um, hello…”
She was a typical bookish middle schooler wearing horn-rimmed glasses.
