Chapter 37

If you’re asking why on earth I learned how to butcher.

“I knew an older brother in Majang-dong.”

“Kururu?”

“I learned a few skills after having a few drinks.”

In truth, I have never dismantled a complete animal.

He was someone who said that you shouldn’t entrust just anyone with handling a knife, so all he did was teach me how to slice meat by part, telling me to try it if I ever had the occasion to buy a large primal cut at home.

The thing is, I’ve never actually done a proper butchering.

“But even if I’ve never done it myself, I know how to do it.”

I was a good learner.

“Its body isn’t cold, so it can’t have been dead for long, huh? It’s like a warm stone.”

“Kuruk?”

“It’s because the blood needs to be drained. It’s difficult to drain the blood after a lot of time has passed since death.”

The blood from its forehead seemed to have soaked into the ground for a while, but for that to be the case, the deer’s body was so soft that it scared me a little.

It seemed this world, where food didn't easily rot or spoil, had some effect.

Yes, ‘food.’

“…Is a deer that’s already dead considered food, though.”

And I myself was attempting to butcher it.

‘Anyway, it’s much easier if the body hasn’t stiffened.’

I dragged the house-sized deer and hung it on a Dorongdorong Tree of a suitable height.

Then, I made a hole in its neck so the blood could drain out.

“Honey.”

“Kkuk?”

“Your dad has definitely evolved.”

“Kururu.”

“I thought I had evolved into a portrait, but I didn’t know I would get stronger too.”

It was hard to tell whether the laws of physics were less applied because it was the world inside a painting, or if I myself had gotten stronger, given that it wasn’t difficult to hang a deer larger than myself on a tree.

“Then, while the blood is draining, shall we take out the innards?”

“Kurururururu.”

“…Honey, don’t drink the blood from below. Ew, that’s dirty.”

The sight of a tiny bird drinking the trickling blood was a horror in itself.

“Dad is scared.”

“Kkung.”

“I’m not lying.”

The trust between father and son was absurdly low.

“…….”

It was funny, so it was fine.

‘I need to take out the innards before they spoil.’

According to the laws of the painting world, it was unlikely to spoil easily, but I had the experience of a Mangdung Fruit, which had been exposed to the sun for a long time, becoming as hard as an ore.

I didn't know what kind of problems might arise, so it was best to do what I could when I could.

“The hide is thick.”

The fat under the hide was also considerable.

“The system said this deer came from a rainforest, but aren’t rainforests usually hot and humid? I don’t know why its fur is so thick and it’s so full of fat.”

“Kuruu.”

“Stop drinking the blood, Honey. Dad said it’s creepy.”

“Kkungkungkung….”

“I won’t let you off just because you’re cute.”

I had no intention of sleeping well with a bird that smelled of blood.

“Kkung.”

Honey grumbled with a ‘kkungkung’, and then suddenly spewed out a pile of something.

“…….”

“Kurururururu.”

“Jewels…?”

They were the sparkling jewels that Honey loved so much, but it didn't seem like a coincidence that after turning bright red, Honey had regurgitated red jewels and regained its original color.

“Did you turn the blood into jewels?”

“Kuruk.”

“As expected of my son, you’re no ordinary being.”

I decided to stop caring.

“Can Dad use those to paint later?”

“Kurururururu!”

“Thank you for giving me permission, so I won’t say anything if you drink more.”

“Kuruk!”

“You had a plan all along, I see.”

Drinking the blood of a hunted animal might not be that strange of a thing.

As a human, I thought ‘what the fuck is that,’ but Honey is still a bird, isn’t he.

In a way, it was natural for him to have animal instincts.

‘As long as he can return to his original state, it really doesn’t matter.’

Even though he was a child born of paint, suppressing his animal instincts was not a parent’s job.

As long as he didn’t die from drinking some deer blood, it was fine.

“I’m about to cut open the stomach, so be careful not to get splattered with innards.”

“Kuruu.”

“Alright, let’s see….”

I focused my senses on my fingertips and felt the deer’s belly.

“I heard that for this kind of thing, you should start cutting from the anus to make it easier.”

Starting the knife from the anus was a rather cruel story as a fellow living creature, but that’s just how the food chain is.

“Heave-ho.”

It was a knife I had never sharpened, but perhaps because it was so sharp, the belly cut open easily.

When the abdomen of the upside-down deer was opened, the innards inside were visible and I witnessed something strange.

“……?”

Why is there a jewel in here too?

‘It looks much bigger than the jewel Honey spat out.’

In terms of location, it was about where the heart would be.

“…Isn’t this a bit funny…?”

A jewel heart; my common sense was being destroyed.

“How did it purify and create blood with something like this?”

“Kurururururuk.”

“Come down, Dad will check if it’s safe and give it to you later.”

In any case, Honey, who couldn't get enough of shiny things, threw a fit, but I shook my head.

No matter what, the feeling of giving an animal’s innards was just too strange.

“Let’s just finish dismantling it.”

I finished cutting open the belly from the anal area to where the ribs were.

It was my first time dismantling like this, but thankfully, the disaster of bursting the innards didn't happen.

“The blood needs to drain properly too.”

“Kkuk?”

“If you don’t drain the blood in time, it seeps into the meat. Then the texture of the meat itself can easily spoil, and it becomes too gamey… so if possible, you should drain the blood right after you catch the animal.”

I carefully took out the rest of the innards so they wouldn’t burst.

“It would be a catastrophe if they burst.”

I would be seeing hell.

For the hide, you should start from the hind legs where it’s easy to reach.

“There’s so much fat, I’m not sure if I can use the hide.”

“Kkullullu?”

“To dry the hide enough to make something with it, all this fat needs to be gone. But the fur is quite fluffy, so if I make a cape out of it, it’ll be useful even when I go back to reality later.”

“Kkuk.”

“It’s a bit much to keep relying on you.”

The day before we went sightseeing, I was contemplating whether to draw some winter clothes because I didn't have any, but Honey had helped me.

Just by holding Honey, my whole body would become warm, so there was no need for separate winter clothes.

But I couldn't do that every time.

“I should prepare the hide.”

Anyway, it was a good thing that there was a decent amount of fat.

“The aroma of the meat is quite nice. The fat has a savory smell too. You shouldn't throw away fat like this, but refine it and collect it to use later when you make stir-fried dishes, it’ll double the flavor.”

“…….”

“Eating the fat as it is won’t be as tasty as you think.”

I felt warmed by the sight of Honey coveting the fat, staring at it intently.

This feeling, as if looking in a mirror or an album.

This is family. Honey was definitely a big eater, just like me.

“While you’re at it, do you want to gain some more weight?”

“Kkung.”

“If you don’t want to, then never mind.”

The thick hide was cut away.

Checking the grain of the deer’s muscle, I slowly peeled off the deer’s fur coat.

Fortunately, compared to its abundant fur, the hide wasn't that tough, so I was able to work on it without much difficulty.

“From the hind legs… to the torso….”

I skinned it starting from the hind leg where bone met skin without meat, the part that would be the ankle bone on a human.

Then the torso, the front legs and then I chopped off the skinned hide along with the deer’s head to completely dismantle it.

Surprisingly, because I had separated it without any mistakes, the hide was quite intact.

“Let’s separate the fat.”

“Kururuk.”

“…Just a taste.”

I gave permission to Honey who was coveting the fat and Honey, having tasted the fat with his father’s permission, writhed in agony.

“I told you it wouldn’t taste good right now.”

“Kku, kku… kururu….”

“Please believe your dad, your dad knows what tastes bad like the back of his hand.”

“Kurururururu….”

“Is it that bad you’re crying?”

Honey, shocked that the fat didn't taste good despite its savory aroma, whimpered sadly.

I put Honey, who couldn't escape the shock of the bad food, into my cape’s hood.

“Now I need to start the butchering in earnest.”

Now that I had separated the innards, hide and fat, it was time to remove the meat.

‘The aroma is certainly good, just as the system described.’

I had heard that wild animal meat is tough and gamey, but this didn't seem to be the case.

As someone who quite enjoyed cooking, I knew well what kind of smell raw meat gives off.

Even the meat of a well-raised calf was bound to have a unique fishy smell.

But this deer didn't have such an unpleasant smell.

“…It seems to have a bit of a nutty smell.”

If I had to say, it was a scent closer to walnuts than peanuts.

“That’s funny.”

It was the first time in my life I had smelled such a scent from meat, so I was a bit flustered for a moment, but it wasn't a strange feeling like mint-flavored potato chips.

Rather, the scent was quite harmonious, so I felt a different kind of pleasure.

“A different world is certainly a different world.”

“Kuruk?”

Even if the ingredients looked similar, there were slight differences in scent and taste from those of Earth.

“Actually, it’s a bit of a shame that the heart is a jewel like this. The heart of a freshly caught animal is a pretty good ingredient for cooking, so I was thinking of grilling it… but in this state, it might be a bit ambiguous to eat.”

“Kururururururuk.”

“Right, I might not, but you probably can. Dad will cook it for you.”

It wouldn't taste like much in this state anyway.

“…But there’s a lot more of it than I thought….”

Removing the soft meat buried deep inside the back, the loin.

Dismantling the legs and stripping off the tough meat.

“Hmm.”

This part seems like it needs to be simmered slowly.

The thigh meat seemed tender enough to be edible.

Besides that, after removing all the ribs and tenderloin….

“Ta-da.”

“…….”

“A mountain of meat has appeared.”

“Kkung.”

“Is it a lot?”

“Kuruu.”

“I see.”

It wasn’t for nothing that the system told me to dry it in the sun as processed meat.

With this much, it seemed best to salt or dry most of the meat for storage.

“It won’t spoil if I put it in the ice shed, but… still, it’s better to make what I can.”

For now, jerky and sausage came to mind.

“Should I do the jerky first?”

Sausage takes much longer, after all.

“I need to drain some of the blood first.”

“Kurururuk?”

“Just because I hung it upside down to drain the blood, not all of it would have come out. The time it was hanging wasn’t that long either, so to properly get rid of the gamey smell, I needed to soak it in water to draw out what little blood was left.”

I soon brought a large basin from the cabin.

“Honey, put the meat in.”

“Kuruk!”

Honey, held hostage by the delicious jewel heart, was a good worker.

The two of them put the meat for the jerky into the large basin, and on top of it, they poured plenty of water from the stream that flowed leisurely around the cabin.

The stream that spread throughout the forest was always very useful.

“If I were making this on Earth, I would have added some rice wine here….”

The only alcohol I had was wine, but since the meat had almost no gamey smell, it was no problem.

“I should make the marinade while the blood is draining.”

“Kuruk?”

“The crops in the garden have all grown, so shouldn't we use them at a time like this?”

Having washed my hands stained with the deer’s blood, I picked some crops from the monster patch and then returned to the cabin.

Fortunately, the monster patch did not get angry at me for taking some of its crops.

“It clearly recognizes who its dad is. It was worth giving it sunlight and water.”

Standing in the kitchen, I took out several powders from the shelf.

“And let’s use some cheong.”

I also took out the Mangdung Fruit cheong that had been tucked away in a corner of the kitchen.

It was what I had saved before giving some to Yu Seong-un.

“You have to add this kind of cheong to get a sweet flavor.”

“Kururu….”

“It might seem strange, but it’s surprisingly delicious.”

Sweet and salty was an unchanging truth no matter where you went.

I checked the ingredients.

“Raw onion. There’s a lot of meat, so about 10… garlic and ginger powder are already here. I’ll add some sugar too. I think I can make it with a little bit of Mangdung Fruit cheong….”

Making jerky was not that difficult.

Finely chop the cleanly prepared onions to make a paste, and mix in various powders that are spicy and sharp to catch any gamey taste.

Add a little cheong for sweetness and a bit of sugar to erase any rough taste, and the jerky marinade is complete.

“The blood should be about to be drained by now.”

Quite a bit of time had passed after I put the marinade on a plate and washed the cutting board and knife.

Looking at the sky through the gaps in the leaves, which was already starting to get dark, I left the cabin.

Honey, who glowed like the gentle moonlight at night, helped me not to fall in the dark.

“Ah… this should be about right.”

“Kurururu?”

“This is dirty, it’s just bloody water. I’ll give you something else later.”

I placed the wet meat on a sieve and returned to the kitchen.

“I need to finish up quickly and get to sleep too.”

The rest was simple now.

Gently shake off the water-logged meat, and when it seems moderately dry, massage in the pre-made marinade.

After letting the marinade seep deep into the meat, I washed my hands.

“It’s done….”

“…….”

“…Honey, why do you keep coveting the innards?”

No matter how much he was my son, it was a taste I couldn’t understand.

In the end, the deer’s innards were deliciously shared by Honey and his water bird friends.

The golden water bird lake with blood-stained innards floating around had something mysterious and bizarre about it.

“Ah, take this out.”

“Kkung.”

“I’m going to make sausage.”

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.