37

Chapter 37

As for why Gio had ever learned to butcher an animal,

“There was a Hyung I knew in Majang-dong.”

“Kkururu?”

“After we drank together a few times, he taught me some of the techniques.”

In truth, Gio had never dismantled a whole animal before.

The man had said that work involving knives should not be entrusted to just anyone. All he had done was teach Gio how to divide meat into individual cuts, telling him to try it if he ever bought a large primal cut at home.

Which meant Gio had never actually butchered an animal properly.

“Even if I’ve never done it myself, I know exactly how.”

Gio was a quick learner.

“Its body isn’t cold, so perhaps it hasn’t been dead for long? It feels like a warm stone.”

“Kkuruk?”

“I need to drain the blood. It becomes difficult once too much time has passed after death.”

The blood from its forehead seemed to have seeped into the ground for quite some time, yet the deer’s body was still soft. This intimidated Gio a little. It seemed the world’s tendency to prevent food from rotting or spoiling easily had taken effect.

Yes, ‘food.’

“…I suppose a deer that’s already dead does count as food.”

Gio himself was already attempting to butcher it.

‘In any case, it will be much easier if rigor mortis hasn’t set in.’

Gio dragged the house-sized deer over and hung it from a Dorong-Dorong Tree of suitable height. Then he made a hole in its neck so the blood could drain out.

“Honey.”

“Kkuk?”

“Dad has clearly evolved.”

“Kkururu.”

“I did think I had evolved into a Portrait, but I didn’t know I would become stronger too.”

He had hoisted a deer larger than himself into a tree without even straining. It was difficult to tell whether the physical laws applied less strictly because this was a world inside a painting, or whether Gio himself had grown stronger.

“Shall I remove the organs while the blood drains?”

“Kkurururururu.”

“…Honey, don’t stand underneath and drink the blood. Yucky. That’s bad.”

The sight of a tiny bird drinking the steadily flowing blood was a horror scene in itself.

“Dad is frightened.”

“Kkung.”

“I’m not lying.”

Trust between father and son was absurdly low.

“……”

But it was funny, so it was fine.

‘I should remove the organs first, before they spoil.’

The laws of the painted world suggested they would not spoil easily, but Gio had once seen Mangdung Fruit left in the sun turn nearly as hard as ore.

He did not know what problems might arise, so it was best to do whatever he could as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

“The hide is thick.”

There was also a considerable amount of fat beneath it.

“The System said this deer came from a rainforest, but aren’t rainforests usually hot and humid? I don’t understand why its coat is so thick or why it has this much fat.”

“Kkuru.”

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

“Kkungkkungkkung….”

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

Gio had no desire to share a bed with a bird that smelled of blood.

“Kkung.”

Honey grumbled, crying kkungkkung, then abruptly spat out a clattering heap of something.

“……”

“Kkurururururu.”

“Jewels…?”

They were the glittering jewels Honey loved so much, but it did not seem like a coincidence that Honey, who had turned bright red, regained his original color after spitting out red jewels.

“Did you turn the blood into jewels?”

“Kkuruk.”

“As expected of my son. You’re no ordinary bird.”

Gio decided not to concern himself with it.

“May Dad use those for a painting later?”

“Kkurururururu!”

“Thank you for giving me permission. I won’t complain if you drink more.”

“Kkuruk!”

“So you had a plan all along.”

Perhaps it was not particularly strange for Honey to drink the blood of a hunted animal. As a human, Gio thought, ‘What the fuck is that?’ But Honey was still a bird, was he not? In a way, it was only natural for him to possess animal instincts.

‘As long as he can return to normal afterward, it truly doesn’t matter.’

Honey might have been a child born from paint, but suppressing even his animal instincts was not something Gio should do as a parent. As long as drinking a little deer blood did not kill him, it was fine.

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

“Kkuru.”

“All right, let’s see….”

Gio focused on his fingertips and felt along the deer’s belly.

“I heard it’s easier to open one of these if you start cutting from the anus.”

Starting to cut from the anus sounded quite brutal coming from another living creature, but that was how the food chain worked.

“Heave-ho.”

He had never sharpened the knife separately, but it was so keen that the belly opened easily.

When the abdomen of the upside-down deer opened, its organs came into view. There, Gio saw something strange.

“…?”

Why was there a jewel here too?

‘It looks much larger than the jewels Honey spat out.’

Judging by its position, it was the heart.

“…Isn’t this a little ridiculous…?”

A jewel heart. Common sense was crumbling.

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

“Kkurururururuk.”

“Dad will check whether it’s safe and give it to you later, so come down.”

Honey went wild, helpless before anything that glittered, but Gio shook his head. Even so, giving him an animal’s organ felt far too strange.

“Let’s finish dismantling it.”

Gio finished opening the belly from the anus up to the ribs. Although this was his first time dismantling an animal, fortunately no catastrophe occurred in which he ruptured the organs.

“The blood needs to drain properly too.”

“Kkuk?”

“If you don’t drain blood in time, it seeps directly into the flesh. That can easily degrade the texture of the meat and make it taste far too gamey… So whenever possible, you need to drain the blood immediately after killing the animal.”

He carefully removed the remaining organs without rupturing them.

“If one bursts, it’ll be a catastrophe.”

He would see hell.

He had to begin skinning from the hind legs, where they were easy to reach.

“There’s so much fat that I’m not sure whether the hide will be usable.”

“Kkullullu?”

“For it to dry enough to make something from the hide, all this fat has to be removed. Still, the fur is quite soft. If I make it into a cloak, it should prove useful even after I return to reality.”

“Kkuk.”

“I can’t keep relying on you for everything.”

The day before their tour, Honey had helped Gio when he was considering painting winter clothes because he owned none. Simply holding Honey warmed his entire body, so separate winter clothes had been unnecessary.

But he could not do that every time.

“I should prepare the hide, at least.”

In any case, the considerable amount of fat was still a good thing.

“The meat smells quite pleasant. Even the fat has a nutty aroma. Instead of throwing fat like this away, you can render and save it, then use it for stir-fries later. It doubles the flavor.”

…Read only on MUGEX…

“……”

“Eating the fat as it is won’t taste as good as you imagine.”

The sight of Honey staring greedily at the fat filled Gio’s heart with warmth.

It felt like looking into a mirror or through a family album. This was family. Honey clearly took after him and was a great eater too.

“Since you’re eating, have you considered gaining a little more weight?”

“Kkung.”

“Never mind if you don’t want to.”

The thick hide peeled away. Following the grain of the deer’s muscles, Gio slowly stripped off its furry coat. Fortunately, despite the abundance of fur, the hide itself was not particularly tough, so the work was not difficult.

“Starting with the hind legs… then the torso….”

He peeled the hide away beginning at the hind legs, where bone lay directly beneath the skin—the equivalent of a human ankle. Next came the torso and forelegs. Then he severed the removed hide together with the deer’s head, completing the skinning.

Remarkably, he had separated it without a mistake, so the hide was fairly intact.

“Let’s separate the fat.”

“Kkururuk.”

“…Just have a taste.”

Gio gave permission to Honey, who coveted the fat. After tasting it with his father’s permission, Honey writhed in anguish.

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

“Kku, kku… Kkururu….”

“Please trust Dad. Dad is remarkably good at knowing when something tastes bad.”

“Kkurururururu….”

“Is it bad enough to cry?”

Shocked that the fat tasted awful despite its savory aroma, Honey became teary-eyed and sorrowful. Gio tucked Honey, still unable to recover from the shock of the bizarre food, into the hood of his cloak.

“Now it’s time for the actual butchering.”

With the organs, hide, and fat all separated, it was time to remove the lean meat.

‘Just as the System described, the aroma is certainly pleasant.’

Gio had heard that wild game was tough and smelled rank, but this did not seem to be the case here.

As someone who quite enjoyed cooking, Gio knew what raw meat smelled like. Even the meat of a well-raised calf inevitably carried its distinctive raw odor.

Yet there was no such unpleasant smell from this deer.

“…I think it smells somewhat like nuts.”

More like walnuts than peanuts, to be precise.

“How amusing.”

He was momentarily taken aback, having never encountered such a scent from meat in his life. It was not bizarre in the way mint-flavored potato chips were, however. The aroma was surprisingly harmonious, providing a novel pleasure.

“Another world truly is another world.”

“Kkuruk?”

Even ingredients that appeared similar differed slightly in aroma and flavor from those on Earth.

“To be honest, I’m a little disappointed that its heart is a jewel. The heart of a freshly killed animal is quite a good ingredient for cooking, so I was thinking of grilling it… But in this state, I’m not sure it can be eaten.”

“Kkururururururuk.”

“Right. Even if I can’t eat it, you probably can. Dad will cook it for you.”

It would hardly have any flavor as it was.

“…But there’s even more meat than I expected….”

Gio removed the loin, the tender meat buried deep inside the back. Then he disjointed the legs and stripped away the firm meat.

“Hmm.”

This cut would need to be simmered slowly. At least the upper leg meat seemed tender enough to eat.

Once he had removed the ribs, tenderloin, and every other cut….

“Ta-da.”

“……”

“We have created a mountain of meat.”

“Kkung.”

“Is it a lot?”

“Kkuru.”

“As expected.”

There was a reason the System had instructed him to dry it in the sun as processed meat. With this much of it, preserving most of the meat by salting or drying it seemed best.

“It wouldn’t spoil if I put it in the ice storage, but… I should still make whatever I can.”

Jerky and sausages were the first things that came to mind.

“Shall I start with the jerky?”

Sausages would take much longer.

“First, I need to draw out the remaining blood.”

“Kkurururuk?”

“Hanging it upside down wouldn’t have drained all of it. It wasn’t hanging for very long either, so to remove the gamey smell properly, I should soak it in water and draw out whatever blood remains.”

Gio soon emerged from the cabin carrying a large basin.

“Honey, put in the meat.”

“Kkuruk!”

With the delicious jewel heart held hostage, Honey became an excellent worker.

Together, they put the cuts meant for jerky into the large basin, then poured a generous amount of water over them from the stream flowing leisurely around the cabin. The streams scattered throughout the forest proved useful in everyday life as well.

“If I were making this on Earth, I’d add some rice wine here….”

But the only alcohol Gio had was wine, and there was almost no gamey odor to begin with, so it was not a problem.

“I should prepare the marinade while the blood drains.”

“Kkuruk?”

“The crops in the vegetable patch are fully grown. Shouldn’t I make use of them at a time like this?”

After washing even the deer blood from his hands, Gio picked several crops from the monster field and soon returned to the cabin. Fortunately, the monster field did not grow angry when Gio took some of the produce.

“They clearly recognize their father. All the sunlight and water I gave them were worthwhile.”

Standing in the kitchen, Gio took several powders down from a shelf.

“And let’s use some cheong.”

He also retrieved the Mangdung Fruit cheong he had tucked away in a corner of the kitchen. It was the portion he had set aside before giving some to Yoo Seongwoon in the past.

“Adding cheong like this gives it sweetness.”

“Kkururu….”

“It may sound strange, but it’s surprisingly delicious.”

Sweet and salty was an immutable truth wherever one went.

Gio checked his ingredients.

“Fresh onions. Since there’s so much meat, about ten… I already have garlic and ginger powder here. I’ll add a little sugar too. I think a small amount of Mangdung Fruit cheong should do it….”

Making jerky was not particularly difficult.

He finely minced the cleanly prepared onions into a paste, then mixed in various pungent, spicy powders to eliminate stale odors. A little cheong for sweetness and a small amount of sugar to remove any astringency completed the jerky marinade.

“Has enough blood drained by now?”

By the time he had transferred the marinade to a plate and washed the cutting board and knife, a fair amount of time had passed.

Gio left the cabin while looking up through the leaves at the sky, which had already begun to darken. Honey, who glowed like gentle moonlight at night, helped prevent him from stumbling in the darkness.

“Ah… This seems about right.”

“Kkurururu?”

“This is yucky. It’s only water mixed with blood. I’ll give you something else later.”

Gio placed the soaked meat on a draining tray and returned to the kitchen.

“I should finish quickly and go to sleep too.”

The rest was simple.

He shook excess water from the meat. Once it had dried enough, he worked the marinade he had prepared into it by hand. After leaving it to sit so the seasoning could penetrate deep into the meat, Gio washed his hands.

“Finished….”

“……”

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

Even if Honey was his own son, Gio could not understand that taste.

In the end, Honey and his waterfowl friends shared the deer’s organs and ate them with relish. There was something both mystical and grotesque about the golden waterfowl lake with bloodied organs floating across it.

“Ah, except for this.”

“Kkung.”

“I’m going to make sausages.”

(To be continued)