WeTried Translations

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◈ The Hunting Genius of the Japanese Colonial Era

Chapter 29

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Dividing the Catch

The old wolf hung side by side with the pheasants it had so badly wanted, like old friends.

The smell of blood spread. The dagger in Han San's hand had begun to slit open the wolf's throat.

'This isn't cutting clean.'

He'd been rough with the edge while doing that spear throw, and it had gone dead in no time.

'Well, nothing for it.'

Instead of forcing the blade through, he relied on the feel in his fingertips, opening the gap and draining the blood.

'I could collect this and eat it too, if I did it right, but...'

A shame, but it was a sure way to bring on parasites, and he had no vessel to catch it in just now.

'Let me at least take the organs.'

Wolf innards, the intestines in particular, were not normally worth eating. But this one had been starving long enough to finish a natural detox, a deep cleanse of every old scrap inside it. Scrub it hard back at the house and it would actually be better eating than badger guts.

'Meat is meat, after all.'

In any case, this was that kind of era. Several years still remained before General Mutaguchi Renya[1] would reveal the astonishing truth that the Japanese were herbivores, and Koreans, who were not pureblooded Japanese, simply revered meat.

"Hoo."

Han San wiped his brow. By the time he'd roughed everything into order, the sun was already laying the tip of its long-stretched tongue against the western ridge.

"Let's get ready to go," Han San said.

Kim Tae-yang, who had gathered his wits somewhat by then, smacked his lips a little as he looked at the pheasants.

"Hey... San. Couldn't we roast just one and eat it before we go?"

"You hungry?"

"Hungry, sure, but it's... that..."

Kim Tae-yang let his words trail off.

Han San understood and scratched the side of his head. Roasting a pheasant out in the open must have stirred up some kind of romance in the hooligan, who set such store by looking cool.

He got it. Truth be told, if not for this wolf barging in, he'd half meant to show off his own skills outdoors.

But right now there really wasn't time to grant that wish.

"Wolves are pack animals."

"Huh?"

"This one looks like it got driven out for being old. But like I said before, what if another one smells the blood and comes? You going to hand it a roasted pheasant?"

Kim Tae-yang's face went white. That hot, clammy breath against his ankle came back to him.

"Ah, for real, hey! Let's go, quick! Baechil hyung, what are you doing! Get ready to head down!"

"A-all right... heave!"

Im Baechil hoisted the wolf onto his back. The idea was that he, the strong one, should carry the heaviest catch, but his eyes soon went round.

"H-huh, it's not that heavy, lighter than I figured..."

Drain out the blood and the organs and an animal goes absurdly light.

Kim Tae-yang didn't just stand there either. He looked around, gathered up the pheasants on his own, and shouldered them along with the carrying sack of organs.

"Ah, shit, the smell... slimy and gross, damn it. This is the worst."

He scrunched up his face and grumbled, but that was all, no real complaint behind it. Going through this whole mess had made even the hooligan think a little.

Han San's smile deepened a touch.

"Let's go."

The three men headed quickly for Sebeom Valley.

Dusk had already settled by the time they reached the house.

Thump! Im Baechil set the wolf's carcass down in the Han family yard.

"Huff, huff... ugh, why, why is this so hard, it was definitely light before..."

"That's how a dead thing is. Good work, hyung."

A corpse has no center to it, that was why. It was the same as propping up a man who'd passed out drunk: fine at first, but somehow sliding lower the more you moved him, until you broke out in a sweat.

"Omoni, you boys, this...!?"

Ham Ssang-sim's eyes went wide as she came out of the kitchen. Patchy with missing fur and none too handsome, the beast lying square in the middle of the yard still had the bulk of three or four stray dogs fused together, so her reaction was no surprise.

"A wo-wolf!? Isn't that a wolf!? Heavens, are none of you hurt anywhere!?"

Ham Ssang-sim came rushing out and looked over Han San's group, and naturally her son most of all.

Han San grinned.

"We're fine, Mother. Nobody got hurt."

It was a fresh relief that he'd moved ahead while bracing for the worst. If something had happened to Tae-yang's ankle on the way, never mind other people's eyes and the cleanup afterward, his mother would have fainted dead away.

"Aigo, thank goodness, thank goodness. My word, how on earth did you boys go and take a wolf..."

"Whoaaa! A wolf!? A real wolf!?"

Han Bada came out of the inner room and let out a shriek. It was the kind of excitement you might set beside a child in a later age seeing a dinosaur movie for the first time.

"It's huge! Super huge! Hyung! Did you guys catch this!?"

Han Bada circled the wolf round and round, bouncing up and down. Never mind the worshipful looks pouring toward Han San; they spilled wildly onto Im Baechil and Kim Tae-yang too.

"N-no, no! Sa-San did it all! San did!"

Startled, Im Baechil flushed red and waved both hands frantically. He was afraid of being misread as coveting even a sliver of Han San's credit.

Of course, not everyone goes through life tying themselves into knots the way Im Baechil did.

"Ah, come on. Obviously, you little squirt. Us hyungs, see? Just whack-whack-whack, beat it down like a dog, see? You see that gash burst open on its flank over there? That's where I took a birch staff and just like that!"

Kim Tae-yang threw his shoulders right back and bragged.

"Whoaaa..."

Han Bada's eyes were practically firing beams. Kim Tae-yang's nose climbed even higher. With three older sisters above him and nobody else, a little kid's respect was sweet as honey to him.

Watching the scene, Han San snorted a laugh.

'Sure, soak it up.'

There was no need to correct the record again right here with [that punk pulled such garbage I thought we were going to die].

What was the harm in sharing out a little of the cheering?

"Mother, would you wash the organs for me? They're in good shape."

"Right! This omoni will wash them. You're really sure you're not hurt?"

"I said I'm not. I'll help too."

"Help, what help! You go do the heavier work. Look, there's your father coming out."

The head of the Han household had come out of the room as well.

Han Man-seok looked at the wolf lying in the yard and nodded without a word. Leaning on his staff as he came down, the old hunter took up a blade with practiced ease.

"Let's skin it."

"Yes, Father."

Father and son joined their strength and began to flay the wolf's hide.

Sak, sak. The blade worked into the space between skin and flesh.

"I knocked the edge around in the mountains, so it's gone dull."

"It's fine. Grind it later. For now it'll do, used just like this."

"Yes."

True to his word, the digging blade only hitched for a moment before it pressed on without resistance.

Kim Tae-yang and Im Baechil watched, dumbstruck.

"Wow... that's something."

"Y-yeah, really... and not even squeamish about it..."

The seasoned old hands and the slightly clumsier young ones together kept a rhythm, as if forming some strange harmony.

'No, really, there's something... a different force to it. Is it because the wolf's so big?'

Kim Tae-yang, who had already seen the badger dressed, found himself even less able to close his mouth.

In the midst of it the wolf's hide peeled clean away, and the wolf, red muscle laid bare, was broken down by section. Two forelegs, two hind legs, the ribs, the loin...

'Would've been nice if it had a bit more meat on it.'

Han San wiped his brow and smacked his lips, but it was just something to say.

Again, meat is meat.

He turned over the scraps of tarp Kim Tae-yang had used that morning to mix the cement, clean side up, and laid the hide over them. The chunks of meat and the pheasants went on top too.

The most important moment had come.

"Let's divide it up, divvy it out."

Just as tipping your share matters more than sleight of hand in the world of gambling, in the world of the hunter, dividing up the catch matters more than the hunt itself.

"I'd have wanted to cook it up with my own hands, originally, but it's too late now. And there was that business we had to deal with."

Han San first drew a small bottle from inside his coat.

"Here, you first, Tae-yang."

Kim Tae-yang took it without quite meaning to and made a puzzled face.

"What's this?"

"Badger oil."

"Badger oil, what... ah! Ahh, the oil. Ah, right, that."

Kim Tae-yang lifted the bottle. Oil stained by the sunset to a clear golden hue. Come to think of it, this was what he'd come to collect in the first place, and he'd clean forgotten.

"Real good color. And the amount, hm, is that a lot?"

"It's a lot, you dope. Like I said, twice what I was going to give you. And."

Han San picked up the things lying on the ground.

"Each of you, take one."

Tok, tok. The sound of a hen pheasant being tossed to Kim Tae-yang and to Im Baechil, one apiece.

"And this."

Han San handed Kim Tae-yang one wolf foreleg and Im Baechil one hind leg.

"These are extra."

When he piled a few ribs on top of each, the first round of the division was done.

Between hunters there'd be no need to say more, but since neither Kim Tae-yang nor Im Baechil was a hunter, Han San went on to explain.

"The cock pheasant's bigger than the hen, but the meat's actually more tender on the female. And the cock's tail feathers, I've got a use for those.

The wolf hide and the organs and the rest of the meat—honestly, I did most of the work, and the hide's no good to you two even if you took it, so I'll keep those. Other than that. The reason I gave you the foreleg, Tae-yang, and the hind leg to you, Baechil hyung, is because I figure Baechil hyung had the rougher time of it.

That's all. Anybody with a complaint, speak now."

What complaint could there possibly be?

Im Baechil was flustered for a different reason.

"H-hey, San. It's too much... catching the pheasants, catching the wolf, you did just about all of it..."

"Never mind, just take it."

Han San was firm.

"If you two hadn't been the beaters, we wouldn't have caught this much. And you were right there with me when we took the wolf. The price of a life."

Hunting is a thing you stake your life on. In truth, without Han San, Kim Tae-yang's ankle would have been mangled.

You could call that Kim Tae-yang's own doing for pulling his garbage, but the choice to go after the wolf had been Han San's own.

Han San had no intention of dodging that responsibility, nor of being stingy. A man who's harsh with those beneath him isn't clever; he's just gotten old wrong.

Even to the great Kim Tae-yang, that consideration came through. Holding the meat against his chest, glancing once at his own ankle, Kim Tae-yang gave a rare cough.

"Hey, you really sure I can take all this...?"

"Why, don't want it? Hand it back, then."

"Ah, who said I don't want it!? Damn, wolf meat... Pi Sun-dae's gonna die. I gotta go and brag."

The corners of Kim Tae-yang's mouth hooked up to his ears.

Han San chuckled and drew something from his pocket.

"When you brag, brag with this too."

A wolf's fang, glistening yellow. He'd pulled it out beforehand while breaking the carcass down.

Kim Tae-yang's mouth fell open.

"Whoa, for real!? Ah, a tooth, whoa! Whoa damn, whoa!!"

Stamping his feet as though Han Bada had possessed him, Kim Tae-yang couldn't hide his excitement.

A wolf's fang!

That meant a tooth that had grown out of a wolf's mouth! Well, of course that's what a wolf's tooth means, but anyway, the very tooth a wolf uses to chew and tear and taste and savor its food!

'Make this into a necklace and wear it, go down into town and throw my chest bare and let it clatter, and the girls'll just...'

Kim Tae-yang couldn't shut his mouth. On his bronze skin it would shine a brilliant silver-white... well, no, more of a yellowish, but anyway, he could practically see the town girls all swooning at the sight of it together...

Leaving the hooligan to that happy daydream, Han San held out a fang to Im Baechil too.

"You take one too, Baechil hyung."

"M-me...? A tooth... um..."

"Take it. I think I half heard somewhere it helps with sleep paralysis, but honestly I don't really know about that sort of thing... You live in Upper Hamlet, so you can ask Old Woman Wangdae."

"Mm... a-all right. Thanks..."

The corners of Im Baechil's mouth crept up. Even if he just kept it for decoration, wouldn't it make a keepsake?

That was when Kim Tae-yang spoke up.

"Hey, San."

"Yeah?"

"That... instead of the leg and ribs, you know. Could you give me that, maybe?"

Han San faltered when he saw what Kim Tae-yang was pointing at.

The wolf's head, skinned, raw flesh ugly and exposed.

'I figured he might...'

Han San scratched the back of his head.

"Hey, Tae-yang. There's hardly anything on that to eat, you know?"

"Ah, who said anything about eating! I'm the eldest grandson of the Kim house. We've got plenty to eat."

"You would, sure... mm, no. I get what you're thinking, but..."

Han San let out a sigh.

As if he hadn't considered mounting that wolf head up handsomely to sell?

'Sorry to say, this one's head is a bit of a problem.'

It was because he'd crushed the skull when he finished it off. A shattered skull had no value as a product. That was why he'd just stripped the scalp away too.

If he could hand off that wrecked head and get the foreleg and ribs back in trade, that was a flat-out win. He could even dress it up as doing the man a favor.

Han San didn't much want to do that. Not now, at least.

"Tae-yang. Honestly, strip all the meat off that and you've got nothing but bone, right? Then it's just a slightly big dog skull. And I pulled out almost all the teeth because I had a use for them... it's a ways off from the cool thing you're picturing."

"Yeah, yeah."

Kim Tae-yang hesitated. He'd felt Han San's goodwill and sincerity. But soon he clenched both fists.

"Ah, even so! It's a wolf head!"

"It's a busted head."

"Ah, even so! It's a wolf head!"

"You're really something, you punk..." Han San nodded along with a sigh. "Fine, it's yours."

"Yes! Thanks, San!"

Kim Tae-yang let out a cheer, set down the leg and ribs he was holding, and picked up the wolf head. Hugging a skinless mountain-mutt skull and beaming like that.

"Let's go! I gotta clean it and hang it up!"

Giddy with delight, Kim Tae-yang got ready to leave.

Im Baechil too cradled the hind leg and ribs and pheasant carefully and gave a bobbing bow.

"Thanks, San. Auntie, I'm off!"

"Right! Go careful, all of you!"

"I'm off too, Auntie! Hey, Bada squirt! See you next time!"

"Yeah! Bye, hyungs!"

The two stepped out the brushwood gate. Riding on their receding backs came Kim Tae-yang's voice.

"Hey, Baechil hyung, if you don't need that tooth, will you give it to me? I could give you a pack of Maco cigarettes..."

"I-I don't smoke, you know... and, um, I want to keep it as a memento..."

"Ah, really? A memento... well, all right, if it's a memento."

The punk who in the old days would have snatched it with a 'you don't need it anyway, the tooth's mine!' was carrying on like that. The smile spread across Han San's lips deepened.

'Wash it and it'll be edible.'

Of course it wasn't something to relax about completely. A person's heart is like a rubber band, snapping back to its old shape before long.

But it was fine.

He could handle it.

His thoughts settled, Han San turned his gaze back to the yard.

One cock pheasant, two wolf forelegs and one hind leg, several ribs and the other odds and ends of meat, and the organs his mother was washing too...

Han San swept his little brother up into the air.

"Bada, let's have a great time eating meat again today!"

Bada threw up his arms and cheered.

"Yeah! Hyung's the best!!"

[1] Mutaguchi Renya (1888–1966) was an Imperial Japanese Army general, later infamous for the catastrophic 1944 Imphal campaign in Burma; he is remembered for claims that Japanese soldiers could subsist on little meat, the basis for the narrator's sardonic aside.

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