#seriously I’m never looking in the direction of tale of the body thief ever again | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

atinytokki · 5 years

Text

𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐙𝐞𝐫𝐨

Chapter 8: Extremes

Immediately Hongjoong was handing Wooyoung off to Seonghwa and heading for the gun deck, flanked by Jongho and Yeosang without needing to issue a command.

Wooyoung could feel Seonghwa’s soft hands tugging him in the direction of the galley, but didn’t hear a word the boatswain was murmuring. His stomach was churning and his head spinning. The death of that gunman had triggered something inside him, as the deck spun below him and something snapped. He suddenly registered seawater being splashed onto his face until he spluttered, “Enough!”

He repeated himself for a minute or two after the water had stopped being thrown and he had been guided to a chair. Gasping, Wooyoung tried to collect his thoughts. Registering it was Seonghwa who had splashed him, he had enough of his mind together to shoot him a dirty look that was ignored.

To put it simply, he was overwhelmed. It had been only a month on this ship and already he’d sailed to uncharted islands, battled a sea monster, heard tales of dragons, been promoted to an officer, gotten drunker than he ever had been in his life, witnessed the fever dreams of a prophet, been stranded and starving in the doldrums, and now one of his men had died. Sure, life hadn’t been easy under Captain Si-Hyuk. He’d never eaten well, he’d been caned for as little as carrying out an order a few seconds too slow, and he’d been in battle. Blood spurting, powder flying, grown men screaming kind of battle. He had friends that hadn’t come back to their bunks at night because they’d gone to sleep in the sea, riddled with grapeshot. But somehow this situation made him lose his senses in a sudden attack of panic unlike anything he’d ever experienced.

There was something about this startlingly young and treasure-hungry captain restlessly sailing on into the unknown, winds and rations be damned, with a small band of equally juvenile young men all with stomach-turning backstories that have come through horrors with each other.

Something disturbing was at work here and Wooyoung’s instinct to run away had never been stronger than at that moment. Other children running a ship, a place where violence was almost always present and disease broke out at the drop of a hat, but why? Why? The question Wooyoung had been trying to formulate since day one desperately needed an answer.

But he remembered their situation. Not enough supplies to carry on like this or to make it home, and the men that were under his command, whose lives he was responsible for, had broken out in a fight below.

What’s Captain going to do?

“The only thing he can for the present.” Wooyoung startled at Seonghwa’s answer, not realising he had spoken his question aloud. “Remind the men of the chain of command and wait for things to die down. Hopefully they’ll remember soon that rioting won’t change their circumstances at all,” He continued, closing the door and leaning against it, clearly exhausted.

Wooyoung could see hunger in his eyes, and knew without asking that Seonghwa hadn’t been eating either. He took a moment to consider the boatswain. He always had a quiet manner and a statuesque appearance, but the emotion swimming in his eyes loosened Wooyoung’s tongue and he found himself asking the question he really wanted the answer to, “Why are we here?”

Seongwha didn’t answer, and for a moment Wooyoung thought he hadn’t heard the question but before he could repeat it Seonghwa moved from the door and pulled up a chair across from him.

“It’s complicated,” he sighed. “I can assume you’re asking because you want to decide whether to stay or take your chances.” Wooyoung knew he couldn’t lie about this, and simply nodded. “Well, rest assured, you’re not alone. Most of the officers don’t have the full story, but I can promise there’s good reason for that.”

Wooyoung had to clear his throat before asking, “Do you have the full story?”

Seongwha’s eyes smiled at him, though his face remained cold. “I believe so. And you’re correct, it does have to do with Captain’s own story.”

“I didn’t say—”

“You didn’t have to. Everyone gives up and asks eventually. If you think this will help you decide, I’ll tell you what it is we’re going for.” Wooyoung’s hands had stopped shaking and he leaned forward as Seongwha began.

“This is not just a treasure hunt. You may have deduced it to be the case from the maps and the uncharted territory, but Captain wants more than that. The treasure is the location of someone very dear to him, though you may recognise the name; Eden.”

Eden was a name even the youngest, most inexperienced deckhand would know. The dread pirate Eden, youngest pirate captain ever to sail the seas, a notoriously clever thief and a formidable enemy to all he overtook. Eden had once commanded an entire fleet of ships until they were finally sunk by the Royal Navy several years ago and the pirate presumed dead.

Wooyoung shivered, and not from the water still dripping down his back. “Eden is alive?”

“Hongjoong believes he is. Every land we’ve found has had some clue, some trace that Eden and his crew have been there. This is why we keep sailing east, the direction we believe he’s gone. We’re retracing his footsteps and following the path he’s set for us.”

A question had been answered and a few more had been raised, but Wooyoung didn’t get the chance to ask them before Yeosang burst into the galley with orders. “The riot’s over. Wooyoung, it’s time to commit your gunman to the sea.”

It was rare that Wooyoung ever witnessed such a ceremony as this on board Si-Hyuk’s ship. Most loss of life occurred in battle, and there was rarely time to say a few words over a dead body, so casualties were tossed overboard without ceremony. It was the combination of this and the fact that Wooyoung didn’t personally get to know this dead man that resulted in a very short and awkward little ceremony.

The riot had been calmed (from what he had heard all it took was Captain’s announcement that they’d be able to choose whether to stay or go) and the atmosphere was again a suffocating stillness.

Everyone repositioned the hats on their heads and resumed their posts after Wooyoung dismissed them. Another day dragged on, and Wooyoung was hesitant to return to his own station for all the eyes he could feel on his back but kept his head high and his eyes on the horizon. Another sleepless night arrived, but this time the creaking of pulleys echoed through the cabins and eventually Wooyoung gave up and went on deck to see what it was.

He almost tripped over a sleeping Yunho and whispered, “You know the penalty for falling asleep on watch is holding up cannon chambers until you’re allowed to lower your arms.”

“So?” Yunho mumbled. “Captain never punishes me.” Still, the Master rigger looked lively at the reminder.

Wooyoung looked over the side of the ship and discovered where the noise was coming from. A small group of men was lowering a longboat into the sea. He was about to yell desertion when he remembered they were allowed to go.

He was allowed to go.

He stared at the lantern light reflecting off the cannons before rushing back to his cabin and shoving the few belongings he had obtained in the past month into a small bag. In his hurry to escape, he didn’t hear Yeosang sitting up in his hammock.

“Leaving?”

Wooyoung dropped his bag in surprise. What ensued was a silent stare-off with Yeosang.

Finally, Wooyoung nodded, and then hung his head. Yeosang kept staring at him but didn’t say anything, only leaning back in his hammock.

Wooyoung shouldered his bag and moved toward the door but with each step the weight of Yeosang’s silent eyes burdened him. He made the mistake of looking back, hand on the door. Yeosang was still staring.

I can’t leave him alone.

Wooyoung closed the door, dropped his bag and got back in his hammock. Yeosang said nothing but stared until both boys fell asleep.

The next morning, the master gunner blocked his ears to the reports of men leaving in the night and avoided Yeosang, finding himself once again with Seonghwa in the galley, hungry and knowing there was no food.

“Are you going to stay?” He finally asked the cook, who sat building barrels.

Seonghwa didn’t look up from his cooper business and instead replied, “Yes. Captain and the ATEEZ are my home. No one back on land wants me.”

Wooyoung’s eyes filled with concern at such a casual remark. “Were you abandoned as a child?”

“No...” Seonghwa closed his eyes as distant memories drifted back. “I was stolen.” Wooyoung remained silent and let Seonghwa speak when he was ready.

“You probably won’t believe me but you know how the royal family have two sons? Well, their second son is me. The child everyone thinks is me was actually switched with me.”

Wooyoung hesitated to question such a ridiculous story because of how seriously Seonghwa was telling it, but asked, “How do you know?”

“The woman who calls herself my mother was actually my nurse. She and my father messed around and she gave birth to a son around the same time as my real mother, the Queen did, but her child was deformed and so when I was about five years old, her jealousy became too strong and she switched us and ran away with me. I hardly remember anything before living with her, but my parents rarely spent time with me anyway so I didn’t realise anything was wrong. They never came and looked for me, thinking the replacement son was really me. Now I’ll reckon he’s almost grown and they still haven’t figured it out.”

Wooyoung swallowed roughly. “I’m sorry. But what about your brother? Did he realise you were switched?”

Seonghwa sat back and shrugged. “I haven’t seen him or anyone from the palace since. Mother—the nurse— told me I didn’t know how to do anything, having had everything done for me before, always saying I was weak and incapable. She taught me how to cook and then sent me to be the cooper’s apprentice on a merchant ship. A ship that, of course, was overtaken by Hongjoong on a then much smaller ATEEZ a few years ago. He told me if I cooked for them he wouldn’t hang me from the yardarm and so here we are, friends now.”

“If you ever did go back—”

“I’m never going back,” Seonghwa cut Wooyoung off. “My parents didn’t love me enough to recognise me, and the nurse only loved me because of my looks. She sent me away, too. This is the only place I can stay, do you understand?”

Wooyoung sighed and nodded, unsure of what to say next. Seonghwa went back to work on the barrel, and Wooyoung considered how even though San was the doctor, it seemed that Seonghwa had such a naturally compassionate personality that he was the best person to come to for healing. But where did Seonghwa go for healing?

Wooyoung thought about the distress he had seen on his face as he told his story. His thoughts were interrupted by a rap on the door and a gunman telling him, “You’re needed on deck, sir.”

Wooyoung sensed immediately the change in the weather as he and Seonghwa joined Captain, Mingi, and Yeosang on the quarterdeck. “What’s going on?” Jongho asked, making his way over.

“It’s the wind,” Yeosang was beaming.

“Wind?!” San ran up the stairs from where he was sawing some boards on the main deck. Yeosang simply nodded as they all closed their eyes and felt their hair rustling and the gentle touch of breeze on their backs.

Seonghwa took to the main deck in three strides and pulled out his whistle. “Hoist the mainsail!” He ordered and then gave his all hands on deck call with the boatswain’s whistle. Yunho and his riggers sprung into action to take advantage of the wind, and cheers broke out on board.

“Work makes a happy crew!” Mingi’s laughed was carried by the wind, the first wind in what felt like an eternity. Rowing no longer needed, Wooyoung sat on the main deck with San, helping him with his little carpentry project and zoning off while he tried to explain it to him.

“And then if I attach a rope here and another one to the ceiling, you can hang the box and sleep in it instead of a hammock!”

“How is sleeping in a box any better than sleeping in a hammock?”

“Well more room for pillows of course...”

Wooyoung let him chatter on until he spotted something, “Do you see those clouds over there?”

San gave a quick glance and went back to his work. “Nothing to be worried about, I’m sure. Just be happy there’s wind now! I’m sure we’ll make landfall soon.” San’s confident smile was convincing and Wooyoung dropped the subject, smiling back.

But of course mid-afternoon the clouds stretched out and became a full-on thunderstorm. At the first bolt of lightning spotted Mingi was at Hongjoong’s side asking about the best course of action.

“We can’t run it.”

Mingi was speechless, “But we always run it, you can’t possibly want us to heave to?”

Captain sighed, “Look at it Mingi, the clouds stretch literally across the horizon, if we bear to port like usual, we’ll still get caught in it and demasted.”

So orders began with Hongjoong listing off things to counteract the pressure of the wind on the sails, their first problem that could send all hands to the bottom of the sea. “Reef the sails! Yunho, you’re trimming the mainsail. I want the jib and headsail left alone for momentum. Jongho’s crew, ballast the lower decks and stay there, unless any man is half decent at rigging in which case stay and take your orders from Yunho. Same to the gun crews, secure the cannons, batten all hatches and stow flames. We have very little time on our side, let’s be prepared.”

Wooyoung realised the ATEEZ didn’t carry any storm sails, and if this was more than a squall, it would be a test of her endurance to stay in one piece until it was over.

After securing everything and seeing his men to the ballast, where Seongwha guided them to concentrate as many weights and heavy things as they could, Wooyoung presented to Yunho. “I’m light and decent at ropes, what needs to be done?”

Yunho had to yell to be heard over the thunder that was getting closer as he followed his men up the mainmast. “Furl the lower courses so she doesn’t list. We’ll all be lost if she does.”

To address the second problem, waves breaking over the main deck, Captain had everyone else ready to bail water as fast as possible, with Yeosang leading the efforts. San had to stow his bed box project below and join them. The wind made it nearly impossible to walk on deck, but he hung on as it began to pick up.

To address the third problem, navigating through this surprise typhoon, Captain had the prow pointed at an angle to the wind just shy of the massive waves rolling towards them. “The sea herself is always our most present danger,” he sighed.

What followed were hours of work, slippery decks and rigging, and the constant tossing of the sea. Yeosang was suddenly hit with an idea as he fought to keep up with the water washing onto the ship. He disappeared and returned with bags of oil. San gave him a look as he tossed them overboard before explaining, “Oiling the water increases surface tension and decreases spray onto the ship— we won’t have as much water to bail if the oil works.”

Wooyoung observed from above, hands shaking as they grasped the slippery mast on his way back down to deck. The sails were all trimmed to perfection and now fighting the storm was in the Captain’s hands.

Wooyoung reached the deck and ducked instinctively hearing Jongho’s yell, “Boom about!” The boom swung sharply over him before he caught and secured it.

“Anything else you’ve missed?” Jongho came over to him, trying and failing to wipe his wet face with his wet sleeve. Wooyoung shook his head sheepishly and jumped in to help bail.

The work seemed endless, and the waves grew so large by late evening that Hongjoong ordered everyone to lash themselves to the ship and hang on. His own hands were tied to the wheel, and his feet remained fixed though wave after wave broke on him.

No one caught a wink of sleep, but when the dawn came and Mingi looked out the spyglass from the forecastle he yelled, “Land ho! Hurry to sails now or we’ll be grounded!”

Wooyoung was back in the rigging with Yunho, astonishingly stable on his peg leg as always, and realising the wind had died significantly and the rain had ceased. “How long has it been?” He choked out.

“About 12 hours. Well done, everyone,” Yunho responded. Wooyoung’s breath had yet to catch up with him, but the sight of an island on the horizon took it away. Yeosang, San, Yunho and Jongho joined him at the rail and watched it grow closer.

Finally turning around, the navigator asked the strangely quiet Captain, “What are our orders?”

Seonghwa was carefully untying him from the helm and shot the other officers a warning look. Hongjoong looked up, answered “Ready the longboats,” and collapsed into Seongwha’s arms.

“Captain, you’re exhausted,” Mingi argued. “Let’s sleep a few hours and then explore.”

“Alright, belay that order,” Hongjoong mumbled as he was being carried off. “Drop the anchor for a few hours.”

He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

...

Taglist: @nightynightnyx

A/N: There was a thunderstorm today so I banged out the end of this as well as I could. If the sailing terminology gets too difficult, it’s alright to ask and I’ll do my best to explain. This chapter’s already posted on Ao3 and if you read it there you’ll see it’s one of 12 chapters, meaning we’re near the end of our first instalment! Thinking about making a moodboard/profile thingy for the members before embarking on Ep. 2 in case there are new readers and also because I like that kind of thing. Sorry about the formatting, tumblr sucks and I can’t figure it out so just read it on ao3 if you can’t stand it. Much love <3 pls comment

← Previous | Masterlist | Next →

45 notes · View notes