Chapter 8 Part 2: Secrets Revealed

The next morning the captain got word that he was allowed to leave his room, heading over to apologize to Kiyeon and the others.

The crew has finally reached the island of Addox it being miles and miles away from the other islands, luckily its population consists mostly of pirates, that way the crew won't find trouble from any navy ships. It is known for its popular midway trading post for ships to come and rest and also to restock on supplies that the said visitors will need for their next journey.

Hongjoong looks back at his crew mates and fellow officers, ready to assign tasks "Mingi you stay here with San, Wooyoung and Jongho to watch over the ship and make sure nothing goes wrong while I take Seonghwa, Yunho, Yeosang and Kiyeon to go over to some merchants to get supplies for the ship and to find any clues if Stray Kids have been here recently" he ordered as his crew mates all nod, heading over to their tasks.

The captain and his crew take a long boat to the docks tying it up. "Wow. This place looks amazing, I've never seen something quite like this." Kiyeon says as she looks around seeing other pirates talking to merchants finding it fascinating staying by her brothers side the whole way.

"You have to stay close. This place may seem small but there aren't a lot of women here and you never know there could be pirates here that might be thinking of hurting you." Yunho explains as he and Hongjoong take a look at the list of supplies that San and Wooyoung have written.

"No need to worry. We won't let anyone lay a hand on you." Yeosang says putting his arm over his sister's shoulder, smiling gently at her as a way of reassurance that she is protected.

"...i'm not gonna leave you again…" Yeosang says gently to his sister. She looked up at him, seeing the sincerity in his eyes.

She smiles softly "You better not" she teased. Hongjoong and Seonghwa look up from the notes of supplies only to see Kiyeons eyes slowly turning to a light shade of blue. Both sharing a look to the other confirming what they really saw was real.

Once they made it to the merchants Hongjoong did a quick headcount making sure everyone was here besides those in the ship."Alright now that we are here let's split up. Yunho, you are in charge of getting the food, clothing and other needed supplies for San,You will also be taking Kiyeon and Yeosang with you so make sure they don't get hurt along the way. Seonghwa and I will head over and get the rest of the supplies that are on the list." Hongjoong stated before heading out with the oldest. "Make sure to meet up back at the ship when you have all of your assigned supplies and make sure you come back before night settles in." He called out, Yunho nodding in response.

Watching the two leave them into the town full of merchants a sigh escapes Kiyeons lips looking down. "i have a feeling that Hongjoong hates me…" she whispers softly

"well why do you think that?" Yunho asks his face full of confusion as he looks over at her.

"I can just tell by his eyes that I did something wrong to him...making him hate me." She explains to Yunho. He looks over seeing Yeosang already having the list examining it carefully.

"Don't let his glares get to your head." Yunho says softly pulling her close into a side hug. "Yeosangie, I see you have the list so what first on the agenda?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"I think we should get food first. It is an essential for San apparently. There should be some markets near by actually." He responds by taking the lead heading over to the said markets, Yunho and Kiyeon following closely behind.

While in town the group of three start going off the list one by one getting all the needed supplies. Kiyeon notices that they seem to actually have a great amount of cash on them. it makes her question, How do they have this much?

She felt the need to ask them. "How do you guys have this amount of currency to afford all these supplies?" She spoke up while they started heading out of the markets.

"Well we do jobs for lords, Merchant ships, rich people basically. We work for them as their guards because the Navy is too much for their price range. Not only that but we give better results. A Lot of people used to think that we were more thieves than guards but that's against our code of morals." Yunho explains to the best of his ability "actually when Yeosang joined he brought a pretty good amount of money with him and even sold most of his personal items for great amounts of gold. So for us that really helped us." He adds looking over at kiyeon smiling

She nods understanding a bit more and continues to follow the two heading deeper into the market. As they gather materials she listens in to the people around her and their conversations, as is Yeosang. He hears something that caught his attention. Raising a carefully plucked brow hearing a conversation mentioning mermaids. He takes a mental note to tell the caption about what he has heard at the markets and the dangers that are near.

Later in the afternoon, everyone returns back to the ship safely. The caption gives orders that the crew can finally relax for the day and explore what this island has more to offer while the officers watch over the treasure making sure it's in good hands.

"Hyung, while in town I heard some strange things from the people there." Yeosang says while taking a sip of his drink looking back at Hongjoong "you know how people in this island can't leave at night. It's because the songs of mermaids can be heard at that time which makes sense why people don't leave their homes when it starts to get dark." He explains looking at his captain dead in the eyes.

"Well we have to be more on guard when traveling then." Hongjoong responds in a serious tone. He gets up before taking off his coat and laying it over his chair.

"Hyung, I have a question: why are mermaids such a threat? I thought sirens were more of a danger to us than mermaids." Wooyoung asks, bringing himself into the conversation.

"Well lets see...while sirens can be considered more dangerous, they tend not to attack human life. Many sirens actually work and live with humans. Not to mention that they are all female, mermaids however have both genders. They can use their voice to lure in many innocent people. They can be small, Big, Mediam, any size basically so you never know what you're gonna expect when following their voice. I remember when i saw a mermaid... They were the size of a small whale." Hongjoong explains looking at the gunner in the eyes showing that he was serious about the danger of these creatures."they can even leap up and snatch sailors from their ships taking them way down underwater. If the sailor manages to escape they can cause great damage to their ship making them lost a sea." He continues playing with the sleeves of his jacket that was laying over his chair.

"Really?, I've only been told that sirens were the worst since they can blend in with the humans making them undetectable." Wooyoung explains looking up to meet his captain's eyes.

"That used to be true many years ago but since people have encountered mermaids, sirens have been not much of a threat to those who travel." Seonghwa says

The others nod in response before heading back to their dinner, relaxing."Hongjoong you told the others to come back before the sun sets correct?" Seonghwa asks, receiving a simple nod from the captain.

While in their conversation a member left the group. "Kiyeon. Kiyeon?" Yeosang says in a worried voice looking around trying to find his sister

"Look up." Yunho says while pointing to the crowd nest where the only girl on the ship was looking out into the water.

"Is she alright?" San asks

"I can go check on her hyung and I'll let you know if she is alright." Jonghos ays looking at Yeosang for approval, Yeosang giving him a nod.

"Well while you go check on her I'm gonna go take a nap." Wooyoung says standing up with a smirk looking at San giving him a wink before heading to his cabin. "I-i have to rest as well." The cook quickly says before leaving the table to go with Wooyoung to his cabin locking the door.

"I swear if they keep us all awake i'm gonna barge into their room and tell them to put their pants back on" Hongjoong comments seeing the two leave together. The comment earning a laugh from the officers and a disapproving face from Seonghwa.

Up in the crows nest Kiyeon looks out into the western sea. Out into the distance she sees a storm that seems to be moving deeper into the dark see.

"Kiyeon?" A deep voice says, she turns to see the youngest officer joining her.

"Hi Jongho what are you doing up here?" She asks, smiling gently at the officer.

"You alright there? You kinda disappeared from sight before dinner started." He says making his way up to her, He sits quite closer than normal it being that the evening was cooler than normal.

"I'm...ok it's just… I wanted to be up here for a little while. Another reason why I'm not down there with the rest is because I'm actually scared of heights." She admits softly to the youngest as she leans close to his chest, shivering softly hoping to get some warmth off him.

"Really?" He asks before feeling some weight fall into his chest looking down to see her shivering softly. He puts his arms around her, pulling her close to his warm embrace.

She nods softly hiding a sheepish smile. "Yeah, i have been ever since I was a child. But I just wanted to take a good look at the water from up here. It really shows how big the sea is." She explains looking up to see the dark waves crash onto the land the way the water pushes the sand back and forth. She felt her cheeks heat up feeling comfortable in the position she was in next to the youngest.

"Well, I swear I'll make sure you don't fall out of my arms." He says comforting her before giving her a gentle smile clinging her closer to him. He looks down at her, noticing there eyes meeting holding the gaze for what seemed like hours.

Her smile grows as her eyes turn to a light shade of blue, a chuckle leaving her lips.

"Whoa...y-your eyes they-" he starts before getting cut off by her.

"No need to freak out I know, they turn blue but the thing is I don't really seem to know why." She tries to explain. "Come, the others will be worried about us. If I fall you'll catch me right?" She teases with a smile turning over to head back as she feels the heat from her cheek come back. The youngest stares at her as she starts heading back.

He nods with a gentle smile having a slight tint of red on his cheeks as they both climb down to rejoin with the others. Yeosang notices the redness on their cheeks questioning what happened while they were gone. Hongjoong also has noticed the red tint on their cheek, looking away slightly annoyed that she has been closer with the others than with him.

The next day the crew leaves before the dawn, the sun not coming up till a few more hours. The atmosphere seems more tense than usual as the others are doing their tasks.

A sigh came from Kiyeon as her stress was getting to her. "Yeosang, I think we should change course a bit to avoid that storm." she pointed out to see a hurd of clouds in the distance that she spotted from her spyglass.

Yeosang grabbed the spy glasses to get a better look at what Kiyeon was seeing. "Yes, I agree. Captain, let's change the course and go slightly more to the east west." He gave Hongjoong a glance from the spy glasses to be given a nod in return from the captain.

"Got it." He said as he went onto changing the course. He looks over the deck seeing his fellow crewmates keeping a close eye on the water. The atmosphere is getting thicker by the second. Hongjoong went over to look at Mingi who was at the crows nest.

"Mingi-ah! do you see anything yet?!" he yelled out to make sure his first mate could hear him properly.

"It's just a lot of dark water for miles! But I do see some fog rolling in!" He calls back to his captain who was back on deck, making some crewmates turn their heads to see what mingi was saying.

Seonghwa was on standby to use a spell to make everyone deaf if they do hear that mermaid song. He ran his fingers through his hair a few times as he was reading over the spell, repeatedly tapping his foot on the ground.

Mingi let out a loud gasp before shouting, "Hongjoong! The storm is getting close!"

"That shouldn't be possible though. We are currently on a course to move away from it." Yeosang said with slight panic in his voice, immediately seeing the clouds picking up speed.

The sky was turning darker very quickly, seeing the waves start to grow larger and faster.

"Lower the sails and tie everything down now!" Hongjoong yelled at the members, the tone in his voice changing drastically which made the crew members get to work quickly.

Yeosang and Kiyeon wasted no time rolling up the maps and rushed to take them back inside so they couldn't get ruined. While Kiyeon was getting everything back, Yeosang ran back out to give Hongjoong the compass, almost out of breath already.

"We have to get out of this storm before it gets worse." Yeosang said with more worry in his voice, looking back at the dark, intimidating clouds.

"I know." The captain says with a calm voice, confusing Yeosang for a second before his eyes widen.

"Seonghwa now!" The sudden change in attitude made everyone go in a deeper panic but covered their ears when the sounds of the mermaid singing came back.

With no hesitation from the captain's words, the mage casted the spell while waving his hands to the crewmates making them deaf for a period of time. This didn't worry them much since Hongjoong made everyone learn certain signals to help communicate with one another.

Kiyeon slowly went down onto the deck to stand next to Jongho, her sword by her side at the ready for the unexpected. The long, eerie silence brings a bad vibe to everyone, knowing what may be happening next. Kiyeon moves her body quickly and quietly to stand back to back with her fellow crewmate Jongho, feeling at ease with him.

From the corner of her eye she sees a figure jump from the dark water, grabbing her sword from her side. However, the quartermaster was quicker compared to her and spears the now identified mermaid in the stomach, using his strength to throw the body back into the cold water.

That's when all hell breaks loose. The waves have gotten more intense in the span of a few minutes, knocking people off their feet in seconds. More and more creatures jumped over the deck trying to grab people to bring them underwater, but failing horribly. The creatures stopped coming from the dark sea, Seonghwa looked over to the water trying to see if they had retreated.

"Hyung look out!" Wooyoung yelled, being unheard from the eldest; a mermaid the size of a great white shark leaps over a side of the ship, going straight to seonghwa.

The young gunner runs as fast as he could to push the eldest to protect him from the huge mermaid. The feeling of something pulling him aggressively to the dark sea made him scream on the top of his lungs, but it was unheard from everyone.

"WOOYOUNG" San just barely saw him go into the water but as soon as he ran to the edge to grab him, there was no sight of his lover.

Everything started to calm down, the waves going back to a normal state, the mermaid song disappearing which made Seonghwa remove the spell from everyone.

"I have to save him," San said, slightly shaking but that didn't stop him from running back to the edge of the deck, ready to jump in after him.

"San no!" Hongjoong aggressively grabbed San's wrist, pulling him back to the ground.

Kiyeon ran over to the edge after over hearing everything san said, her eyes being a dark shade of blue.

"Wooyoung!!" The cook yells for his lover hoping for any response but to only hear the waves hitting the ship. His hands shaking from fear, anger, and guilt. Jongho and Hongjoong went over to San to help him stand and stay still.

"It should've been me. it should've been me" San whispered to himself, the survivor guilt hitting him hard as he kept staring at the edge where he saw his lover standing a few minutes ago, having a faded smile trying to cheer up but it wasn't working. While everyone let San let out his emotions, a splash of water startled everyone questioning what went over.

Yeosang looked around in a panic noticing that his twin was nowhere to be seen. "Kiyeon? Kiyeon!!!" He ran past everyone to look at the edge seeing her dive into the water, going deeper and deeper till she disappeared.

His face went pale once he couldn't see her anymore, holding onto the edge to hold himself up and not pass out from fear. "Oh my god, oh my god oh my god KIYEON!?!" Yeosang felt tears go down his face as well, staring at the one spot she was in. "please come back up!"

"What is she doing?" Jongho was deeply concerned for his crew mates, trying to keep San up while making sure Yeosang didn't pass out in front of everyone.

No one responded for a few minutes trying to comprehend the situation as a whole until another melody came up, everyone immediately covering their ears but nothing was affecting them.

"Its.. It's a siren's song." Seonghwa said in shock while looking out to the sea, his eyes widening.

The rain came down harder while the waves started to be a little more aggressive to the ship.

"We can't worry about this right now! if we don't get out of this storm we have no chance of finding them!" Hongjoong yelled at everyone, letting go of San which caught Jongho off guard and San back onto the floor. Hongjoong left to be by himself for a bit, saddened at the fact he was right about Kiyeon, but thankful that she will be able to save wooyoung from this mess.

"Come on guys let's move!" He yelled once again to everyone, staring at each one of them as they started to get back to work.