Jongin grew up on stories like any other person. The age-old stories of Princess’ and their Princes, brain eating zombies, vampires that didn’t sparkle, all kinds of stories that were folklores, myths and legends. Jongin, just like any other person, didn’t believe in them he was way past the age to be believing in wives’ tales and such. Though he’s still entertained by the thought of their existence personally if he had to choose; the one thing he would love to be actual reality would be Pokemon.

He’s old enough to not believe in myths and legends but still young enough to enjoy Pokemon games, but old enough to be able to go on holiday by himself. Winter holidays are coming up and his parents decided that this Christmas they’d be spending it by themselves in Hawaii or some place. He wasn’t sure, he didn’t mind because they deserved it and he, himself deserved a break from the psychological weight of trying to conform and please the educational system as well as this society but what can you do?

Jongin didn’t do that much planning but he didn’t need it much since he’ll be just gone for a weekend. He just bought a coach ticket to the nearest coastal town. He isn’t sure what it’s called or what things there were to do but he felt like it’s a good place to relax, although the coach driver did mention the place made really good seaweed soup and Jongin thought it was a positive thing if you add fried chicken to the mixture, dare he say, it might be the perfect getaway.

With the essentials stuffed in a duffel bag slung over his shoulder, he decided to explore the town a little as soon as the coach dropped him off.

It’s the late afternoon now and the skies are slowly dimming to a mellow orange and filtering brightness from the sun and if he looked at the opposite end of the sky, Jongin could see just the edges of the night sky coming over. He wasn’t good at using words, he wasn’t much of a poet of some sort unless he was dancing. The young man thought that if he had to choreograph a routine that represented the skies, he would be able to do it. The town was cosy and cute; it wasn’t too rural but it wasn’t exactly over the top with its contribution to this capitalistic society. He made his way to the edge where the town faded out more to nature, a cobblestoned path became the wall to divide the town and the sandy beaches that led way to the ocean.

As he walked along the path, wondering how far it went and to his surprise it was just one long straight path that never pulled away in distance from the ocean, it gave a variety of scenery, from a few brave trees that continued to grow even though over time the land had been eroded to beaches of all kinds of rocks washed up; boulders with jagged edges to smooth sizeable stones that had barely made it ashore. He liked it since it’s winter not many (sane) people would go to the beach. Not while the winds whipped around; holding an icy coldness to its edge, stinging Jongin’s exposed cheeks and numbed his poorly covered fingers that peeked out from his sweater sleeves.

As the sun slowly slipped past the horizon, Jongin decided it was time to head back to town since there was no other light source along the path he walked, the sounds of the waves splashing beside him grew louder but not once did he turn to look. His mind was in too much of a daze or short-circuited from the intense academic term, either way, he paid no mind to anything. Simply enjoying the existence that surrounded him, though he does not know it now he should have really paid enough attentiveness to look at the ocean as he made his way back. There’s a reason why the splashing was a lot louder than before.

Eventually, Jongin made it back into town safely and even found a small hostel that was also a small restaurant nearby, where a nice old lady runs the place and earned the respectable title of winning the town’s best Seaweed restaurant of the year. After settling into his assigned room and taking a classic warm to near scalding shower, he made his way into the small restaurant to try her soup and sat down at the best table in the house. At the old lady’s insistence, something along the lines of;

 “I don’t get many visitors who aren’t local during winter so of course, I’m going to treat you to the best of what we have to offer, and such a handsome gentleman you are too! Here, darling just wait here you must have been freezing.”

“You really don’t have to though I wouldn’t mind trying your soup, ma’am. By any chance do you do friend chicken too?”

She doesn’t but just for tonight, she decided she does do fried chicken. To this, Jongin made a mental note to buy her something nice from the town’s market the next day. He also insisted that the old lady join him for dinner too, it was nothing weird or anything. She just tugged at his heart strings and as she happily poured details about her life, about her days, and even the town’s tourist attractions, he felt a little bit at home… And slightly resentful towards her husband who decided to leave her by herself to go on a fishing trip with his friends for the weekend.

“You know what else this town is known for, my dear?” She asked Jongin, leaning over the table slightly. A mischievous glint in her eyes that Jongin knew was there even in her younger days, the old lady was petite but plump with grey hair that was held up in a bun. Sun spots sprinkled along her cheeks, her face held engravings of her smiles that reached her eyes throughout her years. She was an epitome of someone who took great care and effort to aid anybody who came to her door, Jongin couldn’t help but think she was perfect as the owner of the small yet loving hostel.

“Besides being the town of famous seaweed soup, and a lovely ma’am whose been the reigning three-year seaweed soup champion. I do not.” Jongin grinned cheekily, he wasn’t much of a talker but that didn’t stop him from being a sweet one. The old lady laughed, delighted in pulling Jongin into her story-telling trap.

“This town was known for being home to mermaids!” She told Jongin, her hands clasped in excitement as Jongin watched her, a small smile on his lips as he continued to drink his soup. The fried chicken was long gone but he didn’t mind, the little old lady filled what emptiness in his stomach with her warm atmosphere. “When I was a little girl, my grandfather told me all these stories about this town and mermaids. How the townsfolk were friends with them and held festivals in honour of their friendship, they would send up a hundred lanterns into the sky that would make their way down to the beach for the mermaids to watch…”

Jongin nodded, encouraging her to go on, and although he was past the age to believe that didn’t stop him from wanting to hear more as the old lady went on about how friendly the mermaids were, how she used to hang around the beach all the time to find a mermaid to befriend. Even chuckling as she told him the time she used her hanbok ribbons to wrap her legs to form a ‘tail’ but never made it to the beach because she wasn’t ‘bright’ enough to figure out she should have wrapped her legs when she was ON the beach.

“There’s a cobblestone path that goes all around the town that separates land from the ocean, my grandfather told me it was a wall that divided the town from the mermaids after several of the town’s children drowned, many centuries ago. The townspeople were devastated and angry, rumours spread that the mermaids decided to take them back to their home; kidnapping, he told me or they simply decided to drown the children for fun. And so they built a cobblestone wall, though now it’s been worn down into a path more like but these are only stories.” The old lady hummed almost in nostalgia as she recalled her childhood. “It’s a pity if the mermaids were truly real, I wonder if it was really their fault after all they were the town’s friends.” She sighed pitifully and Jongin felt the same pity as well, the ending of the story was sad. Friendship even between a mythological creature shouldn’t have just been cut off like that, from what the old lady had said, there wasn’t any proof that the mermaids drowned the children.

The chatter continued until his bowl was left empty and he retired back to his room, of course after helping with cleaning, where he laid comfortably on his back; aimlessly staring at his ceiling as he slowly drifted off to sleep, with the sounds of the ocean quietly coming through the walls and a dream about mermaids and humans watching lanterns in the sky and a younger version of the old lady; using her hanbok ribbons to tie her legs on the beach.

As Jongin slept peacefully, somewhere in the ocean along the cobblestoned path, mindless splashing was made as a figure attempted to find a comfortable rock to perch upon. Thoughtfully looking back at the path, eyes squinting in the darkness; imagining that someone who looks a lot like our protagonist, Jongin, walking along the path and how he would look if he was in the ocean.