The next day, Byeongkwan decided to get out of bed. If he stayed in bed too long, he wouldn’t stand a chance against Seyoon in battle. He decided to wander around the ship. His temporary room was the closest to the staircase, so he went above deck first. 

On deck, Chan was mopping the floorboards. 

“Chan.” Byeongkwan called out.

The red-haired male looked up when he heard his name. “Kwannie! How are you feeling?”
“Good. I wanted to walk around.”

“Of course, but take it easy.” Chan said, before immediately returning to work. 

Byeongkwan noticed Jun was standing nearby, watching Chan work. He had a compass and a spyglass in his hand, and was leaning against the edge of the ship. 

Byeongkwan went over to greet Jun. “Mornin’ captain.” 

“Good morning, Byeongkwan.” Jun replied. “I see that you’re feeling better.”

“Thanks to you.” Byeongkwan replied courteously.

Jun nodded and looked away, towards the sea. Byeongkwan was able to catch a glimpse at the compass in his hand. It looks like they were heading Southeast. That was a good sign that they weren’t heading further West into the ocean.

Byeongkwan left Jun and Chan, since it was apparently they were both trying to keep busy. He instead headed for the upper deck where the helm was. Donghun was manning the steering wheel.

“Hi Byeongkwan.” Donghun spoke first.

“Hello.”

Byeongkwan looked around. There was a map pinned to the ground with a paperweight, with markings all over it. 

“You’re in charge of the navigation.” Byeongkwan pointed out, matter-of-factly.

“Yes.” Donghun replied. “I’ve always been better at it that Junhee or Seyoon.”

“Is Jun the captain because he’s older?” Byeongkwan asked.

“No, I’m actually the eldest.” Donghun responded. “But Junhee is captain for a lot of reasons.”

“Like what?” Byeongkwan questioned. He was quite curious. After all, Jun was the most off-putting to him.

Donghun smiled. “He’s got the best quick-thinking and decision-making skills. And maybe you experienced it a bit too, but he’s got a charisma about him. Great for negotiation.”

Byeongkwan couldn’t disagree with that. 

“Where’s Seyoon?” Byeongkwan couldn’t help but ask.

Donghun raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything about the change in topic. “He’s below deck. Probably fixing something or looking at our inventory.”

“Okay.” Byeongkwan replied, before leaving to find Seyoon.

He went downstairs and wandered around. He purposefully didn’t ask for directions, because he wanted to familiarize himself with the ship. It wasn’t a big ship so it wasn’t too hard to find his way anyhow.

Just below deck was a hallway of rooms, mostly empty. He knew that Donghun and Seyoon stayed in separate rooms, Jun stayed in the captain’s quarters, and him and Chan shared a room. He didn’t know where Donghun and Seyoon rooms were, but he knew they were far away enough for privacy. Further down the hall was the kitchen on the left and storage for food and tradables on the right. Byeongkwan knew that the bottom floor, in the hold, was where the crew kept all the weapons and ammunition. Byeongkwan had never been down there, but he didn’t dare to go. He didn’t know if he had permission or not, and he didn’t want to get caught. 

Byeongkwan opted to explore the kitchen instead. He wasn’t sure who made the meals on ACE, but he knew they were an amazing cook. The kitchen was very clean and spotless. Whomever it was that cooked for ACE, was probably a big perfectionist. Seyoon was not there and Byeongkwan didn’t want to make a mess, so he left. He went into the storage and saw Seyoon taking notes in a journal. 

“Seyoon.” Byeongkwan called out.

“Byeongkwan, you’re up!” Seyoon replied.

“Yes.”

Seyoon put down the journal and went over to greet Byeongkwan. 

“How are you feeling?”

“Great. I felt a bit bored so I came to see you.” Byeongkwan said.

Seyoon chuckled. “If you told me, I would have come to you myself.”

Byeongkwan felt embarrassed, but he wasn’t sure why. 

“It’s fine. I’m here anyways. What are you doing?”

Seyoon picked up his notebook. “I’m taking inventory.”

“I didn’t know you could write.” Byeongkwan pointed out.

Seyoon shook his head. “I can’t. Look.” 

He showed the younger his drawings. They were basic sketches of each article with a number next to them.

“I only know numbers.” Seyoon explained.

“That’s still amazing!” Byeongkwan reassured. “You’re really smart.”

Seyoon blushed. “Thanks.”

“I better leave you to your work.” Byeongkwan said, as he reached for the door. He tried to push open the door but it wouldn’t budge. Frustrated, he pulled on the handle and shook it back and forth a bit. 

Seyoon heard the noise and walked over. “That door gets stuck sometimes. You have to do this.” He reached over to grip the door handle as well, until the ship suddenly rocked.

The ship threw them both off balance, and Seyoon accidently pushed Byeongkwan into the wall next to the door. The next thing he knew, he was pinning Byeongkwan against the wall, and their faces were only millimeters apart. 

“So-Sorry” Seyoon breathed out.

Byeongkwan flinched when he felt the other’s warm breath on his lips. 

“Please move.” he squeaked out. He felt his face turn hot with Seyoon so close to him.

“Y-Yeah, my bad.” The sailor replied. He backed off from his position near the wall and turned around to hide his face. He imagined he looked totally flustered right now. 

“I’ma go.” Byeongkwan cleared his throat. “I will see you later.”

“Yeah.” Seyoon replied without looking back. He didn’t want Byeongkwan to see his face right now. 

Byeongkwan quickly finagled the door open and ran outside. 

That was so nerve-wracking. Byeongkwan thought to himself.