Chapter Four: Humanity

There had never been a silence as deafening as the one Seunghyun was currently experiencing. No one could move, and he was sure no one even dared to breathe as they stared, dumbfounded, at the mermaid that remained entangled in Seungri’s net.

Tears streamed ceaselessly down her bloodied face, fear marring her captivating features that could easily enrapture any man or woman. She huddled away from the staring crowd, her dark eyes darting frantically as she sobbed soundless cries.

It was Chaerin who broke the stillness of the boat. “What are you guys doing?! She’s hurt!”

Indeed, the mermaid was.

Her beautiful blue tail, colored in the various shades of blue that reflected the sun’s rays and was nearly blinding, showcased a nasty wound that derived from the wires of the net.

Seunghyun nearly heaved at the sight – it was too gruesome.

It didn’t help that she was bleeding profusely either.

Teddy immediately mobilized the team’s designated doctor, and ordered everyone to stand aside as Seungri carefully begun unraveling his net, guilt and remorse splaying about his handsome young face.

His hands quivered as he took the net down, and Seunghyun knew Seungri would not be touching his gadget anytime soon. Stepping forward, he pulled Seungri aside and patted his back in reassurance.

Seungri glanced at his hyung, uncomfortable with the emotion that caused his chest to feel constricted. He took a deep breath and retreated into the cabin, unable to bear looking at the injured being curled on the boat’s flooring.

In spite of her injured tail, Seunghyun couldn’t believe the sight of the mermaid crawling away, using her hands to grip every nook and cranny as she dragged her body away from the humans. She was panicked, and she had every right to feel that way, what with Teddy creeping up on her with the syringe filled with anesthesia and their doctor readying his tools for operation.

“Hold her down, people!” Teddy roared at his immobile colleagues, frustrated with the way they still gawked at the mermaid.

Sure, he hadn’t expected this either, but Teddy wouldn’t let another being – no matter what she was – die on his watch.

The mermaid’s long, glistening hair shone against the sunlight, mocking Teddy with its vivid superiority. He wanted so badly to touch it, but the scientist in him demanded more than that.

He wanted to know what her breed was, her blood type, if she could reproduce, if she could talk – he had so many questions that ricocheted off his already inquisitive mind.

He bit those back, though, and observed as Seunghyun gently laid his large hands against the mermaid’s bare shoulders.

So they’re not half- or wearing seashells on their upper body, he remarked, remembering how Hollywood would often portray the once thought-to-be fictional mermaids. Instead, the beauty before him had her upper body intricately covered with scales that did not seem like scales at first sight.

Her modesty was cleverly hidden by nature, and Teddy couldn’t wait to start his research officially.

OoOoOo

Seunghyun didn’t like the look on his superior’s face.

Teddy looked like he could pry open the frightened mermaid anytime soon.

He struggled to grip the mermaid firmly, feeling the silkiness of her skin that surprised Seunghyun immensely. It didn’t feel like skin at all to him – it felt more like caressing a blanket made from the finest silk. Her dark eyes gazed strongly onto his, and her full lips dropped down in a grimace as she struggled futilely against his hold.

He watched as she slowly grew limp from the anesthesia.

Seunghyun couldn’t understand why he felt so bothered looking at her.

She didn’t belong here.

She was never meant to have been captured.

And yet, by some sick twist of fate, their scientific team had discovered the world’s first mermaid.

He couldn’t believe this ridiculous circumstance. Never in his wildest dream did he ever think he would capture a mermaid, something so preposterous even little kids knew better than to believe in them. He never would have thought he’d be cradling one, lulling her to a dreamless slumber whilst a doctor looked over her wound.

Was the blood in the water hers, then?

He had so many questions bouncing off the dimensions of his mind. He could barely breathe, listening to the awkward silence of the boat as Chaerin shooed the rest away.

“Get Seungri to create a makeshift tank for her,” he heard Teddy impatiently ordering one of his colleagues. “Tell him to do it quick.”

“What?” Seunghyun gasped, frowning at the head scientist. “Hyung, she’s not an animal. She shouldn’t be coped up in a goddamn tank.”

“Then, please, explain to me what the hell she is.” Teddy retorted. “We have no choice; she’s injured. If we don’t monitor her, she might end up getting even more injuries.”

Seunghyun couldn’t deny his leader’s persistent logic; he was right. With the mermaid’s fearful state, she would most likely do everything in her power to escape from the humans. Now, especially, when they had forced her into slumber, she would be doubly petrified of them.

“I’ll do it,” Seunghyun grunted against another male scientist as he attempted to take the mermaid away from him. “I’ll hold her. Just . . . just get Seungri here.”

OoOoOo

Bom’s dreams were a mess of black and blue, often blending into each other and confusing her immensely.

She couldn’t remember feeling this frightened before.

All she remembered before her lids shut close was the face of an undeniably handsome man, her guards falling deep down onto the ocean floor, and a blue sea that was tainted red.

It was in this state that she woke from her dark slumber, her eyes immediately darting across her surroundings. Noting the fact that she seemed to be underwater, she hurriedly swam forward, only to be propelled back by an invisible force.

She could see the humans gawking at her, their features no different from hers as they held clipboards and pens, little devices that set off flashes of lights every now and then.

Bom struggled to comprehend what on earth had happened. All that matter in that moment was whether Seungyoon and the rest of her guards were safe.

She worried for them more than she did for herself. Watching as they sunk deeper underwater, unconscious and bleeding profusely, Bom feared that the unthinkable had happened.

And if they truly did die, Bom was left all alone.

She loathed the fact that she was rendered useless against the humans awed stares; simply resented that she couldn’t do anything but swim about in her confined state. It reminded her of her younger days, when she had been misbehaving and Go Eun had no choice but to discipline her in the only way she knew how – and that was to lock her up in a tiny room for Bom to self-reflect.

Bom feared loneliness more than anything in the world, and she was now living her worst nightmare.

She backed away as the humans grew closer, their coats hanging off them as they continuously wrote in their boards. She refused to meet any of their gazes, feeling her heart pound harder than it ever did before as she struggled to find an escape route.

Glancing around, Bom’s shoulders fell in itself.

It was hopeless.

She was at their mercy.

Bom hoped that it would be over quickly, that Poseidon might hear her silent prayer for death to wash over her. She had disgraced herself by disrupting the natural order of the human world and the world underwater.

This, Bom thought, this is the end. I will never see Go Eun or Father, my dear friends . . . my kingdom. Tears welled up as she thought of all those she had left behind. No doubt, her sister and father would be out of their minds searching for her. Her kingdom would be in a disarray looking for their lost princess.

“Please,” Bom whispered, looking around desperately. “Let it be over.”

OoOoOo

Seunghyun’s shoulders had never dropped so low before in his life.

He felt pathetic and ridiculous, having to write down descriptions of the mermaid on his clipboard as he spent his fifth hour observing her.

The anesthesia had a more profound effect on the mermaid than it did on humans, apparently. She had been knocked out for two days straight, effectively allowing the team to transfer her off to a bigger ship which then sailed to Korea.

The news of their capture had shocked the whole world.

Teddy had never been so busy before – interviews were being thrown at him from left and right. Demands to unveil their find to the media became increasingly difficult to adhere to as the government tried to regain some control and discretion over the mind-boggling discovery.

Seunghyun denied any and all interviews. He felt that it was irrelevant for him to answer preposterous questions, fueled by folklore and legends.

He hated having to stand behind Teddy and proudly telling the media that he was part of the team that turned the world upside down with their capture.

He resented that he had to watch his favorite dongsaeng destroy himself inwardly over the fact that he had contributed to shackling an innocent being’s life away.

Most of all, he absolutely despised the fact that there was nothing he could do to save her.

Sure, he tried convincing Teddy and the others to let the mermaid go, that all this wasn’t necessary. Teddy had been close to conceding when the others voted the other way, deciding instead to be greedy with their thirst for knowledge.

He watched silently as, one by one, his colleagues feasted upon the poor mermaid with their ravenous eyes, hungry for new information as they observed her coped up miserably in the tank that Seungri was forced to make. He watched as the mermaid’s eyes grew more and more desolate with every passing day, as if she could sense that there really was no hope, and that there was no escaping the torment she would have to continue to endure.

He set his foot down when one of the other scientist suggested doing trials on her. “She’s a ing being,” he had screamed, shoving the man out of his way. “If the tables were turned and she tried to stick multiple needles in you, how the would you feel then?!”

All had been quiet as the group became split between their morality and the pressure from the public who demanded accurate answers to their numerous questions.

Seunghyun couldn’t decide which was worse – watching as the mermaid slowly die inside, or feeling his humanity slip with every word he jotted down on his board.

OoOoOo

Days had passed since the mermaid’s capture.

Seunghyun finally managed to clinch a day off, choosing to retreat immediately to his loft where he planned to spend the next twenty-four hours sleeping and regaining what little composure he had left.

He hadn’t expected Jiyong to be sitting on his couch, helping himself to the microwavable popcorn that Seunghyun so dearly stashed.

“I’m not even going to ask how the hell you got in,” Seunghyun snarled, ripping the bag away from Jiyong’s greasy hands as the latter sat aback and tried to gauge his friend’s mood.

“Is it true?”

“For ’s sake, I can’t deal with this.” Seunghyun growled, reaching his boiling point as he felt the sleepless days finally crashing through his caffeine-operated body. “If you’re going to ask me whether I caught Ariel, the Little Mermaid, get the hell out of my apartment.”

Taking off most of his clothes except for his boxers and socks, Seunghyun hastily hurried over to his bedroom, inwardly groaning as he heard Jiyong follow him in. “Okay, fine, duly noted.”

Crashing himself onto his bed and not bothering to lift up his tired head from within the burrows of his quilt, Seunghyun heard Jiyong continue to speak quietly beside him. “I’m just . . . well, something’s been bothering me lately and I thought I was stupid and delusional to even think that it was real . . . but, hyung, I think I may have seen your mermaid before.”

“She’s not my mermaid.” Seunghyun sighed, turning his heavy head to face a rather disturbed Jiyong.

“Hear me out, hyung.”

Jiyong proceeded to tell Seunghyun the detailed origins of his tale, precisely how he had encountered the mermaid, and the events that followed after. “It was unlike anything I’ve seen before, hyung,” Jiyong persisted. “And I think you’re making a mistake keeping her in the lab.

“I saw what that merman did, hyung, and I think he’s capable of doing more. Whoever that mermaid is, she’s probably fundamental to the world we thought never existed.” Jiyong breathed, his mischievous eyes now pensive.

Seunghyun sat up, exhaustion eroding from his body from Jiyong’s tale and his epiphany afterwards. “I can’t do anything, Jiyong. The world wants answers.”

“But, hyung, you don’t have to make the questions.”

OoOoOo

Mino groggily rubbed his eyes, his vision blurring as he tried to keep himself upright against Seunghoon. “You do not have to do this,” the latter warned, in a much better shape than Mino was.

“I have to,” Mino murmured, finding his ground and standing up taller than he already was.

“You may now speak to the council,” King Hyun Suk commanded, his voice ringing clear amidst the deathly silence of the hall. Mino warily eyed the king, majestic against his throne yet his body remained slack on it.

His expression, though, was a wholly other story.

The king had never looked so deadly before, his expression one that screamed of a dangerous enemy. The dark circles that remained heavily tainted underneath his furious eyes gave a glimpse of the difficult time he was undergoing, having lost his beloved daughter.

Mino gripped his staff. “My name is Mino, second-in-command for the royal guard. A month ago, I witnessed as our beloved princess and heir to the throne, her majesty Princess Bom, was captured by the humans. She had previously attempted to rescue a young mermaid named Hayi, who had initially been captured by them, and by doing so, she sacrificed herself for it. My fellow guards as well as my leader then tried to rescue the princess, but our bodies were shot by an unknown device which rendered us unconscious.

“It is with a heavy heart that I come here today to report to you what I have personally witnessed as the capture of our princess, and it is with an even more defiant mind that I vote to wage war on the humans. They do not deserve our kindness, our humility. They have taken their vendetta against us to new heights, kidnapping our princess.

“I regret that I was unable to save her,” Mino held his torso, the last moments of his princess screaming for help hammering through his clouded mind. “But if you will give me another chance, I vow that I, along with my fellow guards, will bring our princess back to where she belongs.”

“I forgive you, guard,” the king stared emotionlessly at Mino. “I know it was not your intention to abandon my daughter. I am pleased to hear that you will support our war efforts. We will need a strong, capable leader to stand in as captain temporarily.”

Seunghoon stiffened beside Mino at the mention of their former leader, now bedridden and unconscious.

Revenge. That was what the four of them were after – the four strongest guards of the kingdom. Certainly, retrieving the princess was a priority, but ensuring that those who had crippled their leader would be severely dealt with was a prerequisite to their ambitious plans.

And they would stop at nothing to ensure their fallen leader would be avenged.

A/N: Thank you so much for the subscribers! Really glad to know people enjoy reading it! :)