*knock knock*

Chan awoke to a knock on the door. His whole head was fuzzy, but he slid out of the bed and waited for the door to open.

Byeongkwan was a little on the slower side, just barely opened his eyes when the door swung open. He immediately sat up, however, at the smell of food.

“Hi.”

It was one of the men from before, the one with silver-ish white hair. The one who dragged Byeongkwan below deck.

“I brought you food on orders.”

It was a simple basket with 2 small loaves of bread and hard cheese. It also had two apples and two oranges inside. It was not much, but to the starved castaways, it was a blessing.

“I also have a message from the captain. No one eats for free. It's your decision whether to accept this or not.” the older sailor explained.

Chan and Byeongkwan looked at each other, before Chan spoke up. “What’s the price?”

The sailor shrugged. It was clear he did not know.

Chan walked over and took the basket of food. “Tell your captain we will pay the price. We’ve got nothing to lose anyways.”

They were swiftly handed the food, then were left locked in the room afain.

Chan quickly ran over to Byeongkwan and shoved the basket in his face. “Byeongkwannie look! Finally some food!”

“Thank god.” the other replied. “I thought I was going to die of starvation.”

They quickly scarfed down the food in front of them. They both expected hard bread and gross fruit, but instead the bread was soft and warm and the fruit was fresh and juicy. 

Neither Chan nor Byeongkwan knew where they were or what kind of situation they were in, but this moment of luxury, they felt nothing but comfort. 

It was quickly interrupted, however, by more knocking on the door before the three familiar men entered Chan and Byeongkwan’s room.

The -haired man stepped forward. He looked down at the empty basket. “It looks like you enjoyed your dinner. Now it’s time to uphold your end of the bargain.”

Chan gulped in anticipation. What was the cost of the dinner? Would he be sold off as a slave? Would he be forced to sell his body? Were they going to hold him ransom and kill him if it isn’t paid? 

As Chan prepared himself for the worst case scenario, the two other men stepped forward and handed Chan and Byeongkwan mops.

“I want you two to swab the decks. then after that, you must pull in the masts and shorten the jibs. Then head to the kitchen and wash the dishes.”

Chan blinked in surprise. He was expecting something much worse, something much more terrible. But not only were they saved by this ship and its crew, they were also fed, with only some labor in return.

There must be a catch! Chan thought to himself.

“If you need more direction ask these two. This is my first mate, Donghun.” the black haired man pointed to the shorter, brown-haired male. He was the one who led Chan below deck.

“And this is our Boatswain, Seyoon.” the black haired man pointed to his left. Seyoon, the one with white hair, was the one who bought them food.

“And I am Junhee.” The black haired man continued. “I am the captain. You may call me captain or Jun. You two must prove yourselves useful to me, unless you prefer to rest at the bottom of the ocean. Don’t bother trying to run away either. We will kill you.”

And with that, Jun walked out of the room, leaving Chan and Byeongkwan alone with Donghun and Seyoon.

Donghun was the first to speak again. “We will take you above deck. I assume you all know how to do your work. Seyoon and I will switch off supervising you.”

The four walked quietly, with only the sounds of waves crashing against the hull accompanying their footsteps.

Donghun was in front, leading the way. Chan was right behind him and Seyoon was behind Chan. A little further back was Byeongkwan. He still seemed tired and was falling behind a bit.

When they got to the deck, Chan looked around. Even with the dimming light of the sunset, Chan could tell that the deck was a mess. There was seawater, algae, seaweed and debris all over the place. It was probably due to the storm that Chan and Byeongkwan had been shipwrecked in. 

“You might want to get working, or you’ll be working all through the night.” Donghun commented.

“Yes sir.” Chan responded. The two in charge of chores began mopping.

As he scrubbed the deck, Chan thought long and hard about the situation they were in. 

They could not escape. First, Chan and Byeongkwan were still unfamiliar with the boat. They have no idea where to secure supplies or a lifeboat.

Second, neither of them knew where along the coast or how far out in the sea they were. For all they knew, they could have been heading completely west into the deep ocean.

Third, Chan was sure they would be killed if they got caught. Jun was clear in his threat, and Chan believed him. I mean, Jun did threaten Chan with a sword at their first meeting as well. 

Also, Chan still had no idea what kind of people he was dealing with. Were they part of the Navy? Merchants? Traders? Or worst... Pirates?

Out of all of the above, pirates were the only ones that Chan was scared of. They were lawless and unpredictable. If they really were pirates, Chan and Byeongkwan could be killed at any time without question. It was dangerous without more information.

“So….” Chan tried to strike up a conversation with their supervisor. “Where are you from?”

Donghun turned and looked at the other with a scrutinizing look. “Just keep working, talk later.”

That went well… Chan thought to himself.

He turned to Byeongkwan. “Kwannie, how are you doing?”

Byeongkwan took a second to respond, but he looked at Chan and gave a meek smile. “I’m alright.” 

Chan eyed Byeongkwan suspiciously. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah…..I just…” before he could finish his sentence, Byeongkwan felt extremely nauseous and threw up onto the deck. He then staggered around, disoriented, for a few seconds before he collapsed to the ground.

Chan ran over to his best friend and cradled him into his lap. “Byeongkwan!”

The other had fallen unconscious.