To Baekho's and Seungkwan's disappointment, Minhyun didn't appear the next evening when they went and sang to the clear sea.

"Maybe it only works if it's you alone," Seungkwan sighed in defeat. He was really hoping he could see it. Baekho chuckled sadly and shrugged. He sang a song by himself but it still didn't show up.

"Or maybe it's not around today," Baekho replied, trying not to let his disappointment show too much. He had hoped to see it too since he didn't have much time here. Something about Minhyun made him want to get closer and know him better even if he lived in the sea. Or maybe it was the fact that he lived in the sea that made Baekho curious about him. He was in an entirely different world than him after all despite them still being on the same planet.

"That ," Seungkwan said and decided they should head home instead. Baekho didn't have much of a choice but to agree since Minhyun wasn't showing himself.

The merman himself was indeed nearby but he didn't dare to show himself to the person beside Baekho. He didn't know what the person would do to him. He only trusted Baekho and Baekho alone. He wanted to make a noise, some kind of call when they started leaving but his throat still hurt too much for him to say a word. If only those fishermen hadn't tried strangling him out of breath that day, maybe he could have talked to Baekho more. Feeling sulky, he went back into the water.

He spent his day, half perched out on a rock and dreaming about a life where he could be friends with Baekho. His submerged tail swishing gently in the water. He sighed out quietly and went back underwater when he heard a boat coming closer. After that close attempt with the fishermen, he didn't quite dare go near the shore again and he wouldn't have the day before either if it hadn't been for Baekho's singing voice. He found his voice really soothing and homely, wanting to hear more. He was pretty sad when he found out Baekho wasn't like him after he had pulled him into the water too. He wanted to apologise but couldn't quite do so now. He could only wait until his voice recovered.

He had been daydreaming and hadn't noticed the impending threat that came closer to him. He wasn't too deep into the sea but he wasn't too near the surface either so it made him visible when you went just deep enough. He snapped to his senses when he felt a gloved hand against his sore neck. He hissed and tried to get the hands off him, only to have a sharp pain pierce his stomach. He cried out as he saw a harpoon sticking out. He was starting to lose blood but he still tried to trash himself free. Tail whipping at whatever got close but not actually hiting anything.

He screamed voicelessly when the harpoon lodged in his bleeding stomach dragged him up towards the surface of the water.  He tried to break it but was gradually losing strength. His skin tingled at the feeling of being exposed to air and hands started grabbing the scared merman. He was heaved up onto the boat and pinned down by several men. He screamed and yelled but no sound would escape his throat. He tried to claw at them or use his tail but even those were held down. He kept it up until he was too tired, gasping for air. His stomach hurt a lot too. He was slowly losing consciousness.

He felt himself being dragged by his armpits into a dark room. Metal clinked around him as something colder than the water clipped around the end of his tail. He let out a voiceless whimper as he had no more energy to fight back. He was scared and afraid and hurt. His vision gradually turning black.

That night, Baekho felt uneasy about being unable to meet Minhyun. He knew it was stupid but how often could you meet a merman anyways? He grumbled to himself and ruffled his hair. He was going to try again. See if the other would appear if it was him alone. After all, Minhyun had admitted to wanting to hear Baekho sing. The young adult quickly made his way to the beach, making sure no one was around as he came to a stop. He took a deep breath and started singing, trying to squint out at the dark water for any sign of the alluring merman. No merman appeared even after his second song. He grumbled and rubbed his temples.

"Minhyun!" He decided to yell the merman's name instead. Not like anyone would know since his name sounded just like a common Korean name. "Minhyun!! It's me, Baekho!"

After few more rounds of yelling, he felt himself give up. He continued to walk along the shore instead, trying to see if the merman was hiding somewhere else. Maybe it was too far into the water to hear Baekho. He sulked at the thought of being unable to see the merman again despite knowing the danger he could be in if the other had decided to drag him into the water again. Yet he still felt enchanted by him. He started walking away from the beach, approaching the fishing village nearby instead. There seemed to be a celebration going on there after all, catching Baekho's attention. The other was surprised since it had been quiet the last few days and it was already late into the night so why were there people celebrating now. Baekho gasped softly when he recognised some of the fishermen from when he was trying to help Minhyun. Even though it was pretty dark that night, he could still tell from their figures.

He didn't get too near but close enough to eavesdrop into their conversations. There were many laughter and cheering. Baekho could see there were men only and they were drinking themselves drunk.

"-yeah. We got it secured in the storage."

"You should have seen its face when we pulled it out of the sea. Serves it right for escaping us that day."

"Wasn't it some random neighborhood kid who helped it?"

"No clue. But we got it now."

"We should put it up for display tomorrow. I'm sure it would fetch a hefty price from those collectors."

"If it doesn't bleed to death."

Baekho felt his skin crawl. What were they talking about? Pulling it out from sea? Bleeding to death? Baekho could only guess it was Minhyun. They wouldn't be talking about regular fish like this and a random neighborhood kid helping sounded very much like Baekho himself. He looked around, trying to find for this so called storage. He snuck around the bright lights to where he knew the fishermen kept their catch. His father had shown him around before when he was younger.

He tried to peek inside but there wasn't any light that helped him see into the large shack. He went to the front door, constantly keeping an eye out for anyone but they were all too busy celebrating. There was a lock secured around the door handles. Baekho didn't want to make too much noise so he had to try to find another way in. He tried all the windows until he found one that budged slightly at his tug. It was broken at the sides and only kept together with a bunch of tape. Baekho quickly removed the window, glad it didn't make much noise and made a space big enough for him to crawl through.

He pulled out his torchlight that he had remembered to bring with him, turning it on to shine around the dark room. He felt his chest pound. What if he really did find Minhyun? What was he even going to do? There were boxes and crates all around, making it difficult for Baekho to tell what was empty and what wasn't but then he recalled Minhyun's size that was exposed to him on the beach. The merman was way longer than him so he started searching for a huge or long boxes. His leg kicked what sounded like glass and he shone his torchlight downwards at a glass box that had a lock on it. Baekho squatted down to try to get a better look at the content.

He almost screamed from surprise when his torchlight caught the face of a pale Minhyun but his breath hitched on his throat and he managed to keep it down. He gulped, shining at the rest of the glass box. There was no sign of water inside the box and the poor merman was folded within the box with its neck, hands and tail chained to a corner of the glass box. His fangs were also reflected back to Baekho since there was a cloth wrapped around his mouth to the back of his head. His breathing was also very ragged and low, making Baekho grow more concern as he tried to find a way to unlock the box. He felt all around until he found a small hole that was probably the only spot where air could go in and out from.

Baekho felt his heart ache to see such a creature being treated this way but he could guess the fishermen knew not of a proper way to care for it too. And neither did he. He quickly looked around the room and found the metal poles that those cruel people had used to poke Minhyun with before. He grabbed one of them, placing the torchlight between his teeth before slamming the pole hard against the lock. He repeated it a few more times, praying those men were too drunk to hear the noises he was making. It woke Minhyun up though.

The scared merman started trashing but winced silently at the injury on his stomach. Baekho stopped when he heard the metal and glass scratching against one another. He bent down to see if Minhyun was alright. The other bore his fangs at Baekho since he was too scared to recognize the other and the torchlight was shining right at his face.

"Calm down. It's me," Baekho spoke in the dark, quickly lowering the torchlight. Minhyun's silent hisses turned to low pants as he peeked his eyes open to see the brown eyed male in the dark, recognizing the voice. He could see in the dark just fine and being able to see Baekho made him feel relieved. His voice soothed his nerves too. "I'll get you out of here. Just wait a moment."

Minhyun clawed at the glass, wanting to hear Baekho's voice more but the other had resumed what he had been doing earlier. It made Minhyun flinch whenever there was a noise but the lock gradually came loose. Baekho kicked it off and it rolled off somewhere. He pulled the lid open and Minhyun looked up at him with sad pained eyes. "I've got you." Baekho reached down and took a look at the cuffs. How the hell was he going to get these off? He couldn't possibly lift the entire box too. Hell, he didn't even know if he could carry Minhyun. "I'll get you out..."

The only thing he could use was the metal pole but Minhyun seemed afraid of it being near him which Baekho could understand. "Just bear with it. I have nothing else I can use here." Baekho knew Minhyun could understand him. The other shut his eyes tightly and seemed to curl up tighter to give him enough space to aim at the chains. "I'll try not to hurt you. Just a little more and you'll be free."

Minhyun seemed to give Baekho a nod and the other quickly got to work. He jabbed the metal pole in between the loop and started pushing down onto it, hoping it would give way. It took him his entire body weight and a few forceful tries for it to snap, freeing the merman from the box but not the chains. Nevertheless Baekho counted that as a win. He quickly fiddled around Minhyun, trying to grab him and the other was reaching up to hold Baekho too. He secured his arm around the other's back and tail, slowly lifting him up. He smelt blood and quickly looked down, just only taking notice of the messy bandage around the other's stomach that had dark spots that Baekho could only guess was blood.