Jongin grows up in a time with daily reports of death and destruction. It seemed the world was trying to destroy itself, but he learned that the world only did its best to survive. People, humans, were trying to destroy the world and themselves just because they couldn't agree on how to live together.

His sisters become nurses, influenced by their upbringing to do whatever they can to help humanity. One of them joins the army and sends letters every three weeks.

People are just too scary for Jongin. He’s shy and a bit withdrawn, finding more comfort and friendship with animals than other kids, but he does make friends. A couple of boys too pushy to accept that Jongin willingly chose to be alone invited him to play or to the movies and eventually welcomed him into the world of higher education at a national university.

It’s there Jongin hears about the paradise on the bottom of the ocean.

A team of scientists and engineers tour universities and try to find recruits for the massive undertaking. Kim Joonmyun and Kim Jongdae are graduate students from the oceanography department. Jongdae takes a seat on the professor's desk, manning the slide projector as Joonmyun addresses the audience, already bored with another recruitment presentation.

“Thank you for welcoming us and allowing us to take some time away from your classes. They are incredibly important, and we are here to extend an invitation to you all to join us in utilizing and expanding your knowledge." He's a good orator, Jongin thinks. Even sitting near the back, he hears the man clearly, although he squints to see the images projected onto the wall. They're fuzzy but recognizable as snapshots from across the country.

"We all remember the war. Fighting may have ended, but our country and people are only beginning to recover. After years of living under imperial colonization, we regained our Korean identity for it to be used against us by our northern brothers and sisters. They preached 'economic equality through the elimination of private property.' The downfall of order and civilization is capitalism. We can only thrive with a classless society." Joonmyun shrugs. "It sounds nice, but it's hypocritical. The sole government party controls everything; their officials gain favors, and the common people suffer." Jongdae advances the slides, and the grandfatherly face of His Excellency looks over the auditorium. "The current dictator of our so-called 'free republic' sleeps on a bed of corruption and political repression. He doesn't care about the little people with little ideas and little dreams.

"Where is the common man to go?" The first full-color image dazzles everyone. As though rising from the floor, a thoroughly modern city towers over ocean plants and marine creatures. Neon shines from massive signs advertising drugs and entertainment. It's only an artist's rendition, but it ignites interest in a seemingly far-away dreamscape.

Joonmyun gestures to the painting with flourish. "Cheonguk is one of the first modern settlements of its kind. A contemporary Atlantis, residing on the Pacific floor." The next slide is a photograph, nearly identical to the previous painting. "It is a city underwater, and it will be a reality. There will be shops and theaters and restaurants and farms. Our team plans to develop technology that doesn’t exist yet, so it will be completely self-sufficient. A city without war or famine. No conflict over religious or political differences. Artists can create without fear of being blacklisted. Scientists can study and experiment to the fullest potential of their field. Philosophers can think any thought. Dreamers can indulge any fantasy. Anyone willing to put in the work and contribute their time to bettering themselves can realize their dreams here."

They continue with some specifics of the city's construction, although they're still vague. Being a part of the marine biology department, Jongdae joins Joonmyun in describing their work and the largely unexplored environment as well as showing images from the ultra-modern equipment and facilities many scientists only imagine.

After a question and answer session, they're gone, and Jongin's peers gossip amongst themselves.

Jongin drafts a letter to the oceanographic institute that night. He's graduating that semester, after all. If he doesn't find a job or a scholarship to a foreign university for marine biology, he'll return home and probably spend most of the next twenty years of his life working in his family's little cafe after spending the morning on the farm.

He can exist, or he can live.

 

Two weeks later, he's cordially invited to join students and scientists in Cheonguk and is certain to be a great asset to the research team.

 

His parents drive him to an address provided over the phone. Anxiety coils in Jongin's gut as he checks and re-checks the paper over his mother's shoulder. They're outside the city, passed any inhabited village. It's a pretty drive to the coast, but there is nothing to suggest a ship or ferry to wherever Cheonguk's entrance is.

"Is this it?" His father slows down, squinting at a set of chain link gates topped with razor wire. Uniformed guards slowly approach the gate, pulling their weapons from their shoulders.

"I'll walk from here," Jongin says. He doesn't want to leave his parents, but he doesn't want to invite any danger. "I'll show them my letter and be right back."

"Be careful." His mother twists a handkerchief on her lap.

The guards watch warily as Jongin approaches, but he keeps his letter visible in his hand. He tries to focus on their faces or their rocky, scrubby surroundings, but the sun glistens off the barrels of their guns. His older friends joined the military; he'd stayed in school. The only experience he has with weapons is the knives they use to butcher livestock with.

One guard raises a hand, and Jongin nearly trips with how fast he stops and automatically raises his arms.

"Hi?" Gesturing with his head, he points to the paper in his fist. "I've been invited by the oceanographic institute. I'm Kim Jongin."

Thankfully, he doesn't mess his pants when checked by the guards. They wave the car close and unload Jongin's trunk and luggage onto a wheeled cart.

"Be careful," his mother whispers in his ear, hugging him tight. Her husband's expression is pinched, and he hugs Jongin without words.

The guards wait until the old truck drives away before guiding Jongin through the gates and towards the rocky cliffs.

Jongin doesn't see anything like a ship or even submersible. Maybe it was a sick ploy to weed out people interested in a fantasy away from a unified or communist or any Korea. He's expecting a gun to be pushed between his shoulder blades with every step and casts a wary glance behind him. It'd be easiest to wait until he's nearer the cliffs, then his body would fall over and into the water with gravity, but they could load his corpse onto the cart with his luggage and shove everything over at once.

He's hyping himself up to run for it when they all stop. A small building stands on the edge of the cliff. Rather than metal or wood, it appears to be made out of the surrounding rock, blending into the environment.

Doors open, and Jongin looks into an airy elevator car.

"Welcome to the hell ride," a guard says. "All aboard, one-stop on the bottom of the ocean."

Jongin wants to ask if it's safe, but it has to be. Those graduate students who talked at his school came from here; they had to have ridden it up and down.

He marches into the elevator as bravely as he can.

His knees buckle when the doors close.

With a high groan, the elevator begins to move and descends down the rocky cliff face. Jongin spies seals and mermaids sunning themselves on the wide rocks sticking out of the water before the car enters with a splash and plunges beneath the water at an easy 10 meters per second.

The wall opposite the cliff is clear, allowing a view out into the spacious sea and the creatures claiming the elevator shaft’s exterior as their home. Fish don't seem to mind it at all. Smaller ones scuttle away, just to ease on back once the car passes.

Jongin sits on one of the benches mounted to the elevator wall. The car is nearly four times the size of any normal building elevator he's seen. Rather than innocuous piped music, there's oppressive silence. Focusing his hearing, Jongin picks up the groan of the traction cables and rush of water pushing against the car. The more he tries to not listen, the more muffled his head feels, as though the ocean is pressing on his head, instead. From his head, it reaches down his body to strangle his chest and constrict his lungs.

If anything should happen to this elevator car, no one would be able to help. He's suspended in the water, under increasing pressure. Even if the doors would open, he'd be entirely submerged in seconds. He can only hold his breath for a minute, if he prepares. Unprepared, he'd probably just swallow water.

Outside, something shimmers. It gets closer, and he sees pale skin and green scales for a moment before it's left behind above him.

Finally, his descent slows to an easy stop. The doors open with a ding into the rock, which has been dug out to form a T-shaped tunnel. Passengers can go left or right, although either route leads around to the main terminal.

It appears to be a train station. There is a check-in counter, benches, and ads—all boasting Cheonguk—pasted to the walls. Construction companies and material providers boast about their products from large posters that share their phone numbers in bold font; there's nothing else to advertise, yet. Newspaper stands wait for their deliveries. A kiosk is ready for flyers and brochures and maps.

Jongin sits on his luggage and unfolds the letter sent from the oceanographic institute. It still says the same message; he's really going to the bottom of the world, and here he is. The ocean is as unexplored as space but much closer and reachable. He can't imagine anyone ever going among the stars; bumper rockets will never hold humans.

His father's family are fishermen. Jongin spent many summers with them but was more interested in the fish they pulled up as research than as food. What were they? How old were they? How old could they reach? Where did they come from? What else lived there?According to his mother, bless her and may she rest in peace, dance was no way to support himself or his future wife and family. Every boy needs a hobby, but a man needs to make money.

“Reliably and honestly,” she had stressed.

His sister dancing in clubs was just youthful transgression. Jongin following her example—and meeting greater success—was just humiliating.

Even if he did love every minute of it.

“Kim Jongin-ssi?”

He jumps, crumpling the already abused paper in his hands.

The man beside him bows and apologizes. “I’m sorry. My name is Do Kyungsoo. I was asked to meet you.”

Jongin scrambles to his feet and bows. They continue apologizing back and forth until Kyungsoo laughs and physically stops Jongin by catching his shoulders. He’s used to it, but Jongin looks down to meet Kyungsoo’s eyes and blushes.

A whistle shrieks from between a straight-backed conductor’s lips. He eyes both men warily as they board.

The car is otherwise empty.

“Once it’s open, this will be as busy as any station on land but not nearly so disgusting. Homelessness and crime just aren’t the reality in Cheonguk,” Kyungsoo remarks. They share a seat, bumping knees as the train follows its rail into a large glass tunnel. "There's an automatic cleaning system built into every building. Everything is controlled by the main computer, at the center of Cheonguk, which we don't have to worry about.

"The basics are built and ready. Bedrooms, kitchen, restrooms, lounges, recreation rooms, the laboratories… You won’t be uncomfortable staying in Cheonguk.” The ticket master passes through the car, more a formality than necessity.

Kyungsoo leans over Jongin and points out the window. They're completely out of the station and its artificial lights and are surrounded by blue-green ocean.

Jongin is speechless.

He's seen photographs of cities from around the world. Buildings reaching so high even craning one's neck, the top can't be seen because of the glare of the sun. Sprawling industrial regions with belching smokestacks and shimmering foundries. Skeletons of metal encasing raw construction material waiting for its glass overcoat.

“We’re still in the middle of construction," Kyungsoo explains. "This design makes it more difficult, because of the pressure, so it's not at all fast progress, but it has come a long way, even in a year. When I first got here, they hadn't figured out heat, yet." Once past the surface, the sea rapidly cools to about 4°C. Water is a great thermal conductor, so Cheonguk needs a continuous, massive source of heat to stay warm. "We all looked ridiculous, like we were dressing for Antarctica. I broke so many bits of equipment because of my mittens..."

"How long has this been..." Jongin flounders. "A thing?"

Kyungsoo frowns. "I don't know when the actual idea was first hatched, but I've heard that it was considered a real possibility around Yuk-ship Undong." The demonstration was a big step for the Korean Empire, lashing out against Japanese occupation. Externally, they were unstable and fractured, but internally, the people were excited for change. During all the confusion and oppression, Jongin's parents found each other during a student demonstration and fell in love. "Few people had money, so there were talks with foreign powers who either had nothing to gain from a colony or everything to gain from an independent country. More money and support came after the Potsdam Declaration, and some of those rich benefactors shared ideas and plans of their own." He points out a bloom of jellyfish. "When you meet him, you can ask Kim Minseok about the construction. He'll know more. He's one of the architects."

Jongin hides a yawn and feels his ears pop. They're on an easy descent into a valley.

If Cheonguk needs money, he muses, they could offer train rides to tourists. There's marine life he's only seen in books and on film. The acrylic glass tube they're gliding through is just big enough to allow the train engine and cars, and it offers a place for starfish, coral, and even some remoras to perch and wait for food.

“The rest of your things have already arrived. You can unpack tonight; I’ll take you to meet the others, first.”

They ease into a station similar to the one at the base of the cliffs. Jongin notices a sign welcoming them from Cliffside to Oceansbottom, Cheonguk. Everything is just as empty but has a static energy, as though knowing it's ready to be used and filled with people.

Kyungsoo helps Jongin pull his carted luggage from the train. He's stronger than he looks.

Jongin once again steps into an elevator, more ornate but less spacious than the first, and feels his weight fall to his feet as it leaves the floor. The bulbs beside the level numbers illuminate as they pass, filling a panel the length of his forearm. Elevators are one of the most energy efficient means of transport, and more people can be housed going vertically than horizontally, but it stops at the fifth floor.

“The other floors are almost ready, but staff lives on the lower levels, at the far end of the building. Personally, I prefer it. I can take the stairs without getting exhausted, and I think the view is better.” He stops at a wide window, and Jongin looks passed his greenish reflection into a world he’s only seen in books.

"I never get tired of this view," Kyungsoo comments softly. He smiles and points to a line of doors behind them. "Your room is next to mine. Feel free to move, if you want; a lot of the rooms are open."

Taking the key from Kyungsoo, Jongin approaches the nondescript door, unlocks it, and tries to push it open only to find that it slides into the wall on its own.

The apartment is spacious and open, painted in white with splashes of bold color in a distinctly Western design, reflecting the German Bahaus movement and Scandinavian design, if he remembers the flyers at the train station. None of it looks remotely familiar. Topside, the urban areas of Korea build as fast as money allows, which doesn't allow for much individuality or distinction, so they're modern only in that they're built recently. Some traditional hanok villages are branded for demolition to make room for simple apartments; he hopes his family's village will be left alone. His mother would hate this bland style.

Reminders of home are seen in the wood columns and sliding paper doors dividing living and sleeping areas, however. The bathroom is fully tiled and gleaming.

He pushes his luggage aside to unpack later.

"I'll introduce you to the others. They should all be in the building next door." It can be seen through the windows as Jongin follows the other man's lead. The building itself doesn't look a whole lot different from the outside, just considerably fewer windows. Between the two are walkways with a bulbous, transparent top. Surrounded on water by three sides, and only looking up, he feels like he's walking underwater.

"Does anyone clean off the algae or coral that attach to the buildings?"

"Every once in a while, but it's not an issue, yet. This whole thing is eventually going to become a massive coral reef, we think, especially if we don't clear any organisms away."

A shark lumbers by, peering balefully through the window. Jongin quickens his pace to meet Kyungsoo in the doorway.

Faced with directional signs, Kyungsoo considers for a moment and then goes left.

Jongin recognizes them as the speakers who visited his school. They seem to be intruding on an intimate moment; Jongdae is standing close to Joonmyun—who sits on a mounted bench—leaning against him with an arm around his shoulders. Joonmyun is holding his waist. A pod of migrating whales seem to fly outside.

Kyungsoo clears his throat before approaching. "Kim Joonmyun hyung and Kim Jongdae, grad students in oceanography." He gestures to Jongin. "Kim Jongin. Our newest recruit."

Jongin bows. "You spoke to my class last semester."

"We did?" Jongdae asks. His eyebrows seem to be stuck in an angle of surprise or disbelief. "And you remember? Hear that, hyung?" He nudges Joonmyun. "He didn't fall asleep!"

Joonmyun sighs. "Nobody has fallen asleep, Jongdae..."

"They had with their eyes open. Pretty sure I heard snoring a couple times." Jongdae smiles at Jongin. "Welcome to the team. I hope you feel at home here as much as we do."

Jongin thanks him and bows again. He's never been good with small talk. His friends would often speak for him, so he just had to look somewhat engaged.

Kyungsoo must pick up on that. "Do you know where we can find Minseok hyung?"

"Top study, probably," Joonmyun replies. "The architects were meeting about some repairs or something."

An elevator takes them to the top of the building. It's an interior elevator, in the middle of the structure like a spine. Doors open behind them, and Jongin steps out first but waits for Kyungsoo.

The entire floor seems to be a library. Tables and chairs are set throughout, and the windowed walls have heavy curtains. Shelves of books extend outward from the central elevator like legs from a starfish.

Following voices and plumes of white cigarette smoke, they spot a cluster of men poring over blueprints. "Minseok hyung is the one with the blue shirt and brown pants." He appears to be close to Jongin's age, if not younger.

"There's nothing we can do until we get more supplies. We cannot bandage a wound that needs surgery."

"Well put, but what do you suggest we do in the meantime? If that thing gives way, this whole damn building is going into the trench!"

"Get jacks to brace the base. That will relieve some of the weight..."

An older man with graying hair rubs his hand over his face. "I'll talk to the boss and get his input."

"The royal shaft, you mean."

"Don't flip your lid," he sighs, a stream of smoke hitting the plans and curling into nothing. "This can potentially get worse, and we have to be prepared. All of us." The older man looks at Minseok. "Would you talk to some of the scientists? Don't give specifics, but ask that they...be careful. It'll be a few days before we receive any order."

"Sure, but if you get the order in, I can go pick it up." Minseok frowns at the group. "What? I can drive a truck!"

"Can you reach the pedals?"

Kyungsoo laughs, and that interrupts a near wrestling match.

"All right, guys. We've got an idea of what we're working with. Leeteuk, Heechul, get those orders in and give the information to Minseok. Changmin—let him go, please..."

"He started it."

"Did not!"

The older man raises his voice, rolling up plans, "I will go to the boss. Minwoo," another man, nearly to the elevators, flinches, "please come with me. If it comes from the two of us, maybe he won't accuse us of sabotage or something..."

The meeting ends, and everyone but Minseok file into the elevator.

"Hi, Kyungsoo. I didn't expect you." He looks at Jongin and smiles politely.

"Hyung, this is Kim Jongin. He's joining us in the marine bio lab."

The smile turns more genuine, and Jongin accepts the offered hand. "Welcome! Sorry you had to hear all that right away."

"Is it serious?"

"Yes and no. The sooner we get it fixed, the better. It's the building with the big kitchen, where all of the food is stored," he explains aside to Jongin. "Right now, that's the only thing fully functional, so it's not a lot of lives in danger. It is a lot of food, though. Losing it would put us way behind. So just avoid it for now."

"Best to not invite trouble," another voice adds.

"Yixing hyung, I didn't see you! Jongin, this is Zhang Yixing, from China."

"China? I thought..."

Yixing smiles, revealing dimples in both cheeks. "Our political ideas don't matter out in the water and won't affect my work. Please don't hold them against me."

"O-of course not." Jongin bows again.

Minseok suggests heading down, so they enter another elevator car. Yixing has no idea about Jongin's aversion to small talk and asks what he thinks of Cheonguk.

"It's big. I like it so far?"

"We've not seen much, yet," Kyungsoo interjects. "The bedrooms, the station, the big library..."

"When are you going on a dive walk?"

Jongin looks at Kyungsoo, who shrugs. "Take some time to explore. You can go just about anywhere, as long as it's open. Get settled first, and we're probably scheduling a walk in a couple days. We'd love to have you."

"I've never dived before."

"We'll teach you. Anyone can learn."

"Even I went out once," Minseok comments. "It's different seeing blueprints and the actual product. Going out in the bathysphere just doesn't have the same effect."

The elevator slows and opens with a ding. Minseok heads towards the laboratories to spread the word of caution, and Yixing follows.

"They seem nice," Jongin says.

"They are. The only person to maybe avoid is the boss, but he rarely leaves his suite. Says he's an extremely busy businessman, but I hear he has a full miniature golf course in there."

Heading back into the residential building, Kyungsoo points out directional signs that lead to rec rooms, a swimming pool, and gymnasium.

Divers need to stay fit. Jongin is no slug, but he doesn't say 'no' to an opportunity to nap.

"Oh." Jongin nearly walks into Kyungsoo's back. The other man doesn't seem to mind, focused on the large window reaching up to the high ceiling.

A pair of mermaids are chasing one another between the buildings. As they dart from the shadows into the light filtering down from the sun, their tails glisten. One breaks out with gold highlights; the other, noticeably paler, shimmers silver.

"I know these two," Kyungsoo says. He smiles and waves. "I've seen them a few times, anyway—Sehun is the silvery one, and Zitao is the gold one."

"You know their names?"

"I named them myself, actually," Kyungsoo admits, somewhat bashful. "Something frowned upon in most science circles, but they're just so human, and they have a whole society and culture that just because we don't understand it does not mean it's any less civilized and sentient. So I try to treat them more like an equal than an experiment. There's been a growing population of merfolk around here, too; we're not sure why, yet."

As the duo swim by and come close to the glass, they are afforded a clear look at their fronts. “As you can see, they’re male.” Like whales, the merfolk are mammals, Kyungsoo explains. The noticeable difference is males have a slit closer to their belly while females’ slits are closer to the tail fin.

Jongin just nods dumbly, more entranced by the silver merman’s slow spinning. The movement reminds him of châinés from ballet.

“They may be siblings; I don’t have enough data to determine that…” Kyungsoo places his hand on the glass, and the other merman mimics him. He then looks at his hand and his friend’s hand, who’s stopped his lazy pirouettes out of apparent curiosity. They press their palms together with cautious frowns. “They’re confused about the glass.”

“Cute.”

“Amazing, more like. They’re very aware of their environment and show great levels of curiosity. Dolphins are considered highly intelligent animals, but I’d argue these aquatic mammal hybrids are capable of even greater feats of intelligence.”

The creatures grow bored or restless and move on, swimming up the sheer face of the building. Jongin watches them until they're gone.

“How can you test that?”

“Games, observation, simple tests. To be honest," Kyungsoo turns from the window with a wry smile, "these aren’t exactly sanctioned studies. The professors are interested in a more general approach before building models for focused study. Looking into things that could effect the city, first, as commanded by the great bossman." He yawns, excusing himself behind his hand. "Sorry. Going topside always makes me tired. I'm going to my room; I'll see you later, alright? Get settled. Look around. Be sure to remember where your room is, though; I got lost the first couple days I was here and nearly spent the night on benches."

It's late afternoon, too early for dinner and going to bed, but Jongin feels the weight of the day bearing down on his shoulders. After seeing Kyungsoo to his door, he turns left, unlocks his own room, and tests the springs of his bed by throwing himself onto it.

He falls asleep within moments.

When he wakes up, he's confused. The light is weird; maybe there's a storm, and it's cloudy. It's only when he sits up and stares blearily out the window, seeing water and a couple starfish, that he remembers where he is.

His watch says it's mid-morning. After washing his face, cleaning his teeth, and putting on clean clothes, he drags his feet back and forth between his luggage and closets and dressers. He doesn't remember packing so much; his mom must have added things. He never had a dark blue suit before, and there are a pair of shoes that are too shiny to have just been sitting in a closet.

Once everything has found a place, and his trunk and luggage are stored in the back of the closet, he thinks the room feels a bit more lived in. Less cold. Maybe if he writes his parents, they could send the quilt from his bed at home. It was made by his aunts.

Finally, his stomach grumbles too loud for him to ignore, so he leaves his room. Signs point him towards the elevators. Smaller text he hadn't paid attention to before lists the features of each floor. He pushes the button with DINING HALL beside it.

Like everywhere else, the dining hall is cavernous and mostly empty. Lines of tables and benches fill the floor, but the few clusters of people sit near one another; their voices bounce off the ceiling and walls and echo.

An interior wall separates the kitchen from dining hall. Pass-through windows allow cooks to hand plates of food to those waiting. A bar with cold fruit and drinks sits under glass, accessed by a small sliding door.

Peering inside as he passes, Jongin sees huge bags of rice and flour, piles of meat and fish waiting to be sliced and chopped, and rows of metal bowls so shiny they could be mirrors.

"Good morning."

Jongin jumps, sending some of his rice flying. Yixing catches his arm and apologizes.

"Kyungsoo had called to you, but you still looked asleep."

He leads Jongin to a table with men Jongin's met, plus two he doesn't recognize.

"Morning, Jongin. Sleep well?" He shrugs and nods.

"He must have," Jongdae says. "It's after noon."

"You met Minseok hyung, Joonmyun hyung, Yixing hyung, and Jongdae." Kyungsoo points a thumb to his right, where a man with a manic smile and a shorter man with shining eyes sit. "These men are our tenders—Baekhyun and the big one is Chanyeol—they’ll maintain the diving dress, air supply units, safety features, everything. Any questions related to these dive-walks, just ask them.”

"Don't expect a straight answer, though. They both love to talk."

"It's called being friendly, hyung," Baekhyun whines.

"I call it annoying," Minseok mumbles.

Jongin's quiet as he eats, content to listen to the others banter with and badger one another. They show no acknowledgement of being underwater, in a man-made paradise. It's normal and natural, and Jongin wonders when he'll be as disaffected.

Two days later, after spending most of his time in his room or the library browsing books on diving procedures and equipment, Jongin joins Kyungsoo at the very bottom floor of the laboratory building. It's not as open and modern on the lower levels, he's noticed. Valves, pumps, gears, hose, and various equipment sits out, only allowing a narrower hallway to navigate.

"Excited?"

Jongin walks beside Kyungsoo into a room with a wall of lockers and a line of two benches. Large, heavy boots and massive helmets sit at most lockers, although a couple are empty. Extra equipment and mending supplies sit on tables bolted to the floor at the opposite wall. Across from the entrance is a big, solid door with a rotary sign. STAND BY.

"Nervous."

"You'll do great. Anything happens, you can actually rely on Baekhyun and Chanyeol. They goof off a lot, but they're good at their jobs." Both men offer an enthusiastic thumbs up.

"What got you into oceanography?" He stands awkwardly, unsure what to do. Baekhyun holds up a diving suit, then another, before nodding and draping it over the bench.

"My great grandma and grandma are haenyo. They still dive every day and are the ones who taught me how to swim and to not fear the water but respect it. Some of their good friends were mermaids. I've seen them a few times and wanted to know more about them and their world.

"I also just feel closer to my grandmas when I'm in the water. My mom never learned; she's scared of the water and moved inland with my dad before they were even married."

Jongin sits beside a copper diving helmet, beige waterproofed canvas suit, and weights to counteract buoyancy, to be hanged on his chest and back. Weighted shoes sit beneath the bench.

“We’ll go out for a walk to give you a feel for things."

Kyungsoo passes him a diving knife. It’s a multi-use tool, he's read. While primarily intended for cutting away ropes, lines, and nets, it can also be used to pry and hammer, if need be. There are crowbars and hammers ready, however, and Chanyeol pleads with them both to use the proper tools. Unsheathing the knife, Jongin gently touches the plain edge and feels it scrape the ridges of his thumb. The serrated edge is just as sharp, and he pushes it back into its sheath.

As he pulls on his thermal wear, Baekhyun checks the equipment for leaks, tension, sealant, sufficient friction, and to be sure it does what it’s supposed to. Finally, he checks that the brails, helmet, and plate all match and fit properly.

Everything is looked over visually or manually. Regardless of how new and unused the equipment is, it is checked every time before a dive. It's tedious but necessary.

"All set," Chanyeol announces, finishing his inspection of the air supply. He passes Kyungsoo bulky, thermal protective clothing. Sitting, Kyungsoo steps into his suit, and Chanyeol wordlessly pulls it up to his shoulders for his arms to slip through. The breathing tanks on the back sit high up, close to the shoulders.

Jongin fumbles a couple times, but Baekhyun's laughter is good-natured, and he advises Jongin to take his time and keep his balance.

"You've never deep-dived before, right? It'll still be there, no matter how long it takes to get dressed."

"Have you gone out?"

Baekhyun nods. "A couple times just for fun, but Chanyeol and I are also welders. We're on a rotating schedule with some other guys." After shoving his hands doesn't work, Baekhyun produces some soapy water to help Jongin get his left hand through the rubber cuff seal.

Once the back of his legs are laced up, and laces tucked away, Jongin can't bend over to put his boots on. On his right, Kyungsoo is holding Chanyeol's shoulder for balance. Buckles cover the laces of the boots, and Jongin has never felt so grounded. A hurricane couldn't lift him off the ground.

The plate cushion is placed over their shoulder, followed by the suit bib, and then the plate is lowered over their heads, the rubber seal is pulled over the plate rim, and the bib is pulled into the neck opening. The loose bib is folded round the back of the head, and the rubber seal is worked into place over the studs and smoothed down before the washers are placed over the studs. They tighten the fasteners by hand before using a wrench.

After all that work, Baekhyun and Chanyeol remove the lower left front wingnut, for the air supply valve link to fit.

A weight belt crosses their front and back, placed over the top of the plate and buckling at the back. Jongin tries to ignore the procedure to buckle the crotch strap.

Kyungsoo's suit has gloves attached; Chanyeol fits wrist straps to prevent over-inflation. Baekhyun presents snappers, rubber gloves, for Jongin to stick his hands into. They snap tightly over the cuffs of his suit.

"Almost done," Baekhyun announces brightly.

"You guys do this for every dive?"

"Yeah. Someone's gotta do it. We're under a lot of pressure, and if you want to explore the floor, you have to stay down to do it. Once you're out there, the weight won't feel as bad. You get used to it."

The air supply is connected to the fronts of their suits, followed by the telephone. Chanyeol whistles into the receiver and earns an irritated glare from Kyungsoo.

Baekhyun climbs onto a bench with Jongin's helmet and threatens to lock Chanyeol in the decompression chamber if he makes a comment.

Jongin can't watch his helmet; there's not much room to tilt his head, but he's also nervous. The light dims as its lowered over his head, and it's not centered right away, so he only sees light from his left. It drops between the neck threads and is rotated right to engage the threads.

His tender hops down and opens the helmet's faceplate to talk. "You good?" Jongin nods as much as he can. "I'm securing it, now, so you're fully locked in. I hope you took a piss earlier, because it's too late, now. We're going to secure your lifelines, clamp the air supply, and set the exhaust valve. We'll need you to test the air supply and telephone yourself, okay? Make sure you can breathe, hear, and talk fine."

Finally, they’re all ready. Baekhyun closes Jongin's faceplate and guides him and Kyungsoo into a smaller room with large pumps and no windows. A rotary sign above the door reads STAND BY.

After receiving an okay hand signal from Kyungsoo, the door is closed and sealed, and the room slowly begins to flood. "Remember to breathe normal," Kyungsoo says. Once the room is entirely submerged, the sign flips to DECOMPRESSION COMPLETE, and an outer door opens.

It’s much simpler and more comfortable than using a shotline.

Jongin follows Kyungsoo out into the open ocean. It's slow going, but it gives him ample time to look around him. He used to imagine what it would be like to be inside his grandparents' fish tank. It couldn't possibly be anything like this.

Baekhyun's voice pipes over the telephone. "What do you think, Jongin?"

"Incredible."

A turtle drifts overhead, easing along with the current and not at all bothered by the small fish riding its slipstream or clinging to its shell for a ride.

"Look." Kyungsoo points comically slow, and what he's indicating approaches faster than Jongin can turn.

A mermaid swims around him, sizing him up. Another approaches Kyungsoo and looks right into his helmet before smiling, bubbles exploding from .

They look different from the mermaids Jongin's seen; they don't resemble humans as closely but are still notably humanoid. Their eyes are larger, webbing between their fingers more pronounced, and they each have two dorsal fins and smaller finlets that appear to be primarily made of soft rays.

The mermaids drift close just to dart away and return, spooked or shy or maybe just playful.

Kyungsoo seems to be familiar to them and laughs as two sit on his arms, seemingly weightless, and the third plays peekaboo with his helmet. "These are Jessica and Chrystal. Sisters, I think. The one circling around us is Sunyoung. She's the most friendly."

Sunyoung smiles, showing off two rows of small, sharp teeth.

"I can see that." Jongin flinches when her face fills his vision. She ducks to look around his helmet but darts away when he turns towards the light.

"Should think about coming back, guys. That's enough for a first walk." Chanyeol's voice seems to boom in Jongin's helmet.

As the decompression chamber empties, Jongin feels antsy. He's excited. Finally, he can explore the ocean and look for answers to the questions he's asked since he was a kid.

And there are more questions, too, swirling around his head like a vortex, everything into it and tangling it all up so that when Baekhyun asks how he feels, he can only laugh.

"Yeah, he's lost it."

"I think he's found it," Kyungsoo counters.

"Yeah, yeah." Baekhyun closes Jongin's faceplate. "Relax, Nemo Nudihugger." Chanyeol snorts.

"Nemo Nudihugger?" Jongin knows of Captain Nemo from the French science fiction novel. Nudibranches are shell-less gastropods. He's never heard the two mashed together.

Baekhyun shrugs and sets Jongin's helmet on the bench. "I like alliteration."

"I didn't know you could read." Chanyeol tries to hide behind Kyungsoo as he's threatened with a diving knife.

 

Jongin spends most of his days shadowing Kyungsoo in the laboratory or library when not out on dive-walks. The mermen Sehun and Zitao show up a lot, following the humans as they measure fissures in the sea floor or collect specimens to study under microscopes. Sometimes, they mimic their activity and show off whatever they pick up. Kyungsoo has a growing collection of shells and rocks and even starfish he's been gifted.

The walks afford a view of Cheonguk that can't be compared to looking out at it from inside or from illustrations. For a few days, Chanyeol and Baekhyun are away from the diving room, welding in another building being developed to hold a movie theater and entertainment venues.

Its framework and exterior shell are built first, with floors roughed out, then the whole building is drained of water, picked free of any organisms that got inside, and treated against mold. Then the architects and contractors work on the interior.

On his time off, breaks or free days, Jongin meanders the open buildings and tries to build a map in his mind. Even with the directional signs, he gets lost more than once. Walking with Yixing, they both got lost, because Yixing has a habit of wandering without paying attention. He's a collected person, though, and balanced out Jongin's nerves.

One day, Jongin makes it to the slaughterhouse and food storage building. It holds all of the food for the entire city, to be packaged and shipped out to where it needs to go. With only the residential building hosting people, the dining hall gets daily supplies.

Eventually, farms and greenhouses will be added. Until it's all installed and running, Cheonguk relies on surface farms and companies.

The loads must be enormous, because the dining hall is always fully stocked with everything imaginable, particularly meat and fish. Their diets are protein-based with heavier carbohydrates in the morning to give provide energy for the day.

Open-air fish markets are common at home. Jongin's curious how they look underwater, if at all different. It's all open; he takes a closer look.

Conveyor belts carry boxes to and from various rooms. Workers load and unload palettes, focused on their jobs rather than Jongin. A couple men glance his way, but he's not doing anything more than walking, so he's ignored.

Nearer a doorway covered in long, thick plastic sheets, he smells the tang of blood and hears the thud of cleavers on wood.

He's not at all prepared for what he sees on the other side of the plastic.

The heart of the slaughterhouse is the butchering room. Hooks suspended from the ceiling hold large slabs of meat. Blood and juices drip down and slowly follow the easy slope of the floor into drains.

He expected cows, pigs, chicken, maybe horses, and whatever fish can be caught by sticking an arm out the window.

Instead, a mermaid corpse lays on its back on a large stainless steel table. It's longer than three men standing atop one another. Fine lines around the glassy eyes suggest older age. The belly is open, missing organs. The entire tail is gone. Blood has dried in its hair, creating unnatural angles.

A fly lands on an exposed rib, and Jongin runs.

Something Kyungsoo had mentioned snaps around his head: There's been a growing population of merfolk around here, too; we're not sure why, yet.

They're carnivorous and smart. Jongin has seen them use rocks as tools to break mollusks and pry open their shells. If the drains in the slaughterhouse don't lead to the dump, then they must lead outside, somehow. The scent of blood could be drawing them to the possibility for food or calling them to investigate the familiar smell of family.

And that mermaid corpse was enormous.

What can he do about it? It’s a big deal—literally—to keep secret. People already have to know.

“Jongin?” He jumps, and Joonmyun flinches. “Are you alright? You’re staring off into nothing…”

“Uh.” Joonmyun’s nice and very patient, a great scientist. Jongin likes him. He’s not the one with a compassionate interest in marine-human hybrids, though. “Do you know where Kyungsoo hyung is?”

The other man falters and frowns a little. “One of the labs, I imagine. Professor Lee had him organizing sand samples, last I heard.” Textural parameters of sand helps when studying the characteristics and depositional processes of coastal sediments. Finding out where the sand came from can reveal a lot, but it’s rather boring to Jongin.

He takes off at a jog, thanking Joonmyun over his shoulder. He can’t avoid the growing sense of urgency, particularly when he spies a large shadow circling the sand outside.

Kyungsoo had theorized that merfolk are indeterminate growers, like sharks, lizards, and even redwood trees. As long as there’s the physical space and available food, they will continue to grow.

So Sehun, Zitao, Chrystal and her sister...are relatively young. They’re already larger than the average human, but they have the potential for greater growth, like the mermaid Jongin saw partially butchered.

The first lab he looks into is empty. Eerie light from aquariums casts a shallow blue glow. An octopus seems to look at him and sticks a leg against the glass.

In the next lab, he sees Kyungsoo’s back. He seems dwarfed by the clutter of equipment, a white pearl among heaps of sand.

“Hyung.”

Kyungsoo glances over his shoulder, owlish behind his glasses. “Oh, good. You can help me. Professor Lee is very particular about his samples. It’ll be faster with two people.”

“Hyung, something’s wrong.”

Spinning on his stool, Kyungsoo faces him fully. “What is it? Are you sick?”

“I’m—” He’s not fine, but he’s not any kind of sick that can be fixed with soup and a nap. “It’s not that. I was in the big food building.”

“Gross, isn’t it? I can handle skinning a fish here and there but not on such a grand scale.”

“There was a mermaid, hyung.”

“...A mermaid?” He removes his glasses, glaring at Jongin with a scrutinizing squint. “Are you sure?”

“Pretty damn sure. An enormous mermaid was cho-chopped in half and eviscerated." The memory of glistening guts and buzzing flies make his stomach turn. "They’re harvesting them!”

“We don’t know that,” Kyungsoo mumbles, staring at the floor. “But we can certainly find out easily enough.”

Seeing is believing, even though there’s less to see by the time Kyungsoo charges through the slaughterhouse.

“They have diving suits and modified harpoons. It looks like not only do they shoot spears but compressed air, as well.”

Jongin had waited outside, believing that seeing once was enough, and he asks what they should do. They can't just return her—half of her corpse is missing.

It’s not a comforting thought.

"I don't know. We don't have steady communication with them. I can't just ask Zitao 'How do you feel about your grandma being eaten?' I do think you’re right about the drains, though. Minseok hyung was talking about the garbage disposal system, once. They weren’t sure how it was going to work, but piping out used water and the like was a possibility.

“If that is the case, and the others are coming here because of the blood in the water, we could look at a feeding frenzy situation. Too many predators, not enough prey. The ecosystem could tilt off balance."

"We need to do something. Right?"

Kyungsoo rubs his eyes. "I had no idea they were hunting merpeople like this. It's not right. They're not just dumb fish! The boss probably saw them as a great food source, both red meat and fish. No wonder I never see shipments of meat from the surface.

“But you’re right. We have to do something. The professors need to know, but we may not have enough time to get to them and work through their internal politics.” He levels a side-eyed look at Jongin. “A little sabotage to highlight the day?”

He outlines an idea to go out under the pretense of a dive-walk but make their way to the slaughterhouse. As the fish swims, it’s in a direct line across from the labs. They should have enough hose and safety line to reach it with some extra to walk around and find the drains. Once they find the drains, they’ll close them. That should stop the drainage into the open ocean, and the dilution of old blood should signal there’s no fresh kill. Carnivores and scavengers clear out.

Buys them time to get to know who allowed it in the first place and gain some support against it.

As a Scottish poet once wrote, however, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol agree to the unplanned dive-walk. Jongin is used to the procedure of dressing in the dive suit and how to hold himself to make it easier for Baekhyun to reach the fasteners or buckle his equipment.

“What are you going out for this time?”

Jongin’s heart is in his throat, but Kyungsoo checks his diving knife and casually replies, “Just a walk.”

“There’s a lot of activity out,” Baekhyun warns. “Careful to not pick a fight with a tiger shark or something.”

“Tigers are rarely so deep; we’ll be fine.”

Something hits the outer wall. Chanyeol leans around to look out the window. “Fish can go blind, right?”

Baekhyun laughs and snaps a glove over Jongin’s hand. “Maybe a parrotfish is embracing its avian brethren and attacking its reflection.”

“I don’t think so…”

Kyungsoo joins Chanyeol at the window. They jump, and Chanyeol shouts, as a mermaid charges them, turning sharply to slap the glass with her tail.

“What the hell?!”

“The glass is several centimeters thick. It’ll take a lot to break it.” Jongin joins them, marveling at the sheer number of bodies in the water.

More terrifying than amazing are the sheer number of bodies throwing themselves against the city, illuminated by the mounted lights.

The metal door groans after a thud echoes in the decompression chamber.

Chanyeol turns tail, followed by Baekhyun. “I am not staying to find out how much it takes to break that.”

Kyungsoo picks up where Baekhyun left off, lowering the helmet over Jongin’s head and opening the faceplate before fastening it to the suit.

"When you go outside, walk along the perimeter until you find a door like this one. There are other decompression chambers. The lock combination is 1954."

"What are you—" Another thud punches in the door. It buckles and moans. Water starts to leak inside. One more hit, and it will be breached.

"Deep breath." Kyungsoo closes the faceplate.

"Hyung!"

A large body breaks through the door, falling before the chamber is completely flooded and lifts it to the ceiling. Smaller merfolk rush inside and grab Kyungsoo.

Jongin sees a flash of gold and is pulled with the sudden current. There are lights above him. He drifts to the ocean floor and feels his pants sticking to his legs. Water is filtering through the open valve; he can’t reach the oxygen hose to attach it—he's too slow, and it snakes through the water in the flurried currents—and he can’t plug the hole on his suit while also staying on his feet and facing a pod of angry merpeople.

The water is hazy with brown blood. An air compressor explodes, throwing the bigger adult into the ceiling and folding her dorsal fin to her back.

A juvenile approaches him fast. He has nothing to defend himself with—his knife was yanked away with the sudden rush of water—and can't run away.

Sehun is recognizable when nearly face-to-face. He looks into Jongin’s helmet with something like relief and grabs the slithering hose to attach it in its appropriate place. Months of observation allows him the knowledge that Jongin is incomplete without it, although he doesn't know it's not and is effectively useless as a lifeline.

The creature is frustrated with Jongin’s slow progress and moves behind him, attempting to push him away from Cheonguk. He succeeds in pushing Jongin over and frowns, looking around before hooking Jongin’s arms with his own and kicking his powerful tail, carrying them both through the water.

His weight is average, but the full standard diving dress adds another 80-plus kilograms.

Taking a series of breaths, Jongin draws oxygen into his blood and takes one last deep breath before holding it and dropping his weighted belt. Sehun can drag him along now, and Jongin follows blindly. His helmet severely limits his field of vision.

They break the surface.

Jongin doesn’t expect it and reaches out to feel water on all sides, Sehun, and then rock. His toe strikes rock, and he digs into it to heft himself out of the water.

It’s blacker than pitch, and Jongin fumbles as he feels his way over the rocks. Sehun offers a few pushes, but he remains in the water once Jongin is beached.

He opens his faceplate and breathes in shakily. With the gloves, his fingers are fat and clumsy, but he manages to remove his helmet entirely and unbuckles his boots. The suit is too heavy; it's weighing him down so he can't breathe.

It's frustratingly slow going, and he feels his breathing getting shallower and quicker, but he finally struggles out of his suit, letting it fold over his lap.

Jongin only sees the barest glimmer on the surface of the water; the rest is a darker shade of black.

They couldn’t possibly be at the surface. It’s too dark and still; there are no stars, even though it’s night.

A series of splashes and water over his legs suggests Sehun has pulled himself out of the water. He emits a glow; bioluminescent stripes run down either side of his body. He holds himself up on his arms at Jongin’s hip; his tail dips over the edge of the rock. For a supposed juvenile, he’s bigger in person. Without the suit between them, he’s more curious and touches Jongin freely. His hands are slimy, rough, and cold.

Cheonguk is ruined, Jongin thinks. Or it’s put severely behind schedule. He saw an entire building fall.

He saw Kyungsoo—

Acid and bile rise up his throat. Sehun falls on his back as Jongin scrambles to the edge of the rock.

Empty and exhausted, Jongin lays his head on his arms.

He had come to Cheonguk to live.

How ironic.

 

Time passes strangely in the dark, if it’s passing at all.

Sehun brings him food—fish, clams, crab. Jongin isn’t sure if he’s a prisoner or a pet.

---

a/n: Written for EXO Monster Fest. (prompt no.M24 person A is lucky enough to be on a trip to the bottom of the ocean to study flora and fauna but they get separated from the rest of the crew and ends up meeting person B (a merman) who saves them. he is the only merfolk who isn't vehemently against the humans arrival, and (tries to?) save(s) person A again when the rest of the merfolk destroy the underwater base. happy ending or not is authors choice)

_{Who's the real monster here?}

 

 

 

 

The year is 1954. In spring, my mother was born.♡

From what I've looked up and read into the video game that inspired this setting, any underwater city cannot be all that far underwater without some extremely advanced technology and a lot of money. For as often as this refers to the bottom of the ocean (which, to be fair, can just be considered the floor. So even wading into the surf, you're on the bottom of the ocean. Water stops where your feet are.), it's likely no more than 200 meters underwater. There's light from the surface and diving suits not crumbling apart and marine life with actual eyes and bodies that don't glow.

A whole bunch of fantasy.

But, it's meant to be a dream world. Someplace for people to escape their problems they relate with the surface. Just like Rapture, Cheonguk is shallower than the creators would have us believe.