Once Hongjoong dropped his blood on the Wonderland map, I could only take a glimpse of the map and they ushered Aurora and me out of the room.

Aurora tried to talk to them to let go of her as they promised but they ignored her and said to discuss it later.

Their secretive behavior rang doubt in my heart. But I could do nothing but being kicked out of the room. One thing that they kept promising is that they moved us into a bigger room with a toilet in it. My lips quirks up when I spot a full-length mirror with a golden embroidery frame inside the room.

That night Aurora and I lie awake inside the new room but we can’t fall asleep.

“What will they do to us?” Aurora whispers a rhetorical question from her bed.

Ateez already acquired the map to Wonderland. I understand that she is scared of what they will do to us when we’re no longer useful. But Hongjoong already promised me they won’t harm us until reaching Wonderland. I hope he does keep his promise.

“I’ll protect us until we reach Wonderland.” I reassure her. 

“I’m not going to Wonderland.” Aurora’s voice hardened.

“But..”

“Please Star, I’ve made my decision.” Hint of anger fills in her tone. She turns around her body, her back facing me, indicating that she doesn’t want to discuss this topic.

Apparently, she is still not giving up on escaping. But Aurora, I’m also a headstrong person. I’ll plan a way to persuade you to stay by showing a good side of Ateez. This way she’ll fall in love with them, go to Wonderland, lift the curse and live happy ever after!

But I don’t know that my plan would fail this early.

---

“Fire in the holes!!!” Yells booming from the outside, follow by the thunder sound of cannonballs. Shouts from the Revenge’s crew erupt across the ship.

“Pirates will always be pirates, they never change.” Venomous dripping in the female lead sweet voice. I’m speechless by her comment because it’s true.

This morning when we were enjoying our breakfast in the kitchen, Wooyoung popped out of nowhere and dragged us inside our room. “Don’t go outside until we allow you.” He said.

We were perplexed by his action but later we realized that they planned to attack a merchant ship. And now we’re locked inside our room. Aurora has been bitter since then. Because her parents were merchants and their ships were used to be attacked by pirates. She understands the despair of merchants as she sometimes witnessed her parents’ distress. Until one day her parents were taken away from her forever, because of them, Pirates. Aurora was the only survival of the attack. She vowed not to forgive them ever.

“Once they lift the curse at Wonderland, they will be unstoppable. Their wickedness will spread like wildfire. More blood and lives will be succumbed in their hands. Do you want that to happen?”

“No,” I shake my head at her question and feel myself getting smaller. I didn’t expect Ateez to attack the merchant ship right after they got the dagger.

“What are you going to do next? Side with them?” She seethes but as she sees the black haired girl’s conflict expression, she softens her voice, “Star, just give up on them.”

“I can’t,” I shake my head again. If I give up on them, that means I’m also giving up going back to my real world.

“I don't understand. Is it really important to go to Wonderland?” She huffs in frustration.

When she sees me nod my head, she lets out a scowl in disbelief.
“If you’re siding with them, those victims’ blood are also on your hand. Their sin will be your sin. Think carefully, Star, the final destination of pirates is at gallows.” That was the last sentence that she spoke to me, after that she remained silent for the whole time.

Her words jab right at my heart. I glance at her slim figure on her bed. I know she’s angry at Ateez, me, and her fate. Her hatred toward them unfortunately grows deeper.

There goes my plan, showing the good side of Ateez. How in the world am I going to convince her from now on?

Nevertheless, it’s my fault for skipping the parts that are essential for their character development. Ateez and Aurora are supposed to begin warming up to each other but this is the opposite outcome.

Oh my god, what if the sea witch curses me for guiding Ateez into the wrong way. This issue can’t be dragging on, I must quickly figure out a way to lead them into righteousness...

My eyes light up when I think of a brilliant plan. Glancing at my reflection on a mirror. I see an unfamiliar girl stares back at me. In Ateez’s eyes I’m the seer. I can use the seer privilege to lead them to the way I want.

Smirking evilly, I flip my black raven hair. Wow, what a smart brain I have.

---

When the attack stops, I slip out of the room with one destination in my mind, captain’s quarter.

Putting on the seer facade, I knock and enter the room. Walking inside, I see Hongjoong sits on his favorite red velvet couch.

He’s surprised at my visit and he greets me with his signature wide grin. “Hello my seeress. What brought you here?”

On the couch and table are mountains of jewels and other valuable treasure that they plundered from an unlucky merchant this morning. In his hand, an aquamarine diamond necklace sparkles from the sun’s ray outside the window.

Hongjoong notices the girl’s stare on the necklace and he smiles knowingly. “Do you like it? I can give it to you.” He offers. The necklace color is the same color as her orbs. But nothing can compare to her captivating eyes.

“No, I don’t want it.” I reject him.

“Sure, so which one do you want?” He knows girls love jewelry and a beautiful girl like Star is probably one of them. He picks up another heart shape ruby necklace and shows it to her.

I sigh solemnly, “I don’t want any of your stolen goods.” My answer makes his smile falter.

Then he chuckles and puts the necklace down. “Stolen goods. I see.” His tone hardens but a playful glint remains in his eyes. “The food that you eat, the clothes that you wear are all stolen goods. Should I take it back now?”

My face twists at his retort. Fine, you win Hongjoong. I huff in defeat.

He sees the girl sulking so he chuckles again. “You still haven’t answered me, why are you here?” He scoop up jewelry on the couch and place them on a nearby table to make a room for her to sit.

I sit down an arm length away from him. Before beginning my speech, I get into the seer character. I hope my acting will buy him. “Last night, I had a premonition dream. I want to let you know because...” I look outside the window, pretending to be in deep thought. Both of my hands clutch together on my laps.

“What’s the dream?” Hongjoong notices the girl's seriousness and feels odd.

“I’m afraid to tell you this but…” I look down at my lap and then lift my gaze at him. Hongjoong's expression is getting serious. He fell into my trap. Since I transmigrated here, I never had a single dream.

“Calamity will fall upon your ship.” I say, subtly glance at him to see his reaction.

“What!!” He roars, instantly sits right up.

I jump in my seat but quickly maintain my composure. “I know you would have this reaction but I don’t want to keep it to myself so I decided to inform you.”

“What calamity?” Strangely, he calms down.

“I didn’t clearly see it in my dream. But I could feel it. It lurks in the dark. It preys on corrupted souls,” Hongjoong face twist from hearing the sentence but I continue anyway, “But worry not, Captain. Since I’m here I know a way out.”

He remains stoic so I tell him the solution. “You have to stop preying on merchants and any innocent people until you reach Wonderland.”

Yup, that’s my plan. I need them to stop attacking innocent lives until we reach Wonderland. So Aurora will see a new light on them and I will have a pleasant journey. After that they can do whatever they want because I’m going home. When I return to my world, I’m going to spam the author-nim to tone down their cruelty.

However, my solution made his eyes flash dangerously. “No,” he growls.

“But terrible things may happen to your ship.” I try to persuade him.

“What’s worse than being cursed?” He snarls. I avert my gaze from him because he’s getting scarier.

“Well,” I stutter. Hongjoong burning stare makes my brain malfunction,“Maybe death, serious injury, loss of your precious one. Anything could happen.”

“Star...” He lowers his voice. I slowly peer at him and shudder to the core when seeing Hongjoong in intimidating pirate king mode.

“We can’t and won’t stop,” He made a resolute decision. “Whatever calamity it is, we aren’t scared.”

“But-” I try to argue but he cut me off.

“Because I’m always kind to you so you get the wrong idea to act whatever you want?”

I pale. Does he see through my acting?

“Are you scared of me? Yes, you should be.” Corners of his mouth lift into an evil grin when he sees the girl shudder. “Your only job on this ship is to lead us to Wonderland.”

“What if I run away?” I retaliated and quickly shut up. Stupid mouth, why would you say that in this circumstance?

He throws his head back to laugh and then stares at me with such intensity I forgot how to breath.

He shifts toward me and I shift away from him until my back hits the arm rest.

“You’re so naive Star.” My body becomes tense when Hongjoong sits right close to me. His hand tugs my loose strand hair behind my ears. I look down, not meeting his eyes. My fingers dig into his couch.

“Once you step foot on my ship, you’re my treasure.” He whispers.

My breath hitch in my throat. His what!?

He then uses the same hand to grab on the girl’s chin, making her look at him. Her aquamarine eyes go wide. It’s the same look that he always receives from those people, Fear. But he hates to see it from her.

“I’ll tell you once again, you can never run away from me.” He chuckles as he leans his face closer to mine.

What kind of situation is this? My body seems frozen in place. I watch as his face gets nearer that I can feel his hot breath on my face.

Is he going to…?!?!

I squawk and push his chest away. He stuns by my action. I abruptly bolt up from the couch. “Y...YOU!!!!” My shaky finger points at him. He gains composure and chuckles. My eyes lock with his gleaming hazel orbs and my knees go weak.

“Star,” He calls me again with his velvety voice.

Abort the mission!! My brain screams. 

I squawk at him for the last time and run away.

Running out of the room, I shut the door loudly. My face grows hot and my heart pounds like it’ll jump out of my chest any second. I huff in anger, embarrassment and other mixed emotions I can’t describe. Tugging on my hair, I kick on the door to vent out my frustration. My plan failed miserably. And I also lose to him completely. 

I’m not Aurora. Why did he have to play with my fragile heart?

I cry an ugly sob and turn around, “Fuc- '' I feel a sense of Déjà vu when spotting the combatant standing few steps away from me. My feet automatically step aside. 

“I didn’t block your way.” I quickly told him. But he steps after me.

So I take another step but he still follows me. He walks closer until my back hit a wall.

Why do people love to corner me today? My heart still goes crazy because of Hongjoong and now San.

I peer at his cold expressionless face. His fierce stares behind his long black and red fringe intimidate me so I divert my gaze to elsewhere.

“What do you want?” I ask softly, try not to trigger him. But only his silent returns to me.

I rack my brain to see if I offend him lately.

Oh right, I owe him my gratitude, “Thank you for saving me on that haunted ship. If you didn’t catch me, I’d become a ghost on that ship.”

But he remains silent so I take another glance at his emotionless face.

“Or do you want your dagger back because you lost one on that ship.” I remember he stabbed his dagger on the wall to retrieve the crescent dagger. And he didn’t bring it back.

He doesn’t respond to me. I fidget in my place. His silence is killing me.

“You’ll never win against the pirate king.” He suddenly says.

I blink at him, “What?”

“Do you want to know his weakness?” He lowers his voice.

I nod furiously. Yes, I want to know Hongjoong’s weakness and plot revenge against him.

I stop breathing when he leans his face next to my ears and answers in a raspy voice. “None.”

He pulls away and chuckles as he sees my jaw drop to the ground. He enters the quarter room,  leaving me standing dumbfounded.

I was trolled by San, the most humorless person on the ship. I want to barge inside the room and scream at both San and Hongjoong but that’s a suicidal thought.

But San, you’re wrong because I know Hongjoong’s weakness. It’s Yeosang.

---

“Are you going to help me or ruin my herb?” The ash blonde surgeon asks the girl who barged into sickbay, offering her help but instead plucking on his herb.

I smile sheepishly at him, putting down the herb on his table. “Well Yeosang, I have something to tell you.” I intend to seek his help to convince Hongjoong to comply with my plan.

“I’ve been waiting.” He puts down herbs and stares at me.

I begin telling my fake premonition dream and feel guilty for lying to him. Yeosang listens to me attentively. His eyebrows knit together as he thinks deeply. “Did you share this dream to anyone else?”

“Only Hongjoong and you.” On this ship, I trust Yeosang the most because of his insight and reliability.

He nods, “You must keep this dream to yourself. This is a serious matter.”

“Is it that bad?” I start to feel scared.

“The calamity is still unknown to us. And you don’t know when or how it will happen. So this problem is intangible in Hongjoong’s eyes. However, to stop looting, it’ll have an immediate impact. This is a no prey no pay business.” He answers. “We can’t stop. And I don’t think anyone will agree with you.”

Yeosang sees the girl's fallen expression so he adds, “So you also think we are evil pirates?”

I quickly shake my head, afraid to get on his wrong side.

But he chuckles lightly, “You don’t have to make that face, we know what we are. But one thing that you need to know is that we don’t enjoy killing or stealing, well, some of them might be, but we do this to survive.”

I know it’s their fictional role but I feel a conflict of morality.

Yeosang continues, “Hongjoong alone can’t make decision even though he’s captain. He earned his position because of the crew's acceptance of his capability but once they aren’t satisfied with him. Do you know what they will do?”

I gulp waiting to hear his answer.

He moves closer and lower his voice, “Mutiny.”

My blood runs cold. Mutiny is a serious issue. I recall when Mingi persuaded me to select him as new captain, he mentioned the crew were upset that they didn’t attack merchants. If Hongjoong order them to stop plundering, the crew will be dissatisfied and most likely mutiny over him. That’s gonna be a huge problem. Because the storyline will change completely. Plus, if I make Hongjoong being thrown off his throne, all fiction readers and author-nim will curse me into a sea monster.

“Sorry, I can’t help you on this matter.” Yeosang says.

“It’s ok, Yeosang. Sorry for bothering you.” I’m grateful for Yeosang to listen to me although my plan failed.

“Thanks for understanding. I know you possess such goodness in your heart and I hope the world won’t take it away from you.” He smiles but I notice gloominess hanging around him.

I smile at him in return and leave sickbay.

But Yeosang, you’re wrong. I almost slip into evilness because I’m about to tie Aurora to the ship so that she won’t run away. 

// I hope I didn't sink anyone ship (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄)