I must warn Ateez!

My hand clenches around the doorknob, fear creeping up my heart. But this isn’t the time to be a coward.

Making up my mind after gathering my non existing courage, I yank the door open and cautiously poke my head outside to observe the passageway. I almost have a heart attack when I see 2 semi monsters at my door. Jim and Jack who both have coral leaves protruding out of their heads turn to look at me.

“Is it safe outside?” I ask them, hearing scream intensify once the door no longer filters the sound.

The J brothers glance at each other and Jim responds to me. “At this moment, there’s no monster on board, the crew are defending the ship from the monsters that surround us even so the situation isn’t considered safe. So captain ordered you to stay inside your room.”

I nod my head. It’s a good thing that monsters haven’t got into the ship yet which means I still have time to warn the pirates.

I walk inside the cabin to wear my boots and then, without the cabin boys noticing, I sprint outside the room, and join stampedes of the crew carrying weapons in their hands heading toward the upper deck.

In the midst of an uproar, Jack and Jim yell and squeeze themselves among the sea of the crowd to get close to me. I ignore them, all I care right now is to deliver my dream to Ateez.

A strange dream that occurred a moment ago, a woman telling me to follow a purple star. I should pretend it was a meaningless dream if not the fact that I never once had a dream since I stepped on this realm. My gut tells me that this is a real deal.

“Miss Star stop! You must stay in your room!” Shouted Jim.

“Captain gonna murder us!” Cried Jack.

Feeling slightly sorry toward them, I shout back and quicken up my pace. “No, I must find Hongjoong!”

Soon I reach the upper deck. I see the crew are stationed at the rail, throwing whatever weapons downward. The bullets and cannon continuously fire, my hands cover over my ears to protect my eardrum.

Hongjoong should be at the quarterdeck steering the ship, I thought to myself. Wasting no time, I run across the deck toward a flight of stairs that lead to quarterdeck while Jim and Jack continue chasing after me.

“Hongjoong, you must listen to me...” I pant heavily and trail off once I recognize the figure behind the wheel.

“What the hell are you doing here!?” The quartermaster growls, both hands grasp tightly at the wheel. Dark eyes fixate on me, giving me his infamous death glare.

Out of all people, why does it have to be Seonghwa? He’s not gonna believe in my dream. Instead of answering him, I anxiously scan the lower deck, trying to find Hongjoong or other members that are likely to believe me.

Small light of torches lit up the area but not enough for me to differentiate who is who. When the crew throw the torches overboard, the light allows me to see monsters swarm around the ship. They let out painful screech when the fire or weapons hit them, but their numbers don't seem to decrease. My skin crawls at the sight.

“Jack! Jim! Bring this nuisance back to her room!”

I get back to my senses once Seonghwa commands the cabin boys to intercept me. The boys obediently follow his order as they grab my arms tightly yet carefully not to hurt me.

“No! Seonghwa, listen to me. You were right. I had a dream!” I shout while resisting the strength of young boys who are trying to drag me away.

His nose flares upon hearing me. “I don’t have time for your nonsense! Can’t you see that monsters are flocking around us! Go back to your room!”

As expected, he doesn’t believe me. However, I can’t back down now.

“I dreamed of a way to get us out of the witch territory!” The J brothers halt in their tracks, surprised by my remark. I use that opportunity to wiggle myself out of their grasp.

“Please trust me.” I add when I see Seonghwa’s icy facade crack.

Furrowing his brow, Seonghwa remains quiet as if to contemplate over my remark. Hence I turn to order the boys. “You lads, help me find the purple star!”

They glance at Seonghwa for his permission so I interfere before he abandons the wheel and personally comes to strangle me. “We don't have time, we must find it quickly!” They nod and stare upward at the night sky.

“There! Abaft the starboard beam!” Not long after, Jack shouts enthusiastically, pointing toward southeast slightly above the horizon, a lonely purple star wink at us.

A sense of relief and astonishment wash over me.

My dream...“It’s real.”

I quickly turn to Seonghwa who also stare at the star, bewildered.

“Please head in that direction. A woman told me she couldn't hold them longer.” I peer at the monsters in the water. They struggle to climb onto the ship. All of them fall into the sea once they touch the ship, and make painful cries. It could be the woman’s power to prevent them from boarding our ship.

Seonghwa curses under his breath, still not changing the course.

“Please!” Desperately, I shake his arm which immediately tense up at my touch. I withdraw my hands and continue pleading with the heartless quartermaster. “Pleeeease!!”

“Jim, call captain here!” Finally, he speaks up after a short silence.

Before Jim heads downward, a flash of cannon bomb lights up the night sky when it hits the target, the shadow of a gigantic monster causes the crew to cry in unison. It lets out thunderous screech and swing its tentacle toward the ship. However, as if the creature hit an invisible barrier, it falters with another agonizing shriek.

“Ah hell! Not the Kraken!” I unconsciously clutch my stomach that once was injured by its deadly tentacle. Whilst Jack hugs his older brother, sobbing. “I’m scared, I don’t wanna die.” Jim is in no better shape, his shaky hand pats on his younger brother’s back.

“Seonghwa, turn around the ship!!” I scream at him. Black fins on his ear twist, he grunts and scolds me without breaking his gaze from the kraken. “Just shut up!”

Another cannon ball hits the kraken, it cries out high pitched sound and crashes the tentacles into the water. Giant waves then crash against the ship, water splash into us. I lost my balance, hitting my on the floor. The boys instantly help me up. I thank them and glare at Seonghwa while patting my in pain. I feel blood rush to my face when he completely ignores my existence.

Losing my patient, I grab his ear and shout angrily into it.“If you don’t follow the purple star then we are all gonna be the kraken’s midnight snack!”

He winces and pushes me away with one hand. “You crazy wench!”

I fall backward but luckily the boys catch me. Once I regain my balance, I say to him calmly.

“Even if you call me names, I don’t care! I only ask you to trust me this time. If we die, I’ll forever haunt you by calling you Mr.nerve wrecker forever afterrrr!!!”

Seonghwa curses one more time. “Ship isn’t a ing bicycle! You think it’s easy to tack the ship under this situation. If we lose steering way and stop dead in the water, all of us will surely rot in that squid’s stomach!”

I shut my mouth tight in shame as I don’t know anything about maneuvering the ship.

Seonghwa huffs out a frustrated sigh. For a moment he quiets down in concentration. I shift between my feet impatiently. 

Suddenly Seonghwa shouts out an order. “Ready to come about!” The crew below instantly chorus his command, some of them abandon the fight to prepare for receiving another command.

Then the quartermaster and his crew cast their magic. Under Seonghwa’s instruction, the crew are vigorously heaving the brace turning the yardarm to different angles. The ship gradually turns toward the starboard side, toward the purple star.

I stand in starstruck awe with two boys by my side. They grab tightly at the helm of my shirt, wearily stare at the kraken. It follows the ship's direction and continues creating giant waves crashing upon our ship.

“Thanks.” I mutter to Seonghwa and he nods slightly. I can’t believe that Mr.Nerve wrecker is no longer nerve wrecking.

“Now go back to your room. Stop disturbing me.” Without sparing a glance at me, he dismisses me by ordering the boys to usher me to my cabin once again.

I take that back, he’s still the same grumpy, nerve wrecking, and handsome man.

Nonetheless, this time I obey him and step down from the quarterdeck together with the coral boys. Once we are half way down, a terrifying scream alarms us all. “They climb the ship!!”

I whip my head toward the source of the sound and see squid like monsters with very long tentacles crawling into the main deck. The crew fire at them and their corpses turn into murky liquid. But there’re too many of them, soon the monsters fill the majority of the deck like a sea of ink. The monsters don’t attack the crew, on the contrary, they coil the targets and drag them into the sea. 

When they start crawling toward us, the boys and I quickly retreat back to the quarterdeck.

“Ahhh!” Jack screams and falls onto the ground, his body sliding toward the stairs. A long black tentacle wraps around his ankle. I grab his arm, trying to pull him. To my horror, more tentacles wrap around little Jack. And my body begins to slide from the force. Jim spontaneously strikes his dagger at the tentacles. The murky liquid flush out of the cut off wounds. Once free, Jack scurry to his feet. Then his tremble finger point at the stairs. Various sea monsters pour into the ship and some of them head our way. The J brothers have no choice but to engage in the battle.

I touch my belt, and my mouth turns dry when I realize San hasn’t returned his dagger to me. I have no weapon to defend myself.

“Get inside the bridge!” Seonghwa shouts at me. I look between him and the boys fighting behind me. It’d be selfish to hide when they’re fighting for their lives.

“Please go!” Jim shouts, chopping at a squid that coils around his leg.

“Please be safe.” I nod at the boys and sprint inside the safe place. Although I feel guilty for not helping them, I don’t wanna be their burden. I shut the door and look through the window.

Monsters climb across the rail. Anxiously, I watch them creep toward Seonghwa. “Watch out!!” I scream through the closed door.

As if he heard me, he pulls out his pistol and aims at monsters. They instantly drop dead and melt into liquid. I haven’t fully exhaled when a new wave of monsters approaches him. Several tentacles twine around his hand that carry the pistol. I look for J brothers but they’re too busy fighting the monsters to spare a hand to help Seonghwa.

The quartermaster curses loudly. He attempts to wiggle the creatures away. To no avail, they’re only tightening their hold on him and start dragging him away from the wheel.

My heart thump against my rib cage. I can’t just watch him get in trouble even though he called me crazy wench.

Looking around the room, I spot a silver sword strapped on the wall. Without wasting time, I yank it out and I hurry outside. I raise the sword and slash at the tentacles that capture Seonghwa. Its murky blood spatters on my clothes, causing me to gag.

When Seonghwa’s hand is free, he continues firing at them while another hand continues steering the wheel. He glimpse at me and snickers.

“A simple thank you wouldn’t hurt your pride that much.” I can’t help but taunt at him. He snickers once again and says, “Watch your back.”

I turn around and meet face to face with an angler fish. I scream and scoot backward. It slowly strides after me, its body resembles a muscular man. I swing my sword in front of me but it forcefully grabs my sword and throws it to the ground. It raises the claw to slash at me. Out of reflex, I raise my arms to cover my head.

At that moment, 2 bullets hit the monster, it tumbles to the floor, dead. I turn to Seonghwa to see smoke coming out of his pistol. He stares at me and over my shoulder. I follow his eyesight and meet with a pair of yellow slit eyes burning with fury.

“You’re not supposed to be out here!” Hongjoong, who is apparently scarier than the sea monster, grabs my shoulder. “Get inside the bridge, bolt the door, and don’t come out until I let you!” After his word, he pulls me toward the room.

“No, I’ll help!” I try to wiggle from his tight grasp. He opens his mouth likely to scold me, but a fish head monster interferes by launching itself on him. He shot it mid air while glaring at me. “This is our fight, not yours-” His sentence was cut short as another tentacle encircled around his ankle. He furiously stomps on it just one time, the monster is dead.

However, I already used the chance to get away from him, picking up a fallen sword and continue chopping at the monsters. At the corner of my eyes, I see Hongjoong try to get close to me but every time he did that, a monster would pop out of nowhere. He grunts and fires at them mercilessly.

More crew are coming to aid us in eliminating the creatures. Hence I’m able to catch my breath.

“Captain look!” Seonghwa suddenly shouts, gaining our attention. We look at him who practically glowing in purple light. Then we notice how bright our surroundings are. I turn my head toward the source of light.

In front of the ship, a large circular purple light illuminates over the water.

“What is that?” Hongjoong’s tone is full of suspicion. He finally intercepts me, his hand locks onto my wrist like an iron.

“It wasn’t a purple star, it’s a purple light.” Seonghwa cranes his neck to me. My mouth forms into an O. So the star is actually a light and then what? Do I need to fall asleep to ask the woman?

“Go through it.” I told Seonghwa. When look carefully, the light resembles a teleport gate in those online games. “It could be a way to bring us out.”

Hongjoong raises his brow at me. I put up my hand as a sign to shut him up.“Short story, I dreamed about it. Don’t ask, I’ll explain later.”

Seonghwa snickers at Hongjoong confused expression. Then he re-focus at the purple light.

The monsters appear weaker as we approach the light, most of them leap into the water to escape. Soon the battle dies down after we kill all the monsters on deck. The crew stare at the light and turn their heads toward the quarterdeck for some kind of explanation from their captain.

Nevertheless, the tiny captain is at loss of word too. His eyes are slightly wider than usual and brows tie into a bow. I interlace my hand with his and give him a reassuring smile. “We’ll get out of here through that thing.”

“You surely are full of miracle.” He snorts though his mouth curves upward, eyes gleaming by the reflecting light. I press my mouth together to prevent my cheek from breaking into a smile. I should stay angry at him for shouting at me earlier.

So I shrug coolly and turn away. A sense of relief washes over me once we’re sailing nearer the light. The crew let go of their weapons and some fall down to the ground due to exhaustion.

And the moment of calmness immediately comes crashing down once a black tentacle rises from the water, blocking the light from us.

The crew are crying profusely in fear. Hongjoong tighten his grip around me.

“Ah! Not you again.” I groan. “You’re taking up all the screen time.” I mutter the last sentence under my breath.

The kraken let out ear splitting screech as its head emerges from the water where a tall figure stands on it.

“Think you can escape me, pirate king.” The powerful voice of the sea witch echoes throughout the sea. “You and your crew shall be my slave for an eternity.”

“Run over them.” I told Seonghwa, sounding so confident that I also surprised myself.

“Are you intending to kill us all?” Seonghwa scoffs at my ridiculous suggestion even though he doesn’t order his crew to change the course.

“Stay here. I’ll go to the forecastle deck.” Hongjoong squeeze my hand and head off abruptly. I walk after him but stop by a hand over my shoulder. Seonghwa shakes his head.

So all I can do is staring at Hongjoong’s figure with a heavy heart.

---

Hongjoong steps onto the forecastle deck, joining San and Wooyoung. They glare menacingly at the witch and turn to acknowledge Hongjoong’s presence.

“Where’s the dagger?” He asks the combatant.

San furrows his brow but passes the blood soaking dagger to Hongjoong.

“Captain, are you going to fight the witch with that?” Wooyoung whispers, concerned. Although the monsters fear the dagger, how is the captain going to kill the witch when the kraken guards her. Hongjoong doesn’t reply to Wooyoung and turns to the witch.

“Then again, I have to decline your offer.” Hongjoong fearlessly points dagger at the witch. “On the other hand if you don't lift the curse, this dagger will plug into your heart.”

After Hongjoong’s threat, the witch burst into mocking laughter. “You can’t kill me with that thing. Can’t you see, the old hag is getting weaker.” As she speaks, the purple light behind her starts to dim. Whilst the monsters surrounding the ship growl louder and louder.

“She can’t protect you from me forever.” The kraken moves closer. The ship sails slower and eventually comes to a stop. “So now pirate king, it’s time for you to pay up for what you did.” Her voice gets lower and chillier, it seeps into his bones. The monsters begin climbing into the ship. And the water rises high up from the sea reaching the sky like a wall surrounding them.

“Captain, what to do?” The first mate asks, uneasiness in his tone. Wooyoung looks around the deck, seeing his crewmates shaken up in fear.

Hongjoong remains quiet. It’s been a long time since he’s at his dead end. What to do? How are they going to win the losing fight? Many questions swirl in his mind, but no answer arises.

“We kill her.” An icy tone belonging to the combatant reaches his ears. Hongjoong glimpse at San, who shows no emotion even in this circumstance. Instead his eyes fill with bloodthirstiness.

Hongjoong chuckles and grins. “We kill the witch, we survive. If we lose we’ll turn into sea monsters. But what’s the point when we’re already monsters ourselves.”

As if San agrees with him, the corners of his mouth lift into a sadistic smirk.

“Ah! Hell no!” Wooyoung whines beside them. “If we turn into monsters then who’s gonna be with little Star.”

Smirks frozen on two men's faces. “Then we have to win.” Hongjoong turns to the sea witch.

“Let me show you who’s the real king here.”

After declaring a war, the crew begin attacking the monsters. Wooyoung and San head off to fight while Hongjoong glares at the sea witch. She twists her face, long tongue darts out of . “Stupid, pathetic human! You can never win against me!”

Hongjoong throws his head back and laughs although on the inside fear starts to creep into his heart. He has no choice but to fight.

“You’ll find out soon, sea witch.” Hongjoong stops laughing and seethes. It’s his tendency to bluff and never show weakness even if they’re pushed into the corner.

Then he feels a presence next to him.

Star takes a dagger from his hand into hers and points it toward the witch. Her eyes shine with determination. Her other hand grabs onto his. The warmth from her hand spread inside his chest. Unknowingly, his mouth forms into a smile. Sometimes she acts like a scaredy cat, but most of the time, she shows him her unique bravery, and that’s her charm.

“Seakeeper-nim beat her or I’ll report your story!!!” She shouts. Though he doesn’t quite understand what she meant.

After her sentence, bright light burst out from the light gate. The world blind in pure golden light. However the light doesn't hurt his eyes at all. On the other hand, it has a grave effect on the monsters. Sea witch cries in agony so as her monsters. The kraken tosses around in the water and screeches painfully.

“This isn’t the end! Wherever you are, as long as you sail above the sea, I’ll find you!” She screams for the last time and disappears into the water. Her monsters follow her into the sea. The water wall surrounding them collapses, it falls onto them like a downpour.

The light gate returns to dim purple, pulsating like it’ll disappear into the dark night. After the witches and monsters vanished, the ship slowly sails toward the light.

“Woah! Seakeeper-nim is real.” Star exclaims and turns to smile at Hongjoong. Her bright smile squeezes his heart so much that he impulsively pulls her into a tight embrace. She lets out a surprise yelp.

“Thank you.” He whispers to her.

“Um, I didn’t really do anything much.” Her voice muffled. “Can you let go? We kinda bath in monsters’ blood.”

Hongjoong gingerly pulls away and chuckles when witnessing her little nose scrunch. His and her body, and everyone on the deck are drenching in the sea water and monsters’ stinky blood. But he doesn’t care, all he wants to do like right now is to cuddle her in his arms.

“That was impressive, shooting Star.” The gunner master pops out of nowhere and scoops Star into a bear hug in front of his face. Hongjoong snickers, hands on his hip.

“No hug right now Mingi.” Star tries to push the giant away.

Yunho and Jongho help prying Mingi from Star. After she is free, they both proceed to scold Mingi, however, they, too, are hugged by the master gunner. Star laughs by the side, seeing how Yunho returns the group hug while Jongho contorts his face in bashfulness.

The surgeon reached the forecastle with a heavy panting. “Anyone hurt?” Although the question means to ask the general crew, he advances toward Star. He grabs her shoulder, and scans for her injury. After making sure that she’s fine, he gives her a brief hug then he sneezes several times.

“I’m sorry. My nose is kinda sensitive to smell.” Yeosang covers his blue nose with his hand.

Star chuckles. “Even though I don’t have your nose, my lungs are about to burn because of the smell here.”

“How rude of you Yeosang. You can’t tell a lady she’s smelly. Or even if she’s smelly, you have to compliment her smelling like fresh morning air.” The purple haired first mate drapes his arm on Star’s shoulder and another hand pinches her cheek, leaving a stain of dark green liquid on her face. She twists her face in disgust and elbow him in the stomach. The purple haired first mate fake groaning. “Little Star, you hit harder than the monsters.”

“No one ever told you to not spout nonsense when another party possesses a weapon.” Star waves San dagger in her hand and it disappears from her grasp when the combatant snatches it away.

“Hey! Are you siding with your mate now?” Star protests and tries to take it back but San secures it in his belt.

“Sannie if you want little Star’s hug just say so.” Wooyoung snickers and nudges his friend’s shoulder.

San peers coldly at Wooyoung and walks away toward a secluded area. Star’s gaze follows him, frowning. She's about to step after him but the other crews encircle around her to gain her attention.

In the past, Hongjoong’d be so angry for other men to touch his little treasure but now he’s too happy to complain. He knows how much his crew are fond of her.

“What a strange woman.” A familiar voice of the quartermaster catches Hongjoong's attention. He wears the same grumpy look even though there’s a softness in his eyes. Hongjoong raise his eyebrow at Seonghwa’s strange vibe. The latter guy notices a judgmental stare from the tiny captain then his expression turns into stoic. “What?”

Hongjoong shrugs and looks away. He notices the purple light slowly engulf them. The ship turns silent as the others anticipate what will happen next.

This time the light is too bright to keep their eyes open. The brightness stays for a second and disappears.

Warm breeze greets them first, followed by the smell of the fresh salty sea. They open their eyes and see a swirl of orange paint across the dark sky. In front of them, the red sun peek from the horizon.

“Look!” Someone shouts among the crowd. “Our bodies are turning back.”

They all focus on their monstrous body parts as they begin to transform into human flesh. Soon the ship fills with joyous cries.

Hongjoong scans the happy faces of his crew, a small smile forms on his lips but it instantly turns into a scowl once he feels the pain in his chest.

“What’s wrong captain?” Seonghwa asks when Hongjoong winces and clutches his heart.

Hongjoong clenches his jaw to subdue the pain and his black shirt. Over his heart, black scales then show to the eyes of his crew and the shouts die over.

“The curse isn’t breaking.” Hongjoong hisses. Despair overtakes their feelings once again.

“There must be a way.” Star saunters toward him, her aquamarine blue eyes stare into his. “Since Seakeeper is real, I believe she’ll help us.”

Of course, in the past he wouldn’t believe such a miracle, but the girl in front of him has shown him wonder for so many times.

“Captain, look! An island!” A crew shouted, creating murmur among the crowd. Hongjoong whips his head toward the stern to see the island a little far away from the ship.

“Could it be Wonderland?” Star asks excitedly.

“No, that Eleuthera island.” Yunho answers her, spyglass over his eyes.

“And where is that?” She asks, disappointed by the answer.

“We are close to Nassau.” Hongjoong turns to respond to her. Around them, he spots several vessels to confirm his answer.

“And what are we going to do next?” Star continues asking.

The pirates glance at each other, unable to utter a single word. So many things happened in one night. What comes next is beyond their guess. Their future, their existence, their entangle fate with a strange girl from another world, the only person who is able to answer all those questions.

“Seakeeper...” Hongjoong’s whisper fade into the wind, hoping it would reach the person in his mind.

Who are you really?

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

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