The orlop deck is my most disliked place. It’s dark as the natural light can’t go through. Bilge water on the floor kills my nose with its foul smell. The temperature is slightly chillier than the other places on the ship. 

In a dim passageway, whenever half monstrous crews walk pass, I almost have a heart attack. They greet the tiny captain who walks in front of the group.  The quartermaster and Aurora walk behind him. Followed by, the boatswain and I. Jongho gently supports me as I’m walking perfectly fine on my own. I didn't reject his gesture though as I need his support in this haunted environment. 

After a short walk, our group stops in front of the room where I spent the first night on the Revenge. Even until now, I didn't get an answer why they requested Aurora and I to the brig and only allow the boatswain to follow them.

“Joong, why are you taking us here?” Aurora asks warily. She probably has a bad memory when Ateez locked her in the room next to the brig.

“I don’t want to bring both of you here, but he insisted, otherwise he won’t open his mouth.” Hongjoong sighs frustratedly.

I frown. Who is the person Hongjoong talking to? I turn to Jongho for an answer. His body tenses, a sign of distaste displays on his face. I guess whoever behind the door is an extremely awful person to make Jongho dislike him.

Seonghwa opens the door. An intense foul odor greets us. Hongjoong steps inside the room and we follow after him.

The room is dark, I barely see anything until Seonghwa carries a lamp inside.

The wall and floor are smeared with dried blood. Rats running around the room as they’re startled by the light. There’re two figure chained to the ground on the opposite corner of the jail. They cladded in torn Royal Navy attires. Their faces and bodies are covered by bruises. I can’t recognize who they are.

“Chirs?” Aurora gasps.

Shocked, my hand flies to my mouth. I completely forgot about his existence. He’s still alive even after I stabbed him. I stare at the bloody damp cloth that wraps around his stomach and feel bad for almost killing him.

Chris opens one of his eyes as another side is swollen closed. He blinks to adjust to the light, then cry once he spot the female lead. “Aurora.” His voice is so hoarse and weak as if he didn’t consume water for months. He lunges toward her but the chain hold him back.

“Aurora!” He shouts like a wild dog. Aurora contorts her face and hides behind Hongjoong’s back. Shocked by her action, he turns to glare at Hongjoong. “What have you done to her!?”

Hongjoong returns the hostile glare back to Chris. “Commander Chris, I brought them as promised so now speak.”

Yet, Chris disregards of Hongjoong’s remark and continues shouting for Aurora. Seonghwa steps forward and kicks Chris in the chest. “Speak before I cut your tongue out!”

Chris flings into the floor by the powerful kick. He coughs hoarsely and turns to glare at Seonghwa. His menacing glare scan around the room and falls on me.

“Alice!” He cries, his split lips spread into a wide smile, scurrying toward me. When I look closely at him, he lost an aura of arrogant antagonist. His handsome face is now ruined with unhealed wounds and blood. He wasn't in bad shape when I last saw him. 

“Did they hurt you?!” He glances worriedly at me.

“You were the one that hurt them. Now tell us why you were with the witch!?” Hongjoong growls.

Chris swallows hard, his lips quiver. “D-did she hurt you?”

I nod.

“Your beloved sister almost died in your hands.” Seonghwa sneers.

The young commander’s face twists into pure rage. “That monster!! I’ll kill her!! How dare she hurt Alice!!” Chris growls and thrash around like a madman.

We watch him cursing at the sea witch. The chain on his wrists tear his skin open. I feel sick to the stomach and look away.

“I don’t think we’ll get anything from him. That man has gone mad.” Seonghwa sighs.

Suddenly, another guy from the opposite corner let out a bone-chilling laugh. His laughter is filled with bitterness, pain and madness. His head hangs low and his entire body shakes slightly. I unconsciously step closer to the boatswain.

“Jongbin, what do you have to say?” Jongho asks, his tone dripping with venom.

Then I realized the other prisoner is Jongho’s brother. That's why our little Jongho looks so tense.

Jongbin stops laughing and he raises his head up. A pair of fierce eyes glare at Chris.

“That man sacrificed our brothers to the sea witch in exchange for Wonderland! He didn’t care whether the monsters tore them apart, and changed them into monsters. He’s greedy, selfish, the real monster in the human body! ” His voice breaks as he hollers. Bitter tears stream down his bloody face.

Listening to his heartbreaking story, I pity those soldiers. They turned into Sea witch’s puppets because of their greedy commander.

“But he got fooled by the witch and got possessed.” Jongbin laughs and cries in between.

“So cruel.” Aurora rebukes at Chris, even Seonghwa and Jongho curse under their breath.

“Did you go to Wonderland?” Hongjoong asks the former lieutenant.

Jongbin takes a deep breath and answers. “The monsters roamed around the vessel, I had to lock myself up in my cabin so I didn’t know. But it seemed like the witch failed to get into Wonderland.”

Hongjoong exchange glances with his crewmates. They communicate through their eyes, then Seonghwa turns to Chris. “What about you? Did you remember?”

Chris remains still, staring at the ground as if his soul has left his body.

“Answer!” Seonghwa shouts, yet he gets no reaction from Chris.

“Chris, can you tell us?” I ask.

Upon hearing my voice, Chris shakes his head slowly. “I didn’t remember anything when she possessed me.”

We all sigh in disappointment. We got nothing from coming down here. Hongjoong pinches his nose bridge and then peer at Seonghwa, “Clean up this place, they’re useless.”

“Aye.” Seonghwa nods.

I look at Hongjoong wide eyes, are they planning to kill the prisoners? I snap my head toward Jongho. He looks too stern to hear that his brother’s going to die. As if he can read my thoughts, he speaks to me through gritted teeth. “They deserve it, do you forget that they killed us in our last life time?”

My mouth forms into an O. Right, they killed Ateez in the original story. Looking at the two prisoners' state now, I don't think they remember the past.

I turn to Aurora as she's a sympathetic character. Although her face paints with uneasiness, she doesn’t disagree with Hongjoong. She must hate them as much as the pirates.

We all head to the door to exit the brig, when Chris starts yelling. “No!! Wait!!! Listen to me!! You must take Alice to Wonderland!!!”

“What do you mean?!” Hongjoong abruptly turns around.

Chris ignores him and stares at me with tearful eyes. “How could you travel to uncle without informing me? I was about to go insane when I learnt that your passenger ship was attacked by these filthy pirates.”

My mind drifts to the time when Lily, my personal maid, told me that we travelled to see my uncle in Havana where Ateez attacked our ship.

Ah, I missed Lily.

“I was so close to getting a hand on the Wonderland map. But they stole it! I almost took you to Wonderland as I promised.” Chris starts wailing.

“Why do you need to take me there?” I ask, though it’s weird that I’m the one who asks him this question. However, Chris isn’t in the right state of mind to notice as he keeps crying.

“Your illness started to get worse, even doctors said you wouldn't live past a year. The only way to cure you is Wonderland. I don’t care who thinks of me, how many lives I have to sacrifice, how many I have to kill. I have to save my sister!”

Like a thunder struck at my head, my body sways with dizziness. Luckily, Jongho’s still supporting me or I’d crash into the dirty floor. I hear people in the room draw their breath sharply. Jongho stares at me as his arms tremble. 

Alice’s body is dying. The reason why I slept for 3 days is because of her sickness. And worse, Alice won't survive within a year.

Does that mean I’ll die if Alice’s body dies?

Hongjoong immediately strides forward and yank Chris’s collar, “What do you mean she’s dying?!”

Chris jerks upward by Hongjoong’s force, deep hatred flares his blue eye, “Because it’s your fault! You stole the map!! Alice will die because of you!!! You filthy pirates!! You deserve to turn into monsters!!!”

Hongjoong push the madman back to the ground. He whirls around and connects gaze with me, Anger, shock, and sorrowfulness swirl in his yellow slit eyes. As he walks closer to me, the pair of orbs start to waver. He extends his hand toward me and tugs a strand of hair behind my ear. “I won’t let you die. I’ll find a way, I promise.”

I nod. Although it sounds like an empty promise, his words are soothing. Something I want to hear right now. 

“If you told me you want the map for Alice, you should’ve asked me.” Aurora says. She grabs Seonghwa's arm for support as she’s also affected by the news.

Chris shakes his head. “I couldn't tell anyone. I led the Royal Navy to hunt the map for the King, words couldn’t get out that I use it for my personal gain.”

I’m speechless by his side of the story. He’s so daring for aiming for the map that the King desires. The greatest villain of the story tries to take his sick sister to Wonderland to cure her. However, that doesn't justify his sin.

Chris looks at Aurora painfully and continues, “Your aunt said you escaped from home with the map because you didn’t want to marry me. You might get my intention wrong, I didn’t engage with you because of the map. Please believe me Aurora, my love for you is real.”

Aurora presses her lips together and looks away. While the pirates have troubled expressions, including Jongbin who is shocked by the revelation. No one guesses that the monster also has a heart. Even a reader like me didn’t know the antagonist's secret, I thought he wanted the map for greedy reasons and he superficially loves Aurora because of her beauty.

“Alice must be happy that her brother loves her so much. But you should know that she would be so disappointed in you for being inhuman to your crewmates.” I say to him. My heart hurts, thinking that his sister is gone and a stranger from another world possesses his dear sister’s body. If Alice is here, she must be so heartbroken.

“I’m sorry, Alice. I’m so sorry. I failed you.” Chris’s cry echoed into the passageway as we left the brig.

---

The door of the captain’s quarters slam opens as Hongjoong strides inside, followed by us. The other members and Yeojin wait inside the room, they turn their heads toward us and notice something off.

“Did they speak?” The first mate asks Hongjoong. He sits besides San at the window sill. All eyes focus on Hongjoong, expecting for his answer, but the foul mood captain silently heads toward a small table next to the red velvet couch where his favorite wine bottle is placed on it.

“We got nothing useful from them.” Seonghwa answers, sitting at his usual seat on the right side of Hongjoong. The pirates sigh and slump into their seats.

Jongho ushers me to sit next to Yeosang at the end of the table then he joins Mingi and Yunho on my left side. Aurora heads toward the seat on Hongjoong left side which is also her usual seat that originally belonged to the first mate. Then I notice Yeojin sits at the opposite window sill of Wooyoung and San. She keeps glaring at her ex lover.

“Then what’re we going to do next?” Wooyoung ignores Yeojin's glare and asks another question. Seonghwa jerks his chin toward Hongjoong who’s still sipping wine and lost in his trance.

Then I spot a cup on the table in front of Yeosang. The forest smell reaches my nose, I immediately know what it is. I watch Yeosang pick it up and hand it over to me.

“Drink it.” His angelic expression doesn’t match with the green terror in his hand.

I scrunch my face in horror. “Yeosang, I’m perfectly fine. I don’t need to drink that terror thing anymore.”

A smile on his face froze. “It’s not ‘that terror thing’, it’s your medicine which you have to drink even if you say you are fine.”

I hear giggles from my left side. Mingi and Yunho stifle their laughter. I squint my eyes at them, and meet with an unamused gaze from Jongho. Afraid that he’ll mention Alice's condition, I quickly turn back to Yeosang. “How about later, we’re in a serious meeting.” I make an excuse, yet, no one starts the meeting as the whole room listens to our conversation.

“Star, just drink it.” Hongjoong says in a serious tone, he carries a glass of wine and sits at the head of the table.

“Why do you get to drink wine and I have to drink green ter-” I shut my mouth before I anger the angel even more.

Hongjoong places the glass down a little too harshly that startle Aurora beside him, those yellow eyes scarily bore into mine. “You heard him saying about your condition. Please drink it.”

The other people who didn’t go to the brig perplexedly look between Hongjoong and me. I stare at him for a moment and give up. I pick up the cup and swallow the bitter liquid into my stomach.

“Aww, good girl.” Wooyoung cooes, but instantly gasps when San digs his claws into the poor guy’s leg.

I place the cup down and see a tiny smirk display on Hongjoong’s lips but it quickly disappears.

“Captain, so what are we going to do next?” Wooyoung repeats his question while escaping to another window sill to get away from his devil mate.

“There’s one last person who knows where Wonderland is.” Hongjoong explains.

“Who?” The whole room is bewildered by his reply. We watch an infamous grin slowly spread across his face.

“The sea witch.”

There's a short pause and the room erupts into chaos.

“Are you saying you gonna ask the way from that squid woman!?” Mingi shrinks, abruptly getting up from his seat. Yunho has to pull his coat to make him sit down. 

Hongjoong grins wider to confirm our thoughts.

“You’re being ridiculous!” Seonghwa snaps. Even though he knows his friend always has strange plans implanted in his mind, to seek help from the witch is insane.

“It’s the only way.” Hongjoong sternly responds.

The pirates continue protesting their captain, yet the tiny guy sips his wine casually.

“Captain, you have a plan?” Jongho questions him with a skeptical look.

“Um.” Hongjoong nods.

“So when are we going to execute the plan?” Jongho asks. The others look at him as if he grows two heads.

“Now.” Hongjoong’s answer causes the room to erupt in chaos for a second time.

---

Here we are, standing on the forecastle and trying to ‘seek help’ from the witch. The armed pirates scatter around the deck and intently look seaward. The afternoon sky is spotless, the sea is calm, an unusual day inside the devil’s triangle. The crew would be thankful if they sailed under this weather every day, however, they are now seeking trouble upon themselves.

Because as soon as Hongjoong revealed that ‘Alice’ is dying, they all agreed to his insane plan. Though some of them still protested for the reckless idea, no one can go against the tiny captain’s decision.

“Sea witch!! I summon you before me!!” Hongjoong shouts, his voice lost to the warm breeze. Seonghwa and Wooyoung, carrying two pistols in both hands, guard between him. While I stand behind them, clutching the San dagger to my chest.

At first the pirates refused me from participating, I convinced them by saying I could summon Seakeeper if anything went wrong. Still, the reason wasn’t enough to prevent them from locking me up in my cabin. Hence I had to excuse myself from going to the bathroom.

But instead of going there, I ran all the way to hug the main mast. It took a while until they discovered a koala named ‘Star’ attached to the mast because little Jack went to report my abnormal behavior to Hongjoong. When they try to pry me away from the mast, I wail loudly that the other crew stare at me pitifully and whisper among themselves. The guys eventually gave up because of my stubbornness.

I crane my neck to the combatant standing beside me. His sharp eyes scan the surroundings like a hawk. His claws dangerously glint under the sunlight. His demonic aura is more intense than usual. I peer at his injured arm which doesn't fully heal as a small amount of blood still seeps out from the white cloth.

I wonder what’s going on inside his mind. I haven’t conversed with him since I woke up. He becomes even more quiet and colder than before. I recalled how grim he sounded when I was unconscious.

As if San feels my gaze, he glances down at me. Red color blooming inside his orbs. I press my lips together while thinking about what I should say to him. The last time we ‘talked’ didn’t end well.

“Argh. I don’t have a good feeling about this.” Mingi on the other side of me, mutters under his breath, stealing my attention away from the combatant.

I agree with him. I’m so nervous that I need to go to the bathroom for real. Truthfully, I’m also scared to be in the front line. If Hongjoong fail to trick Sea witch and she attack us, and if I fail to call Seakeeper, our lives would probably end today.

I stare at Hongjoong’s rigid back. Will he really risk everything to save me?

“Sea witch!!!” Hongjoong incessantly shouts until his voice turned hoarse. It’s been half an hour, yet nothing emerges from the water. I don’t know whether to be glad or sad.

“Did she die because little Star stabbed her?” Wooyoung turns around and talks to me.

“I don’t think so, if she died, the curse on our bodies should disappear.” Jongho answers from behind me. The others nod in agreement. I whirl around to give him a thumbs up.

Then my gaze locks with Yeosang who stands beside Jongho. He apparently disapproves of me being here. He convinced me to stay with Aurora and Yeojin inside the quarter room with Yunho. Of course, I refused. I give him a toothy smile to show him that I’m doing fine. He sighs and shakes his head.

“Hey, should we call the giant squid instead?” Mingi suggests.

Seonghwa turns around with a scowl, “How are you going to speak with it?”

“Well, we could try since it's her pet.” I side with Mingi, earning a scowl from the grumpy man. I clear my throat and shout, “Yo kraken, tell your mommy to meet us. We have a business deal with you!”

After shouting, I cough for a bit because of an irritation in my throat. When I look up, the guys stare weirdly at me.

“Little Star, you sounded so ridiculous.” Wooyoung chuckles.

“Woah, how dare you call her that. Shooting Star was impressive. She sounded like a wicked female pirate.” Mingi beams at me.

My face twitches as I’m not sure whether Mingi complimented or insulted me.

Seonghwa rolls his eyes at our interaction and turns to Hongjoong who has been standing like a statue. “This is too risky if the witch really appears. I know you are good at tricking people but this one is a witch.”

“We have no time left.” Hongjoong replies quietly.

Seonghwa sighs frustratedly and turns to me, “You owe me your life.”

Huh? I raise my eyebrows as I don’t understand what he meant. Suddenly, Seonghwa begins to shout out loud.

“Sea witch, stop hiding like a coward and come face us!!”

My jaw, and the other guys’ hit the ground. Seonghwa’s face darkens when he sees our expression. “What are you doing?! Keep shouting!”

The crew nod and start shouting like a bunch of crazy people in the middle of the ocean.

The light blue sky starts to paint with orange, but nothing comes out of the water, not even a fish.

“Argh, I never knew shouting can be this exhausting.” Mingi blows air out of his mouth, sitting cross legged.

I nod, sitting beside him while leaning against Yeosang.

“You should get inside.” The surgeon has been repeating this sentence since the first hour. I pout at him. Although I’m a little bit tired, I don’t want to leave the others.

Hongjoong, Seonghwa, and San still stand on guard while Wooyoung has gone onto the crow’s nest and Jongho went to oversee the other crew.

I doubt Sea witch hears us like we are being paranoid that we were banned from saying her name. Our effort has been futile. And the fearsome Revenge crew officially turn into the clowns.

I reach my hand to tap on Hongjoong’s leg. He turns around. His face flushes red by the late afternoon sun.

“I think it’s not working. We should stop.” I tell him.

“Yeosang, take her inside the cabin.” Hongjoong orders the surgeon. Yeosang nods and helps me get up.

“What about you guys?” I clumsily get up as my legs numb.

“We’ll wait until she appears.” Hongjoongs answers and turns around to face the sea.

“Then what’re you gonna do if she doesn’t appear? I know you’re scared that I’ll die suddenly but you can’t torture your crew like this. Call off the plan, I’ll go to sleep now, perhaps Seakeeper will visit me in my dream tonight.” I stare at the back of his head. Seeing no reaction from him, I turn to the others, expecting they’ll side with me. But no, their stern expressions tell me that they agree with their captain.

I exhale, exasperated.

Suddenly, the crew from the starboard bow start shouting. Hongjoong immediately advances toward the area, the members and I follow after him.  Once we arrive at the rail, we spot bubbles rising from the sea in a visibly small circle.

“Could it be Sea witch!?” The crew shout in ruckus. Fear displays in their eyes as trauma from the last fight is still clearly present in their minds.

“Silent!!” The quartermaster roars. The voice dies down and is replaced by eerily quietness covering the entire deck.

Hongjoong frown at the spot, hands clench around the rail until his knuckles turn white. I worriedly look at him. His domineering pirate king demeanor is replaced by tension. If Chris didn’t reveal that I’m dying then he wouldn't come up with this crazy plan.

He still cares for you.

A voice in my head whispers. I should be happy by this fact. Yet, my chest weighs down as I’m the reason why he gets into difficulty. I place my hand above his. “You can do it. I’ll protect you by the side.” I say and wave San dagger in my hand.

Hongjoong peers down at me, a crease between his brows disappears. “That should be my line. Stay away from the rail. Yeosang, take her away.” He says and turns back to the sea. Although he sounds cold, I notice he’s no longer breaking the rail by bare hands.

I grimace. Before I’m able to protest him, Yeosang already pulls me away to a safer area. Sensing his seriousness, I keep my mouth shut as I don’t want to wake up the devil Yeosang. His arm secures around my waist in a protective manner and another hand pulls out a pistol. While San steps in front of me, shielding me from the view. I have to stick my head to the side to witness the area.

The circle starts to get larger, more bubbles rise above the sea like boiling water. My heartbeat quickens up in anticipation. I raise San dagger up in case the sea witch emerges from there and attacks us.

A moment later, something floats up from the water.

☆*:.｡☆*:.｡☆*:.｡☆*:.｡☆*:.｡☆*:.｡☆

A short chapter as a gift to celebrate Sannie's birthday. Our sweet boy is so optimistic even he couldn't celebrate with Atiny because of Covid (ノ°益°)ノ But he told us not to worry so pls shower him a lot of love instead of negative posts.

Everyone please take care of yourself.  We'll overcome the hardship together. Fighting!!

＼(＾∀＾)メ(＾∀＾)ノ