Nam Woohyun was often described as a herbivore, a handsome and kind man that had no interest in dating. Girls had often tried to catch his eye and become close to him, but he only let them in as far as the “friend zone.” Most girls would leave that zone and him after they realized their efforts to make him theirs was in vain. A few stayed in the friend zone happily because having Nam Woohyun as a friend was better than not having him at all.

Because it had been years since a lucky girl was able to cross over the boundary of the friend zone into “significant other territory,” a rumor started buzzing around social circles: Nam Woohyun must be gay. That had to be it! He had no real interest in dating girls! And that rumor grew and grew until it emboldened a few men, who tried to seduce Woohyun and claim him. But those men found themselves in the same frustrating place as all of the girls before: the friend zone.

So women and men both concluded in hushed whispers behind Woohyun’s back: the man must be an herbivore. 

Except they were wrong. Woohyun wasn’t an herbivore. He wasn’t straight nor gay either. He was a shark.

Sharks do not “feed” very often. They become easily satisfied with a large “meal” and do not have to eat for a long while. And Woohyun wasn’t an ordinary shark. He was a tiger shark. When he was hungry, he would eat anything and everything. Women, men, license plates, it didn’t matter. If he was “hungry,” he would take that person and devour her/him, metaphorically of course.

But currently, Nam Woohyun was feeling both metaphorically and physically hungry, as he sat up in his lifeguard tower, watching the minnow-like people mill about the shore. One “minnow” in particular caught his eye, and he happened to be eating a sandwich. Woohyun didn’t know which he was drawn to more: the man or his long, thick sandwich.

“Yah,” a voice called up to Woohyun from the bottom of the tower. It was Lee Sungyeol, of course, perpetually Woohyun’s sidekick in life (and in these stories). “You’re supposed to be watching the whole beach, not just one person!”

“I’m keeping an eye out,” Woohyun insisted, but his eye remained on the same man. He watched the sandwich pass through the man’s red lips, the teeth sink in, and the adam’s apple bobbing when he swallowed. And Woohyun swallowed along with him. 

“You know him?” Sungyeol asked. He was leaning against the lifeguard tower now and studying the same group of minnows that Woohyun was.

“No,” Woohyun replied. He looked down at his friend. “Do you?”

Sungyeol winced at the thought of knowing the sandwich guy. “No, and I don’t want to.” He sneered and gestured over at him. “Who goes to the beach dressed like that?”

“He does, apparently,” Woohyun mumbled. Sungyeol was too quick to judge. Yes, it was weird that the sandwich man was more interested in eating than in the waves. And typical beach-wear does not include dress slacks, shiny shoes, and a white button-down with a tie hanging loosely from the neck. But he was sitting alone, surrounded by three other chairs, and waving at three young men splashing each other in the sea. Those must’ve been his friends who dragged the man to the beach. The man obviously had no plans of getting into the water with them. Heck, he probably had no plans of going to the beach this afternoon at all. Yet here he was.

Chance had led him right into shark territory. Poor unfortunate soul.

“And that turns you on?” Woohyun felt a large smile on his face right when Sungyeol asked that question. He quickly tucked in his lips and shook his head. Sungyeol only stared at him with his intense, owl-like eyes. And eventually Woohyun yielded with a nod. Sungyeol sputtered into a laugh. “You’re a strange one. I haven’t seen you this attracted to someone else…, I can’t even remember.”

“I can’t predict my heart any better than you can,” Woohyun remarked with a listless sigh. The hunger strikes when it wants, where it wants.

Sungyeol didn’t understand it, or his friend. “Cheesy bastard,” he cursed with a click of his tongue. His judging stare went from his friend to the businessman on the beach, who now wasn’t alone anymore. The suit’s friends came up from the water to join him, skin glistening in the sun, showing every curvature of their bodies. Sungyeol whistled lowly. “Now I wouldn’t mind getting to know him,” he whispered loudly up to Woohyun. He pointed to one of the friends whose long black hair covered most of his face but what bit of it that you could see was the definition of handsome. No, more than handsome because a small glimpse of his face made Sungyeol’s light up. “What do you think?”

“He’s fine, I guess,” not even the definition of handsome was able to change Woohyun’s laws of attraction. He liked what he liked. And what he liked was now bent over, taking off his socks and shoes at last and rolling up his pants. Even the businessman’s lack of was making Woohyun’s heart race.

“,” Sungyeol swore again. “You’re smitten with the Regional Director of the Beach. You need to talk to the guy.”

“You need to do your job,” Woohyun growled.

“I am,” his friend insisted. Sungyeol then placed a hand over his heart. “I’m here to relieve you of your shift.”

“You tell me this now?” Woohyun grumbled as he gathered his belongings and began to climb down from the tower.

“Why else would I be here?” Sungyeol joked. And he had a point. If Woohyun had been in the right state of mind, he would’ve climbed down from the lifeguard tower as soon as he saw the long-legged lifeguard jaunt on over. But all sane thoughts had left his head, and the only things left inside of there, well, they aren’t the types of thoughts one would divulge. The hunger had taken over. Woohyun was no longer ruled by his ration but by his appetite.

But he wasn’t so out of his mind that he missed a soft gasp slip from Sungyeol, “Oh.”

Woohyun snapped his head back up to look at him. “What?”

“Your man is going into the water,” Sungyeol revealed and pointed over at the group.

“He’s not my man!” Woohyun shouted but his actions betrayed him. Not only did he quickly look over at the group but also stepped towards them in order to get a better look.

The businessman was being dragged by the hand towards the water by two of his friends. The third was pushing him from behind. The businessman’s shouts echoed all over the beach, but it was all posturing. He was walking towards the water just as much as his friends were pulling.

And then he finally hit the water. 

“,” Sungyeol spat. “Has he ever been in the water before?”

“Probably not,” the big smile on Woohyun’s face could be heard in his voice. It was cute. The businessman tentatively touching the waves with his feet and running away was cute. The man getting in just deep enough to splash his friends was cute. It was all so cute that Woohyun didn’t know what to do with himself and was visibly growing antsy. All of which drew a hearty laugh from Sungyeol. And that laugh was soon broken by a sharp yelp.

The businessman was hopping around on one foot in the water, trying his best to get out of it. His friends were also trying their best to pull him out, but when the shortest friend tried to pick up the businessman in a fireman carry, he ended up dropping the man into the water instead. The other two friends scrambled to pick him up, but they all kept getting battered by the waves and falling over again. The lifeguards were watching a comedy of errors unfold right in front of them. And the curtains closed when the businessman managed to crawl out of the waves in a wet and sand-covered suit, wincing in pain. 

The lifeguards exchanged a glance. “Jellyfish,” they spoke in unison.

“Do you want to take care of this or shall I?” Sungyeol asked even though he had a good idea of what the answer was.

Woohyun feigned a glance down at his watch. “I still have a minute left on my shift.”

“So dedicated,” Sungyeol teased in a singsong voice.

“Shut up,” Woohyun shouted back as he broke off into a sprint.

With that, the shark began his hunt.

Every hunt began with circling prey. Woohyun came up to the businessman still laying down on the beach, whimpering in pain. The friends who were gathered around the businessman in worry, parted and moved away to make room for the shark. “Did you get stung by a jellyfish?” the lifeguard asked.

“Aish,” the man was holding back from swearing anymore, biting his lip until it might bleed. After in a breath through gritted teeth, he answered, “Yes.”

“It helps if you keep the afflicted area in the water.”

“Go back there?” the man was so stunned that he propped himself up as he gestured wildly out to the ocean. “Are you f…crazy?”

“I am here to help you, not hurt you,” Woohyun reminded him and put on what he hoped was a charming smile.

It did charm some of the other minnows. “Yeah hyung, he’s a lifeguard not a death…guard,” the definition-of-handsome remarked but lost confidence as he spoke.

The businessman closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, and surrendered. “Okay.”

Woohyun helped the other up and promised, “I’ll stay with you and watch out for other jellyfish.”

“Thank you,” the man muttered as he let Woohyun take his waist and led him back into the water.

There, Woohyun kept circling, kept watching for any hint of interest. But the both of them kept ending up talking in circles. As they were strangers, neither wanted to divulge too much. However, Woohyun could sense an opening and pry a bit more, circle in closer and closer.

That was how he found out the businessman’s name: Kim Sunggyu. He was still in his suit because his friends had abducted him after work and took him to the beach. They were there to celebrate the youngest’s birthday, who was turning 30 the following year and was already getting depressed about it, complaining about how old he was getting to men a few years older than him. The impromptu beach party and subsequent abduction had been the youngest’s idea who claimed that Sunggyu would’ve never come otherwise. But Sunggyu believed that his friend got some twisted satisfaction in seeing Sunggyu squirm. Woohyun could relate to that friend. It was immensely satisfying to watch Sunggyu tense up whenever something suspicious approached them in the water, whether it’d be a seaweed or seafoam. Woohyun wanted to see more.

While Sunggyu was complaining of the cold and his ruined clothes, Woohyun pretended to spot a jellyfish. A moment later, he confessed that his eyes were mistaken, but in that moment between Sunggyu had grabbed onto his wrist and pulled the lifeguard in closer. After the danger had past, Sunggyu’s hand traveled down from the wrist and intertwined with the other’s. A few minutes and some conversation afterwards, Sunggyu noticed their conjoined hands and let go with a whispered apology.

It was enough for Woohyun to know. The blood had hit the water, and he was ready to hunt.

“I’ll be damned,” Sunggyu said soon after. He looked down at his foot and then smiled back up to the lifeguard. “It feels better.”

“Let’s get out of the water and give me a better look at it,” Woohyun offered. The other nodded and walked out of the water. He led the lifeguard up to his chair and sat down, pulling up his pant leg to let Woohyun have a better look. Woohyun swallowed the growing saliva in his mouth before touching the leg. “Vinegar also helps. I can give you some,” he murmured, trying to distract the other and himself.

“I think it’ll be alright,” Sunggyu responded and watched the careful hands turn his leg. The jellyfish had stung the back of Sunggyu’s calf. Truthfully, nothing could be seen except red, irritated skin. The lashes from the tentacles would appear later, Woohyun knew that. Yet his hands kept rubbing the calf, trying to soothe the redness.

“Woohyun-ssi,” the sound of his name pulled the lifeguard out of his trance. Sunggyu, visibly concerned, asked, “Does it look okay?”

“Perfect,” Woohyun answered and let go of the other’s leg. But he still sat crouched at Sunggyu’s feet. “For now, but it’s going to look worse tomorrow, and it may even break out into hives later if you’re lucky,” Woohyun revealed the bad news as best he could. And Sunggyu replied in the best way that he could.

Sunggyu closed his eyes, threw back his head, and cried, “ me.”

“Can I? Really?” 

Woohyun didn’t realize that his erted, appetite-driven thoughts had been spoken out loud, until Sunggyu’s friends began laughing. And Kim Sunggyu himself appeared utterly stunned.

Woohyun closed his eyes and bit back a few choice curses of his own before asking, “Did I say that out loud?”

“Yes,” Sunggyu’s voice was flat. And when Woohyun hazard a glance up towards him, his expression was flat too.

It seemed like the hunt had failed and the minnow swam away.

“I’ll just go now,” Woohyun grumbled and scrambled quickly onto his feet. “And die.” The lifeguard tried to casually walk away, unbothered, but no, he couldn’t. He was incredibly bothered by it and soon found himself sprinting down the beach, far far away from everyone. He ran until there was nowhere to run anymore. He came face-to-face with a berm of rocks, marking the boundary of the public beach. He thought for a moment about hitting his head against those rocks out of frustration, but then he heard a voice call after him.

“Hey! Woohyun-ssi!” 

Woohyun couldn’t believe his ears nor his eyes. Kim Sunggyu was shouting his name and limping down the beach as quickly as he could. He had to stop and take a break for a moment, but Woohyun was willing to wait as long as it took.

Who would’ve thought that his battered fish would come swimming into a shark’s open jaws!

“Woohyun-ssi, can…can you give me your number, you know, in case I get hives?” Sunggyu stuttered through his reasoning with a phone in hand.

“Sure,” Woohyun was glad to accept it all. As he was putting his number into the phone, the lifeguard took a chance and offered his own faulty reasoning, “I can also check up on you later tonight if you want, you know, in case it worsens.”

And Sunggyu happily accepted it too along with his phone. “Please, I have a feeling it’ll get worse.”

“Also,” Woohyun began. “Jellyfish stings also have a tendency to make you really hungry,” his confidence faltered when he saw the other’s face fall flat again, “So…we should get dinner too, as well, also.”

The flat face cracked into a smile. And either the man was blushing from Woohyun’s suggestion or from his unexpected run earlier. “Is that so?” Sunggyu still tried to play it cool. Woohyun followed suit and bit back his smile as he nodded. Sunggyu chuckled. “Then we should. There’s a place nearby that makes crab knife-cut noodles.”

“I know the place,” Woohyun replied. He couldn’t hold back his toothy smile any longer.

Nor could Sunggyu. “See you at 7?”

“See you then,” the lifeguard agreed and then watched the businessman limp away. His mouth was drooling already.

Tonight the shark was going to feast!