Seagulls wheel over the beach, crying out with beady eyes open for unsuspecting tourists and unguarded food. French fries are easy targets; bolder birds dive for hot dogs, fish cakes, and ice cream still in the tourist's hand.

Sated birds bob on the undulating waves away from the swimmers and surfers. When someone gets too close, they fly a short distance just to settle back on the ocean to enjoy the salty summer breeze and sun. 

It's a beautiful, calm summer afternoon.

Chief Do Kyungsoo sits restlessly on a folding chair on the beach, nearer the shacks and carts of food and tourist souvenirs. A radio plays nearby, one of the many cookie-cutter pop songs leading the music charts, crackling as planes overhead interrupt reception. Down the beach, someone has their own transistor radio tuned to a ball game. Everywhere, people in swimsuits of all colors, sizes, styles, and modesty shout and laugh, totally uncaring of proximity as they trip over one another.

Another day in paradise, to the casual observer or tourist. Nothing suggests that just days earlier, the shredded remains of a swimmer were found on the beach. Every little nibbler in the ocean had taken a piece, but the largest bits left enough evidence to make Kyungsoo very nervous.

The medical examiner initially proclaims shark attack.

To avoid panic, the claim is amended by the mayor and committee, and the official reports list a boating accident. Summertime means tourist money, the main income of many local businesses. Few people want to visit a beach town and swim in its waters when people have died.

A surfer tumbles off their board, and Kyungsoo holds his breath until they break the surface moments later, catching their board to paddle ashore and head out all over again.

The entire island is surrounded by white-sand shores, volcanic rock, and clear blue water. Beaches are full every day, and the ocean carries surfers and boaters of all ages and experiences. Fun is had by all.

Kyungsoo doesn't mind the noise of the crowds, only casually looking over when someone screams—always from laughing at themselves or a friend. It was a welcome change from the big city streets when he first transferred.

A swimmer makes it to shallow water and gets to his feet, legs lifting high as he runs through the waves onto shore. Shaking his hair, he grabs a bunched up towel and lets the sand fall a moment before throwing it around his shoulders. He spies the chief and picks his way around a couple of kids burying their dad in the sand and a woman sunbathing.

“Hey, Chief. Still not going in the water?”

“No.” Kyungsoo is familiar with the mayor's son, having busted him for speeding more than once. He's a charming boy, a trait inherited from his father, but he has no political ambitions and is a star student at a performing arts college in Seoul.

He laughs, rubbing his hair with the sandy towel. “Why work on an island, if you're afraid of the water?”

“It's only an island if you look at it from the water.” A small crab wanders around Kyungsoo's foot, eyeing him suspiciously.

“...That makes a lot of sense.”

Screaming erupts from the water, spreading up the sand and across the beach towels. Kyungsoo looks around the mayor's son; a confused murmur ripples over the beach, rising to panicked shouts.

A swimmer struggles in the water, thrashing unnaturally and splashing frantically on their raft, but they don't move. Something has a hold of them.

The shadow beneath the waves is huge, larger than a man, and Kyungsoo surges to his feet. 

“Shark! Get out of the water!”

Everyone starts running towards the food stands, knocking into one another and leaving those who fall along with their belongings. Kyungsoo pushes against the stampede, yelling over the din as lifeguards blow whistles and haul people out of the surf before they can be trampled.

He joins a small group dragging their friend onto dry land. A leg is missing, the remaining stump bleeding heavily. Grabbing nearby towels and shed overclothes, Kyungsoo tries to stop the bleeding until a medical crew hurtles down the sand in a dune buggy.

A plastic inflatable raft, most of it missing, washes up at Kyungsoo's feet. Squinting at the ocean, he spies a tall fin cutting through the water, riding a gargantuan shadow.

He never wanted to be the police chief of Shark City.

a/n: Written for round 13 of Tiny Sparks. Loosely based on Jaws (1975), one of my absolute favorite movies.