The Legend of Magic Island | taejun + sookai

part 5: training

A couple days later, all five of them were on deck enjoying the sea breeze and catching wind in the sails. It was a slightly cloudy morning, just barely sunny outside. Yeonjun and Hueningkai were seated and fixing the bandage that was on his hand. Captain Soobin was at the front and steering the ship.

Taehyun was also sitting on the main deck and wiping his cutlass with a white cloth, while Beomgyu was looking out in the open sea.

"So Yeonjun, you know how to use a sword, right?" Hueningkai asked, "Do you think you're up for a bit of training?"

The other shrugged, looking down at his hand.

"I'm not sure yet," Yeonjun replied, "Did you want to train with me or something?"

Hueningkai shook his head and laughed.

"I don't do a lot of the fighting, it's not my thing," He admitted, then looked over at the other crewmates, "But I'm sure the others would love a new training partner."

Yeonjun looked around at the other crewmates.

"Wouldn't Beomgyu be at a disadvantage since everyone has swords and he's got— you know, knives?" Yeonjun wondered.

"You'd be surprised, he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve," Hueningkai replied, looking over at the boy. Yeonjun hummed in response, taking out the sword he had bought yesterday.

"Do you want to train for a little bit with me?" He offered, "I'll go easy on you, plus my left hand is out of commission so it'll be an even easier feat for you."

Hueningkai still politely refused, insisting that it wasn't his thing to fight.

"I think I'm good," He declared, "Fighting isn't my thing."

"But it's my thing!" They heard Beomgyu shout from the shrouds. The boy had overheard, and he climbed down and jumped onto the deck.

"I heard Yeonjun wanted to train with someone, hm?" He said boldly, putting his hands on his hips, "Well lucky for you, you've got an expert on board to train with you."

Taehyun rolled his eyes, and Hueningkai sighed.

"I'll just train with Yeonjun since he wants so badly," Taehyun volunteered, getting up and drawing his cutlass.

"It would be unfair anyways, it's a knife against sword," He added, Beomgyu rolling his eyes.

"Oh come on!" The other whined, "They're not that unfair— I have dull knives if you want me to use those. They barely hurt when I throw them!"

"Nope," Taehyun refused, "You can watch with Huening. You two can duke it out another time."

Hueningkai clapped his hands excitedly, scooting over for Beomgyu to sit down.

"This should be interesting!" He commented, Beomgyu settling down next to him.

Yeonjun looked at the two who were eagerly seated on the crates. He took a deep breath, drawing his sword and pointing it towards Taehyun.

Swiftly, the other lunged at Yeonjun, their swords clashed with their feet hitting the hardwood floor of ship. Yeonjun blocked the other's strike, slightly stumbling back. He held his left hand behind his back, clenching it in a fist. Yeonjun straightened his feet, and tightly gripped his sword.

Taehyun used this opportunity to strike again, this time aiming for the other's feet. Yeonjun quickly retreated, jumping to the side and advanced forward with his sword raised.

Taehyun blocked the other's attack with a quick parry above the head, staggering back but standing his ground.

Their swords crossed, the metal scraping against each other as their eyes met. Taehyun stepped back hesitantly, spinning around and going for an attack on the opposite side of his opponent. Yeonjun flinched, turning around and quickly blocking the other's strike with his blade.