Servant's Pride

3. The Grief of The Damned

TW: Whipping, some blood

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The sun had set and the crew mostly retreated to their quarters when Hongjoong emerged from his cabin again. The cold evening crept under his heavy coat and into his clothes to settle deep in his bones. Few crew members fancied the deck at those temperatures, and Hongjoong could guess that most of them spent their time in their hammocks or the dining room. As he shivered crossing the wooden beams, Hongjoong figured he could have taken some rum to warm his limbs. Undoubtedly, the man he was planning to meet would make his blood boil within a few moments, anyway.

The door to the forecastle was tightly shut. Hongjoong made sure not to get too much wind inside as he made his way downstairs. Inside the ship's belly, a bearable warmth and the smell of men who had not bathed in a long time created the atmosphere of home. Their distant laughter probably meant that most of them were indeed still at dinner. Jongho's merry music played from there, too.

Like a ghost, the captain wandered through the empty hammocks that were neatly tied to their posts. Further in the back, a single one hung open where they had moved a resting crew member who had sustained major injuries in the earlier battle. Hongjoong kept quiet as to not disturb him.

He didn't enter the galley to celebrate their win with his men. Instead, he swiftly made his way down the stairs and deeper into the very guts of the Grief. Mingi sat perched on a barrel with his trained eye hidden behind his patch as he found his way around the darkness with the other one. He nodded at the captain when their eyes met briefly.

"Still ain't finished down 'ere?"

"Just makin' sure. I would despise to 'ave us sink because o' a minor mistake," the man's deep voice grumbled. Then, he ran his hands further along the wooden wall to scoop out any possible leaks. His fingers knew this ship better than anyone else. If there was someone to feel the very soul of a ship and listen to its sorrows, then it would be Mingi. The best ship doctor Hongjoong could ever ask for.

"Do nay forget to enjoy yer time. Ye deserve some jolly dogsbody fer yer fast reaction."

Mingi dropped his hands. In the dim light that came through some poorly patched boards from above, his teeth flashed in a smile. His age seemed to lift off him and left a young playful boy.

"Thanks, capt'n. Where be ye 'eadin' in the middle o' the night?"

"Visitin' me newest treasure. 'Ave some mateys stick around upstairs in case 'e makes trouble."

"Aye, capt'n." After those words, Mingi lazily shuffled up the stairs. The greeting that got yelled at him as he entered the room full of drunken pirates filled the ship with boisterous joy for a moment. Then the door shut again to dull their merrymaking.

In the dark of his ship that surrounded him like the hug of a loving woman, Hongjoong steered his steps further sternward. Another door hid the tiny bilge behind the lower storage area. Hongjoong felt for the right key in his pocket before he unlocked the door. As he stepped in, he left it open wide to let some fresh air in.

Ominous blackness greeted him. The typical stench of locked up humans and metal lingered in the air thick enough to make Hongjoong blink his eyes as it bit them. Usually, protests and hatred rouse whenever he entered this place while it held someone. Today, it was eerily dark and silent.

Yet, Hongjoong knew this ship like the back of his hand. Lulled by the creaking song the surrounding wood told at any second of the day and the waves harmonising with it outside, he stepped in fearlessly.

On the barrel next to the door, he found matches and a lamp. Once the candle inside brightened the room in a faint light, Hongjoong checked the two cells that the ship carried.