Memories of the Sea I BTS X OC I

Chapter 3 - Dynamite

"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?", a voice hissed, sending a shiver down her spine.

"Nothing", Hae whispered. She felt the barrel of a gun pressing into her back, and stilled instantly. She didn't dare to move a muscle, let alone try to resist her attacker, who dragged her across the room, putting some space between them and the cargo.

Slowly, carefully Hae turned her head. Dark brown eyes glinting with cold fury met her glance, and she flinched. It was Yoongi who stood behind her, face expressionless. "I'm sorry", the girl added, quietly. Her heart beat rabbit-fast in her chest, adrenaline coursing through her veins. "He could shoot me right now if he wanted to", she thought, uselessly. For a moment, they remained like that, a hunter and his pray, frozen in time. Then, all tension seemed to leave him, and he stepped back, pistol still in hand, but no longer trained on her. The lamp threw dancing patches of light against the walls and painted deep shadows on their faces.

"What are you doing down here?", Yoongi asked again, his voice still too cold to be polite. His grip had left a red handprint on the exposed skin of her shoulder, and he studiously avoided looking at it. Hae shrugged, helplessly. "I was just wandering about the ship. I've been cooped up in the kitchen all morning, so I wanted to explore a bit. And the door wasn't locked, so I thought it would be fine to take a look. I didn't know that you were in there."

Yoongi glared at her. "Well it wasn't. Fine, that is." Hae had been very apologetic until now, but the first mate's behaviour was starting to get on her nerves. She couldn't see any reason for his rudeness; after all, it wasn't as if she'd been doing anything dangerous or forbidden. She hadn't even really been sneaking around. Plenty of people had seen her going this direction, and nobody had warned her about any rooms that were off-limits.

"And I'm sorry about it. But I didn't know, and there was no harm done, wasn't there? What's so special about this place, if you don't mind me asking?", Hae inquired curiously. Now that there wasn't an immediate danger of being shot, she felt like she deserved at least some kind of answer.

"It's none of your business", he replied, and the words felt final in a way that marked the end of a discussion. Hae wanted to press on, itched to force him to tell her, but she controlled herself. There would be other chances. She could ask Youra, for example. That seemed like a reasonable course of action, one that wouldn't lead to her being held at gunpoint. "I... well, Yoongi, I'm sorry. I didn't want to snoop around." Hae didn't meet his eyes again. Instead, she just slowly turned and walked out of the storage room, leaving the first mate to his duties.

Yoongi stared after her, perplexed and deep in thoughts. He couldn't tell if she had made an honest mistake, or if he had caught her trying to do something more sinister. He checked the barrels carefully before leaving the room, locking the door twice behind himself.

Hae decided she had seen enough of the inside of the ship, and climbed some ladders to get back on deck. It was a pleasantly warm day with only a light breeze filling the sails, and the sun shone brightly between a few fluffy white clouds. She smiled contently and strolled over the ship, keeping a look out for Youra, the woman she had met in the mass hall.

A group of sailors were mending ropes, sitting together on the stairs to the forecastle, sharing jokes and chatting animatedly. They looked friendly enough, their faces bronzed and their clothes simple and practical, but clean. As Hae came near them, she couldn't help but overhear what they were talking about.

"It's just not natural, that's all I'm saying. I mean, I owe them as much as anyone on the Truth – I was as good as done for when they took me in. Still, the captain and his officers are cursed, I tell you!", a man in his thirties said in a low voice, and the others nodded. One of them added: "I've been on board for three long years, and I could swear I've heard their names – they use them among themselves, for sure – but I'll be damned if I remember any of them." Again, general agreement. One woman shook her head slowly, her braids swinging from side to side. "And the lass we pulled out of the ocean today, she's gonna be trouble too. No memory, at all? That's just plain weird. I mean, me and Lai have some gaps, but it's not all gone, you know? She's either making it all up, or she's got some kind of real problem going on, and me, I want nothing to do with it, ey?"