Pirate King: An ATEEZ & ONEUS Novella

Prologue

Heavy, thunderous footsteps stormed up the staircase to Choi Jongho's right. He was hiding out in a giant wooden barrel. His mouth hung agape and his eyes were wide, full of fright. At any point, one of the strange intruders would discover him and it would be game over. Who knew what would happen to him next?

Tied up and forced to walk the plank, most likely. Jongho shook his head. He couldn't think like this. No, he'd remain hidden and no one would find him. He strokes the head of his miniature pet white dragon, Malteez.

A deep baritone voice shook the interior of his barrel, "Find him! And when you do, I want him bowing down at my feet!"

Malteez squishes against him, shivering with terror.

Jongho squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lip, struggling to calm his racing heart that was beating furiously in his chest like a hammer banging against a nail. Please don't find me! Please!

Jongho blinks awake, finding himself in the middle of a recording studio. A microphone hovers before him. He looks back and forth, seeing that standing on either side of him, are two other men. One has silvery-purple hair and the other has jet black hair. Both are styled in a Korean-two-block style.

Wooyoungie. Yu-Yu.

He lets out a heavy sigh that draws attention to him.

"You okay, Jongho-ah?" a bright red-haired man with short stature questions. His face is full of concern.

Jongho nods. "I guess I got a little lost in a daydream. I messed up the recording, didn't I, Hongjoongie?"

"You never came in," a short-black haired man remarks, putting his hands on his hips.

"Be easy with my son, Sannie," Wooyoung, the purple-haired man, scolds playfully. "We'll just start over again."

"Yes!" the other black-haired man exclaims. "Yunho likes singing this song!" He claps his hands together and gives a large smile like a child in a candy store. "Favorite and will be a favorite for Atiny too!"

Wooyoung looks at Yunho and smiles. "Same!"

The two high-five one another.

San sighs. "Fine. But this had better be the last time!"

Jongho looks down at his feet. "It will be. Sorry."

Hongjoong looks at the staff behind the recording keyboard and nods a curt signal. The music starts over.

Before anyone can open their mouth to sing though, there is a boisterous crashing noise. The wall of the studio crumbles inward and a giant black-painted ship rests in the damaged hole. The staff member races out of the room in fright and bewilderment, leaving the eight singers stunned.

They stare at the resting vessel with awe. I mean, it's not normal for a ship to come crashing through the studio.

Jongho snaps his head up and all at once, his daydream floods back into his head. It can't be!

"What's the big idea?" Song Mingi growls at the ship. "Crash your ship elsewhere, we're trying to record our new song, 'Dreamers'!"

Jongho screams as the realization settles in. He dives for cover as shouting fills the room. Pirates? This is some silly PR stunt, right? He pokes his head up from behind a small table to see the others attempting to stand and fight.

Six black swashbucklers swing cutlasses at the ATEEZ members. A seventh is searching for Jongho.

Jongho ducks back down. This cannot be happening?!

"Come on out, Jongho and we'll leave your friends alone," the seventh man snarls. "I'm sure you remember me?"

Wooyoung gives a panicked shriek as the swashbuckler pins him against the recording studio wall with the cutlass pressed up firmly and tightly against his throat. The purple-haired man kicks out, desperately.

"Well, if you won't come out," the sly voice sneers. "Then I suppose we can be a little flexible..."

The man pinning Wooyoung takes the cutlass and slams the handle into Wooyoung's head. With a yelp and cry of pain, Wooyoung slumps into the attacker's arms, his eyes rolling backward and then closing.

"Wooyoung-ah!" Kang Yeosang's voice cries out. "Let him go!"

The man hauls Wooyoung over his shoulder and takes off for the ship with him.

Jongho shudders. No! Stand up and fight! They'll take Wooyoung!! But he finds himself unable to move in the slightest.

"Fall back to the ship! He'll come out of hiding and come after the purple-haired brat!" the seventh man booms out. It is clear he's the leader of the pirate gang, like Hongjoong, he's the 'captain.'

Jongho peers around the side of his hiding spot, seeing the man climbing back over the bow of the ship with the unconscious Wooyoung over his shoulder. Then his eyes find the other intruders leaving their battles and racing for the vessel.

Hongjoong and Mingi bolt for the ship to go after them. A man with floppy, wavy black hair (Park Seonghwa) is rubbing a few fingers against a bloody cut on his lip. His dark brown eyes glaring at the intruders and the ship. Yunho, San and Yeosang run to comfort and check up on him.

A loud screeching noise comes and then the vessel moves backward and vanishes from sight. Rain pours down, seen from the gaping, jagged perforation. Hongjoong and Mingi skid to a halt and stare in disbelief out into the pounding rain.

"Choi...Jongho..." San growls, turning from Seonghwa.

Jongho crawls out from hiding finally. He scrambles up to his feet and brushes himself off. He looks at all his bandmates, from the stunned faces of Hongjoong and Mingi, to the frightened and hurt expressions of Yunho and Seonghwa, to the bewildered look plastered on Yeosang's face and the angered expression on San's.

"What the hell was that?" San growls, furiously. "They kidnapped MY Wooyoungie!"

Yunho reaches out and stops San from racing at Jongho.

Jongho rubs his arms. "It's a long story, actually..."