Young and Wild || seongjoong || ATEEZ

Chapter Four : The Ox

Chapter warnings : torture and violence 

Thunder split the sky open.

Only there was no lightning, no storm, and the rain was no longer pouring as it had been just a few moments before. But even in the absence of all the things that created booming thunder that would split the sky open and tear a hole right through it with a shaking and rumbling feeling- there was still thunder.

There was no explanation as to where the deep rumble came from or how the entire ship seemed to shake and creak, creating its own waves as it sailed throughout the water without a man attending the wheel.

Perhaps it was the metaphorical storm that tore through Seonghwa's body, a rush of a tidal wave crashing onto him and leaving nothing behind.

Or, it was the deep sound that had ripped through the captain's throat. The sound was no longer just a warning, it was a very heavy threat.

While the atmosphere had already been tense to start as soon as the mysterious stowaway had been thrown onto the main deck, the words the young man had just muttered seemed to stun even the silence and create what Seonghwa could only describe as a void of absolute nothingness.

No sounds, no words, or anything created anything into that void. For many moments, it simply was quiet, though Seonghwa would've argued that quiet had never been so loud before.

"My name is Choi Jongho," the stranger had said with knives to his throat and the wind no doubt knocked out of him. "And I was sent to kill you, your highness."

Perhaps there was only about a grand total of three seconds that stretched on from the moment the man spoke his words through gritted teeth and the sound that had torn through Hongjoong's body. Seonghwa had thought it had lasted an eon, trapped in some still world where nothing moved and time had stopped, and it was only when the captain had found a level of strength so foreign to him to grab the man by the collar of his shirt and yank him to his feet, that Seonghwa's mind was pulled from the still-motion in front of him.

There had been yelling and loud shouting that came from the crew as the man struggled to get free from Hongjoong's mean grip, but the captain refused to let go no matter what the young man did. San had tied the man's arms together and nearly had his feet done before Hongjoong had yanked him up, nearly strangling the man in his hold before very viciously dragging him over to the railing of the ship and bending his back over it, clearly threatening to push him over.

"I think the knife being pressed to yer throat might've choked ye a tad too much and so ye spilled absolute nonsense," Hongjoong told him, his eyebrows pinched and eyes lit ablaze. "Speak again and don't say anything funny or I'll throw ye over the side and let the sharks sort ye out."

Seonghwa found his legs were numb as he moved forward, a heavy feeling in his chest that had been filled with shock as he watched Hongjoong nearly push the stowaway over the side of the ship to the freezing water below them. The other members of the crew were on high alert, clearly surprised and shocked to see that someone had gotten onto their ship without them even knowing.

How long had he been there? How long had this man who was sent to kill him been hiding on their ship?

"Speak!" The voice Hongjoong was speaking with was something Seonghwa had never heard before. The tone was different, it was bone chilling in the way that it even scared Seonghwa and made him not want to move closer as all the others had done with their weapons barred so the man would have no chance of escaping.

Not that he'd have anywhere to go if he were to somehow rip apart from the captain's firm grip and the ropes. They were out at sea, there simply was no way out.