Long Journey || ATEEZ

Patience Always Prevails

The aftermath of the dinner party was not a pretty sight.

The deck was littered with retching pirates, all leaning over the edge and emptying their bowels into the sea, others just chugging bottles of water, and the more able ones tottering about, unsteady on their feet.

Jongho was the least affected, yet still his head pounded with an uncomfortable pain as he mopped up the dinner of those who hadn't made it to the edge of the deck in time, fighting to keep himself from throwing up as well.

In short, the pirates of the ATINY were not ready to set sail that day.

It took a couple more days for the ATINY to spread her sails wide and weigh anchor, but eventually, it happened, and ATEEZ and their crew continued in their search for treasure, sailing further and further north-westwards as the days went on.

And so, life on the ATINY resumed its steady rhythm, with its duties, its reliable pace, and the constant view of an unreachable horizon. Like this, days passed, and the times at the beach became distant memories – slowly dispersing mist on water as rays of sun rendered them invisible; hidden away for another time, when the days were miserable and hope was lost, just to provide a bit of faith, a bit of much-needed optimism.

Yunho, Seonghwa and Hongjoong were gathered in the captain's cabin, poring over maps and the riddle they'd found on that island, discerning their whereabouts and planning out their course for the next few days, or even weeks, perhaps. They were steadily heading north, for the captain taking them so far in that direction had ended up in their encounter of the whispers, the skeleton-monsters and the kraken. Perhaps it would happen again.

"Are you sure this is gonna work, Captain?" Yunho asked as he paused to wipe some sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. "What makes you so sure that this will be the place the riddle's talking about?"

"Well, the riddle talks about the kraken, doesn't it? I'm willing to bet that the place we encountered it was its lair, and since it protects the treasure, the place we're looking for would be nearby, logically speaking," the captain answered with a shrug. "And I'm sure that's why we met so many other monsters as well: the whispers—" Hongjoong shuddered, "—and the skeleton monsters. I'm guessing those are all buffer defences for the treasure."

"Despite that, there's frighteningly little we know about what we're looking for," Seonghwa commented. "How are you so confident? Usually you're the one worrying and doubting things – and now you're more confident than Yunho, who rarely worries (or even thinks, if I'm being honest here). Something doesn't add up."

Yunho playfully smacked his hyung at the joke, but regarded the captain with the same curious eyes.

"I dunno," Hongjoong shrugged. "It's just a gut feeling, to be honest. I felt like that when I told you guys to sail us north – like something was pulling me that way."

Seonghwa crinkled his eyebrows.

"I don't trust that," he said.

"Eh, so what? You don't trust me? Come on Seonghwa, we've been friends for more than a year now, this is hurting my feelings!" Hongjoong said in mock despair, clutching his hands to his chest.

"No, I wasn't—"

"Come on, I was joking," Hongjoong laughed.

"No I know that but—"

"Quit being so serious, you grouch," Hongjoong said, shoving Seonghwa playfully. "I'm surprised – you're the one who suggested we sail head first into the unknown, what's so different about this?"

"Well, for one, at least we knew what we were looking for last time, but—"

"You worry too much," Hongjoong grinned, mimicking Seonghwa's words. The first mate rolled his eyes.