Man in the Moon • Jisoo

29

just a small cw: mentions of death penalty/experience of being on death row/execution in this chapter, so if you wish to not read it, I suggest you skip the parts after the second +++ comes in sight. enjoy reading!

------------------------------------------------------

Honestly speaking, Hook was not expecting that young of a girl to have that much courage in herself to believe that her sacrifice was one right - one for her friend.

So when she jumped, without any hesitation and with the courage of one person in which he hasn't seen in years, even he fell silent.

The crewmates all gathered to watch her body fall, followed by the heavy anchor being tossed into the abyss that was the sea. Silence ensued, as they watched her body disappear into the darkness, now hidden by the clouds that passed through, as if shielding her death from everyone.

"No," Minghao breathed, being unable to believe what Gaeul had just done.

"You- you killed her!" Minghao let out a devastated scream, so uncharacteristic of what he had always been that even he himself was shocked at what he sounded like. Even the crewmates who had known him for quite a while looked surprised to see him sound like that; so sad, so vulnerable and so...devastated, that they couldn't help but flinch at his scream.

Hook rolled his eyes, "She brought this upon herself. Let this be a warning to you too, boy." He turns around and walks away, metal foot clanking against the wooden floor of the deck. He gives instructions to the crewmates to get back to tending to the ship, as if nothing had happened - as if he had not asked a girl to jump to her death.

Minghao could not believe it. He could not believe that Gaeul was gone, forever, just like that. Suddenly he remembered how foolish he had been to not convince her harder to not follow him to the shore. He remembers how foolish he had been to cozy up to her knowing fully well that being friends meant putting her in danger as well. He remembers how foolish it was to believe that everything would be okay for as long as he kept his ties with Hook a secret.

And yet, even then, he had failed to protect the one person in the world that had mattered to him the most, now that he failed to protect his own father from the hands of these pirates.

A shrill scream interrupted his thoughts.

"What was that?" Hook whips his head back, turning to all sorts of directions to find the source of that scream. The clouds had covered their sight, as if to tease. At the corner of his eye, he spots the faint glow of yellow, flying next to the shadow of an extremely familiar figure; one of which had the exact same courage taht belonged to Gaeul, and one that he hasn't seen in years.

"Hey, over here, you dumbass!"

Hook scowls at the voice, expression shifting into one that he hasn't put on in, again, years. He felt extreme hatred towards this individual, or rather, boy. The innocent spirit of being carefree without being able to grow up has irritated him to no end - all because it always went against his principles of intricacy and detailed planning.