Somewhere Between the Sea and the Sky.

Episode 0: Chapter 28

Park Seonghwa.

The lieutenant of the Aurora wasn't born a pirate like his silver haired crewmate, but he adapted to it pretty fast. No one knew well what happened in his mind, no one knew well what made his sense of justice collapse, but it was pretty useful for everyone in the crew. He was probably the one with more blood in his hands and the one who cared less about it.

It kinda worried his crewmates sometime.

The truth was he didn't get so much time to think before he had to kill for the first time, he had no choice. Maybe it was the shock what turned him that way.

But besides being the feared lieutenant, Seonghwa was someone caring and worried about his crewmates. All the new guys were a chaos, yeah, but he assumed they just needed time. Time to get used to the sea, the lack of commodities and— well, money.

It was really bothering him, they were out of gold and had no destination planned. They spent all they gained from Yeosang's home in the Landfill and their provisions were going empty faster than planned.

The lieutenant would usually use his free time to practice on his own, maybe look for a relaxing place to clear his thoughts, but he was too busy looking for a way to maintain six dumbasses and himself.

"I don't even know if there's any port close to where we—"

He started to mutter to himself, but then someone got his attention. The captain was sitting on a log, somewhat far from the camp and some meters away from the lieutenant.

"Is that our...?"

The blonde said when he could process what the shorty was doing. He had one of the black sails from the Aurora with him, not the most useful one but big enough to make a good flag. He was... painting it? Sewing? He had a lot of materials around him.

Seonghwa knew well all the stuff Hongjoong was using, he got it from some unlucky and wealthy artist some time ago.

The flag was no longer plain black, the other added some orange stripes to it and seemed to be thinking about what else to add.

Seonghwa thought about ignoring it and just keep moving, but he wanted to go talk to him.

Things were tense between them and, even if his pride wouldn't let him just forget about the matter, the lieutenant wouldn't lose his dearest friend for a stupid tantrum and mixed emotions.

Hongjoong made a mistake, a huge mistake that almost killed Seonghwa and sended him to jail, but it wasn't on purpose. He was sure Joong didn't leave him alone on the stupid monster plagued island 'cause he wanted to.

Also, besides everything that happened, he wanted to know what the hell was he doing with the flag.

The blonde took a deep breath and approached him, fueled by pure curiosity.

"I see you're busy, captain."

Hongjoong wasn't expecting someone to speak to him, he was too focused and didn't notice the blonde approaching. So, of course, it scared him.

He didn't scream on the act, he just jumped a bit and then stared at the lieutenant.

"Why do you have to scare me like this?" He pouted like it wasn't his fault for not paying attention. "I'm— Well, not at all. I just don't know how to keep going."

Then Joong directed his gaze to the flag again. He had the most outstanding and resistant paint with him, but it meant he had to be careful with his next steps. A black and orange flag wasn't enough, no.