The Great Mermaid | PURINZ

1. And Plunder!

Yunjin doesn't particularly find the situation she was in interesting. She leans on the wooden railings of a ship with a bored expression, with tippy tappy toes pressing onto the creaking planks. She closes her eyes and feels the waves of the ocean push and pull against the heap, rocking her body in a rhythmic motion.

Focusing on her senses, she smells the fresh scent of seawater with the cawking of seagulls above the skies as if they were scurrying to find their next meal in the water.

She opens her eyes to peek into the waters, watching a seagull dive skillfully— and perfectly catching its prey. Yunjin frowns at the sight.

She hears footsteps behind her pressing on the creaking floorboards, and she turns to face a man with a smile on his face— unpleasant to Yunjin's liking.

There stood a man roughly six foot tall with gelled slick black hair wearing a white-wool shirt with loose black pants. He tilts his head to the side as if thinking what to say in the next second, before his smile stretches wider as he came to a conclusion.

"It's been a week. I hope the journey isn't boring you already. Care to fancy some talking?" He asks softly.

Yunjin keeps a neutral expression, only turning her head to face the man, "It's just disappointingly quiet, except, the seagulls of course. But I'm quite fine— the skies are blue and perfectly clear of clouds, Jay. I'm just thinking."

The man named Jay smiles, "Of course, I shouldn't disturb you," then pauses before continuing.

"We should be reaching the capital in roughly...three days, said the Captain."

Yunjin hums in acknowledgment and is about to turn back to face the sea before Jay coughs, "But I mainly came here to tell you that your husband is asking you to come downstairs."

She frowns in an instant, "What did he say?"

Jay furrows his brows as if carefully thinking of a nicer phrasing, "He says...He would like to get to know you better," he pauses once more but speaks avoiding eye contact with the ginger haired woman, "intimately."

Yunjin swears she felt a shiver go down her spine at the last line.

"...Should I escort you downstairs?" Jay quietly asks.

Yunjin immediately shakes her head, "No...Tell him I'll head down in a few minutes."

Jay nods before stepping back to take his leave. Yunjin watches him leave before turning back to the ocean, looking down, staring at the distorted and warped form of her reflection.

If only she could dip her feet— but then where would she go?

She whips away from the railings to plan to see the man who is deemed to be her husband— which rightfully sounds wrong if she thinks about it, but she can't complain to the man who rescued her.

Rescued her— rescued her life— away from the village she could no longer call home.

She sighs before looking up to the other side of the ship, the horizon peering out, with a pale black dot heading their way.

And as minutes passes, she blinks to see the object in the distance had come creeping closer.

Her ears pick up on the other crewmates whispering amongst themselves.

"Shouldn't we inform Captain Jungwon about the approaching ship?"

"I can't see the sails on who it could be— you don't think it's a pirate ship is it?"

"I don't think it is, who is insane enough to head in our territory? We're in luck if it's a stupid merchant ship headed our way."

Yunjin drowns out the muted conversation, and she looks further in the distance, squinting her eyes yet it's still too far to make anything out of it.