SECOND LIFE ; [윤정한 x 최승철]

4 : The Crisis

The royals went back to the palace. As soon as they reached the grand hall, a loud slap was heard and echoed across the hall, followed by a kid's sob.

"Why did you release the mermaid I took so long to capture?!" Cheol yelled at his only son. Seung immediately rushed towards her son who's crying so loudly.

"S-She must go b-back to her family.." Seungcheol answered. Although scared, but he managed to explain his side.

"I don't care if she must! The point here is, I've been searching for so long for mermaids and mermen. Yet you just have to ruin it by releasing that mermaid?" Cheol's anger can be felt through his voice.

"They have feelings too, father.." Seungcheol tried to defend himself once again.

Cheol glared at his son and was about to grant him another slap when Seung stopped him from doing so.

"Stop hurting our son, Your Majesty!" Seung couldn't help but to yell as well. "Seungcheol did the right thing. Do you think if he didn't release that mermaid from being tied up, you're still alive? We're still alive? I don't think so." Seung tried to wake Cheol up from his obsession with mermaids.

"You didn't capture an ordinary mermaid, Your Majesty. You captured a princess and angered her father, their king." Seung continued. Cheol kept glaring at his wife. "Be more careful and logical with your actions and decisions, Your Majesty. I beg you. Your obsession over mermaids might be the cause of our kingdom's possible downfall." Seung said then escorted her own son out from the grand hall.

King Cheol stomped his feet in frustration with what happened. He then sat on his throne and massaged his own head.

-

Seung brought her son back to his room. The young prince already stopped from crying and carefully sat down on his bed beside his mother.

"Was I wrong, mother?" He asked, softly.

"No, son. You did the right thing. Trust me." Seung gave her son a reassuring smile and caressed his hair.

"I saw the boy who saved me from drowning.." Seungcheol said, smiling a bit now upon mentioning the boy.

"The young merman who rescued the mermaid?" Seung asked for confirmation. Seungcheol nodded to confirm. "He saved me.. so I did him a favor by saving his sister." Seungcheol smiled.

Seung let out a proud smile before hugging her son tight. "You're a kind kid, Seungcheol. I hope you stay like this forever. I'm really glad that you didn't get your father's attitude." She kissed her son on his forehead.

-

From then on, the crisis that King Han had cursed on them started. Ever since the curse, the Queen ordered their servants to gather every bit of the ocean water they could gather.

Under the Queen's orders, the palace released an official statement and order for its people to wisely consume the kingdom's hard-earned water. The palace concealed the truth behind the crisis, leading to people to think that they are only experiencing a natural crisis. The villagers were also ordered to only consume foods from the kingdom's farms.

"We can't get any more water from the sea, your highness." Joonki reported to his highness, the queen.

It's only been two years since the crisis, but the water is already declining. Seung, the queen, has been handling the crisis ever since it started without any help from her husband, the king himself.

Seung heaved a heavy sigh, "How much water have we gathered so far?"

"Three dams. I doubt that it could support our kingdom on the following days." Joonki said, looking worried.

Lirei will never survive if this crisis continues. Seung closed her eyes in frustration. "What should we do with these dams, your highness?" Joonki asked.

"Filter one dam and a half, while the remaining dam and a half shall be distributed to every part of the kingdom to support their hygiene and farms whilst following the palace order about the consumption of water." Seung ordered which Joonki immediately followed. He bowed at his highness and left the queen's office.

-

The prince on the other hand, sat down by the shore, feeling the little water from the sea. He stared into the sea. For the past two years, Seungcheol has been blaming himself for everything, although his mother assured him multiple times that it was never his fault. That he did the right thing.

Staring into the sea, he saw a sight of a person with a tail, sparkly sky blue tail, staring at him from a distance.

"Isn't he..?" Seungcheol's eyes widened upon the realization. He quickly swam towards the direction of the merboy who dove into the water.

Seungcheol was eager to go to him, but then bumped into the invisible barrier that King Han had put. Seungcheol winced in pain, which caught the merboy's attention, resulting him to swim back towards Seungcheol's direction.

"H-Hey.. are you o-okay..?" The merboy asked, still keeping a decent distance from Seungcheol.

Seungcheol looked up and saw the boy with the blonde hair and sparkly sky blue tail once again. He's pretty.

"I-I'm okay.." Seungcheol responded as soon as he recovered. He slapped himself to confirm if he's dreaming, but no. The boy who saved him from drowning two years ago is now in front of him.

"What is your name?" Seungcheol took this chance to ask for the boy's name. The boy seemed hesitant for a while, but after a while, he smiled.

"My name is Jeonghan."