Precious ◈ | Seongjoong/Yungi ✓

Episode 5: Turning Tides ◈ Part 1

After the announcement, the Navy forces withdraw for the day. The pirates organize a cleanup team and medical staff to deal with the damages outside while another meeting commences inside. Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho, and Mingi all attend.

And Mingi really wishes he didn't.

"Why have this meeting? Isn't the answer obvious?" Moonjin points a finger at the prince and spits, "Send him back where he belongs!"

Jaebeom crosses his arms and nods. "I agree. We can avoid any further bloodshed by giving the Tyrant Queen what she wants."

Chan sits up and argues, "Now, wait a second. Aren't you forgetting to consider Mingi's feelings in this situation? Stop talking about him like something you can easily throw away. He's sitting right here."

Captain Taeyeon tilts her head defiantly. "Didn't you hear what the official said? They'll pull back their forces from the island if the prince goes with them. Some of us are barely fit for battle. Why drag it on?"

A chorus of agreement rises. Mingi sits rigidly in his chair. His whole body is tense, and his mind is drowning. Listening to over a dozen people advocate his surrender is something akin to a thousand slices in one's skin. His conscience is in tears.

People died today because of him. More people will die tomorrow... because of him. He's too scared to speak up, and although his head is down, he can feel deadly glares like bullet wounds.

Hongjoong takes a deep breath and interjects, "Mingi is a valuable member of my crew. He's family. Knowing what he's been through in that place, I can't just give him over."

"So, you're going to let the rest of us drown? One person over hundreds? We may not interact much, but we're your people too, Pirate King," Captain Yongsun confronts him.

Soobin nibbles on his fingertip. "They have a point," he mumbles, only to receive a scolding smack on the shoulder from Yeonjun and a mean look from Taehyun.

"Besides, it's not like she's going to kill him. The tyrant just wants her son back," another pirate says nonchalantly.

Yunho growls defensively. These people may not know or care about what Mingi has gone through, but as his boyfriend, their lack of concern for him as a human being revs a motor of wrath. No matter how understandable their points are, he will never damn Mingi to that life again. He absolutely refuses.

Hongjoong tries again. "There's plenty of us here. Coming up with an alternative isn't difficult."

"Our captain could barely get away today. Half of our crew is in no condition for fighting," Lee Heeseung states.

"You're wasting time trying to think," Captain Kim Namjoon remarks, crossing his arms.

"You're letting your emotional ties to the prince endanger others. That's horrible leadership," Yongsun harshly comments.

Hongjoong stiffens. Leadership... One of his primary concerns is how to be a good leader not just for his immediate crew, but also for the whole pirate community. Taking the crown as Pirate King means governing hundreds of thousands of individuals—protecting those individuals.

Nam Hyunyi raised him to be the best captain in his mother's place until her death, but maybe she just didn't prepare him enough. Hongjoong's been doubting himself since he arrived on this island, and even his lover's comforting words haven't been able to cure him fully.

Soyeon, who has been sitting with her eyes closed and listening carefully to everything, suddenly stands up after the last statement. She silently exits with her people behind her, never uttering a single word the entire time. Seonghwa watches her go, curious about her perspective since she once said something similar.