failures II » kpop ✓

prologue

The sun was shining on the sky, the ocean waves were gently shaking the small boat and the two young pirates sitting on it were looking ahead with equally shocked expressions on their faces. Park Chanyeol and Byun Baekhyun thought that they were going to leave the town without any mishaps, but oh boy, were they wrong. The two were just in the middle of an argument about who was going to grab the paddles of the boat and row to their ship when something fell in the ocean, only a few meters away from them. Or someone, to be exact.

A girl in a long gown fell of the top of the walls that were surrounding her castle and disappeared under water. They could hear people yelling from where she was standing a moment ago and Chanyeol was the first one that reacted. He sighed and elbowed the young man next to him. '' Fine. You win. I'll row to the boat, but only because you have weak arms and wouldn't be able to get us away from here fast enough. Soldiers are going to be here very soon and Suho is not going to help us if we'll get thrown in a cell... Again. ''

'' I think she can't swim. Hold my hat, '' the man with caramel coloured hair said and tossed his pirate hat to Chanyeol.

His companion tried to stop him before he could do anything stupid, but he was too slow.

Baekhyun jumped in to the water and started swimming towards the drowning princess. Her body was slowly moving towards the bottom of the ocean and her eyes were closed. He couldn't help it but to admire how beautiful she was, with her long and wavy red hair floating in the water around her. Then he grabbed her hand and started swimming back towards the surface.

Her dress was so heavy that him and Chanyeol could barely lift her on their small wooden boat. The other pirate was already glancing towards the beach, where soldiers were beginning to gather and panicking. '' You idiot! Did you really have to save her? What are we going to do now? Did you forget we broke in to her palace and stole everything that we could find? ''

Baekhyun smiled and pushed his wet hair of his face. '' Chanyeol, this is why I am the popular and loved pirate between us, while you are- ''

The unconscious princess opened her eyes in the middle of his sentence and spat a mouthful of ocean water right in to his face. She started coughing and gasping for air, while Chanyeol smirked at the now serious pirate. '' I would say you are the idiot between the two of us, but the girl beat me to it. ''

The princess suddenly gasped, sat up and gripped Baekhyun's shirt. She looked straight in to his eyes and murmured with desperation: '' You have to help me. ''

Baekhyun stared back at her with surprise, while Chanyeol glanced over his shoulder and said: '' Can we make this a little faster? I think we have about three minutes before we are going to find ourselves running away from cannons. ''

The girl with long red haired seemed confused by his words, but there was clearly something troubling her. '' A-Are you two leaving the city? Can I come with you? My father promised my hand to another man for marriage and I absolutely cannot stay in this town. I was so shocked when he delivered the news to me that I accidentally fell of the wall that we were standing on. I thought I was going to die, but then you saved my life. ''

'' I should have known it was going to be some rich royalty problem like this, '' Baekhyun said and grinned in amusement. '' Why wouldn't you want to marry a rich prince? Isn't that every princess's dream? ''

'' I can't marry someone I do not love, '' she seriously declared, still holding the young pirate's shirt and looking deep in to his eyes.

Chanyeol's eyebrows suddenly furrowed with confusion and he asked: '' Wait, you want to leave the city with us? Do you even know who we are? ''

Her eyes innocently shined and her head tilted to the side. '' Are you two merchants? Soldiers? Travellers? ''

Chanyeol rolled his eyes and seriously responded: '' We are pirates, girl. ''

'' What is a pirate? ''

The tall young man was very close to throwing her back in the ocean and leaving before the king's boats would reach them, but the other one was intrigued. His eyes were as big and hopeful as the girls's when he looked at his partner, only that different from her, he was far from innocent. '' Chanyeol, can we keep her? ''

Chanyeol tried to object and be the voice of reason, but just like usually, it didn't work. Now instead of casually leaving the town, he was rowing like mad and cursing his friend. Baekhyun on the other hand was smiling widely and trying to make conversation with the girl, who was telling me how she never left her palace before, because her father thought the outside world would corrupt her. His eyes shined when he heard those words and his lips spread in to a smirk. '' He is more than right to think that. ''

'' Wait, that jewellery box looks just like mine! '' the girl suddenly declared and pointed at the three expensive boxes of jewellery, coins and other expensive things.

Baekhyun grabbed the flask that was hanging on his waist and took a swig. '' Maybe it is yours. ''

She frowned and looked at him with confusion. '' What would my jewellery box be doing here? ''

'' I have so much to teach you. For starters, take a swig. '' Baekhyun chuckled and held his flask towards her. She blinked with surprise and carefully took it. She took a sniff and wrinkled her nose in disgust. The pirate didn't think that she was actually going to do it and his smile grew even wider when she actually took a sip of the strong alcohol. '' Was that the first time you ever tried soju? ''

Chanyeol, who was rowing and watching the pirate and princess interact, sighed and said: '' Take this as a piece of advice... Get as far away from Baekhyun as soon as we reach the Nahae port. ''

She pushed a strand of her wet red hair from her hair and curiously asked: '' Baekhyun? ''

'' Yes, that would be my name and he is my buddy Chanyeol. He is not always this grumpy, but he has been in a bad mood since yesterday, cause I gambled all of our money and we had to sleep on the street, '' Baekhyun spoke up and laughed at the girl. He found it absolutely amusing how she was so amazed and interested in everything. It was the first time she has ever been out of the palace and she was looking at the world with almost childish curiosity. It was clear that she didn't really understand who him and Chanyeol were. '' What is your name? ''

She gave the flask with soju back to Baekhyun and slightly bowed her head. '' My name is princess Sung Miyoung Hyunlee of the central Sung Kingdom. ''

'' Do you seriously always introduce yourself like that to people? Anyway, that is too long to remember. From now on, you are Han, '' the pirate answered and patted her head.

Her eyes grew wide with surprise and she stared at him with a stunned expression on her face.

Han.

The girl turned around when a shadow suddenly fell over their small boat and gasped at the sight of the enormous ship that sailed past them. Someone threw a rope ladder of it and her hands were slightly trembling when she grabbed it. She glanced towards the smiling and seemingly innocent Baekhyun one last time, then she began to climb. She had no idea that she just embarked on a pirate ship and how much exactly her world was forever going to change.