𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 (𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞!𝐚𝐮) 𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐙

CH. 49 ~ Life at Sea

"Ugh!" I groan frustratedly, letting myself fall backward on the hard and splintery wooden floors of Captain's Cabin. Big mistake. I ended up getting a million tiny splinters which I had been carefully avoiding the entirety of my stay in here.

Luckily for me, with the amount of time for myself that I've been allotted, I've spent it mostly concocting my tinctures and practicing my magic. Or the simpler magic spells, at least.

Within seconds, the warming feeling of the magic's energy flowing through my veins resurfaces, reaching my palms with a pearly white glow for physical magic. Just a simple command is all it takes to get rid of the splinters and their merciless attack on my skin. They might have been tiny things but they somehow manage to feel terrible, like paper cuts. They're vicious.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I catch a curious Yeosang staring at me indiscreetly. I look over to smile at him and he quickly changes his furrowed brow of concentration into a much lighter expression of content. He looks back down at the book splayed in his lap, examining its contents attentively. He's been pouring over the books since the morning, and I can't help but wonder how one can be so enthralled by such things.

I look around the silent room to peer at the two other people in these stuffy quarters. It seems that there's an interminable mess that would progressively get worse if it wasn't for Seonghwa's cleaning, but since the tidy cook is out of commission from the attack, the cleaning has been left up to me and San. And since I terribly suck at keeping things organized if they aren't mine, only my room remains orderly around here.

At the moment, Captain sits at his desk, frowning at the book he's currently inspecting. It's a cognac-colored hardcover that's been bound and beaten over the years. The paper seems to be rotting away and it looks so fragile, it could probably fall apart at any given moment. Captain looks just as worn out as the book, if not more. The attack must've taken its toll on him, even if he didn't receive any grave injuries like the oldest.

I change my line of sight to look over at the bored-out-of-his-mind quartermaster that's currently working on balancing as many trinkets that lay around Eye-patches room in one tall stack. He begins to reach for another piece to add to his tower of knick-knacks when it begins to tilt heavily to one side, getting ready to fall apart completely.

Just as I had guessed, the tower falls leaving Mingi with nothing but the shambles of it. He pouts, grunting irritatedly at the malfunction. I snicker which makes him throw me an irritated glance. Standing up to walk over to him, I figured that if I was to be trapped here researching about my powers and the history of magic I should at least get a break every now and then. Sadly, Captain wasn't in concordance.

"Sun-Mi," He calls my name with a tinge of annoyance in his undertone, "Go back to what you were doing." I look at him with wide, pleading eyes to not have to sit down again in this ever-lasting tedious research session.

"C'mon, that's not fair! Mingi hasn't done a thing since he walked in here and I've been burning my eyes off trying to help you with your damn research!" I whine like a seven-year-old that whines for their parents to let them go play. Mingi gasps at my accusation, clutching his chest as if I've just pierced him with an arrow.

"I have been productive, mind you!" He defends and I set a hand on my hip, giving him a deadpan expression.

"And what kind of productivity would you have been doing?"

"I was working to see how my engineering skills could be put to use to keep the equilibrium in this structure of trinkets. A very dangerous and arduous task. I could've gotten a paper-cut with the origami pieces." I roll my eyes, turning back to Captain who can barely keep his eyes open. I think he was already drifting off to sleep, that is until Yeosang comes from behind, kicking his chair.