Star Illusion | ATEEZ Pirate AU

Chapter 51 - Caught

Long chapter ahead (¯▿¯)

The kitchen of the Revenge has become unusually quiet this morning. Only one table is occupied by a group of high rank crews who normally thrash the place with their loud noise.

The master gunner yawns while rubbing his tired eyes. Next to him, the boatswain nods off with a piece of hardtack hanging from his mouth. Beside him, the navigator rests his chin on his hand, eyes half close. On the opposite side, the surgeon has been cutting the same piece of meat for over a minute now. The first mate sitting beside him sneakily steals the meat without him awaring.

Wooyoung scans the table and chuckles, seeing his crewmates' poor condition. After the battle with the Royal Navy, the ship needed to be repaired. They worked a whole night as Hongjoong ordered them to sail to Wonderland. Fortunately, their ship isn't heavily damaged so they don't have to spend a row of sleepless nights fixing her.

Wooyoung cranes his neck to see his best mate. San quietly eats his breakfast, back straight like a statue. His black and red streak fringe covers his eyes but they're oddly glowing, not a trace of exhaustion shows on his face. Technically speaking, Wooyoung rarely witnesses human expressions from this guy. Sometimes he wonders if San really is the devil disguised in human flesh.

The first mate boringly plays with his food, then a mischievous grin plays on his lips. He lifts his hand and hits the table. "All hands on deck!"

The sound jolt the others awake. Hardtack falls from Jongho's mouth meanwhile Yunho's head drops down from his hand, his nose barely misses the soup bowl, luckily Yeosang catches his head in time. Mingi grasps on the table to balance himself as he almost falls off the chair.

They prepare to head outside the kitchen but they notice a smug grin on Wooyoung's face so they know they were tricked.

"Yahh! What the hell!?" Mingi roars angrily, sitting back down on the seat.

"You lot looks terrible." Wooyoung coolly states after scaring the daylight out of his crewmates.

"You're the terrible one. Last night, you slacked off. Just you wait, I'ma report to the captain and your first mate title will be gone." Mingi scowls, pointing fork at Wooyoung.

"Tsk. Unlike you guys, I worked in a smart way." Wooyoung retorts. His answer earns dead glare from the whole table.

"You wanna fight!" Mingi raises his voice.

"No fighting here." Yeosang intervenes before the two men escalate into a ridiculous fight.

Sensing dark energy from the surgeon, they stop bickering and digging into their food. The table turns peaceful once again.

Nevertheless, peace isn't in their dictionary.

"How's the ladies doing?" Yunho breaks the silence once he finishes his soup. His question is directed at Yeosang.

Upon mentioning the girls, the pirates react in different ways.

However, Yeosang calmly answers Yunho. "Aurora gained consciousness yesterday but she's still fatigued. She appears rather anxious because a certain someone scared her." Yeosang side glance Wooyoung while the latter guy shamelessly steals meat in his plate.

"And Star, she was fine but she seemed out of it." Yeosang furrows his brows, recalling when he revisited them in the evening, Star acted strangely around him.

Yunho nods, his expression turns solemn. "They must be so shocked to find out that their important person is our enemy."

"Does that mean we are their enemy?" Mingi asks the question that no one can answer.