Chapter Text
SOUL SEARCHING
The water filled his lungs. He scrambled to stay afloat, though to no avail.
He couldn’t breathe.
He couldn’t see.
His cries were silenced under the raging tides and ferocious waves, drowning out everything; he could only hear his inner thoughts and what was waiting for him down there.
The creature growled, bright eyes glowing from the darkness of the waters. Their luminescent scales flickered in under the moonlight that barely managed to invade the murky depths. Hyunjoon should’ve been scared, but he was entranced. He gently held out his hand, common sense escaping his head, and the creature looked at the offending appendage silently, before chortling and leaning back, posture becoming less aggressive and more inquisitive.
Hyunjoon gasped and sprung up from his bed, throwing his covers away. He stared at his hands; they were shaking uncontrollably. That dream again. Ever since that incident in the waters, he hasn’t been able to get it out of his head. Nothing seemed to be able to make him forget the way the salty water of the murky and deceptively calm lake suddenly lashed out, dragging him into the middle of the body, as if it had a mind of its own. Breath trembling, he unsteadily got off of his bed and put on a sweater. Walking over to his door, he opened it, leading into the hallways. Taking a glance back at his room, he then peeked outside to make sure there were no guards hovering.
Noticing that they all seemed to be doing their rounds and weren’t near his room at that moment, he scrambled to get out of the castle.
He stared at the sky and shivered, the chill of the autumn air pinching his soft and sensitive porcelain skin. He walked around mindlessly, certain that he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. The moon was still out, but the darkness from earlier had become lighter; the sun was soon to switch places with it. Hyunjoon took a seat on a large rock near that same lake he almost succumbed to. He looked vacantly at it, the thoughts in his head running amok. He clenched onto his arms even tighter, and rested his head on his lifted knees. He wondered if he happened to die that day, if his family would miss him.
He knew his friends would, but his family…he figured that they could care less about him, but he wanted to at least think that they did, even if it was him being simply subtly delusional in his own pitiful way. He felt too tired to even cry over his plights, and he poked at the waters, frowning. He almost wanted to see what would happen, if he made himself available for whatever had been swimming around him predatorily that evening. He sighed and stood up, taking a step forward towards the source of his misery for the past week, until he heard a voice call out to him. Quite rudely, in fact.
“ Oi! What the hell are you doing?” They hollered, a scowl on their face, hair wet, and chest completely exposed, wading in the water.
Hyunjoon’s head shot up to the source of the voice and he shrugged with rosy cheeks at being caught, though admittedly, there was also the off chance that it was partially caused by…the toned… abs …of the other. Anyways, Hyunjoon digressed. “Um…”
The other presence appeared particularly peeved, clicking their tongue in dissatisfaction, presumably at Hyunjoon’s not-actual-answer. And it was only then that Hyunjoon noticed something… different… about them, when he looked very carefully with squinted eyes—the horizontal slits in their eyes, the small indents of loose skin on their neck and upper arm…The other caught onto the brief change in his expressions and they growled; a full-on growl. Hyunjoon flinched at the noise.
“I’m a fucking merman, ” they hissed. “And you happen to be in my spot. ”
Hyunjoon’s eyes widened and he scrambled to get off of the monotonous grey rock. “I-I, I’m sorry?” He stuttered in apology.
The man…merman…looked momentarily caught-off guard before rolling his eyes, sharp canines just barely poking out from his mouth. “Whatever, just don’t do it again. And don’t even think about telling others about my existence—or else. Why are you even here, though?”
Hyunjoon picked at his nails, biting at his tender lips, fidgeting with the hem of his sweatshirt. He looked into the distance and let out a small whimper. “Um…I dunno. I…well, it’s complicated. You see, about a week ago, I came here around midnight, and though the waters were calm at first, when I got in the water, a few moments later, the water turned…mad, if you will…I saw something in the waters that night.”
The merman leered at him, as if studying him; something about the way they were looking at Hyunjoon unsettled him; made him feel completely exposed, but Hyunjoon brushed off the sensation—it was likely the nerve of simply being on-edge around a new person, or well, merman, he supposed.
“You almost died here, and decided to, what… come back?” The merman deadpanned, eyes peering into Hyunjoon’s, as if looking at his insides, “Do you know how stupid that sounds?”
Hyunjoon just flushed and mumbled nonsensical words under his breath, too embarrassed to admit that the merman had made a very good point. Why did he go back to the place of his troubles, anyways..? “You believe me?” He chose to ask, instead.
The non-human snorted. “Yes. I know the thing that lives in these waters, very well. A little too well, perhaps.”
They turned his head towards Hyunjoon, and the boy was suddenly struck with a feeling of foreboding and something dark and dangerous. Their pupils flickered gold for a split second before dulling down back to their regular black tint.“You’d do well to stay away from here, if you want to keep your life.”
Hyunjoon knew he was a fairly shy boy that tended to gain courage in perhaps the most inconvenient or inopportune times known to humanity. Like, for example, right now. He puffed out his cheeks and looked the other man dead in the eyes, despite how much his heart was racing and his brain was screaming at him that something was wrong, leave, go away, get out, don’t stay here. “What if I want to keep visiting this place?”
“Fucking hell, you—” The merman cursed, pinching his nose bridge. “Here, tell you what—you can keep coming here, but in exchange, keep your damn mouth shut the entire time you lurk, okay? ”
Hyunjoon pouted but nodded. “Fine.”
“Good boy,” They murmured, briefly submerging, unaware of the brief brain boom they gave the human, though Hyunjoon does get a moment to observe their tail, before they popped up next to Hyunjoon. They looked at him, giving him a once-over sighed. “I guess you’re not too bad on the eyes…Better than some humans I’ve… met. ”
Hyunjoon was at a loss for words, the only word that was able to escape was a small and meek, “What..?”
They snorted in dark amusement. “I eat humans, jagiya, ” they side-eyed Hyunjoon with a meaningful and condescending smirk. “If that’s an issue, well, unfortunately you’ll have to deal with it.”
“I…I don’t think I’m in a place to judge..?” Hyunjoon blurted out, mindlessly twiddling his thumbs.
“Oh, do tell? ”
“I mean…You kill humans but…humans kill each other and other living things…I’m not saying I approve of it all, but I understand. ”
They gave him a contemplative stare. “Giin.”
“Eh?”
“My name’s Giin, stupid.”
“Oh, um, thanks…I think?”
“Jesus Christ, you’re a mess,” they grumbled, sounding completely done.
“My name’s Hyunjoon!” He impulsively exclaimed.
Giin looked at him like he grew a second —third, even—head . They rolled their neck and shook their head in exasperation. They blinked owlishly at him before the merman’s expression shifted to something…unexplainable. He didn’t speak, instead opting for an acknowledging nod of the head, and proceeded to jump off from the rock, diving into the water, the liquid softly splashing against Hyunjoon’s exposed skin of his legs, effectively leaving without a word.