Chapter Text
"Welp," said Detective Jung Hoseok of Seoul's Violent Crimes Unit as he knelt down to get a closer look, "That's the 6th one this month."
His partner, Detective Kim Namjoon, groaned next to him, eyeing the pale body that lay before him. "Honestly, how many serial killers can Seoul have?"
For the past two weeks they had been on a mysterious case. Five people dead, three males, two females, six in total with today's findings, female. Serial killers weren't very common in their district. On most days they'd get just simple assault cases, have a few run-ins with gangsters or drug sellers, homicide cases didn't occur too often but they also had their frequency. Multiple killings with the same MO rarely happened, so when it did they were easily to differentiate from a simple homicide.
When it came to serial killings in this district, Detectives Jung Hoseok and Kim Namjoon were experts in their field. Possibly the best in their district, although the other district pair of detectives were also good at their job.
Usually Hoseok and Namjoon could catch a serial killer shortly after the third killing. Naturally, they'd want to catch them sooner, but most pieces of evidence were connected by the third.
They'd been running into trouble with this particular case however. It was so much different then what they usually encountered.
The main issue they were running into was that the cause of death of all the victims seemed to be the same...unknown.
No matter how many time forensics looked over the body they couldn't quite pinpoint what killed them. They said it looked like a death by natural cause, so they ignored the first few cases. After the fourth one however it just seemed too weird to just let it go.
Namjoon paused as he got a weird feeling at the pit of his stomach. He glanced about the alley, then focused his gaze to the street, where several cars passed. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary, but still the sensation persisted.
"Maybe it isn't a human that's doing this?"
Namjoon gave his partner a droll stare. Personally, he wasn't one to joke around on the job. "If a human didn't do this, then what did?"
Hoseok shrugs, "I don't know man. I'm just saying, we see a lot of weird stuff at this job, but this takes the cake. If there's a human out there that has the ability to kill you and make it look like you died in your sleep, then I don't want to walk alone at night."
The taller detective rolled his eyes. "I'd think you'd be more worried about Jimin walking around at night. You can actually defend yourself."
Jimin was a kid that Hoseok had picked up one day while handling a case. His body had been washed up on shore, naked. When he woke up, the kid didn't remember a darn thing, couldn't speak from the shock of whatever happened to him. He didn't even know his own name.
The case was closed due to lack of sufficient evidence. They could find nothing on the kid, no relatives, no home, nothing. The kid was about to be assigned to an orphanage when Hoseok stepped in.
Namjoon was surprised the court allowed Hoseok to adopt Jimin so easily.
After that incident it seemed that the government also started paying Hoseok an amazing sum of money to take care of Jimin. He was able to afford two large homes that overlooked the sea, one of which he gave to his best friend and partner without a second thought.
The offer had shocked Namjoon at first but he was eternally grateful since he was having a horrible economic crisis and his parents had practically thrown his little brother, Jungkook, away for him to take care of.
Now he had a big house and didn't worry much financially.
"Nah, Jimin-ssi can take care of himself just fine," Hoseok said as they headed to their car while forensics took the body to the lab. "He's a strong little booger," he mumbled under his breath. "So how are we going to explain to the boss that we have no leads, no evidence, and no cause of death...again?"
The taller detective sighed as he got in the car. Their boss's boss Bang Sihyuk, the superintendent, was always stressing them out, giving them as much work as possible since they were the two best detectives in Seoul. Yet whenever they came up empty they would get a fatherly scolding where they would have to hear that they were "much better than this". Their direct boss, Son Sung Deuk, the station Chief, was much harder on them due to this.
"I'll send him an email," Namjoon said, ruffling his brown hair as he started the car and began pulling out to the streets of Seoul. "You and Jimin are leaving tomorrow, right?"
"Yup. Meaning you have the two houses to yourself. Oh, but I told Sejin to stop by and check up on you guys. Also to drop off food every once in a while so the two of you don't starve."
"I appreciate it." Sejin was one of Hoseok's weird acquaintances. Namjoon wasn't sure where Hoseok met the guy, but having him around was helpful.
Sejin tended to run errands for them. He also was a retired profiler, no one particularly knowing why he decided to stop helping out in cases. Still, he was useful and the guy was huge but he was a bundle of kindness. Namjoon couldn't really dislike him since he would sometimes take care of Jimin and Jungkook when he and Hoseok had too much work.
Hoseok stretched in the passenger's seat, "Just make sure that you two don't do anything crazy while I'm gone."
Namjoon laughed at that. He and Jungkook were pretty chill people. He was positive that they would make it through the week in once piece like they usually did. Other than the stuff he sees at work, nothing weird particularly happens to him.
Its human nature, of course, to discard the unseen, the mystical, and the magical. Bold of one to assume that some strange occurrences on land are not cause by these things. Bold of humans to think that they can explain everything when there are worlds that they have yet to explore.
Take the underwater world for example. Humans have explored it yes, but when the world covered 71% by water, then you should know that you have yet to see everything.
There's a certain species down there that hasn't really been fully dealt with. A somewhat cursed species really. Half human, half sea creature. Deprived of their right to land because of what they have from the waist down. I'm sure you know of what I speak of, but perhaps you too don't believe in them.
Yes, many people might tell you that mermaids don't exist. To be honest with you, this fact is almost true. Mermaids are hard to find nowadays. In the past they used to be hunted, many were caught, now there are so few left in the ocean but mermen? There are plenty of those. Everyone forgets that mermen are a thing and see them in a completely different light than their female counterparts.
Mermaids are said to be beautiful, Mermen (despite what the stories say) are no different. They are also curious beings, wanting to know what there is up there in the smaller world, some looking for something in particular.
Taehyung peeked up from the waters of the ocean, his eyes above water but the rest of him below it. There were bright and colorful rays of light in front of him, hanging from several tall structures that were made of what looked to be hard and smooth stone.
There was a large flat floating structure in front of him. Strange creatures with lights seemed to pass rapidly across it to reach to the other side. He turned to his left. He saw land, tied to the shallow waters next to it he saw a boat.
Without giving it much thought he ducked back down into the water and swam towards it.
As he neared shore, he heard the low boom of the city against the water. There were loud high pitched sounds that vibrated all the way into the ocean.
He poked his head back up and listened, seeing if he could hear any noises from within the boat. It was silent. He reached up and pushed himself on to the boat, landing into it with a thud. He looked around, it was empty.
He waited a bit. Letting his skin absorb the remaining water drops that clung to him before he began to change.
His tail split, his fin receded, toes twitching as his gills faded into flesh, his scales falling off and making clink sounds as they fell to the ground. His locks lost their color turning into a normal ashy brown rather than the vibrant red that it was when he touched the water.
He stretched, straightened up and stood on his two feet. He felt giddy. He had been practicing standing on these human feet for months and now it felt like he had grown into them.
Picking up his scales on the wooden floor, he threw them all back into the ocean, leaving behind any evidence that he had been there.
The brunette looked around. Based on his months of observation he knew that humans wore clothes, something to cover themselves up. He checked around the dock till he found a black sweatshirt, some white pants and some shoes.
He put them on, remembering how he watched the humans do it on the beach. He grinned as he checked himself out on a mirror that hung on a wall, he looked human.
He jumped off the boat, onto the grassy land. He checked his surroundings. The sun would rise soon and that would be when he would begin his search.
He would find the boy with the amazing voice.
Unfortunately for Taehyung, his trip would definitely not go as planned. For at this very moment, one of his friends went and informed his older brother of his plans.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Seokjin breathed, his eyes going wide and his mouth wide open.
The younger merboy in front of him, Jihoon, who's light orange hair floated casually above his head, looked uneasy as he repeated himself. "Taehyung is gone."
Seokjin chucked the fish he was eating aside and swam down to where Jihoon floated in the reef down below. He grabbed the boy by the shoulders . "What do you mean 'he's gone'?"
The smaller boy winced and Seokjin suddenly found himself feeling bad, removing his hands.
"He went to go explore land," Jihoon said, his voice cracking. "He's been planning a trip up there for months now, but I didn't think he would go through with it. But this morning he came and told me he was leaving and-"
"Oh my god." The pink-haired merman covered his face with both hands and sucked in several harsh, shallow breaths, bubbles escaping him. He was entering into shock and he didn't even know if that was possible. "Oh my god, Taehyung. I'm going to kill him. I am so going to kill him."
From above, a smaller and thinner merman with mint hair and a green and gold tail swims down. He looks at Seokjin as the other is now swimming in circles and grabs him by the arm before flicking him on the forehead.
"Ow," Seokjin protests, then blinks at seeing his smaller friend. "Yoongi," he says, "Yoongs, Taehyung-"
"Yeah, I heard," Yoongi replies nonchalantly. "You're worrying too much about it. He'll be back."
"No," Seokjin says, "Did you not hear Jihoon? He's been planning a trip. Taehyung doesn't plan anything unless its something long-termed." He bites his lips and continues his previous action of swimming back and forth before suddenly stopping.
"I'm going to go get him."
Yoongi doesn't look too pleased. "Seokjin, you do realize the trouble you're going to cause if two mermen go up there?"
He didn't. And it seemed like Yoongi would tell him even if he did. His friend always talked bad about humans and their destructive ways and even now the mint haired merman wanted to lecture him some when all Seokjin wanted to do was go out and find his brother. "We're desirable to humans. They take one look at us and they're enchanted, wanting to keep us for their own needs."
"So do you expect me to just leave him out there?" Seokjin groaned, "Taehyung knows nothing about the human world."
"Neither do you," Yoongi added, voice grim.
"Well I still have to go and bring him back," The pink haired merman said, voice high and strangled. "He could've been caught by fishermen by now, or maybe the current sent him into another ocean, or maybe a human captured him and is keeping him hostage to satisfy his mating needs."
"Humans don't mate , Seokjin."
"Well, whatever they call it!" he exclaimed, now tired of his friend's know it all behavior, "Point is, its dangerous and I'm going to go find him." He quickly turns to Jihoon, eyes narrowed. "Where was he going?"
Jihoon flinches but answers quickly. "'Seoul'."
"Seoul?" Yoongi repeated turning to the elder merman, "Why the hell would he go there? We go there like every year."
The pink haired merman thought hard for a moment. He knew that Taehyung had been hanging around the beaches the past few months, he would always come back excited saying that he saw one human in particular.
Seokjin usually just ignored him and nagged him, constantly reminding him of the dangers that involved being close to humans. Now he was regretting not paying attention to his little brother's stories because they would've been of great help by now.
What was that human's name though?
"Jungkook. Pay attention will you?"
Jungkook turned his gaze away from the window that preoccupied his attention. Jimin was glaring at him for daydreaming again.
The elder hit him on the head with the notebook, "Yah, student," he said unamused, "You should be thankful that I'm helping you with this, yet why don't you ever pay attention?"
"Sorry, Jimin-hyung," the younger male apologized rubbing the spot where he got hit.
"You gaze out into the ocean a lot," his hyung commented, reaching into a bag of Doritos in front of him and inserting a handful of them in his mouth.
The younger male smiled, "The benefits of living so close to it."
"Yeah, well it's not so beneficial to me. I need to you focus on this math problem, not look out the window every few minutes."
Jungkook turned back to his text book, groaning. He hated math. He hated just about everything in school except music and physical ed. He tried solving the math problem with the formula that Jimin gave him, but by the looks of Jimin's face he must've gotten the answer wrong. Again.
Jimin dragged his palm over his face, "Jungkook-ssi," he said in a not too pleasant tone, "honestly, I'm worried about how bad are your grades going to drop when I leave for my trip."
Ah, right. Jimin would go on a family bonding trip every year. He's been doing so for the past six years. "When are you leaving?"
"Tomorrow," the crow haired boy answered, munching on Doritos, "And you've got exams in two days so I suggest you focus on something other than building muscle when I'm gone."
Jungkook went back to his textbook, this time a smug look on his face. Jimin going on vacation meant that Jungkook's hyung would take the week off. His hyung was always so busy with work that he was never home. But every year he would take a week off just to keep Jungkook company since he would "be lonely without Jimin".
He began tapping his feet in excitement. His hyung was the coolest and spending time with him was always the best thing ever. It was always hectic and hopefully this time would be no different.