Chapter Text
My grandfather used to say that there are two wolves inside of you, fighting for dominance. One of them is good, full of love and temperance, and the other one is filled with hatred, fear, bitterness. Of course, I asked him, which one wins? ‘The one that you feed’, he told me, and of course, it stayed with me ever since then.
I would come back to this analogy from time to time, especially through my early adulthood, and wonder, which wolf am I feeding with my actions? Which wolf am I helping win right now? The metaphor would always strike me right before I was about to make a choice, and I must admit I’ve managed to avoid many conflicts because of it.
It popped into my head again, just now, as I was wondering whether smacking my boyfriend over the head for ruining the shot would be feeding the bad wolf or not.
“No but the Frankfurt, get it?” he laughed, and grabbed my wrist to wave it around like a limp melee weapon. He was trying to calm down but it wasn’t working very well.
Now, I wasn’t exactly angry at him, but I was more than over with the video and wanted it to be done. It just so happened that laughing at the end of a video detailing the disappearance of a young woman after her admittance to a mental institution was not exactly what we needed to wrap up a YouTube video.
“Yes, I get it, now get a hold of yourself,” I insisted with a smile, and Sunwoo tried to hold back his laughter one more time. “This outro is messing up the mood.”
He took a sharp breath in and then exhaled it much more calm, collected, with focus in his eyes instead of the giddiness. It was nothing short of magical, and I caught myself staring as Sunwoo went through his words.
“So that’s it, guys, thank you for tuning in for another episode of our True Crime Tuesday show, uploading new episodes every Tuesday, duh, leave a like below if you want more content like this,” he spoke with confidence and a mysterious edge to his voice, a practiced tone, something so loved by our viewers. I forced myself to snap my eyes back to the camera lens and away from Sunwoo’s lips.
“Don’t forget to subscribe and turn on the notifications if you want to stay up to date with all of our mysteries,” I let my voice waver and hang in the air mysteriously, and Sunwoo knew just what to do.
“And remember to stay safe unless you want to end up as our next case.”
With that, we were done, and I reached over for the camera. Sighing deeply, I turned it off, and only then allowed myself to release the barely contained chuckle.
“You have to stop making these jokes when we’re trying to record,” I could barely bring myself to scold Sunwoo, especially when his smile was brighter than the sun and larger than life.
“I can’t help it, you walked into that one yourself!” He exclaimed, no malice in his voice despite the accusatory pointed finger.
“Maybe I did,” I admitted. It was easy to concede defeat with Sunwoo, I thought one more time. Everything was easy with Sunwoo. “So what?”
“So don’t blame me now, Ji Changmin.” He leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on my lips, knowing fully that it’s going to be enough to get me to let him off the hook, as if I haven’t done that already.
“Do you wanna go eat?” My stomach was all for that, but Sunwoo seemed to have different plans if the way he lowered his gaze back to my lips again was anything to judge by.
He threw his arms around my shoulders before moving in closer. “I was thinking we should have some fun,” he muttered with his lips against my jaw, and I knew there was no arguing with him when he was in one of those moods.
I let my arms sneak around his waist.
“Is that what joking about sausages does to you?” I let him kiss me, let my fingers get tangled in his hair. Let myself enjoy it for a second.
“You know it’s not about the jokes,” Sunwoo continued a trail down my neck and I didn’t even care what he was saying, as long as the warm exhales of his breath were hitting my neck.
“I don’t know,” I teased. “Why else could you possibly be so clingy?”
Sunwoo groaned, a reply on the tip of his tongue, when the door burst open and Eric walked in. I could hardly believe how fast Sunwoo scrambled off me, but I reckoned I pushed him off at the same speed.
“Yo guys so I was thinking,” Eric either didn’t notice we were in the middle of something, or didn’t care. “Mum’s gone so we should order pizza!”
Sunwoo was looking equal parts embarrassed and amused as he muttered, “when is she not gone?”
“Pizza sounds amazing,” I sent Sunwoo a dirty look. He chuckled under the weight of it and turned to face Eric.
“Pizza is great.”
“Good, because I already have Domino’s website open, so like, come on,” Eric left for downstairs, and just like that, we followed him, too.
Fortunately, I wasn’t picky, and neither was Sunwoo, and we agreed on the toppings in just a few minutes. Between placing the order and the food’s arrival, I managed to absolutely annihilate both Sunwoo and Eric in Mario Kart, and the food seemed like the perfect celebration on top of it.
I couldn’t remember the last time I was so joyous when eating pizza and kicking it back. Uni turned pizza into depression food, and I felt like I was reclaiming it in a grand act of victory.
“So like,” Eric chewed on his slice. “What are you guys filming next?”
I sighed and pushed my hair back. It was a question I dreaded asking myself as soon as I had just finished recording one episode, but it was unavoidable, and so I forced myself to consider.
“I was thinking we could maybe do some local story?” I sighed and tried to catch Sunwoo’s eyes. Fortunately, he nodded at me.
“Yeah, it would be cool to do some like, local mysteries,” we haven’t discussed this before, but we were on the same wavelength. “Do you know about any?”
Eric shrugged. “Not really. I haven’t heard anything since I’ve moved in.”
“I’ve read that there have been a lot of disappearances around here,” Sunwoo looked confused. “You must have heard something?”
“Dude, I’ve got no one to talk to.”
“Right,” I nodded. It wasn’t even a jab at Eric, it was just a well established fact that he didn’t really make many friends since moving. Maybe if there were more people his age around the town he wouldn't have invited me and Sunwoo over for the entire summer. Maybe if Eric actually got along with any of his classmates, his mom and stepfather wouldn’t have let us stay for so long.
“I miss Seoul,” he messed with his hair in frustration, and I couldn’t help but to wince at that.
“You’re getting pizza grease in your hair, ew,” I tried to bat his wrist away from his scalp, but Eric leaned away.
“I wanna go back to Seoul already, go to uni, you know?”
“I know,” I could only sigh. It was just a year and a bit of suffering for Eric before he could move back to the city, and we would be able to see each other more often again. “Only three semesters left.”
I caught Sunwoo looking at me and Eric both, and he sent me a warm smile. Despite getting along with Eric pretty well, Sunwoo wasn’t as close to him as I was, and I could tell he felt it would be out of place for him to cheer Eric up. It was unnecessary though, I knew Eric would appreciate the sentiment. I hoped to convey that to Sunwoo with a smile and a nod.
“Come on, don’t think about this too much right now, you can’t speed up time anyway.” I pat Eric on the back and turned my eyes to sunwoo. “Right?”
“Right. I’m thinking we should go hit the town tomorrow for a distraction.” He suggested, and Eric’s face lit up. “Snoop around a bit, ask around. It’s a small town, someone has to have an interesting story to tell.”
“Oh, and we could go to that frozen yogurt place,” Eric supplied, and it was almost as if his university related worries disappeared.
“Exactly. Let’s have fun while we’re here,” Sunwoo beamed back. “And let’s play detectives.”
~ ~ ~ ~
“Seriously, though,” Eric was starting what I felt like is going to be the same question for the fourth time this day. “Don’t you have some editing to do?”
I groaned, and Sunwoo groaned, too. “No, we don’t!”
“I’m not touching the video right now, let me take a break,” I whined as if video editing was the bane of my existence. It most certainly was not.
“Let the man procrastinate,” Sunwoo pat Eric on the back and with that, Eric seemed to have been placated. He grumbled something under his nose about how he doesn’t want to interrupt
It was barely a few minute walk back from the cafe to where I'd parked the car, but we managed to get side tracked anyway. As we passed through the town square, I couldn’t help but stop and stare at the sculpture of a mermaid right in the middle of it, surrounded with shrubbery and benches. An idyllic sight for sure.
“I think that’s like the fourth mermaid I’ve seen in here,” I couldn’t help but point out.
“Yeah, they’re like, the symbol of the town or something,” Eric tried explaining but he barely had more information than me, it seemed.
“Why?” I asked, and Eric shrugged comically.
“Are you not from here?” A kind voice behind us called.
We all turned around to see a smiling old lady on one of the benches, seagulls at her feet and a bag of dried peas in her hand. Her salt and pepper hair was styled in an updo that told you exactly how much free time she must have had.
“Sorry for eavesdropping, boys,” her expression was kind and gentle. “You hear a lot of things when you just sit here and listen.”
Eric was the first one to respond. “I just moved in recently. I don’t know much about the town.”
The lady nodded, and looked at me and Sunwoo. “And you two?”
“We’re just visiting,” Sunwoo answered truthfully. The lady cooed at him, and it didn't surprise me. Old ladies always loved him and his bright disposition.
“The mermaids are the patrons of town, you’re right, young man,” she nodded at Eric. “They live in the sea surrounding the island, and they keep our sailors from harm.”
It made sense to me that an island with barely two small towns on it would be chock full of folklore surrounding the sea. What surprised me more is that I didn’t find any interesting information on that when I was looking up things about the town we will be staying at.
“Is that what the legends say?” Sunwoo beamed at the old lady and she beamed back at him. His charm was almost sickening.
“Yes, dear boy, but that’s not just legends,” she reassured. Sunwoo looked like he was about to sit down next to the lady and have the chat of his life. “I’ll have you know that Manteo is the safest town on the entire coast.”
“How so?” Eric piped up.
“The waters here are extraordinarily safe. No sailors go missing, no one drowns out at the sea. Not even children!” She rocked back and forth when talking, and dropped a handful of the peas to the ground. The seagulls flocked to it, blocking Sunwoo from actually getting closer to the bench.
“Really?” Eric was getting invested in the conversation, too, and I fought the urge to groan. “I mean, everyone here grows up with like, motor boats and stuff, right?”
The old lady nodded. “That’s right. We all learn to respect the sea from a young age.”
I was impressed with the local patriotism she was displaying. I could hardly find anything like that back at home, in the big city. “That’s really nice,” I said, and caught myself sounding way more sarcastic than I was being.
“The sea has to be respected, young man, and if you give it the respect that it’s due, the mermaids will protect you.” She didn’t seem too upset with me. If anything, she seemed happy with the excuse that allowed her to keep talking. She turned her eyes to Eric. “Where do you live, mister? Are you here alone?”
“Oh, just outside the town, to the south,” Eric gestured. “I moved in with my mom, but Jeff, uh, my stepdad, he’s from here.”
The lady smacked her mouth in the way only old ladies do. “Does your stepdad work in the harbor?”
Eric nodded, looking as surprised as I felt. “Yeah, how did you know?”
“It’s a small town. Everyone knows each other.”
That was enough to give me very weird vibes, but obviously, Sunwoo and Eric thought differently, judging by their pleased smiles.
“Must be really nice,” Sunwoo started making an observation, but the lady ignored him.
“Jeff is one of the people who really use the mermaid’s protection.” I wanted to roll my eyes when she said that. “Sea people know just how often the water saves them.”
“We should get going,” I murmured to Sunwoo and gave him a small arm squeeze. He put his hand on mine, probably to calm me down.
“Thank you so much for your wisdom, ma’am,” he smiled another charming, brilliant grin. I was almost mad at how perfect it was. Almost, because I was at the other end of that grin often enough to make me love it.
“Yeah, thank you,” Eric gave a shallow bow, and the old lady nodded at him.
“Tell your stepfather that Ms Kim from the port said hi,” she said, and scattered another fistful of food for the seagulls. I wondered if they really needed that much extra feeding.
“Of course, I will, thank you ma’am,” Eric smiled, and so did Sunwoo, and they were all smiling and I felt like a jackass for just wanting to leave.
“Yes, thank you,” I added and simply turned around.
“That’s so cool, I didn’t know there are many legends around here,” Eric was really enthused about the subject. I couldn’t decide if Sunwoo was really interested, too, or just faking it for the old lady.
“Yeah, well, old towns always have their folklore, don’t they?” He seemed pensive.
“Wanna include that in the next video?” I asked tentatively, and Sunwoo shook his head.
“I don’t think that’s good footage.”
There it was. Sunwoo didn’t care that much either. I sighed with relief, knowing I’m not as much of a jackass as I thought I am.
“Let’s go home?”
“Not yet,” Sunwoo shook his head. “I wanna go to the beach for a second.”
“It’s foggy and ugly,” I countered, but Sunwoo wouldn’t have it.
“Come on, I just want a stroll.”
“You can go alone,” I suggested, more of a question than a statement, but Sunwoo nodded. He didn’t seem to be offended by that.
“Yeah, fine by me,” he smiled.
“And you didn’t want to go to the library anyway,” Eric reminded him, and I nodded at his words. “So maybe we can go to the library?”
“Sounds like a plan,” we agreed, and left in our respective ways. I didn’t have it in me to tell Eric that I’m not very interested in the library, either, but I could see why he wanted to go there, and didn’t want to be the assshole who has the car but won’t drive people around.
The library was a short way away from the beach, and just as boring as I was worried it would be. Eric picked some books and even videos to borrow, swearing he’s gonna read them at home, and I marvelled how tiny and uneventful it was compared to the university library that I would always study in. Nothing in it pulled my attention, that was, until Eric started making displeased faces at the librarian.
“It would be ready, if you had a children’s section card.”
Eric sighed heavily, and forced himself to be polite, I could recall that expression of his from school. “But I can’t get a children’s section card, I’m not a kid.”
“Well, didn’t you make one?”
“No,” he tried explaining, but the librarian cut him off.
“Didn’t you go to the library with your class?”
“No, I didn’t go to school here.”
The librarian looked him up and down in a truly nasty way. “Figures.”
“What does that even mean?” Eric threw his hands up. I shushed him immediately, but it was too late, and Eric raising his voice was all the librarian needed to be even more nasty.
“Sorry, I’m gonna have to ask you two to leave,” she was looking far too satisfied for someone who was kicking out two guys around their age out form a public establishment for no good reason, but I wasn’t about to argue.
“Come on, let’s go,” I guided Eric out, and tried to get him not to complain too loudly. Only when the door closed behind us, I finally changed my face from stone cold politeness to real concern. “What was that all about?”
“I don’t know,” Eric whined at me. “I get this all the fucking time. People just act like assholes for no good reason.”
I felt my eyebrows rise up to the edge of my hairline. “People are like this to you?”
“Yeah,” the amount of disappointment in Eric’s voice was too high for me to not get mad.
“Because, what, because you just moved in?”
“I think so,” he shrugged, and I felt like I have to stay mad in front of this injustice, if Eric won’t.
“That’s fucked up. Really fucked up.”
Eric shrugged again. “I told you I don’t really have many friends.”
“I know, but I thought…” I couldn’t finish the thought. There was no way of saying ‘I didn’t think it’s that bad’ that didn’t sound terrible.
“Let’s just go, alright?” Eric lowered his chin and lifted his shoulders, and looked almost like an upset hedgehog. There wasn’t much left for me to do.
“Alright, let’s go,” I agreed, and started walking towards the beach where we dropped Sunwoo off.
We walked in silence, the whole fifteen minutes or so, right until we stepped down from the pier and onto the rocky beach. Eric didn’t seem to be in a talking mood, which, however rare, was perfectly understandable. I knew him well enough to know that he’s going to want some cheering up soon really soon, but that for the time being he probably just wanted to be left alone with his thoughts for a second.
The sound of the waves crashing against the rocks filled up the silence well enough to let us just walk in peace for a bit; although it was almost awkward, the way it was just sound, but no visuals. We stayed closer to the land, and couldn’t even see the sealine, only hear it, hissing and singing in monotonous waves.
“Where’s Sunwoo?” Eric asked, and I almost got embarrassed that I didn’t even think about that.
“He said he’ll be on the beach,” I answered simply, because that’s all the information I got.
“Yeah, but we’re almost at the car,” Eric pointed, and a quick look behind be told me he was right. The edge of the cement parking was clearly visible through the fog.
“He’s probably just a bit further ahead?” I reasoned, and Eric nodded.
“I’m gonna go wait by the car.”
“I’ll go look for him,” I answered, and we parted.
It really shouldn’t take me more than a couple of minutes to find Sunwoo, there was no reason for him to stray further ahead, to be far away from the car. Even in the fog, I should’ve been able to find him pretty easily. Understandably, after the third minute with no sight of Sunwoo, I got frustrated.
I quickly whipped out my phone and called him, which is what any sane person would have done in my place. After the call went through unanswered, my frustration wanted to pick up, but instead, it got replaced by worry just slightly. Why wouldn’t he pick up?
Gritting my teeth, I called again, pacing around the beach, and right when I realized this call will probably go through again, I heard the faint sound of a ringtone in the distance. It cut off right when my call disconnected, and it was pretty clear to me it has to be Sunwoo’s phone ringing.
After only a few strides I was there by his side.
“Sunwoo, what the hell?” I grabbed his arm and tried to get him to face me. It was like moving a sleeping person, and his eyes were sluggish and hazy. “Sunwoo?”
“Hm?” He asked, and his gaze slowly sharpened, focused on my face, his expression tensed. “What’s wrong?”
“Why weren’t you picking up the phone?” I was too taken aback to be frustrated.
“You were calling?” Sunwoo checked his phone, and raised his eyebrows in surprise when he saw the three missed calls. “I didn’t even notice, sorry.”
”I heard it ringing,” I sighed, frustrated, and Sunwoo furrowed his brows.
“But I had my phone muted,” he shook his head and shrugged. “Whatever, are we going now?”
“Yes,” I had to try really hard to resist the urge to roll my eyes at Sunwoo in that moment. “Eric’s waiting by the car.”
Sunwoo nodded and started walking, but then stopped in his tracks. I turned back to face him, but couldn’t see his face with the way he was watching the sea closely. It was almost as if he was trying to see something off in the distance.
“Did you hear that splash just now?”
“It’s the waves, Sunwoo,” I deadpanned, but instead of laughing at my dry humor, Sunwoo tsked.
“No, it’s not…” He sighed deeply and took his phone out again, turned the camera on, started to take a video of the shoreline.
On one hand, he did say he’s gonna take some, on the other, it baffled me that he still needed to take them. I was sure he’d be done by now. I was about to comment on how I’m sure we’ve got enough and can go back, when I noticed something odd on Sunwoo’s wrist.
“What’s that?” I asked and pointed to his forearm. He didn’t seem to know what I’m talking about, until I pointed at the spot directly, and he pushed his sleeve further up to get a better look.
A patch of his skin, about the size of a thumbprint, was pale and looked almost wet. It was shaped almost like a fish scale, positioned almost exactly in the middle of the outside of Sunwoo’s wrist. Sunwoo just furrowed his brows at it, as confused as me.
“Weird, I didn’t notice this before.” He ran a finger over the mark with no sign of pain. “I think it’s a blister?”
I cocked my head. “Did you burn yourself?”
“Well, probably,” he shrugged, and finally pocketed his phone. “Probably when making breakfast or something.”
I wanted to ask if he should’ve remembered a burn as big as this, but Sunwoo didn’t seem to be in pain or at all distressed about the blister, so I left it alone.
“If it’s an alien parasite or a zombie mutagen, I’m leaving you on this island,” I joked instead, and Sunwoo broke a smile at that.
“Shut up,” he nudged me, and something in his eyes shifted. He was looking more alive, less hazy, and I was happy with that. “Let’s go.”
That seemed to be it for the unsettling feelings. When we got into the car, Eric put on some bright pop song, and my headlights cut through the fog easily.