Chapter Text
Grey clouds rolled over the sky, menacing flashes in the distance adding to the electrified, damp atmosphere that clung to Kim Dokja as he stood on the edge of the beach.
It was nonsensical being here, next to the coast in a brewing thunderstorm, as the sun disappeared below the horizon on your average Wednesday. Yet deep down, he knew, had felt that urgent, pulling feeling which had compelled him to this beach, with the approaching storm blowing fierce gales of wind and the waves crashing white foamy sprays across the shore.
And so, he stood there, heaving in the breaths he had lost in running from his car, scanning the beach to see if there was any sign- any sign-
There. He saw it - a hunk of a creature, lying on the beach in the distance, a black spot against the dark yellow stretch of sand. From this distance, it was indiscernible what it could be, so Kim Dokja started to move towards it, gut churning and eyes squinting.
Sand pushed against his sneakers, shifting aside as his steps evolved to more urgent strides, which then turned into running as he quickly stumbled across the unforgiving sand. The shape was getting closer- was it breathing? He couldn't tell.
He was closer now, and could discern that the majority of the blackness was actually the creature's long, ebony tail, covered in iridescent scales that had now lost that sheen under the telltale stain of blood.
Kim Dokja’s breath hitched as he took in the redness that was covering the creature, almost losing his footing, but continued on.
Above the tail, that well-defined human torso came into view, back muscles taut as the mermaid breathed shallowly, face down into the sand. The smell of blood was stronger now, and Kim Dokja scrunched his face as he struggled to control the despair that was building in his gut. Oh god. Please-
His knees fell down to the sand, tentatively reaching out to the bare shoulder of the mermaid. The mermaid's face and torso were hidden as he lay, but the sand below was stained a deep crimson, and the small cuts across his back couldn't have produced that much blood. Kim Dokja grimaced as he took in the myriad of small bruises and cuts blossoming across the mermaid's body, and the blood matting his dark, short hair.
No response as he touched the shoulder, except for a small flinch and hissed intake of breath, so Kim Dokja pushed, turning the mermaid over.
He saw the gash first, an ugly mark across the mermaid's stomach, reaching up his chest and weeping blood. His vision trailed up, and then locked eyes with the deep, yellow glare of the mermaid.
Surprised, he let go, scrambling back.
"You-!"
2 WEEKS AGO
“That’s all they plaster over the news these days.” Han Sooyoung grumbled, cleaning the tabletop with a soapy rag. Kim Dokja glanced at the screen on the wall, pausing from his cleaning of the drink glasses.
It had hit a lull in the bar, only a few people still around nearing closing time on a weekday, some of them looking at the TV that had the headline flashing underneath a news reporter. A blurry photo was next to the reporter’s animated face, the pixelated blobs giving the idea of a large tail disappearing into the ocean, and if Kim Dokja squinted hard enough, maybe an arm beside it.
“Another mermaid sighting?” Kim Dokja sighed, wiping inside the glass and putting it back onto the rack. “Why are they so bent on finding more of them?”
“I mean. You know the entire world went into an uproar three years ago when they caught an actual mermaid for the first time. Pretty sure there are hefty rewards for capturing more.” She wrung out the rag, shrugging. “So many people are clamouring to cash in. Even I’ve considered it.”
Kim Dokja paused. “Don’t you think it’s wrong?”
“I mean yeah, it’s a bit messed up. But, how can I know since I’ve never talked to one or even touched one before? Don’t you want to touch their tails? Or find out how they function? It’s still hard to believe they exist, since they were only myths until a few years ago.”
I have, Kim Dokja thinks. I have touched one before.
But he doesn't say this.
Instead, he stays silent, instead wiping down a glass before replying, “I still think it’s messed up. People are treating them like animals.”
Han Sooyoung quirked her eyebrows at him. “Just because they look like humans doesn’t mean they are the same as us. They’re literally fish people. Isn’t that so weird? They can’t communicate with us, and scientists want to find out how they exist and what makes them tick. And they’re being kept in aquatic conservation environments.”
He paused again. “You mean aquariums? They hardly count, as they’re still commodifying them. Making money on the fact you can go and gawk at them in a flashy cage. It’s still a cage no matter how clear the glass is.” He noticed he was gripping the glass hard now, soap suds running down his arm, dribbling onto the floor behind the bar top.
She cleared her throat awkwardly. “Sorry, sorry. Touchy subject, I see. I mean, I don’t have anything against them, I think it’s messed up too. Just wanted to see your opinions.” She shuffled off, waving her wet rag with a brief explanation she was going to put it away. Kim Dokja watched her retreating back, before rubbing his face with his hand and quickly drying off the cup he was holding. He always felt irrationally temperamental around the subject.
More customers filed in, Han Sooyoung returned, and they got to work.
“Are you returning to your dorm after this?” Han Sooyoung mentioned offhand when they were closing up, and Kim Dokja blinked before nodding slowly.
“Yeah. I’m going to crash, today has been a lot. I need sleep.”
“We didn’t do much in uni though?” Han Sooyoung gave him a look, and then looked at the TV. It was now playing another news report, on a scientific discovery they had made on the mermaids in captivity.
POSSIBILITY OF COMMUNICATION? The noises they make are assumed to be some kind of language, MORE TO COME.
“Ah.” Han Sooyoung said appreciatively. “I take you’re going to go diving tomorrow then?”
Kim Dokja smiled slyly at her. “Wow. You know me too well.”
“No, you just mentioned you were going to do a dive this week.”
Kim Dokja waved off her excuse. “Yeah, I’m going diving. Haven’t been in a while. I think it’ll be a good destresser for the exams coming up.”
“Don’t do it too often,” Han Sooyoung reprimanded, smacking him lightly, “We still have uni classes.”
“It’s only local, don’t worry, approx 20m down off the coast up north. A wreck of some small boat is rumoured to be there, recently sunk.”
Han Sooyoung pouted. “You bastard. Stop making me jealous. You know I'm only a beginner diver currently. Damn, I really want to check out the artificial reef ecosystem inside these sunken structures, and record the aquatic biota for the local marine report I'm making.”
“You could learn from me?” Kim Dokja pointed out, grinning.
“Shut up, Mister I’ve-been-doing-deep-diving-for-ages.” She still looked pleased, leaning against the bar table. “One day. Not tomorrow, though.”
“I wasn’t offering for tomorrow? I’m already taking someone else.” He swept his bag onto his shoulder as he gave her a saccharine smile, already walking away.
“Wait-” Han Sooyoung glared. “Hey! Bastard!”
He stuck his tongue out, before shutting the door with a grin.
The cool night breeze washed against his face, clearing his mind as he walked back to the school dorms. His route took him by the sea, a dark, rumbling mass in the blanket of night, the waves crashing upon the bleakly lit sand the only indication of the ocean’s presence. He peered into the inky rolls, frowning as he remembered the information reports on the TV.
“They can speak our language, though?” He said aloud, as he whipped his phone out and browsed the news articles, the blue light bright in the night.
He would know that, since he’s spoken to one.
The streets were lined with streetlights, some flickering weakly as he passed under them, scrolling his thumb across the glass screen as he read article after article. No… that can’t be right… that doesn’t even look like a mermaid, what are they thinking?
He sighed in frustration, closing his phone, the blurry image of the supposed mermaid blinking into blackness.
Kim Dokja knew a mermaid once. He remembered its beautiful black and blue iridescent tail, powerfully cleaving through the waves, making them disappear in a flick of a muscle and shining scales.
He hadn’t ever told anyone about this, of course. This was ages before the first mermaid capture, before they became a reality for the rest of the world.
He had met his first mermaid when he was only a child.
But, everything became a blur with the passage of time, especially when he moved away for 10 years following his father’s death. It was only just before the first mermaid capture, 3 years ago, that he had returned to this place for university. He had almost forgotten about that stage of his life - its presence unfortunately overshadowed with more depressing memories - but yet, as soon as he saw the news of the capture, his stomach had dropped. As soon as they opened up public viewing in the city aquarium, he rushed to be one of the first to view him, his mind racing with possibilities. What if it was the same one? What if…
Kim Dokja stood in front of the large glass panel, which stretched for the entire wall, giving a perfect view into the large aquatic enclosure from beneath the water's surface. Crowds bustled around him, filing in and out of the room, security staff urging people to only stay for a few minutes before they had to move on.
Kim Dokja had avoided the press and photos of the mermaid, knowing it wouldn’t be clear enough to him. He needed to see the mermaid in person, to see if it was the same one that was buried into the recesses of his memory, with that shimmery black tail and raw power.
The blue glow from the tank illuminated the dark room, and people pushed against the glass, murmuring in hushed voices. Kim Dokja tried to look over the heads of the people in front of him, tip-toeing in his effort as people jostled closer. “Where’s the merman?” Someone said loudly, and a staff member waved a hand.
“He’s coming. He just swims around his tank every now and then.”
Kim Dokja was pushed aside by a small girl, who was weaving between people to get closer to the glass. His vision darted down as he staggered slightly, but suddenly the crowd around him gasped in awe, and he whipped his head up immediately.
Eyes squinted up at the glass - and Kim Dokja saw him.
The merman had a powerfully built body, muscles tracing toned lines across his torso, his short black hair waving languidly in the water as he slowly swam towards the glass. But what people were currently gasping at was where his torso faded into his deep sea green tail, hitting the filtered light that came from the sunny day outside, shining with golden accents as it moved from side to side.
Kim Dokja knew, at that moment, it wasn’t the same one. He may not remember the face of the mermaid he once saw, but that wasn’t the same tail.
He let out a breath of air he didn’t even know he had been holding.
Thank god. His mermaid was still safe.
His dorm room was quiet as he slipped in, sliding off his shoes as he looked around cautiously. Judging by the silence, it suggested his roommate was asleep already, which made sense due to how late it was. But then again, his roommate never talked anyway, so this level of noise wasn’t out of the norm.
He walked into the room as silently as he could, quickly stripping off his work clothes and shoving on his pyjamas. He wasn’t going to shower, not when it was already midnight, and he was tired and lazy.
“You aren’t going to shower?” a deep voice sounded from the bed opposite, and Kim Dokja almost shrieked in fright.
“What the hell, Joonghyuk! You almost made me piss my pants!” Kim Dokja hissed, whipping around to his obviously awake roommate, only half of his shirt shoved on. Yoo Joonghyuk was still lying in his bed, his face turned towards Kim Dokja with an impassive gaze, his eyes giving an almost yellow sheen in the dark room. “Why are you still awake?” Kim Dokja continued.
“You weren’t exactly quiet.”
“I was!" Kim Dokja indignantly replied, finishing shoving on his pyjama shirt. "It's your problem that you sleep lightly and have superhuman hearing."
Yoo Joonghyuk didn't say anything to that, but Kim Dokja could swear his nose crinkled. He did that way too often around him. "It's your own hygiene. You just came back from work, why aren't you going to shower?"
"Don't dictate my life, Joonghyuk" Kim Dokja replied, turning up his nose. "I'll shower in the morning. They say it's better for you."
"... Whatever. You can be unhygienic, I don't care. Just be quiet." His roommate replied, shifting over his body so that he faced the wall. Kim Dokja poked his tongue out at his back, before plopping onto his bed and opening up his phone again.
Scrolling through the daily updates on the mermaids had become a sort of unhealthy obsession of his, perhaps because he wanted to catch a glimpse of that mermaid in his memories again; to get closure, but also to hope he hadn't been captured. And so he refreshed the page, and was met with bold white letters:
BREAKING! NEW MERMAID CAPTURED!
"WHAT?" He said aloud, in shock. Yoo Joonghyuk’s voice came back from the opposite wall;
"What now?"
Kim Dokja glanced at his roommate. "Sorry, sorry. Just they captured another mermaid just now. Kinda big news."
He noticed the slight tenseness that fell upon Yoo Joonghyuk’s frame.
"It's the third one now, isn't it." Kim Dokja continued, looking back at his phone. "The last one was more than a year ago. I hope they put them into public viewing faster this time, I need to see it." Of course, this was so he could confirm who it was.
"Why?" Was the reply, strangely stilted.
If Kim Dokja noticed, he didn't say anything as he continued, "Because we're marine biology students? Kinda an obligation to see major events like this."
"... Right." A small huff from his roommate's direction. "I'll join you then."
Kim Dokja blinked in surprise. Yoo Joonghyuk never really talked to him outside of their dorm, and most attempts at conversation usually backfired. The socially stunted man only ever talked to Kim Dokja in curt sentences, so his suggestion to go with him to the aquarium was such a foreign concept that Kim Dokja had to sit in stunned silence for a second.
"... Are you actually Yoo Joonghyuk?" He finally replied, smirking, "because you did not just invite me to go to the aquarium."
"...Fine, go by yourself."
"No, wait! I can't turn down such an offer from Yoo I-never-talk-to-anyone Joonghyuk!" Kim Dokja hastily shot back, propping himself onto an elbow, grinning at Yoo Joonghyuk’s figure that has now turned towards him. "We'll go, we'll go. No backing out, alright?"
A glint of his eyes in the dark. "Okay." Was all his roommate said, before becoming a black mass in the shadows of the room again as he turned back to the wall. Kim Dokja smiled as he fell down onto his back, resting his gaze back on his phone, marvelling at the alien exchange he just had.
"Turn off that light." Annnnd magic broken.
"Jeez! Fine." Kim Dokja grumbled, quickly reading the article before closing off the phone.
I really hope that the new mermaid isn't the one from my childhood. I wonder how he's doing.
When he woke up the next day, Yoo Joonghyuk was gone. This wasn't a surprise, since the man had this weird habit of disappearing a few times a week, sometimes just for a day, or even days at a time. Nobody knew what he did, nor did Kim Dokja care to ask, figuring it was just family or personal things.
Yoo Sangah was waiting on the pier, already decked in her scuba diving gear. Kim Dokja waved to her as he approached, holding his own diving equipment and a backpack of essentials. "Sorry, I had to go and fetch my equipment from my house first. A little bit of a detour on the way here, but thankfully, as you know, it's not too far."
"Yep, no worries," she replied warmly, climbing nimbly onto her boat behind her.
"Did you hear about the mermaid capture?" Kim Dokja asked as they boarded Yoo Sangah's boat.
Yoo Sangah's family was wealthy in the way that they could own a boat. Kim Dokja was glad she became a marine biology student, so that he could leech off her aquatic vehicles whenever they wanted to go scuba diving. He’s joking. Mostly.
"Yes. It's unfortunate," Yoo Sangah replied, "but also exciting. I wonder how much they're going to find out. I want to touch a mermaid one day."
Kim Dokja gave her a look before placing his gear onto the deck. "Why so?"
"Aren't you also fascinated by them, Dokja?" Yoo Sangah replied, smiling. "We all do marine biology, it's kind of a big deal. I think everyone has dreamed of getting to see one up close."
"Why?" Kim Dokja scoffed, feeling a strange rise of emotions in his chest. "They're not all that amazing once you get used to them."
"How would you know that, Dokja?" Yoo Sangah laughed lightly, and Kim Dokja looked down at the deck as she moved to the steering wheel.
Yes, I would know a lot more than you.
Of course, he was lying. He had always found his mermaid marvellously stunning, his scales mesmerising and cool to the touch. But he didn't like the idea of others touching or viewing mermaids up close. He couldn't place a finger on the uneasy unsettlement it churned inside his gut.
"Do you think we'll spot a mermaid in the wild today?" Yoo Sangah joked as they pulled out of the harbour, speeding across the waves, sprays of foam shooting out to the sides as they bounced along.
"No," Kim Dokja replied, with a short huff of breath. "They're actually very rare to find. It's only by miracles that we've found 3 so far."
"That's true." She said, staring out at the ocean in front. "But, wouldn't it be so cool if we could see them in their natural habitat? I wouldn't do anything more than observe them, of course. As you know, I'm just severely fascinated. I wonder, do they have civilization? How advanced are they? What kind of food do they eat, and how do they harvest them in the ocean? Oh, so many questions."
Kim Dokja smiled at her enthusiasm. "I would like to see that too, I won't lie. Merpeople really are an enigma. We've discovered they exist and yet have never found any colony of theirs."
"Maybe they're solitary animals. Or travel nomadically in groups. Ah, I wish I could communicate with them! It would solve so many of my questions." She lamented, turning the speedboat slightly as they careened along a cliff face.
He paused, turning his phone in his palm as he considered what to say. "You might be able to."
A confused expression passed over Yoo Sangah's face, before realisation lit up in her brown eyes.
"Ah, you mean how they think that the sounds they emit are actually a language of some kind?"
"... Yeah, that." He was actually thinking about how the mermaid he spoke to knew his language, but the mer language works as well.
"Well, it would probably be very hard to figure it out. There's only 3 specimens now in captivity, and the one that was captured first is known to be difficult towards humans. Trying to communicate will be tough," her eyes sparkled as she raised her eyebrows, "but it sounds like a fun challenge."
"Of course," Kim Dokja breezily laughed. "The aquatic conservation centres should just hire you already."
Yoo Sangah smiled, the sun of the cool autumn day providing a weak warmth on the deck of the boat. “I’ve already submitted applications.”
The chills in the air were setting in slowly, but thankfully it was calmer waters today, allowing for ample viewing opportunities.
They soon reached the spot, anchoring the boat, stringing up the ‘Diver down’ flag onto the boat’s flag mast as they strapped their weights, tanks and equipment on. After a bit of activity, the ladder was dropped, and they back-rolled off the side of the boat, tethering a safety line to the side as they descended into the deep.
Kim Dokja was an experienced deep sea diver at this point, even at only 25, doing the activity for his own pleasure as well as supplementing his fascination with marine biology. Scuba diving was an expensive sport, but he was able to just barely keep it up with his part-time job at the bar that Jung Heewon had graciously offered. Of course, he had growing debt from his school tuition fees, but he figured he'd worry about that later when he got a proper job.
For now, he partook in deep sea diving, a hobby derived ever since those fateful encounters from his childhood. Maybe he did it because he thought he could see him again. He didn't know. It was a naive dream, really. Mermaid sightings are still rare, despite them appearing in the news.
He slid down in the water, its cool embrace comfortingly blanketed his body, and he signalled 'down' towards Yoo Sangah with a thrust of a thumb. They sunk further, the blue depths becoming darker and murkier, the sound of his breathing a heavy lull inside of his mask. The body of water was a comforting weight as they equalized their pressure constantly, breathing methodically as they swam down, the voice of the sea a muted woosh in his eardrums.
They had specifically chosen the dive spot today because of the extremely recent fishing boat wreck that had been reported off the coast, where the owners had avoided explanations on how it sank. The goal was to find it and possibly explore it a little, see what it is and what happened to it. Kim Dokja had found the circumstances to be of suspicion, since the owners were ‘fishing’ during a windy storm in a place you generally didn’t find fishing frequenters, a bit further out from the coast cliff face.
They were getting deeper now, the sea pushing into his mask, into his navy body-tight suit as he breathed lightly. A quick oxygen and pressure check, and he still going steady. Ok. Doing good.
Bubbles escaped into the water from his scuba mask as he breathed out shallowly, erratically floating in plumes of shimmering spheres towards the surface as he clenched the apparatus between his teeth. The floor of the ocean was appearing from the deep, a dark blue mass of uneven structures. It wasn’t too deep of a dive today, just above 20m, which meant an easier ascent afterwards.
They exchanged hand signals - the signature ‘ok’ sign - and both started to swim away from the boat, keeping their eyes upon the ocean floor as he turned on his torch. The beam was narrow, the light highlighting the floating debris and particulates in the water, the fascinating wildlife coming into clearer view underneath the illumination. Little fish flitted in and out of stalks of coral, small darts of muted colours, and a myriad of jelly and sea urchin creatures littered the rocks and water between. He kept his eyes trained on the floor and on Yoo Sangah, who was just a little further to his right.
A motioning from Yoo Sangah, her index fingers spread apart. Move apart a little.
Kim Dokja complied, veering a little more off to the left, their angular motions taking them away from shore. Slowly, the sea floor below him sloped down, and Kim Dokja trawled across it in searching curiosity.
After a bit of swimming, the reef floor suddenly dropped off into nothingness. Beyond the sudden stop in the bedrock shelf was dark blue murkiness, rock structures reaching out from the depths as unfocused blobs in the water. The ocean around him felt eerily still as he swung his torch around, the silence deafening in his ears. Kim Dokja didn’t know how deep this area was, but he wasn’t going to find out, since it wasn’t a part of their plan and he didn’t even know it existed.
So Kim Dokja was about to turn back to Yoo Sangah, when sudden movement from the deep caught his eye. He whirled around, shining his torch into the depths, the light weakly swallowed up by the gaping chasm. He swore he saw the tips of a tail disappearing behind the murky rocks, his breathing loud in his ears as he bit a bit harder into his regulator mouthpiece.
Could be just a large fish? He thought, calming his breathing. He can’t be panicking, not at this depth. A ‘large fish’ didn’t sound promising, though- he hoped it wasn’t a shark or something. He wasn’t even sure if they were sighted around here, and he mentally kicked himself, thinking he should’ve done more research before the dive.
He didn’t back away, however, interest making him stay. The water was unmoving, yet constantly shifting in obfuscated ripples, so Kim Dokja watched the dark blobs in the deep water, hoping for the telltale movement again. His intense curiosity made him want to see what creature it was, so he inched closer, his body already over the chasm. The drop beneath him was a little unnerving, but he kept his body steady as he swam further.
A flash of scales. There! Kim Dokja whipped his torch around, catching the end of a dark tail swimming away. However, that wasn’t what made Kim Dokja reel back in shock, light flickering sideways as he wheeled his arms around a little to push himself away. It was the shadowy top of the tail, bulky and very much not a shark. The creature was already propelling away, at a speed that Kim Dokja’s eyes widened at, but he couldn’t mistake the obviously humanoid look to the top. A rush of excitement coursed through his veins, some dark thoughts immediately flitting across his mind- ‘ They’re offering a hefty reward for capturing more’- but he shook his head, dispelling them.
It was unfortunate he didn’t get a proper look - that it was instead a murky blob of shadows in the blue ocean - but he was thrilled by his finding, quickly scrabbling to swim back to Yoo Sangah.
He didn’t imagine it, did he? It had to be a mermaid, he couldn’t deny the shape he had seen with his own two eyes. The two long appendages beside the front of the creature had to be arms.
Mind churning multiple possibilities at once, he kicked over to Yoo Sangah in the distance, who saw him and beckoned. He tried to motion back to Yoo Sangah - but there wasn’t a hand signal for a mermaid, so he thought fast and joined his hand at his thumbs, flapping his arms up and down together, hoping it looked like a tail.
Yoo Sangah didn’t get the memo, looking at him in confusion as she raised her hands and shoulders in a What?
Kim Dokja slowed his approach, realising where she was, the hulking body of a small boat embedded into the floor below. He glanced back from where he came from, the murky waters giving nothing away, his breathing loud in his ears as all he could see was the endless sea through his mask. A sudden, oppressive feeling of insignificance washed over his mind as he peered into the empty vastness that lay behind him.
Turning back, he figured he could tell her later when they resurfaced since it looked like the mermaid had disappeared already.
So, he waved in dismissal, instead motioning that he had 1 hour left on the air tanks, pointing to the wreckage in a go-forward for them to look at it.
And that they did, observing the fast colonies of sea life that had taken root inside, the wreck new enough that there wasn’t much growth onto the metal sides. It wasn’t the fanciest model, and actually rather old, judging by the worn, scratched surfaces, and faded paint.
There was a large, mysterious wound on the hull, which sliced through the metal and peeled back the sheets in a long, deep gash. It was probably the main reason why it sank. Kim Dokja studied it for a bit, wondering what could’ve caused such a laceration, and Yoo Sangah joined him in touching the jagged edges of the metal.
He was turning away when something glinted in the corner of his eye. The thin beam of his torch swung in that direction as he swam closer in curiosity, noticing the small refraction of something silver in the distance. He didn’t have to swim far to reach it, and soon he dipped lower, peering at the small sheen of chrome peeking out from beneath the blue-tinged sand. With a bit of gentle digging with his hands, the engraved surfaces of the round object came into view. A small chain was attached to it, and Kim Dokja picked it up in interest, flipping it over.
A pocket watch. Kim Dokja blinked in surprise at the relatively good condition it was in, deducing it must’ve been dropped recently. Curious symbols and engravings were grooved into the metal, with a particular inscription on the back. But Kim Dokja couldn’t make sense of it, especially not at this depth with his small torch in the murky depths, so he quickly swam back to Yoo Sangah, showing off his find. She gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up in response.
Soon, they resurfaced, blowing out air constantly as they slowly moved up to avoid decompression sickness. They were able to get back to the boat safely after their excursion, climbing the ladder they had already left over the side, pulling off their masks as they plopped onto the warm deck.
“What was that you were trying to say before?” Yoo Sangah asked, once she had removed her mouthpiece.
“What?” Kim Dokja said, wincing at his weak nose bridge after being compressed by the mask. “Oh, right. Don’t call me silly, because I’m being completely serious, but I think I saw a mermaid.”
Equipment clattered onto the deck, the weights making a dull clang. “ What?” she squawked uncharacteristically.
“Um. I think! It looked like one!” Kim Dokja hastily explained at her bewildered face.
“You saw a mermaid? Do you realise how huge that is? You should’ve chased it! We could’ve found out where it lived!” She waved her arms around before moving over to stand in front of Kim Dokja and clutch his shoulders as she rocked him back and forth. “Why didn’t you go after it? Arg, I knew I should’ve brought my camera today!”
He blinked in surprise. “Oh, um, sorry. It swam away so fast, I don’t think I would’ve been able to catch up with it anyway.”
Yoo Sangah sighed, disappointment painted across her face. “That’s okay. But, don’t tell anyone, okay?” She put a finger on her lips, “We can’t let anyone else know this, it's our little secret.”
“And what, lead them to capture another one? I think not,” Kim Dokja said in amusement. “Besides, if it was a mermaid, I think they’d have enough self-preservation not to come back here.”
Yoo Sangah pouted. “I suppose so. Man, what a missed opportunity. You’re 100 per cent sure you saw a mermaid?”
Kim Dokja recalled the black shadow of the large tail, and the undefined torso above. “Pretty sure. I say 90% certain, maybe I was hallucinating, I don’t know.”
She gave him a long look, before sighing and packing away her gear. “That’s such a rare sight, I’m depressed I didn’t see it.”
“Well, you can see the mermaid they captured last night soon, at least.” He said in consolation, “And I found this cool pocket watch.”
As he mentioned it, he picked it off where it hung coiled around his vest straps. The hands had stopped at the 7th hour, and even though the watch face didn’t look the fanciest, the outer silver casing was a lot more decorated with subtle and delicate carvings.
Yoo Sangah perked up. “Oh yes! That pocket watch is in excellent condition. Maybe the owners of the boat dropped it?” She plucked it from Kim Dokja’s grasp, turning it over in her hands. “I can’t understand the engravings on the back here, however, is it in another language? Doesn’t look like Latin script, or any Asian character derivative.”
“Honestly, I don’t know.” Kim Dokja shrugged. “You’re the expert. You can take it if you want to examine it?”
She smiled brightly. “Oh, thank you! I’d love to scrutinise it. I’ll return it after I’m done with it, if you’re okay with that.”
“Yeah, no, I’m completely fine. I’m not going to be needing it or anything currently.”
She happily put it in her bag. “Oh, right, and the new mermaid! I think they would release public viewing even faster than the last mermaid. Since it’s not a new phenomenon anymore, I really hope it’s soon, like tomorrow. You wanna see it together?”
“Oh, that reminds me, you remember Yoo Joonghyuk?” Kim Dokja asked as he unzipped his suit, dabbing at his hair with a towel.
“... Yes? Your new dorm mate, right? The really sulky weird one that never talks to anyone?”
Kim Dokja laughed. “That’s the one. Anyway, he basically invited himself to come with me to look at the mermaid. So, I probably can’t go with you, sorry.”
“He did what?” Yoo Sangah laughed airily, “That doesn’t sound like his usual behaviour at all.”
“I know, right?” Kim Dokja took a swig of water, before wiping his mouth and continuing, “It’s so weird. But, it’s been awkward as hell in our dorm room so I think I need this bonding exercise.”
“Understandable,” Yoo Sangah replied as she started up the boat. “You do that then, I’ll take Sooyoung instead.”
“Mm,” Kim Dokja gave a sound of affirmation, moving to the front to help Yoo Sangah as they started off across the waves again, skating across the water.
He wondered how fast the mermaids could swim, with those tails of theirs. Was it as fast as they were going now? It was an exhilarating thought, and he envied them for a second, feeling the wind whip his hair across his forehead, the spray of salt occasionally scattering across his face.
His mind drifted as he absently stared into the blue expanse, glistening sparkles reflecting off the undulations of the sea, thoughts of the pocket watch and the mysterious mermaid flitting across his mind. Could…
Kim Dokja frowned. Could the wreck be something to do with that mermaid?
That didn’t make much sense, from the knowledge that Kim Dokja had extensively acquired.
… What else could the researchers and mermaids be hiding?