Archive of Our Own ^beta

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?

Chapter Text

It was already late when Kim Dokja arrived back at the dorm room, but his roommate was still nowhere to be seen. It was only after dinner time that his roommate arrived, quietly creaking open the door as Kim Dokja sat at his desk, typing away. 

Kim Dokja leaned back, watching as Yoo Joonghyuk walked into the room, eyes catching on the simple chain necklace that was tight around his throat, the pearl embedded at the front softly glowing against the black turtle neck he had on underneath. He never seemed to take that necklace off, Kim Dokja had noticed, despite the old-fashioned pearl feeling a little misplaced against his hulking mass of muscles and chic clothing. 

“Yo,” he said in greeting, and Yoo Joonghyuk spared a small glance and nod back. Kim Dokja’s eyebrow twitched. “Where were you today? I was waiting for you.”

Yoo Joonghyuk crinkled his nose. “I was out… looking for something.”

“Oookay. We’re going to see the mermaid the day after tomorrow, alright? They’re releasing the public viewing then, and I already bought early entry tickets.”

Yoo Joonghyuk looked at him properly now, a look of confusion passing over his face. This bastard, did he forget…?

“I see.” the bastard replied, after too long of a pause. “I’ll transfer you the money.”

That pause was too long! Did you seriously forget? Kim Dokja fumed internally. But he kept his outward face cool, and hopefully friendly. 

“Good. Mark your calendar,” he said back, smiling forcefully. We’re going to do this bonding exercise no matter what.  

A nod was the only response he got, as then his roommate then sat at his desk opposite, starting to scribble away at something. Kim Dokja faced his laptop again, the grin frozen on his face as he closed his eyes in annoyance. He’s still as difficult as ever. 

After a while of typing, he stretched and glanced back towards the doorway, where Yoo Joonghyuk had leaned his belongings against the wall, and noticed a pair of sleek, black fins. 

“Hey. Do you swim?” He asked, curious. Yoo Joonghyuk paused in his writing. 

“...Yes. Why?”

“Oh, just can’t believe you never told me. Where do you go?” Kim Dokja swivelled around in his chair, propping an elbow against the armrest as he looked in curiosity at his black-clad roommate. 

“... I do free ocean swimming.”

“Oh, neat, seriously? Did you know I’m a diver? You should try it sometime then, if you already swim at sea.”

Yoo Joonghyuk swivelled his chair to the side, looking at Kim Dokja with a strange look in his eyes. “You are?”

Kim Dokja stared at him, unimpressed. Sure, this guy had only moved into his dorm a week ago, but he had been in the uni for multiple months beforehand, how did he not know about the groups of divers in their marine biology class?

“Multiple people in our course are, man. Do you know Yoo Sangah? We often go diving together.”

“...Is that so?” Yoo Joonghyuk replied, his eyes settling on the bed that he faced instead. “Why did you start diving?”

Kim Dokja raised his eyebrows, leaning his cheek against his fist as he thought about it. “Well, I would say it’s just been a fascination of mine since childhood.”

“...Did you swim when you were a child?” 

Kim Dokja smiled, reminiscing those hazy, warm days that gleaned through his spotty memory. “Even though my childhood home was nice little house along the coast, with a beach right in front of it, I didn't actually know how to swim for a good portion of my childhood. But then a childhood friend helped me, and now I'm a natural. I would play a lot by the sea before… well, before I moved away.” 

Kim Dokja quirked his eyebrows at Yoo Joonghyuk. “What’s up with these questions? Finally interested to know more about your roommate?”

That earned a glare. “Just curious. Why did you move away?”

Kim Dokja sat up, leaning back into his chair. “My father died. So mother took me away, and we moved from place to place for a while, travelling around the world. We only came back to my childhood home recently. But, it’s hard for both of us to be in the house, so I mostly live here, and she usually goes on trips abroad to see international friends.” He smiled. He didn’t know why he was telling this guy all this, anyway. “Getting a dorm was a lot easier anyway, for uni. The house is like an hour drive away.”

Yoo Joonghyuk frowned. “Why didn’t you sell the house? If it has that bad of memories attached to it?”

Kim Dokja straightened, a memory of a boy whose legs were a tail passing over his mind. “It’s not all bad. Sentimentality, I suppose? Anyway, I keep my diving gear there, it’s too bulky to have in the dorm room.”

Yoo Joonghyuk gave him a contemplative look. “Can you show me the beach in front of your house, one day? I’ve been wanting to explore new areas.”

Kim Dokja barked out a small chuckle. “Woah there, tiger,” Well, that’s a leap forward. Now he wants to visit my house? Why is this man suddenly interested? “Okay, sure, if you really want. But, I barely know you? Try and become friends, at least.” He teased. 

Yoo Joonghyuk glared again. Kim Dokja grinned and continued, “The beach is nothing flash, but it’s a private beach for our house, so I do suppose it would be good for ocean swimming.”

A pause. “Okay. We’re friends now.” 

“...What kind of declaration is that??”

Yoo Joonghyuk crossed his arms, an embarrassed frown tugging down at his lips. “Is that not how you do it?” 

“No! Did you grow up under a rock, Joonghyuk?” Kim Dokja asked, incredulous. “You don’t have to say something formal like ‘We are friends’. Just hang out together, add each other on social media, that sort of stuff.”

“... I see.” He grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Well, we’ll be ‘hanging out’ at the aquarium in a couple of days, right? So does that mean we are ‘friends’ then?”

Kim Dokja looked at him, and laughed. This petered out as Yoo Joonghyuk continued to look expectantly at him, and he coughed. “Oh, you’re serious. I mean, no need to be so weird about it, but if you want to take it like that, sure?” He shrugged. “I was just kidding, you know. I’ll take you to my private beach anyway since it’s really shocking we share similar interests, and you never told me.” A mock display of brokenheartedness - Kim Dokja dramatically held his hand against his wounded chest.

A pause. “...I see. You are confusing.”

 Yoo Joonghyuk turned back to his desk, carrying on with his scribbling. Kim Dokja grinned. He was finally cracking through that hard shell of Yoo Joonghyuk. Everyone was going to be so jealous he finally made friends with the impermeable rock that was his roommate. 

The aquarium opening day came soon, and both he and Yoo Joonghyuk stood outside in the long line that was already forming. 

“Thank the stars for marine biology student benefits,” Kim Dokja said in fear, observing the huge line of general access snaking off to the side. Their special tickets offered through the university allowed them to come into the aquarium for an hour before the public was allowed, which meant fewer crowds but more high-end people. Most people in their line looked like businessmen and women, wearing formal attire even at an aquarium. 

Usually, the hype was immense whenever they captured a new mermaid- the first week was bustling like this, with people coming from all around the world to view it. Since the first mermaid was captured near their city, it had been designated to their city aquarium - and ever since then, the other mermaids have been put in similar enclosures inside the same aquarium. Moving them had been out of the equation, and so those who wanted to conduct experiments and tests had to come to this location. 

Kim Dokja fidgeted, wanting to get inside quick. His growing interest in the new mermaid over the past day had made him anxious, as they hadn’t posted any clear photos of them yet, and he was scared that it could be the one he didn’t want it to be. 

“Stop being distracted,” Yoo Joonghyuk said, “We’re going in now.”

Kim Dokja glared at him. “Can’t blame me for wanting to see them, okay?”

Yoo Joonghyuk slid a glance towards him. “Why are you so eager?”

“Because I just want to confirm something.” Kim Dokja replied distractedly, watching as their line started to move, shuffling closer to the entrance. 

Yoo Joonghyuk gave him another hard look that Kim Dokja ignored. Instead, Kim Dokja motioned to the pearl necklace that hung tightly around Yoo Joonghyuk’s neck. It wasn’t a choker, but the chain was so small it could almost pass as one. “Why do you always wear that? It doesn’t match your outfit at all.”

Yoo Joonghyuk was wearing a black sweater today, pulled straight from his monochrome wardrobe, the pearl an odd accessory to the smart clothing. Kim Dokja was convinced his roomate didn’t own colours. 

“It’s… important to me.” Yoo Joonghyuk raised a defined eyebrow, “And I can’t part with it.”

Kim Dokja squinted at the necklace. The pearl was embedded into the middle of a small intricate golden star, surrounded by insignias of some kind that were unnoticeable unless you looked closely. He jokingly reached to touch it, but Yoo Joonghyuk suddenly grabbed his wrist, his grip crushingly strong. 

“What are you doing, Kim Dokja?” he growled, and the man in question flicked his eyes up in surprise to meet his roommate’s unnervingly intense stare. 

“Ow, sorry, just wanted to have a closer look. Didn’t realise I wasn’t supposed to touch it.” Kim Dokja grumbled, and Yoo Joonghyuk softened, releasing his hand. Kim Dokja rubbed at his wrist, acting pained but realising it really did hurt. Somewhere deep down, he marvelled at how strong the grip strength of the man was. 

“Just. Don’t touch it. It’s uncomfortable.” Yoo Joonghyuk said slowly, motioning to the front as they started to walk forwards again. 

Kim Dokja raised his hands in surrender. “I won’t! Sorry.”

“And you’re unhygienic.”

“Wa- Hey! That was one time!”

Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t look at him again. 

Inside the establishment, they bypassed the irrelevant enclosures, instead directly beelining for the large underwater viewing rooms to the side of the aquarium. A small group of people were already there, looking through the glass and conversing in hushed whispers. 

A sign was at the entrance to the room, detailing in bold letters; 

Don’t aggravate the mermaid, keep your voice down and respect its presence. 

Kim Dokja marvelled at the irony of the sign as he passed it. 

Inside the room, Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk were able to move up against the glass, the limited number of people milling around allowing them to get closer than Kim Dokja had before. The blue glow from the water fell over the viewing room, the faces of the onlookers shaded with the rippled light refracted through the water of the tank. 

As they got closer to the glass, Yoo Joonghyuk’s movements got stiffer and stiffer. Kim Dokja needed to tug him to get him up against the glass, as there was no way he was going to miss this rare opportunity because of a reluctant roommate. 

The blue of the tank wasn’t fully clear - seemingly empty, but Kim Dokja knew to wait. Soon, people to the left of him whispered excitedly, and he craned his neck over that direction, hoping the mermaid might come over to where he and Yoo Joonghyuk were standing. Where was it? Above? 

He looked up, hoping to see any telltale signs of scales.

Suddenly, Yoo Joonghyuk grabbed Kim Dokja’s arm, causing Kim Dokja to almost jump out of his skin. He was about to protest in confusion, when he looked down and saw with a great deal of shock the onlooking face of a mermaid, staring right at him from below, hands flat against the glass. Thankfully, he wasn’t as shocked due to Yoo Joonghyuk’s first jumpscare, but the big, clear eyes of the mermaid underneath that mess of blonde hair was rather unnerving to look at, especially since they didn’t blink. 

They drifted up a bit, and then Kim Dokja saw it - a long gash that ran diagonally across their torso, and his eyes widened in shock. Yoo Joonghyuk still clutched his arm, forcefully digging his nails through Kim Dokja’s white sweater into his skin, causing Kim Dokja to grunt in pain. 

“Hey! Joonghyuk! You’re hurting me, get your hands off!” He hissed towards his roommate, but was surprised to see the tense expression of emotion on Yoo Joonghyuk’s face, his body locked into a standing position as he stared back at the mermaid. His gaze darted between the two, before resting on the mermaid who was now pressed against the glass, right in front of Yoo Joonghyuk. 

“... Jang Hayoung.” Yoo Joonghyuk muttered, and Kim Dokja raised an eyebrow, able to hear his quiet utterance since he was right next to him. 

“What? Is that their name?” he asked in curiosity. How would Yoo Joonghyuk know something like that?

Recognition passed over his unfocused eyes, and as he snapped out of that trance, Yoo Joonghyuk threw a glare at him. “No. They just remind me of someone I used to know.”

“Ah, I see.” He turned back to the mermaid, who had cocked their head at Kim Dokja, watching as he forcefully pried Yoo Joonghyuk’s hand off his arm. Their face was rather androgynous, their beauty immediately apparent at a glance, but their perfect body was currently marked by their scar. It was a fresh wound, and Kim Dokja could tell by the way it was stitched up, still red and inflamed. He subconsciously wondered what caused such a gash. 

Eyes flickered back over to Yoo Joonghyuk, who had now schooled his face into that of inscrutable blankness, and Kim Dokja observed his strongly defined features that were perfectly aligned into impassiveness. Even Yoo Joonghyuk, who was incredibly conventionally attractive, couldn’t hold a candle to the mermaid in the tank. 

Golden scales that covered their tail glimmered in the light, refracting rays of rainbow light, probably the most visually stunning out of all the mermaids in captivity Kim Dokja had seen so far. He wondered if all mermaids were beautiful. Even though the large tail moved in calculated muscle movements, it gave a surprisingly delicate exuberance, gracefully manipulating the water as the mermaid drifted around. 

Clearly, it wasn’t his mermaid. 

Which, really, Kim Dokja was grateful for. But a small part of him, somewhere deep down, wished it was - just so he could see him again, and put a face to those memories of his. 

He moved to leave - he had confirmed what he wanted to confirm - but Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t follow. 

“Yoo Joonghyuk?” He asked, his roommate waved a dismissive hand, not taking his eyes off the mermaid. 

“Go without me. I just want a few more minutes, alone.”

“...Sure.” Kim Dokja turned, perplexed, out of the room, ambling over to the other exhibits in the aquarium. The decidedly strange behaviour of his roommate as of late definitely needed to be documented or something. Han Sooyoung should include him in her biology report. He could already imagine it: The unique mannerisms of the land-based mammal species Yoo Joonghyuk. Number one: can’t communicate for shit.

He decided to visit the second mermaid captured, a female, who had since migrated into a bigger tank. Both the first male and second female now live in tanks that are separated by a singular glass wall, the enclosures spacious, a feat considering the size limitations. The city’s aquarium had done major remodelling after the first mermaid capture, repurposing a lot of the exhibits only for the mermaids and moving out the existing species to other aquariums, in the expectation there would be more. Of course, there were only 2 up until this point, so a large portion of the tanks remained unused. But, maybe out of consideration of the fact they looked half human, their tanks were larger than any other aquatic animal in captivity. 

He looked up at the glass, watching the long, white hair of the mermaid drift behind her as she twirled through the water. She had a blue water-proof bra on, obviously curated by the aquarium for her, clashing against the natural beauty of her light blue tail that followed her torso. Her naturally red lips blew out bubbles, and Kim Dokja realised after a while that she was communicating with the merman in the enclosure beside her - the clear glass panel showing his watching figure, his sea green tail twitching this way and that. Obviously, they could communicate with each other, it seemed. He didn’t know how, though, since he couldn’t hear anything, and so he walked up closer to the glass, curious. The people were sparse here, as most of them gathered at the new mermaid’s enclosure. 

He watched them in silent enthrallment, their graceful movements and gestures, before a hand clamped down on his shoulder, rudely startling him out of his reverie. He whipped around in bewilderment, before meeting eyes with a cat-like face, framed by a short, black bob.

“Wassup, Dokja” Han Sooyoung grinned at him, and he relaxed immediately. 

“Oh. It’s you.” He deadpanned.

“And me!” Yoo Sangah popped up behind Han Sooyoung, smiling. 

"Sangah! Good to see you!" 

"Wha-" Han Sooyoung gasped, "What is this discrimination?"

"What discrimination?" Kim Dokja snickered, before turning back to the panel of glass. Yoo Sangah slid up beside him, looking contemplatively at their movements. 

"Clearly, they're communicating. I wonder how will we be able to decipher it?" She wondered aloud.

"Don't know. Isn't that something you want to do?" 

"Indeed, it is! Actually," she turned to him, eyes sparkling, "I got a job here to help out with the mermaid conservation project! It was confirmed last night, isn't that exciting!"

Kim Dokja smiled. If anyone deserved that position, it was Yoo Sangah. "Congratulations," he said, and he meant it. 

Han Sooyoung gave a haughty huff of air, "There goes our Yoo Sangah. 'Bout time your talents got recognised"

"Aww, thanks," Yoo Sangah blushed, joining her hands in modest glee. 

"You better get us the inside gossip on the mermaid situations then," Han Sooyoung added on, stringing an arm around the taller lady's shoulders, "Alright?"

She blushed again. "Ah, I'll try…."

"Sooyoung, stop bullying her," Kim Dokja laughed, waving off Han Sooyoung's immediate "Hey!"

As they fooled around a bit, they didn't notice the mermaid looking at them through the glass, her steely grey eyes tracing their movements silently.

Bubbles escaped her mouth, and the merman on the other side nodded once, his black hair floating lazily above his head as he pushed away in a beat of sea-green sparkles.

Back at the dorm, Yoo Joonghyuk was silent again as they entered, plopping into their respective desk chairs on the opposite sides of the room. 

"What was that about?" Kim Dokja said, lazily lolling his head towards his companion. "You are such a weirdo."

"...Just wanted to see the mermaid for a bit longer." 

"Why? The mermaid that pretty?" 

"What?" Yoo Joonghyuk looked at him, an unreadable look passing over his face. "No, not because of that." 

"Why else? Also, you gripped me so hard, what was that for? Were you scared?"

A displeased frown took over Yoo Joonghyuk's face at the continuous questions. "...Ignore that. I was just feeling a little dizzy and needed something to stabilise myself."

Kim Dokja raised a slow eyebrow. "What, are you iron deficient? Have an incurable disease of I'm-deathly-scared-of-blondes?" A new addition, Number two: Yoo Joonghyuk is scared of mermaids?

"...None of your business." 

Kim Dokja's eyebrows twitched in annoyance. I'm trying to look out for him, why is he being so uncooperative? I'm almost regretting allowing him to come over. 

"Oookay. Well, I'm free on Tuesday, and I'd assume you are too, want to come over and check out my beach then?" 

"Okay", Yoo Joonghyuk replied immediately.  Kim Dokja leaned back, checking his watch. It was Sunday.

 "That was fast." 

"...I just really want to… explore new areas." Yoo Joonghyuk said lowly, swivelling back to his desk. 

Kim Dokja watched his back in amusement, before turning to his own desk, mentally replaying the golden radiance of the mermaid in the aquarium. 

"Mermaids, what a topic." The lecturer said, standing in front of the class in the lecture hall. "Not much information can be delivered as facts when it's to do with mermaids." 

Kim Dokja looked down at his open notebook, and then back at the projected slideshow on the large screens at the front. Professor White - that was the name of the foreign male guest lecturer, who stood in a blue office outfit, hands on the podium in front of him. 

"We can make inferences, though. And the reason why I'm here is to teach you about the scientific observations that have been made on mermaids. Since this is a very new topic, conclusions that have been made now could be very well wrong in a few months."

A small wave of decorous laughter. 

"But, we can start with the structure of a mermaid." 

The sideshow blinked to a new slide. 3 pictures of mermaids were side by side, each one depicting one of the mermaids in captivity, including the new one.

"As you can see, mermaids have an upper body uncannily similar to humans, but from the waist below, there is a tail covered in scales like that of a fish. We don't know fully why, or how, since we still aren't allowed to operate on the mermaids." The professor chuckled a little at his words, and some of the class reciprocated. Kim Dokja stayed silent.

"But visually, it is shown that mermaids all have light-coloured tails, presumably to attract mates… Yes?"

Professor White was looking at him, and Kim Dokja realised he had stuck his hand up. Itchiness prickling at his neck in embarrassment, Kim Dokja lowered his hand and said in a faint voice, "But that's not true. They can have darker tails too." 

He thought of the jet-black tail in his memories, a brilliant iridescent sheen coating it as it rested against the rock pools, flicking water as it twitched lazily. 

"Darker tails? What's your name?"

"...Kim Dokja, sir"

"Well, Dokja, why do you say they could have darker tails? Have you seen one?"

Some chuckles in the hall, and Kim Dokja felt his cheeks burn. He didn't know why he was bothering to refute the opinions of the guest lecturer right now, but he couldn't just say he'd seen one. 

 "... I'm just thinking logically, sir. From some of the sighting photos of mermaids that aren't in captivity, you can see that some may have darker tails. This could be due to poor camera and lighting quality, too, but if you think about it, at deep depths, it would make sense for mermaids to have darker tails as well. Natural evolution is shown in other aquatic species that they display darker colours for easier camouflage into the darker waters."

The hall was silent. Professor White smiled, showing his teeth. "Good points. It's not to say that scientists haven't thought of this either; I just haven’t gotten to that part yet."

Kim Dokja felt his face redden, and sunk into his chair, looking away to try and stave off his shame. As he darted his eyes around, he noticed multiple gazes on him, but the most piercing coming from Yoo Joonghyuk who sat in the front row, staring at him with an imperceptible look. Kim Dokja squinted back, before looking at Professor White again. 

"We just have never had any solid evidence of darker-coloured tails just yet, so we mostly assumed that the colours mimic that of the ocean. However, the latest mermaid capture of course, changes this assumption, as theirs is golden, a very uncommon colour." The professor continued on, and Kim Dokja felt a nudge from Han Sooyoung who was sitting beside him. 

"You should just become a mermaid specialist." She joked in a whisper, and Kim Dokja flashed her a sarcastic smile. 

"Hey. He's wrong, though." 

"How?" She gave him a suspicious look, before jabbing a finger into his shoulder, "I knew it! You've definitely met a mermaid. You always talk like you know so much about them."

Kim Dokja narrowed his eyes. Maybe he should just tell her. Yoo Sangah wasn't here today because of clashes with her conservation work, so she was just going to catch up via the online recording later.

"Remember the day I went diving with Yoo Sangah?"

"Yes…" her eyes widened, "Don't tell me?"

"Shhh." He motioned a finger over his lips, and continued in a hushed tone, "I saw a mermaid in the depths. They had a really dark tail, and I'm fairly sure it's not just the lighting." 

She opened her mouth in shock, then narrowed her eyes as she hissed, "Why didn't you tell me? That's huge!"

"Because we didn't want more people to know about it! And sorry, we were going to tell you later…"

Han Sooyoung jutted out her bottom lip, crossing her arms. "Rude. Is that how you treat your best friend?"

Crap , Kim Dokja felt even worse. "Sorry, sorry", he apologised, putting his hands in prayer. Han Sooyoung slid him a glance, sticking her tongue in her cheek as she pretended to think about something, before saying in a teasing tone, 

"Well, now you can only spill any more secrets you've kept from me"

"Ehhhhh…" Kim Dokja trailed off, crossing his arms as he scrunched his face. Actually, why doesn't he just tell her about the mermaid from his childhood? It's not like she'd spill it to anyone - she may joke about it, but in reality, is pretty good at keeping secrets. And, they've been friends for a long time now.

"Fine. Meet me after this."

"Eh, really?" Han Sooyoung blinked, before giving a sly grin. "Awesome."

 A wry smile appeared on his face as he turned back to the lecturer, who had now moved on to a different topic.

"Their language is quite different from ours, which from observations is concluded to have influences from other aquatic animals. They can't understand the human language… Yes again, Kim Dokja?"

Kim Dokja lowered his hand, cursing his instinctive need to correct the professor. 

"Sorry to interrupt again, sir," he said, which was met with some snickers in the hall, "but maybe they can understand our language?"

Professor White displayed a small annoyed frown, which flashed away when he smiled courteously and replied, "And why do you think that? Please do explain your theory."

Kim Dokja thought for a second, knowing he wasn't about to say anything personal. His gaze roamed the class again, and once more met that familiar face in the front of the class. Number three: Yoo Joonghyuk stares a lot.

"Well, I just think we don't have enough evidence to completely rule out the idea of them understanding us. Maybe they know what we are saying but just don't reciprocate because either they don't know how to speak it or they don't want to. Maybe they just all agree not to speak our language?”

A bit more silence. Professor White raised an eyebrow. 

“Interesting theory, Kim Dokja. There could be that possibility, but it seems illogical for the mermaids to not communicate with us if they can, does it not?”

Some chuckles in the class. Kim Dokja frowned. 

“...I guess so. Please ignore my theory then, sir.”

“I encourage the discussion. Anybody else who wants to input their own ideas is fully welcome; this is indeed a Masters' course…”

“Han Sooyoung, accompany me for lunch?” Kim Dokja said, walking through the university grounds. The person in question looked up at him from her phone, smiling craftily. 

“You better spill that tea right now. Is it blackmail-worthy? Please tell me it’s blackmail-worthy.” 

“I don’t know about that”, Kim Dokja replied, spotting an empty chair on the side of a stretch of grass, lonely and secluded from everyone. 

“Darn.” she grumbled, following him as he plopped onto the warm wood. 

Once they were seated, Kim Dokja leaned back on the chair, feeling the midday sun warm his face as he upturned it to the sky. 

“Han Sooyoung, you would never spill my secret, right?”

“Depends on what it is,” she grinned.

“Promise?”

“You know I wouldn’t,” she huffed, “unless you murdered someone.”

A pause, and she suspiciously glanced at him. “…Oh god, don’t tell me you murdered someone? Where’s the body?” 

“What? No-” Kim Dokja shifted to face her.

“Was it Yoo Joonghyuk? I always knew that bastard had it coming for him-”

“Shut up. I didn’t kill anyone. It’s not that racy of a secret; calm down.”

She quirked an eyebrow and looked at him expectantly as he sighed and faced the blue expanse above again. “You know how you said I’ve met a mermaid before? Well… I did, a long time ago.”

His statement hung in the dry early autumn air, and Kim Dokja pursed his lips in expectation. 

"...Oh. Is that it? That's literally not a big deal."

"Hey- it kinda is! I've never told anybody about it until now!" He faced her, propping his arm on the back of the bench. 

Han Sooyoung gave him a sarcastic display of feeling, holding a hand against her chest. "I'm touched. But seriously, was that it? Why were you so scared to tell me?"

"Well…" Kim Dokja pouted, "I don't know. It's just…” He paused, trying to find the right words, “precious memories from my childhood. I can't even remember it that clearly anymore. But even knowing anything about the whereabouts of a mermaid is such sought-after information these days - so even though I'm sure the mermaid isn't there anymore, it's just dangerous information to give out."

"What, dangerous to the mermaid?" Han Sooyoung cocked her head, black hair falling across his face. She scrutinised him a bit, before a soft smile tweaked at her lips. "You're a little protective sometimes, you know? Was she special to you?"

"She? Oh- it was a male mermaid. And yeah, he was my first friend, I suppose." 

A sly twist to the smile. "Oh, was it?"

Kim Dokja frowned at her indecipherably cheeky expression. "...It was. I don't remember much of him though, as my memories of him are spotty from time and other events, as you know. But his tail- it was jet black, and he spoke Korean."

Han Sooyoung’s eyes widened, her eyelashes fanned out as she breathed, “So Professor White was wrong… Wait. Are you sure it's not your memories messing with you?”

“Nah. Wouldn’t dream up the year he spoke to me in proper human tongue.”

Han Sooyoung squinted, tapping the back of her phone. “So why would the mermaids in captivity not communicate? Or maybe they actually don’t know how to?”

Kim Dokja shrugged. “I have no idea. I only know the experience I had is vastly different from the mermaids in captivity.”

“...Interesting,” Han Sooyoung said, sticking out her tongue in thought as she whipped out her phone and thumbed out something in her notes.  

“Yeah. I want to meet him again, one day. But the odds are like getting struck by lightning - extremely unlikely”

“Why’s that? Maybe one day someone will capture him, you know?”

“Don’t joke about that.” Kim Dokja frowned, “And I don’t remember his face anymore. I don’t even know if he is alive.”

“You know,” Han Sooyoung said, “Yoo Sangah has told me some stuff about mermaids. And current research at the centres shows that they live longer than humans. Based on models of their age and decay of their body cells, in comparison to the rate of death in humans, it’s like 1 mermaid year is an estimated 1.4 years for humans. Something like that anyway,” she studied her nails, “And it's not a firm estimate yet since the oldest one has only aged 3 human years. But I bet your mermaid is still out there and kicking.” She frowned “-flicking? Can you say kicking if they don’t have legs?”

Kim Dokja smiled in bemusement. “I’m not sure if that assures me or terrifies me, Sooyoung.”

She shrugged. “Well, the more you know.”

Chapter Text

ONE SUMMER A LONG TIME AGO

It was a cloudy day, the rays of light muffled by the heavy grey that crowded the heavens, casting an even, dull blanket of light onto the surroundings. A wind was starting up across the coast, which whipped at the trees and shrubs, blowing sand uncomfortably around. 

Kim Dokja sniffled as he aimlessly prodded at the ground with a stick he had found, crouching on the wooden back stairs of his house. Sand blew into his sandals, and he frowned, abruptly standing up, the stick clattering onto the worn steps. 

So what if his father forgot his birthday again? He wasn’t just going to sit there on their back porch again. He didn’t want to be around when Father got angry, anyway. He could already hear them - Mother’s rising voice, shrill and audible through the walls of their cabin house, and Father’s baritone diatribe - slowly devolving into a big argument, birthday long forgotten. He scuffed his sandal across the wooden grain, before peering at the expanse of sand that lay in the distance, wanting to get away, stop the sounds, mute the shouts.

And so he walked down the path, avoiding the invading dots of pale green dotting the winding snake of sand, the wind blowing carelessly through his black hair. Waves in the distance were getting bigger, and Kim Dokja drew his arms around him, his shirt and shorts offering little protection in the wind. It wasn’t like it was cold yet - it was just a futile attempt to lessen the sting of the sand biting into his bare skin as it was picked up by the gusts across the beach, to lessen the goosebumps caused by the projected spray of cool water through the air.

He needed to get off this beach, get away from his house, distract his mind. And so Kim Dokja scanned the cove, contemplating where he should go, gaze locking on the coastal cliffs on the left. 

A little bit of trekking across the shifting sand, and he was there, huffing from his weak stamina. He hadn’t ever really gone further onto the rocks, because Mother had forbidden it - “You’ll injure yourself!” - but he decided to ignore her warnings now, thinking himself competent enough now to brave the rocky plains. 

Well, that is what he thought, but uncertainty started to pool in his gut as he started to climb the rocky shelf, walking across the uneven surfaces as the house disappeared behind the cliff face. He thought the wind would be calmer here, but it wasn’t. It still tugged at his clothes, whipped at the shrubs atop the cliff face, and caused ripples through the myriad of rock pools. Was this a stupid idea?

 He paused, shaking his head, reassuring himself it wasn’t. This was because 1) He was partially sulking, and 2) partially scared to go home, and so he walked on, the cove where he had lived for the past 10 years slowly being hidden by the rocky wall. 

The rocks seemed to go on forever, and so Kim Dokja stopped after he couldn’t see any of his beach anymore, plonking down onto the hard surface and shoving his head into his arms atop his knees. 

He sat like that for a while, listening to the wind ease up, the chirps of birds slowly come back to life, and to the irregular splash, splash of something in a rockpool. 

Splash.

Splash, splash. 

Kim Dokja blinked into his arm, before slowly raising his head. The splashes… it was more like heavy thumps, of something in a rock pool. It doesn’t sound like a normal sea critter you’d find in rock pools around here. It sounded… bigger. Bigger than a crab, and with a tail of sorts. 

Maybe a stranded fish? 

Curiosity bloomed in his chest. Maybe he should find the fish and help it back into the sea?

Quickly, his eyes darted over the rocks neighbouring him, the sky above breaking apart with rays of golden light shining through. It seemed the windy weather was slowly letting up, and Kim Dokja squinted at the sudden brightness of his surroundings. 

With a bit of tilting of his head, he realised the sound seemed to be originating from further along the ledge, behind some rocks to his left. Kim Dokja carefully crawled over to the rocks, peeking around as a creeping curiosity drowned out the chill of the atmosphere. 

And then froze, fingers gripping the rock as he took in what was beyond.

He saw the tail first, a long black thing, aimlessly flicking and hitting water beside it. Then he saw the boy- no, what were they called? Mother had read him that fairy tale story, with creatures like this in it, the Little Mer- that’s right! A mermaid. 

A what? Kim Dokja stared, his eyes as wide as dinner plates. The boy-mermaid looked bored, lying sideways on the rocks, propped up on his left arm as he inspected the rock pools in front of him. He hadn’t noticed Kim Dokja, who was frozen in shock, as his slightly tanned back was facing Kim Dokja.

Splash, splash. The boy’s tail was hitting the shallow rock pools along the edge arrhythmically, leaning down his head as he inspected something, the arm that he leaned on shifting slightly on the rocks. 

But that was a fairytale! Do mermaids actually exist??

He needed to make sure. And so, as quietly as he could, he snuck around the rocks, tiptoeing to the mermaid’s lounging place. The mermaid didn’t seem to hear him, so Kim Dokja sidled up to where their tail lay and curiously touched the glossy, iridescent scales. 

Immediately, that tail flew up and whacked him across the face. 

Kim Dokja yelped in surprise as he landed on his arse, indignantly rubbing his sore cheek as he glared towards the perpetrator. The mermaid was glaring right back at him, and then yelled something in a language Kim Dokja couldn’t understand. So Kim Dokja glared hard at the mermaid’s face, lined with baby fat yet artfully aligned into an affronted expression. More specifically, he was looking at the mermaid’s eyes. They were disks of yellow, darkened with anger, furrowed under strongly defined eyebrows as the mermaid spouted something else in the same foreign language. He looked about the same age as Kim Dokja.

“Are you a Princess?” Kim Dokja blurted out, and the boy looked taken aback, his face momentarily blanking. 

“Are you stupid?” the mermaid responded, switching languages immediately. 

“Well…” Kim Dokja blushed, “My Ma told me a story where there were mermaids, but they were all princesses.” 

The boy glared, his yellow eyes flashing. “Stupid human. I am not a princess. And you should’ve said something earlier; I did not know it was this language you spoke.”

Kim Dokja frowned. “Well, what are you then? Is that tail real?”

The boy froze, realisation lighting up behind his eyes as he anxiously whipped his head around. “I am not supposed to be here,” he said, before half struggling, half crawling over to the edge of the rock shelf. 

“Wait!” Kim Dokja scrambled forward, attempting to grab the mermaid’s arm. “Don’t go!”

“Let go of me!” the mermaid hissed, a mixture of fright and indignation passing over their face as they teetered on the precipice. 

“No!” Kim Dokja cried, “I want to be friends with a mermaid!” 

Below, the sea rippled and undulated under the ledge, not too far from where the mermaid was struggling now. Kim Dokja gave a tug in his direction, and the mermaid gave a disproportionately strong tug back, which sent a shocked Kim Dokja stumbling forward. On the edge, Kim Dokja yelped and attempted to balance himself with a bit of comical wheeling of his arms, the water underneath gnashing and slurping hungrily. 

But alas, balance was never his strong suit, and Kim Dokja fell forward, the water rushing up to meet his stunned face.

Ah, he thought, mermaids are strong, before hitting the cold water which immediately doused his thoughts into a shocked blankness. 

And then, he panicked. Because it suddenly occurred to him - he can’t swim.

Yes, Kim Dokja didn’t know how to swim. How did he live in a beach cabin and not know how to swim? Well, his parents lived here out of necessity - for what he never asked - not because they liked the beach. And, his father was always out at the town pub, or in an argument with his mother. And Mother, when she wasn’t trying to get away from her husband, she was sitting in her room, or on their porch, her hands mindlessly doing something as she gazed out across the sea. It had been a long time since Kim Dokja had a meaningful conversation with either of his parents. At least Mother tried some days. But a lot of the time recently, she was like this, a forlorn expression across her face as she gazed into the blue horizon.  And thus, he was never taught to swim. He was also too much of a wuss to go out further than the water level of his waist. 

This led to this moment: Kim Dokja, thrashing in the sea as he panicked and tried to get his head above the water. But the waves were too strong, pushing and shoving his small body around, terror impeding his desperate attempt at swimming, limbs getting frantic and careless. His leg hit a rock under the water, and in a brief burst of pain, Kim Dokja opened his mouth instinctively, water rushing in and causing him to cough and sink. This only furthered his distress, as his head dipped under the water for far too long, his lungs burning for air as he kicked and struggled and blinked profusely.   

He was sinking. Was someone going to help him? Mother ? Kim Dokja squeezed his eyes shut as he struggled to find the surface of water, arms wheeling because he needed to breathe, he was running out of air, his throat was closing up- 

A pair of arms wrapped around his torso, a strong kick pushing Kim Dokja and his saviour through the water. Kim Dokja gripped onto their shoulders blindly, digging in his fingers like an owl's talons into their prey because his life did depend on it. 

 They broke the ocean's surface, and Kim Dokja immediately gulped in the sweet air, coughing and hacking, prying his eyes open and letting in the bleak sunlight of the day. A swimming, unfocused shadow of the person wrapped around his torso came into view, and in his delirium, Kim Dokja hoarsely whispered "Mother?". 

A click of a tongue, and Kim Dokja blinked as the figure started to focus, their yellow-tinged eyes sharpening into view and very much not Mother. A shift of arm position; now only one arm hooked under his armpits across his chest - and Kim Dokja squeaked as his saviour started to swim powerfully along the rock shelves, dragging him haphazardly along. He squeezed his eyes and mouth shut again, clinging onto the mermaid's arm.

Kim Dokja hadn't realised they had stopped until he heard the mermaid's voice say, "Can you stand up now?". He opened his eyes, blinking at how they were back in his little beach cove, sitting out in the ocean at about just about a few feet of depth. Since he was a pretty average height for a 10-year-old, it was manageable and he comfortably was able to place his feet on the sandy floor. 

He looked back to the mermaid, who still had their arm around his chest, and the incredulity of it all suddenly rushed through his mind, bursting out in a sudden rupture of laughter. The boy-mermaid looked perplexed, raising a defined eyebrow, and said, "What is it, human boy?"

Kim Dokja rubbed his palms into his eyes, wiping out the water. "Why did you save me?"

"You were weaker than expected."

Kim Dokja smiled, dropping his hands, before glancing back at his small, isolated beach house, an ugly spot against the bleached green. "Are you also 10?"

The mermaid tipped his head. "I think so, in human years."

Kim Dokja grinned. "Awesome! It's my birthday today. My parents didn't get me anything, but the sea gave me a real-life mermaid, so that's even better."

The mermaid's eyes widened, his eyebrows shooting underneath his black bangs, which had somehow already sprung back to their original position. He released his grip on Kim Dokja's torso, making him stand by himself as he watched Kim Dokja with careful eyes. Kim Dokja stood unsteadily, the latent panic escaping his veins and making his muscles feel like putty, the weight of his wet clothes an unfamiliar pressure against his skin. 

Kim Dokja continued on, "Please don't tell my parents about this. Pinky swear."

The mermaid looked at Kim Dokja's outstretched pinky. "What is that."

Kim Dokja squinted his eyes, pushing his free hand through his wet hair, slicking it back. "Don't you know what this is, mermaid boy? It's where you make a promise so sacred you can never break it, upon wrapping your pinkies together. Obviously." He grinned again.

Mermaid-boy met Kim Dokja's gaze again, an indecipherable expression passing over his face. "Okay, but why would your human parents not want to know about you almost dying?"

"Don't worry about it," Kim Dokja said, waving his free hand in the air, "just pinky swear to seal our unbreakable bond."

The mermaid stared at him for a little longer, before a ghost of a smile passed over his face, and he reached out his other hand, similar size to Kim Dokja’s but slightly webbed between the fingers. He muttered something in that foreign language again, before saying loudly, "...Okay. Humans have such interesting traditions."

And they wrapped their pinkies together, shaking it once. 

"You can not tell your human parents about me either, otherwise I'll be in trouble," the mermaid warned, his face back into that slightly indignant expression. Kim Dokja, wading back to shore, waved behind him, giving his assurances he wouldn't. 

"I'll see you again, mermaid boy!" He called, as the mermaid flicked his ebony tail, preparing to swim underwater. 

"We'll see," was the response, and an exuberant joy washed through his body, stretching Kim Dokja's mouth into a wide grin as their tail disappeared below the waves, leaving nothing but ripples. A friend. He had just made a friend- and not only that, a mermaid.

He was on such a euphoric high that he almost forgot his leg was bleeding, he was soaked, and had nearly died.

Later that night, when he lay in bed, Kim Dokja realised he didn't even get the mermaid's name.

PRESENT TUESDAY

Tuesday came around fast, the cloudy weather signalling the potential afternoon rains. Kim Dokja's shoes hit the cool pavement, the temperate wind weakly blowing across his pale blue windbreaker jacket as he strolled through the university grounds. Yoo Sangah waved to him as she walked up to him, her fancy black car still humming at a standstill behind her. 

"What's the news?" Kim Dokja asked once she was in earshot. He was only willingly out this early because Yoo Sangah wanted to show him something, making him get up at the gruelling hours of 8am to cater for her excellent sleeping schedule. 

Yoo Sangah smiled. "I've been studying that case we found. You know, the boat? I've also been looking at that pocketwatch," she shuffled around in her handbag, "and I've found it to be very interesting. You can have it back after I show you."

"Oh?" Kim Dokja quirked an eyebrow as she procured the familiar pocket watch, the silver casing gleaming faintly. Through the clear circular window, he saw the hands of the watch ticking.

"Yeah," she motioned to her car on the curb, "come inside for a bit. I'll show you quickly before I head off for work."

Once they were seated, she carefully opened the top, revealing the full watch face - which in slight disappointment, Kim Dokja noted was rather plain, tainted with spots of water damage. 

"Don't you think the casing and the insides are quite dissimilar? In terms of quality?"

Kim Dokja tipped his head to look at the chrome sides. The engravings were still there, etched into the metal in its peculiar patterns, the lustre a stark difference against the dull watch face. He traced a finger along them, furrowing his eyebrows. Why do they feel… a bit familiar?

"I see what you mean. That clock face is quite plain in comparison to the intricacy of the outside."

"Right?" Yoo Sangah smiled, tapping the off-white clock face right in the centre where the two clock hands joined. "So I pulled it apart to look into it. I found that the insides were actually from some cheap brand that shut down more than 20 years ago. Doesn't that feel a bit odd?"

She shut the pocket watch, flipping the casing so the underbelly was in full view, and Kim Dokja got a good look at the patterns inscribed onto it. It seemed like writing of some sort, but delicately placed in a circular motion, interspaced with symbols. Upon closer inspection, the symbols appeared to represent sea life, furthered as Yoo Sangah pointed towards a relatively small fish. 

"You see, these engravings… don't look like they came with the watch originally."

Kim Dokja raised his eyebrows. "A persuasive statement, Sangah. Care to share your reasoning?"

"Glad you asked." Yoo Sangah smiled, glancing up to meet his eyes. "So the material the casing is made of is actually quite an expensive, rare metal. It has only been found in deep ocean reserves, and even then, this metal is not found in an abundance that would allow for such wastage on a mere pocket watch.

"And so, a cheap company making a mid-range pocket watch having such an expensive material for the outside doesn't make much sense, does it? Especially since this shouldn't even be conceivable within our human exploits 20 years ago."

Kim Dokja flickered his eyes back to the watch, tracing the peculiar symbols with his eyes. 

"... You're right. That doesn't make much sense. But how do we know that this was actually made by that company and not a big designer corporation?"

"The hardware of the insides all say it," Yoo Sangah winked, "It's even on the watch hands."

Sure enough, Kim Dokja opened the casing and saw it engraved into the hands in small letters. 'NIRVANA TECH' . It was so subtle that he hadn't even seen it at first.

"Just a result of product codes for the company that were commonly used. It's pretty genuine that the innards are all from this company. However, even though the hardware for their watches was commended, this company wasn't renowned for designer-level pocket watches and especially took shortcuts on the casings. Probably contributing to why they shut down." Yoo Sangah shrugged, but smiled again, curving her eyes.

"Which means, we're either got some rich mogul who dropped this, or we're dealing with a foreign party who destroyed the boat. Someone who has the capabilities and access to create such a finely crafted casing from such a rare and expensive metal. And who could also cause such a large gash into metal." 

Her eyes suddenly seemed to have a sinister glint to them. A cold shiver trickled down Kim Dokja's back, goosebumps prickling across his neck, and he coughed, shutting the watch again.

"What do you mean by that?"

"This brings me to the other thing I investigated, the shipwreck?" Yoo Sangah plucked the watch onto the dashboard, juggling out her phone from the depths of her purse. 

"The boat we saw nearby?"

"Yep." 

She swiped up a photo onto her screen, and Kim Dokja glimpsed a grainy shot of a fish trawling boat. It was night, and the gleam of artificial lamps illuminated a golden, shiny tail wrapped in netting on the deck.

Kim Dokja's eyes widened. "That's-!"

"Indeed it is. The latest mermaid capture. More photos are being leaked and this is one of them. You see this boat they used?" She swiped to another photo that displayed the hull, printed with the name. "It's actually a sister boat to the one we saw that had sunk."

"Sister boat?"

"As in, owned by the same people. The Olympus group. And these people are known to be mermaid hunters."

 "Really?" He glanced back towards the pocket watch. "But why waste your career on something that barely ever has profit?" 

"Oh don't get me wrong, they operate under the guise of a fishing company. But on the side, they most certainly do mermaid-searching expeditions. Everybody who fishes in our docks knows them and the sketchy business they get up to."

Mermaid hunters… He frowned, flashes of the beautiful inky iridescent scales flickering across his mind. I wonder if he’s encountered them yet.

Yoo Sangah clicked her tongue. "And how they treat the mermaids is so cruel too- as if they were objects, only used for financial gain. As if they were just like any other fish.

"I've been with the new mermaid, Dokja." 

He briefly thinks back to their golden radiance, juxtaposed by the gash that traced their torso. 

"Their wound?" 

Yoo Sangah nodded firmly. "Done by them. Olympus. Twisted by economic gain - yet another who has fallen into the mermaid hunting frenzy. They have no qualms in hurting the creatures as long as they are still marketable in the end."

"That's sick." He grimaced, "isn't this like, a rights violation of some sort?" 

"Mermaids are too new and few in number to have proper fishing rights established yet. But I aim to fix that," Yoo Sangah smiled grimly, "and that's why I'm joining the conservation efforts to get a better outlook on them."

Kim Dokja's lips curved up. That's right, Yoo Sangah was always a proactive one. That's what he admired about Yoo Sangah so much - her determination to make things right.

"I hope for that day too. So do you think this pocket watch is theirs?"

"Could be," she shrugged, "but I think there's something to do with this incident we don't know yet. As in, how did it sink? That gash was not a normal injury that would be caused by running into reefs or rocks. It was too… unnatural." 

"So you think that the pocket watch could also have been dropped by someone not on the boat?" 

"Exactly", her eyes gleamed in excitement, "and this could entail a direct link to mermaids. Think about it, how Olympus are mermaid hunters and that mermaid you saw that day. It's got to be."

"You aren't wrong." He grabbed the pocket watch again, feeling the cool, grooved sides in his palm. 

"This is groundbreaking news, because what if there's even more knowledge about mermaids that Olympus aren't sharing, because they're keeping these incidents and search missions under wraps?" 

Yoo Sangah had that inquisitive sparkle to her eye that signified she was thinking up a storm. Kim Dokja felt his lips curve up, content to see her so excited. 

"Hey, Sangah." He noted the time on the dashboard. Past 8:30 am.  

"Yes?"

"What if I've… seen another mermaid before."

"You have?" She arched a manicured eyebrow.

"Well, I think if you're working in mermaid research, it'd be unfair to withhold information from you." He grinned at the curiously perplexed look that settled onto her features. Alas, time was not on his side here, so maybe he’ll tease her for now.

"I'll tell you about it in detail later, since you need to get to work,” he tapped the door, “and I need to go as well, but know that mermaid tails can be black as well, and that some can definitely speak Korean." He started to get out of the car, smiling widely at the obvious gears churning inside Yoo Sangah's mind. 

"W-wait! Dokja! You can't just tell me this and not elaborate!" She hurriedly called out as Kim Dokja slowly closed the door. 

"I'll talk to you later! " He said through the opened window, "And I'll tell you all the details you want. But you can't be late to work!”

He waved the pocket watch, still wrapped up in his hand. "Also, I'm taking this!"

Yoo Sangah nodded and quickly glanced at her watch, grimacing at the time. "OK, fine, you win this one. Promise me the full, juicy story!" 

"OK, ok," he called, watching as she pulled out swiftly, tires squeaking against the asphalt with her surprisingly dangerous driving. 

This is kind of fun. I'm sure this will get her mind racing. He grinned, despite an uneasy feeling churning in his gut with his secret being exposed to yet another person.

But, if he's told Han Sooyoung of all people, he can definitely also trust Yoo Sangah. After that conversation, he's certain she should know.

Eyes trained on the road, Kim Dokja watched the coastline briefly appear in bursts of cerulean blue through the crowds of trees that lined the highway. Next to him, Yoo Joonghyuk silently stared out the passenger window, his chin resting on his palm. 

When Kim Dokja had returned to the dormitory, he was surprised to find Yoo Joonghyuk already awake, a black mass sitting on his bed in the shadowed room. Having already slipped the pocket watch away, Kim Dokja had wrung open the curtains, letting light spill into the room and illuminating Yoo Joonghyuk’s waiting figure. In the light of the sun, his roommate's inky silhouette became normal, and Kim Dokja breathed out, releasing a tension he hadn't realised was present in his body.

Now, on the way to his cabin house, he kept stealing glances towards the man sitting adjacent, who hadn't said a word since they had entered the small car. Kim Dokja could feel the awkwardness clouding the air, and he desperately raked his brain to think of something to say.

"Sooo…" he started, and Yoo Joonghyuk angled his head towards him, "do you do ocean swimming comps?"

"No."

"You ever consider it? I'm sure you have the body for it." Kim Dokja had not been unaware of the supreme muscle mass Yoo Joonghyuk possessed, and definitely wasn't jealous or anything. 

"No need." Yoo Joonghyuk said, before hesitating as he looked at Kim Dokja, who watched him in his peripherals. He added on, "... I do it because I find it freeing."

 Kim Dokja peeked towards his roommate, before looking back at the road. Did he just try to continue the conversation? He smiled. Yoo Joonghyuk is making strides today.  

"That's good, kind of the same for diving for me. It's an experience to feel water pressing against your entire body, floating by yourself, with only your breaths loud in your ears. It's isolating but meditative, in a way. I enjoy it."

"Are you going to swim today?"

"Why not?" Kim Dokja grinned towards his roommate. "If you're going to, I'll join. It's a surprisingly warm day today." 

As the sun had started to blaze into the sky, the clouds had cleared and the temperature ramped up. It was within expectations, but Kim Dokja hadn't expected to discard his windbreaker so soon. 

"Okay." 

"I'll even give you a tour. Not that there's much in the house, but the beach area is nice."

They were driving through a small coastal town now, diverted off the highway and winding through long main roads that passed through the town centre. The sparkling ocean was clear on the horizon as they peaked over a hill, dipping behind low buildings as they drove on. 

"We're close now," Kim Dokja smiled, glancing at Yoo Joonghyuk, but his smile fell away at the slightly terse expression pulling on his roommate's lips. Blinking, Kim Dokja looked forward again, watching the buildings thin out as they crossed into coastal roads. What was that expression?

As if he had read his mind, Yoo Joonghyuk's expression had turned back into passiveness when Kim Dokja peeked again, making him frown inwardly. 

The occasional driveway appeared on the right, more often dirt than asphalt. Kim Dokja flicked his eyes down to the dashboard, reading the time. 11:45am

"You want to have lunch when we arrive? I should have some ingredients…"

"Like what?"

"Um." Kim Dokja raked his mind as they pulled into his driveway, a decent drive away from the town. "Maybe a carrot?"

Yoo Joonghyuk raised a slow eyebrow. 

They pulled up to the side of the cabin, the dirt rubble squeaking under his tires as he braked. In the distance, the crescent of sand stretched across, meeting the blue horizon in an ever shifting line of harmony. Kim Dokja stood outside for a brief second, smelling the sharp freshness of the air, watching the glistening waves cresting onto the beach, the weight of the pocket watch pressing against his leg. The familiarity of it all helped wash a calming wave over his uneasy heart.

Yoo Joonghyuk took a bit longer to get out, his eyes fixated on the cove in front. So, sparing him only a glance, Kim Dokja trudged over to the cabin. 

 It looked just as he remembered, a small, desolate wooden cabin, an incongruous speck nestled into the sloping, bleached backdrop of the cove. It needs a new paint job, Kim Dokja thought absently, taking in the white paint flaking off the wooden slats across the sides of the house. Wrapping a hand around the cold doorknob, the back door groaned on its hinges as Kim Dokja entered.

It turns out, he only had a carrot. And one sad, out-of-date carton of milk. Maybe that was an egg in the fridge door? Kim Dokja squinted at his sad collection in his fridge, shutting it as he heard Yoo Joonghyuk enter the cabin. 

"I found you." His roommate was standing in the doorway, just outside the light of the kitchen windows, causing his face to be shrouded by the shadows of the hallway. An awkward laugh sparked out of Kim Dokja. 

"Sorry, just needed to go and check my house first." The house isn't too hard to navigate, though.

Yoo Joonghyuk slid a glance at his hand resting on his fridge door, and quickly Kim Dokja interjected, "Um, I might have stuff in the cabinets?" 

Before he could move, however, Yoo Joonghyuk snapped open the cabinets, exposing two measly packets of instant noodles. 

"Kim Dokja…" he started, a crease forming between his brows, and the man in question unconsciously gulped. 

Yoo Joonghyuk was a menace in the kitchen, and Kim Dokja found this out the unfortunate way. Sidelined in his own kitchen, Kim Dokja watched meekly from the doorway as Yoo Joonghyuk cut and banged and whirled his way around the bench tops, procuring something amazing out of measly ingredients and sheer determination.

Simply put, Kim Dokja was absolutely gobsmacked when Yoo Joonghyuk finally put two bowls of ramen onto the table, even with the egg on top perfectly cooked. A tentative bite, and flavour exploded within his mouth - gulping greedily, Kim Dokja laughed in a mixture of incredulity and awe. 

His roommate glanced up at the commotion, and Kim Dokja grinned at him.

"Joonghyuk, who knew you were so good at cooking?? How did you even accomplish this out of the miserable things in my kitchen?" He laughed again, "Can you become my personal chef?" 

Yoo Joonghyuk paused, his usual necklace catching the light that filtered through the windows, glinting in Kim Dokja's vision. Before he could answer, though, Kim Dokja hastily moved on, sensing something in the air that he couldn't place a finger on. 

"Anyway, how long have you been swimming?"

Something like a ghost of a smile passed across Yoo Joonghyuk’s lips, and he replied, "As long as I can remember." 

Kim Dokja chewed another mouthful of ramen. "Do you have any people you swim with?"

To much of Kim Dokja’s shock, the ghost of a smile became an actual smile, as Yoo Joonghyuk responded, "These days, I don't have many. But when I was younger, I did have one friend that I swam with quite often." 

Kim Dokja was mistaken. The something in the air hadn't left yet, and he could feel it threading through the atmosphere as Yoo Joonghyuk half grinned at him. Before Kim Dokja could interpret the sentence, Yoo Joonghyuk added on, "I actually taught him how to swim."

Kim Dokja paused, his laden chopsticks halfway to his mouth. Quickly, he squinted at Yoo Joonghyuk’s face, before looking at his noodles, scoffing down the mouthful to avoid responding except with a muffled sound of affirmation. That sentence… Kim Dokja could feel the pointedness towards it, but…

He took a breath. In, out. It can't be. 

Plastering on another smile, Kim Dokja finished off his ramen and stood up abruptly, collecting their bowls. 

"I'll wash these; you can go get ready."

"Okay." Yoo Joonghyuk said, still giving him that unsettlingly un-Yoo-Joonghyuk grin as he walked off. 

Kim Dokja let the warm water wash over his hands as he rinsed, shutting down the thought trains that were trying to interpret the statements Yoo Joonghyuk had just made, allowing his loud heartbeats to calm down.

Soon after, he headed to his old childhood room to change, passing the closed bathroom, assuming Yoo Joonghyuk had found it to change in. 

Inside his bedroom, he took in the bareness of it as he closed the door behind him, the shelves mostly stripped and the bed covered in a plain white sheet set. A lone desk was across from the bed on the right, sitting under a window that allowed Kim Dokja a look at the bushes to the side of his house. 

He was just about to unbutton his pants when he felt a weight hit against his thigh. Oh, right. Fishing out the pocketwatch from his pants, he placed it on his desk before resuming changing into his swimming gear, whipping on a rashie shirt as well as he, unlike a certain someone, didn't have the most ripped chest muscles. The pocket watch gleamed in the weak light, the engravings on the outside popping out in the dimness of the room. Kim Dokja scrutinised it one last time before exiting.

Yoo Joonghyuk met him on the back porch, sitting on a lone chair that was placed facing the ocean. He was shirtless, yet that necklace was still on, the metal star flat against his bare neckline. Kim Dokja’s eyes were immediately caught by it, and its odd clash with the otherwise naked chest.

“That was my mother’s favourite chair,” Kim Dokja said, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe, “It had a good view of the ocean”. 

Yoo Joonghyuk turned to him, before standing up, muscles flexing unashamedly across his shoulders and chest. Kim Dokja looked away, instead opting to survey the sandy path to the beach. 

Only once Kim Dokja's sandals hit the sandy path did he venture to glance back at his roommate. Walking behind him, Yoo Joonghyuk was wearing an indecipherable expression, but he was staring right at Dokja, making him look forward again.

“Why are you still wearing that necklace?” he said offhand as they traipsed down the path. "Won't it get damaged by the seawater?"

"It won't."

Kim Dokja raised an eyebrow. Turning, he faced Yoo Joonghyuk, and pointed a finger at the necklace. "It's jewellery - I don't think it will last with prolonged contact to the sea." Yoo Joonghyuk paused. Kim Dokja furrowed his eyebrows- "Don't tell me you wear it every time you swim? Do you ever take it off?"

A silence, as Kim Dokja watched a calculative expression scrunch up Yoo Joonghyuk’s face. 

"Every now and then. And," Yoo Joonghyuk said, taking another step forward, "I don't always swim with it on."

Kim Dokja threw up his arms in bewilderment as Yoo Joonghyuk passed him. This man has no care for jewellery maintenance. 

Whatever. There were more important things to be thinking about right now. Such as…

"So, are you swimming right now?" 

Yoo Joonghyuk threw him a look over his shoulder. "Maybe. Why? Was maybe thinking you'd give me a tour first." He gave a small grin.

"Just…" Kim Dokja fidgeted as they walked, waving his hands in the air as he thought of how to put it, "right now is the best time of day for swimming?"

Yoo Joonghyk paused, twirling around and facing Kim Dokja, who stopped a bit too late and almost hit his bare chest. The man leaned down a little, bringing his face just short of Kim Dokja's, causing Kim Dokja to take an unconscious step back with an unintended good view of Joonghyuk’s rather handsome features. 

"Why do you want to swim so badly?" Yoo Joonghyuk said, in a lower tone than usual, as if they were trying to be secretive.

 Kim Dokja ducked his head, feeling his heart flutter, rushing heat to his neck. Awkward, he laughed lightly. 

"What do you mean? Isn't it just… good weather to do so?"

Yoo Joonghyuk cocked his head, wrapping his hands behind his back as he looked at Kim Dokja’s face. "Really?" He smiled again, more of a smirk this time. "Let's go then."

And with that, he spun on his foot and continued walking down the path onto the beach, leaving Kim Dokja to breathe out a sigh he hadn't realised he had been holding. 

Yoo Joonghyuk was becoming a bit too perceptive these days. He wasn't sure what had happened, but for some reason, this Yoo Joonghyuk felt different than the usual. Like as if he was seeing a whole new layer underneath. Kim Dokja was unsure how he felt about that. 

As they approached the boundary where the sea lapped at the shore, Yoo Joonghyuk waited for him, the sun shining off his dark wavy hair. 

"Want to play a game of chicken?" Kim Dokja asked, and Yoo Joonghyuk raised his eyebrows. 

"What's that?"

"Just swim out as far as you can without stopping and the first to return to shore loses."

“You sure you can do that?” Yoo Joonghyuk said, giving a disapproving once over. Kim Dokja acted offended, theatrically gasping. 

“Of course. Where do you think my ability to dive comes from? I do have some stamina.”

“Alright.” Yoo Joonghyuk turned towards the sea, but before he had time to react, Kim Dokja rushed forward.

“GAME STARTS NOW!” He yelled, deliberately slowing to let Yoo Joonghyuk catch up. The cool water enveloped his feet, the swell pulling against his ankles as he strode into the ocean, a shock against his skin. Yoo Joonghyuk, to his merit, immediately caught up, taking strong strides into the water. 

Kim Dokja intently watched his roommate. 

Any moment now.

The water was getting deeper - finally, it was above waist height, and fed up with wading, Yoo Joonghyuk prepared to dive into the ocean. Kim Dokja kept his eyes fixated on his roommate as he followed - Yoo Joonghyuk dove into the water, seamlessly blending into the ripples as he kicked off, disappearing beneath the upcoming wave. The swell hit Kim Dokja, staggering him backwards, and he cursed as he lost sight of Yoo Joonghyuk with sprays of salty water into his eyes. Wiping and blinking his eyes copiously, Kim Dokja focused on Yoo Joonghyuk’s shadow in the distance, gut churning as he hurriedly swam forward. 

A stretched moment, as Kim Dokja only heard his harsh breaths interspersed with water splashing against his arms, backed by the distant whump of a wave crashing onto shore.

Finally, the man in the distance broke the surface, kicking strongly with his feet, creating a splash as he continued.

His feet. The legs are still there. 

Kim Dokja felt like bursting into laughter. Grinning and shaking his head, he resumed swimming in full force, allowing himself to finally get fully involved in the challenge. What was I even thinking? Of course, it wouldn’t change into a tail. That’s some unbased assumption. 

Kim Dokja wasn’t stupid. Indeed, Kim Dokja had actually wanted to confirm this as a top priority first - now, he felt more at ease, committing to the swimming in a competitive spirit.

 But yet, it was only a surface comfort. He could still feel it, deep down, that something was off, and this experiment only placed a bandaid over Kim Dokja’s troubled mind.

 However, for now, he indulged in the relief, pulling through the water as he kicked out in Yoo Joonghyuk’s wake. 

Aching was flooding through his body, his muscles straining with each movement and making Kim Dokja weigh down in exhaustion. They had been swimming for quite a while now - the cove was in the far distance, getting smaller, yet that insane man hadn’t slowed down at all. 

“Maybe we should stop!” Kim Dokja called out roughly, panting with effort as he felt his energy reserves slowing down to a trickle, tiredness swiftly rushing into his limbs. 

Yoo Joonghyuk looked back, calling out, “Are you confirming you lost the game?”

“I’m-” Kim Dokja stopped, attempting to tread water with his unexpectedly lead-like muscles, breathing heavily. “I’m not-”

He suddenly dipped underwater, seawater rushing into his open mouth as his exhausted body failed to comply. Quickly, he shut his eyes and pushed to the surface, coughing in panic as he struggled to stay there, sinking lower. 

An arm wrapped around his torso, triggering a strong flash of deja vu in Kim Dokja’s mind as he was pulled up to the sky. As Yoo Joonghyuk waded at the ocean's surface, he patted a hand on Kim Dokja’s back with startling care with the other arm secured under Kim Dokja’s armpits. The man in question coughed violently, clinging onto the arm, blinking the seawater out of his eyes as his cheeks burned in embarrassment. 

“S-sorry” he coughed, “My legs just gave out.”

He turned to face his saviour, who gave him a surprisingly gentle smile. 

“You are still weaker,” Yoo Joonghyuk started, “but are much better now.” 

Kim Dokja, still processing the post-panic, felt his muddy mind attempt to understand his roommate’s statement as he sunk into the comforting embrace of his arms. 

“O-okay,” he sighed, relief calming his muscles, “Thanks, I suppose.”

At that moment, many thoughts were spooling through his mind, but Kim Dokja could only focus on one: I feel safe. 

It was surprisingly old, but resurfaced emotion, bringing back memories of hazy days and splashes of cold water amid the burning sun. Such like a wave of warm water on a cold day, relaxation washed over his body, and Kim Dokja accepted it in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time. 

Together, they swam back to shore. Yoo Joonghyuk was crowned winner unanimously - but the competition was no longer important, as Kim Dokja was now subject to the intimate care of his roommate. In light of recent events, he didn’t even complain, just stayed still and took it all. 

"You shouldn't have tried." Yoo Joonghyuk said as he laid out another heat pack on top of Kim Dokja's aching legs. Said man was lying down on the couch, watching Yoo Joonghyuk from his head propped up on pillows. 

"Excuse me. I'm actually pretty good, you're just insane." Kim Dokja sniffed indignantly.

"Human bodies need to be taken care of properly." 

"Ah… of course…"

"You just overexerted yourself today"

Kim Dokja yawned, a sudden twinge of sleepiness catching onto his tiredness. "That's true. How are you still okay?" 

"I have had more training."

"Training? Haha, you make that sound so serious"

"I am serious."

Kim Dokja squinted at his roommate. "What, you secretly training for some mysterious underwater mission? You said you don't do competitive."

Yoo Joonghyuk stilled, pursing his lips before saying "... I don't."

"Ookay."

Kim Dokja had been subjected to a hot shower as soon as they had arrived, and was still wearing his swimmers, but wrapped in a towel. Feeling a trickle of coldness, Kim Dokja abruptly sat up, the heat packs sliding onto the couch. "I'm going to change now. I'm getting cold again." 

He saw Yoo Joonghyuk's concerned expression, and a twinge of emotion plucked at his heart as he waved a dismissive hand. "I've had enough rest now, I can walk properly"

“Alright, I’ll walk you there.”

Yoo Joonghyuk looped an arm around Kim Dokja’s waist as he directed his body, an all-too-conscious tingling at where his fingers rested against the towel. Kim Dokja had a sudden realisation of his cold, wet swimmers clinging to his body, and wrapped his towel higher. 

Once in the room, Kim Dokja briskly strode to beside his bed, where his clothes lay discarded. Yoo Joonghyuk hadn’t followed him in, and he dropped the towel, crouching down to his clothes to change.

A beat of silence, and Kim Dokja turned back to Yoo Joonghyuk, whose figure was frozen at the door. 

“Yoo Joonghyuk-?”

“Where did you get that?” Yoo Joonghyuk interrupted, taking a hasty step towards the window. 

“Get what?” Kim Dokja, confused, followed Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyesight, before landing on the pocketwatch, still sitting harmlessly on the table beneath the window. 

Yoo Joonghyuk swooped it up, a carefulness to his touch that amid his urgency Kim Dokja didn’t expect.

 “Where did you get it?” he repeated, turning his body towards Kim Dokja, yet his sight remained fixed on the object in his hands, drinking it in like he couldn’t believe it was real. 

“Um.” Kim Dokja didn’t know how to respond - the unexpected reaction by Yoo Joonghyuk was only adding to the stacks of theories and mysteries that were accumulating in his mind. He wasn’t sure how much he should disclose to Yoo Joonghyuk. 

So, he said, “I found it.”

“Found...?”

“Er, yes. How do you know it?”

“I…” For once, Yoo Joonghyuk seemed to hesitate. The pocket watch was held tightly in his palm, which dropped to his side. 

“If you found it where I think you did, you should be able to figure it out. Or do you really not remember?”

“Remember what?” Kim Dokja felt a rising tick in his heart, a pounding within his head.  

“You don’t remember.” Yoo Joonghuk sounded frustrated, with a tilt to his voice that also felt defeated. 

“I don’t know what we are talking about?” 

Yoo Joonghyuk frowned, his previous warmth seeping behind his exterior like a fading afterimage, instead replaced with something more anxious, more intense.

“You will know soon.” He whirled around, placing the pocket watch back down as he briskly walked out of the room. 

Kim Dokja scrambled up, shouting his roommate's name - Yoo Joonghyuk! - as he yanked his rashie off, grabbing his shorts and fumbling his fabric shirt on as he ran out after him. 

"Yoo Joonghyuk!"

 Kim Dokja burst out of the house, finding Yoo Joonghyuk standing next to the car, an unreadable yet tense mask upon his features as he stared towards the ocean. There was clouds on the horizon, the blue skies painted with growing grey. He turned towards Kim Dokja as the man in question sped up to him, a flash of urgency furrowing his eyebrows. 

"Kim Dokja."

"Yes-" Kim Dokja stopped to tug down his shirt, taking a breath, "-Why are you acting like this?"

“Kim Dokja,” he repeated, grabbing onto his shoulders. “I need you to listen carefully.”

Surprised, Kim Dokja froze. “What is it?”

“I want to tell you everything. But I am not sure if there is enough time. I am needed for something greater.”

Kim Dokja opened his mouth, then closed it stupidly, feeling what he wanted to say not appropriate to the rather serious atmosphere. 

“And, because of that… I will tell you everything after. Since you do not remember.” He gazed back towards the sea, before dropping his hands.

Kim Dokja blinked, feeling the thrumming inside his head again.

“I must make haste to the town. Drive me there, now.”

“That’s… okay then.”

 Kim Dokja wanted to comment on how that was such an abrupt statement, but his mind was too busy trying to process the cryptic statements Yoo Joonghyuk had just said, that he just accepted it. 

“Why are you going to the town? Aren’t you coming back to the dorms?”

“I have another ride.” 

“Why not just come back with me?” Kim Dokja pushed down on the pedals, wheeling out of the driveway with a screech of gravel. 

“Because I have urgent something to do.”

“Yoo Joonghyuk, stop being so cryptic. Why can’t you just tell me?”

They were speeding down the road, the sparkling blue visible behind the trees that blurred past them. 

Yoo Joonghyuk frowned in his peripheral vision, turning to face the window. “I… can’t. Not now. I can’t put you in danger.”

“In danger?? Joonghyuk, what the hell? What are you getting tangled into?”

“Something I so desperately wish I could bring you into sooner.”

Kim Dokja fell silent, his words caught in his throat. The town came into view, and soon they were travelling through the sparsely populated streets. 

“Drop me off at the harbour.”

Kim Dokja looked at the man sitting adjacent, and the firm look in his roommate’s eyes settled something of a finality in his gut. 

“Okay,” he said, turning towards the sea.

The harbour came into view, bobbing fishing boats docked to the small piers that branched from the shore like thin, straight rickety bridges to nowhere. It was a strangely nostalgic sight for Kim Dokja, digging up a deja vu from his childhood as he parked next to the harbour, getting out of the car into the slow wind that was picked up from across the coast. 

“Dokja.” Yoo Joonghyuk said, and Kim Dokja turned, finding him already beside him.

Yoo Joonghyuk grasped Kim Dokja’s hand. “If I do not return tomorrow, you know where to find me.”

“D-do I- wait what? Not returning?” Kim Dokja spluttered. 

“You must promise to find me.” The warmth from before was spilling through again, coating his words with a trust and conviction that Kim Dokja couldn’t believe.

The grey clouds illuminated the sky behind, a gust of breeze picking up their hair, brushing Yoo Joonghyuk’s bangs across his forehead. Kim Dokja noticed a movement, and glanced down to see Yoo Joonghyuk extending a pinkie.

“What? A pinkie promise?” Kim Dokja almost laughed, but Yoo Joonghyuk replied very seriously, “Someone once told me this was a sacred promise that couldn’t be broken. Please pinkie swear you will find me.”

“I…” Kim Dokja glanced at it again, before slowly wrapping his own pinkie around Yoo Joonghyuk’s. Decidedly, this was a very strange feeling. 

“I will.”

“Thank you. Now, go. Don’t turn back.”

“Wha-”

“Go!”

Kim Dokja climbed into his car, his feeling of ridiculousness overridden by the seriousness in Yoo Joonghyuk’s words. 

“Ok.” He glanced back at Yoo Joonghyuk, on the curb. Before he closed his door, he said “You better come back.”

Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t say anything as the car door closed, the muffled thud finally muting the whirls of the wind and the splashes of water. 

Kim Dokja only sat there for a stunned second, before slowly wheeling out of the parking spot, watching Yoo Joonghyuk’s figure in the rearview mirror until he couldn’t see him anymore. 

He drove in silence all the way out of the town.

Only on the highway did he think properly about the whole situation, his confusion settling down enough that he noticed his cold boardshorts were still on, forgotten amidst the rush. 

“That bastard…! What was he even thinking?” Kim Dokja yelled angrily. He had felt the urge to turn back and see what he was up to, but the way Yoo Joonghyuk insisted him to leave flashed in his mind, muting the thought.

“How would I even know where he would be, anyway?” 

He dug his fingernails into the steering wheel. Don’t put such pressure on me like that…

A niggling feeling of doubt and uncertainty was wriggling its way into his mind, and Kim Dokja frowned. “What was this greater plan that he was a part of, anyway?”

Yoo Joonghyuk, who are you really?

Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t return. 

Kim Dokja checked the time again. 

Wednesday, 6pm.

He had been in his dorm room for most of the day, only exiting for a lecture once. When he had gotten back to the empty room, the feeling of dread began to pool in his stomach, and Kim Dokja started to pace the room anxiously. Outside, the clouds had started to gather, darkness weighing down the heavens.

He knew he shouldn’t have left Yoo Joonghyuk there, at the town, his figure shrinking into the distance. He smacked his head. “Stupid!” 

Why did he listen to that bastard? He knew he shouldn’t trust him. All his instincts until now had been tingling, that persistent feeling of something missing only getting stronger the more he hung out with the man. What is it? What was he missing?

He thought back to his conversations, his interactions with Yoo Joonghyuk. 

“You know where to find me.”

“How?” Kim Dokja said, exasperated. What do you mean, Yoo Joonghyuk?

He thought harder, thinking back to the things they’d done. The mermaids at the aquarium, his reactions, how he reacted to his house, what he said to him out in the ocean, how he reacted to the pocket watch…

How he looked towards him.

Suddenly, Kim Dokja straightened. Wait.

Grabbing his keys, he ran out of his room, flying down the stairs of his dorms to his car. 

If he’s there…

His feelings of hopelessness were now replaced with determination, fuelling his rapid heartbeat as he gunned the car down the road. It was only a suspicion, but that pulling feeling was in his gut, his instincts firing off agreements to the decision. 

Yoo Joonghyuk, just wait a little longer. I’m coming for you.

Chapter Text

“I fucking knew it.”

“Shut it,” Yoo Joonghyuk gasped weakly, “you fool.” 

The atmosphere was electric, intensifying, Kim Dokja’s hair sticking to his forehead as salty spray from the ocean flew through the air. Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes had been open, an unnatural yellow sheen across them, but now he screwed them shut in a grimace.

With gales gathered by the upcoming storm humidifying the air being the kind of weather he had encountered when he reached his beach home, it was less than conducive for Kim Dokja as he ran across the sand - in his nice sneakers, mind you - towards the lump of meat in the distance. Now that he had turned this bloody mess over, with the initial shock of Yoo Joonghyuk’s face attached to the - well, the mermaid’s body - fading, it was slowly being filled in again with rage. 

“I knew it! I knew there was something fishy about you!” Kim Dokja felt incredulous, a desperate burst of laughter erupting out of him as he looked back at what he just said. “Fishy… literally. Ha.”

“Kim Dokja, you are still an idiot.” Yoo Joonghyuk - his roommate, who had only been looking at mermaids with him a few days ago - let out a gargled cough, blood splattering out of his mouth. “Get me off this beach, now.”

“Ok, ok,” Kim Dokja spoke quickly, trying to process the situation. It was one thing to guess that Yoo Joonghyuk was a mermaid, but an entirely different thing to see it in real life - Kim Dokja gave another glance at the long, black tail that flicked uselessly in the sand, replacing his very human legs from before. 

Black tail. Of course. Of course, it was him. This was not a can of worms Kim Dokja wanted to deal with yet, though. 

“I’ll…” Kim Dokja looked around, locking his gaze upon his small, worn house in the distance. “I’ll get you to my house. To clean you up. I-”

He looked down at Yoo Joonghyuk’s chest again, a large, weeping gash still present and bumping Kim Dokja’s panic up a bit more. “I… don’t think I can get you to a hospital, I don’t know-”

He abruptly cut off his words as a cold, wet hand clamped over his. 

“Mermaids heal better,” Yoo Joonghyuk coughed, “than humans. I’ll be fine as long as you get me to clean water.” He cracked open his eyes when he finished talking, looking up to the grey skies circling overhead, a sudden tired look washing across his features as he spat up more blood. 

“Don’t be stupid,” Kim Dokja bit back, feeling a burning sensation prickle behind his eyes. “And don’t talk. I’ll get you to my house.”

Yoo Joonghyuk simply closed his eyes. 

Kim Dokja tried his hardest to get Yoo Joonghyuk towards the house - but dragging a huge dead weight was a long and arduous process, compounded by the blood and the sea water making his hands slippery. Thankfully, adrenaline pumped energy through his muscles, overriding his discomfort and fueling him towards safety. 

Halfway, Kim Dokja gritted his teeth as he picked up his roommate’s wet, limp body princess style, half-jogging, half-shuffling to the house. By this point, Yoo Joonghyuk had gone silent. It was as fast as he could go, and inwardly he cursed Yoo Joonghyuk for having so much muscle mass. 

Bursting through his door that faced the ocean, Kim Dokja stumbled through to his bathroom, aching burning at his arm muscles, a trail of blood lining the floorboards behind him. It was only after he dumped Yoo Joonghyuk’s body into the bathtub and turned on the water did he allow his mind to think of something other than go, go, go.

He let his eyes trail over Yoo Joonghyuk’s body again. The long, ebony tail didn’t fit inside the bathtub, so it was hanging out awkwardly to the side in his cramped bathroom. He had seen Yoo Joonghyuk’s back covered in shallow cuts, but the main, large gash on his front was definitely more urgent. Kim Dokja had a flashback to that mermaid from the aquarium, with its gold tail and very similar gash. Did they…  encounter the same people? 

He needed to treat these wounds, and thankfully he had some preliminary medical knowledge due to how often he had had to patch himself up in the past. Quickly, he scrounged around his house for bandages, antiseptic and a thread for stitches. He kept a first aid kit in the house with waterproof bandages and patches, mostly for diving purposes, thankfully coming in use now.

Yoo Joonghyuk grunted with some effort as Kim Dokja carefully washed his body, carding his fingers through his sand and blood-matted hair, and running his hands softly over his wounds, cleansing out the grit. His trembling body seemed to relax the more Kim Dokja bathed him, the knot between his eyebrows easing. At least he’s still alive, Kim Dokja thought as he kneeled beside the bathtub, attempting to thread some string through a needle. 

His hands, he realised, were shaking, making it impossible. I need to calm down. The adrenaline had seeped out of his muscles, leaving them trembling and experiencing the full force of Kim Dokja’s barely suppressed panic. 

So instead, he stared at the mermaid in front of him, their blood pooling around the unplugged drain, sand grit coating the bottom of the bathtub. He had turned off the tap and propped Yoo Joonghyuk in a rather uncomfortable-looking position, with his head resting on one end to avoid his back supporting his weight, but it was as comfortable as he could get in a bathtub. Yoo Joonghyuk’s face was still twisted into one of discomfort, his eyes screwed shut as he breathed raggedly. 

Kim Dokja glanced away, towards his torso instead. Upon closer inspection, you could see a sheen to his skin that was not present in humans, almost like a faint, glittery shine. However, something seemed off about his bare chest - and then Kim Dokja noticed it. His usual trademark necklace was gone.

 It was instantly crystal clear why he never took it off - it seems he would turn back into his mermaid form without it. It sounded crazy to Kim Dokja, but maybe it was just something normal in the mermaid world. 

Speaking of which, mermaids being able to disguise themselves among humans poised a rather concerning concept. How many were out there that he would’ve never known about? Kim Dokja frowned, before shaking his head, attempting to thread the needle again. There was so much he didn’t know about the mermaid world, it seemed. 

Was it really their business to meddle with it?

Finally, the thread went through, and Kim Dokja began a nerve-wracking process of stitching up Yoo Joonghyuk’s torso. He was almost sure that what he was doing would be frowned upon by professional doctors, but he simply had no other choice in this situation. Any human hospital would turn him away, and it’s not like he can just willingly give Yoo Joonghyuk to them on a silver platter- deliberately trap him in their glass cages. 

Whilst bandaging up his torso afterwards, Kim Dokja noticed that at least his tail seemed mostly free of wounds. This made his job easier, as he didn’t really understand the tail's anatomy, and whilst it interested him, he didn’t want this to be the way to find out. 

Sitting back, Kim Dokja admired his handiwork. Yoo Joonghyuk almost looked a bit peaceful sitting in his bathtub, and he looked down at the black tail again. The end of the tail hung over the porcelain edge, the tips of the fin brushing against his bathroom floor, a small puddle of water formed underneath. The black scales had regained their iridescence after he had washed all the blood off them. 

Black tail. Kim Dokja smiled faintly. 

He finally had a face to his mermaid. 

Sure, it could be another mermaid with a black tail - but Kim Dokja just knew that he was the one. He couldn’t believe the one he had been searching for had been living next to him. It seemed so absurd, the whole situation. In fact, how did Yoo Joonghyuk even get into this state? What was he going to do now? It’s not like he can walk around with a tail.

Kim Dokja chuckled, before the smile lost its humour and it gained a menacing edge. 

Oh, Yoo Joonghyuk had some answering to do when he woke up.

Before he met Kim Dokja, Yoo Joonghyuk had never talked to humans. He had viewed them from afar like one would view animals in a zoo, not particularly inclined to go up to the surface to meet them. However, when he was younger, he hated his duties in the kingdom, and would often escape his father to the surface, to test his limits up in the air. 

Due to his ‘royal’ care, he was made to do many scholarly classes specialising in human arts - these were not ordinary for the other mermaids, as it was not necessary for the common folk to understand the land dwellers. Hence, he had a good understanding of things humans were fond of, and had a reasonable grasp on many of their languages. There was one he practised more than the others, and that was ‘Korean’, simply because that was the mother tongue of the nearest landmass to their underwater kingdom. His father said, “One day you’ll need it,” but Yoo Joonghyuk had secretly thought it was unnecessary, only doing it because he was made to. 

He had no idea what was to come in the future. 

He never felt close to anyone- all the children in the palace were there to purposely befriend him, but whenever he spoke to them, he always sensed the way they held back their thoughts, a concealed weight when they spoke. Yoo Joonghyuk disliked this, and wished for someone who wouldn’t be so on edge around him just because he’s royalty. 

Or, maybe, it’s because he wasn’t originally royalty.

He wasn’t born into this; he was born in the outskirts of the kingdom, to a probably mediocre family, of whom he never knew. The royal family adopted him from the orphanage after his parents disappeared not long after he was born, for which the king had reasoned at the time, ‘ Your black tail is extremely rare and beautiful ’. Yoo Joonghyuk would later learn the queen had been unable to produce offspring before she died of a sickness. 

Transitioning to his pampered life from the orphanage had been an adjustment, but for the sake of survival, Yoo Joonghyuk adapted fast. Kids of nobles and assistants would be around the palace to help him, but Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t find many of them tasteful to speak to. The only one he felt some closeness to in his early days was another kid named Lee Hyunsung, who was destined to be one of his personal bodyguards. Lee Hyunsung’s righteous transparency made Yoo Joonghyuk deem him more worthy of companionship.

Humans are all savages, one of the palace kids had once said. Lee Hyunsung had frowned, responding You can’t assume that. How would you know?

Because they destroy the oceans, the kid replied, and kill sea life for sport.

Yoo Joonghyuk had admired Lee Hyunsung’s heart of kindness - but he was inclined to agree with the other kids. Humans were savages from everything he had learnt about them. 

Then he met Kim Dokja. 

It was purely an accident, something that was never supposed to happen. He didn’t even know there were humans nearby, in the secluded spot he had chosen in a fit of rebelliousness on that fateful day. Neither did he ever intend to speak to a human. 

Going on shore - it was something he was forbidden to do, so he had only done it a couple times before, in very small bursts before he slipped back into the sea. But because it was forbidden by his father, it only made him curious, figuring it was the only place the king wouldn’t look for him. 

He had been impulsively trying to get onto the shelves of land, but with the waves curving up to new heights because of the offshore wind-induced swells, it gave him an idea - to try to get to a slightly higher perch. Riding the waves was something he had learnt himself by that point, with his growing frequency in reaching the surface. 

He shouldn’t have stayed on the rocks for so long, peering at the sea life blossoming in the small rock pools. It had happened so suddenly, the human kid sneaking up on him, touching his tail - an awfully weird sensation - and then falling into the water. 

Yoo Joonghyuk had no experience with humans, so to see the boy struggling to keep his head above the water - fighting the will of the water in such an ungraceful way - it was a strange sight. Something in the back of his mind reminded him - he needs air to survive - making him save the human, bringing him around the rock shelf to the nearest beach. It was an experience that shocked even Yoo Joonghyuk, as it was nothing like he’s ever done or seen before. 

Nonetheless, he never thought he’d return. 

But, a week later, the encounter refused to leave his mind, like a stubborn barnacle attaching itself to his thoughts. Yoo Joonghyuk would go to sleep, and his dreams brought memories of the human boy, his arms aching remembering the adrenaline that fueled his muscles after holding onto the boy. Yoo Joonghyuk would be awake, and his mind would drift away from the sea, back to the human and his strange mannerisms, which were so unlike the mermaids he was around daily. 

A hungry curiosity bloomed in his stomach, unable to be satiated by anything else, his everyday life bland and tasteless after tasting something new and exciting.

"I'll see you again, mermaid boy!" The words of the boy echoed in his mind.

Surely, one more time wouldn’t hurt. Can’t leave him waiting, can he?

Yoo Joonghyuk loitered in that boy’s cove for 3 consecutive days, hoping to catch the human in the limited window of time he was there without detection. It was only on the 3rd day did he finally spot the boy emerge from his ramshackle hut. A quick spike of emotion swirled in his gut, quickly followed by a frown, a stark realisation of how excited he felt from seeing the human. 

He didn’t know how to gain the boy’s attention, so he inched closer to the shore, hoping the human would come out to the water instead. Yoo Joonghyuk kept his body underwater, only poking out his eyes to observe the boy looking around. To his suppressed delight, the human began to walk towards the sea, a downcast look pointing his gaze at his feet.

 He watched as the boy approached the shifting boundary of water, now swinging his stare out to sea, his gaze slightly off to the left from where Yoo Joonghyuk lay. A searching look was upon his face, and unable to take it anymore, Yoo Joonghyuk raised his torso above the water, waving in the boy’s direction. Obviously catching the movement, the human’s eyes widened as he noticed the mermaid, an excited urgency encapsulating his now hopping feet as he waved back, shoving off his shoes. 

They met in the water, the human wading out to a waist height after some careful deliberation, a shine dancing across his dark eyes. 

“You did come back!” The boy exclaimed in glee, fidgeting with his hands like he was unsure of what to do.

“Hmph.” Yoo Joonghyuk looked to the side, crossing his arms. “You were weak, after all. Making sure you haven't died.” However, a small bloom of happiness sprouted in his stomach at the boy’s enthusiasm.

“Haha! Humans don’t die that easily.” The boy responded, closing his eyes in a grin as he scratched the back of his neck. Yoo Joonghyuk glanced back at him again, suddenly noticing a purplish blemish blooming across the boy’s cheek, staining his pale skin. 

“Your face is discoloured.” He reached out his hand, water sliding off his finger’s webbing, to touch the patch of purple. A slight intake of breath from the boy as he made contact. “What happened?”

“Oh, this?” The boy carefully removed Yoo Joonghyuk’s hand. “This is just called a bruise. Haha.” Like a sudden obscuration of the sun, the enthusiasm was suddenly cut from his voice, instead carrying a thin strain that Yoo Joonghyuk managed to pick up. The boy was avoiding his gaze, subconsciously covering the bruise with a wet hand, casting his gaze upon the sparkles spread on the water beyond by the morning sun. 

“I know what a bruise is.” 

“...Don’t worry about it, then.” He waved his free hand. “I just made some mistakes. Nothing big.” He laughed, but Yoo Joonghyuk could hear the awkwardness stretched through it.

The boy was unwilling, and Yoo Joonghyuk raised an eyebrow, about to say something when a large wave suddenly interrupted them. To Yoo Joonghyuk, he had already sensed the wave coming through the way the water swayed, the ocean comfortingly whispering to him of an upcoming swell. This was no big deal. 

However, for this human, the larger-than-usual wave slammed into his frame, rocking his body back as he yelped in surprise. Yoo Joonghyuk, unused to how the humans could not read the ocean like he could, whipped out a hand on instinct to grab the boy’s arm. This anchored the boy on him, saving him from toppling over, his feet finding the floor again after the lift of the swell subsided. 

A shocked look was frozen on his face - Yoo Joonghyuk almost chuckled. “Do you not know how to deal with the waves, human boy?”

Sea water had splashed over his head, and he pushed wet strands of hair out of his face. “Not really. I can’t swim, remember?”

“You can’t swim?” The surprise was evident in his tone. Yoo Joonghyuk had observed this in their last encounter - but it was like watching a baby mermaid learn to swim. Ungraceful and uncoordinated, but able to grasp it fast. He had assumed the boy was just shocked - learning that he did, in fact, not know how to swim was stunning. 

“No, I was just panicking and drowning for fun.” He rolled his eyes. “ Of course I can’t, genius.”

Are all humans like this? Yoo Joonghyuk wondered in morbid horror. He had assumed they were as attuned to the water as they were - it seems maybe not every human could traverse the oceans without looking like a dying fish. 

“Well, you should learn.”

“Why don’t you teach me?” The mischievous edge in his voice had been regained. 

Yoo Joonghyuk blinked. “Me? Teach you? How?”

“How hard could it be? You’re a mermaid, for goodness sake. Of course, you can swim much better than I ever will.” He puffed his cheeks, and Yoo Joonghyuk pinched his eyebrows in thought. 

“I could try…” He said slowly, thoughts forming in his mind. This would give him an excuse in his mind to go to the surface more often. 

“Yay!” The human beamed, bright like the day. Something shifted in Yoo Joonghyuk at that moment, and he gave a small smile back. 

“Okay. I’ll teach you.” Yoo Joonghyuk chuckled gently. “First of all, what’s your given name?” 

“Oh, that’s right! I forgot to ask. Mine is,” and he paused to whip out a hand in an unfamiliar, yet welcoming gesture, Yoo Joonghyuk holding his breath, “Kim Dokja.”

Yoo Joonghyuk visited Kim Dokja many times in the upcoming months, a solidifying feeling of happiness coming from these encounters, slowly teaching the boy the ways of navigating the sea. Something like pride would stretch his mouth into a grin whenever the boy mastered a new step that he taught, his awkward movements gradually gaining confidence and grace. 

Of course, they were young, and so it was not a perfect progression, but Kim Dokja had managed to pick it up quite quickly. His adaptability made Yoo Joonghyuk consider if the boy was like him - used to adjusting to unfamiliar situations in the past. It’s true that he’d never seen any other humans in this cove, excluding the occasional glimpses of the boy’s parents in the distance. 

Yoo Joonghyuk wondered if Kim Dokja had also gone through an abrupt home change, just like he had. 

There would be times Kim Dokja would meet him, but he was covered in new, dark blemishes, adding to the patchwork that covered his skin. Yoo Joonghyuk grew accustomed to it, but it never got rid of the unnamed disgust that broiled in his stomach at the sight. 

On those days, Kim Dokja was sloppy, his movements uncoordinated, like his mind was somewhere else. 

Yoo Joonghyuk would often get frustrated at how the boy would not pick up on anything he was teaching, usually giving up and instead talking to the human about random things. They would talk about their lives, and Yoo Joonghyuk would share his life under the sea, his duties, stories of his father. Kim Dokja usually didn’t open up in these discussions about his own home life, contently staring at Yoo Joonghyuk as he talked and steering the conversation away when it was his turn. 

However, one day, a few months into their friendship, he came out to the cove as usual, with Yoo Joonghyuk waiting for him in the water. By this point, they had established a routine, usually appointing a time they’d meet next, and they would either swim in the cove, or go along the rock shelves to other nearby coves. Kim Dokja had even acquired swimming gear. 

But Yoo Joonghyuk could see something was different this time. Kim Dokja’s eyes were red and puffy, the skin under his eyes swollen up. He sniffed as he approached the shore, and Yoo Joonghyuk swam closer that day than he had ever before, beaching himself onto the sand as he propped himself up with his hands. 

“Your face is swollen. What’s wrong?” He asked in a gentle tone. As a mermaid, he’d never seen this kind of swelling to the face, and watched as liquid beaded in the human’s eyes. Is this the human phenomenon called… crying?

“Uhm. Nothing much.” Kim Dokja sniffed, but Yoo Joonghyuk could see it was a lie with how his eyes fluttered and looked away. “Let’s get away from here first.”

Yoo Joonghyuk swam along the rock shelf in silence, Kim Dokja keeping his gaze locked in front of him as he hopped across the rugged surface. It was not long after that they reached a secondary, smaller cove further along the coast from his house, which they had discovered soon after they started to do lessons - now a frequent spot to hang out. Here, the cliff sides curved in like a god had pressed their thumb into the coast, covered in luscious green as it dipped towards the small beach at the bottom.

The rock shelf got closer and closer to the water here - enabling Yoo Joonghyuk to prop himself on top of it with his forearms, his bottom half still beating in the water to keep him steady. Kim Dokja sat down next to him, his feet aimlessly kicking at the sea water as he gazed out to sea. 

They sat in silence like this for a while, moisture dripping down the human boy’s face as he made choked sounds that Yoo Joonghyuk had never heard before. Yoo Joonghyuk gazed silently at his face, occasionally giving a pat to Kim Dokja’s knee as he let him cry it out, recalling he heard about human mothers giving such kinds of physical affection.

Slowly, the sounds turned into sniffling, and Kim Dokja let out a low sigh, wiping at his face before entangling his fingers on his lap. 

“It’s my dad.” He said abruptly, breaking the silence. Yoo Joonghyuk blinked at him, his hand still resting on Kim Dokja’s knee. Kim Dokja glanced at it, before looking away again. 

“The one who hits me, by the way.” He gave a low chuckle. “If you didn’t catch on. He does it often…”

Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t say anything, only tilting his head as an encouragement to continue. 

“He… likes to go to the local town’s pub a lot. And he gets drunk every time. When he comes home,” Kim Dokja gave a small, forced smile, “It’s… bad.” 

Yoo Joonghyuk thought back to his homelife - ‘drunk’ was a concept coined by humans, but he is yet to experience someone influenced by it, as they did not have alcohol like humans did in the kingdom. But from his readings he had done, it largely sounded dangerously stupid - humans deliberately make themselves more uncoordinated and unpredictable for all manner of reasons. As a mermaid, he had no idea what these reasons could be. 

“He likes to hit me if I’m in the way, but my mother often takes the hits. Some days they’re not that bad. But some days…” Kim Dokja tilted his head back briefly, “He’s a lot more …aggressive than usual.

“Those days are bad. Last night…” Kim Dokja’s expression crumpled, and he paused for a second to regain his breath- “I was so scared. He came home earlier than usual, and mother had to shove me in my closet, but I could still hear them outside. I- I think he was smashing something, yelling at mama ‘bout her being useless and stuff, the same usual. But it lasted way longer than it usually does, and I’ve never felt so tense. I barely slept. 

“Today when I woke up, I was still in my closet, because I was too afraid to get out. It was silent outside, but mama was in the kitchen. She was cleaning up the mess my dad had created on the floor.”

Yoo Joonghyuk gave his knee a few pats again as Kim Dokja paused again, gazing out to the ocean with a lost look in his dark eyes. Yoo Joonghyuk suddenly had a feeling that despite being right next to him, the boy was actually far, far away.

“Dad… had hit her with something across the head. This is what I think, anyway, when I questioned why she had bloody bandages on her head. She said it was her own fault and she tripped, but I’m not stupid.” He let out a wobbly sigh. “I reckon it was a glass bottle, since there were shards everywhere. After that…” 

He was silent. “Anyway, I haven’t relaxed all night. Sorry about that, Joonghyuk.” 

He said that last part with that strained smile again, and Yoo Joonghyuk frowned slightly. Kim Dokja was saying some silly things again. 

“Don’t feel sorry about something like that. I will gladly listen to your problems. You are my friend after all.” 

Kim Dokja blinked, before properly meeting Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes. His smile turned soft. “Thanks, Joonghyuk,” he gave a small chuckle, looking up, “I really do love coming to meet you every time. It’s like an escape from my life, y’know? Where I don’t have to worry about other things for a while.” He lowered his gaze. “Thanks again for being here. It means a lot.” 

Yoo Joonghyuk felt something twang in his gut. His lips twitched upwards in return. “I’m happy to be here too.”

Kim Dokja threw back his head, his smile broader than before, but Yoo Joonghyuk noticed he still possessed those lonely, distant eyes.  

“...I don’t know what I’d be without you,” Kim Dokja said, a tone to his statement that Yoo Joonghyuk couldn’t quite understand at the time. So he only smiled and nodded. 

Kim Dokja started to open up after that; the days when they didn’t do anything productive were now spent talking about his life as well. He would tell Yoo Joonghyuk about his gruelling, isolated school experience, his mother, and sometimes even talk about his father. That was still a touchy subject, and Kim Dokja didn’t get into details about most incidents.

Yoo Joonghyuk also began to learn about himself. On his 11th birthday, his father taught him how some mermaids could control the water around them, and how he was one of those who were gifted with this power. He learnt how to slice through the water, propel objects with his hands, create pockets of air between his fingertips. 

Your strength is destined for greatness, the king had said, your tail colour lives up to the myth.

Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t know what he was talking about, but didn’t bother to ask. As a child, he had more interesting things to think about, like his growing affinity with the water around him. He found enjoyment in how the water obeyed his will, and would often spend hours learning how to bend the water to his thoughts.

He had been practising his water skills so much in his free time that he was starting to spend less time up at the surface. This was especially since Kim Dokja was scheduling their next appointments after longer and longer periods of time - and such like this, three weeks had passed. 

Yoo Joonghyuk felt excited to be able to go up to the surface again, since it had been a longer than usual break from seeing his friend.

Kim Dokja, that day, came out to him with a round metal object in his hand. The rays of the midday sun caught on the earth around them, making the surroundings bright and bleary Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes, but causing the casing to shine. 

He had dangled it in front of Yoo Joonghyuk proudly, before enclosing the mermaid’s damp hands around it. 

“It’s a gift for you. I used up my saved pocket money for it, and got it from a garage sale in town. Do you like it?”

Yoo Joonghyuk inspected the clock on the object’s face. He had no clue what it was, but was intrigued by the silver hands that ticked methodically across the plain white surface. It was a smaller version of the timekeepers he had seen before, when learning about humans. 

The casing was a dull silver, dented in places with splotches of tarnish blotting out the chrome. Despite the watch face being relatively spotless, the casing showed its age. The whole thing was no bigger than his palm. 

“What is it?” he had asked.

Kim Dokja smiled. “A pocket watch. For you to keep human time, so you can always know what time it is for when we meet up, no?”

A warm feeling made Yoo Joonghyuk’s lips curl up. A gift! This one felt special, unlike the carefully selected and appropriate ones he had received on his birthday, from the other noble families. “Will it survive in the water, though?”

His friend had frowned. “I don’t know. I didn’t think about that.”

Yoo Joonghyuk inspected it again, with its dodgy bottom casing slightly warped around the edges, causing the metal rim of the clear top lid to fit unevenly on top. It doesn’t look very waterproof . 

“That’s okay, I’ll protect it.” He knew a good metalsmith back in his kingdom who could fix it up for him. It seemed clear why someone was throwing it away. 

Grinning, he was so busy inspecting his new contraption that he didn’t catch what Kim Dokja was saying at first.

“-water.” Yoo Joonghyuk caught the end, watching as Kim Dokja’s mouth moved into a grin. “Water?” He repeated.

"You need water." Kim Dokja said. 

"What?" He frowned. Wait… what was he doing again?

"Wake up," Kim Dokja said again, smiling.

Yoo Joonghyuk's skin felt tight and itchy. Uncomfortably, he scratched at his neck. 

"Wake up?" He could feel his vision darkening, and closing his eyes, Yoo Joonghyuk got a distinct feeling like he was forgetting something. Something important, buried in the recesses of his thoughts just out of reach, like a dream he just couldn’t quite remember.

WATER, a distant voice screeched inside his head. He realised his lungs felt tight, his breaths getting shallower, his limbs feeling weaker. His thoughts felt muddy for a second, like he was submerged deep underwater, fighting towards the surface, almost in reach of that distant important thought- suddenly, he grasped it-  

Consciousness slammed into his thoughts, a freight train of unwelcome knowledge reminding him this is the past, not the present, you're choking, you need water , wake up wake up wake up-

He burst his eyelids open, re emerging into the real world in a sudden, startling instant, choking out an urgent " WATER !" as he gasped in the air. His arms shot out of steady himself, his surroundings focusing quickly as the lights around him diluted. He realised he was in a bathtub - then he realised it was Kim Dokja's bathroom. The man in question was on the bathroom floor next to him, eyes closed into his folded arms.

Yoo Joonghyuk grabbed onto the cold bathtub rim, his tail reflexively hitting against the wall with a heavy thud, wheezing another "WATER! I… NEED…" 

Kim Dokja startled awake, almost falling over from where he was napping on his folded up knees. Alarmed, he quickly scrambled over to the bathtub, concern written all over his face. 

"Joonghyuk! What was that? Water?" A realisation dawned upon his face as it turned pale, and his fingers grasped for the tap. "Oh my god- I'm so sorry-"

Collapsing back towards the tap, Yoo Joonghyuk could feel the tightness in his skin easing as the cool water washed over his torso. A sigh of relief escaped his lips. Pushing down his memories that had most certainly just flashed before his eyes, he inhaled deeply as strength returned to his poor suffocating cells, almost letting out a joyful cry at being able to breathe properly again. 

Kim Dokja looked on with a deathly pale countenance, a look of fear carved into his expression that Yoo Joonghyuk almost felt guilty for creating. Sure, he did almost desiccate in his roommate-formerly-childhood-friend’s bathtub, but it was objectively slightly funny looking back. How could Kim Dokja forget that mermaids need water to live? 

Yoo Joonghyuk allowed himself to lie down into the bottom of the tub, the water pooling over his body as he relaxed and let his heart remember he was not going to die. He felt the water run over his cuts and gashes, noticing how they were bandaged, patched up and clean - especially the thread that now joined his skin together across his chest. For a second, his cheeks felt warm as he imagined Kim Dokja’s slender fingers splayed across his chest as he threaded the needle through, cleaning up his wounds. He splashed the water over his face. 

After a while, Kim Dokja let out a coarse “Are you… okay?” 

Yoo Joonghyuk felt almost fully rejuvenated now, emerging from the depths of the bathtub as water slid off his skin. “Despite almost suffocating to death after my body was scratched to hell and back, I’m fine.” 

His roommate grimaced. Yoo Joonghyuk, feeling maybe he should stop teasing him, gave a small chuckle. 

“Perhaps, it was a little exaggerated- although suffocating me was pretty real.” Yoo Joonghyuk leaned his shoulder against the porcelain wall of the bathtub, slicking back his wet hair. He could see Kim Dokja’s face better now, which still looked vaguely ill. 

“You do know mermaids need water? We can survive periods of time without it, but in this form, I’ll eventually dry out and asphyxiate.”

Kim Dokja’s expression transformed into a sheepish, guilty look. “I- I’m sorry. I washed you down, but I turned the tap off after that… it just slipped my mind…”

The mermaid smirked, letting his chin rest on top of his hands gripping the bathtub rim. “I see. This wasn’t a deliberate murder attempt, then? Not trying to get back at me for winning the game of chicken?”

Kim Dokja’s expression turned indignant. “Excuse me! If I were hypothetically going to murder you, I would’ve done it in a much more sophisticated way. Who falls asleep whilst trying to murder someone?”

Yoo Joonghyuk gave him a look, as Kim Dokja’s expression fascinatingly became more offended. The man in question huffed, before grabbing a floor towel to mop at the water that splashed over the side of the tub. “Anyway, Joonghyuk, you have some more pressing matters to answer to.”

Yoo Joonghyuk leaned his head to the side. “I’ll answer everything truthfully this time-”

“You sure?” Kim Dokja threw a distrustful glance towards him.

“Pinky promise.” Yoo Joonghyuk replied, finding it amusing how Kim Dokja’s ears flared red. 

“Okay, well, for starters.” He pointed towards Yoo Joonghyuk’s torso, where the long gash, now stitched up, remained. 

“Ask away.” Yoo Joonghyuk curled up his tail, thinking about how he was going to answer the inevitable question.

“What… happened out there?”