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Lightning cut the dark sky. Its light danced on the surface of the sea and disappeared right after it illuminated the raging world beneath. High waves stretched towards the heavens, roaring threats and promising destruction. Deafening thunder drowned out the howling of the angry waters, the grey clouds mocking them with heavy rain. The droplets, as sharp as, blades hit the surface and were devoured by the salty water immediately. 

Caught in the middle of the mayhem, a ship struggled for its sheer existence. However, it was powerless against the wrath of the element of water. One of the waves seized the poor thing, lifting it high and then hurling it back down into the tempestuous water. The ship cracked like a nutshell, breaking into planks and splinters. The cries of the men died in the thundering of the sea, which accepted them in its affectionate embrace while sucking out their life force.

That was the fate of the whole crew – except one. A prince from a faraway land sailed on that ship and he ended up in the sea together with his men. The water closed above him and whirlpools pulled him deeper. His struggle for life turned out to be fruitless as his consciousness was slipping away.

That was when a savior appeared. He grabbed the prince by his coat and pulled him back to the surface. His fish tail glistened as another bolt of lightning pierced the sky and he swam towards the nearest piece of land as fast as he could. Being a merman, he was a fast swimmer and no human being could keep measure with him. And yet, it took him quite a long time to get the prince to dry land.

He pulled him onto the beach as far as he was able to. After checking the prince’s vitals and finding out the human wasn’t breathing, the merman panicked. His mouth connected with the prince’s in a life-saving kiss. The prince’s eyelashes fluttered and his lids lifted. He locked his eyes with the merman’s and his lips moved.

“What’s your name?” the prince croaked, his voice weak and raspy.

“Seonghwa,” the merman said, a small, happy smile brightening his face.

“Thank you, Seonghwa. I’m Hongjoong,” the prince introduced himself, offering a smile of his own.

That was how an epic story of love, tears and the power of the sea began. The story so powerful and inspiring, that it quickly spread through the land and sea like wildfire. Singers turned it into songs, mothers into fairy tales for their children, philosophers into anecdotes. No matter if human or merfolk, no one was untouched by it. The story lived in their hearts, altering into many versions, but staying the same in its very core – pure souls gravitating to each other and forming a strong bond that surpassed all boundaries.

San grabbed a fishnet, hurrying to his small boat. He jumped into it, throwing the net on the bottom and grabbing the oars instead. Heading out into the open sea, he hoped for a good catch. The night tide usually brought a lot of fish into the waters close to his home, so he knew he wouldn’t be alone on the sea; Yunho’s boat was already gone and Mingi… Mingi would surely follow the example of his two friends when he finally managed to get up.

The sky was still dark, however, the first rays of the morning sun appeared in the east. Stars twinkled on the horizon, the only companions of the lone fisherman. San greeted them with a brief look and then focused on his task. The sunlight was growing stronger, measuring the time for fishing. When the sun got high, San wanted to return so that he could get to a fish market to sell his catch and buy some bread, fruit, and vegetables.

His life was simple, but it was a good life. San had everything he needed – freedom, friends he could always rely on, a roof above his head and a bed he could sleep in. The sea provided enough food to satiate his hunger and earn enough money to buy other things he needed to live a happy life. 

San was happy and he thought he couldn’t be happier living anywhere else.

He smiled and took a deep breath. The salty scent of the ocean was familiar and nice; it was the smell of home.

San rowed far away from the land. The sea was peaceful and only a slight breeze blew over the surface. Little waves broke against the sides of the boat with a soft splashing.

The fisherman bent for the net to throw it into the water when he was overcome by a sudden feeling of being watched. He straightened up and looked around, but he could hardly see anything in the early morning dimness. The surface of the sea seemed calm and undisturbed; there was nothing unusual going on around the boat.

San reached for the net again, telling himself off for being paranoid, when his boat swayed abruptly. He kept his balance, but the unpleasant feeling grew stronger.

“Show yourself!” he cried, even though he believed he was just being foolish. He didn’t see anything in the water. The swaying of the boat had probably been caused by a stronger wave which he just hadn’t noticed.

He grabbed the net and looked around one more time. The water was calm again, no bigger waves in the distance.

San breathed a sigh of relief. He unfolded the net and was just about to cast it into the water when something hit the bottom of his boat from beneath. This time, San lost his balance and fell hard on his butt.

“What the hell?” he cursed. His boat was swaying so violently that it was hard for him to blame a stronger wave or his mind playing tricks on him anymore. San pulled himself closer to the edge of the boat and peeked into the dark, inky water. He spotted a shadow moving fast towards his boat. There was no time for the fisherman to grab the oars and get the hell away from there.

“Oh shit…” Another curse left San’s mouth just before the shadow hit the boat again, this time with more force than a moment ago. The poor thing swayed so fiercely that San had to hold on the side of the boat if he didn’t want to end up in the water.

Suddenly, the front of his boat rose above the water’s surface.

“No, no, no! Leave me alone!” San cried, panicked, when he realized the intention of his attacker, whoever it was. San held onto the side of the boat for dear life, but there was no way for him to prevent what was coming.

The boat flipped over. San couldn’t withstand the gravity and fell into the water with a loud splash! together with his fishnet. The fact that he got tangled in the thing turned out to be the least of his problems. As he struggled to free himself, he spotted the creature that had attacked him.

San’s heart skipped a beat and all the blood froze in his veins. He knew he was screwed. Instead of catching food, he was about to turn into food himself. There was no escape from the most feared predator of the sea – a shark. San’s only salvation was the boat, but he needed to turn it back right side up first and then get into it. He wasn’t sure if he had that much time. The shark circled around him – a clear sign the fisherman was its desired prey.

San managed to get rid of the net that started sinking to the bottom. The loss didn’t bother him since he was obviously going to lose more than a fishnet. He reached for the boat, ready to execute his plan to save his life and limbs, when he was grabbed from behind abruptly and pulled under the surface. San didn’t even have time to take a breath. In his struggle for life, he barely had time to think why there was no pain of having lost a chunk of his flesh. Maybe it was due to the adrenaline circulating in his system as he fought against the hands that held him…

Wait!

Hands?

San would have screamed if it had been possible underwater. Pure terror seized his heart and he fought more vigorously. Being eaten by a shark was terrible enough. Being a victim of the cruelty of sharkfolk was something you didn’t wish even to your worst enemies. According to stories of fishermen, sharkpeople were merciless and they loved playing with their food. They abducted people, tortured them to the brink of death, and then feasted on their flesh, helping themselves with small bites right from the still-living bodies.

San couldn’t imagine the pain of being eaten like that bit by bit, and he didn’t even want to. He wasn’t ready to part with his life so soon and definitely not in such a way. But he felt his consciousness slipping away thanks to the lack of air, which gave the hands gripping him more power. The last thing he remembered were the rays of the morning sun touching the water’s surface.

He woke up with a start. The sun was high, blinding San with the intensity of its light. The sky above his head was a perfect cerulean color without a cloud spoiling it.

San groaned, shielding his eyes with his hand. What the hell was going on?

“You’re awake! Sweet!” he heard a cheerful voice, and all the memories came back to him. He quickly sat up, looking into the face of the creature sitting right next to him. The wide smile showed two rows of sharp teeth and San imagined how easily they could tear flesh. He screamed and swiftly crawled away from the sharkman grinning at him predatorily.

To his surprise, the grin didn’t widen, but it disappeared from the creature’s lips. Dark eyes watched San with interest, but the one they belonged to didn’t move from his spot. Water dripped from his black and blond hair with a touch of blue, and his skin glistened wetly.

San chanced a glance at his surroundings. They were on an island, a very small one, that was actually just a plain rock. A perfect place for the sharkman’s feast…

San backed away from the creature a little more.

“W-what do you want from me? Are you going to eat me?” he asked in a raspy voice. His throat was dry and burning from the salty water he had swallowed when he had fought for his life.

“Eat you?” the sharkman asked, looking genuinely surprised. “Why would I do that? I saved you.”

“S-saved me?” It was San’s turn to stare at the creature, flabbergasted.

“Yes,” the sharkman said proudly and showed his teeth in a big smile again.

“To eat me later?” San didn’t understand what game his abductor was playing with him.

The sharkman rolled his eyes. “Why do you keep saying that? I don’t want to eat you and no one else is going to, either. A ship wrecked last night, the idiots ran aground on a pile of rocks, so there is enough food for everyone for a few days.”

For a moment, blackness appeared in front of San’s eyes. He could very well imagine what kind of food the sharkman referred to. The very thought made him sick and he was close to passing out again.

“What do you want from me, then?” he asked, rubbing his eyes to keep himself awake.

“I saved you,” the creature repeated.

San stared at him uncomprehendingly.

“You were drowning, so I pulled you out and brought you here,” came the explanation.

“I… was drowning…” San said slowly after the sharkman.

“Yes.”

“Because you flipped my boat upside down…”

There was a moment of hesitant silence before the sharkman spoke again.

“It… it was a wave.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“It was. You just didn’t see it coming,” the sharkman argued.

“I’m positive it wasn’t,” San insisted.

The sharkman wiggled awkwardly. “Does it matter? I saved you and pulled you to this island. You’re happy, right?” he asked, smiling, evidently proud of himself.

San blinked. “Are you kidding?”

“Why?” the sharkman asked, watching the fisherman with interest. 

“I lost my boat thanks to you,” San started, looking around. There was no trace of his boat anywhere on the sea. He continued desperately:

“Now I’m stranded on a piece of rock without any source of food…”

“Are you hungry?” the sharkman interrupted him with obvious eagerness.

San looked at him, puzzled. “What? N–,” But before he managed to finish that sentence, the sharkman turned to the water and jumped into it.

“Wait!” San called, but to no avail. The sharkman disappeared, only the surface of the water kept rippling for a little while in the place where the creature hit it.

San sighed heavily, looking at the sea surrounding the island one more time. What was he supposed to do? He was completely alone, stranded in the middle of nowhere without any chance to escape. There wasn’t even hope that anyone would look for him. If San didn’t return, everyone would think he died at sea. No one would expect him to be still alive, captured by a sharkman on a piece of rock. What in the seven seas did the creature want with him?

He looked at the sky. He couldn’t even see any seagulls, which meant he was too far from any land. His throat tightened and his eyes started stinging and he knew it wasn’t because of salt. But he couldn’t afford to panic. He needed to think clearly!

Just when he came to this thought, the water surface rippled again and the sharkman sprung out of the water. A big grin played on his lips as he threw a piece of something right in front of the fisherman. San looked at the thing and blanched. There, at his feet, lay a human leg from knee to toe, relatively fresh looking but still disgusting. San’s stomach immediately turned upside down. He didn’t even have time to run to the water as digestive juice filled his mouth and he let it out on the hot rock right beside the limb.  

The sharkman watched the poor fisherman with both disgust and interest.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked, genuinely bewildered by the reaction his food offering caused.

San crawled on all fours to the edge of the rock far from the sharkman and rinsed his mouth with the seawater. “That… That is not food,” he stuttered, bent to the water, breathing heavily.

“It is if you’re hungry enough,” the creature said matter-of-factly and reached for the leg.

San covered his mouth with his hand, trying not to get sick again. “Please, don’t say such things.”

The sharkman looked at the severed part of the human body. “Actually, you’re right. It doesn’t even taste good,” he said and threw the leg behind him. The limb hit the water with a loud splash! and disappeared under the surface. “But you surely agree that it’s faster and more comfortable to just pick your food up than catching anything.”

San groaned unhappily. “Can you stop talking about it? I beg you!”

The sharkman looked at the fisherman dejectedly. “I don’t understand. Why is it such a problem?”

“It was human. I’m human. Is it normal for your species to eat each other?” San asked, taking several deep breaths to overcome his nausea.

“Oh…” the creature finally seemed to get it. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about it like that.”

San snorted. “Of course, you didn’t…”

“I can catch you a fish if you like,” the sharkman offered.

“How about you bring me my boat back? My net, too, and I can catch my own fish.”

The sharkman gave him a strange look. “I can’t do that.”

“Why not? Look, I just want to go home…”

“No,” the sharkman said resolutely, suddenly glaring at the fisherman.

San swallowed heavily. Was he going to be eaten now?

“You’re staying here,” the sharkman said. He turned around and disappeared under the water.

“Hey! Wait!” San cried, but it was too late. He could see the dark shadow moving away from the rock island.

San sighed and sat down. He hugged his knees. On one hand, he felt safer with the man-eating creature gone, but on the other, it was his only way off this island. And that thought was scary as hell.

Hours had passed and San was still alone, sitting on the piece of rock sticking out of the sea. He was hungry, but it wasn’t his greatest problem. The sun above his head was strong, making him dizzy. There was no escape from it. San could feel sweat rolling down his temples and back. He cooled his legs and forearms in the water a few times, but it wasn’t enough. His throat was burning with thirst. The sharkman had really left him to die here…

Just when he was desperate enough to be willing to drink the sea water, his abductor appeared again. He lifted his hand and threw something at the fisherman. San was so stunned that he didn’t even think about dodging the thing that hit him right in the chest.

“What is this?” he asked as he looked at the thing that fell to his feet.

The sharkman looked at him as if San was an idiot. “A fish?”

“I know. But why?”

“You said you didn’t eat humans.”

“I don’t.”

“But you do eat fish, don’t you?”

San looked at the fish, but he still didn’t take it. He could feel the sharkman’s intense gaze on him.

“How am I supposed to cook it?” he asked blankly.

“Cook?” The sharkman stared at him in bewilderment. “What is that?”

San sighed. “Prepare to eat.”

The sharkman rolled his eyes. “You’re so demanding…”

San didn’t react to that. He pulled a little further from the creature and hugged his knees. He looked at his abductor.

“What do you want to do with me?” he asked.

A broad smile split the sharkman’s face and his sharp teeth glistened in the orange light of the setting sun. Chill ran up San’s spine at the sight.

“I want you to be my friend!” the creature said excitedly, and San didn’t know if he heard well or his ears deceived him after the long day in the sun.

“Friend?” he asked timidly.

The sharkman nodded vigorously. “I’m Wooyoung. What’s your name?”

San remained silent, just staring in disbelief. Why would the cruel creature as this one like to know the name of his victim?

“You’re kidding,” the words escaped his mouth before he could stop himself.

The smile disappeared from the creature’s face. “What? No. It’s truly my name.”

“I don’t mean that!” San had enough. He was hungry and thirsty and desperate. “I want to go home.”

The sharkman, Wooyoung, pouted. “Why are you like that?”

“Like what? Homesick?” San spat. “I don’t know. Try to guess. You abducted me and brought me to this place, which is just a bare rock. Nothing grows here and there’s no water here either. I’m thirsty.”

Wooyoung looked around and then back at the fisherman. He frowned. “Do you think I’m stupid? There is water literally everywhere!”

“I can’t drink sea water! It’s too salty. My body would collapse if I drank it.”

“I don’ believe you.”

“I will die if I don’t drink fresh water!” San insisted. He needed the stubborn sea creature to listen to him.

But the sharkman watched San with doubt. “You’re saying that just because you want to leave.”

“Of course I want to leave! I want to go home. Please…” San knelt on the hard rock and bowed to the creature. “Please, bring me back my boat.”

“I can’t,” Wooyoung said. “I don’t know where it is. The sea current took it away.”

“You lost my boat?” San asked as he straightened up, pure horror creeping into his tone.

“I’m sorry.”

San shook his head. “No, you’re not.” He stood up. “Leave me alone. I want to die in peace,” he said flatly and moved to the opposite side of the little island.

“I said I’m sorry,” the sharkman insisted, circling the island toward the place where San sat.

San turned around, showing him his back. “Just go. I don’t want to see you anymore.”

There was silence for a moment and then the splashing sound of water.

When San looked around, there was no sign of Wooyoung the sharkman.

San sat on the rock, thinking about his situation. What was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to save himself? He was sure that Wooyoung (or whatever the creature’s name was) waited somewhere underwater for San to get hungry, totally dehydrated and too weak to defend himself, when his would finally abductor decide to eat him. San felt like crying, but what could tears do to help him?

The sun disappeared behind the horizon and the sky started turning dark. San thought about his friends. Were they worried about him? Were they looking for him?

San sighed and hugged his knees. Experience taught him that people who got lost on the sea were considered dead. Even if anyone went to look for them, they almost never found anything. And when they did, it was just a broken plank or a piece of clothing floating on the water – signs that their owner was most likely dead.

But San wasn’t dead. He was just lost…

He was hungry, but even the hunger wasn’t as torturing as his thirst. He tried to drink the water from the ocean, but it just made him thirstier.

“HEEEELP!!!” San yelled in his despair. “SOMEBODY HELP MEEEEEE!!!”

But his cries weren’t heard. Not even the sharkman returned.

The night was long and relatively cold. San curled up into a ball to preserve some of his body warmth.

Somehow, he managed to fall asleep for an hour or maybe two, he couldn’t say. It could be more, because when he woke up, dizzy and shivering, the sky in the east had gained a pinkish shade.

He was thirsty. He was so thirsty that he considered drinking the salty water again. That was when his attention wandered to the fish the sharkman had brought him the previous day. The poor thing had lain there ever since the sharkman had left San alone on the island. Its smell irritated San, but now, when his stomach grumbled with hunger and his throat burned with the lack of fresh water, the idea of trying to satiate his needs with it seemed rather appealing.

San moved to the little dead body, his movements slow and lethargic. He took the fish in his hands, trying not to breathe the awful fish smell. Unfortunately, he had no tools to remove the scales and entrails; his only tools were his bare hands, teeth and stones.

First, San washed the fish in the salty water. Then he tore the head off and left it floating on the surface. He opened the fish’s body using a sharp stone, and when he finally had access to the raw meat, he started eating it. His hands didn’t help him much in this, so San tore the flesh with his teeth. He knew he needed to be careful about fishbones. Even when he managed to remove the spine, a lot of the bones remained. He ate and tried not to think about the nasty smell or the bad taste of the meat. The wet tissue slid down his throat, bringing him a little comfort.

He managed to swallow only a few bites when his stomach protested. The meat was anything but fresh by the time he had decided to eat it and it upset the poor fisherman’s empty stomach. San bent over and the little he had eaten found its way out.

San sobbed. He was definitely going to die this way. Even the thought of being eaten didn’t seem so scary anymore. He almost wished for the sharkman to come and end his agony. He looked at the horizon, but he could barely see anything through the tears that welled up in his eyes.

An hour later, there were no tears he could cry anymore. Strength left his body and he lay motionlessly on the hard rocks. He stared at the blue sky above his head, but didn’t really see it. He suffered of unbearable thirst and hunger, wishing that death would come for him soon.

The sun was high, turning the world into a hot mess again. San didn’t feel it anymore. His consciousness was slipping away little by little. The sounds around him became quieter until they fell silent completely. Darkness wrapped San in its merciful embrace, promising the peace he wished for so much. Soon, he knew nothing of the world around him anymore.

His body felt heavy. The sole fact that he had a body told him that he wasn’t dead yet. Through the cotton in his mind, he realized that the surface under him wasn’t rocky anymore; a soft texture under his hands could be nothing else but sand. Wet sand. San could hear the familiar sound of the ocean and he realized his lower body was caressed by tiny waves.

His mind went into alert mode immediately. None of that was right – not that being stranded on a rock island was right in any sense of that word, but he knew how he had gotten there at least.

He was just about to start panicking when a sudden current of water hit his face. It was probably meant to aim for his mouth, but since his lips were still tightly sealed, the water flowed everywhere, especially into his nose. San coughed and his body convulsed. His hand shot up to protect his face from more water while he turned his head away. His eyes opened, seeing that he truly lay on wet sand.

“Whoa!” he heard a voice right next to him. He raised his head to look at its originator…

… and his heart almost stopped beating. His worst nightmare sat there, right next to him with some kind of a half-broken vessel in his hands, staring at the fisherman.

San’s eyes widened. He sucked in air and screamed from the top of his lungs, crawling away from the creature.

The sharkman screamed, too, the sound so high that San had to cover his ears if he didn’t want to go deaf. That silenced him successfully. He gazed at the creature in utter terror.

The sharkman gazed at him in the same manner, his hands pressed to his chest. The vessel he had held was in shards now, scattered next to the creature.

“You scared me!” the sharkman complained.

“I scared you?” San squeaked in disbelief. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“What is a heart attack?” the ocean creature asked, turning his head to the side like a dog.

“It’s when your heart fails you. It’s deadly,” San explained, not really understanding why he bothered.

“Then you, too, almost gave me a heart attack,” the sharkman said, pulling his hands away from his chest.

They kept staring at each other, both regarding the other with suspicion in their eyes. San didn’t know why the sharkman stared at him that way, but as for the fisherman, he had his questions.

“Why did you want to drown me like this? You could simply pull me underwater, you know,” he said, keeping safe distance between them.

The sharkman frowned and pouted in a way that San would probably consider adorable if he hadn’t known anything about the predatory side of such creatures.

“I didn’t want to drown you,” the sharkman said. “You said you needed fresh water to live, so I brought you some.”

That caught San’s attention. He had forgotten his thirst for a moment due to his panic, but now, when the sharkman mentioned it, he realized again how thirsty he was. “You have fresh water?” he asked incredulously.

“Not anymore,” the sharkman said, motioning to the shards on the ground.

San almost cried. He must have done something truly terrible in his previous life if he was being punished by such bad luck.

“But I know where it is,” the sharkman continued, and San fixed his eyes on him in hope.

“Will you show me?” he asked almost breathlessly. He was ready to beg this cruel creature to have mercy on him and relieve his suffering.

The sharkman’s face lit up as he gave San the widest smile the fisherman had ever seen – and also the scariest one. Seeing all those sharp teeth, San thought he was going to faint.

“Sure!” the sharkman – Wooyoung, if San remembered correctly – cried joyfully. “Just follow me!” he said and disappeared in the sea.

San sat there on the shore, staring after him.

Nothing happened for two agonizingly long minutes.

The sharkman, Wooyoung, popped his head out from the water and looked at San, perplexed. “Why are you still sitting there?”

San gave him a suspicious look. “Why do you want me to go into the water?”

“Duh!” Wooyoung snorted. “Because I want to show you where the fresh water is, don’t I?”

“In the sea?” San challenged. “Do you think I’m dumb?

“Are you?” Wooyoung said, swishing his shark tail impatiently.

San swallowed. “You finally decided to eat me. You want to drown me and then you’re going to eat me…” he said.

The sharkman rolled his eyes. “Fine, I get it. You are dumb.”

San glared at him, not moving from his spot.

“Don’t you think that if I wanted to drown you, I would’ve done it when I was dragging you to this place?” the creature said, and San had to admit that there was something about it. At last, he allowed himself to have a proper look at his surroundings. He was sitting on a small beach surrounded by vegetation. And where was vegetation, there was water.

San’s heart started beating faster and he made himself stand up on his shaky legs. He started walking towards the bushes and trees that promised the end of his suffering.

“Hey! Where are you going!” Wooyoung called after him.

“To look for the fresh water by myself!”

“Wait!”

But San didn’t stop. He didn’t know where he was, if this was land or an island, but he knew one thing for sure: he wanted to get away from the sharkman. He wanted to find the water and survive. And then, he would look for some food, too.  

San was tired. He staggered through the jungle in search of water, but he couldn’t find even a tiny pool. How was it possible? The vegetation around was proof that there must have been water somewhere.

His throat burned and his muscles ached, but San was determined to survive. In order to achieve that, he couldn’t give up. He had to go on, to make his exhausted body work. The only thing that kept him going was his willpower. He was sure he was close to relieving his suffering, he just needed to hang on.

He stumbled and fell on his knees. His head hung between his shoulders as he tried to catch his breath. It would have been so easy to give in to his tiredness. But the longer he was without water the closer he was to death. He couldn’t afford to rest. No matter how hard it was, San needed to continue.

He gritted his teeth and forced his body to motion. Slowly, he rose to his feet, his legs shaking. Every step was torture. Moving hurt, his mouth was dry and his tongue stuck to his palate. He couldn’t stop, because if he did…

He moved forward, not knowing where he was going. If he got lost, it didn’t even matter, did it? As long as he found water… The only problem was that the water remained hidden from him. Nevertheless, San continued in his efforts. Step after step, one foot in front of the other… The only good thing was that the sun couldn’t find him under the bushy treetops.

He moved through the vegetation, half-blind with exhaustion. And suddenly, he spotted it…

At first, he thought that his eyes deceived him. San wouldn’t have been surprised if the small lake right in front of him was just a figment of his imagination. He yearned for fresh water so much that his tired brain provided him with a merciful hallucination. Was he already dying? Or was what he saw actually true?

San rubbed his eyes, but the image in front of him didn’t disappear. A pool in the midst of this godforsaken forest promised the poor fisherman the relief he was yearning for so desperately. The rays of the sun glistened on its surface like liquid gold, tempting San with its unimaginable beauty.

An undefinable sound left San’s dry mouth. He would have cried if there had been enough wetness in his body to shed tears. He wanted to run, but he was weak. He pushed his sore body to work a little longer. His destination was just a few steps away. He saw nothing but the cool water of the lake that was being filled by a small waterfall. San didn’t even register the ripple on the surface that was definitely not caused by the falling water. He sank on his knees at the lakeside and dipped his hands into the water. It was cool and pleasant to the touch. After having spent the whole previous day in the burning sun, it was a nice change for his skin.

San took a bit of the water into his hands and drank it greedily. He repeated the process a few times in order to quench his thirst. The cool liquid was like a balm for his exhausted body. The fire in his throat ceased and his muscles cooperated more willingly.

The surface of the water rippled again. This time, it caught San’s attention. He lifted his head…

He saw a familiar face, dark eyes watching him with weird fascination. Suddenly, San found the last bits of his strength to jump back. He wanted to scream, but the only sound he managed to give through the sandpaper in his throat was a painful whimper.  

“Took you long enough,” Wooyoung the sharkman said, propping his elbows on the edge of the lake and gazing at the fisherman.

“How did you get here?” San asked, concealing a sob with a pretended cough. This creature was obviously determined to haunt him.

Wooyoung raised his hand and pointed in the opposite side of the lake. There was a creek, flowing from the lake and winding into the forest.

“It looks small, but it’s actually quite deep and it flows right into the ocean,” he explained.

San sighed unhappily. A waterway, right…

“Feeling better?” the sharkman asked, still watching he fisherman as if he was the most interesting thing in the world.

San looked at him with suspicion. “Yeah. A bit,” he admitted. “But not thanks to you.”

Wooyoung straightened up in the water. “Whose fault is that? If you had followed me just like I told you, you would’ve been here much sooner,” he pointed out.

“Follow you, just to die in agony. Right…” San said sarcastically.

“How many times do I need to tell you that I don’t want to kill you? I’m not like that,” the sharkman announced in a serious tone.

“That’s really hard to believe, you know,” San said, the tone of his voice serious as well. He sat in the grass a few steps away from the water surface so that the sharkman had no chance to grab him and drown him in the pool.

Wooyoung watched him for a few heartbeats before he spoke again.

“I don’t understand,” he said, and the genuine puzzlement in his voice could hardly be denied. “Didn’t I bring you food when you said you were hungry?”

“A raw fish that I didn’t have anywhere to cook.”

“Isn’t it normal for people to eat raw fish?”

“Not always. Not like this. We need to remove the scales first and take out the intestines. Only then, the fish is relatively edible,” San tried to explain.

Wooyoung made a face. “Yuck…”

“But we need tools for that. I can’t do it with my bare hands,” San continued.

“I saw what you did to that fish. You completely ruined it,” Wooyoung said, looking at San disapprovingly.

“Because I used stones. But that didn’t help me much and the little I ate was disgusting anyway, so…”

“Gross,” Wooyoung commented, crinkling his nose. “But all of that was on you. You didn’t tell me what you needed.”

“I told you I needed to cook the fish.”

“And I didn’t understand. I still don’t,” Wooyoung said.

San stared. Maybe he was too rash in judging this creature. He obviously didn’t understand much about humans, but there was still one thing… “You left me there without fresh water. You can’t imagine how thirsty I was. It was torture,” he continued in his elaboration.

This time, the sharkman had the decency to look regretful. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you through that,” he said. “You said you didn’t want to see me, so I wanted to give you some time to calm down and then try to talk to you again. When I found you lying there, unresponsive, I took you here and brought you the fresh water. But you broke the vessel and then ran away. I couldn’t follow you, so I swam here and hoped you’d find this place without my help.”

San remained silent this time, watching the sharkman from the safe distance, mistrust written in his face. It was hard to accept that Wooyoung probably really wasn’t as bad as San had believed. That belief was rooted deep inside his mind like a weed and it wasn’t so easy to pluck it out. Definitely not after what he had gone through.

“I really didn’t mean to harm you,” Wooyoung said when the silence between them stretched into a whole minute.

“Maybe you didn’t,” San said slowly, not averting his gaze from the sharkman. “But there’s still the fact that you kidnapped me and have been keeping me away from my home ever since.”

Wooyoung didn’t respond. Instead, he started playing with the water as if he hadn’t heard a word of what San had said.

“Are you listening to me?” San pressed.

“You can live here,” Wooyoung muttered, still not looking at San. He kept playing with the water, creating little waves with one hand and catching them with the other.

San snorted. “Right…” He stood up, giving the sharkman a pointed look. “Does keeping me away from my home and my friends make you happy?”

Wooyoung raised his gaze to San’s face hesitantly. “I can be your friend,” he said quietly.

San wasn’t sure what he had expected. He had hoped that his words would awaken at least some sympathy in the creature, but sharkpeople were apparently as heartless as the stories about them said.

He sighed and walked away, feeling the stare of his abductor on the nape of his neck.

San considered his options. He was stranded on an unknown chunk of land with a water creature that followed him wherever it was able to. Luckily for San, the sharkman was bound to the water and there weren’t many water routes he could use. When San wanted to sit down and think in peace, all he had to do was to walk away from any water surface and hide among the dense vegetation.

There were a few concerns he needed to solve: food, shelter and the way away from this place. All of them required exploration of his surroundings. First of all, he needed to find out what this place was. Was it an island? Did anyone live here? If not, did anyone tend to come here? What creatures hid in the jungle? Were there more waterways? Did anything edible grow here?

San was famished and therefore his first mission was to satiate his hunger. He was a fisherman; he could try to catch a fish, but it was no easy task without proper tools and making nets of palm leaves would be difficult and time consuming. San would have died sooner than he would be ready for fishing. Thus he decided to go on an exploration trip and see if he could find some fruit he could eat.

He roamed the jungle for some time, looking for anything he could eat. Birds were singing in the treetops, but San was no hunter and even if he had had a slingshot, he doubted he would have been able to hit his target. Also, he wasn’t good at climbing trees, so fresh eggs were no option for him either.

He was frustrated and started looking around. Maybe that plant over there could be edible? How about that one a bit further? And that big fruit on that bent tree branch a few paces away? It was worth a try, wasn’t it?

San was blind with hunger and he didn’t look under his feet. The fruit he saw attracted him with its sweet fragrance. San proceeded in his tracks, coming closer and closer…

He heard a soft splash of water, but he didn’t pay any attention to it. Nothing was as important as the needs of his empty stomach and the unknown fruit that seemed to be bigger and bigger with every step San took. How could something like that taste bad, right?

“Watch out!”

San’s heart skipped a beat and he fell on his butt for the second time that day. A hand shot through the air, gripping the neck of a hissing snake. A blonde head with the touch of blue and black strands on the nape appeared right in front of San’s widened eyes.

“WHAT ON EARTH…???” he squeaked, staring at the scene in front of his eyes. With curiosity, Wooyoung stared at the hissing snake that was showing its long fangs, but the reptile was no match for the sharkman, who held it firmly.

Wooyoung tilted his head to the side, watching the animal that started wiggling more violently in his grip. It opened its mouth, but never closed it again. Something snapped like a breaking bone and the animal went totally limp.

Wooyoung turned his attention to the fisherman still sitting on the ground and gaping at him in horror.

“Wha-wha-what did you do?” San stuttered.

“Saved your life,” Wooyoung said matter-of-factly. “It’s venomous. You were going to step on it,” he explained. “Many times, I saw what it did to the birds that weren’t careful enough.”

San was speechless. As he had walked after the fruit, he hadn’t noticed the bank of the tiny pool the sharkman still had half of his body in.

Wooyoung put the snake down slowly, watching it as if the reptile could come back to life and he could kill it again just for fun. San kept gazing at him, wondering if the sharkman could strangle him just as easily as he did to the poor animal.

Their eyes met. The corners of Wooyoung’s mouth lifted in a smile while San’s breathing quickened as nervousness took over his heart again.

“You’re safe now,” Wooyoung said, the smile still present on his face.

“Uhm…” San wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say to that. Maybe… “Thank you.”

Wooyoung beamed, his whole being glowing with glee. “Are we friends now?”

The wideness of his smile amazed San, but the sight of the sharp teeth made him more anxious. He fidgeted restlessly and glanced at the snake. A freshly killed animal… And San was SO hungry…

At the lack of San’s response, Wooyoung’s smile faltered. “We are, right?” he asked, his voice almost pleading.

“Uh…” San didn’t want to lie, but he also didn’t want to be eaten. Speaking of eating… “Do you have any plans with that?” He beckoned in the direction of the snake.

His question distracted the sharkman successfully as he glanced at the dead reptile.

“No, no plans. Why?”

“Would you mind if I take it?”

Wooyoung gave the fisherman a look as if he thought San was losing his mind. “Go on. It’s yours,” he said, watching San crawling closer on four and reaching for the snake.

“Why do you want it?” the sharkman asked curiously.

“I’m hungry,” San said as he snatched the snake from Wooyoung’s reach.

Wooyoung blinked. “You wanna eat it???” he asked incredulously.

“I found nothing better, so…” San said, thinking how he was going to disconnect the head from the rest of the body.

Wooyoung watched him for a few seconds, but then his patience ran out. “Well?”

“I need to cook it first,” San explained.

“Cool! I want to see how you do it!” the sharkman exclaimed excitedly.

“I need to make a fire,” San said.

Wooyoung’s expression changed again and he looked confused now. “Fire?”

“Yeah. How do you think people prepare food?”

“I don’t know. I’m not human,” the sharkman pointed out.

“I can see that,” San said distractedly, looking around.

“What are you looking for?” Wooyoung asked, noticing San’s lack of attention.

“I’ll need wood and stones to make a fire.”

Wooyoung stayed quiet this time and only watched San going to and fro, looking for some dry wood he could use to make the fire. The fruit that had lured him with its tasty look and the prospect of a small feast caught his attention again. San stopped right in front of it, studying it.

“I wouldn’t touch it if I were you,” Wooyoung said from his pool.

San turned to him with a question in his eyes. “Why?”

Wooyoung shrugged. “Maybe it’s nothing. I just saw insects die when they sat on that thing,” he said in a light tone.

“Oh…” San stepped away from the fruit, looking on the ground. Indeed, he could see dead flies and other insects under it. Something was definitely not right with the fruit. “Thanks,” he said to the sharkman. That was the second time Wooyoung saved San’s ass in less than half an hour.

Wooyoung gave him another of his bright smiles. “See? I don’t wish you any harm.”

“Uhm…” San wasn’t sure what to say. Yes, the sharkman had saved him from the imminent danger, but San still wasn’t sure what his true intentions with the poor fisherman were. He started looking for the wood again, not paying any more attention to the water creature. However, he could feel the intensity of Wooyoung’s gaze even when he managed to wander further from him.

And then, he almost fell into another pool of water. It looked like the whole place was loaded with them. He wasn’t even surprised when Wooyoung’s face appeared right in front of him again.

“You should be more careful,” the sharkman said.

“I’ll be careful right after I eat,” San said sulkily, not bothered by the fact that he was being childish.

He managed to gather enough wood to light a decent fire without getting in trouble anymore. He returned to the very first pool he had found on his little journey to seek water and food, Wooyoung already bathing in it when San reached it.

“For you,” the sharkman said with a proud smile as he handed San two round stones, holding each in one hand. “You said you needed some.”

“… thank you,” San said hesitantly, accepting the wet stones.

Wooyoung gave him another of his bright smiles. “Anything for you,” he said happily.

“Right…” San really didn’t know what to think about this vicious creature. Wooyoung had almost killed him and now he was helping him. Was it one of his games? Or was he really so clueless that he had no idea how dangerous his actions had been for San? Whatever it was, there was one rock solid fact: Wooyoung was keeping San from his home purposely and wasn’t willing to let him go.

San put the stones in the sun so that they dried and then inspected the snake. He thought how he was going to skin it. He had no tools…

“Um, listen,” he addressed the sharkman, who was watching him from the pool. “Do you think you could get me something sharp? A stone with a sharp edge maybe?” he asked Wooyoung. If the sharkman wanted to keep San as his pet, he should help him to stay alive.

“A stone with a sharp edge?” Wooyoung thought about it for a moment. Then he nodded and disappeared under the water.

While he was gone, San managed to make a fire with the help of the stones from Wooyoung and now he sat on the shore of the pool, waiting for the sharkman to come back.

After some time, the water surface rippled and Wooyoung’s blueish head reemerged into the world.

Giving San his typical bright smile, he swam closer to the edge of the pool and handed the fisherman a smaller stone. “I found this one,” he said proudly, as San shifted a little closer and took the stone from him. “I don’t know if it’s sharp enough.”

“It looks fine, thank you…” San said, but Wooyoung continued:

“There was also this…”

When San returned his attention to the sharkman, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. There, in Wooyoung’s hand, was a real treasure. A skillfully crafted knife with a golden hilt inlaid with gemstones glistened in the rays of the sun. San had never seen such a beauty before. The blade itself looked sharp, but also very expensive – a true masterpiece by a knifesmith.

“Where did you get that?” he asked the sharkman, amazed.

“What? This?” Wooyoung looked at the knife. “In one of the underwater caves. There are more things like this, but nothing is as sharp as this one.”

“Oh…” San had no words to that. There was a treasure under the water and this creature had no idea of its value. Not that San had any idea how much such things cost, but he knew they were extremely expensive. And now he was being offered to use such a precious item for mere cutting.

“Do you want it?” Wooyoung asked, handing the knife to San with so much innocence that it almost hurt to see it.

The fisherman took the treasure with a trembling hand. He noticed that a few gemstones were missing, but even that didn’t diminish the beauty of the knife. The blade was shiny despite having been forgotten in some underwater cave for who knew how long.

San glanced at the sharkman. Wooyoung was smiling, obviously satisfied with himself.

“Beautiful, right?” he said happily.

“Yeah, beautiful,” San said slowly, feeling a bit uneasy about not having a more appropriate tool to cut his dinner with.

“Don’t you like it?” Wooyoung asked when he noticed the lack of San’s enthusiasm about the knife.

“I do,” San said with a soft sigh.

“What’s wrong, then?”

“Nothing’s wrong. It’s just…” San thought about his next words for a moment. “It’s just too pretty to be used like this.”

“But it’s sharp, isn’t it?” Wooyoung asked again, the innocence in his voice as well as in his eyes.

The corners of San’s mouth lifted in the slightest of smiles. “Yes, it’s sharp,” he said. Something about Wooyoung’s view of the precious knife made him look at the true nature of the thing. It was a tool. No matter how beautiful or precious it was, it was still a tool, a sharp one, that could help him to survive.

San grabbed the dead snake, determined to satiate his hunger. That was his number one priority and he would do it by any means.

He cut off the head of the snake and skinned the reptile. He removed the insides and the bones, then cut the meat into smaller pieces that he stuck on sticks. Wooyoung watched him the whole time and he must have been pretty fascinated with San’s way of preparing his food, because he didn’t say a word, didn’t ask any questions. He kept quiet until the moment San held the sticks with the meat above the fire.

“What are you doing!?” he cried, horrified. “You’ll spoil it, you barbarian!”

San looked up from his food, raising an eyebrow at Wooyoung’s wailing. “What’s up with you?”

“Why do you want to burn your food?” Wooyoung obviously didn’t understand a thing about cooking.

“I’m not burning it. I’m roasting it,” San said, getting back to his work.

“Roasting?” Wooyoung looked genuinely intrigued.

“Yes. Cooking above fire,” San explained. “It makes the meat better for eating and tastier.”

“Uh…” Wooyoung didn’t seem convinced, but he said nothing more, watching San preparing his food.

“Just wait,” San said and continued in his work.

It didn’t take long for the snake to roast, even though it felt like ages for San. By the time his meal was ready, he was going crazy with hunger. The smell of the roasting meat provoked his senses and he was very close to eating it half-raw. Wooyoung was probably getting bored while waiting for San to finish cooking, because he paid more attention to making bubbles and rippling the water’s surface.

“It’s done,” San said after so many never-ending minutes of waiting as he pulled one of the sticks away from the fire.

Wooyoung turned to San with utmost curiosity once again, swimming to the edge of the pool. He watched San taking a piece of meat off of the stick and tasting it carefully.

“How is it?” he asked, eyes wide and fascinated.

San glanced at him. “Wanna try?” He handed a piece to Wooyoung without waiting for his answer.

The sharkman extended his hand to take it, but San pulled his hand away a little.

“Be careful. It’s hot,” he warned and only then he let the water creature take the treat.

The moment Wooyoung’s fingers touched the offered piece, the sharkman shrieked and dropped the meat into the grass. San’s heart almost stopped as he got scared by the noise.

“WHAT!?” he shouted himself.

Wooyoung’s eyes were wide and puzzled as he looked at San. “I thought it would burn my hand,” he said in a sulky tone, looking at the piece of meat as if it had offended him.

San rolled his eyes. This creature would definitely give him a heart attack one day. He shook his head and turned to his own food. He held the pieces of meat in his fingers gingerly, blowing on them from time to time to cool them and taking small bites of the meat, eating slowly.

While feasting on the snake, he kept watching the water creature. Wooyoung reached for the piece of meat once again, taking it in his hand gingerly. There was no exaggerated reaction from him this time. A small frown creased his otherwise smooth forehead as he sniffed at the meat and then bit into it. His expression changed immediately: eyes went wide and round and his brows almost reached his hairline.

“That’s fantastic!” he squealed. “I’ve never eaten anything more delicious!”

San chuckled. “Don’t exaggerate. It’s just some roasted chunk of meat. If I had any kind of seasonings, it would’ve tasted much better,” he said, giving Wooyoung an amused smile.

The sharkman raised his eyes to San’s face. He blinked. Then he blinked again and stared at San as though he had seen him for the first time.

San immediately got shy. “Is there something on my face?” he asked, wiping any possible dirt from his cheeks and forehead.

“You… smiled,” Wooyoung said, sounding absolutely amazed.

It was San’s turn to look at him as if Wooyoung wasn’t from the same world as the fisherman. In a way, he wasn’t, was he?

“I thought you couldn’t smile,” Wooyoung explained, but to San, he still didn’t make any sense.

“Why?” the fisherman asked, perplexed.

“You didn’t so far,” Wooyoung said, still gazing at San as if he was something new and exciting. His shark tail moved from side to side in a slow rhythm while Wooyoung’s elbows were propped on the edge of the pool.

“I…” San started, feeling awkward. “Did it occur to you that I probably didn’t have a reason to smile?” he said, looking away, embarrassed. He got back to eating his meal.

“And you do now?”

The question found San unprepared. He looked at the water creature again, staring at him in awe and disbelief. How was he supposed to react to that? Wooyoung seemed absolutely oblivious to the fact that he had almost killed San, though, as it seemed, unintentionally.

“Um, I… I’m not dying of thirst and hunger anymore, so… it’s easier to smile, I guess,” he mumbled, feeling heat in his cheeks, and he knew he was blushing.

“It suits you,” Wooyoung said without hesitation, beaming at San as though he was the best thing that happened in the sharkman’s life. And for a split second, San wondered if that was truly the case.

After sating his hunger and thirst, San returned to the beach. The sun was already on its journey to the west and San’s attention turned to creating a shelter for the night. Wooyoung kept close as much as water paths allowed him. He asked many questions and San tried to answer them at first, but when they kept piling up, San gave up answering most of them. Actually, he stopped answering them at all. However, Wooyoung didn’t seem bothered by that as he didn’t shut his mouth even when he just held a monologue.

“Do you ever keep quiet for more than a second?” San asked after what seemed like eternity filled with Wooyoung’s excited chatter. San didn’t understand how could the sharkman stay so energetic despite hours of a constant torrent of words.

“Why? Does my talking bother you?” Wooyoung asked, looking as innocent as a child if there wasn’t the reminder of his sharp teeth.

“No. Yes. I don’t know,” San said, not sure what to say. He didn’t want to hurt the creature’s feelings, but he was also tired of the sharkman’s non-stop speaking. He didn’t even know anymore what Wooyoung had been talking about when San stopped him.

“I… I’m sorry,” Wooyoung apologized, suddenly looking embarrassed. “I thought you didn’t mind.”

“I…” San started, feeling awkward when he saw guilt in Wooyoung’s eyes. “I don’t. I just wonder…” he said, trying to sound less irritated and more understanding. “You must feel lonely, don’t you?”

Wooyoung gave him a toothy smile. “Not anymore. I have you.”

San remained silent for a moment before he sighed. “Right…” he said and looked away. He understood that he had become a hostage of the sharkman’s loneliness. Convincing his incarcerator that the best thing for San was to let him go was going to be very hard if not impossible. The creature had his mind set and San couldn’t imagine him budging so easily.

“You know… I’ve heard stories about you sharkpeople, but I’ve never met anyone other than you,” he said while working on his shelter. “Where are the others? Are you alone here?” he asked, curious eyes fixing on Wooyoung. He noticed the moment of hesitation before the sharkman grinned, revealing the two lines of sharp teeth.

“Why do you need others when you have the amazing me?” Wooyoung asked sweetly. “I’m the funniest, most social and friendliest inhabitant of this bay. You are lucky that you met me.”

San snorted. “Lucky, indeed…” Heavy sarcasm dripped from his words as he turned back to his work. He felt kind of offended that the sharkman didn’t take his questions seriously.

There was silence for a few heartbeats and then…

“I wasn’t always alone. I had a family. A big one.”

San looked up from his work, turning to the sharkman with interest. The water creature watched him, but the ever-present smile was gone and Wooyoung’s eyes were strangely shiny. Although he found it strange, San thought that the sharkman looked… sad.

“Did something happen to them?” he asked, encouraging Wooyoung to tell him more.

The sharkman looked hesitant at first. He looked at the horizon bathing in orange light of the setting sun before he spoke.

“No, nothing happened to them. Nothing I know about,” he said, and he suddenly looked so forlorn that it made San wonder.

“So… where are they? Did they leave?” the fisherman asked and followed Wooyoung’s gaze to the sea.

The sharkman sighed heavily. “I guess. I wasn’t here then.”

“Where were you?”

Wooyoung smiled again, but this time, his smile disappeared quickly. He sighed.

“You know… We… Our reputation was never a good one. The underwater world sees us as… despicable because we eat human flesh and humans in general think that we are man-eating monsters. At least that’s what Mom used to say…” he said sadly, not meeting San’s eyes.

The fisherman fidgeted awkwardly in his spot. “But… you… do eat humans, don’t you?”

When Wooyoung raised his gaze to San’s face, his eyes looked like two dark precious stones; the last rays of the setting sun gleamed in them, making them sparkle with an emotion that San couldn’t name. Was it anger? Disappointment? Disgust?

“Of course we do,” he said as if he spoke to a silly little child. “When a ship wrecks and its crew drowns, wouldn’t it be shame to let all that meat rot?”

“Meat…” San repeated in a dull voice.

“I admit that the taste is not the best, but… Those are effortless supplies. Otherwise, we need to catch our own food and it’s not as easy as you may think!” Wooyoung defended his kind.

“Of course, I can’t know that. As a fisherman, I never needed to catch my own food…” San said with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

“See? That’s exactly my point!” Wooyoung cried, and San wondered if the sharkman meant it or he was just making fun of him. San simply couldn’t believe that Wooyoung was so clueless.

“You’re kidding, right?” he asked, getting an extremely confused look from the sharkman.

“No. Why would I?”

“Wooyoung, do you know what fishermen do for living?” San asked, curious about the answer. As someone living in the sea, Wooyoung couldn’t be so ignorant of such things, could he?

Wooyoung’s face remained blank, though. “They… eat fish, right?” he asked slowly, watching San’s face to make sure his answer was the correct one.

The fisherman sighed. The sharkman was a lost cause. “They catch fish to eat them. Or sell them to the ones who can’t catch them,” he tried to explain.

“Oh… So you know what a hard task it is,” Wooyoung concluded.

“Oh, trust me, I do!” San said, emphasizing the last word.

“So you also understand why we eat dead humans. It’s convenient. It’ easy food.”

San really didn’t know what to say to that. Maybe the sharkman had a point. The dead didn’t need their bodies anymore. They could either rot on the bottom of the sea or be useful in their death and feed other creatures that survived on their flesh.

“Are you saying you’ve never tasted a living human?” San had to ask to make sure.

Wooyoung shook his head. “No, never. Maybe other families have, but no one in my family has ever hunted humans. My parents taught me that humans are not prey, because they are almost as intelligent as we are. That is why we eat them only when they drown.”

“Have you ever drowned someone to eat them?”

“Are you listening to me? Which part of ‘dead humans are easy food’ didn’t you understand? Drowning them would be too much trouble. They squirm too much,” Wooyoung said, exasperated.

“How do you know if you never did that?” San asked.

“I watched them when they fell into the sea,” Wooyoung said nonchalantly. “All I had to do was wait. Eventually, they stop fighting and they just… die.” He grinned while San needed a moment to overcome nausea.

“You watched them…” he said bluntly.

Wooyoung’s smile fell. “Well… I tried to help them once or twice, maybe a few more times, but every time it was the same… They panicked and tried to fight me. They didn’t listen at all when I tried to explain that I wanted to help them. They even hurt me once, so I stopped bothering…” he said with a sigh.

“Oh…” That answer surprised San and he didn’t know what to say to that. He took a deep breath. “Let’s get back to your story, shall we? Why are you the only one of your kind here?”

Wooyoung’s expression turned somber immediately. He gazed at the dark blue sea as though looking for something in the distance.

“As I said, we’re not very popular…” he said sadly and turned to San again, “and therefore I was abducted…”

San raised an eyebrow. “Abducted?” Funny that his own abductor talked about being abducted. One would think that Wooyoung would realize that he did practically the same to San. But judging from the sharkman’s perfectly honest expression, he obviously didn’t.

“So… how did this abduction happen?” San asked, not sure if he was still interested in the story.

“I was playing in the sea when, suddenly, I found myself in a net.”

“Suddenly? Weren’t you paying attention to your surroundings?” the fisherman asked, sounding bored.

Wooyoung pouted. “I don’t know about you, but when I play, I’m immersed in the game and I don’t care about what’s going on around me…”

“So you’re saying you’re careless…”

Wooyoung frowned. “Do you want to hear the story or not?” he asked, offended.

“Yeah, yeah, go on…” San said, getting back to work on his shelter while Wooyoung bathed in a small pool and recounted the circumstances of his abduction.

“So…” the sharkman started, waving his tail in the cool water. “I was playing in the sea when I was captured in a net and pulled onto the deck of a ship. The men on the ship seemed surprised by their catch. But then…” Wooyoung pouted. “They said something like it was a shame that they hadn’t caught a mermaid. As if a handsome merman wasn’t enough for them…”

“Sharkman,” San corrected him.

Wooyoung fell silent for a moment, giving the fisherman a look that couldn’t be interpreted other than I said what I said, so shut up. And so San shut up and waited for Wooyoung to continue in his story.

“They were rude.” A new pout formed on the sharkman’s lips. “They said I was ugly. But I’m not ugly! I’m not! Right?” He looked at San with urgency both in his voice and his expression.

San blinked, staring at the water creature, perplexed. “Er… Does it matter?” he asked, because he hadn’t thought about such things and he didn’t feel like starting right now. Anyway, the sharp shark teeth were more scary than pretty and even though they had already established that Wooyoung didn’t kill people for food, he was still San’s captor and who knew what he was capable of?

“Are you saying I’m ugly, then?” the sharkman asked, and that brought San back to reality.

“No! No!” the fisherman exclaimed. “You are… unique,” he offered.

“Unique?” Wooyoung asked as if tasting the word on his tongue.

“Yes…” San said slowly, hesitantly. “One of a kind,” he added just in case.

“Unique…” Wooyoung contemplated the word. “I like it.” A big grin spread across his lips and his tail moved in the water again.

San glanced at the sharkman, lifting the corners of his mouth in a small but gentle smile.

“Will you tell me the rest of the story? How did you get off the ship?” he asked curiously as he continued in his work.

Wooyoung’s expression changed immediately. His smile disappeared and a shadow settled on his face. The light in his eyes dimmed, the corners of his mouth fell.

“There’s not much to tell, actually,” he said, sadness coloring his voice. “The crew wanted to shoot me at first, but someone came up with a genius plan to sell me to a circus – whatever that means. They held me in a cask full of sea water after that and threatened to kill me if I wasn’t good and tried to hurt them…”

“That’s… awful. I’m sorry,” San said and meant it. The idea of being held at the point of a gun just to become a slave of some greedy humans gave him goosebumps.

“I was scared and I cried a lot and that just made them angrier. They were rude, they yelled at me or threatened that they would hurt me if I didn’t stop weeping.”

Wooyoung sighed and looked at the dark blue sea before he turned to San again.

“After several long days, there was a storm. A big wave swept my cask into the sea – that’s how I escaped. But when I returned home, no one was here anymore. I asked everyone I could if they knew anything about my family, but they only told me what I knew already, that they had left. I’m sure they went to look for me, they just… couldn’t find me.” He swallowed heavily and his eyes glistened oddly. “I decided to stay here in case they returned. I’ve been waiting for them ever since…”

“You shouldn’t lose hope,” San said softly.

“I’m not,” Wooyoung said in a serious tone. “It’s just lonely here without them. Although I believe that sooner or later, they’ll return. This is their home, after all.”

San looked at the wide sea spreading in front of him into the far distance.

Home…

San slept very little that night. Most of the time, he sat in his small shelter, watching the fire he had lit on the beach in case a ship sailed past the island. He hadn’t shared the true reason for lighting the fire with Wooyoung, who returned to his cheery, curious self; San had simply told him that he was afraid of the dark in the strange, unknown place. Wooyoung had seemed to believe the lie.

They had parted for the night; San had crawled into his shelter while Wooyoung had backed into the dark waters and disappeared.

So, San was alone now, watching the stars above his head and listening to the murmur of the water. He wondered if anyone missed him back home. Most likely, they thought he was dead, lost to the sea, his body feeding sea predators or rotting on the bottom of the ocean.

San sighed quietly and closed his eyes. He thought about his options. He wanted to survive, but he also wanted to go back home. If only he had had the tools to build a raft!

Thinking about what to do next, concerning his efforts to get back home, he fell asleep and woke up when the sun was already high and the fire he had lit had gone out long ago.

San crawled out from his shelter and went to wash the sleep from his face. He looked around, but there was no sign of the sharkman.

San sighed quietly. His stomach grumbled, letting him know that it would appreciate something to eat. San turned around and walked among the trees, looking for a long, thin, and relatively straight branch. When he found it, he pulled out the knife with the golden hilt Wooyoung had given him the previous day. After some time, many drops of sweat and a few curses he managed to cut the branch off. He got it rid of the smaller branches growing from the wood and then sharpened its end.

He was ready to hunt his breakfast now.

Barefoot and armed with his makeshift spear, he entered the warm blue water to start his hunt for breakfast.

Motionless, he waited patiently for fish to get used to his presence and start circling around his legs, curious. San waited for a few more minutes and then…

San’s moves were fast, but the fish were faster. They avoided his spear with ease as though they had just waited for it. Then, they gathered just a few paces away and if fish could laugh, they surely would have at San’s clumsiness.

“Damn you,” the fisherman muttered. “If only I had my fishing net…”

“What are you doing?” the sudden voice from behind his back made him drop his spear as he startled. He turned around only to glare at the intruder.

“Hunting my breakfast. Why?”

“You look funny,” Wooyoung said with a grin.

“I’m sorry, but my fishnet got lost when I was abducted by a certain sharkman. I guess you don’t know him, do you?” San said with heavy sarcasm dripping from his words.

Wooyoung’s smile fell. “Why are you like that?”

“I’m hungry,” San said as if that explained his bad mood. In a way, it did.

Wooyoung smiled again. “Oh, that’s easy to fix. Just wait!” He cried and disappeared in the water. When he came back a few minutes later, he held a rather big, squirming fish. He held it in both hands and a broad grin settled on his lips as he handed the fish to San.

“Is this good?” he asked, happy with his catch.

“Y-yeah…” San was impressed, but he also felt like Wooyoung’s pet. Was the sharkman going to hold him here forever, feeding him and entertaining him so that San didn’t have time to think about his home? “Where have you been the whole night?” he asked, curious.

“Sleeping. Don’t you sleep at night?” Wooyoung asked with the same curiosity.

San blushed, embarrassed by the stupidity of his own question. “Of course I do…” he said, pouting.

Wooyoung watched him for a moment before his attention moved to the fish in San’s hands. “Are you going to cook it?”

“Eh… Yeah… Yeah, I am...”

“May I have a piece when you cook it?”

“Sure…” San gave his companion a scrutinizing look. Was this some kind of test? Or had Wooyoung brought San the fish just because he wanted the fisherman to cook it for him? San was still hesitant to believe that the sharkman did anything just out of the good of his heart. But the bright, genuine smiles he kept receiving every time he showed a positive reaction towards the water creature had the power to actually calm him down.

It felt a little weird using the knife with the golden hilt to clean the fish and get it ready to roast. He thought that a fish soup wouldn’t be bad, either, but he needed a few more ingredients than just a plain fish to cook anything tasty. Some seaweed and seasoning would have done the trick. San contemplated to exploring this place deeper in order to find something to eat.

After some time and five or six of Wooyoung’s stories about the life in the sea, San’s breakfast was ready. He cut the fish into smaller pieces and offered a few to the sharkman sticking out of the salty water. Wooyoung’s broad smile put even the sun in shame.

“Thank you,” he said happily and took a piece, tasting it carefully since the freshly roasted meat was still hot.

San watched him curiously, a light grin stretching across his lips as he watched the joy the sharkman ate the piece of the fish with.

“Good?” he asked, amused.

“Delicious,” Wooyoung sighed happily, his dark eyes twinkling.

“Take more. The fish is big, I won’t be able to eat all of it,” San said, offering the sharkman more from the pieces lying on a big banana leaf.

Wooyoung paused, but then a new smile settled on his lips and he reached for more meat hungrily, stuffing it in his mouth.

San was unable to hold a giggle. Wooyoung looked so eager and funny as he chewed the roasted meat, his expression speaking of the greatest delight. He stopped when he heard San’s laughter, though, big eyes fixed on the fisherman. Then he stretched his mouth into a broad smile, showing his sharp teeth between which chewed pieces of fish meat stuck. Strangely, this time the sight didn’t make San nervous or disgusted.

They ate in silence, which was quite surprising, considering that constant talking was one of Wooyoung’s characteristics. The sharkman seemed to be experiencing his personal paradise; he kept humming softly as he chewed the soft roasted meat, obviously happy.

The meat disappeared piece by piece until there was nothing to eat anymore.

San sat in the sand next to the empty banana leaf and watched the horizon, his bare feet touching the water. Wooyoung lay on his stomach, playing with pebbles, his shark tail moving in the water.

“Did you have enough?” San asked him in a gentle tone.

The sharkman lifted his head, smiling at the fisherman. “It was your breakfast. I can catch a fish whenever I want,” he said and got back to his game.

“I can as well,” San said. “Fisherman, remember?”

“Yeah, but I’m more skilled,” Wooyoung cooled him down, not sparing him a glance this time.

San blinked… and pouted. Okay, so he wasn’t a sea creature, and so what? It didn’t mean he was useless… He stood up. “Of course you are more skilled, you’re half fish,” he grumbled and turned around, starting towards the vegetation.

Wooyoung gazed after him. “Where are you going?” he called.

“To find some food for lunch!”

“Why? I can catch it for you!”

But San didn’t come back, didn’t turn around, just walked.

San half expected Wooyoung to join him through the rich net of streams and lakes weaving through the whole island – because yes, this piece of land was a damn island with a forest in the middle and sandy beaches all around and no way to escape. San was truly trapped there, a prisoner of the sea creature that had resolved he wanted a friend and he would get one, no matter the means. Although San understood Wooyoung’s desires a little better now, he still felt like a victim of the sharkman’s whim.

Speaking of whims, he found it rather odd that Wooyoung hadn’t joined him after some time and bothered him with his constant talking. San didn’t like to admit it, but he felt kind of lonely. Wooyoung’s company didn’t allow him to think much about his home and how much he missed his friends back there, but while he roamed this place totally alone, those feelings just got more intense.

After several hours, he returned to “his” beach. There was still no sign of Wooyoung. San wondered where the sharkman could go and if he would return.

While wandering over the island and looking for food, he managed to find some unknown fruits. Since he had no idea what they were and if they were edible, he wanted to ask Wooyoung about them, but the sharkman had obviously decided to disappear and leave his pet alone. San assumed Wooyoung simply wanted to teach him a lesson that without his knowledge the fisherman was lost.

“As if I had no reason to be offended…” San grumbled as he walked towards the lake with fresh water. He was thirsty, so he wanted to drink and rest a little.

Just as he bent over the water, wanting to take a bit of the life-giving liquid into his palms, a head broke out through the surface, startling San. He screamed and fell on his butt.

A pair of dark eyes blinked confusedly. “What are you doing?”

“Me???” San squeaked. “What the hell’s wrong with you? Why do you keep scaring me? Does it please you?” he huffed.

Wooyoung didn’t even have the audacity to look guilty. “It’s not my fault you’re jumpy,” he said matter-of-factly.

San snorted, glaring at the sharkman. That was the moment he finally realized that Wooyoung looked different today. Too many shiny objects decorated his body. A golden tiara inlaid with gemstones sat on his head, dozens of bracelets glistened on his forearms, a massive necklace with several golden chains hung from his neck and there was an expensive ring stuck on each of his fingers. Wooyoung totally bathed in gold and he looked absolutely joyous about it.

“What’s all that?” San asked, staring at the treasure covering most of Wooyoung’s body parts.

“Aren’t I pretty?” the sharkman said happily. “No one will call me ugly anymore.”

“I thought we already settled that. You aren’t ugly,” San said, narrowing his eyes as the glow from all the gold and gemstones glistening in the sunlight blinded him.

Wooyoung’s lips stretched into a happy smile. “I know. But I’m prettier with these things.” He looked fondly at the golden bracelets decorating his forearms.

San rolled his eyes. “It’s your smile that makes you charming, silly, not the dozens of shiny things that you put on your body. They only make you look wealthy.”

Wooyoung stopped admiring his treasures and looked at San with interest. “Wealthy? What does that mean?”

“You don’t know?” San asked, surprised. Was this creature really so clueless?

Wooyoung shook his head, watching the fisherman with interest.

“Wealthy means… Well… It means that you have a lot of valuable things,” he tried to explain.

Wooyoung looked at his bracelets. “Are these valuable?” he asked, raising his hands and waving with them a little, the jewels clinking softly.

“Yes.”

“How?”

“You can exchange them for things you need or want,” San tried to explain. “If I had just one of your bracelets, I could exchange it for a new, bigger and faster boat. If I had all of them, I could get a new, big house and a big garden and I would never need to go fishing again because I could get all the food I could desire. For such bracelets, I could also hire people to take care of my house and my garden and to go fishing for me and then I could exchange the catch for more food or other things that I would need or simply want.”

Listening to San’s words, Wooyoung’s eyes widened in awe. He looked at all the gold decorating his body, then back at San.

“Do humans value these things because they are pretty?” he asked, lifting his hands again, his big eyes fixed at the fisherman.

“Basically, yes. But their true value is in the material they are made of.”

Wooyoung pulled his hands back, studying the many bracelets on his forearms and the rings on his fingers, then his attention moved to the golden chains hanging from his neck. He touched the tiara on his head, his eyes meeting San’s again. Still watching him, he took of the rings from his left hand and one of the bracelets and handed them to San.

“I want you to be wealthy, too,” he said.

San smiled, taking the little fortune. He looked at the rings and bracelet and sighed quietly.

“They have no value to me since there’s no one here with whom I could exchange them for anything,” he said softly.

Wooyoung frowned, watching San carefully. “Are you saying that they are and are not valuable at the same time?” he asked, obviously not satisfied with this new revelation.

San nodded. “Yes, you’re right.”

“How about the knife I gave you?” Wooyoung’s gaze slid to the tool with the golden handle that lay in the grass next to San.

San’s eyes trailed to the knife, too. “It is valuable to me. Not because it’s pretty, but because it can cut. It’s useful.”

“Uhmmm…” Wooyoung nodded as though he understood, but he didn’t stop frowning. “You practically say that the value of things is different from person to person, right?”

“And also from situation to situation,” San added.

“Hmmmm… So… If you went back to your people with all of these,” Wooyoung jingled with his bracelets again, “you would be wealthy because you could exchange them for other things and you wouldn’t need to get those things yourself. Others would get them for you…”

“Yeah, something like that,” San confirmed.

“But you are not wealthy here because there is no one to get those things for you…”

“Yup.”

Wooyoung nodded and then smiled. “Then you are better off without them. I can get you everything you want without you needing to give me anything valuable.” His smile was dazzling and happiness radiated from him. San understood that this creature believed that what he was doing was a good thing. Wooyoung was convinced that holding San here was beneficial for the fisherman. How screwed up was that?

“I’m truly lucky…” San said sarcastically. He grabbed his knife and stood up, walking away from the lake.

“Hey!” he heard Wooyoung call after him, confusion sounding in his tone. “What’s up?”

“Nothing.” San wasn’t in the mood to continue in this conversation. He needed to put some distance between him and the sharkman to calm down.

It hurt. It really hurt knowing that he would probably never get back home. Wooyoung would never let him go. Trapped on the deserted island with only the sharkman to talk to, that was what San’s life was going to look like from now on.

The heaviness in his heart became almost unbearable. San walked and walked, his head full of dark thoughts. He would never see his home, never talk to his friends, never feel a human touch ever again. He would never sail on the sea. He was robbed of his freedom. He was just a toy and he was afraid to think about the moment the sharkman would get bored of him.

He didn’t realize that he had returned to this beach where he had his shelter made of firmer branches and palm leaves. It wasn’t much, but it was his home now.

He crawled inside and curled up, upset and lonely. He loved the ocean, but he had never thought that it would become his prison one day.

Caught in his head, he fell into a restless slumber, his dreams just as hopeless as the waking hours.

The morning found him sitting in the sand on the beach, watching the horizon. The sky above the sea was turning pink, more and more light greeted the new day. San didn’t move, only the breeze blowing from the sea ruffled his hair. He missed his home so much that it almost hurt. He thought about his friends, where they were and what they were doing. Were they looking for him or did they think that he was already dead? Probably the latter. It had been days after all.

San sighed heavily when a splash nearby caught his attention. Of course it was none other than Wooyoung. San merely glanced at him before he looked at the horizon again.

“What are you doing?” the sharkman asked.

“Watching the sunrise,” San said simply.

Wooyoung looked over his shoulder at the rising sun and smiled. “It’s pretty, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it’s very pretty,” San agreed, but no smile formed on his lips. Wooyoung didn’t seem to mind, though. He looked back at the fisherman.

“Are you hungry? I’ll bring you breakfast,” he said happily and before San could react, he disappeared in the water.

San only sighed, watching the waves caressing the beach. He thought about his home. His friends had probably set off on the sea a long time ago when it was still dark. Maybe Yunho tore his net again and Mingi helped him to sew it together. Or maybe they had earned enough money in the fish market the day before and decided to have a free day today.

San sighed. He missed them so much…

The sound of splashing water brought him back to reality once again. Wooyoung, with a big grin on his face and a big fish in his arms, swam to the beach. In a minute or so he reached the place where the water was shallow and stretched his hands out for San to come and take the fish.

“You can cook it, right?” he asked, still smiling.

“Of course I can. I just need to cut it into smaller pieces,” San said as he stepped into the water and took Wooyoung’s catch.

“It’s big enough for both of us, isn’t it?” Wooyoung continued in his questions.

San looked at him, curiously. “Are you hungry?”

“Not really, but I’d love to have some delicious meat,” Wooyoung said simply.

“You’ve called me a barbarian just recently for cooking my food…” San reminded him.

“I didn’t know what you were doing and it tasted great and now I only want to eat cooked food!” Wooyoung announced, to which San raised an eyebrow.

“Really?”

“Definitely!”

When Wooyoung smiled, San felt a chill running through his veins. So it truly meant the sharkman wanted him as his pet. He would get him food and talk to him, keep him company when he felt like it. He would probably try to teach San a few tricks…

“Fine then,” he said with a sigh. “Let’s meet at your lake. I’ll cook it there.”

A broad smile stretched across Wooyoung’s lips. The sharkman nodded and disappeared in the water again.

With his mind full of hopeless thoughts and heart heavy, San headed into the wood with the fish in his hands. He proceeded towards Wooyoung’s lake and when he got there, the sharkman was already waiting for him, beaming.

“Is there something I can help you with?” he asked San excitedly.

“What do you want to help me with?” San didn’t understand.

“I don’t know. Anything. Help you cook…”

“Help me eat,” San teased, and despite the heaviness in his heart, he couldn’t help the smile that found its way on his lips. Wooyoung was like a child sometimes. Dangerous, but kind of cute, especially when he smiled like that.

“I love helping like that,” the sharkman said, amused, his eyes shining with joy.

San’s smile widened a little. “You can tell me some of your stories while I cook. For example, you can tell me more about your family,” he suggested.

“Oh… Okay…” Wooyoung suddenly became thoughtful.

“Only if you want to,” San said quickly. He didn’t want the sharkman to get upset if it was too sensitive a topic for him.

“It’s fine. Actually, I want to tell you about them,” Wooyoung said and smiled again, sharp teeth glistened in the rays of the sun over the lake. “Dad, mom, my big brother, me, and my little brother – that was our family…” he started. While San was roasting the fish, Wooyoung told him stories about his family. He told San about his brothers and how they used to play together. He told him how much he loved and pampered his little brother. His talking made all those things so vivid; San could easily imagine them right in front of his eyes – the sharkfolk family playing in the waves and enjoying themselves, laughing, teasing each other, chasing smaller fish or bathing in the warm rays of the sun somewhere on a lonely rock close to the shore.

“You miss them very much, don’t you?” San asked as he handed Wooyoung a proper piece of the fish meat. “Careful, it’s hot,” he warned before the sharkman’s hand touched the food. Wooyoung took it into his hand gingerly and nodded his head.

“Sometimes, I dream they’ve returned,” he said and started nibbling the piece of the fish carefully. San joined him in eating while listening to Wooyoung’s words.

“You must be disappointed when you realize it was just a dream…” San remarked quietly.

Wooyoung didn’t say anything to that and continued eating.

They fell silent, the fish slowly disappearing. Seconds stretched into minutes and minutes passed by one after another.

There was almost nothing left of their breakfast when Wooyoung spoke again, a shy glance directed at San before he looked away quickly.

“Do you have a family?” he asked tentatively as though he was afraid of the answer.

San was surprised by the question. He definitely didn’t expect it. He thought that the sharkman didn’t care since he wanted to keep him here and make San his “friend” by all means possible.

Wooyoung looked at him again, but this time held the gaze.

San took a deep breath and then shook his head slowly. “No, not anymore. The ocean took them from me…”

“I’m sorry,” the sharkman said, both his voice and expression sad. “It must be hard knowing that they won’t come back. I have my hope at least.”  

“It’s not so bad,” San said. “It was a long time ago, when I was still a kid. But I’m not alone. I have friends who are like family to me.” He looked at Wooyoung, locking his eyes with him. He half-expected the sharkman to get angry, because San already had friends, who were close to him and weren’t Wooyoung, but the sharkman just stared at the fisherman curiously.

“Tell me more about them,” he said, his elbows propped on the bank and his chin resting in his palms.

San sighed and averted his gaze. He thought of his two friends back home, who probably mourned his loss. If only they knew…

“Yunho and Mingi,” San started, feeling the pain of loss himself, “are the two most easy-going people in the world. They see the best in people and when they are together, they laugh a lot. They are fools, but lovable fools. They protect me and love me… They are my home,” San said with emotion in his voice. He wasn’t looking at Wooyoung anymore. He was lost in thoughts and only a soft plop! brought him back to reality. When he raised his head and looked at the place where there sharkman had been just a moment ago, he found he was alone.

San didn’t see Wooyoung the whole afternoon and he was already trying to catch his dinner when the sharkman returned.

“Can you cook this?” he asked and threw a crab the size of a big coconut at the fisherman.

“Eek!” San cried as the creature hit his chest and fell to the ground. High-pitched laughter reminded San of the squeaking of dolphins.

“You are so clumsy,” Wooyoung said and laughed, his eyes just two narrow cracks.

“I’m not clumsy. You don’t know how to throw things,” San tried to preserve at least some of his dignity in front of the sharkman.

“Suuuure,” Wooyoung drawled, apparently amused, but then his expression changed. “Is it enough for you for the whole day?”

“Er…” San looked at the crab, then back at the sharkman. “Not really, but… as I said a few times before, I can catch my own food.”

“Right…” Wooyoung seemed worried about something.

“There’s something on your mind. What is it?” San prompted.

“Nothing much,” Wooyoung said. “I just visited a few of my acquaintances…”

“Oh… So you do have friends,” San concluded.

“We aren’t friends; we just know each other. They don’t like me and I don’t like them.” Wooyoung shrugged, indifferent.

San looked at him, puzzled. “Why did you visit them, then?” he asked.  

“I needed to ask them something.”

“What?”

But Wooyoung just gave San a mysterious smile. “That’s a secret.”

“Keep your secret, then,” San said, pursing his lips, offended.

Wooyoung’s expression turned serious again. “I might not come here for a day or two…”

San stared at the sharkman with a raised eyebrow. “Why? What’s going on?”

“I’m going on a mission.”

“What mission?”

“I need to find someone.”

San frowned a little, thinking. “That’s why you visited those… acquaintances? You wanted to ask them where you can find that person?”

Wooyoung stared at him as though San had discovered a new continent. “How do you know that?” he asked in awe.

San snorted. “I may be just a fisherman, but I’m not stupid. I just put two and two together.”

“Two and two?” Wooyoung raised his hands, straightening the index and middle fingers on both of them, looking at them, contemplating. He put the hands together, showing San four fingers.

San sighed. “It’s just an expression. I mean that I figured out your secret.”

“That’s a stupid expression.” Wooyoung shoved his hands under the water, pouting.

San shrugged. “What expression do you use?” he asked, curious.

Wooyoung thought about it for a moment. “That I cracked your shell,” he said after a moment.

“Fine. Then I cracked your shell,” San said, and Wooyoung shook his head.

“You humans are weird beings…” he announced.

“Says the guy who ate raw fish his whole life and now has fallen for cooked food,” San said with a grin.

“Because it’s delicious,” Wooyoung said, rippling the water’s surface with his shark tail.

San chuckled. “I know.”

“Doesn’t mean you’re not weird, though.” Wooyoung grinned, watching San pick up the crab.

“When do you leave?” the fisherman asked.

“Right now. I don’t want to waste time.”

San nodded. “Will you come back?” he asked.

“Of course! What a stupid question…” Wooyoung frowned and shook his head at the absurdity of San’s concerns. That actually calmed San down a little.

“Fine. Take care,” he said to the sharkman. “Thanks for the crab.”

“No problem. I’ll see you later,” Wooyoung said and dove under the water. The last thing San could see of him was Wooyoung’s tail fin rip the surface before it disappeared from his sight completely.

Ever since Wooyoung had returned home and found out his family had been gone his life had been filled with loneliness. The one who loved playing all day long with his siblings and loved company had found himself completely abandoned. That had been when he had heard the story about the merman and his prince – a fascinating part of the recent history of the sea.

Wooyoung had been inspired by the story. Wanting to find his own prince, he had patrolled the waters near the coast. However, things hadn’t gone exactly the way he had imagined them. Firstly, there had been no ship caught in a storm. Secondly, there had been no storm at all. Thirdly, there had been an extreme lack of available princes. Actually, there had been none. Therefore, Wooyoung had decided to take matters into his own hands and help his “destiny” a little.   

One day, as he had roamed the waters, destiny had wanted him to find a small boat with a single human on it, but his luck had ended there. The sky had been too clear and the sea too calm, both endangering Wooyoung’s “rescue” mission. How could he save this poor soul if it had been too safe?

Waves had been Wooyoung’s friends. Waves produced by Wooyoung himself and maybe a little help from his hands and tail and whole body finally put the fisherman in danger. He had barely had time to shout before the waters had closed above him. Tangled in a fishnet, the poor man had struggled for his life, but the water kept robbing him of precious air. That had been the moment Wooyoung had been waiting for. He had grabbed the human and brought him to the nearest piece of land. After doing that, the two of them had been bound to become friends.

… or not.

Again, things hadn’t gone the way Wooyoung had imagined them. The human had been afraid of him – something Wooyoung hadn’t expected. Ever since that moment, whatever Wooyoung had done, it had always backfired. No matter how hard had he tried to persuade the fisherman that he had been better off with Wooyoung, the human had always denied that simple truth. He had simply refused to be happy. So Wooyoung had concluded he needed help.

He knew who the expert was, he just needed to find him. And so he had asked the merfolk and sea creatures about the whereabouts of this expert in merfolk-human relationships. There was talk and whispers and allusions sending him in a certain direction. Yet, Wooyoung knew that even if he was lucky and managed to find this person, his success wasn’t guaranteed. The guy had become a celebrity among the sea folk ever since he had managed to capture the heart of a human prince, so Wooyoung asked himself if such a star would even want to talk to someone like him, a mere sharkman.

He swam far away, using a sea current highway to make his journey faster. Finally, he arrived in foreign waters. He left the sea current and started his investigation anew. Merfolk living in that area were unfriendly and suspicious and wanted to escort him to the borders of their realm. But Wooyoung would have none of it. He was fast and he escaped the guards of that part of the ocean easily.

Little sea creatures, fish and corals were more sharing. They told him where the person he was looking for used to hang out.

“He’s soooo pretty,” one fish told him

“And so in love,” another one cooed.

“And so sad,” a coral piped.

“Sad?” That caught Wooyoung’s attention. “Why would he be sad?”

“See for yourself,” the coral said and pointed with one of its many little tentacles upwards. There, close to the water surface, a merman swam.

Wooyoung gasped. The merman was the most handsome being he had ever seen, graceful and majestic, with light pink hair and perfect body shape. The scales on his tail gleamed with all the colors of a rainbow and the way the sunlight penetrated into the water and glimmered on his toned skin made him simply ethereal.

“Is that him?” Wooyoung whispered.

“Yes, that’s Lord Seonghwa. The most glorious and yet the most miserable merman you can find in all the seas in the world,” the coral said.

“The story says…” the first fish started.

“I know what the story says,” Wooyoung interrupted it, watching the merman heading somewhere in the distance. He didn’t want to waste precious time anymore. He needed advice and his human was waiting for his return.

Before the fish could start again and tell him what the story said, Wooyoung took off after the gorgeous merman.

“The story says that Lord Seonghwa lost his prince,” the fish said in the end, but Wooyoung couldn’t hear it anymore. He was already too far, pursuing his goal.

The merman didn’t notice him. He just swam towards the shore with obvious aim, but when he reached the shallow waters, he took a turn towards the set of rocks at the end of the beach. There, hidden behind the rocks, he peeked out of the water, obviously trying not to be seen from the shore by whoever was there. Wooyoung didn’t understand his behavior.

“Who are you stalking?” he asked, not caring about any subtlety himself with his head poking out of the water and on display for anyone on the shore, his voice loud and clear.  

Seonghwa winced and disappeared under the water immediately; only the rippling of water and a few bubbles indicated where he had been just a moment ago.

Wooyoung blinked, perplexed. What in the wide sea…? He dove into the water as well, staring at the merman, who watched him with big, surprised eyes.

“What are you doing?” Wooyoung demanded.

“That’s my question. What do you think you’re doing, sneaking up on people like that?” the merman asked breathlessly, his right palm pressed to his chest as though he had a heart attack. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“I’m Wooyoung,” the sharkman introduced himself, smiling brightly. “And you are Seonghwa. I’ve been looking for you.”

The merman kept staring at him without saying a word.

“I’ve been looking for you,” Wooyoung repeated in case Seonghwa didn’t hear him well, “and I’ve found you,” he added happily, his bright smile could easily compete with the sunlight.

Seonghwa frowned, processing the information. “… What?”

The sharkman’s smile fell. Apparently, it wasn’t about bad hearing. The merman just wasn’t the brightest fish in the sea… “I,” Wooyoung started again, this time slower, pointing at himself, “have been looking,” he waved his hands, the water subduing the abruptness of his movements, “for you.” He pointed at Seonghwa.

“I heard you the first time,” the merman said. “But why?”

“Because I need to talk to you!” Wasn’t it obvious?

“Are you a fan?” the merman asked, sizing the sharkman up with a suspicious look.

“Huh?” It was Wooyoung’s turn to stare. “Why?”

“Why else would you look for me if not for that stupid, romanticized story? Do you want a scale from my tail or a hair from my head?” the merman asked, the smooth skin on his forehead creased in a frown.

Wooyoung was taken aback by such harsh words. That story had been everything to him, his inspiration and motivation to look for answers. What he found instead was far from what he had imagined. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” he said honestly. “I only wanted to ask you for help with my human problem.”

“Your human problem?” Seonghwa’s gaze became more suspicious. “I don’t know any tricks to help you digest such heavy food. I’m a vegan…”

“Eh?” Wooyung really didn’t know if the merman was stupid or just kidding. He raised his hands in defense. “No! Nothing like that! I don’t eat humans.”

“Uhm… Right.” Sarcasm was dripping from Seonghwa’s words and his expression told Wooyoung that the merman didn’t believe him a word.

The sharkman rolled his eyes, exasperated. “Whatever. I have no time to disprove your stereotypical opinions,” he huffed, feeling offended. “I have a problem and only you can help me to solve it.”

Seonghwa still didn’t seem convinced. He crossed his arms over his chest, watching the sharkman with distrust. “Fine, let’s hear it,” he said after a moment. “What do you need?”

Wooyoung relaxed a little, sighing softly. “There is… this human. He… I… I kind of… saved him,” he started awkwardly.

“Okay…” Seonghwa said slowly. “So he lives. Where’s the problem?”

 “He’s not as grateful as I expected,” Wooyoung said, pouting. When he thought about it deeper, the fisherman was truly an ungrateful being…

Seonghwa kept watching Wooyoung with expectation, but when the sharkman didn’t continue, he raised his eyebrows. “Is that all?”

“Isn’t that enough?” Wooyoung asked, almost offended.

“Is that why you saved him? To bind him to you by gratitude and a life debt?” the merman asked, giving the sharkman a scrutinizing look. Wooyoung felt as though Seonghwa was looking right into his soul.

“I… just wanted him to like me…” he said awkwardly.

“You saved him so that he would like you?” Seonghwa asked, incredulous. “Sorry, but that doesn’t make any sense.”

Wooyoung sighed. “I wanted a friend,” he admitted. “And I heard your story, how you got yourself a prince and now you’re totally and endlessly in love…”

Seonghwa snorted at that, but Wooyoung didn’t react, lost in his thoughts.  

“I waited for a drowning prince,” the sharkman continued, “but I could only find a fisherman and there was no storm, so I… I flipped his boat upside down and then saved him and hoped he would like me at least half as much as your prince likes you…”

Seonghwa sighed. “Hold on, please,” he stopped Wooyoung’s torrent of words, his voice a little gentler than moments ago, something close to sadness lacing his tone. “Where is that human of yours now?” he asked.

“On a deserted island where I’ve left him. I wanted to give him a new home where I could be with him thanks to the net of lakes and underground streams… I would take care of him, bring him food and spend time with him, play with him, talk to him… I hoped I could make him happy, but…” Wooyoung sighed. “It seems like none of that is enough for him. He simply can’t forget his old home.” He frowned as he thought of the fisherman’s demands to be taken back to his people and his sad face as he talked about his human friends.

“Uhm…” Seonghwa nodded. “Let me put it like this: You almost drowned him, then took him away from home and imprisoned him on a deserted island just to satisfy your whim.”

“What? No! No! It’s not like that! Not at all!” Wooyoung cried.

“Isn’t it?” Seonghwa asked, giving Wooyoung a serious look. “How much do you actually care about him?”

That question took Wooyoung by surprise and he only stared at the merman with his mouth open.

Seonghwa sighed again. “Look, if you care about someone, truly care, you put their happiness and well-being above your own. Even if it means letting them go…” Suddenly, deep sorrow reflected in his dark eyes. Seonghwa turned his gaze towards the surface where the rays of the sun danced on the waves.

Wooyoung glanced in the same direction, but then he looked at the merman again. “Are you telling me…?”

“I’m not telling you anything,” Seonghwa said, “but I want to show you something.” He beckoned to Wooyoung to follow him and they headed towards the surface together.

Their heads emerged from the water one next to the other, both hidden behind a cluster of rocks. They couldn’t be seen from the beach, but they could see everything that was happening there. Two figures, young men in nice clothes decorated with shiny thingies, which Wooyoung thought were stones but wasn’t sure, walked along the beach side by side. A third person in much simpler clothes followed them, keeping a few steps distance.

“They almost always come here at this time,” Seonghwa said softly. Wooyoung couldn’t call his expression other than wistful.

The sharkman looked at the humans again. The two walking together emanated a graceful aura, very similar to Seonghwa’s. Wooyoung understood that one of them had to be Seonghwa’s prince, he just wondered which one and who was the other person.

“Can you see the shorter one with dark hair?” Seonghwa asked, his voice low. Sad.

“All of them have dark hair, you know…” Wooyoung pointed out, glancing at his companion.

The merman glowered. “I said the shorter one. The one with the red sash around his waist,” he said haughtily. “He’s King Hongjoong.”

There was silence for a moment, Wooyoung staring at the merman while the wheels in his head spun. There was something about Seonghwa’s statement that didn’t sound quite right.

“What do you mean king?” he asked.

“I mean king,” Seonghwa said calmly, looking back at the humans. “He went on with his life and now rules the country after his father resigned.”

“Right… Fine… That’s nice… I get it… But… He didn’t go on with his life without you, did he?” Wooyoung wasn’t sure he understood what Seonghwa was telling him.

The merman let out a long sigh. “Do you see the man walking with the king? That’s King-consort Yeosang, King Hongjoong’s mate.”

Wooyoung almost choked on the sea water. “Excuse me???” he squeaked in a high-pitched voice, so uncharacteristic for sharkfolk, yet so characteristic for him.

Seonghwa winced at the sound and glanced at the beach. The humans seemed to have heard Wooyoung’s voice as well, because they started looking around. Seonghwa panicked. He grabbed the sharkman’s arm and pulled him underwater. Wooyoung went without a word of protest, still in shock after hearing the news.

“Can’t you be a little quieter?” Seonghwa chastised him.

“I’m sorry,” Wooyoung apologized quickly, “I just… I… I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand?” the merman asked, a trace of annoyance could be noticed in his voice.

“You… you loved each other, didn’t you?” Wooyoung asked almost desperately.

Seonghwa sighed. “Love is not always enough,” he said quietly.

“What do you mean?” Wooyoung couldn’t believe that the powerful, inspiring story of two lovers from different worlds ended like this. “Did you just… let him go? Didn’t you… fight for him?”

Seonghwa gazed at the sharkman, many emotions reflecting in his big, dark eyes, mostly grief and maybe anger.

“What do you want me to say?” he growled. “That I visited some crazy witch and asked her to grant me a pair of legs so that I could go and challenge the king’s suitor?” he asked sarcastically, but then the sorrow prevailed and he looked at the sharkman almost pleadingly. “Try to understand that we have nothing in common. He belongs to his world and I… to mine. It’s better not to see him ever again…” There was so much pain both in his words and his expression. Wooyoung had never seen anyone so sad before. But although he could understand the grief of losing someone precious, Wooyoung had gone through a similar thing with his family after all, this was something Seonghwa chose himself. Wooyoung simply couldn’t accept it.

“I can’t believe the prince agreed with you two separated…” he said in disbelief.

There was no response, only awkward silence.

“Seonghwa?” Wooyoung addressed him, demanding an explanation.

“I… have never really talked to him about that…” the merman admitted sheepishly.

Wooyoung stared at Seonghwa, his brain stopping for a moment. “Seriously?” he asked. “You simply disappeared from his life? Out of the blue?”

Seonghwa didn’t say anything, which Wooyoung took for affirmation. He shook his head.

“Unbelievable… You’re an idiot!” he exclaimed. He turned around, showing Seonghwa his back, and swam towards the shore.  

“Wait! What are you doing?” he heard the merman’s call from behind his back.

“What does it look like? I’m going to talk to Prince Hongjoong!” Wooyoung called back, not sparing Seonghwa a single look.

“Hey, you can’t do that! Wait!” the merman yelled after him, but Wooyoung paid him no attention. “I said wait!” Seonghwa grabbed his arm, but Wooyoung jerked it out of his grip. They were too close to the surface already, the water above them rippling. The sharkman’s back fin cut the surface as he tried to shake Seonghwa off, and when he did, he swam as fast as he could towards the shore.

“Wait! STOP!” Seonghwa yelled after him, but to no avail. Wooyoung simply didn’t listen to him. He wanted to talk to Prince – no, King – Hongjoong and confirm that the things Seonghwa said were not true, that the two of them kept seeing each other. Their story couldn’t end like that. Seonghwa couldn’t just give up and never even talk to his human about it.

Wooyoung hurried to the shore, sensing Seonghwa right on his tail.

The commotion in the water couldn’t escape the attention of the humans.

“Be careful, Your Majesties! There’s a shark in the water!” Wooyoung could hear one of them shout. He stuck his head out of the water quickly.

“I’m not dangerous!” he yelled at them to the humans’ shock. That was when Seonghwa caught him and wanted to pull him back under the shallow water. But Wooyoung was determined and fought back bravely.

“King Hongjoong, I need to talk to you!” he called while trying to push the angry merman away.

“Stop it! Come back!” the merman screamed at him, dragging him back in the water.

“Let me go, you stupid fish!” Wooyoung screeched, shoving Seonghwa away. The water splashed in every direction as the two of them fought. “King Hongjoong, please, I just want to ask you something!” Wooyoung continued in his efforts to catch the king’s attention.

“How dare you talk to him!?” Seonghwa was full of rage now and, wow, he looked scary… Wooyoung winced when he saw the merman’s beautiful face contorted in so much anger, his eyes glistening with a demonic light, and Wooyoung was sure that Seonghwa would have drowned him if Wooyoung hadn’t been a water creature himself.

“Don’t worry, Your Majesties, I’ll chase them away!” Wooyoung heard, and he looked back towards the beach. The non-king human held a fire-spitting stick in his hand the sharkman had already had a chance to get acquainted with during the time of his abduction.

Wooyoung’s eyes widened. “Hide!” he yelled at Seonghwa and he was the one who pulled the merman under the water for change, expecting the explosion indicating that a life would be taken that day.

“Wait, Jongho! Don’t shoot!” he heard another human cry before anything like that could happen.

“Your Majesty?”

“I think it’s okay,” said a soft voice, the one that stopped the shooter from releasing the deadly power.

“Seonghwa! Seonghwa, is that you?” Wooyoung heard another voice and the splashing of water as someone entered it, hurrying towards the two sons of the ocean. That was the moment he realized he was still clutching Seonghwa’s wrist as though he was never going to let him go. The merman didn’t fight him anymore, his eyes wide, his expression anxious. He was absolutely still.

“Please!” Wooyoung heard the desperate plea, the red sash flashing through the waves. 

“No…” Seonghwa whispered next to him, trying to free his wrist from Wooyoung’s grip, but his attempt was so weak that the sharkman doubted Seonghwa actually wanted that. And since Wooyoung was Wooyoung and he loved happy endings, he clutched Seonghwa’s wrist tighter and pulled the merman to the surface. It was time for the idiot to talk to his human.

“Hello, I’m Wooyoung!” he introduced himself excitedly as he broke the surface, finding himself face to face with King Hongjoong. The king stood just a few paces away from him, the water reaching up to his waist. Wooyoung gave him a broad smile and pulled Seonghwa’s wrist up. “And here is…” He turned his head to the merman only to realize no one was there, just Seonghwa’s arm sticking out of the water.

“Uh…” Wooyoung laughed awkwardly. “Well… Here is Seonghwa’s arm, but I promise there is the whole merman as well. He just seems… uhm… shy,” he continued and pulled Seonghwa with him as he swam closer to the king. He handed the merman’s wrist to him. “Here, take him. You two have a lot to talk about.”

King Hongjoong stared at him as though Wooyoung wasn’t even real. Wooyoung could understand that. It wasn’t every day that a cute sharkman brought him his lost merman.

“You’re welcome,” he told the king, urging him to take his merman finally. Jeez, what was wrong with these two?

Finally, King Hongjoong reached out and took Seonghwa’s hand in his. Wooyoung could see how much tenderness was in that simple touch. The king’s expression softened and a light smile played on his lips.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

Wooyoung nodded and let go of Seonghwa’s wrist slowly. “Don’t screw this up,” he hissed in the merman’s direction and swam a little further from them to give them privacy. At last, Seonghwa found his courage to face his human.

“Where have you been? I looked for you everywhere,” Wooyoung heard King Hongjoong’s gentle voice.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to mess up your life,” Seonghwa said, sadness lacing his every word.

“Seonghwa, you could never…”

Wooyoung stopped listening. He was happy for the two to meet again and have the chance to talk to each other, but it didn’t solve his human problem. He sighed. He still didn’t know what he should do with his fisherman.

“Hey! Uh… sharkman!” a voice called him, the one that stopped the shooter from hurting him and Seonghwa. He looked around, seeing king-consort waving at him and smiling. The scary non-king stood beside him, his expression unreadable.

Wooyoung swam closer, keeping a careful eye on both humans. The king-consort looked friendly, smiling at Wooyoung gently and all that, but the other man made him nervous. The sharkman was ready to bolt if he felt in danger. 

“Yes?” he asked timidly.

“Are you Seonghwa’s friend?” the king-consort asked, his smile still gentle and kind, and Wooyoung relaxed a little.

“I just met him today,” he said, shrugging.

The king-consort gave him a big smile. “And yet, you did so much for him. For them,” he said softly, glancing in the direction of King Hongjoong and Seonghwa. Wooyoung did too. The king and the merman were hugging, Seonghwa’s face hidden in the crook between the King Hongjoong’s neck and shoulder and he seemed to be crying while the king was smiling, stroking Seonghwa’s pink hair. Yes, Wooyoung did an awfully lot for the stupid merman today.

“I just like happy endings, I guess,” he said indifferently, however his heart beat faster at the sight of the two. Seonghwa was pressed to King Hongjoong’s body, his long fingers gripping the king’s clothes tightly as though he didn’t want to let him go ever again.

“King Hongjoong has his duties and responsibilities towards his people. We both do. That’s how the two of us ended up together,” the king-consort said softly. “Hongjoong, however, couldn’t imagine his life without the one whom he had already given his heart to and I promised him to help him find his love. We cruised the ocean but there was no sign of Seonghwa. We’ve come to this beach every day in hope Seonghwa turned up one day. Hongjoong loves him dearly and doesn’t want to lose him.”

“And you’re fine with that?” Wooyoung asked curiously.

The king-consort’s smile widened. “Well… My heart belongs to another as well,” he said, glancing at the scary man next to him. The man wasn’t looking at either of them, but Wooyoung noticed the pinkish shade coloring his cheeks.

“Oh… congratulations,” he said, because what was he supposed to say to that? He looked at King Hongjoong with his merman again and… Wow! Where they kissing now? Wooyoung looked away quickly. “What now? How are those two going to work?” He was curious.

The king-consort shrugged. “That’s up to them. It won’t be easy since they are from different worlds. But I’m sure they’ll figure it out. They’ll probably meet here every day. Or Hongjoong will take a boat and go out on the sea to be with Seonghwa when time allows him to do so.”

Wooyoung leaned his head to the side, his gaze turned to the weird couple again, but he didn’t see them as he was deep in thought.

“Can’t King Hongjoong get Seonghwa some kind of a tank in which he could take him with him wherever he lives?” he asked suddenly, but then frowned and shook his head. It sounded terrible, almost the same as his own abduction. “No, he can’t. And I know why,” he answered his own question, still frowning.

King-consort Yeosang smiled. “That would be unfair to Seonghwa, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, it would.” Which brought Wooyoung back to thinking about his own human on the deserted island where he had left him. Wooyoung realized he didn’t even know his name since the fisherman had been so distressed when Wooyoung had tried to befriend him that he had forgotten to answer the sharkman’s question about it. And Wooyoung hadn’t pressed, hoping for the human to calm down enough to stop freaking out and dreaming about his home. But now, Wooyoung started to understand that he wanted something impossible. And that made him sad. He only wanted a friend. One friend in the whole ocean where hardly anyone was willing to talk to him. The stigma of bad reputation of his kind followed him anywhere he went. With his family gone, Wooyoung was painfully lonely.

Just when he opened his mouth to speak again, the water rippled next to him and Seonghwa emerged with a big smile playing on his lips. King Hongjoong was already on the beach, soaking wet but obviously happy. He smiled at Wooyoung.

“You brought me back my happiness,” he said, “and I want to repay your kindness. If there’s anything I can do for you…”

Wooyoung shook his head. “No, there’s nothing…”

“… or give you…”

“Give?” That word caught Wooyoung’s attention.

“Is there something you want?” King Hongjoong asked.

“Maybe…”

“Just say it and it’s yours.”

“There’s… a fisherman,” Wooyoung started hesitantly, “and he’s stranded on a deserted island and wants to go home…” He glanced at King-consort Yeosang, who grinned at him, trying to hide that smile behind his hand. “I accidentally lost his boat and he needs a new one. Can I have one for him?” the sharkman finished. He wasn’t the bad guy in this story, okay?

King Hongjoong smiled. “Indeed, you can have it.”

San woke up at sunrise and crawled out of his simple shelter. The light pink shade of the sky above the dark blue ocean told him it was going to be another hot, sunny day. San’s plan for the day was to make the pyre he had started building on the beach a bit higher again. He hoped that sooner or later a ship would sail past the island and save him – and hope never dies.  

He walked a few paces towards the water, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He just lifted his hands above his head, wanting to stretch his stiff muscles, when suddenly, something caught his attention.

A boat. There was a boat pushed out of the water as far as the element wouldn’t pull it back; small waves were caressing the rear side of it.

San blinked, then looked around, trying to figure out where the thing came from and if he just missed another human presence on the island. He saw no one, however.

Carefully, he neared the boat and peeked inside. The whole bottom of the thing was covered with treasure: golden coins, jewels inlaid with gemstones and pearls, knives and daggers with golden hilts, statues, plates and vases... San only gasped when he saw that. And he had a hunch where it came from.

“Wooyoung?” he called, looking around.

A blonde head with a blueish shade on the tips of the hair broke the water surface not far away from San. “Uh… hi,” the sharkman greeted coyly.

“Hey! I didn’t know you were back,” San said. “What’s this?” He motioned towards the boat.

Wooyoung looked away. “Your boat,” he mumbled.

San gaped at him in surprise. “Mine?”

“For the one you lost,” the sharkman explained.

“And those things?”

“You said they were valuable where you live, so…” Wooyoung shrugged. “They are yours.”

San looked at the precious things. For a fisherman who earned a few coins selling fish the gold in the boat was a huge fortune.

“Are you sure?” he asked Wooyoung, uncertain about this gift himself.

The sharkman nodded. “I want you to have it and build a good life for yourself.”

San stared. This was really an unexpected turn of events.

“What made you change your mind?” he asked, watching the sharkman carefully. He still wasn’t sure if this was some kind of a trick or there truly was a change of the sharkman’s heart.

Wooyoung looked away over the blue sea. “That doesn’t matter,” he said quietly before he turned to San again. “Go.”

San didn’t hesitate any longer. He got into the boat and grabbed the oar. He was just about to drive it into the water, when Wooyoung grabbed the boat on one side, big, dark eyes fixed on San’s face. San’s first thought was that Wooyoung changed his mind again and didn’t want to let him go after all, but there was something in the sharkman’s eyes that made him doubt that was the reason of stopping him.

“Before you go, will you finally tell me your name?” Wooyoung asked with hope in his eyes.

San stared at him in confusion again. “Haven’t I?”

“No.”

“Oh… It’s San.”

“San,” Wooyoung repeated the name, and a gentle smile curled his lips. “I like it. I’ll remember it forever.”

He let go of the boat then and before San could react, he disappeared in the dark blue waters.

San kept rowing. He had been doing this for hours and he was tired and thirsty. He would gladly have exchanged all the treasure in his boat for just one glass of fresh water. The sun was high and burning hot and San bathed in his own sweat. He soaked his clothes in the sea water and put them back on so that the wet fabric cooled his body.

He already thought that he was not going to make it – he didn’t know how far he was from home or from any land in general, orienting only according to the position of the sun on the sky, but it didn’t tell him much about his location – when he spotted something in the distance. He wasn’t sure what it was, his tired eyes had problems to focusing, but the thing moved and it was the first object he had seen floating on the dark blue infinity.

San found the last bits of his strength and rowed towards the object. As he got closer, the object gradually took the shape of a boat and a human sitting in it, motionless. San didn’t know if it was a man or a woman and he didn’t care. It was the first human being he had seen in days. San put the row into the boat and raised his hands, waving at the person.

“H-help!” he called, his voice weak and rasp. His throat was dry and felt like sandpaper.

“Help! Please!” he tried again, this time his voice a little louder.

The person in the boat finally moved. They started rowing towards him.

San gave a sigh of relief, watching the other boat getting closer. He could see now that there was a man in it, but San’s tired eyes started burning. He had problem focusing on the other person through the wet veil of unshed tears. Yet, as the other boat was coming closer, the blur of the man in the other boat seemed familiar. Could it be someone he knew?

“Sannie? Is that you?” He heard a soft voice piercing through the haze in his mind - one of the two sweetest voices in the whole universe, the voice of one of his best friends.

“Yun… ho?” he rasped, trying to focus his tired eyes.

“Sannie!” his friend exclaimed, excitement and joy pouring from his voice. “Heavens, Sannie, it’s truly you!”

San heard the two boats bump into each other and then he was imprisoned in a tight but warm and calming embrace. He lifted his own arms, wanting to return the hug, but he was so tired and thirsty.

“Water. Please,” he said, his dry throat burning.

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Yunho said, and in the next second, a bottleneck was pressed to his lips and cool fresh water poured through the gap between them into his mouth.

San raised his hands and grabbed the bottle his friend held and drank in big gulps.

“Easy,” Yunho said soothingly, pulling the bottle away from San’s lips. San reacted with a disgruntled groan, but the bottle was back and he took a few more gulps before Yunho pulled it away again.

“Not so fast, Sannie. You’ll get sick,” San’s friend warned, making him drink slower.

Once his thirst was satiated, San was finally able to focus on his surroundings. His vision was clear now, and he couldn’t help the big smile settling on his lips when his eyes met Yunho’s. He wanted to throw himself in his friend’s arms, but he was too weak to do that. Luckily, Yunho understood. He engulfed San in a tight, protective hug.

“We were afraid you were dead,” he whispered in San’s hair.

“I missed you so much,” San choked out. “I thought I’d never see you again…”

“What happened to you?” Yunho asked. “Where have you been and why are you coming back in a boat marked with the king’s crest and full of gold?”

San stirred in Yunho’s arms, frowning. “The king’s crest?”

Yunho nodded and pulled away. As he wiggled in the boat, the gold under his feet rang. San realized only now they were in his boat. Their two boats were tied together and Yunho was bending over the edge of San’s to show him the crest.

“See? It’s right here.”

San followed Yunho’s example and slightly bent over the edge himself. Really. Burned into the hard wood was the circle with a crown – the crest of the royal family. San stared at it in total wonder.

“I don’t know, Yunho,” he said honestly. “The boat and the gold were a gift from someone who had nothing to do with the king and his family. At least, I thought so.” But what did he know about Wooyoung and his trip except that the sharkman brought this boat and loaded it with the treasure? And maybe, it was better that way…

When San’s feet finally touched the solid ground, he thought he would cry. But nothing made him feel home more than Mingi’s wide arms. San melted into his friend’s warm embrace and didn’t want to leave it for long minutes until Yunho’s quiet cough brought him back to reality. San pulled away with a smile and looked around. The nearby village looked exactly the same as when he had seen it last time, buzzing with life: the fishermen’s huts were scattered on the beach with fishnets spread in front of them in different stages of being repaired, and the boats lined the shore, ready for another day on the sea. When San breathed in the salty air mixed with the smell of soil, he knew he was truly home.

Finding a friend didn’t go exactly the way Wooyoung had pictured it, but he couldn’t complain. His little trip to find the answers to his questions brought him more than he had hoped. At the very beginning, he had wished to have a friend, any friend, and if the sea didn’t want to give them to him, then the land would. Except, it wouldn’t. Wooyoung’s attempt to make a human friend failed. The human – San – had turned his back on him the moment he was free. Wooyoung wondered if the fisherman had ever seen more in the sharkman than merely his kidnapper.

For a significant amount of time Wooyoung roamed the waters where he had met San in hope to see him again, but the fisherman never returned there. That would have crushed all Wooyoung’s hopes for breaking free from his loneliness if a precious friend hadn’t entered his life. Seonghwa was there for him. And despite their very first meeting having been awkward, their relationship now was warm and open, filled with merciless teasing but also offering open arms when the other needed it.

And with Seonghwa, more friends came into Wooyoung’s life. When King Hongjoong wasn’t so awfully busy with his kingly things (or spending some alone time with his precious merman), he took a boat out and played with them in the waves. King-consort Yeosang, on the other hand, was a frequent visitor of the beach in the company of his faithful manservant Jongho. And while Yeosang enjoyed talking to Wooyoung for hours, Jongho was more reserved, but a tiny smile settled on his lips here and there and he could be quite nice when he wanted to.

Wooyoung loved his new friends dearly, but he couldn’t forget the very first human that stood at the beginning of all of this. Wooyoung had hoped that they had managed to build something, but San’s absence broke his heart repeatedly day after day, wave after wave. Wooyoung wished he could see San once again, to ask him if the human truly hated him that much that he abandoned his way of living, abandoned the sea…

“Moping again?” the voice of his merman friend tore him away from his sad thoughts.

“Excuse me? I’m never moping,” he snapped, sliding from the rock he was sitting on back into the water.

“Except when you are. Like now. What’s it about this time?” Seonghwa could be truly insufferable when he wanted to.

“Nothing. I told you I’m not moping,” Wooyoung tried to end the discussion, but the merman wasn’t having it.

“It’s about your human, isn’t it?” he continued. “I saw him.”

Wooyoung stiffened (and therefore started sinking slowly towards the bottom), then he turned to Seonghwa, his eyes blazing with furious fire.

“Stop kidding me! You don’t even know what he looks like,” he said, his voice low and dangerous.

Seonghwa, however, didn’t seem to mind the change of mood. “I know what his boat looks like,” he said calmly.

“Not funny, Seonghwa!” Wooyoung protested, showing his sharp teeth in another stage of warning.

“I mean it,” the merman insisted. “How many humans know your name?”

“Well… Hongjoong, Yeosang, Jongho…”

Seonghwa rolled his eyes. “Except them!”

Wooyoung averted his gaze. “Just one…” he mumbled.

“I saw a boat with your name written on it,” Seonghwa said, which made Wooyoung look at him in surprise.

“You can read human letters?” he asked in awe.

“Yes, I can. Hongjoong taught me. I barely need it, but it’s nice to be able to read the name of a boat. A boat called Wooyoung for example,” Seonghwa said matter-of-factly.

“You’re kidding.”

“Am not.”

Silence.

And then…

“Show me the boat.”

After coming home with the generous gift from Wooyoung, San’s life took a new turn. He suddenly became busy, working for the good of his community. There was so much he could do now, changing the lives of many for the better. Most of the treasure was used to improve the living standards in his village. Houses were repaired, workshops renewed, livestock bought, and all the necessities the village needed were secured. The community thrived and San couldn’t be happier. Everyone got what they needed and there was still enough left in case times turned hard and they needed to survive somehow.

But as for now, everything was good.

“You did a great job,” Yunho said to San as they stood together with Mingi in the center of the village, watching life buzzing around. Everyone was busy with their daily tasks to contribute to the goof of the community. Thanks to San and his magnanimous benefactor, they all got a new chance in life, which they grabbed onto and didn’t want to let go.

“I didn’t do much. And I had help, right?” San said with a broad smile, looking at his friends. Without them, he would have drowned in everything that needed to be done. They helped him keep his mind on track and focus on the task at hand. They all did a great deal of work.

“We’re always here for you, you know that,” Mingi said, offering a smile of his own.

Yunho put a hand around San’s shoulders. “It’s time to do something for yourself now.”    

And that was how they ended up roaming the ocean on a brand-new boat, big enough for three fishermen, with its name painted on both sides in bright colors. San didn’t know if he would be so lucky to see Wooyoung again, but he couldn’t forget the sharkman. Despite all the bad he had to endure, the good that it resolved into in the end prevailed significantly. San wanted to say thank you at least. And maybe consider the offered friendship…

Yunho and Mingi were the only ones who knew the whole story of San’s disappearance and his coming back in a boat marked with the king’s crest, full of treasure. And although they both felt kind of mad for their friend having been snatched away from them like that, they were forgiving people and seeing all the good Wooyoung’s gift brought to the village, they shared San’s sentiment and wanted to thank the sharkman as well. To San’s relief, they were also free of prejudice, never speaking ill about Wooyoung’s species as though it had no relevance to them. Yunho once said to San: “It’s not important what you are, but who you are and who you want to be”. And that was true. The small peek into the sharkman’s heart convinced San that Wooyoung wasn’t bad, he was just terribly lonely. However, what had made him think that a human friend was the best solution for him was beyond San. They were so different. But…

“What will you tell him when you meet him again?” Yunho interrupted the track of San’s thoughts.

“I don’t know,” San admitted, looking at the wide ocean. “Definitely ‘thank you’, but other than that… I haven’t thought about it yet.”

“Maybe you should.”

“Do you think we’ll find him so soon?”

Yunho shrugged. “Dunno. But I hope we will. He sounds like a funny guy and I want to thank him myself.”

“What does he like to eat?” Mingi joined the conversation with the question of his own. “We could offer him some food. It’s always easy to talk over food.”

“He eats sea-food,” San said without hesitation, but then he thought deeper about the question. “He quite enjoyed my roasted meat.”

“Roasted meat, mmmm…” A dreamy expression settled on Yunho’s face. “Why haven’t we brought any with us?”

“Because we haven’t and still don’t know if we’ll find him,” San said, still gazing at the dark blue waters.

Yunho smiled awkwardly. “I meant for us…”

Mingi just rolled his eyes. Yunho’s appetite was a never-ending story.

San sighed quietly, but then he turned to his friends, clapping his hands. “Anyway, we have work to do, don’t we?”

The three of them grabbed a big fishnet and threw it into the water. Not long after, the net started twitching as though something got caught in it. Something big.

“So soon?” Mingi couldn’t hide his surprise.

“So heavy,” Yunho grunted as he pulled the net. San and Mingi didn’t hesitate to help him.

“It must be a shark at least,” Mingi commented.

According to San’s opinion the net wasn’t as heavy as Yunho had presented it to be, but maybe he just got that impression because the three of them worked together. Soon, the sea showed them its gift. Still bent over the edge of the boat, the trio stared at their catch – half human and half fish, with bright hair with a touch of blue and two lines of sharp teeth. 

There was an awkward moment of silence before Mingi’s “What the heck?” brought them back to reality.

“Wooyoung?” San couldn’t believe his eyes. Although he had wished to find the sharkman, he had never dreamed of finding him so soon.

“Hi,” Wooyoung greeted them sheepishly, but a smile started blooming on his lips.

“It seems you were right about the shark,” Yunho said to Mingi with a happy grin of his.

“What are you doing in our fishnet?” San blurted, and Wooyoung’s smile faltered.

“I heard you were looking for me. Weren’t you?”

Before San could answer, Yunho slapped his friend’s back, giving the sharkman a bright smile. “Of course he was!” he exclaimed excitedly. “He’s just a little stunned by your sudden dazzling presence. Now brace yourself, we’re pulling you up onboard.”

The corners of Wooyoung’s lips lifted in a shy smile as he looked at San again with uncertainty in his eyes.

San shook his head as though he wanted to wake up from a dream only to find out the dream was real. “Yeah! Right! Right! On board and out of the net, right!” he said quickly, smiling almost as wide as Yunho.

The three friends worked together to get Wooyoung aboard. Once they succeeded in their little mission, they immediately set to untangling the sharkman from the fishnet. Wooyoung sat there silently without protest when the careful fingers of the humans stroked his body in the process of getting him out of the net. It took them some time, because the net kept catching on his fins.

“Are you hurt?” San asked right after they managed to free Wooyoung from the fishnet. The net was made of strong ropes, rough on their surface, and San knew they could easily graze soft skin to the flesh.

Wooyoung shook his head, his smile more genuine as he looked at San. “I’m fine.”

“Welcome aboard of the Wooyoung, Wooyoung,” the cheerful voice of one of San’s friends broke the little moment between him and the sharkman. “I’m Yunho and this is Mingi.” Yunho’s smile was wide and bright, welcoming. And yet, when Wooyoung turned his attention to the smiley giant, he looked uncharacteristically timid.

“You are San’s friends,” he started sheepishly, his gaze wandering from Yunho to Mingi and back. “The ones he wanted to return to…”

Yunho glanced at San, then he made a thoughtful face and nodded his head. “Yeah, I guess we are.”

“You guess?” San looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but Yunho just grinned.

Mingi rolled his eyes at the two and shook his head. Then he looked at Wooyoung with a smile. “Don’t mind them,” he said to the sharkman. “Yunho and I are happy to finally meet you.”

“Are you?” Wooyoung asked with doubt, but also with hope in his voice. “Aren’t you mad at me?”

“Mad? What for?” Mingi had a hunch where the question came from, but he wanted to hear Wooyoung voice it.

“For taking San away from you,” the sharkman said bashfully, lowering his head.

“Well… We were. At the beginning…” Mingi started, weighing every word, but Yunho didn’t let him finish and whatever Mingi wanted to say was interrupted by his buoyant friend:

“We were never mad,” Yunho said, waving his hand. “At first, we didn’t know what happened to our Sannie.” He put a hand around San’s shoulders, pulling him closer and trying to smother him in his embrace, while San fought for his freedom. “We thought a big wave flushed him into the water and he couldn’t get to the surface or that a shark ate him…” His eyes widened. “Sorry, I meant…”

Wooyoung giggled. “It’s okay. We actually do eat humans, but only dead ones,” he said with a child-like smile.

“Wow… Okay… That’s reassuring,” Yunho said, and San chuckled, seeing his awkwardness.   

“So…” Yunho coughed and continued. “As I said, we thought the sea had taken San from us. But then, one day, he returned, almost unscathed and with a fortune that helped us rebuild our village.”

“Rebuild?” Wooyoung looked at his hands. He raised them and did a grabby move, then opened his palms again, his brow furrowed.

San chuckled again. He could imagine the sharkman trying to imagine how could someone build a house out of golden coins, jewels or plates. It was cute, but it also showed how different their worlds were.

“He means that your gift helped a lot of people to have a better life,” he explained.

A flash of understanding could be seen in Wooyoung’s eyes. He looked up at Yunho, his face lighting up. “That’s amazing!” he exclaimed, a smile from ear to ear splitting his face.  

“Yes, it is. That’s why we can’t really be mad at you. You redeemed yourself,” Yunho said with a smile.

“I’m still a little pissed,” Mingi announced, “but if you promise not to do anything like that ever again, I’ll forgive you.”

“I won’t!” Wooyoung cried out. “I promise! I will never take San away from you!”

“San or anyone else,” Mingi corrected him.

“San or anyone else,” Wooyoung repeated docilely.

Mingi grinned. “Good. You’re forgiven.”

San giggled when he saw Wooyoung’s happy smile. The sharkman seemed to get along well with his friends, which made San feel warm inside. There were no hard feelings, no reproaches, just mutual understanding.

“Seems like you earned yourself new friends,” he said to Wooyoung with a smile.

“Oh!” The sharkman’s eyes widened comically. “I forgot… I actually did find new friends!” he exclaimed and bent over the edge of the boat. “Seonghwa! Show yourself! I want to introduce you!” he yelled.

“He’s so chaotic,” Mingi commented, glancing at Yunho.

The taller of the two laughed. “He’s funny, I like him.”

“Seoooonghwaaaaa!” Wooyoung kept yelling until a pink-haired head appeared on the sea surface.

“Wait… Is it that Seonghwa?” San asked, staring at the being watching him from the water.

“If you mean the one who hopelessly fell in love with Prince, now King Hongjoong, then yes, he’s the one,” Wooyoung informed San, waving at the merman, who obviously felt awkward about this whole situation. “What are you doing? Come here!” Wooyoung kept yelling at him, which probably made the poor merman regret his life choices.

Yunho couldn’t stop giggling while Mingi shook his head and San just stared in astonishment.

“Don’t tell me you’re friends with the king,” San squeaked, still unable to believe the popular story of the recent past became suddenly so real for him.

Wooyoung looked at him over his shoulder. “Hongjoong? Yes, we’re friends. He’s very nice and silly. I like him. I’m also friends with his consort and his consort’s bodyguard,” he said quickly and turned back to the merman. “Seonghwa, move your tail!”

“Wow… In the end, you managed to befriend nobility,” San said in awe. “You’re a strange being, sharkman Wooyoung…”

“No, I’m normal,” Wooyoung said matter-of-factly just when he stretched out his hands and grabbed Seonghwa’s to pull him on the board. “Will somebody help me?” he urged the fishermen, who merely stood there and watched.

Yunho and Mingi immediately grabbed Seonghwa’s arms.

“Come on, buddy. Welcome on the board of Wooyoung,” Yunho said with a smile as the two friendly giants helped the merman onto the boat.

In a moment, Seonghwa sat next to his sharkman friend, sizing the three humans up shyly. “Hello,” he greeted them.

“Welcome, Seonghwa. It’s an honor to meet you,” San said with a smile.

“And I’m honored to finally know you, San,” Seonghwa responded, the corners of his mouth lifting.

“Does that mean you’ve heard about me?” San asked with a raised eyebrow.

Seonghwa grinned. “Plenty. There’s no chance of stopping Wooyoung from talking.”

“I’m not that bad!” the sharkman protested, but everyone just laughed.

“You know… it’s true that you can’t hold your mouth for more than a few minutes,” San said with a grin, which made Wooyoung pout.

They talked more like that, bonding and having fun. The sound of Wooyoung’s laughter brought a group of dolphins close to the boat, the crew watching them jump and play.

Later, Wooyoung and Seonghwa returned into the water. Wanting to help the fishermen, they drove shoals of fish into the nets, filling them with a monumental catch. The three fishermen struggled with the weight of the nets full of various kinds of fish, but they managed to pull them up onboard in the end. Their village was definitely not going to suffer from starvation.

The five of them had a lot of fun, but the sun was already nearing the horizon, ready to finish its journey across the sky. It was time for the three fishermen to return home. Wooyoung and Seonghwa accompanied them on their journey until they reached a small village dock. The fishermen tied the boat to one of its pillars. After that, Mingi, Yunho, and Seonghwa said their goodbyes, the first two going to the village, the latter one returning into the sea.     

San and Wooyoung stayed behind, San sitting on the pier, his legs dangling, and Wooyoung catching the last rays of the sunlight on his wet skin, they talked and smiled at each other.

“I’m proud of you. Look what you managed! You found new friends without kidnapping anyone,” San said with a wide grin.

The smile disappeared from Wooyoung’s lips, though. “Can we forget about that?” he asked awkwardly. “I know it wasn’t my brightest moment.”

San chuckled. “Of course we can’t. That’s how all this started. That’s how we got to this moment. Here and now. So no, we can’t. And although I’m still a little annoyed with you, I also know that you are not bad. You were just lonely, and that’s something I can understand.”

A soft smile settled on San’s lips, feeling more than just kindness to the water creature that made him go through so much, but turned out to have a good heart in the end.

Wooyoung’s eyes sparkled in the light of the setting sun. “Does it mean we’re friends?”

San’s smile widened. “We’re definitely friends.”