Chapter Text
“Why are you spacing out,” the bright orange starfish said to the sea turtle.
The lack of response from the sea turtle made starfish raised his voice. “Ooooi.”
“It’s... beautiful...” Sea turtle finally said.
“Huh, I see.”
Sea turtle said with a voice filled with awe, “What is that?”
“You don’t know?” Starfish gasped. “It’s called human.”
Human. So that’s what it’s called, sea turtle thought as it looked at the creature in front of it. The human had four legs just like sea turtle, but the legs were long and separated into tiny sticks at the end. The body was quite long, almost as long as a dolphin. On one end of the body there’s a round part that sea turtle assumed as the head. Some sort of black grass covered one side of the head. On the other side were a set of eyes. Well, maybe they’re eyes. Sea turtle just assumed so because they had the same bulge and eyelids it had. The eyelids of that human were closed shut.
Sea turtle couldn’t move at the sight.
“Human...” Sea turtle repeated the word slowly as if in a light trance.
“Yep. By the way, it can’t breathe down here so it’s gonna die soon if it doesn’t get out of the water.”
“What??” Sea turtle wanted to scold starfish for not saying that sooner, but it had to prioritize. It swam towards the human and nudged it with its head. Nothing happened.
Sea turtle looked around. Starfish wouldn’t be any help. Neither the little fishes. If only...
And then hope came. First sea turtle sensed it from the way the water felt differently on its skin. Then it entered sea turtle’s vision. Its body moved gracefully towards sea turtle.
“Dolphin!” Sea turtle let out a cry.
“Hey, sea turtle.” Dolphin replied.
“Can you help me carry this human above the water?”
Dolphin turned towards the human and said,”This one? Okay, sure.”
“Thank you!” said sea turtle.
Dolphin touched the human with its nose and got in on his back. Then it swam above, towards a dark spot on the surface. Sea turtle following right behind.
“Why are we heading there? What is that?” asked sea turtle.
“That’s a ship. Sometimes I have fun racing with it. Anyway, there are humans there. Don’t you know? You should learn more about the world, kid.”
Sea turtle turned to look at the human on dolphin’s back. It promised itself that it will learn more about humans. Especially this one.
As they reached the surface, sea turtle heard sounds coming from the ship. The other humans. They were looking at their direction. Some started to lower a white thing that floated when it touched the water.
When the white thing and the humans in it got closer, dolphin said, “Let’s go.”
“But—“
“It’s okay. The human’s safe now.”
Sea turtle followed dolphin back into the water, albeit reluctantly. As it was swimming down, it kept glancing back towards the surface, hoping to see the human for one last time.
**
The knock on the door made Mingyu jumped on his bed. Since yesterday he had been extremely sensitive towards his surroundings. He walked towards the door and stopped right behind it.
“Who is it?” he asked.
“It’s me,” said a familiar voice. Mingyu felt his shoulders relaxed and opened the door.
The door swung open to reveal a skinny boy with round glasses. He was tall, but still a few centimeters shorter than Mingyu. The boy wore a long sleeved gray sweater. He had a book in his hand (Mingyu had never seen him without a book in his hand).
Mingyu let the boy inside and sat on the bed. Meanwhile, the boy sat on a chair just beside the bed.
“Anything new?” asked Mingyu.
The boy shook his head. “I tried to listen to the crew chatting while pretending to read, but I got nothing useful.”
“Wonwoo.” Mingyu looked at the boy straight in his eyes. “We don’t know the culprit’s objective yet. He might’ve pushed me to the ocean to steal my stuffs, or maybe he has a grudge for my family. Or both of ours. Who knows. We know nothing, that’s why it’s better to assume that you might be in danger too.”
The boy, Wonwoo, looked back at Mingyu and nodded solemnly. “I know. After all, everyone beside the two of us are suspects.”
Mingyu nodded. His face grim.
“We can think about our next step tomorrow,” said Wonwoo. “How’s your head?”
Mingyu carefully touched the bandage on his head. “Better.”
“We should change the bandage.” Wonwoo said as he got up from the chair and bent over Mingyu.
“Do you even know a thing about this?” asked Mingyu, doubt clear in his voice.
Wonwoo rolled his eyes. “I can do this.”
A few minutes passed and Mingyu ended up with brand new bandage on his head that kept falling over his eyes.
Mingyu sighed.
Wonwoo stuttered, “I-- I’ll call Jun.”
“Good idea. Call your boyfriend.”
Wonwoo quickly said, “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Okay. Your crush.”
Wonwoo scowled before he turned his head around. Then his eyes stopped at the pillow at the edge of the bed. He took the pillow and threw it to Mingyu. The pillow flew towards Mingyu’s face, but Mingyu caught it easily. Peeking from behind the pillow, Mingyu showed a playful smirk.
Wonwoo went through the door with a huff.
**
The next day Mingyu woke up to the sunshine peeking from the small window in his cabin. For a few seconds he lay on his bed, eyes blinking slowly until he’s fully awake.
Mingyu went out of his room and walked through the hall until he reached the stairs. He climbed to the upper deck. While greeting the crews he met along the way, he strolled until he arrived at the front deck.
There Mingyu saw the familiar figure of a boy, not much older than himself. The boy had a prominent nose and gentle brown eyes. He showed an amiable smile when he spotted Mingyu.
“Hey, Jun.” Mingyu greeted the boy.
“Good morning, Master Mingyu,” replied Jun. Then Jun tilted his head. His eyes looking past Mingyu’s shoulders. “Good morning, Master Wonwoo,” he said.
Mingyu turned his head back and saw Wonwoo, a small smile on his face.
“Morning,” said Wonwoo.
Head still bending towards Wonwoo, Mingyu showed a smirk. “Morning, Wonwon.”
Mingyu could see Wonwoo’s grip on his book got tighter, but Mingyu knew that there’s no way Wonwoo would threw it to him, no matter how irritated or angry he got. Especially not in front of Jun.
Wonwoo and Mingyu heard a chuckle. They turned their attention back at Jun.
“Wonwon...” Jun said with a glee on his eyes. The glee soon turned into an apologetic look as he gazed at Wonwoo.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful,” he said in a sincere tone.
“No, it’s okay....” Wonwoo said in a small voice. Mingyu wasn’t sure that Jun could hear it, but it turned out that the words reached Jun’s ears. He saw relief spreaded across Jun’s face.
Jun excused himself to go up the spar and furl the sails, leaving Mingyu and Wonwoo sitting on the deck to enjoy the morning wind and sunshine. Wonwoo had a book in front of his face, but his gaze kept wandering to Jun up at the spar. Mingyu smiled at the sight. His friend could be such a worrywart.
Mingyu moved his gaze towards Jun, watching how the boy moved swiftly up the spar and tied the sails. As he watched Jun, the thought that Jun might be the culprit crossed his mind. He hoped the culprit to be someone else. Wonwoo was so infatuated with Jun, it would break his heart. Mingyu wouldn’t want that.
After a while, Jun stopped his hands. His eyes was focused to the left side of the ship.
“They’re coming!” he shouted.
Mingyu turned his head to his left while Wonwoo got up from his seat and moved across the deck to Mingyu’s side. A few seconds after, they finally saw it.
Streaks of grays were moving in the blue water, close to the ship. Dolphins. They swam along with the ship as if they were having a race. At times they jumped, showing their smooth skin glinting beautifully under the morning sunshine.
**
“Oi.” Starfish called out to sea turtle who was gazing at the surface. No response.
“Oooooi.”
The second call made sea turtle turned his head towards starfish. But it still didn’t say anything.
“...You really want to see that human again, huh?”
Sea turtle nodded its head.
After mumbling “oh my, oh my”, starfish said, “There is a way that you can see it again...”
In an instant sea turtle’s attention was focused entirely to starfish.
“How? Tell me, please.”
“You really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“Really really want to know?”
Sea turtle answered by flipping starfish with its head. Starfish turned upside down from the flip.
“Okay, okay, I’ll tell you! Flip me back!”
Sea turtle did as it was told to.
After getting back to a comfortable position, starfish said, “Okay, first, get that grass over there.”
Sea turtle didn’t move immediately.
“The grass is important.”
“If you say so...” sea turtle said as it swam towards the sea grass not far from their spot.
When sea turtle was back with a tuft of grass in its mouth, starfish said, “Good. Now the next step. You have to— Look out!“
Starfish’s words were cut off when a fishing net appeared from behind sea turtle. Sea turtle turned its head just in time to see the fishing net covering its sight.
**
Mingyu spent his morning learning how to clean the deck. At first the ship’s crew tried to talk him out of it. After all, Mingyu was their honorable guest. His father owned the ship (one of many he had) and paid for all of the crews. But Mingyu insisted, saying that he wanted to know as much as he can about the ship industry so that he’ll be ready when he takes over his father’s business. And by that he also meant all about ships, including how the crew maintains it to keep on sailing.
Mingyu thought that this would be a good way to know more about the crew and maybe eavesdrop a bit of their conversations.
It’s only been two days since he boarded the ship from Hong Kong when someone knocked his head and pushed him off the ship. When he was rescued later that day, he said that he accidentally hit something and fell off. He didn’t trust the crew.
Six more days on board until the ship reaches Korea. Mingyu refused to spend those six days while constantly being on alert for the unknown danger. He’s determined to find the culprit and tell him to fight like a man.
So Mingyu did his best on cleaning the deck while keeping his eyes and ears open for any clues. After he finished cleaning, he heard a shout from the back of the ship. Mingyu went to the source of the shout to find two of the ship’s crew pulling a fishing net onto the deck.
“We’re having some nice dinner tonight!” a crew exclaimed. The net in front of him filled with fishes.
“Wait, what’s that?” said Jun, pointing to a corner of the net.
There was something other than fish inside the net. A sea turtle with greenish brown shell. Its head peaking from the net. Somehow there’s a type of sea grass in its mouth.
“Guess what, we’re also having turtle soup tonight!” the other crew cried in excitement. “You said you like cooking, Master Mingyu. Would you like to give it a try?”
“No.” Mingyu shook his head. “I mean, no, we’re not cooking the sea turtle.” His answer made the crew tilted his head.
Mingyu put his hands on the net, carefully pulling out the sea turtle.
“I’m keeping it.”
**
“You’re lucky your flippers didn’t get tangled up in the net ropes.” Mingyu sighed in relief as he examined the sea turtle for physical injuries. He made an assesment list in his notebook and check them one by one.
“Is it okay?” asked Wonwoo. He was bending his knees until he was on eye-level with the turtle on the table.
“No signs of physical trauma, and its movements are just fine.” Mingyu put his pen and notebook down. “We need to put it in water to check some more things though.” He walked out of the room and came back not long after with a bucket filled with water.
“What are you going to name it?” Wonwoo asked as he watched Mingyu set the bucket next to the table.
“I’m not going to name it. I’m returning it back to the sea.”
“Oh.”
Wonwoo didn’t say anything else. He watched as Mingyu put the sea turtle into the bucket and peeked inside.
“Oh no...” Mingyu mumbled.
“What’s wrong?” Wonwoo tilted his head. “Why is it floating weird? Like, diagonally?”
“His ability to float and submerge got affected. If we release it now, it can’t dive back. It’ll stay afloat and the chances are he’ll get struck by ships.” Mingyu scratched the back of his head.
“Can’t you do something?”
“I don’t know how to deal with this. And I doubt we have the facilities for it in this ship.” Despite his words, there’s still determination in Mingyu’s eyes.
“I’ll go check my books and see if there’s something I can do,” the taller boy said before walking out of the room once again.
Wonwoo took another peek inside the bucket. “Don’t worry, you can count on him,” he said.
**
Wonwoo let himself in after he knocked Mingyu’s door and announced himself. Mingyu had his back against the door. He was seated in front of his desk, books scattered around him.
Wonwoo approached Mingyu and asked which books he hadn’t look at. Mingyu gestured to the pile on his left, so Wonwoo took some to the bed and started reading them.
“His name is Minghao,” said Wonwoo, not looking away from the book in his hand.
“What?” Mingyu didn’t look up from his book either.
“The turtle. Jun said it’s a good name.”
“We’re not naming it.”
“You’re not, but I am."
“You do know that we have to release it back to the sea, right.”
“Yes. But if we don’t find the answer to treat him in these books, we’ll have to wait until we land and find someone with the proper knowledge. That means Minghao is sticking with us for the next six days.”
Mingyu sighed and didn’t argue anymore. Wonwoo smiled in victory. For a while they went silent. It was after Mingyu finished his fifth book that he said another word.
“Six days...”
Wonwoo closed his book and turned his body to face Mingyu. “Yep. Six days in the middle of the sea, with a potential killer and a sea turtle, and no method of contacting the outside world,” he said in an impassive tone.
“You sound so bored,” Mingyu snickered.
Wonwoo rolled his eyes.
It was then when they heard a shout, followed by sound of people struggling and more shouts. They both jerked at the sound and looked at each other’s faces before storming out of the door. They hurried to the source of the clamor: the bottom deck.
When they arrived at the end of the deck’s corridor, they saw what was causing the ruckus. Three crew members were stuffed in the middle of the corridor, their hands all tangled over an unfamiliar boy. The boy was tall, skinny and naked; his bones jutting from inside his white skin. The back of his jet black hair ran just above his nape, while the front fell short, revealing a wide forehead.
The boy was doing his best to let go of his captors’ hands. His lanky arms and legs moved erratically. Despite his looks, it seemed that he was strong enough to make the three crews struggling on keeping him restrained. Mingyu was almost convinced that the boy could actually break free.
But then the boy stopped still. His head faced towards Mingyu and Wonwoo. Or maybe it was Mingyu. Mingyu saw the boy looking at him with wide eyes. Even while he was being dragged away into a room, he didn’t remove his gaze from Mingyu.
**
After the ruckus, the unknown boy was taken into a room. Mingyu and Wonwoo heard shouts of the crew interrogating the boy. When the crew came out, they looked confused and alert. They said that they had found out nothing.
Mingyu and Wonwoo was about to enter the room, but got stopped by Jun who had a tray of food and water on his hands.
“He might be dangerous,” he said.
Mingyu replied, “You guys have tied him, right? Besides, there’s two of us. It’s fine.”
“And we have to check on Minghao. He’s in that room,” added Wonwoo.
Jun’s face turned pale. “About Minghao...”
Mingyu and Wonwoo perked at his words. They quickly opened the door and stormed inside, Mingyu leading at the front.
The boy was sitting on one side of the room, hands shackled to a pole behind his back. His feet were also shackled. A piece of brownish rag was draped carelessly over his body.
Mingyu and Wonwoo eyed the boy from the other side of the room. Meanwhile the boy stayed still. His eyes focused on Mingyu, but they were unlike Mingyu and Wonwoo’s cautious ones. Those brown eyes were filled with curiosity and longing.
Mingyu didn’t want to admit it, not even to himself, but Mingyu had seen enough of the longing look for these past few days that there’s no way he won’t recognize it (thanks to his childhood friend and a certain ship crew). That look from the boy made him flushed a bit.
It’s not that Mingyu never had people looking at him with desire. He had the appearance, talents, and position as the successor of a successful company for people to give him that look.
But this was different. The boy’s gaze was... well, the first word that came into his head was pure. Mingyu never had someone who looked at him with such pure longing and it made Mingyu’s face warm.
“He’s staring at you,” whispered Wonwoo to his ear. “Do you think he’s the culprit?”
Mingyu wanted Wonwoo to see his own face when he’s staring at Jun and show him that this is not the look of someone who wanted to push you off the ship. But Mingyu was rational. He knew that there’s a possibility of the unknown boy being the culprit.
Meanwhile Jun stepped closer to the boy. He took a piece of bread from the tray and took it near the boy’s mouth, but the boy didn’t do anything but stare at Jun in confusion. Jun put the bread back and this time he held out a bowl of water. The boy reacted at the water. His tongue licking his lips at the sight. Jun brought the bowl to his lips and the boy drank, slowly at first, then eagerly.
Mingyu glanced at the shackle over the boys hands. “Can’t you let him eat and drink himself?”
“I’m sorry, I’m not the one who has the keys,” said Jun with an apologetic face.
“Oh. Forgot about Minghao,” said Wonwoo. He walked to the corner of the room where Minghao’s bucket was. Mingyu followed behind.
They peeked into the bucket, but there was nothing. Not even water. The bucket was empty.
“Where’s Minghao?!” Wonwoo exclaimed.
Wonwoo and Mingyu turned back to look at Jun. His face turned pale again.
“Did you know what happened?” asked Mingyu.
Jun opened his mouth but failed to produce any words. It happened several times until he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, he said, “When I came in, the bucket was still there. I was walking towards it when it shook violently. Then there’s a blinding light, my sight was gone for a second. And then...”
Jun glanced at the boy in shackles. Mingyu and Wonwoo raised their eyebrows.
“And then he appeared. The bucket fell, spilling all the water. Minghao was nowhere in sight.”
“Okay. So you’re saying that a sea turtle just transformed into a human being?” said Mingyu with a scoff.
“I don’t know... I know it’s not possible, but it’s what I saw...” said Jun. Colors hadn’t come back to his face.
Mingyu didn’t push him any further. When he and Wonwoo went back to Mingyu’s room, he put his hands on Wonwoo’s shoulders, gesturing him to sit on his bed.
Mingyu sat just beside Wonwoo, eyes looking straight at his childhood friend’s.
“You won’t like what I’m going to say,” he said in a grim tone.
Wonwoo turned his face away, but he turned back when Mingyu asked him so.
“He could be lying. The boy might be his accomplice. He sneaked the boy inside but things went wrong. It might be why he looked so pale.”
Wonwoo grimaced at Mingyu’s words but didn’t protest. He was being reasonable.
“It’s just a possibility, okay? Don’t look so bummed. I just wanted you to be careful.”
“I know.” Even so the pained expression didn’t leave Wonwoo’s face.
Mingyu gave him a small smile. “Come on. Let’s hurry and find the culprit so that we can prove his innocence. Okay?”
Wonwoo glanced at Mingyu and tried to reply his smile. His lips only managed to gave a small twitch.
**
Mingyu and Wonwoo continued their investigation by assisting the chef at the kitchen. Mingyu with his affable manner managed to get the chef to talk a lot (besides, the chef was smittened with Mingyu’s cooking skill). He hadn’t gotten any meaningful information yet, but he’s keeping his ears and eyes open.
After dinner, Mingyu and Wonwoo went to the room where the mysterious boy was confined. This time they went with one of the crews, the first mate. They asked him to open the shackles for a moment so that they can let him wear some clothes. The boy was a potential criminal, but they wouldn’t let him die in cold.
After the shackles were undone, Mingyu bent his knees to see the boy on eye level. The he put a set of clean clothes on the boy’s lap. They’re his clothes, a dark blue trouser and a green long sleeved.
The boy didn’t move a limb. He just stared at Mingyu. Mingyu cleared his throat. It did nothing.
“Hello? Aren’t you cold? You can wear those,” Mingyu pointed at the clothes.
The boy glanced at his lap, but then turned his gaze back at Mingyu.
“Okay, he looks totally clueless. Maybe he can’t understand our language?” said Wonwoo from Mingyu’s back.
Mingyu sighed. He took the long sleeved shirt and tried to show the boy to wear it through gestures. The boy only blinked. Mingyu sighed again.
“Fine,” said Mingyu before bringing the shirt over the boy’s head and his head through the collar. Then he took one of the boy’s skinny arm and put it through the sleeve. The boy looked at how his own arm went through the hole and then looked at Mingyu’s face. He seemed somehow impressed. Then the boy moved his other arm, wiggling it slowly through the other sleeve. After his hand popped out from the end of the sleeve, the boy looked back at Mingyu with a satisfied look.
The boy looked cute and it made the edges of Mingyu’s lips curving up, but Mingyu quickly stopped himself.
They’re done with the shirt, but now they had to deal with the pants. Mingyu gestured the boy to stand up. He lifted one of his own legs and demonstrate how to put the leg inside the pants. The boy, who didn’t look as clueless as before, seemed to get the gist and put on the trousers. A bit clumsily, but he managed. Mingyu looked at the boy who was now fully dressed. The clothes were a little too big on him, just as Mingyu expected, but the boy just had to deal with it.
“Good. So now what are we going to do about Minghao?” asked Wonwoo.
“We’ll search for him again,” replied Mingyu.
“No, I meant the boy.”
Mingyu turned his head towards Wonwoo and raised his eyebrows.
“We’ve been looking through every corner of this ship and couldn’t find Minghao the turtle.”
“So you decided to buy the idea of him turning into this boy?”
“Well, no. I’m just calling him Minghao for the sake of convenience. We can’t call him the boy forever.”
Mingyu huffed. “Admit it. You do believe in that Minghao turned into this boy. You’ve always liked that kind of story since you were kid. After reading your fictions you’d always blabber about how the trees move their branches like hands at night, or how the cuckoo statue in your house would sing when basked in sunset glow.”
“I was a kid! I don’t believe those things anymore! I told you this is just for the sake of convenience.” Wonwoo puffed his cheeks.
Mingyu rolled his eyes and Wonwoo scowled at him. Then Wonwoo decided to ignore Mingyu and walked towards the boy.
“I don’t know what’s your name, and it seems that you can’t tell us, so I’m just going to give you a new one, okay?” Wonwoo put his right hand on the boy’s chest and said, “Minghao.”
Wonwoo paused for a bit and repeated, “Minghao.”
The boy looked at Wonwoo with blank expression. But then he opened his mouth.
“Uh...” A weak sound came out from his mouth.
Wonwoo gleamed his eyes. “Look at me.” He made sure the boy was looking at his mouth before moving his mouth slowly. “Ming... Hao...”
The boy’s mouth opened and closed a few times, letting out a series of unintelligible noise until he managed to let out a “Ming... Hao...”
Wonwoo grinned at the progress. Then he put his hand to his own chest and teach Minghao to say his name. It took some time too, but finally Minghao managed to pronounce Wonwoo’s name.
Then Wonwoo gestured Mingyu, who was watching the whole thing silently, to come closer. Wonwoo put his hand to Mingyu’s chest and pronounced Mingyu’s name.
“Ming... Gyu...”
Mingyu’s heart gave a slight jump at the voice calling his name.
“Ming... Gyu... Ming... Gyu...” The boy said a few times before breaking into a smile.
At that moment a thought flashed through Mingyu’s mind. He had never seen anything as beautiful.