Chapter Text
Yoojin woke up and stared at the ceiling of his bedroom in the beach house on Jeju. Sunlight peeked through the blinds on the window, lighting up the white ceiling. The bed beneath him was comfortably warm, and the pain in his leg was a distant morning ache.
When Yoojin turned his head, there were still empty beer Soju bottles on the dresser from where he’d left them.
Yoojin breathed in, letting the whole place soak into him. It was hard to convince himself to get out of bed every day. And today was no different.
A glowing yellow butterfly made of pure energy floated over his field of vision.
Yoojin glared at the butterfly, and then sighed as he pushed himself up. “That handsome asshole is back, is he?”
The butterfly fluttered a little, then dissipated in a quiet crackle. Yoojin wondered if the ability’s maker could see fully through them, despite saying he couldn’t, really. All to what, watch Yoojin sleeping and waking?
Not sure why he’d want to peep on me changing, Yoojin thought miserably as he pushed himself out of bed and towards the bathroom. Especially given how attractive he is. His own body was covered in scars and too thin and weary.
Yoojin had his leg injury long enough by now that he’d adjusted his morning routine to it. And he was able to get his face washed and put on some clothes without gazing bleakly at his pale face in the mirror.
Rather than heading to the kitchen, he headed to the attached indoor pool room, and lamented that Minho’s family – who had this place built – had decided to get a saltwater pool. Because if they hadn’t, then Yoojin wouldn’t have one particular problem. Even if the problem was largely of his own making.
He could already hear splashing.
As he got into the room, which was sunny with its walls made of windows, and contained a pool about the size of the master bedroom, Yoojin glared at the large, shirtless, muscular silver-blonde haired man grinning up at Yoojin from the pool edge. His golden tail fins were invisible under the blue water.
“Han Yoojin-gun,” Sung Hyunje said with warm smile. He genuinely sounded delighted to see Yoojin for some reason. “How did you sleep?”
Yoojin had been living at the beach house for three days when he decided to go for a walk, and kept an umbrella with him for the predicted rain. Even if he had to move slowly with his crutches, he felt that just sleeping in the house and hoping his problems would go away was not the best use of his time. He still hadn’t decided if he was just going to sell the place or what. He knew Minho wanted him to put it to good use, but Yoojin just didn’t have the money to keep this place going for very long, and a part of him felt Jeju was too far away from Yoohyun.
He doesn’t want to see me anyway, Yoojin thought miserably as he plodded along the beach, ignoring the slightly chill wind ruffling through his clothing. His brother hadn’t contacted him before or after the funerals, and he certainly hadn’t said anything when Yoojin left for Jeju. Not that Yoojin expected it, but he wondered how much Yoohyun’s people were tracking Yoojin’s movements, in case he fucked things up more for Haeyeon somehow.
Though moving out to a relatively isolated beach house couldn’t do all that much damage to Haeyeon’s platinum reputation, could it? At least Yoojin told himself so. He knew he shouldn’t care, since Yoohyun refused to help even when Yoojin begged for it. But a part of him still thought of it as he got on the plane. And sometimes, with all his free time, the thought returned to bother him.
The rain, wind, and sea air at least somewhat kept him out of his head. A little.
He’d been walking along the shore near the house when he saw the beached merman just beyond the water’s edge. Initially, he wondered if someone had collapsed and needed help. But as he neared, he saw the tail, and slowed his walk. He wasn’t sure if the long golden tail was a costume or not. But with dungeons showing up all over the world, and underwater dungeons being part of that, Yoojin wondered if this was an escaped dungeon monster… or a Hunter wearing some kind of item.
Up close, the man’s lay on his stomach, with his golden tail bent slightly behind him. The face Yoojin could see, even with the man’s hair dripping wet from the rain, was more handsome than Yoojin had seen on anyone outside a television or computer screen.
He might attack me, Yoojin thought, warily. Or someone else might be hunting him… He hadn’t heard of merpeople monsters outside of dungeons, but there were tons of scenarios where one might have gotten out, even if it was just captured by Hunters and maybe somehow escaped or was let loose. There were likely all kinds of things someone could get from the corpse of one. Or selling a live one to a rich collector.
Yoojin was F-rank, but he had a basic awareness of powerful Hunters, and the merman reeked of power, which was further alarming.
But Yoojin couldn’t see or sense anything else around, though that didn’t mean something hadn’t knocked the guy out and fled for some reason, possibly its own injury. Or if the creature had escaped Hunters, maybe it had collapsed after using the last of its strength to make it here.
Yoojin’s heart raced. He’d been in a lot of dungeons since his faulty awakening years ago, and it had given him decent instincts for combat. He’d hoped to get away from that briefly, especially since most people wouldn’t know he was here, but it looked like that wasn’t happening.
Yoojin still debated leaving, but he was also worried about leaving the merman out here would attract more stuff to the beach house, like predators and carrion eaters moving in on a good spot and not leaving. Or they might go after people in the area.
“Hey,” Yoojin said as he stood nearby under his umbrella, “are you dead?”
The merman didn’t reply, and his eyes on his turned face were shut. But Yoojin could see the man’s back moving as he breathed.
Yoojin sighed and wondered what to do. There was no one he could reach out to. Certainly his brother wouldn’t answer any phone calls.
Yoojin’s lips twitched. He considered rolling the guy back into the water… but what if he was a transformed human and drowned? Or floated into the jaws of a monster who thought the guy was food? What if whoever maybe caught him returned?
But if he’s a fish, what if he drowns from being stuck in the dry air? Yoojin wondered. Would the rain hurt him? It’s supposed to be more acidic these days… Yoojin really didn’t know enough about marine biology, let alone dungeon monsters, to know…
Yoojin didn’t waste time fretting over how he’d decided to get the merman to safety, and hoped the thing didn’t kill him. His new problem was moving the merman. As a Hunter, even at F-rank, he had a bit of extra strength, but his injured leg made it harder to move large things long distances. Especially abnormally large humanoids…
But Yoojin also had a long wire in his inventory, and he imagined he could tie the creature up and drag it back to the beach house, where Minho’s family had a saltwater pool. It wasn’t that far and Yoojin imagined the wire wasn’t strong enough to injure the creature.
He was wary still, but was able to tie loops around the guy’s muscular arms (and surprisingly soft and warm skin). And then Yoojin slowly dragged the guy along the beach, hoping the other man didn’t get too injured from the sand.
But the trek was longer than Yoojin thought, with his injury and the merman’s weight, and Yoojin cursed himself for deciding to help out. You’re lucky I don’t trade in people. Why are you so big and muscular? Don’t you have any regard for random humans who don’t want giant dead fishmen on their doorstep?
Thankfully the pool room had big doors that opened to where Yoojin was walking, and Yoojin could bring the guy in that way before rolling him into the pool with a loud splash.
Afterward, Yoojin sat back and groaned from the strain. His leg hurt a lot, now, and he thought he’d have to sit in a warm bath to soak a little and relax.
He didn’t want to think about the mess the merman was dragging into the water with him, but at least the pool was covered and the windows could be shuttered against the rain. And the merman managed to fall on his back before floating up so his face wasn’t in the water. If he was human, he might just wake up annoyed. But if he was actually some kind of merman… Well, hopefully he wouldn’t destroy the place.
Yoojin breathed in heavily and sat in a chair, watching the guy float rather than immediately run off to bathe. Yoojin’s instincts told him that running just now was a bad idea. But he’d already committed, so he’d see it through, regardless of the end.
“…Fine,” Yoojin replied now. “Why are you back?” He didn’t hide his exasperation.
“I wanted to repay you for rescuing me,” Hyunje said with a grin.
It had been a few days since Hyunje showed up, and he’d woken up, been surprised , but spoke perfect Korean somehow and was quite smooth when talking to Yoojin.
“I played too much with the lightning,” Hyunje had simply replied when Yoojin asked why he was unconscious on the beach. “But it didn’t kill me.” He sounded a bit mournful.
Yoojin wondered if the guy wanted to die, based on that. Who played with lightning for fun? S-rankers were known to be a bit bizarre, but that was… And the merman refused to answer any questions about where he came from, so Yoojin assumed it was some hidden dungeon somewhere, which was concerning. And he didn’t know if he should contact the Hunter’s Association about it. Or if he’d survive trying, given the merman’s power. There were no dungeon breaks around Jeju that Yoojin heard of, though, and he imagined if it really was an issue, other people, especially more powerful Hunters, would know and be dealing with it. Certainly Yoojin had been told time and again to keep his nose out of things he thought mattered.
So Yoojin stayed silent and hoped the merman would just go away and be someone else’s problem.
But Hyunje kept coming back. He could open portals in the water to get back to his home. And had been traveling between the pool and there to chat with Yoojin every day, for four days, now. Mostly just asking Yoojin about his life and the human world. He seemed delighted no matter what Yoojin talked about.
Now Hyunje pointed at a small white, round plate on the ground near the pool edge. It had four slices of some pink fruit Yoojin didn’t recognize.
“Where’d that come from? And how’d you cut it?” Yoojin asked, suspicious. He’d never seen the merman carry a blade, and he didn’t want to think of the man somehow going to his kitchen.
“A remote island far from here,” Hyunje replied with a warm smile. “And we have knives where I’m from, Yoojin-gun. You can eat this.”
Yoojin moved closer to the plate, but before he could lean down, glowing metal chains reached around the plate and raised it up to him.
Yoojin frowned, still wondering if he should take the risk, especially when it came to food from a strange and powerful merman. Hyunje had explained he’d have been fine if he’d been left in place where Yoojin found him, especially given he was what humans would call an S-rank Hunter, or equivalent – which he apparently learned from listening to humans talk near the shore, and the loud televisions in beachside restaurants. And he wasn’t shy about showing off. But he hadn’t yet hurt Yoojin, or caused any harm to the house. He’d even offered to repay Yoojin with a bag of gold that Yoojin hadn’t quite known what to do with, and didn’t feel was earned, given the guy would have been fine, regardless.
But Yoojin cautiously took a slice of the fruit. He supposed he had no reason to distrust Hyunje. The man was curious, but hadn’t been too intrusive. And he seemed to genuinely want to pay back his “debt”, based on all his prior behavior. If he wanted to kill Yoojin, he had easier means, especially with all his demonstrated powers.
“You need to eat all of it,” Hyunje said with another smile. “It’s good luck. These are hard to find.”
Yoojin sighed and took the plate, before sitting down with it in his lap. He took a cautious bite of the fruit, and was surprised it actually tasted rather nice. It had a crisp, juicy flavor that was soft on his tongue. And given he hadn’t had breakfast, he polished the plate off quite easily.
“See?” Hyunje asked with a smile. “That wasn’t so bad.”
“You didn’t feed me something weird, did you?” Yoojin asked as he set the plate on a nearby table and watched Hyunje in the water.
“Not at all,” Hyunje said. “You don’t eat enough as is, anyway.”
Yoojin scowled, disliking, as ever, all the ways Hyunje semi-politely pointed out Yoojin's problems. “I don’t need you to watch over me.” He already knew he had issues, and lots of them. But prodding from a handsome merman wouldn't get him to change.
“But then who will?” Hyunje asked with a wicked grin. His golden eyes gleamed at Yoojin, and in that moment, they looked rather predatory.
Yoojin leaned back in the chair, feeling tired again. He had slept a lot since the funerals of his former guildmates, to try to avoid thinking of his dead teammates. The alcohol helped a little, but not always, and he hadn’t been drinking as much with Hyunje around. A merman in the pool Yoojin inherited from one of his friends was a distraction, but little more. “I will. I’m an adult.”
“But you put yourself at risk for other people,” Hyunje said. “Even monsters.”
“You’re my guest,” Yoojin said. “I’m meant to be feeding you.” He blinked at the air and then asked, “Are you a monster, then?”
“I never said I wasn’t,” Hyunje replied. “And yet you haven’t called anyone for help.”
Yoojin snorted and said, “No one would come anyway.” He got more comfortable in the chair. He supposed it wasn’t so bad here. Hyunje had never tried to hurt him in the time they’d been together. Probably because Yoojin was convenient for learning more about humans, if nothing else.
Yoojin didn’t mind. He was glad to be of use to someone.
“Heck, most people would probably thank you if you attacked me,” Yoojin said, a bit quieter. After probably trying to tear you up for parts, anyway.
“Why?” Hyunje asked.
Yoojin thought of the funerals he’d been to. Angry families, demanding answers he didn’t have for them. Many saying the wrong person survived. “Maybe it’d be a sort of my own penance, I guess. Finding a dungeon monster to take me out rather than going back into a dungeon that’ll take me.”
Yoojin’s leg itched a bit, but he left it alone. Sometimes it just hurt in weird ways.
“I’m not here to kill you, Han Yoojin-gun,” Hyunje said, as if that was reassuring. Yoojin had been lied to a lot, by many people. He bore all the scars of it. Powerful people didn’t stick around him unless he had something to offer, and Hyunje didn’t need the pool in an otherwise empty beach house owned by a no-name F-ranker. Surely generic conversation about humans would grow stale after a while.
“This pool can’t be more interesting than the ocean,” Yoojin said, though it felt harder to say the words, like exhaustion was tugging him away. He was just so tired, and he was now decently sure the fruit was the cause. Maybe it’s a fruit that knocks out anyone who eats it? “There’s not much else to entertain you.”
“It’s not the pool I’m interested in,” Hyunje said.
“Sure,” Yoojin said with a quiet sigh as he shut his eyes. “But you definitely have somewhere you’ll be happier.” He didn’t think he’d be very good food for a merman, if that’s why Hyunje drugged him, but it was his own fault for trusting a random merman he’d found on the beach, and relaxing back into living with someone who wanted to be around him again.
Yoohyun would probably be angry at him.
“He’s always angry at me, though,” Yoojin said, quietly.
“Who is?” Hyunje asked.
But Yoojin was already asleep.