Tear Pearl Part 1
Title: Tear Pearl
Genre: Fantasy (AU), Fluff
Rating: g
Summary: In another world, Yonghwa and Seohyun had another story.
Note: This is another one of those one-shot fantasy themed fics that me and some goguma writers are working on. Happy reading :)
Jung Yonghwa woke with a start. He felt stinging pain on the left part of his head. He touched the part and discovered blood. He looked everywhere all around him. He recognised that he was in a dimly lit cave of some sort and his feet were in water. He heard distant splashing but could not see the source. “Where am I?”, he thought.
Yonghwa tried to remember how he came to such a place as he gathered strength to stand up straight. He realised his trousers were torn and he had a lot of small cuts all over his body. “I was drowning”, Yonghwa remembered.
Yong, the entertainer sailor
Two years ago, I left my mother, my twin sisters and our comfortable home, to join Gogumaship crew to pursue my lifelong dream of travelling around the world and engulf in the adventures of the sea. Sir Heechul The Eccentric, The Chief Mate, took me as a crew member because he liked my musical talent and thought that maybe with my company, less shipmen will be pulled away from committing suicide due to gruelling hardships met during their journeys.
“Make my crew laugh. That’s your only job.”
So I became Yong, the entertainer sailor. I play music, sing songs, make jokes and make ship life happier for my crew members.
The storm
It was a rough, stormy night for us that even I had to help the crewmates fix the ship’s sail. It all happened so fast when I was hit by a huge splash of water and it made me fall into the ocean. I fainted at the thought of death with dim shouts of “Yong! Yong!” ringing in my ears.
The storm happened last night. Yonghwa realised he was lucky to be alive.
Yonghwa heard the splashing again. He thought of it probably being one of his crewmates so he ran for it. Apparently the splashing sound was very near to the cave entrance as the dark cave grew lighter as he approached it. The nearer he got to his destination, he heard faint whimpering sound. It made him run even faster. That was how he met the mermaid.
She was crying softly. Her slender and shiny fish tail was trapped under huge rocks. She could not see Yonghwa because she was busy trying to escape herself from the shallow water. Yonghwa could not believe his eyes. The Chief Mate always told him and the other crew members about the existence of fairytale creatures and he always enjoyed listening to such tales but never did he once thought that they were actually true. Yonghwa wondered if he was dreaming but the continuous pain he felt on the left part of his head suggested that he may be having hallucinations instead.
Yonghwa stared at the mermaid for a good twenty seconds before she realised that he was there. She panicked when she saw him and with an expression of an utmost fear, she frantically grabbed her tail in an attempt to free herself from the rocks. She cried even harder and Yonghwa realised that when her tears fell into the waters, they turned into pearls. It was quite a heartbreaking yet beautiful scene to see a mermaid cry - he wanted to stop it but enjoy it too at the same time.
Unable to stand it any longer, Yonghwa moved towards the mermaid and slowly, without saying anything, carried her out of the shallow water and walked towards the cave entrance where the open sea is. The mermaid didn’t whimper or move in his arms - she just stared at him with a fearful expression. When they arrived at the open sea, he put her in the waters and expected her to swim away from him immediately. She did not swim away.
She looked at him in the eyes and stared at him with an expression he could not interpret. She was not fearful anymore - something that relieved Yonghwa - he really did not want her to be afraid of him. Now that he was looking at a mermaid straight on, he realised that his Chief Mate was wrong about mermaids being unearthly beautiful. With a round face, big eyes that seemed like they were sparkling, small nose and cherry lips, the mermaid looked just like any other beautiful human girl he ever encountered.
“Thank you for saving me from the rocks,” the mermaid spoke suddenly.
Yonghwa smiled and sat on the rocks, ready to have more conversations with the mermaid. “You are a mermaid,” Yonghwa started.
“Yes, I am,” the mermaid laughed softly, showing perfectly white and straight teeth. Yonghwa wondered if mermaids have access to toothpaste.
“You are not scared anymore?” he asked. “You looked like you saw a scary monster back there.”
The mermaid smiled and threw a little questioning frown, “I’m surprised you are not scared of me. I believe human are not accustomed to mermaids.”
“Yes, that’s true,” he answered and added, “but you’re pretty. It is not normal for people to be scared of pretty things.”
Yonghwa saw a tinge of blush on the mermaid’s face. He smirked for a second and smiled at her.
“Go back to the rocks where you saved me and look for my tears, the pink pearls that I left before me. Take as much as possible as they are very, very precious. I will help you get back to a more accommodating land,” the mermaid ordered in haste, “I’ll explain more to you later”, she added when she saw Yonghwa’s curious face.
Yonghwa stood up and went back to the cave entrance. The water was shallower than before when he carried the mermaid and thus he could only find five white tear-pearls. The rest had probably got stuck under the rocks and there was nothing he could do to retrieve them. He went running back to the mermaid, half expecting to find her disappear. But she stayed.
Yonghwa handed her the pearls and she took only four of them. “That one is for you,” she said. Before he could say anything more, the mermaid took one of the tear-pearls into her mouth and swallowed it. “Turn my skin into clothing and make me human,” she said. The mermaid immediately submerged herself in the waters and came back up a minute after that wearing white and baggy clothing. She pulled herself out of the waters and sat beside the shocked Yonghwa.
The mermaid admired her long legs and with a satisfied expression said, “Mermaid’s tears are capable of changing one’s appearance and capability when eaten. The wish could be of any form.” She looked at Yonghwa and smiled. “Now it’s your turn.”
With a tear-pearl in his sweaty palm, Yonghwa could not do anything but stare at the, now human, mermaid. The mermaid laughed at his dazed expression and took the tear-pearl off his hand. “Ask for a body that can swim as efficient as a mermaid,” she smiled. “You need to escape from this rocky island and the only way to do it fast is by swimming to the shore.”
The mermaid fed him the pearl and Yonghwa obliged to the mermaid’s wish.
Genre: Fantasy (AU), Fluff
Rating: g
Summary: In another world, Yonghwa and Seohyun had another story.
Note: This is another one of those one-shot fantasy themed fics that me and some goguma writers are working on. Happy reading :)
Jung Yonghwa woke with a start. He felt stinging pain on the left part of his head. He touched the part and discovered blood. He looked everywhere all around him. He recognised that he was in a dimly lit cave of some sort and his feet were in water. He heard distant splashing but could not see the source. “Where am I?”, he thought.
Yonghwa tried to remember how he came to such a place as he gathered strength to stand up straight. He realised his trousers were torn and he had a lot of small cuts all over his body. “I was drowning”, Yonghwa remembered.
Yong, the entertainer sailor
Two years ago, I left my mother, my twin sisters and our comfortable home, to join Gogumaship crew to pursue my lifelong dream of travelling around the world and engulf in the adventures of the sea. Sir Heechul The Eccentric, The Chief Mate, took me as a crew member because he liked my musical talent and thought that maybe with my company, less shipmen will be pulled away from committing suicide due to gruelling hardships met during their journeys.
“Make my crew laugh. That’s your only job.”
So I became Yong, the entertainer sailor. I play music, sing songs, make jokes and make ship life happier for my crew members.
The storm
It was a rough, stormy night for us that even I had to help the crewmates fix the ship’s sail. It all happened so fast when I was hit by a huge splash of water and it made me fall into the ocean. I fainted at the thought of death with dim shouts of “Yong! Yong!” ringing in my ears.
The storm happened last night. Yonghwa realised he was lucky to be alive.
Yonghwa heard the splashing again. He thought of it probably being one of his crewmates so he ran for it. Apparently the splashing sound was very near to the cave entrance as the dark cave grew lighter as he approached it. The nearer he got to his destination, he heard faint whimpering sound. It made him run even faster. That was how he met the mermaid.
She was crying softly. Her slender and shiny fish tail was trapped under huge rocks. She could not see Yonghwa because she was busy trying to escape herself from the shallow water. Yonghwa could not believe his eyes. The Chief Mate always told him and the other crew members about the existence of fairytale creatures and he always enjoyed listening to such tales but never did he once thought that they were actually true. Yonghwa wondered if he was dreaming but the continuous pain he felt on the left part of his head suggested that he may be having hallucinations instead.
Yonghwa stared at the mermaid for a good twenty seconds before she realised that he was there. She panicked when she saw him and with an expression of an utmost fear, she frantically grabbed her tail in an attempt to free herself from the rocks. She cried even harder and Yonghwa realised that when her tears fell into the waters, they turned into pearls. It was quite a heartbreaking yet beautiful scene to see a mermaid cry - he wanted to stop it but enjoy it too at the same time.
Unable to stand it any longer, Yonghwa moved towards the mermaid and slowly, without saying anything, carried her out of the shallow water and walked towards the cave entrance where the open sea is. The mermaid didn’t whimper or move in his arms - she just stared at him with a fearful expression. When they arrived at the open sea, he put her in the waters and expected her to swim away from him immediately. She did not swim away.
She looked at him in the eyes and stared at him with an expression he could not interpret. She was not fearful anymore - something that relieved Yonghwa - he really did not want her to be afraid of him. Now that he was looking at a mermaid straight on, he realised that his Chief Mate was wrong about mermaids being unearthly beautiful. With a round face, big eyes that seemed like they were sparkling, small nose and cherry lips, the mermaid looked just like any other beautiful human girl he ever encountered.
“Thank you for saving me from the rocks,” the mermaid spoke suddenly.
Yonghwa smiled and sat on the rocks, ready to have more conversations with the mermaid. “You are a mermaid,” Yonghwa started.
“Yes, I am,” the mermaid laughed softly, showing perfectly white and straight teeth. Yonghwa wondered if mermaids have access to toothpaste.
“You are not scared anymore?” he asked. “You looked like you saw a scary monster back there.”
The mermaid smiled and threw a little questioning frown, “I’m surprised you are not scared of me. I believe human are not accustomed to mermaids.”
“Yes, that’s true,” he answered and added, “but you’re pretty. It is not normal for people to be scared of pretty things.”
Yonghwa saw a tinge of blush on the mermaid’s face. He smirked for a second and smiled at her.
“Go back to the rocks where you saved me and look for my tears, the pink pearls that I left before me. Take as much as possible as they are very, very precious. I will help you get back to a more accommodating land,” the mermaid ordered in haste, “I’ll explain more to you later”, she added when she saw Yonghwa’s curious face.
Yonghwa stood up and went back to the cave entrance. The water was shallower than before when he carried the mermaid and thus he could only find five white tear-pearls. The rest had probably got stuck under the rocks and there was nothing he could do to retrieve them. He went running back to the mermaid, half expecting to find her disappear. But she stayed.
Yonghwa handed her the pearls and she took only four of them. “That one is for you,” she said. Before he could say anything more, the mermaid took one of the tear-pearls into her mouth and swallowed it. “Turn my skin into clothing and make me human,” she said. The mermaid immediately submerged herself in the waters and came back up a minute after that wearing white and baggy clothing. She pulled herself out of the waters and sat beside the shocked Yonghwa.
The mermaid admired her long legs and with a satisfied expression said, “Mermaid’s tears are capable of changing one’s appearance and capability when eaten. The wish could be of any form.” She looked at Yonghwa and smiled. “Now it’s your turn.”
With a tear-pearl in his sweaty palm, Yonghwa could not do anything but stare at the, now human, mermaid. The mermaid laughed at his dazed expression and took the tear-pearl off his hand. “Ask for a body that can swim as efficient as a mermaid,” she smiled. “You need to escape from this rocky island and the only way to do it fast is by swimming to the shore.”
The mermaid fed him the pearl and Yonghwa obliged to the mermaid’s wish.