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Seonghwa knew that the absence of fish beyond the reef was a sign of something going on, and yet he couldn’t care less. Sitting on a rock, waves calmly crashing on it, he watched as the sun went down. He let out a sigh, a tired one. Put his comb down and looked at his tail, the black scales glistening on it while the salty water ran through his hair and dropped into the ocean again.
Oh, he knew what was coming. But he could not measure how close they were.
The first thing he noticed was the sound of something flying. Then, an arrow embedded in his shoulder. Seonghwa screamed, his pupils narrowing as they flew to the ship, so close and yet so far. On the tip of the ship’s bow, there he was. Captain Kim Hongjoong, often referred to as the Pirate King. He didn’t use a crown, but he didn’t need one to make his presence silence the place and swallow all the air in a deep darkness.
The siren remained unafraid. He was furious.
Seonghwa jumped into the water, quickly getting closer to the ship. As he raised his head, Hongjoong was already on the starboard, smiling like a maniac. A chilling laugh came out of his lips. “You look especially pretty today, Seonghwa. It’s a shame we have to kill you and take your scales. They’re really precious, you knew that?”
The smile on the siren’s face transformed into something more sinister. The hatred, the lust, the power… It was all there. He dragged his long nails across the wet hull of the ship, the wood slowly giving way in large, open cracks. “You said that last time, Captain. And the time before that, too. Want me to remind you how those ended up?” The voice was so soft that if Hongjoong wasn’t an experienced pirate, he would have fallen into the siren’s spell.
Like he did before.
Seonghwa, in a brutal act, pulled the arrow out of his shoulder and grunted. His sharp teeth clenched as he watched the black blood flow down his shiny skin, falling into the water and mixing with the ocean. That was enough for Hongjoong to pull him into a messy kiss, the grip on the creature’s hair tightening as Seonghwa pulled the pirate into the ocean. Cannons and guns started firing, the blue turning orange with the gunpowder exploding. Their tongues didn’t dance together; they fought for command. Human and siren, trying to dominate the other, in a game of power and ego that would bring death to one of them.
Hongjoong didn’t see when Seonghwa’s eyes glowed in a dark shade of blue. As he felt his left side burn from the cut made by the other’s claws, the pirate lost all of his breath. Seonghwa laughed at that.
Pulling apart from the stormy kiss, the siren had an amused gleam behind his eyes, swimming gently around Hongjoong’s body as he tried to swim upwards. He couldn’t reach not even one foot before being trapped into something he couldn’t really describe. A mysterious barrier was created, he saw himself inside a bubble. “I hope you find Hell in these waters, you fucking monster! I should’ve killed you the first time I saw you. Disgusting creature!” Hongjoong screamed as he took his breath again inside the dry bubble.
“Oh, my love, don’t curse at me like that,” Seonghwa’s voice was like a sultry melody before he laughed, sending chills down Hongjoong’s spine. “I can bring Hell if you really want that, but you should know that the Devil is right in front of you.”
Leaving the captain behind, Seonghwa swam back. Before he could raise his head, he changed his path. The siren swam below the ship’s hull and, in just the blink of an eye, a spell was cast. Inception, the lustrous pirate ship, was then wrecked in half. Seonghwa could hear the sea dogs screaming, the cacophony suiting just like a lullaby to the creature. On his domain, Seonghwa would have the advantage.
From the moment the last pirate reached the water, it would be a death sentence.
No sooner said than done, Seonghwa rushed between the wrecked wood and the gunpowder thrown by the weapons. He wasn’t using his voice to lure sailors into the deep, but dragging them with the strength of a tidal wave. The first victim was a man, malnourished and with a big beard, probably a prisoner rather than someone from the crew. The siren smiled, getting closer to the trapped captain.
If Hongjoong said something, Seonghwa did not listen. He was busy dragging his claws into the man’s flesh, laughing as the water near them took a rouge color. Even if the human blood attracted predators, none of them would be bold enough to get close to the hellish scene.
It was cruel. Grotesque. Something so visceral that Hongjoong felt the urge to vomit burning his throat. Seonghwa dismembered bodies, flogged flesh and slaughtered it with such cruelty that the pirates were unrecognizable. Members floated in the water, pieces of meat, veins and organs decorating the red water down below where the sunlight had difficulty reaching.
The siren looked right into the captain’s eyes, a dark pleasure vibrating inside the blue irises when he saw the fright on Hongjoong’s face. As he beheaded another pirate, he had an idea. Seonghwa swam closer to Hongjoong and touched the magic bubble with his hands covered in blood, flesh tangling on his nails and teeth. “Your reign is over, my love. But mine is just starting,” he laughed as Hongjoong vomited more, leaving the man behind. Quickly gathering what remained alive, Seonghwa made a cell just for his last victims.
The human body has approximately 206 bones, Seonghwa knew that. He was just too curious to let the information sit on the books.
So he pulled out the first one on a man’s arm. The pirate tried to scream, but suffocated in the dense water. The pain was excruciating, and it just made Seonghwa even more excited to continue. He was blinded by vengeance, every single muscle in his body begged to kill even more of the filthy humans.
Another bone was cruelly taken apart from the body. Then another one. And another. The pirate was already dead, but he couldn’t get enough. A pile was being made right next to him, and Hongjoong was forced to watch every second of the horrific scene.
When the bigger bones were all taken out, he grabbed the next human. With five more to go, Seonghwa would have enough to build what he wanted
One pirate made him hesitate. He was young, maybe too young to be in that life. The twenty-something-ish year old boy had that face of someone who was not ready to die, but accepted his tragic fate. Seonghwa felt his heart ache, remembering how one day he was like that, frightened and alone in the ocean. The sea creature made a new bubble, this time around the pirate’s head. Just then, it noticed that the boy was crying. His touch was soft, way more careful than with the last victims.
“Enough. Please…” Hongjoong begged, realizing the mistake when the siren’s eyes straightened like a reptile. His claws sank into the younger’s chest, a hole being made and eliciting a scream from the captain’s throat. The man had his heart torn, a diabolical grin growing on Seonghwa’s plump lips. They were quickly painted red, just as the siren ate the muscle on its hand.
Every single limb was brutally pulled apart from their bodies. He was having too much fun with it. Didn’t waste a single femur or humerus, tibia or fibula. Ulna and radius stayed together, just because the Park liked the way they looked. And all the seven spines were aligned on the ocean floor. The siren swam back, gathering what was left from the earlier dead pirates, not wanting any part to go to waste.
When the party was over, flesh and organs were floating beside Seonghwa, who had the scariest and yet happiest smile Hongjoong had ever seen. A chill ran cold down his back, waiting for his turn to be destroyed. He could not even recognize which part belonged to which sailor. Wooyoung and Mingi were gone. Jongho had his heart taken and eaten by the uncontrollable siren.
An enviable calm quickly replaced the mermaid’s previous frenetic pace. Swimming back and forth while humming a song, it seemed to build something. Hongjoong could understand quickly.
A throne.
A throne made of bones.
The realization made Hongjoong even sicker in his stomach, never imagining how unhuman that creature could be. As the last one was carefully placed, Seonghwa turned to the captain, the crazy smile seeming to be stuck on his stunning features. “Your turn,” he hissed while getting closer.
In a comical ‘pop’, the bubble that was imprisoning Hongjoong fell apart. Seonghwa encircled his waist with one of his arms, his touch strong, possessive, and dominating. He didn’t need to utter a single word to control the pirate, who didn’t even try to break free of his grip. The oppressive atmosphere was soon filled with the human’s shock.
Caught in another messy and veracious kiss, the pirate knew he was sentenced to death when he felt something penetrating his lungs. Suddenly, the water didn’t seem so dense, and he could breathe again.
And that was the scariest thing the whole night.
Hongjoong was trapped again, but this time not inside anything. His body couldn’t move upwards, his feet were stuck into the sand. Seonghwa kept kissing him with such hunger that the captain could almost believe that the siren had completely different intentions.
At least until the bitter and strong taste of a viscous liquid invaded his tongue. Pulling apart from the pirate, Seonghwa had a trail of his own blood floating from his mouth. Hongjoong’s eyes widened. He tried to vomit again, but was stopped by the other, who gently grabbed his right hand.
“You look so pretty when you’re about to die.”
Laughing, Seonghwa caressed the captain’s hand, just before violently ripping off his ring finger. A scream was muffled in the deep ocean. Seonghwa swam in peace back to his throne, sitting by himself and grabbing something that Hongjoong didn’t see at first.
With the smaller bones, the siren had made a crown, and the last finger missing was diligently placed in the middle, the ring still on the member reflecting the low light. Seonghwa crowned himself, putting the garment on his head and settling down on the throne, still smiling at the captain in despair.
Hongjoong felt something inside him turn around, a scrumptious pain ravaging his body. It was like his organs didn’t know their places anymore, rushing from side to side and trying to escape the unknown figure where they were trapped. He started coughing. Blood was tinting the — already dirty — water, scaring even more the so-called Pirate King. He didn’t understand what was happening, but Seonghwa was very aware.
The amount of blood ingested by the other man was enough so he could control his insides. Slowly, each organ became more entangled, changing position and messing up the pirate’s insides. A torture he didn’t use much, but knew it could drive someone crazy with pain. The siren’s tail swayed slowly, almost lazily as he watched Hongjoong squirming and trying to vomit up the blood he had swallowed. “Moving so much, my love,” Seonghwa mumbled, his eyes glazed over the scene. “Want me to make it easier for you?”
Hongjoong couldn’t even nod or shake his head, haunted by the pain. He screamed in despair, begging the mermaid to kill him when numerous deep cuts started appearing on his body. They were made from inside to outside, flesh cutting and ripping skin, a disgusting scene to watch, but one which Seonghwa could not take his eyes off.
The pirate wasn’t capable of moving anymore, suffering so much that his body stopped responding while his mind was still agitated. With an elegant move of a hand, the siren made the captain’s body float until it was laid on his lap. Gentle and long fingers stroke Hongjoong’s hair, the sharp claws making his skin itch a bit. He caressed the human’s cheek with an impassive expression.
“It’s a shame you chose your path like this. You would make such a beautiful servant…” Hongjoong could sense nothing but annoyance in his tone. The fingers moved on his face, two of them resting on his chin and the tips pressing his lower lip. Suddenly, Seonghwa’s other palm covered his vision, and he felt his mouth being opened.
It was slow and torturous. The captain felt his head being ripped in half. He screamed, tried to beg and get away, but it was impossible. Seonghwa in no time had the dead, disfigured body on his lap. He let his gaze hull over the lifeless frame for some time, right before throwing it aside and whistling. A shark immediately came and caught the remains, disappearing in seconds.
The news flew through the ocean. Numerous creatures heard about the monster who sat and a throne made of the bones of its victims, who killed its one love and all of his crew. Seonghwa’s heart was poison, his lips tasted like venom. He never forgot Hongjoong, craving the toxic and yet thrilling moments they had while alive.
But it was necessary.
The sea could have only one king.