Chapter Text
Wooyoung was standing at the entrance of the dance studio he was working at as an instructor, waving at the last kid that was leaving with his father. With a sigh he turned around to clock out, seeing how it was already half an hour past the usual time he got off work. He grabbed his bag to leave and flinched when a loud thud echoed through the room. He must have knocked something down. Wooyoung crouched to pick up what seemed to be an old book and studied the cover. The Tales Of A Cursed Pirate Crew. He snorted in amusement. What kind of a title was that? Must be fantasy.
"What are you laughing about, huh?" The sudden voice of his best friend, Yeonjun, almost made him lose his footing with a harsh flinch before he turned to glare at him.
"Did you have to sneak up on me like that?" Wooyoung huffed, the novel still in his hand. "I accidentally knocked down this book."
Yeonjun came closer and looked at the title. Then snorted. Actually snorted, amused. "It's a sign. The universe wants you to pick up a book for once. Literally." He grinned at him as Wooyoung rolled his eyes.
"That's funny," he mocked with another glare, "I can read just fine."
Yeonjun raised his eyebrows challengingly and studied his determined expression. "I bet you can't finish this in a week," he deadpanned, completely serious.
"It's 500 pages! What do you think I am, a sloth?!" Wooyoung exclaimed, offended.
"You might be when it comes to books," Yeonjun shrugged, not backing down.
Wooyoung stared at him for a moment, utterly baffled. It hadn't been that long since he last read a book, right? It couldn't be. He tried to remember, but no matter how hard he tried, since middle school the only books he had opened were school books. "Fine. One week, you say? I can do it in three days."
Yeonjun actually laughed and waved him off as they walked to the front door together, "have it your way."
Wooyoung followed him, determinedly placing the book inside his bag. They said their goodbyes when both reached their own cars. It was Friday, so Wooyoung had the whole weekend to read this damn novel. It didn't particularly look like what he'd like when it comes to movies, but books were always a little different, right? Maybe he'd find his new passion, who knew?
He went to bed early that day to start reading the novel. He quickly realised this wasn't just fantasy. It was a fantasy-romance with a... special note. The main character and love interest were both men. It was boy love, but not in a way he knew. Apparently, this kind of genre was called omegaverse. He didn't really understand what that meant, but who cared? As long as he could recite the plot on Monday for Yeonjun, he didn't really care.
The novel didn't have a terrible beginning. It was about a guy fleeing from some other guys in the Middle Ages and landing on a pirate ship. The setting seemed a little dangerous, but other than that it seemed to lean more on the romance side.
At least that's what Wooyoung thought. By Sunday he was halfway through and the romance seemed secondary to all the things that were going wrong. Injuries, fights, the main character and the crew that had taken him in with more hostility than kindness facing one struggle after the other, and by Sunday night, when he read that horrible ending he might as well have spent his weekend doing nothing, because that's how productive he felt after feeling for the main character in all the highs and lows, just for everyone to die in the end, without the love interest or the main character ever being able to address their very obvious feelings for each other.
He huffed and closed the book. What a joke. At least he won the bet, but seriously, who wrote a book that ended so badly? And who even approved it? The questions kept swirling in his mind until he finally fell asleep.
---
When Wooyoung opened his eyes, expecting to hear his alarm for work, he instead found himself on wet concrete, rain falling on his face. He looked around and saw two men staring down at him.
"What are you looking at, Omega?" One of them spoke harshly and yanked him up by his upper arm. "Has no one taught you to respect alphas?"
In a split second, Wooyoung was thrown into the building behind himself, his cheek stinging harshly and the air knocked out of his lungs as he landed on his side. Omega? Alpha? What the hell was this guy talking about, and why was he just throwing him around like that? "Hey... I-I'll call the police if you don't-"
He couldn't finish when the man hauled him up again and slapped him across the other side. "Shut up! I don't know what the hell you're even saying, but you do not speak to me without permission. Understood?" He yelled and shook Wooyoung, his grip only tightening.
Wooyoung's head was spinning. What was going on? Why was he here? He needed to get away from this guy, and fast. So he did the only thing he could think of and kicked the man in the groin, running as fast as he never had before, to god knows where. He winced at the sharp pain around his ribs but could only grit his teeth, because after the initial shock, the two men started chasing him, yelling obscenities he had never heard before in his life.
It was probably his luck that it was raining, since the too-old looking streets were nearly empty. He ran and ran, breathing becoming harder and more painful with each passing second until he reached a dead end. A harbor. Not a big one, but other than the sea, there was no escape for him. Without thinking twice he ran onto the nearest, and utterly big, ship, hiding under the deck behind some crates.
When he felt safe enough to finally catch his breath, his mind started reeling. Was this a lucid dream? Why did everything look like it does in his old history books from school and what was this man saying about him being an Alpha? And Wooyung an Omega? That made no sense. But the injuries felt too real to be a dream, and somehow this whole situation was familiar.
It was the exact beginning of the novel he had read. While reading, that's exactly how he had imagined it. But that couldn't be right.
Wooyoung shook his head. He'd realize if this was the novel, but how could it be? Sure, he had read about transmigration, but that was just a myth. Not even a myth, just another genre of fantasy he didn't really care about. With a sigh he lifted his unfamiliar clothes and looked at his already bruised abdomen. An angry, purple bruise was stretching over the right side of his ribcage where he had been thrown into the wall earlier.
Upon touching the bruise carefully he immediately hissed in pain and dropped his shirt back down, but before he could further think about the unfortunate situation he found himself in the ship suddenly started moving. Shit. If he really was in the novel, this was probably the pirate ship the main character had also fled to. And now he was trapped here. As far as Wooyoung could remember, the main character was able to hide until he physically couldn't anymore, needing food and something to drink, so he probably had about three days to think about something. If he doesn't wake up safe in his bed before that. Wooyoung really hoped for the latter outcome.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" A sudden voice asked and Wooyoung flinched so hard he was reminded of the injury on his abdomen. Three days, my ass, he thought. How had they already found him? Why wasn't this following the original plot? "Why are you looking at me like a stranded fish? Did you really think we wouldn't smell you when you reek of fear like that?" The man continued.
Reek of fear? What was this guy going on about, was he some kind of weirdo? Well, he was probably one of the pirates from the crew the main character stayed with until their death. As far as Wooyoung knew these guys weren't the friendliest to the unannounced newcomer, so he needed to be careful. "I-I'm sorry... some guys... I mean, I don't know, they were chasing me and then-" he started, but just like the first time he spoke to someone since arriving in this novel, he was interrupted.
"And that has to do with us how? Also, get your pheromones under control," the other scoffed and pinched his nose. Wooyoung frowned, subtly sniffing under his armpits. He didn't smell of sweat at all, what was this guy reacting so strongly to? But according to the novel, all guys on this ship were considerably safer than the men he was chased by before. He couldn't act up now. He needed to stay calm.
"I'm sorry," he answered, still not entirely understanding what he was smelling.
"Hey, Hongjoong, we have a visitor," the man suddenly called out and soon two more pairs of footsteps entered the small cabin under the deck. One of them was about Wooyoung's height, the other was considerably taller.
"Mingi, who is this?" The shorter one asked. Ah, so the one who had found him was Mingi, the one responsible for the weapons, if he remembered correctly. Before he could speak, the tallest grabbed him by his arms, not as harshly as the two men from before, but still enough to make Wooyoung flinch. "What should we do with him, Hongjoong?" He asked when Mingi didn't seem to have an answer to Hoongjong's, the captain's, previous question.
"Let's take him to the deck first and discuss it with the rest," Hongjoong murmured in response and started walking up the stairs, silently signalling the other two to follow him. The one that was holding Wooyoung pushed him forward harshly and made him stumble up the stairs without letting him fall. Wooyoung made the wise decision to stay quiet, wincing each time his body was jolted a little too much. His ribs hurt so much, he could hardly breathe.
"Gathering in the meeting room, now," Hongjoong spoke loudly across the whole ship once they were out in the open, his voice laced with scary authority as Wooyoung was pushed forward once more, now inside the main quarters and steering toward what seemed to be one of the bigger cabins. Hongjoong, Mingi and four more crew members sat down as Wooyoung and the guy who was holding him stood, as if he was being presented to them. Two of the newcomers pinched their noses just like Mingi had done when he had found Wooyoung, glaring at him as if it was his fault that somehow their whole ship was stinking of something he couldn't even identify.
"Ugh, where did you find this Omega, Hongjoong? Does he not know how to control his pheromones at all, he's basically an open book!" One of the guys who were pinching their noses asked while sitting down.
"I don't know, San."
Wooyoung's eyes widened at that name. That was San. The love interest. Something tugged at his heart, but why? He had never even seen this guy before, he shouldn't feel like this. Was it because he knew that everyone in this room was bound to die, betrayed by their closest allies?
He shouldn't worry about that right now. He just had to survive this meeting with no hard feelings and then find a way to go back home.
"Hey, can't you listen? get your pheromones under control!" San snapped, now glaring directly at Wooyoung.
Wooyoung stayed quiet for longer than what was comfortable. He stared at San, then at the captain. Why was everyone looking at him so expectantly, was he missing something? "...What?" He finally asked.
"The fuck you mean, what? Are you deaf?" San stood up, circled the table between the two and then stood right in front of him, so tall, so threateningly.
"San," someone else stood up, stepping between him and San. The latter only gawked at him, seemingly baffled that he was protecting Wooyoung. "This guy is clearly a spy, spreading his pheromones everywhere so Hongjoon, Yunho, Jongho and I can't think straight, hyung!" He accused, now back to glaring at Wooyoung.
"Yunho, let him go," Wooyoung's knight in shining armour ordered, completely ignoring San, who bristled but backed down. Yunho, the navigator, and apparently the one who was holding him, hesitated but then also stepped away and Wooyoung stumbled forward, only now realizing how much pain he was in when he had to hold him up by himself again. "What's your name?" The rather pretty man in front of him asked, steadying him easily.
"Wooyoung," he swallowed, unable to look him in the eyes.
"Wooyoung," the other repeated. "I'm Seonghwa. I'm the second in command here."
Oh, Wooyoung knew. He knew way more than them, but if he said that they'd probably throw him over board in the middle of the sea. At least Seonghwa seemed civil, like in the novel.
"Do you not know how to control your scent?" Seonghwa continued, still holding the younger steadily. Wooyoung, once more, could only stare at him upon hearing such weird wording again. Before he could answer, Hongjoong grabbed him by the collar and gently pushed Seonghwa away. "Quit coddling him, hyung. If he doesn't speak, I'm going to assume San is right about him being a spy," he spoke harshly, surprisingly strong for such a small man.
"Please, no! I- I was just fleeing from some men who tried to kill me!" He hurried to explain, now panicked. Why was this going so terribly wrong? They were even more hostile than he remembered.
Hongjoong raised his eyebrows. "Men? Who tried to kill you?" He repeated, not really believing him. But before Wooyoung could defend himself again, a soft voice from the table spoke up. "He did seem to be in pain, hyung."
Hongjoong seemed to consider his words, but then scoffed. "Well, he's an omega who is alone and spreading his scent everywhere. Not to mention that any wounds could be self-inflicted to gain our sympathy."
Wooyoung's jaw might have actually dropped in that moment. Self-inflicted? Why on earth would he ever do something like that? But what shocked him more is that Hongjoong seemingly thought it was his own fault that he was attacked. "Are you really blaming me for getting attacked?" He asked, baffled.
The captain looked at him, seemingly deciding whether he was even worth an answer. "You're basically inviting all Alphas to claim you, what do you think?" He answered, annoyed by Wooyoung's incompetence. "Inviting? I'm not inviting anyone to do anything!" His anger spiked, not believing the words that were coming out of Hongjoong's mouth. "You're not talking to me like that, do you understand?" Hongjoong tightened his hold on Wooyoung's collar.
"I'm talking to you however the fuck I want, who do you think-"
"Shut up!"
His body stopped talking against his will when Hongjoong said that, the words spoken with a kind of authority that almost seemed like sorcery. Why was his body not listening to him anymore? Why couldn't he talk? Wooyoung felt really small suddenly and sunk in on himself. That's when Seonghwa stepped in again, now mad as well. "Hey, don't use your alpha voice on him, are you crazy?!" He yelled at his captain, taking Wooyoung from him, who didn't even have the strength to do anything about it. He felt so drained, so suddenly. And what on earth was an alpha voice?
Seonghwa noticed how he was holding himself, slightly curled in on himself as if instinctively shielding his abdomen. "Yeosang, I'm assuming he has at least one fractured rib, and his cheeks look a little swollen like he'd been hit. You should take a look at him," he spoke to the guy who had spoken up for him earlier, seemingly Yeosang, the ship doctor.
Yeosang immediately stood up and helped guide Wooyoung towards the ship’s tiny infirmary as Seonghwa looked back at San, who was still glaring, then at Hongjoong, who seemed to be thinking and a bit deflated. "We'll keep talking about this later," Seonghwa spoke. That alpha voice must be a really big thing if Seonghwa and Yeosang were turning against their captain to protect him.
When the three of them entered the small infirmary, Yeosang guided Wooyoung to sit down on the cot and started inspecting his chest without a word as Seonghwa spoke. "I'm sorry Hongjoong did that. But the crew doesn't trust you, and don't get me wrong, I don't either, but you haven't done anything to us... yet, and you're hurt, and evidently scared. It's basically written in your pheromones."
Wooyoung watched him sigh and winced when Yeosang touched the bruise carefully. "Can you breathe okay?" Yeosang then asked and looked up at Wooyoung.
"It hurts a little," he admitted and Yeosang frowned. "Lie down," he ordered and Wooyoung did as told.
"What is an alpha voice? And what's wrong with my... scent?" Wooyoung finally asked after a while of Yeosang applying some kind of paste to his bruised ribcage, now inspecting his face for any injuries besides the swelling. Yeosang paused for a moment and then exchanged a look with Seonghwa. "You really don't know?" The latter asked and Wooyoung shook his head.
Seonghwa sighed and shook his head. "Don't worry about that right now. Yeosang will stay here with you while I talk to the rest," he answered and left the room without another word, leaving Wooyoung confused, but in Yeosang's presence, not as scared anymore.