Everything was black.

He moved forward, through the streets which reeked of blood and death. He saw nothing but felt the danger around him. However, he let himself be guided by the reassuring hand that drew him to a safe place where he would no longer have to be afraid.

He heard a noise and the little hand that held him let go. However, he immediately felt his hand being crushed by another, larger one, which had none of the softness of the previous one. He couldn't help but open his eyes and felt terror overcome him.

It was a wako with a menacing face that looked at him with its black eyes, holding him in a painful grip, holding his pistol aimed at him with its other hand. It was the shaved-headed pirate who had tried to kill him earlier, but no mocking smile stretched his mouth anymore. His murderous intentions were evident in his gaze and in his hands, he no longer held a sword but a pistol whose match was flaming.

"No... don't kill me..."

But it was like begging a rock. The noise was deafening as the man shot him.

He didn't have time to scream.

He was already hit.

He was already dying...

Seokjin suddenly opened his eyes.

He was panting and dripping with cold sweat. He looked around frantically but did not see the shadow of a pirate. He was lying in a comfortable bed and took a while to realize that it was his. He was back in the safety of his bed, dressed in the usual white nightgown he wore to sleep. The smell was not that of blood but of bouquets of fresh flowers that his mother composed for him and of fragrant citrus fruits whose skins were drying in glass jars.

He sighed with relief: it had just been a horrible nightmare.

He got up but fell back with a cry of pain, immediately placing a hand on his painful stomach. Before he could understand where the pain was coming from, the door to his room flew open and his mother came running in, her face wearing an expression of both panic and relief.

"Seokjin, my little prince, you're finally awake!" she sobbed, throwing herself on his neck.

"Eomma, I'm hurt," Seokjin protested, her watery eyes threatening to shed tears of pain. However, he agreed to hug her back because in his nightmare, he really thought he would never see her again. A nightmare? But then, why was he in so much pain? "What is happening to me?"

His mother leaned back slightly, a worried look on her face, and sank into a chair next to the bed. Her eyes immediately misted up as she began to explain:

"You were unconscious for five days and we thought we lost you. After treating you, the doctor said there was nothing else he could do and that if you woke up, you would live. Otherwise..."

She couldn't finish her sentence, bursting into tears.

"Was I going to... die?" Seokjin asked hesitantly, thinking back to the pirate from his nightmare who had shot him and shuddering in horror. He gently pulled up the bottom of his shirt to reveal his stomach and saw that a bandage was covering it. "W-was I shot?"

Hearing this from her son, Mrs. Kim's sobs redoubled. Seokjin was then certain that he had almost died and that his nightmare came from his memories: a wako had tried to kill him and almost succeeded, according to his mother.

She nodded, wiping away her tears but others were already threatening to flow out.

"It was the marines who found you. Your father and a squad were combing Saengson looking for you when he learned that you were there. There was no longer any trace of the odious pirate who did this to you, but your father had every pirate still in this neighborhood killed. The others returned to their ship and fled." She stopped her explanations and, crying again, she asked: "But Seokjin, what were you doing there in the middle of the night?"

"I don't know," he replied mechanically before trying to gather his memories from five days earlier, which was not easy.

Fragments of his nightmare – his memories – appeared to him. The street full of corpses that he had to cross, the smell of blood, his blindness when crossing the street, the hand that pulled him to save him, and the sound of the explosion before the terrible pain. But one thing obsessed him: the hand that held him was not that of a pirate. It was that of...

"Jungkook!" he cried, suddenly alarmed.

"What?" his mother asked, perplexed.

She quickly stood up and stopped him from getting up because he was so distraught that he forgot the pain and tried to leave his bed.

"Not what, who," he corrected her severely. "Eomma, did dad save Jungkook too?!" he asked anxiously.

"I don't know, who is Jungkook?"

Seokjin remembered that he never told her about him. He regretted it now and was going to rectify his mistake.

"He's my best friend. He was with me in Saegseon and he's the first who saved me when the pirates tried to kill me. He also helped me cross the neighborhood so I could join you. He was not afraid of the wakos, it's thanks to him that I'm still alive," he concluded with a hint of pride in his voice. His friend was amazing. And Jungkook was going to be proud of him too, because he was going to have a scar like the other boys from Saengson too. Perhaps even more impressive than theirs because, who else but him had survived a gunshot?

Mrs. Kim, however, did not like the admiration she perceived.

"A boy from Saengson is your friend? Is that why you smelled like fish so often lately when you came home?" she asked in a tone full of reproaches.

"Eomma!" Seokjin exclaimed, his tone also full of reproaches. "Jungkook saved my life and that's all you can say? Where is appa? I have to talk to him, it's very important."

She lowered her head and Seokjin understood that she hadn't just been worried about him.

"He went back to sea to chase the pirates before losing sight of them. He couldn't afford to wait until you woke up before setting sail because he would have risked that those who set Eobu on fire managed to escape."

Seokjin would have preferred his father to be there, but he suddenly understood his importance as an admiral of Joseon. The wakos were not extinct and someone had to hunt them down to protect everyone. He leaned down and took his mother in his arms.

"It's going to be okay, eomma, appa will be fine. I know he will."

His mother nodded while sniffing.

"I'm sorry about your friend," she whispered to him, "no other boy was found alive on the street where you were."

Seokjin felt a lump form in his throat.

"It's no big deal," he replied lightly, "Jungkook is different from me, he is resourceful and very strong. I'm sure he managed to escape and is hiding somewhere in Saengson. He hides all the time, but I find him every time. He was always my serving warrior and protected me from all dangers there, you know? As if I am a princess in danger. As soon as I can, I'll go get him and introduce him to you, okay?"

This time, his mother made no protest. On the contrary, she made him smile brightly by saying:

"I would be happy to meet your friend and thank him for saving my princess."

"Eomma, I'm your prince, not your princess," Seokjin replied sulking. Only Jungkook could call him princess.

Nevertheless, he looked radiant. When his mother met Jungkook, he was sure she would love him as much as he did. Then, he would no longer have any difficulty asking her to allow Jungkook to stay and live with them and, why not, to adopt him as her son and therefore, as his brother. He grinned at the thought.

He had no doubt that he would find him, wherever Jungkook was hiding. After all, he always found him and that wouldn't change.

In the days that followed, Seokjin remained bedridden and had several visits from a doctor. Despite his orders and the close supervision of his mother who had almost lost her only son and was now overprotecting him, he did not wait until the end of his convalescence to escape from the house and join the Saengson district.

Along the way, he discovered the damage the wakos had left in their wake. Ruined buildings and streets still littered with debris presented themselves to his eyes. Eobu residents with tired faces were still busy cleaning everything. Navy soldiers were also busy, helping to carry the heaviest things while monitoring the surroundings to ensure the protection of the population.

In some streets, Seokjin saw charred remains that indicated many fires must have been put out, and traces of blood that people covered with dirt that made his stomach turn. The blood came from people who had died in the same brutal ways as Youngim. He pushed back the image of Pleasure Street that came back to him, bringing back with it the terrors he was trying to forget. He wanted to forget everything and that everything becomes again as before, as if the pirates had never come.

He took the path to the docks, his favorite route to reach Saengson. There, a few fishermen returning from their expedition were emptying their fish without enthusiasm on their stalls and despite the familiar smell of fresh fish, Seokjin felt a deep unease: many of the fishmongers he had known all his life were no longer there. They must have been among the bodies that had been picked up from the streets. This fills him with sorrow. Never again would he see them chatting happily with each other. Never again would they yell at him and throw fish guts at him. Never again would they threaten him with going to his father for discipline.

With relief, he suddenly spotted a lone fishmonger who mechanically cut his fish: it was Bae. He didn't recognize him right away because of his gloomy expression which contrasted with his usual cheerfulness - or his so amusing annoyed attitude when Seokjin teased him. He approached him slowly and stopped in front of his stall.

"Can I buy some fish?" he joked, trying to sound like an adult even though his voice had not changed into a man's voice yet.

Bae briefly looked up from the fish he was gutting, then looked down again. Usually, he responded easily to provocation so Seokjin, not letting himself be put off, continued:

"You still stink so much, you know? Just because you're not talking doesn't mean I didn't see you were there, Bae."

"Seokjin, get out of here."

The tone was serious and sharp. Seokjin stiffened.

"But Bae-"

"Your father wasn't there!" the fishmonger interrupted roughly.

"What?"

"All these people, all my friends... they died because the navy soldiers decided that Saengson would go last. Your father abandoned us."

"It's unfair to say that, my dad came as soon as he could, my mom told me!" Seokjin protested.

"Yes, he came only when he knew his beloved son was here. I was the one who told him that's probably where you were since you were always stuck there with your scoundrel friend. If you ask me, the admiral would have deserved to lose his son to learn what it's like to lose someone and feel helpless."

In shock, Seokjin felt that he was running out of air and he remained silent, which was not his habit. The fishmonger must have noticed it because he said harshly to the boy:

"I say what I think. You didn't deserve to die but your father would have deserved to be punished by fate."

Swallowing, Seokjin said in a small voice:

"I'm sorry about your friends, Bae, I liked them too."

"And they liked you too, believe it or not. But now, whether you're sorry or not, they're gone now," the other said, grief filling his hard gaze. "And seeing you come back here like nothing has changed in Saengson is pissing me off, so you better get out of my sight."

The boy understood that it was better to move away from the old fishmonger with a broken heart but before that, he had something to ask him.

"Bae, have you seen Jungkook?"

"Not since the attack," the other replied without looking at him.

Seokjin nodded and walked away, trying not to let worry overwhelm him. Jungkook was fine, he was just hiding somewhere, as usual, waiting to be found.

He rushed into the neighborhood, starting to look for him.

"Hey, there's the little admiral back," a familiar voice said.

Seokjin looked up and saw Sanghoon looking at him from the first-floor window of a building. He became nervous and stood on guard, ready to flee if Sanghoon's gang came after him. But no matter how much he looked around, no one was watching him from afar, none of the members of Saengson's little gang were getting ready to pounce on him.

It was actually the first time he saw Sanghoon at home and not outside roaming the neighborhood with his gang. It was strange.

"I bet you're looking for Jungkook, huh?" Sanghoon continued.

"Yes!" Seokjin said immediately. "Did you see him?"

"No," Sanghoon replied. "No more than I saw Ihnkyang and the others."

Surprised, Seokjin asked:

"Where are they? Are they all hiding at home because of pirates?"

Sanghoon glared at him.

"They're not wimps like you. According to rumors, you spent two weeks crying to your mom after your dad came to save you from the wakos."

It was around Seokjin to glare at him.

"That's not true, I wasn't crying, I was recovering from getting shot after almost dying! By the way, I have a scar," he said, lifting his shirt to show him proudly the stitched wound on the right side of his stomach. "Actually, I have two," he corrected, turning around and showing him his back, where a second scar was where the bullet had exited. According to the doctor, that was how he survived."

He was pleased to see that Sanghoon seemed impressed.

"I have to admit, I didn't think you'd survive when we faced the wakos."

"Um, this time it was Jungkook who saved me," Seokjin said honestly. "By the way, I came to get Jungkook to make him leave this place forever. So, if you know where he is, you have to tell me."

The teen seemed to wonder if he had to bargain for his information, but he gave up, to Seokjin's surprise.

"Ihnkyang, Jungkook... they're probably all dead," Sanghoon said. "The navy soldiers came to collect all the bodies very quickly after the attack of the wakos to avoid an epidemic and they did not even give us time to identify all the dead. All the people missing in Saengson were probably corpses. They threw them into a mass grave. That's probably where you'll find Jungkook."

Seokjin felt his heart race and the lump in his throat grew. It wasn't possible. Jungkook couldn't be dead and buried. He escaped, it was sure, because he was the strongest boy he knew. He must have escaped and if he wasn't in Saengson, then he was with Doyun and the Leviathan crew. That's where he should have gone first, he told himself, relieved to have somewhere else to look for Jungkook.

"You're wrong, Jungkook is alive and I'm going to find him. If I find your friends, I will bring them back to you too."

The other gave him a disillusioned look.

"You live in a world other than ours, a world where if you want dragons to exist, then your mom will tell you that they exist just to please you. But I'm not fooled, I'm not waiting to see my friends again, I've already grieved."

"I'm sorry for you," Seokjin said sincerely, "but I'm not grieving."

Sanghoon frowned.

"Your turn will come soon enough."

"No," Seokjin replied before turning on his heel to return to the docks and go to the pier where the Leviathan was located.

"Hey, little admiral, wait!"

Seokjin turned around and met Sanghoon's serious gaze.

"I have a favor to ask you."

"I refuse. I never liked you," Seokjin replied immediately.

The other looked like he was going to jump out of the window to strangle him, but he refrained after a few seconds of hesitation.

"I thought you were sorry for me?"

"I am, but I haven't become your friend."

"You're a real little pest, have we ever told you that?! Listen to me before you refuse, I'm not asking much of you. Could you tell your dad about me?"

"To tell him that you and your friends tried to kill me several times?"

"Do you really want me to kill you?"

"Then you won't be able to use me to talk to my dad anymore," Seokjin argued.

He carefully observed Sanghoon and noticed that the other was less virulent in his threats than usual. So, he sighed and asked:

"Why do you want me to tell my dad about you?"

"I want to make these pirates pay for what they did. I'm going to avenge my friends but for that, I must become a navy soldier and it's difficult for Saengson boys to be recruited. I know you don't like me and it's mutual, but-"

"I accept."

"Eh?"

"It's okay, I accept. I'll help you get revenge. I'll talk to my dad, and you'll join the Navy."

Sanghoon didn't seem to believe his luck.

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"Why would you do that for me?" Sanghoon asked suspiciously.

"Because I like Saengson and the wako attacked it. Because people I care about have lost their lives and others have lost their friends, but I am incapable of avenging them. But you, you can avenge them."

"By people, you mean Jungkook?"

"No," Seokjin said immediately, "not Jungkook. Other people. Like the fishmongers."

Sanghoon restrained a comment and instead solemnly declared:

"Thank you, little admiral. I'll pay you for it."

"Then start by stopping calling me that. Call me Jin," Seokjin replied, giving him a smile and waving in greeting. He didn't know if he had made a new friend, but he felt safer in Saengson now that Sanghoon owed him.

He ran without stopping to the merchant port, where he had last seen the Leviathan. But to his great dismay when he arrived, he found no trace of it.

"It's nothing, Doyun said he had to leave the day after the pirate attack, he had to set sail with Jungkook since I couldn't leave with them," he muttered to himself.

He saw the tavern that the Leviathan crew had unofficially requisitioned during their stay in Eobu and rushed there. He recognized one of the waitresses behind the counter. She always let him sneak in to listen to the merchants' stories, even though he wasn't normally allowed in this adults-only place. She had always been kind to him and Jungkook and was one of the few people he hadn't played tricks on.

"Minseo!" he called her.

Relief flashed across the young woman's face.

"Little admiral, you're finally back! Are you feeling better? Doyun said that you were seriously injured."

"Did Doyun worry about me?" he inquired, disappointed that he wasn't there. If Doyun knew what had happened to him, he should know by now that he was not a coward. That was what he hoped to hear him say, sincerely this time.

"Yes, a lot. He waited as long as he could and he helped the soldiers a lot with his crew, but he eventually had to leave Eobu."

Seokjin nodded sadly. Minseo walked around the counter and placed his hands on Seokjin's shoulders.

"Don't be sad, Seokjin, he'll be back next year. You'll be fully recovered, and you'll show him by starting to climb on top of his ship again with Jung-"

She stopped abruptly, putting a hand to his mouth, mortified by what she had said.

"Yes, with Jungkook, of course," Seokjin said quickly. "That's why I came to see you, do you know where he is?"

Realizing that Seokjin hadn't gotten this information yet, Minseo's face suddenly became sad.

"Seokjin, I'm so sorry, Jungkook is-"

"He left with Doyun and the others, didn't he?" Seokjin cut her off with a big smile, "it doesn't matter, anyway, I wasn't ready to go to sea, but Jungkook was. I'm not sad, don't worry about me."

But despite his big smile, his eyes were bright as if he was stopping himself from crying and Minseo was very affected.

"Oh, Seokjin..."

"I swear I'm not sad, I was the one who asked Doyun to take him with him, you know?" The boy said, without losing his smile and his sad eyes.

"Y-yes, he told me before he left Eobu," the young woman said softly. "He's the one who wanted to take you with them. He was willing to confront your parents to convince them to let you go with him. But Seokjin, after what happened to Jungkook, he didn't want to take you anymore, he said that you wouldn't have been happy without him and that the sea wasn't made for you. That you should stay with your mom here."

"Minseo, what are you talking about?" Seokjin said, fighting back his tears. "Nothing happened to Jungkook, he left with Doyun, that's all and he will come back to see me soon! Just like the moon! We sometimes see it next to the evening star, but other times it leaves and then comes back. Jungkook told me. He said he wouldn't leave, but I made him leave, so he'll come back, believe me!"

He had said this without taking a breath.

"Seokjin, don't do that, don't hurt yourself like that," Minseo said, his voice hoarse with the sadness that the vision of this grieving child caused him.

"You're all talking nonsense!" Seokjin suddenly shouted to the young woman who jumped.

He left the tavern slamming the door and ran until he stopped, out of breath, in front of the immense sea. There his tears flowed freely, and he screamed:

"Jungkook, why did you leave without me?!"

His voice was carried away by the sea. He screamed again:

"Come back, Jungkook, you have no right to leave me here alone! You said you'd never leave, you have to keep your word!"

His voice broke and he whispered:

"We were supposed to live together and now... now you're... dead... right, Jungkook?"

He fell to his knees and sobbed until he was exhausted. He had finally realized that he would never see his friend again and cursed the wakos for having taken him, until the hatred he had for them definitively reached his soul.

He only left this place when he saw his father's ship – the Taewang, recognizable from afar by its blue flag – appear in the distance. He was returning to the military port after days of tracking wakos, and that's when Seokjin ran.

When he appeared with swollen, red eyes in front of his father and the rest of the exhausted soldiers, he did not give the admiral time to say anything and declared with a determination that his father had never seen in him:

"Appa, I want to hunt pirates. Teach me and make me like you. No, stronger than you."