The next day, Jungkook waited for Seokjin all day but the latter did not come during the afternoon and the boy of Saegson was consumed by remorse. He wondered if finally, Seokjin hadn't been offended by his behavior the day before and if he was angry with himself at that moment. It hurt him, he didn't want Seokjin to stop coming to see him.

Then, he indulged in other theories: Seokjin always came looking for him and sometimes he came face to face with unsavory individuals. What if it was today? What if he had been mugged by some bad people to rob him and he was dying somewhere in Saengson? 

Jungkook felt a shiver of horror run through him at that thought and began to pace the streets of the neighborhood, dodging the empty glass bottles thrown by old alcoholics lying in the middle of the passage or detaching from his arms the caressing hands of the girls of joy who had no qualms about having that he was still only twelve year old child.

He found a gang of teenagers between the ages of thirteen and sixteen he was looking for from Kyunghong, the only barber in the neighborhood, each waiting to have their hair cut artistically thanks to the few denarii stolen from the pockets of the walkers in the Footbridge of the Gentlemen further in Eobu.

He knew them well because they all lived in the same neighborhood and when he arrived in the area a few months ago, he had refused to join their gang led by a young man of sixteen named Sanghoon. 

They often chased Seokjin when he came, in order to rob him, even if Seokjin would never have committed the imprudence of coming with valuables. But the boys were so destitute that they would have been able to steal his clothes to sell them and leave him stark naked in a dump of rotten fish carcasses. 

And despite his poor ability to defend himself, Seokjin had a boundless confidence that made him tell dangerous people truths that he should never have told them as provocations.

"Are you looking for the little admiral?" the barber asked as he saw Jungkook approaching. He knew Seokjin to see him pass by his shop every day, looking for Jungkook. 

Most people called Seokjin the Saegson's little admiral even though he had none of his father's bearing and everyone understood that well. It was more of a mocking nickname than a respectful one.

"Yes," he nodded. "I do not know where he is and I'm worried."

"I didn't see him pass today," Kyunghong informed him who knew everything that was happening on the street where he worked. "He may have picked you up at the girls', did you look for him there?"

"No, I didn't," Jungkook said, pensive.

"It's normal if you can't find him, as I already grabbed and killed your little admiral. I emptied him of his entrails like a dead fish," said one of the teenagers who was slumped against a wall, his hands in his pockets and who had already had his haircut. It was Sanghoon.

Jungkook almost pounced on him to hit him and everyone else prepared to belt him, understanding his warlike intentions.

"Calm down, Jungkook, Sanghoon is just messing with you!" the hairdresser calmed him when he saw Jungkook in bad situation and outnumbered. 

The man was used to street fights between the boys of Saengson as a resident and he took advantage of being appreciated enough by his profession to play the role of mediator between the young fiery boys who just wanted to live with energy but were too violent with eachother.

"Yeah," Sanghoon said, "but don't be so relieved Jungkook, it will happen as soon as I run into this kid who thinks he can hang out in Saengson as as if he was a prince here but who walks back to his palace every night."

Jungkook glared at him and the other boy did the same.

"He comes here if he wants to, and you have nothing to say about it," Jungkook said harshy.

"A boy from Saengson who is infatuated with a petty nobleman, you are aiming a little too high, tadpole. But you're smart for a kid, I have to admit: you're securing your future by making friends with this rich boy, you must have thought this plan through very carefully. Maybe I should steal this admiral from you," he added in a thoughtful tone.

"Touch him and I'll kill you," Jungkook growled.

"You can try," Sanghoon sneered, lifting his threadbare jacket to reveal a blunt cutlass. "It will hurt."

"Okay, okay, boys, you'll settle your accounts somewhere else than here," Kyunghong interjected. "Do you want a haircut too, Jungkook?" he offered kindly as he fussed over a lice-ridden head of a fourteen-year-old teenager that made Jungkook want to vomit. "There is the queue, however."

The queue in question was the entire Sanghoon gang of nine boys of which only two had already had their haircut. Unwilling to leave his head to hands that had touched so many lice, Jungkook shook his head vigorously.

"No, thanks."

"No, he doesn't need it, his buddy is already cutting his hair with both left hands," the boy who was getting his hair cut scoffed as he turned to face Jungkook and pointed to his poorly cut locks that were falling down and sticking together irregularly on his sweaty brow after his run.

It was indeed Seokjin who had recently brought a pair of scissors, judging he couldn't let his hair grow any longer, and ordered him to stand still to try to cut his hair when he had never done that. And obviously, it had been a disaster, but Jungkook would not have admitted it.

"Turn around Ihnkyang," Kyunghong told him, forcing the teenager to turn his head to finish cutting his hair.

"You can tell it's badly cut, it gives you a real dork head!" another quipped, "your buddy could at least pay you for the hairdresser since he's loaded with money. It's obvious that he's a cheapskate, you should pick his pockets or let us do it if you don't dare. After all, we must share between brothers in misery."

"You and I are not brothers in any way. And Jin is not a cheapskate," Jungkook growled, instinctively shoving his hands into his warm jacket given by Seokjin.

"Why? Because he gave you his jacket?" Sanghoon asked, pointing to the new velvet jacket that Jungkook had been proudly wearing since the day before. "What a joke! Besides it doesn't suit you at all."

The others laughed because Jungkook's scruffy outfit was actually only more mismatched with the new jacket.  Jungkook felt the rage rising in him in front of those laughs. How dare they insult Seokjin with stinginess and then criticize the jacket he had given him?

"However, it would fit me well, I'm sure of that, and I tend to be rather cold at the moment," Ihnkyang argued, "give it to me, I want it. And anyway, you can ask him for another one anytime, right?"

It was the last straw for Jungkook. He sighed, pretending to agree to comply with the demands of the teenager, took off his jacket and walked towards Ihnkyang. There, he pretended to give it to him but took the opportunity to snatch the scissors from Kyunghong's hands and with a quick gesture, cut across and to the root a wide swath of hair from Ihnkyang who let out a howl of rage.

"Who's got a dork cut, now?" Jungkook scoffed as he put his jacket back on and stuffed the scissors in his pocket, "I bet you prefer my Admiral's haircut!"

"JUNGKOOK!!!" Ihnkyang roared.

But Jungkook didn't wait and ran off to escape the fury of the whole gang chasing him.

_______________

A/N :

As always in my books, even if it's fan fiction, I need time to settle the story, the universe, the characters and the plot. So please, you will have to be patient with the book. Surely you don't find this start thrilling because I promised you a pirate story and... there are no pirates! But believe me, it is coming. For me, each chapter I publish is important, especially to allow you to familiarize yourself with the characters.

 I'm telling you this because I quite often find myself alone in my books at some point, readers are gradually deserting my books for various reasons that I can only guess.

But for those who remain, thank you for being there for my writing and my plots, it's the most important for me because I work a lot on it and it's obvious to me that you can't create a coherent and intersting story if you don't work enough on the beginning before the real adventures begin. 

Even if many FF readers expect faster and simple FFs, I write my FFs like real novels because I find it more interesting to write and read. What do you think? =)