The Seventh Voyage

Prologue The Seventh Voyage

The scene which welcomes her only causes her heart to drop as she scrambles to get to the man.

Yeo Wol can barely process the scene of Jeongjo stumbling backward, clutching hard at his stomach as the blood gushes out of the wound incessantly. By the time Yeo Wol is by his side, the man can barely keep his head up as he allows himself to fall back into her arms.

Eyes filled with regret met her anguished ones as Yeo Wol cradles Jeongjo's face gently, silently urging the pirate to fight on.

"No." Yeo Wol breathes, struggling to comprehend the fact that the man has sacrificed himself for her.

"Yeo Wol," Jeongjo whispers weakly, lifting his bloodied hand to her cheek, neither touching nor pulling away in what will be his last memory of the world in this lifetime.

"No, no, no. You can't die, Jeongjo. You fucking bastard. You must live. You promised." Yeo Wol's voice starts off angry, only softening slightly at the end as she chokes back a sob.

"I'm sorry." Jeongjo shakes, committing the final memory of his beautiful Yeo Wol to his mind.

He is sorry for many things, but what he regrets the most is her.

I promise you I will find you in the next lifetime. In the next lifetime, we will be together. In the next lifetime, we will have a family. Please wait for me.

When that last wisp of his sorrow-filled thoughts leaves him, Jeongjo finally gives in to the darkness, embracing his fate at Death's doorsteps. At that moment, Yeo Wol feels his body slacken in her arms, sending a wave of despair straight into her heart.

Painful sobs tears at her throat as she cries, staring right into the blank, unseeing eyes of the man she loves. The only man who has ever captured her heart. Jeongjo, the man who–

Slam!

"You've got to be kidding me!" Ye Jin slammed the novel shut, cursing her heart out at the ending of her beloved book, The Seventh Voyage.

She would have thrown the book across the room if her book-loving heart would have allowed her to. But alas, she kept a tight hold on it, gripping it with a renewed vengeance at the tragedy behind the ending.

"Why. Just why?" Ye Jin wondered aloud, knocking over the carton of strawberry milk on her tray in her frustration.

"What a weirdo." A girl rolled her eyes, sashaying right past Ye Jin with her little group of bimbos.

Giggles followed her comment as a show of support for their Queen Bee. It would seem even in university, there exists this level of hierarchy and immaturity which would hopefully be stamped out by the end of their long education.

Sighing helplessly, Ye Jin paid no mind to the demeaning comments, her frustration over the ending filling her senses.

She was used to it after all...What she was not used to, was a beloved character dying.

This was not what she signed up for. After weeks of avoiding spoilers on the net and immersing herself in yet another beautiful masterpiece written by her favourite author, Ye Jin blissfully read The Seventh Voyage with a hopeful heart. It was the last book of the series, one which sold out the minute it hit the bookshelves.

If Ye Jin didn't have literature class that day, she could have gotten her hands on the final installment weeks ago. Now that she has read it, she wished that she could erase that last page from her mind.

Opening the book again, Ye Jin scanned over the last page, as though her sheer determination to write a new ending where Yeo Wol and Jeongjo would get their happy ending could erase the very print of the words of death written by the author.

The author killed Jeongjo...she actually killed him.

Wasn't there an unspoken protective bubble that was meant to keep the main character from dying? So why did Jeongjo have to die?

Despair gripped Ye Jin's heart just like what Yeo Wol felt when Jeongjo died in her arms. Like Yeo Wol, Ye Jin was mourning the death of Jeongjo.

More giggles sounded behind Ye Jin as she let a tear slip down her face. Standing up, Ye Jin pushed past the usual taunts from her classmates, rushing to a place where she could mourn in peace.

Letting her long raven hair fall like a curtain between her and reality, Ye Jin ran back home.

A home that was only growing lonelier by the day.

Between school where her bullies stalk, to home where she was alone, Ye Jin didn't quite know which she preferred.

Perhaps that was why she loved to read.

Books usually gave her peace. To be able to escape to a reality where she wasn't constantly being pulled apart and judged was a blessing to Ye Jin. Books were her sweet escape.

This was why the death of Jeongjo hurt her more than anything.

He deserved to live. They had so much to look forward to...

Shaking off the depressing thoughts, Ye Jin braved the loneliness of her dark living room, trying her best to not let the silence bother her.

The lack of shuffling of slippers against the floor, the lack of music drifting from the piano, and the lack of snoring on the couch would always leave Ye Jin feeling emptier. Today, she didn't want to feel empty.

She was sad enough as it was.

Back under the covers, Ye Jin snuggled up to her pillow with The Seventh Voyage in her hands. It was crazy how fast the night changes. Last night, she was still reading the epic fight between Yeo Wol and a runaway bandit. And now, Jeongjo is dead.

"As dead as a rat." As Yeo Wol loved to say.

Sighing heavily, Ye Jin snuggled deeper into the comfort of her soft bed, wishing for the umpteenth time that Jeongjo was still alive.

Sure, he was a fictional character but to Ye Jin, he was very much alive in her mind. This was bound to happen when one gets too immersed in an imagined reality.

To comfort herself, Ye Jin flipped back to one of her favourite chapters, seeking solace in the words crafted to perfection in Yeo Wol and Jeongjo's heartfelt dialogue.

Slowly, the words began to drown out the harsh sounds of reality as she felt the familiar sensation of being pulled into their world.

Page by page, Ye Jin took the words in, reciting her favourite lines as if they were her own personal mantras. Soon, sleep overtook Ye Jin's consciousness as she fell asleep to the blur of words in the corner of her eye. The book in her hands fell to the ground, splayed wide open with a promise of hope. 

He deserves to live.

Pirates live forever, for their souls belong to the seas. As long as the seas crash on, so will they live.

☠☠☠

A/N

Hello lovelies! This is clearly my wonderful attempt at telling myself I will not start another fic but no, soulsis raizafaisel gave me a pretty convincing argument so here we are.

Fun fact, the title of this fic is a little nod at my binjin fics since this marks the seventh of the fics I have written so far. In this seventh voyage, I am finally going to challenge myself to write about characters other than dooly/binjin so I do hope I do them justice.

As always, your comments and speculations are much appreciated because this is once again another unfamiliar ground to me. Looking forward to embarking on this voyage with everyone! Your patience will be very much needed because sighs...I have four other ongoing fics now.😫😫😫 Thank you all for your support🥰🥰🥰