Yeonjun
"How's he doing?"
"He's fine, Capt'n! He's breathing, just unconscious... he's lucky he wasn't caught in a storm or anything..."
I groaned, hearing distant, unfamiliar voices talking to one another, followed by the sound of footsteps. I opened my eyes slowly, realizing I was in a ship cabin, with a lantern sitting next to me.
They must've come back for me! I thought to myself, Maybe it was all a bad dream..
I saw that I was on a bed, a pillow beneath my head. Slowly, I turned my head and saw two blurry figures leaning in the doorway.
"How long has he been out?"
"I've lost track Capt'n, probably two days at least."
I could barely make out who they were, but their voices didn't seem familiar to me at all. I squinted a little bit, barely being able to make out their black coat with shiny silver buttons.
Weakly, I tried to move my numbed hand and brought it closer to my face. It was bandaged carefully with gauze, blood seeping through the white bandage. I lowered my hand, seeing the figures standing in the doorway.
"Keep me updated, and bring him out when he wakes up."
"Yes Captain! He won't leave my sight!"
"I'll be up on main deck with the others if you need anything."
The other walked off, his boots hitting the wooden floorboards as he left. I could see the other boy's features more clearly now as he walked over to my bed. He had wavy, dark brown hair with a navy blue jacket, embellished with intricate silver buttons.
His sword was tucked neatly in his belt and tied with a red handkerchief. He must've realized I was awake, because he peered down at me.
"Hey! You're up!" He beamed, "Captain Soobin and I were just talking about you, how are you feeling?"
"Wh-What is this place?" I groaned, rubbing my head, "A-And who are you?"
He looked at me blankly, and huffed.
"That didn't answer my question, but I'm Hueningkai!" The other smiled, helping me sit up, "The captain and I were just talking about you. It's a good thing you woke up. The others though you were a goner."
I looked down at my hands, my left neatly wrapped in white bandage. Looking around the place some more, I lifted up my shirt and saw my chest had been patched up as well.
Hueningkai sat next to me, looking at me curiously.
"You're not that much of a talker, are you?"
"N-No, no, I'm just—" I touched the back of my head, feeling a soft bandage wound around it, "Wh-what happened?"
"Answer my question first," Hueningkai replied, "How are you feeling? Did you rest well the past few days?"
"I-I don't know," I answer, "My head still really hurts... I don't- What happened? How did I—"
Hueningkai snickered, nudging me playfully.
"You really don't remember?" He asked, "Beomgyu found you by the shore barely breathing. Of course, he thought you were dead and said we should leave you there. But then, Taehyun insisted you were alive and brought you here! He's awful good at convincing the captain, I'll say."
I looked at Hueningkai, rubbing the back of my head in confusion.
"Taehyun? Beomgyu? Wh-"
"Ah, I'll bring you to meet everyone else later," Hueningkai dismissed, "Can you walk? Captain Soobin is excited to meet you, I'm sure the others are wondering how you're doing too."
I paused, resting my hands on my knees calmly and looking at the ground. My legs were scraped up, seemingly from the rocky shores I had washed up onto.
"I-I think I can walk," I uttered out, "C-Can I meet everyone else? Wh-Where am I anyways?"
Hueningkai smiled, and extended a hand towards me.
"Glad to have you on board with us..." He trailed off, "What's your name?"
"O-Oh, I'm Yeonjun. My name is Yeonjun," I replied, taking his hand. Hueningkai helped me up, as I stumbled to my feet.
Excitedly, Hueningkai put the lantern out and led me out of the ship cabin, heading up a flight of stairs onto the main deck. I was immediately greeted by the beaming sunlight and the loudness of the waves tossing back and forth.
I groaned, rubbing my eyes. Once they adjusted to the bright sunlight, I saw there were two other boys on the main deck, looking at me.
One was seated on a wooden crate, another was holding onto the shrouds and looking out into the sea. The last one was at the front, steering the ship.
"Captain! He's awake!" Hueningkai called. I stepped back hesitantly, as a tall boy walked over to me.
"Captain, this is Yeonjun, and Yeonjun this is Soobin," Hueningkai grinned.
"That's Captain Soobin to you," He corrected, "We're glad to have you on board, Yeonjun. I'm sure the others would be willing to give you a warm welcome."
I shakily shook his hand, looking him in the eyes.
"A-Am I dreaming?" I asked, "There must be a mistake, I-I don't think-"
"Hueningkai, take care of steering, I'll introduce Yeonjun to everyone," The captain interrupted.
"Yes Captain!"
Hueningkai walked away, leaving the captain and I alone.
"Captain Soobin, was it?" I asked quietly, "Did you guys save me or something? Where are we going?"
I walked to the railing, peering down at the sea below. The captain scoffed, walking after me and leaning on my shoulder.
"You sure do have a lot of questions to ask, don't you?" He joked, "I'll answer all of them later, just let me take the lead and show you around The Everlasting Dream."
Confused, I followed the Captain around the ship and looking around at the other crewmates aboard.
"At first I didn't want to take you along with us, if I'm being honest," Soobin scoffs, "It was the others who begged me to take you in, not me. I'm not one to take in random people you find lying on the shore."
I simply hummed in response, and nodded. The captain brought me over to the shrouds on the left side of the ship, where the other boy was peering through a telescope and looking out at the sea.
"Beomgyu! Get down here and say hello!" Soobin called up at him. The other turned around, squinting his eyes and tucking his telescope in his pocket. He jumped down from the shroud, landing smoothly on the hard, wooden deck.
"Well, looks like you live after all!" He jested, punching me in the shoulder. He extended a hand to me, and winked.
"Choi Beomgyu, intelligent thief and cannon expert," He smiled, "You could say I'm the brains of the crew, hm?"
"Intelligent?" Captain Soobin scoffed, and rolled his eyes, "Gimme a break, will ya? With what education?"
"Easy there, Captain, I got street smarts, I work smarter, not harder," Beomgyu retorts, "Unlike some of you."
The captain rolled his eyes, and nudged for me to introduce myself already.
"I-I'm Yeonjun, Choi Yeonjun," I stammer, shaking his hand, "It's nice to uh— meet you, Beomgyu."
"Pleasure to meet you as well, we could always use an extra hand around here," Beomgyu replied boldly, putting his hands in his pockets comfortably. Soobin sighed in frustration, grabbing my arm.
"Come on, there's one last person I want you to meet," The captain mumbled and walked off.
"Beomgyu seems fun," I mumbled to myself as we walked on the deck.
"You think so? He emptied your pockets while you were unconscious," Soobin replies with a light chuckle, "He's quite the unique one, I'd say."
We walked to the front deck, where Hueningkai and another boy were steering. The other boy was a lot shorter than Beomgyu or even Captain Soobin, his hands were relaxed as he was focused on steering.
When the captain walked over, he let Hueningkai take the wheel and turned around.
"Oh, he's awake," He said blankly, putting a hand on the sword which sat on the right side of his belt.
"H-Hey, I'm Yeonjun."
"Huening told me already," He replied, brushing off his jacket, "My name is Taehyun, it's a pleasure to have you on board."
Unlike the others, he didn't offer to shake my hand. His voice sounded a lot— monotonous than the others.
"Y-You were the one who saved me, right?" I asked, "Hueningkai told me back below deck.."
"It was a team effort," He shrugged, "Beomgyu and I both wanted you alive. It would be rude of me to take all of the credit."
Hueningkai snickered, and turned around, "You'll have to excuse him, we don't get many new crewmates on board very often."
I hummed in response. I looked around some more, seeing just bare ocean surrounding the ship we were on. The island I had been stranded on, had long disappeared from sight.