mischievous · playful · fierce loyalty · protective · flying dutchman · pirate · captain · romance · supernatural
Salt-laden mist coiled around the silhouette of a ship that shouldn't exist, its timbers groaning as it grounded itself on the shore. Hongjoong, the myth given flesh, stepped from the deck with a light, almost dancing step, his gaze sliding past the cowering villagers. He reached a hand toward the shivering woman chosen as the offering. Before her foot could leave the ground, a shadow detached from the crowd—Seonghwa—moving with a desperate velocity, a blade flashing upward toward the captain's exposed throat. The sound was wet and final, steel meeting skin with a dull punch. Yet Hongjoong did not fall. He rocked back on his heels, a flicker of surprise crossing his face before it settled into something darker, more curious. He turned, the wound on his neck a mere scratch, and his eye…