The Legend of Magic Island | taejun + sookai

part 19: convincing the captain

"This must've fallen out of your pocket while you were behind the crates," Seonghwa explained, showing them the bottle.

"Hey wait! That's the thing I snagged from Beomgyu once," San interjected. Seonghwa swirled the bottle's contents, looking at it curiously.

"It looks important," he commented, "What is it?"

"Just a map," Hueningkai answered, reaching for it, "Now could we have it back? It belongs to our captain—"

Seonghwa held it further from Hueningkai, then handed it to the captain. Hongjoong held the bottle by its neck, taking out the cork that sealed it shut.

"It looks awfully fancy for something that's just a map," Hongjoong added, slipping the roll of paper out of its bottle. Taehyun and Yeonjun watched, trying to hide their panic as the captain unfurled it and looked over it.

Jongho scurried over, peeking over the captain's shoulder. Seonghwa had also walked over to see what was on the sheet of paper.

San slowly walked over to the other three, when the captain wasn't looking.

"Where's Beomgyu?" he asked, "Is he okay?"

"Beomgyu's— back at the ship with our captain," Taehyun answered with a sigh, "Him and the captain distracted the other crew while we made our getaway."

San raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Really? I thought I taught him better than that," San scoffed, running a hand through his hair, "How many of them were there?"

"Around two, but we saw more running over while we escaped," Taehyun sighed, then glanced at San, "He fought them the best he could though, you should've seen him."

"Oh, I believe you. He's something else," San joked, nudging the younger playfully.

"Is your captain going to help us?" Yeonjun asked in a quiet voice, fidgeting with his hands, "It doesn't seem like he's too enthusiastic to see us here..."

San glanced over at Captain Hongjoong, and shrugged.

"Eh, he might consider it," he reassured, "He's not stubborn, just bribe him with food and he'll do just about anything!"

Hueningkai hummed in response, looking around the ship. He saw Mingi finishing tying up the sails and had walked off board onto the docks.

"How many of you are there?" Hueningkai asked curiously, rubbing his arm awkwardly. San paused, then started counting with his fingers.

He started counting again, mumbling under his breath. Taehyun and Yeonjun exchanged a look, seeing the boy struggle to answer the other's question.

"Thirty-eight," he answered, holding up two fingers. Yeonjun and Taehyun's eyes almost widened with surprise, when San paused again.

"Wait! No!" San exclaimed, looking down at his hands again, "C'mon San, Yunho taught you this! It goes one... two... five... eight... nineteen... mackerel... and seven!"

"I think there's..." San looked down at his fingers again. He held up ten fingers.

"This many. However much this is."

They heard a crewmate groan in frustration and facepalmed. He had been sitting on a crate nearby while the captain was talking to them, hopping off and walking over to them.

"San! I thought you knew your numbers!" he laughed, playfully punching the other in the shoulder.

"Shut up! It's been awhile since I've practiced!" San argued back, counting with his fingers again. The other boy turned to the three standing there, waving politely.