𝗖𝗢𝗔𝗦𝗧 | ateez ✓

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟐

❛❛ i said, close your right eye. it'll help you
get a better aim. so that we'll get this stupid training over with ❜❜
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with her right hand, soojin holds the musketoon hesitantly, wrapping her small delicate fingers by its grip and her index finger avoiding the trigger of it.

the gunner stood beside her leaving a gap between the two of them and his eyes trained onto the glass bottles.

"same with swords and daggers, precision is key" he said. soojin then watched the gunner lift his arm, the musketoon at the end of it pointing directly at its target "you need to keep your arm firm and make sure that when you fire your weapon it remains the same"

wooyoung fires, hitting another glass bottle with its shattered pieces falling onto the floor.

the gunner faces her "you do it"

soojin mimicks the gunner's action and faces the targets, she raises her arm with the musketoon pointing towards a bottle. her finger hovers above the trigger and with hesitation, she presses it as the bullet flies and misses.

wooyoung sighs "again"

she did, and yet again she misses.

"again" he hissed

and that kept on going for multiple times with the gunner giving the most unamused face and the princess slowly getting pissed.

soojin places another bullet inside and points it towards the bottles and shoots- and like before, it misses. she automatically reloaded her weapon even without the gunner's instruction.

seonghwa watches as the princess struggles and his eyes soften as he saw how hard she was trying. the navigator approaches the gunner and places a hand by his shoulder.

wooyoung turns to him with a cold look, seonghwa smiles "go easy on her"

the gunner scoffed "she's hopeless"

"that's what i thought too but she'll get better.. just be patient with her" he said "and stop your grudges at least whenever you two are training, this is hongjoong's orders and you wouldn't want to go against the captain's orders"

the gunner rolled his eyes as he lets out a frustrated sigh "fine"

the sound of glass shattering is what made the two of them turn their attention to the trainee. soojin stares at the shattered glass fragments "finally"

the princess stares at them two with a big smile. wooyoung looks at her for a little bit before looking down. she approaches them and gives seonghwa a playful punch on the shoulder "hey"

the navigator fakes his pain, clutching his shoulder "ouch" she laughs.

wooyoung coughs beside them, staring down at the two "princess" he said as the girl shuts her mouth "follow me"

the gunner leads the princess in front of the target practice as seonghwa watches them from behind, amusement etched on his face.

"you know why you couldn't do it properly?" he said "your form was wrong and your aim is terrible, the glass bottles arent even that far" soojin doesnt say a word.

wooyoung only stares as he sighs for the millionth time. he brings the latter's arm up, the musketoon pointing at one of the bottles. he positions himself behind her and glides his arm along her's- guiding it. soojin tenses up as her heart beats in an irregular pace.

the gunner places his hand over her's as he leans down, his mouth ever so close to her ears "close your right eye"

"w-what?" she stuttered, mentally scolding herself for doing so. why was she getting flustered?

"i said, close your right eye. it'll help you
get a better aim. so that we'll get this stupid training over with"

she does, not minding the other's last statement. let's get this over with.

wooyoung's finger hovers above soojin's as he presses the trigger and the bullet flies- hitting a glass bottle. he does it again and again until there was no more load inside the musketoon.

the gunner holds their position for a while before pulling himself away from the princess, taking the musketoon with him "lets end this for now"

"but-"

"hongjoong said that our training would end once you hit at least three in a row. we'll continue tomorrow and i'll make sure that that'll be the last day we'll be training together"

soojin stood speechless in her place as wooyoung enters the ship and out of her sight. seonghwa approaches the princess "dont mind him"

she shrugged "its fine" soojin turns to him "hey seonghwa"

"mhmm?"

"aren't we going low in supplies? when would we be our next restock?"

the navigator thinks for a while, looking up to their captain's chambers "i dont know, but i'll tell hongjoong. the nearest island from here is probably juseu island, its only a small port island but they have really nice goods there"

"do you think hongjoong would let us explore once we get there?"

the navigator gives her a small smile "i dont know but i'll try to convince him. and i'll make sure that i'll go with you to any place you want to visit" soojin smiled at the navigator's remark, thanking him as they went back to their own separate rooms.

again, soojin was sprawled all over her bed. there were only limited things she could do inside the ship and with the gunner ending their training early, she had nothing to do for the rest of her day.

she pulls herself up and made her way to the pantry, she scurries along the cupboards and barrels looking for a snack, and as what she told seonghwa, they were low on supplies.

hongjoong enters the pantry, his feet moving sluggish and his hands rubbing the sleep off his eyes. his glance meets with the princess as he gives her a small sleepy smile "looking for a snack?"

she hums "just woke up?" it was hongjoong who hummed this time. he pours himself some water, and sipped it "i've told seonghwa about this earlier but we're going low on supplies"

hongjoong hummed again "he already told me. we're sailing to jusue to restock and maybe dock for a while"

soojin goes beside hongjoong and pours herself some water as well "how's your first day with wooyoung? i hope he wasnt being too rude to you"

she gives him a little too noticeable forced smile "he's- uhmm.. he's a good marksmen..?"

hongjoong sighs deeply "please dont mind him too much, he can be rude at times especially to those with royal blood"

soojin looks down at her cup "i know this isnt your story to tell but.. can you at least tell me something"

the captain fumbles with the edge of his cup "lets just say.. he wasnt treated nicely by the those lucky enough to be born royal"

-//-

idk where is story is heading to anymore but i've already written a few chapters for the ending and we're still a loooong way go sksksksk