TITANIC ~ A Yoonmin Story

Close Shave

The two crew men on lookout stomp their feet, with teeth clattering together.

"You can smell ice, you know, when it's near." One of them states.

"Bollocks." Replies the other.

"Well I can."

゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。

Pom Yuni stands at the open safe, with Jimin's father beside her. She stares at the drawing of Jimin and her face clenches with fury. She reads the note again: 'Darling, now you can keep us both locked in your safe, Jimin.'

Namjoon, standing behind her, looks over her shoulder at the drawing. Yuni crumples Jimin's note, then takes the drawing in both hands as if to rip it in half. She tenses to do it, then stops herself.

"I have a better idea." Pilwoo speaks up.

゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。

Yoongi and Jimin, fully dressed, come through a crew door onto the deck. They can barely stand, they are laughing so hard from being chased by two stewards who had almost caught them in the car.

Up above them in the crows nest, lookout Fleet hears the disturbance below and looks around and back down to the well deck, where he can see two figures embracing.

Yoongi and Jimin stand in each other's arms. Their breath clouds around them in the now freezing air, but they don't even feel the cold.

"When this ship docks, I'm getting off with you." Jimin says sternly.

"This is crazy." 

"I know. It doesn't make any sense. That's why I trust it." 

Yoongi pulls Jimin to him and kisses him fiercely. 

In the crows nest Fleet nudges Lee. "Cor... look at that would ya."

Lee raises his eyebrows at the two male mixed class lovers kissing each other lovingly down below. "That's not something you see every day."

It is Fleet's expression that falls first. Glancing forward again, he does a double take. The colour drains out of his face. 

A massive iceberg right in their path, 500 yards out.

"Bugger me!" Fleet reaches past Lee and rings the lookout bell three times, then grabs the telephone, calling the bridge. He waits precious seconds for it to be picked up, never taking his eyes off the black mass ahead. "Pick up ya bastard."

Inside the enclosed wheelhouse, Sixth Officer Wang walks unhurriedly to the telephone, picking it up. 

"Is someone there?" Fleet asks.

"Yes. What do you see?"

"Iceberg right ahead!"

"Thank you." Wang hangs up the phone and calls to Sungchul. "Iceberg right ahead!"

Sungchul sees it and rushes to the engine room telegraph. While signaling 'Full Speed Astern' he yells to Quatermaster Cha Unjin, who is at the wheel. "Hard a' starboard."

Wang standing behind Unjin says. "Hard'a starboard. The helm is hard over, sir."

゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。

Chief Engineer P'il Seunghee is just checking the soup he has warming on a steam manifold when the engine telegraph clangs, then goes, incredibly, to 'Full Speed Astern.' He and the other Engineer's just stare at it a second, unbelieving. Then P'il reacts.

"Full astern! FULL ASTERN!!"

The engineer's and greasers like madmen close steam valves and start braking the mighty propeller shafts, big as Sequoias, to a stop.

In boiler room six, Leading Stoker Un Jaebum is standing with Second Engineer Jay Jackson when the red warning light and 'Stop' indicator come on.

"Shut all dampers! Shut 'em!!" Jaebum shouts.

From the bridge  Wang  watches the burg growing. Straight ahead. The bow finally starts to come left. His jaw clenches as the bow turns with agonizing slowness. He holds his breath as the horrible physics play out. 

Back in the Crows Nest Fleet braces himself. 

The bow of the ship turns slowly and with a horrible sounding crunch the ship his the berg on its starboard bow. 

Underwater the ice smashes into the steel hull plates. The iceberg bumps and scrapes along the side of the ship. Rivets pop as the steel plate of the hull flexes under the load.

In the Hold the two stewards who were searching for the forbidden lovers, stagger as the hull buckles in four feet with a sound like thunder. Like a sledgehammer beating along outside the ship, the berg splits the hull plates and the sea pour in, sweeping them off their feet. The icy water swirls around the Renault as the men scramble for the stairs.

On G-Deck Hoseok is tossed in his bunk by the impact. He hears a sound like the greatly amplified squeal of a skate on ice.

In Boiler Room Six Jaebum and Jackson stagger as they hear the rolling thunder of the collision. They see the starboard side of the ship buckle in toward them and are almost swept off their feet by a rush of water coming in about two feet above the floor.

On the Well Deck Yoongi and Jimin break their kiss and look up in astonishment as the berg sails past, blocking out the sky like a mountain. Fragments break off it and crash down onto the deck, and they have to jump back to avoid flying chunks of ice.

On the Bridge Wang rings the watertight door alarm. He quickly throws the switch that closes them. "Hard a 'port!" 

Judging the berg to be amidships, he is trying to clear the stern.

Jaebum and Jackson hear the door alarm and scramble through the swirling water to the watertight door between Boiler Rooms Six and Five. The room is full of water vapour as the cold sea strikes the red hot furnaces. Jaebum yells to the stokers scrambling through the door as it comes down like a slow guillotine. "Go lads! Go! Go!" He dives through into Boiler Room Five just before the door rumbles down with a clang.

Yoongi and Jimin rush to the starboard rail in time to see the berg moving aft down the side of the ship. 

゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。

In his Stateroom, surrounded by piles of plans while making notes in his ever-present book, Pom Hyo looks up at the sound of cut-crystal light fixture tinkling like a windchime.

He feels the shudder run through the ship. And he shows it on his face. Too much of his soul is in this great ship for him not to feel its mortal wound.

In the First Class Smoking Room Hak Chunso watches his highball vibrating on the table.

In the Palm Court, with its high arched windows, Wan Bao holds up her drink to a passing waiter. "Hey, can I get some ice here, please?"

Silently, a moving wall of ice fills the window behind her. She doesn't see it. It disappears astern.

Once again back in the Crows Nest Fleet turns to his Lee. "Oi, mate. That was a close shave."

"Smell ice, can you? Bleedin' Christ!"