Cruise of Wonder

by Daju Lee

  Louie sprang up to his word.

  "King? You mean the real king?"

  "Of course, your majesty. The real king of this country."

  Smiling subtly, the butler looked around and searched for Juna and Hyun.

  "I can't see Duke Hyun. Where has he gone?"

  "How am I supposed to know where he's gone? Forget about that - I am getting fed up of this. Get me the best quality wine."

  Louie poured the champagne that was left in his ornate flute onto the ground. Eun, this time, simply ignored it and slowly approached Juna.

  "Where is Duke Hyun?"

  "I have no idea. He went rushing off somewhere."

  "He went rushing off? …Even though the Show of the Night Emperors hasn't finished?"

  The butler asked again, with an incredulous look.

  "Yes."

  Trying to focus on the clown's acrobatic skills on stage, Juna was noticeably irritated to the butler's questioning. Even with the vast array of problems in the show, Juna's eyes were glued to stage, addicted. Leaving the island was not possible in Eun's eyes. Sensing the threat, Butler Eun walked away from Juna and quickly left the performance room for the castle lobby. Getting to his room, he first checked the antique cabinet. As expected, the place where the box and key were stored was empty.

  "Damn it!"

  His face changed completely, the once panic-stricken face was now cold and emotionless.

  Eun lightly jumped out of the window and started to run.

  Hyun was already out of Eun's room and was walking across the garden.

  "What have I done?"

  Seeing the pier where he enjoyed boating with Juna, a feeling of guilt arose. He tried not to blame himself, as he told himself he would feel even more guilty if Daham and Jinho were imprisoned in those masks for life.

  As he knew the park better than anyone, he ran down a shortcut through the willow forest. He looked back the castle, after nimbly making his way through the bushes, and reassured himself:

  This is a trick. An illusion. I am not fooled by it anymore.

  The castle still looked splendid and affluent, but he was reminded of Daham and Jinho who were imprisoned in the masks, which made him hurry. At last, he reached the castle gate that Jinho mentioned. Jinho described the triangular gate with his hands. As the castle gate was the only gate whose top was a pointed, he knew what Jinho meant straight away. Breathing hard, he took the key from the box.

  "Wait!"

  Eun, following after him called Hyun and threw a mask at Hyun. The clown mask struck Hyun's face in an instant.

  "Ugh!"

  Recoiling in shock, Hyun tried to take it off as the mask started to penetrate into his skin. However after a while, to Eun's surprise, the mask became loose with a hissing sound. As the mask became fully very loose at last, Hyun pulled it off with both hands using all his strength. It dropped to the ground, ringing like a bell. "What?"

  The now embarrassed butler raised his palm to awaken the mask and send it flying at Hyun again, but once more he peeled it off his face.

  "Butler Eun, I guess this mask is too big for me."

  Said Hyun, pluckily and rushed to fit the key into the lock.

  "Wait, wait a second. Duke Hyun, we've tried our best to serve you. How could you be so cold- hearted? I took such special care of you. As you were the first young guest, I looked after you as if you were my own son."

  He flinched at the word 'son'. Actually, that was the reason for which he was so attached to this place. He felt like he was no longer an orphan, receiving warm attention on demand. The butler's careful hospitality felt as close to a father's love as he could know.

  With a kind smile on his face, Eun approached gradually:

  "I'll serve you forever like I am your father. I'll make sure you are well provided for."

  As he approached closer, Hyun lost his confidence. If he put the key, the happy days would vanish. He would come back to the old Mari and become an orphan again. He was caught in two minds:

  His words might be true. Should I accept what he said?

  But his body moved automatically in opposition to his thought. Hyun may have once been a Duke, but he was always a sailor of the Mari. He put the key into the lock instinctively. As the key was turned in the lock, it clicked.

  "Ugh!"

  No sooner than the lock opened, Eun moaned in pain. Clutching his head, his body shuddered.

  "This day has finally come, in the end."

  He let out horrible shrieks, which sounded like crazed laughter. Bending over his back and looking tormented, his body slowly contorted grotesquely and the black suit he wore changed into colourful circus clothing. He gradually turned into a hideous clown with three horns on his head.

  "How dare you ruin everything?"

  Eun who had completely transformed into a deeply wrinkled, horrid old clown, glared at Hyun fiercely. "So, are you satisfied now? How do you feel looking at my real appearance? Am I hilarious? Or am I scary?"

  He swung his big hands, swiping at Hyun to try and catch him, but Hyun was able to swiftly avoid his grasp.

  "Yes… Yes… It's alright. Now everything will disappear."

  Giving up on grabbing Hyun, the old clown grinned manically and outstretched his arms towards the castle. "Oh, my beautiful castle."

  The clown started to sob. At the same time, the tip of his fingers were slowly fading away. Then the pointed roof of the castle towers, and the surrounding forest behind started to dim little by little.

  "It's, it's disappearing!"

  Hyun studied the scene unfolding in astonishment. Realising that time is running out, Hyun ran away from the clown towards the castle.

  "All of you will all disappear!"

  The old clown shouted and laughed at Hyun as he left.

  The inside of the castle was already in shambles. Having all turned into clowns, the servants were searching for Butler Eun in a frenzy. As the door of the Prison building was unlocked, the Night Emperors returned to their former being, escaping from the shackles of the masks.

  Among them, the sailor Dora was standing by Daham and Jinho. He did not have time to greet Dora. Hyun urgently shouted to them.

  "We need to get out of here! The island is fading away!"

  The ceiling of the lobby was fading away, as if fog descended. Seeing that the castle was vanishing, Daham instructed:

  "Dora, take care of Louie! Jinho, you take care of Juna!"

  To this soft but strong direction, Dora ran to Louie without delay. Louie was still lying on the sofa even in the chaos. As Dora came, he blindly demanded him to prepare dinner, thinking he was the butler.

  "Good to see you, Louie."

  As Dora politely greeted him, Louie looked back in surprise.

  Jinho came to Juna, who finished her black tea and was waiting for the last scene of the play.

  The clowns were running around, making a fuss behind her.

  "What are you doing? Stop daydreaming!" Jinho said in a hurry. However Juna acted as if she did not hear him. Jinho grabbed her arm and shook her to wake her up.

  "Wake up now, the castle is fading away!"

  Only then did Juna look at Jinho.

  "Why? Why are you doing this?" Juna asked, frowning.

  "You really don't know? Look around what's happening now." Jinho dragged Juna.

  "Oh, leave me alone! What's wrong with you? Nothing is happening. Are you out of mind?" Juna shouted, shaking off his hand.

  "What? You can't see the situation now?" Juna made a confused look.

  "What on earth are you talking about? We have to wait for the remaining show to finish and attend the dinner party."

  Juna pushed Jinho away, who was blocking her view. Hyun stepped in and grabbed her arm:

  "What Jinho had said is all true. This place is full of hollow tricks. If you do not hurry now, we will all vanish." His eyes looked desperate.

  "No way…" Her mind reeled and Juna looked around. "No… This can't be happening."r />
  Juna came to see that the servants who were once taking care of her were nowhere to be seen and only the weird clowns were running amok. "Even so, I don't wanna go back." Juna shook her head.

  Jinho could not leave her like this. She was starting to fade away from the tips of her feet. Jinho had to act quickly. He had to take her by force.

  "Let's just go."

  As Jinho dragged Juna, her hand started to vanish in the air. As Jinho moved his grip, more of her faded away.

  "No! I don't wanna go back to struggling to feel loved! I have worked myself to death trying to feel loved!" Juna shouted hard, tears coming from her eyes.

  Jinho realised that there was no way of physically forcing her to go. Although time was running out, she could only leave by her own will. He had to change her mind.

  "To death? Okay, let's say you keep working yourself to death. Even if you did that, no -because you did that - you get so much credit from people."

  Feeling pressured, he could not speak eloquently.

  "What? Credit? Who, Me? This is your story. You never get ignored, no matter what you do under your parent's name." Juna continued, lowering her voice. "Yes, your parents are good people. I liked them from the childhood, when I had lived in the small house. I felt stable in your house, rather than with my busy aunt. That's why I wanted to be there. You were always suspicious of me, but it wasn't very easy for me there, either. I needed to work hard to deserve the praise and comfort. I had to work hard to make them recognise and compliment me."

  Jinho was struck dumb for a moment. He never imagined, that Juna had really felt like this all this time. He felt sorry for her.

  "That's not true. My parents cherish you not because you are good at things." To his word, she continued, barely managing to suppress her feelings:

  "I understand what you mean, but do you think they would accept me even if I was a troublemaker? You are in a different position than me. That alone always makes me feel inferior."

  Juna had expressed her mind truly to Jinho for the first time. Jinho always thought she was a confident kid, to the point that her overconfidence used to annoy him. Her words affected him deeply, and was very surprised to know she was daunted because of him.

  "Jinho, look at that!"

  She hurriedly pointed out behind, impatiently. Half of the castle had already gone. The town in the distance had disappeared completely and seawater was filling up the space.

  "I am sorry. I've forcefully pushed you. I am so sorry." Jinho said from the depths of his heart.

  "Your apology is too late." Shaking her head, Juna turned around.

  "Juna, I don't really like you if I am being honest, but thinking of you disappearing hurts my heart. If I feel like this, how do you think my parents would feel? Do you want them to suffer because of you?"

  Juna hesitated. "Will they feel bad?"

  "Of course they will. You said, I am in a different position than you. That may be true, but you have a different type of position. A unique place in our family."

  "A unique place?" Juna asked.

  "Yes, and that's definitely as a member of family. Frankly speaking, you are part of our family. Family members have different positions but in the same importance. I am equally as important as you are. I've denied that before but now I have to admit it, because that's a fact that can't be changed."

  Her eyes softened and turned red hearing his sentiment. She asked for reassurance with her eyes. Jinho nodded his head. Jinho slowly reached out his arm to her. Juna carefully held the hand, accepting the unspoken agreement to go back. Jinho firmly grabbed her hands that were fading away.

  "We've got no time."

  As the level of the water reached their feet, Daham approached Jinho. Luxurious goods and people disappeared without leaving a trace in the castle and only the sea approached under the fog. Louie was following after him, with a confused look. Everything was ready for leaving. Jinho called the Strong powers.

  "Jolting water shadows."

  His low voice vibrated and began moving the entire sea around them. The shaken sea caused waves and the shadows stirred and made even higher waves. The jolting water shadows reached the Mari, anchored in the distance. The Mari was slowly brought forward by the shadows of the waves.

  The last island and its secrets

  By the time they had all boarded the Mari, the island had fully disappeared including the dense fog. The traces of the island could be seen as the area looked sunken. After returning, Juna did not leave her cabin for a few days. Nobody knew exactly why she had hidden there. W hen she finally came out of her room, she seemed back to her normal self, if not, a little happier.

  Jinho found her sitting in the kitchen and greeted her.

  "Good morning."

  Juna waved to him, relaxed.

  "Today's morning menu is salmon fillet," she said.

  A delicious smell induced a rumbling in his stomach already. Jinho looked curiously at Dora and Louie who were cooking.

  The canteen had completely changed since Dora returned. In addition to the clean dining area, he seemed like a real cook. Along with his technique of skilfully handling the ingredients, the results of his cooking amazed them. Louie had begrudgingly become his assistant. Although he still made a plenty of mistakes, Dora fixed those for him.

  "Here you go." Dora amicably handed out the food to the sailors. A special sauce was put on the well cooked fillet.

  "Dora, it's very delicious." Juna pretended to shiver her body after tasting the food.

  "Thank you for enjoying it. Please help yourself, Mr. Kim and Miss Jung. I tried hard, but I am not sure if it suits everyone's taste." Young Dora, whose pale skin and dark hair make him stand out, humbly answered. Juna called him Dora, not feeling awkward about his respectful nature.

  "Of course, Dora I like everything you make."

  "Why does no one have any compliments for me? I've done the most of work, haven't I, Dora?"

  Louie bluntly interjected.

  "You are right, Louie." Nodding his head, Dora naturally led Louie into the kitchen.

  Juna seemed to get along with Dora, like with Hyun. When she was with them, she made jokes and laughed. She did not behave modestly anymore, like before.

  "What makes you so excited these days?" Out of jealousy and curiosity, Jinho flippantly asked Juna, who was out on the deck.

  "What?" Juna asked again, as if she did not hear him.

  "You look happy."

  "Really? I don't know. Well, I feel a bit light of thoughts." Juna sat on the deck, facing the cool afternoon winds.

  "You feel light? About what?" Jinho enquired, sitting down after her.

  "Well. I guess, pressure? Or anxiety?" Juna could not reply in detail.

  Since Jinho knew her more deep thoughts, he found it more difficult to speak to Juna.

  "Thank you, Jinho," said Juna suddenly.

  "For what?"

  "For your words. For saying that I am a member of your family. To be honest, I was always conscious about your feelings, because I understood your complaints. But I tried hard to ignore it. I wanted to make myself happy. That's why I felt uncomfortable as if a bone was stuck in me, but I couldn't feel sorry for you. If I had, I would've been able to have dinner at your place on a daily basis or talk to the teachers in a friendly way, like you."

  "I see your point, but Juna, you don't have to feel thankful or sorry for me anymore. You are already needed by my parents and they get happiness from your presence. And the same goes for me. I was young and grumbling for nothing back then, so you don't need to worry about it." Jinho said insightfully.

  "That's why I felt ashamed, because I stayed the same while you were grown up a lot. I want to be myself enough now. I want to try to be my own self, not with pretence." She stared at the horizon, then at Jinho. "Do you think mum would be surprised?"

  "Not really. Perhaps, that was what she wanted" Jinho replied with a smile.

  The sun went down and the sea filled with a
warm, evening glow. Red clouds were taking their time to slowly track the sky and were reflected in the sea's surface.

  "I am sure Mr. Kim is on the next island. Let's make sure to find him and get back home." Juna said, glowing happily, her cheeks blushing red like an apricot. Her words warmed his heart.

  Since they left the second island, it had been getting hotter. It was too hot during the day to even go up to the deck, but the Mari seemed to be roaming around, unable to find the next island easily.

  Jinho, Hyun and Juna were sitting down in the cool shadows around the prow and fishing as usual. It was for their food but they would usually cast the fish back into the sea unless it was quite big. They fished for quite a while, to pass the time.

  "How does the Mari work?" Jinho asked Hyun, breaking the boring silence. He became curious yet again about the Mari, as it moves by itself regardless of winds or water current.

  "I actually have no idea. I don't think any sailor here knows that." Hyun replied, looking tired from the heat.

  "Then how are the sailors here and the Mari related?" Juna too asked questions, after a long time, about things which she had been curious.

  "How are we related? Hmm… I've never really thought about that… but I'd say, we are like one body?" Hyun abruptly ended his word and went back to his cabin, explaining that he was tired. Since he came back from the island, Hyun had changed a bit as well. Unlike before, when he was mature, he now joked more with people, and tried to lighten the mood by making people laugh.

  Seeing Hyun like this, with his nose developing small freckles, Jinho thought he was quite cute.

  "They are like one body…" Jinho repeated what Hyun had said.

  In fact, the Mari had changed a lot since Dora came back, and not only because of the food, but spirits were high too. Broken ship parts here and there had been repaired and its old d?cor now looked rather elegant, showing a trace of time. It was partly thanks to Daham and Mapi who busily arranged the deck, but the Mari gradually had the look of a cruise, since Dora came. The old and dirty sail was still an eyesore once cleaned but it was nothing compared to the first time Jinho boarded it.