Chapter Text
“Be careful, those samples are fragile!” Jane was frantic as she watched the taxi driver unceremoniously dump her suitcases on the sidewalk.
After a long flight and a night of restless sleep on a rickety bunk bed in the local backpackers, Jane had taken a taxi to the harbour to set off on the first official day of her research project - Operation Levanter. It had been many years in the making, getting here, but Jane had finally convinced her boss, Dr Bang, to let her use company funds to execute a one-woman operation to find and catalogue some of the rarest endangered species of flora in the world. To do this, she had one simple objective - find a way to get to Levanter Island - a small island off the coast of South Korea, surrounded by a dangerous coral reef and unpredictable weather patterns.
“10,000 Won,” the taxi driver held his hand out expectantly.
“Right,” she muttered, digging through her backpack and thumbing through the wad of bills she had tossed into the side pocket that morning, “Here.”
The taxi driver bowed his head politely and accepted the money, but said nothing further before getting back into his car. Jane was beginning to learn that the people around here did not take well to the mention of Levanter Island. All she had done was ask about locals who knew more about the island, but apparently, this was enough to shift the driver’s mood from one of friendly politeness to stony weariness.
With a sigh as she watched the man drive away, she lifted her suitcases and hobbled towards the harbour, deciding to make a stop at the Harbourmaster’s office first. This proved to be a good plan, as the older man was a lot more friendly than the driver had been, although even his mood seemed to dim at the mention of Levanter.
“Are you… sure?” the man asked, pursing his lips and scrunching his brows, “It’s a very dangerous voyage, getting to Levanter. A lot of boats get wrecked out there.”
“But it’s not impossible?”
“Well, no,” he sighed.
“So then who can I speak to about taking me there?” she cut him off before he could continue to discourage her.
She wished she had the time to explain to him how crucial this operation was. Was it potentially deadly? Yes, but Dr Bang would never have entrusted her to do this if he didn’t believe she could. Jane had been working towards this all her life. Not only was she one of the most respected botanists in her field, but she also had years of survival training and experience under her belt.
“That’s the thing,” the Harbourmaster sighed, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.
“What?”
“You’re gonna be hard-pressed to find anyone around here who’s willing to go near that place.”
“Not even for 2 million Won?” she raised an eyebrow.
The man swallowed hard, before shaking his head and cracking a bewildered smile, “Well, any sane person would still say no, but… there is one man who might take an offer like that.”
“Just point me in the right direction,” Jane met his eyes, looking determined.
Before long, she was marching along the docks, suitcases in hand, until she came to a stop in front of a weather–worn fishing boat, named “Dori”.
“Hello?” she called out, shielding her eyes from the beating sun as she tried to peer through the open door of the small cabin onboard.
No voice met her call, but she did begin to hear shuffling coming from within the cabin.
“I heard that you’d be willing to take me out to Levanter Island?” she continued, watching curiously as a dark shape began to appear in the doorway.
“Who told you that nonsense?” a smooth voice asked as the man stepped out into the sunlight.
It took Jane a few seconds to answer, she was so caught off-guard by the sight before her. Standing on deck with hands shoved casually into his pockets, the man’s feline eyes analysed her carefully as she took him in. He was beautiful, more beautiful than any man she had seen in real life at least. His face looked as though it were cut from marble by Leonardo da Vinci himself, his nose sharp and angular, his lips plump and pink. Despite his simple and somewhat unkempt state of dress, he looked strong and virile, his arms tanned and defined from what must have been years of hard labour in the sun. His chest looked strong and sturdy beneath the loose navy V-neck he wore…
He cleared his throat, drawing Jane’s gaze to a mischievous smirk, as though he knew she had been ogling him, “What do you even want to go to Levanter for?”
“I’m doing a research operation to find and catalogue new and rare plant species present on Levanter Island. Did you know that Levanter has a unique climate and geography making it capable of growing incredibly unique-”
“Are these plants worth risking your life for?” he scoffed.
“Yes,” she nodded, deadly serious as he stared her down.
“And my life? What would I risk my life for, exactly?” he raised an eyebrow.
“2 million Won. That’s everything I have left in my budget. Would you risk your life for that?”
He whistled, looking thoughtful, “How long would you plan on staying there?”
“I brought survival gear. I was thinking along the lines of a week. You could drop me off and pick me up if that would suit you better.”
He barked out a laugh, “A week? On Levanter? Yaaa, you must be crazy.”
“2 million Won,” her words sounded like a threat more than a promise.
He bit his lip, narrowing his eyes as he surveyed her carefully. This woman was completely serious about this. She had to be nuts, but still… 2 million Won was nothing to sneeze at. It would certainly help after the last few months.
He let out a deep sigh, as though he knew he would regret this before he even did it, “When do you want to depart?”
“What’s the soonest you can be ready?”
“Give me 3 hours.”
She blinked, before breaking out into a somewhat manic smile, “Really?”
He raised an eyebrow, “You think I’d joke about this?”
She shrugged, “Well, if you’re sure, then that would be great,” she nodded, “Can I help with anything?”
He scoffed lightly, “There’s a coffee shop down the harbour there,” he pointed, “Go enjoy your last few hours of safety and give me some space to try and make sure we don’t die, hm?”
She rolled her eyes, “Alright.”
Jane strolled over to the cafe and ordered some coffee, sipping on it as she did some work on her laptop, setting up tables for all the botanical cataloguing she was anticipating she would need to do once she returned from the island. After three hours had passed, she made her way back to Dori, where it was still docked at the edge of the harbour, and stepped onto the boat with all her luggage.
The man greeted her with a wry smile, taking her luggage and placing it in the cargo storage, before untying some ropes as Jane took a seat on one of the wooden benches built into the side of the boat.
“I never got your name,” she said thoughtfully, looking out at the ocean as the boat began to float away from the dock.
“Minho,” he responded calmly, his hand resting on the steering wheel as he gave her a sidelong glance.
“I’m Jane,” she said, watching him as he shifted gears and sped up, taking them further out into the rolling waves.
“Well, lady Jane,” his lips twitched as he glanced at her, “I hope you don’t get sea sick.”
“I don’t,” she answered.
“Good, because I’m not cleaning it up if you get sick,” he drawled.
Jane gave him an unamused look, which he seemed to enjoy as he turned his attention back to the front, driving the boat further and further out. As they sailed, the two were silent, not bothering with small talk when neither were particularly fond of such things. After about an hour, Jane’s brows furrowed as she stared out at the horizon.
“Are those… clouds?” she tilted her head, pointing at the dark grey shapes high in the sky.
The visibility seemed to be getting lower by the minute as they approached.
“Yep,” Minho hummed, staring at the looming shape of the island that seemed to be obscured by a blanket of mist surrounding the land mass, “The locals have an expression for the weather surrounding the island…”
“What expression?”
“레반터에 다가가면 이슬비에 옷이 젖는 것도 눈치채지 못할 겁니다.”
His voice held an eeriness that Jane could feel, despite not understanding Korean.
“What does that mean?” she asked softly.
Minho looked thoughtful, “When you approach Levanter, you don’t notice your clothes getting wet in a drizzle.”
“Huh,” she hummed thoughtfully, “That doesn’t sound so bad.”
Minho snorted lightly, “It’s an idiom. It means you don’t notice all the small problems that accumulate until you are facing a much bigger problem.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh,” he rolled his eyes and kept driving the boat further towards the mist.
The two fell silent as they approached the island, the atmosphere feeling increasingly uneasy as visibility got worse and worse. Soon, Dori was engulfed in a blanket of thick mist, and Jane could hardly see two metres ahead of her nose.
“Come inside the cabin and find something to hold onto,” Minho’s voice was serious as he held the steering wheel.
Jane was confused, but complied all the same, getting up and entering the cabin, taking a seat behind Minho and holding onto the railing nearby, despite the waves being relatively calm. Then, within a few minutes, the rain started, and the deck lightly pattered with the sound of light raindrops hitting the wood, drenching her hair and clothes.
“The storm is going to begin soon,” he said, his jaw ticking.
Jane’s posture stiffened, but she said nothing as she watched Minho toying with settings on his navigation console, his lips pursed into a thin line. Before long, the waves were getting choppy, as Dori rocked back and forth over each swell and dip.
Then, the thunder started, startling Jane as the booming sounds engulfed the little boat, the waves swelling and falling more and more as Minho navigated through the mist, trying his best to avoid the rocks that were beginning to crop up all around them.
The rain had quickly turned from a light drizzle to heavy drops pelting against the roof of the boat, drenching the deck as the choppy waves lapped against the side of the boat. Jane gripped the railing bolted to the wall of the cabin, her knuckles white as the boat lurched, making it nearly impossible to remain steady.
“Are we going to be okay?” she raised her voice over the thundering sounds of the storm that engulfed them.
“I’m not sure!” Minho replied, sounding apprehensive as he tirelessly steered the boat, narrowly missing an outcropping of jagged rocks that seemed to pop up out of nowhere.
Just then, the unimaginable happened, and the bottom of the boat scraped over what had to be shallow rocks hiding just beneath the surface of the water, tearing into the metal and breaching the hull.
The salt water rushed into the boat, quickly causing it to sink downward.
“씨발,” he cursed out loud and abandoned the steering, diving for the cargo storage and prying it open to rip out Jane’s suitcases and his emergency gear.
Jane jumped up to help him, but fell as the boat hit a much bigger cluster of rocks, the metal screeching against the stone, Jane’s shoulder making hard contact with the deck as she groaned in surprise.
Minho swore again and abandoned the cargo, reaching for Jane as he struggled to stay on his feet, his thighs straining as he kept a low centre of gravity, the boat tipping sideways as luggage and supplies began sliding into the water.
The waves were swelling to large masses of water, engulfing the boat and drenching the two, until they were flung about in the choppy ocean, reaching for whatever light they could see between gulps of salt water and the downpour of rain that seemed to obscure everything in sight.
In the chaos, Minho’s hand found Jane’s and he dragged her up to the surface, pulling her in the direction of the shore as she made her best efforts to swim with the strong currents, her shoulder throbbing in pain.
Jane had no clue how long they swam, but by the time their feet could touch the sand, the two were exhausted, lifting their heavy, soaked shoes as they stepped through the shallow waves, walking onto the beach and flopping down onto the damp white sands, completely spent.
They caught their breath, coughing as the remnants of saltwater burned in their throats, their clothes and hair soaked through and caked with salt and sand.
“Are you okay?” Minho rasped, glancing over at her with a strange mix of frustration and concern.
“Yeah,” she nodded tiredly and struggled upright, sitting and staring out at the ocean, where they could see Dori slowly sinking beneath the water, suitcases and supplies bobbing amongst the waves, scattering everywhere.
Minho watched the wreck bitterly, his jaw tight as he said absolutely nothing. The pair sat there in silence for a while, just taking in what the hell had just happened, trying to process how things had gone so terribly wrong, so quickly.