The problem with Sam Yeonri's directions, Woo Sung soon realized, was that on this island, almost every house had a pumice wall around it. Since the island was volcanic, it wasn't much of a surprise. But then, it made finding the house she had described just a little more difficult.

"Past the cove, around the bend, after some cliffs..." Woo Sung muttered. He was almost at the cliffs now, and he squinted into the distance, where several houses dotted the landscape up ahead. All of the buildings had stacked up volcanic rocks around the perimeter to make an outer wall.

"Well, it could be any of those, then," Woo Sung grumbled.

Just to be safe, he checked over his shoulder to make sure that he wasn't being followed. The rest of the town behind him was distant and half-hidden by the mountain that started at what Woo Sung assumed was the bend in the road that Yeonri had mentioned.

No one was following him—yet.

Woo Sung looked down at the path and kicked a pebble, weighing his options. Originally, he had planned on stowing away on a ship back to the mainland, but there had been too many sailors at the docks itching to get back out on the water after the storm had delayed them the previous day. That was when Woo Sung had heard one of the men talking about the restaurant owner who had all the latest town news, and his plans had changed.

Why not find a job to work up some money and pay for a perfectly legal trip back instead, once the search for the escaped criminals had died down? All the soldiers from the fort must have been expecting Woo Sung and Hong Pyo to be hanging around the docks and trying to sneak onto a ship, but perhaps in a few weeks, the soldiers would decide that their quarry had already escaped the island and would give up their search. Then, it would be a perfect time for Woo Sung to reappear.

Granted, he had never really done hard labor a day in his life, but Woo Sung was sure he could manage.

There were just two flaws in his plan. The first of Woo Sung's worries was that the guards from the fort would ask Yeonri about him, and subsequently track him down. The second concern was that by waiting and biding his time, Woo Sung would return to the palace too late to petition the king to reinstate the naval admiral.

But then, was it even possible to do such a thing? Woo Sung had ended up exiled in the first place while trying to convince the court that they were making a mistake. Without Yi Soon Shin in charge of the Navy, the country didn't have a chance to defeat the Japanese.

A sound behind him had Woo Sung checking over his shoulder again, only to see the distant red-and-black uniforms of three Jeju guards...and the blue-and-black outfits of Ji Tae and one of the other soldiers from the mainland. The small party was just emerging from the buildings at the edge of the town and heading up the path that Woo Sung was following to get past the cliffs.

"Aish! Not good," Woo Sung muttered, looking around for a place to hide. The soldiers were still some ways off, but it would only be a matter of time before they realized that the figure they saw in the distance was one of their escapees, and not a farmer.

To his right was only the mountain, and to his left, the cliffs leading down to the cove. Woo Sung peered over the edge and cringed when he saw how far down it was. A few small dinghies rested half-out of the water on the sand, and the beach was empty. If Woo Sung hurried, he could reach the steep set of stairs that led down to the cliffs and hide in one of the boats.

He chanced another glance back. Was it his imagination, or had the soldiers picked up their pace?

Woo Sung sucked in an apprehensive breath through his teeth and hurried to the stairs. The steps alternated between gritty slabs of rock and thick, splintery logs jammed into the cliff side. He stumbled down the last few steps, scraping his palms on the rocks as he slid backward and caught himself.

The sand sucked at his flimsy straw sandals as Woo Sung ran to the nearest boat and jumped inside. There was a tarp at the bottom of the hull, and he brought it up to cover himself, all the while praying that the soldiers hadn't seen him go down to the cove from so far away. How long would he need to wait before the soldiers passed? How would he be able to tell when it was safe?

Woo Sung strained to hear if anyone was approaching, but all he could hear was his own labored breathing and the water lapping against the hull of the boat.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, Woo Sung figured that if the guards had followed him, they would have found him by now, so he pulled back the canvas and sat up.

On the positive side, the soldiers had not followed him down the cliffs to the cove. The bad news, however, was that by jumping into the boat, Woo Sung's momentum must have caused it to slide backwards on the sand and completely into the water. He had now drifted out into the ocean, and was now too far from land, or—Woo Sung peered over the side of the dinghy to glance at the deep blue ocean below him—even shallow water.

Woo Sung gulped. He wasn't really good at swimming.

"Don't panic," Woo Sung told himself. "Whatever you do, you must definitely, definitely not..."

He trailed off as his eyes landed on the rudder at the back of the boat. That was it! He just needed to steer himself back to the shore. Woo Sung's mad scramble to the far end of the boat nearly capsized it, but he righted his balance at the last second and clutched the rudder in a death grip as he waited for the rocking to subside.

Now, how did it work? Was he supposed to point it in the direction he wanted to go, or the opposite direction?

Woo Sung alternated between pushing the rudder one way and another, but the boat didn't move.

"Great. Now what?" Woo Sung released the steering with a sigh and looked over the side of the boat again. There were no oars, but maybe he could use his hands to paddle?

Tentatively, Woo Sung reached down and swiped at the water. Nothing would come up and bite him, would it?

Something shifted beneath the water—perhaps a shadow of a creature, or maybe it was just a trick of the light.

Curious, Woo Sung leaned closer, and a bubble popped to the surface. Then the water rippled, and whatever was lurking below surfaced just inches from his face with a giant splash.

Woo Sung lurched back in the boat with a strangled scream.

The sea creature was staring at him.

Are you going to eat that?

Here, let me.  Mmm.  If you don't want to eat the rest, I'll definitely finish that for you.

Ah, right.  Do you have any more questions at this point in the story?  Aside from the obvious "Whatever could this sea creature be? Oh dear Moon Sun, please explain!"

I'm trying to build some suspense here.  Don't ruin it.

I suppose I could tell you a bit more about the timeline of this story.  I've been noting that this story so far has taken place in August of 1597.  But why bother with the month if it's not changing, you ask?

Well, it will.  The timeline is important, here.  Just have a little patience--and wait for me to finish this last rib.  Then we can order some more! 

~*~*~*~*~

Not too happy with this chapter.  There's hardly any dialogue, and I'm worried as a result it's a little dry.  >.<  Sorry.

Image in the first banner is of a pumice wall, similar to what is found around Jeju houses.  It turned out a little more blurry than I had hoped.  :(

Also, I'm leaving for a bit and won't be able to post for a few weeks, but I'll be back before ya know it.  Thanks for reading!  :)