One week later~

Day 2

✴️ After careful deduction, I have narrowed it down to two sharks.

✴️ The upper and lower lobes of the tail fin are similar to that of The Great White sharks and Mackerel sharks.

✴️ They even habituate in the same place, the North Atlantic Ocean.

〰️ So, which one is it?

Day 3

---------Blank----------

〰️ Too lazy to research today, but the question still stands.

Day 4

I had no time to write today :D

Day 5

✴️ Great White Sharks (GWS) measure up to 4.5 - 6.4 m (A.F.)/ 3.4 - 4.1 m (A.M.).

✴️ Mackerel Sharks measure up to 6 - 8 m (Basking Sharks length)/ 4.5 - 6.5 (GWS).

〰️ Why can't it be Basking Sharks?

Day 6

✴️ I studied the bones closely and saw that they were too small for them to be the jaws of a Basking Shark because these sharks have large mouths thus big jaw bones.

〰️ So it was not a Basking Shark...

〰️ So it is either Mackerel or GW Shark...

I twirled my pen and looked closely at the photo in my hand. I squinted my eyes and immediately took out my magnifying glass and examined the skin.

My eyes went wide.

Day 7

✴️ I did a major breakthrough in the research.

✴️ The skin of the animal looked stretched. It's as if it exploded or something.

✴️ The skin even had tiny holes in it, indicating that it died by bursting, like a balloon, but from the inside.

〰️ Something inside it caused it to burst like a balloon and die.

"My deduction sounds like bullshit but who cares!" I yawned and stumbled onto the bed. I fell asleep instantly.

                    Next morning~

"Shoot shoot shoot!" I cried as I rushed to get out of bed, resulting me in falling face flat on the floor. "Stupid blankets!" I cursed as I hastily untied the knot and ran into my bathroom.

After a quick shower and brush of my teeth, I dressed in faded blue jeans and a black tee and rushed out of my room and into the kitchen. I grabbed two pieces of bread and a small bottle of banana milk before grabbing my car keys and bag. I got into my car and drove off to my university, eating with one hand and driving with the other.

"I'm so sorry!" I panted as I stood before the doors of my class. "You are 10 minutes late Mr. Kim but as this is your first time being late, I'll let it slip. Now in you come." I walked into the classroom with my head down and sat at my desk.

"Hey! It's okay!" My desk mate, Kengi Akabane, whispered. "It's okay to be late once in a while, especially for people like you who always have a stick up their butts." He eye-smiled at me and I glared at him before turning back to listen to our professor.

"Today we are going to do a 10 minutes class then you are going to pack your bags and get into the bus." All of us gave him confused looks and he chuckled.

"It's a surprise!" He said before turning towards the board.

                  10 minutes later~

All of us boarded the bus one by one. Our professor got on and clapped his hands to get our attention. "I want everyone to be on your best behaviour, so let's get going." The bus's engine roared to life and off we went to our unknown destination.

After 15 minutes of driving, we reached our destination. We got off the bus and stared at the massive building in awe.

What the hell?! I can't believe I'm here! Oh my gosh!

"So! Do you guys like my surprise?" We all cheered as our professor laughed at our enthusiasm. "It's really hard to get a tour of this place, not many people can do it so enjoy this gift and treat me to steak later," Professor Rain said making us all laugh.

"Well well, what do we have here?" A tall dark-skinned man with short curly hair and brown eyes walked toward us.

He kinda looks like Miguel but I shrugged off the thought as Professor Rain and the unknown researcher greeted each other.

"Hello, guys I'm Antonio Luis, nice to finally meet Rain's students." He scanned our faces before it stopped on mine for too long and it made me uncomfortable. I shuffled my feet nervously and looked anywhere but at him.

"Won't you guys introduce yourselves?" He said and one by one we said our names. 

"Kengi Akabane, Sir." Antonio nodded his head 

"Japanese?"

"Yep!" Kengi flashed him his adorable smile and Antonio smiled back. 

"And this is Mr. Kim!" Professor Rain introduced me. I bowed my head slightly before diverting my attention elsewhere.

"Well, nice to meet you all! Please follow me, I'll be your tour guide."

We followed him as he first went into the parking lot where the lab's vans were. He showed us what they kept inside the van and everything.

I was excited would be an understatement.

I was over the moon!

Oceania had a total of 4 floors. The first floor was for beginners or amateurs, the second one was for marine engineers, the third one was for oceanography researchers and the fourth floor is for marine biology researchers who study water species and everything.

It has a rooftop with a cafeteria, sofas to read books/ sleep and a ping pong table to play and relax. The cafeteria is open 24/7 as some researchers stay all night and day. The parking lot had their vans and a few cars of the researchers.

Finally, we reached the 4th floor which we saved for last as we were all hungry from the tour. I looked around in amazement, biologists rushing from this side to that side, collecting samples from dead species, observing the behaviours of certain animals and plants in different conditions, and lastly, I saw that dead washed-up sea animal surrounded by two researchers. They were nodding and shaking their heads as they discussed.

He explained some things to us that I already knew because I came here once, to submit my CV but did not get to explore this floor.

I walked and looked around not even looking where I was going, resulting in me crashing against someone. An 'ouch' escaped the other person's lips while I silently groaned from the pain in my butt. "I'm sorry! I did not see where I was going," I said getting up and helping her up as well.

"Yeah! You should be!"

She was pretty, with high cheekbones, pale skin, huge eyelashes, and straight green hair. She huffed and looked at me while talking "Li- oh wow you're handsome!" She exclaimed.

That was pretty straightforward.

I chuckled before extending my hand "I'm SeokJin Kim." 

"I'm Emerald Green." We shook hands before she looked at her watch and her eyes widened. "I'm sorry but I have to go now! Bye!" I waved at her as she rushed down the hallway.

I chuckled at her frenzied state.

Cute.

"Jin! In here!" I heard Kengi call me from the other room and I walked inside to see the dead animal on the table.

"Hello guys, I'm Diana D'Costa but Dr. Costa for you handsome fellas!" A woman in her late 30s said. My classmates chuckled but I gave her a bored look.

"Is it true that you guys have already figured out this animal?" One of my classmates asked, pointing towards the skin. 

"Yes, but we would like to see you try figuring it out." Dr. Costa motioned with her hand toward the light microscope.

"I have already prepared a slide for you guys. Why don't you try figuring it out?" One of my classmates took over after she said that. Everyone was waiting for their turns with the specimen while I turned towards the skin spread out on the table.

I walked towards it, grabbing an unused glove from the corner of the table and putting it on before inspecting the skin.

I was right about the explosion theory.

I turned and rotated the skin, trying to find the belly, and was finally successful. The belly was white and the rest portion of the body was grey. I quickly took off my gloves and whipped out my notebook and pen.

Oceania

〰️ I'm a freaking genius!

✴️ It's a Great White Shark, its belly is whiter than that of a bull shark and its upper portion is slate-grey.

〰️ So it's a GWS and my explosion theory was correct!

"Mr. Kim! It's your turn!" I quickly put back my things in my bag and walked toward the microscope. I put one eye on the eyepiece and adjusted the magnification and resolution to my preference.

I think I looked for too long because then I felt a tap on my shoulder. "What is it Jin?" Kengi asked me and that's when I felt everyone's gaze on me. I tried not to blush as I shuffled my feet nervously.

"May I know where you took the sample from?" I asked Dr. Costa as she observed me with her hawk eyes. 

"From the skin...why?" I looked to see my classmates looking at me with curious eyes.

They didn't see it...

"I-uh-I saw some weirdly shaped cells along with normal shark cells...." I said after a moment of hesitation.

A/N:
I already have a few things in mind for the next chapter. I'm sorry if the plot's moving too fast but this ain't the main course or even the appetizer.

- K.I.

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