The captain shakes his head, crouching down to look at Hwanin. “Always a shame when there are babies on board,” he murmurs, reaching out a finger to poke Hwanin’s nose. Seokga grits his teeth and moves Hwanin away. He didn’t give the man permission to touch him, and contemplates slapping his hand away. But Captain Lee seems to have gotten the point, folding his hands behind his back. “How did it happen?”

“How did what happen?” Exhausted, and wishing Kisa were here, Seokga doesn’t even attempt to be polite.

Captain Lee’s bushy brows rise. “You died together, I assume?”

With a start, Seokga realizes that Captain Lee doesn’t recognize him. He smiles slowly, and most unpleasantly. “Yes.”

“How?”

Will this man not leave? “A gigantic volcano exploded,” Seokga says nastily. “On us.”

Hwanin blows a raspberry, either amused by the lie or more probably amused by the man’s mustache, which he swipes at.

“A shame,” the captain says again then sighs. “To die so young…I’m very sorry.” As Seokga continues to smile unpleasantly, Captain Lee’s cheeks tinge pink and he rubs his mustache awkwardly.

Pink?

“You’re alive,” Seokga realizes, surprised. He’d assumed the captain was just as dead as his guests. And—from what he’s observed—Captain Lee is very human. What sort of living mortal accepts a job navigating a ship in the underworld? Why in hells did Yeomra employ him?

Captain Lee’s expression turns guilty and he suddenly looks hesitant, possibly fearing Seokga’s jealousy. “Well, yes,” he admits, and is quick to add, “I’ll be dead eventually, though. Just like you two.” He tries to tap Hwanin’s nose again. Seokga fixes him with an icy stare, and he gives up.

“What are you doing down here?” he demands, still rather shocked. “Yeomra doesn’t employ the living.”

“Ah. The CEO.” Captain Lee sighs. “He heard about my former ship, the Seoul Carnival. Apparently he views it as the SRC Flatliner’s competition, although they’re in completely different realms—literally and figuratively. He, uh, offered me a deal I couldn’t refuse.”

Seokga is quite an accomplished blackmailer, and thus immediately recognizes what Yeomra likely did—sending a jeoseung saja after the captain with some mellow bribery (How’d you like to skip the seven hells in the afterlife?) and reverting to other tactics (kidnapping) when the mortal man refused/expressed disbelief in the Korean underworld. To his great disgust, he feels a twinge of respect for Yeomra. It was nicely done. Very nice. He’s taking notes. “Ah,” says Seokga. Captain Lee appears to be sweating nervously.