As the Dekona, a cruise ship bound for its next destination, surged forward, its movement gradually slowed down until it finally came to a halt in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.
Dave, who had been diligently searching for the missing Kyle, realized that the ship had stopped and ran up to the bridge in astonishment.
“What in the world is going on here? How do you plan to take responsibility if this disrupts our sailing schedule!” Dave exclaimed, frustrated.
Captain Marcus, facing the agitated Dave, wore a grave expression. “I clearly gave one hour. That time has passed, and they haven’t appeared.”
“We’re doing everything we can to find them!” Dave pleaded desperately.
“Immediately contact the headquarters and issue a rescue command. Prepare for the operation,” Marcus ordered the waiting crew.
“Stop right there. I am in charge right now,” Dave shouted, causing the moving crew to halt.
“I am the captain of the Dekona. Once sailing has begun, my word should be followed in an emergency,” Marcus asserted.
“That applies only when the CEO and I are not present. The situation is different now. Start the ship on its course immediately. What will you tell the passengers if they find out we’ve stopped?”
“We must declare an emergency,” Marcus remained unfazed by Dave’s warning.
“I don’t want to follow the ‘Jayna’ incident’s precedent. As the captain of this ship, it’s my duty to rescue the passengers,” Marcus said, his eyes filled with firm resolve.
“Start the ship now,” Dave insisted, unwavering.
Caught between the unyielding captain and Dave, the sailors and navigators were helplessly confused.
Then, someone rushed into the bridge.
“Captain, Captain. It seems to be the engine room,” a crew member gasped for air as he spoke.
“The engine room?” Dave’s face contorted in seriousness.
Kyle had disappeared near the staircase leading to the engine room, which was caught on CCTV. Initially, Dave wanted to check there, but the engine room, being a restricted area, hadn’t been thoroughly searched due to Captain Marcus’s insistence that no outsider would go there.
“We’ve received complaints about strange noises coming from the ventilation system near the engine room,” the crew member reported.
Dave rushed out as soon as the words were spoken.
Heading towards the engine room, following the eerie sounds echoing in the quiet cruise ship, he quickened his pace.
As he got closer, the sound became clearer.
Grateful for the distinct sound, Dave arrived at the firmly closed hatch and sighed in relief.
He turned the hatch’s door, and the steel door creaked open slowly.
The South Korean national anthem resonated from the ventilation system of the British cruise ship in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.
“With this spirit and this heart, to be loyal forever…”
Sehee’s solo rendition of the anthem finally reached its fourth verse.
Kyle, arms folded, watched her and had to bite his lip to contain his laughter.
It was a situation that could easily have led to a chuckle. Kyle, familiar with the national anthem of South Korea, “Aegukga,” was in disbelief at how Sehee could sing it so seriously yet amusingly. An unexpected thought crossed his mind: being with her would never be dull.
Kyle was watching Sehee with a smile he didn’t realize was on his face, unaware of his own amusement. Then, suddenly, the loud mechanical noise that had been drowning Sehee’s voice stopped, along with the ship’s movement.
With a grave look, Kyle turned towards the door, muttering, “To stop the ship like this, this is madness.”
Though Sehee heard Kyle’s low curses, she pretended not to and focused on her singing, “It’s suddenly so quiet. Now’s the perfect chance for my voice to be heard all the way above. MuUgungwha Samcheolli.”
Sehee passionately sang the national anthem, using all her strength. Then, in the ensuing silence, another sound emerged.
The sound of the locked hatch door opening.
Startled, Sehee stopped singing and looked at the door. It was the first time she found the harsh sound of metal so welcoming.
As Kyle waited, looking at the door with a cold gaze, it finally opened, and a man entered.
Dave, who came through the hatch, met Kyle’s sharply glaring eyes. In that moment, Dave knew he had to brace for death.
“You’ve been through a lot. I’m so sorry for being late,” Dave said, unable to directly address Kyle, his voice trembling.
“The door… the door has opened. It’s an escape! Escape! My singing must have worked. Mr. Graham, we made it!”
Sehee, unaware of the full situation, excitedly exclaimed to Kyle.
“Thank you so much, truly thank you,” she soon turned to Dave, bowing deeply with an expression close to tears.
“No, no, I’m sorry for being late,” Dave replied, clearly uncomfortable.
“No, it’s okay, really okay. Thank you so much for finding us,” Sehee said.
“Please, let’s get out of here,” Dave said, stepping aside from the door.
Sehee was the first to exit.
Kyle remained silent, his gaze icy, making Dave swallow hard.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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