#jinwoo looking at slightly tipsy smiling jinchul who passionately tells about ships while covered in coal and old repaired clothes:

[hanakihan]

man you have no idea the sheer DESIRE to write something about Titanic esque chulwoo AU

The main drill is that Sungs come from a rather wealthy old noble family (courtesy of Ashborn as their predecessor being royal knight or smth), Jin-Woo is a next heir while Jin-Ah studies to become a doctor (or a nurse depending on timeline it happens im not even completely sure with setting but probably og titanic vibe mixed with Korean Idek wheeze) and parents send them on a cruise ship for vacation (and in hopes jinwoo will meet nice noblewoman or any woman since sungs are pretty chill about bloodline)

Then there’s Jin-Chul who’s a ship engineer/captain in training courtesy of navy captain on pension Gun-Hee. Gun-Hee comes from rather humble background but managed to reach rather prestigious position of first navy and then civil ship captain but now he’s on pension, and this man is an example to Jin-Chul that you can reach your dream despite your upbringing. Jin-Chul himself also comes from rather humble background on verge of poverty but money and fame never fascinated him, but ships and sailing did. When Jin-Chul was assigned on Gun-Hee’s ship as a new engineer, Gun-Hee saw talent in boy and unofficially took him under his wing teaching him to be a captain. Then Gun-Hee left (or honestly more likely was forcefully dismissed) and Jin-Chul got assigned as one of engineers/coal workers on this giant ship, but Gun-Hee still sails under his own name as a trader or smth like that.

Cue sailing day and at evening Jin-Woo excused himself since noble parties bore him to death and anyway, evening is beautiful and sea is calm. Wandering around he stumbles upon Jin-Chul doing small repairs and who nearly hit Jin-Woo in nose with his elbow because he came too close without announcement. Jin-Chul stiffly apologizing because he knows how annoying nobles can be but is surprised when Jin-Woo is the one to apologize for being so careless and invites him for an apology tea or coffee since compared to other choices Jin-Chul seems as a perfect company thanks to his sharp tongue, wits and knowledge.

Some day of cruise pass and they become rather close friends, Jin-Woo visits Jin-Chul in lowest decks which surprises everyone here and they have a rather nice drinking and dancing session, while in turn Jin-Woo helps Jin-Chul to sneak in 1st class deck so they can chat and play chess in peace of room (and so he can introduce Jin-Chul to Jin-Ah). Jin-Woo even tries to gift Jin-Chul his sapphire brooch so he can sell it for nice sum of money and get his own ship or even open his own company or smth, but Jin-Chul politely refuses, satisfied with their friendship.

Cue disaster night. Now think about captain being an incompetent prick (maybe even on levels of Costa Concordia captain damn) and fucking up entire probably miss into sure hit (even if Jin-Chul risked it and asked people to follow his instructions despite it being a big ass discipline insubordination but no one really minded because people saw that captain gives shit orders) but since bridge was still under captains command, instructions contradicted, but it still allowed a graze hit rather than direct one. So yea this gets worse, Jin-Chul was in section that suffered from impact and got tore, barely got out of here along with most of his men. Seeing how fast water fills decks he tells people to go higher and himself runs to find Sungs or other people he knows. Apparently he finds panicking Jin-Ah and through dangers of ice cold water and falling construction manages to cross paths with Jin-Woo until they got separated again. They manage to get out of sinking shell that nearly becomes their coffin (because he promised Jin-Woo to take care of and save Jin-Ah no matter what goddamnit), Jin-Chul manages to place Jin-Ah on some drifting wood before starting to sink because of cold water.

Now, I’m a sucker for happy endings despite shit looking really bad, so let’s say Jin-Woo with others on safe boat manages to find shell shocked Jin-Ah wrapped in Jin-Chul’s coat, pointing at water and trying to say something with her teeth chattering and managing to say that he’s drowning, Jin-Woo saying ‘not on my fucking watch’ and jumps after, managing to grab him and drag on surface, man is absolutely freezing with lips blue and not really conscious but still weakly breathing.

ANYWAY they safely get back on shore, they all get medical treatment, Jin-Chul earns himself pneumonia (well fuck his sailing dreams ig), Sungs’ gratitude for saving their children and a fucking trial because captain blamed entire catastrophe on lower deck crew defying his orders and following engineer’s ones and that’s a big ass crime in navy. Things ain’t looking good because they want to prosecute him in shortest time to give people answers who’s the guilty one, Jin-Woo is really ready to throw hands with people, Jin-Chul’s patient explanations through coughs ain’t helping because no one can confirm accuracy of his words and that’s when Gun-Hee himself enters court saying smth like ‘maybe you should interrogate deck staff too to hear what commands captain was giving’ and then our sir proceeds to destroy this captain‘s whole career. Jin-Chul is cleaned of accusations and becomes a sort of a good example semi-legend, but thanks to extreme colds diving he now can’t sail on long distances but fear not Gun-Hee invites him to work for him since Jin-Chul is out of commission and Jin-Woo once again gifts Jin-Chul a sapphire brooch but this time asking if Jin-Chul will share future with him. Jin-Chul honestly having ??? reaction while Jin-Woo with the most deadpan face asks ‘You seriously think I’ll dive into cold waters of ocean at night to drag you on surface and then using my body warmth to keep you alive if i didn’t cared about you???’

#solo leveling #woo jin chul #sung jin woo #titanic au #sort of #okay listen I’m a sucker for good catastrophe stories that have good developing romance #jinchul trying to prevent it by being a badass and MVP #still failing tho but at least ship didnt kiss obstacle directly #jinwoo looking at slightly tipsy smiling jinchul who passionately tells about ships while covered in coal and old repaired clothes: #god I love him so fucking much #jinah staring at these two cringe flirting without realizing it from behind her book #‘man the ultimate form of chess homoerotism mixed with density of idiots’ #she totally approves tho #jinchul smiling and saying dumb things to cheer hysterical jinah on drifting wood even if they both know it’s pointless #it still works and she laughs and slightly calms down so she won’t flip herself in water #jinchul trying his best until his muscles in water give out and he disappears under water when jinah turns away to yell for a boat #imagine her turning back excitedly only to find herself alone #and being a medical student she knows what it means #jinchul having more bonding moments with jinwoo before catastrophe and with jinah in middle of it #ha I got you #now I made myself sad ffs