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Seulbi x Hae-on is the femslash ship between Seulbi Yu and Hae-on Kim from the Dark Mermaid fandom.
Canon[]
Seulbi and Hae-on first meet when Seulbi transfers to Hae-on’s high school after the former moves to the village from Seoul. As the class president, Hae-on gets assigned by the teacher to help Seulbi feel welcomed at the school. Seulbi, who is traumatized from bullying back at her old school and has problems with sleepwalking, however, coldly rebuffs Hae-on’s friendliness. Nonetheless, Hae-on perseveres, even drawing out a little map of the village for Seulbi to use as reference. When pointing out the village’s famous lake, Hae-on suggests the location as a perfect place to walk around on a cool day but warns Seulbi not to go near it when it rains.
One night, Seulbi decides to visit the lake to cool off for a bit. Once she gets there, however, it starts to rain. Not wanting to leave so soon after just getting there, Seulbi stays, and soon encounters a dark mermaid in the waters who attacks and eats a deer. To Seulbi’s shock, it’s Hae-on. It is unknown what happened immediately afterwards because Seulbi has a dream of her falling into the water with Hae-on grabbing and biting her. Afterwards Seulbi wakes up the next day in her bed, having no recollection as to how she got back home.
Due to oversleeping, Seulbi arrives late at school, where Hae-on seeks her out to gauge how much Seulbi remembers of the previous night. Hae-on sings a song in an attempt to wipe Seulbi’s memories. However, much to Hae-on's shock, Seulbi's memory remains unaffected. When Seulbi attempts to excuse herself, Hae-on grabs Seulbi's arm and more or less demands Seulbi to keep quiet about her true identity that came off as more threatening that Hae-on apparently intended.
Terrified, Seulbi begins to avoid Hae-on in whatever ways she can but due to circumstances, is ultimately unable to as she ends up joining the same club as Hae-on. Seulbi's fear of Hae-on begins to wane slightly after she overhears that Hae-on stood up against some boys who were talking about Seulbi behind her back.
Hae-on thinks the avoidance is because of her mermaid form being monstrous to look at, but when later confronted about it, Seulbi says it was instead because she had seen Hae-on covered in blood, which had scared her. Seulbi also stated that she was also more scared of Hae-on when she sang that song to make her lose her memories. Seulbi makes it clear to Hae-on she has no intention of telling anyone about her true identity, and she does not view Hae-on as a monster as she has met plenty of regular humans that were monstrous to her.
This causes a breakthrough in their relationship as Hae-on continues to be kind and friendly towards Seulbi, Seulbi opens up to Hae-on and they become friends. She even reveals some details about her past, such as her family history and how the bracelet she wears allows her to keep her true form in check.
Over time, their feelings for each other grow into something beyond simple friendship, and together they seek bloody revenge against their bullies.[1]
Moments[]
Introduction[]
- Upon seeing Seulbi's face for the first time, Hae-on was entranced to the point she had difficulty concentrating that it took the teacher calling on her to refocus.
- Despite Seulbi's standoff behavior, Hae-on continued to persist in engaging with her, and she recommended that Seulbi to check out the lake.
- When deciding on a club while trying to stay away from Hae-on, Seulbi thinks that Hae-on is not only a good singer, but she's cute before reprimanding herself.
- When students are talking badly about Seulbi behind her back, Hae-on physically confronts them while calling herself Seulbi's 'best friend'. She ends up getting into trouble for it, and when Seulbi overhears about the incident, her fears regarding Seulbi beginning to subside.
- Seulbi outright tells Hae-on that she doesn't view her as a monster which starkly contrasted how other people viewed her when they found out about her true form.
Field Day[]
- Hae-on had trouble keeping her eyes off of Seulbi when she was practicing for the three-legged race to the point she memorized Seulbi's movements.
- Hae-on willingly divulged information regarding how the bracelet helps prevent her from transforming when splashed with water along with the fact that exchanging bracelets has been used to form unions/marriages between Sirens.
- After winning the race, Seulbi hugs Hae-on which causes her face to turn red like a tomato.
Misunderstanding[]
- Seulbi is utterly devastated when she believes that Hae-on doesn't care for her and was merely pretending to be her friend.
Fanon[]
Seulbi x Hae-on is a ship that started in 2024 based on the two lead characters of the webtoon original Dark Mermaid. From the very first chapter, fans have begun shipping the two characters due to the set up seemingly being that of a girls’ love story (which was later confirmed by the author to be the case). Despite the darker themes in the series, many fans are thus far more interested in how the two will inevitably bond and get together. Fans regularly cheer in the comments whenever one or the other character blushes or compliments the other’s looks.
With Seulbi being reserved and quiet, while Hae-on is talkative and outgoing, fans think that Hae-on is just the person Seulbi needs to help her heal from her trauma. Fans also speculate that Seulbi is probably a mermaid or has some kind of connection to them due to both her sleepwalking problems and her being immune to Hae-on’s siren song. Alternatively, her sleepwalking problems could be one of the factors that caused her to be immune to the siren song.
Fandom[]
- 검은인어 posts on Twitter
- DarkMermaid posts on Twitter
Trivia[]
- The author has confirmed that Dark Mermaid is a GL, so the main leads will eventually get together.[2]
- The official English version can be read here and the original Korean version can be read here.
- The author posted artwork on Instagram depicting Hae-on and Seulbi as Romeo and Juliet.
- Outside of flashbacks and imagine spots, Hae-on has only been seen in her Siren/Mermaid form in Chapter 1.
- In Chapter 2, it is implied that Hae-on is far stronger than ordinary humans as Seulbi makes note of how strong Hae-on is when Hae-on grabbed Seulbi's wrist.
Gallery[]
