“Hello this is EveryDay Chicken. How may I help you?”

“Hi, is this EveryDay Chicken?”

“...Yes. Yes it is. How may I help you?”

“Well, I want to order some chicken…”

“Uh-huh, tell me your order sir.”

“I don’t know what to order. Can you give me some recommendations?”

“Yangnyeom chicken is a popular choice. Would you like that?”

“But isn’t that spicy?”

“Yes.”

“I can’t eat spicy.”

“Then get the regular fried chicken.”

“Okay. I guess I’ll have that, but does it taste as good as the yangnyeom?”

“You said you can’t eat spicy, sir.”

“I know but yangnyeom chicken is popular, right? Should I try it out even though it’s spicy?”

“If you want to then order it.”

“Okay. How spicy is it? Is it spicy spicy or is it just spicy.”

“Oh my gosh! Is it so hard to choose what type of chicken to order?! Just order something god da—”

The manager of EveryDay Chicken came rushing to his employee, quickly ripping the phone away from him and shoving him towards the other side of the counter. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience. How about considering ordering half and half? You can have a box with one half being fried chicken and the other being yangnyeom.”

The manager continuously smiled while head nodding every time he said “yes” to the customer. Chanyeol had on a look of disdain as he leaned against the counter. He didn’t know what he was doing working at a chicken store instead of eating at one, and not to mention working for someone other than himself.

But then he remembered that one fateful day. That day Ahreum cried an ocean of tears because she wasn’t allowed to audition from being a few minutes late.

Chanyeol couldn’t bear to watch her cry—for a reason unknown to him—so he told her confidently that he would make the people sit and watch her acting. The confidence was stuck with him throughout his journey towards the room that contained those people, and it was still there when he barged in, interrupting a girl crying her eyes out for a—probably—heartbreaking scene.

“Sorry, but can you cry again later? I have a very important matter to discuss and I don’t think that I can deal with anymore crying,” he said to the wide-eyed girl. “And you.” He pointed a finger to a woman wearing eccentric tiger-striped glasses and an animal-print suit that did not match. “I need to talk to you.”

That was the beginning of the negotiation between him and the animal-print-loving lady, who, unfortunately, didn’t fall for his charms. The lady was like a solid rock that was insusceptible to his handsome looks and charming persuasiveness. The result of the negotiation was an exchange for his time working at her lousy son’s chicken store until the drama airs its first episode in exchange for Ahreum getting another shot to audition.

He didn’t think that it was going to go that way. 99% of people on the Earth, men and women, were prone to falling for his charms. But the stone faced woman was not charmed by him. It was unexpected as he was so confident that he could convince her with sweet words and good looks alone.The negotiation definitely didn’t go his way as he was now stuck at a lousy chicken store managed by the lousy woman’s lousy son. He didn’t even know if Ahreum passed the audition. His want to come out successful was too great that he didn’t flat out refuse the terms of the deal when he couldn’t get his way.

Ahreum didn’t know about the fact that he had to work at a chicken store in exchange for her second opportunity to audition, nor did his other dormmates, and he wanted to keep it that way. He wanted them to believe that Park Chanyeol was able to persuade them with only his charm, even though it definitely wasn't the case.

So that was the sad story of how he became sick of anything associated with chicken for the rest of his life.

“You.” His manager pointed a finger at him, huffing and puffing like a pig with anger issues—which he literally was in Chanyeol’s eyes. “Are you stupid? Are you an idiot? How can you talk to a customer like that?!”

The man had anger issues and was prone to turning into a giant tomato when enraged; it was also fairly easy to provoke him, so the tomato appearance was a daily occurrence. However, it wasn’t like Chanyeol wasn’t mad himself. It hadn’t been two weeks since he started working at the store, yet he already felt his insanity level rising higher than all of the towers in the world combined.

“I was helping him make a decision,” Chanyeol explained.

“Don’t talk back to me.”

“You were asking me a question. Aren’t questions supposed to be answered?”

The manager tilted his head upwards, letting out a hard breath. “Do you want to be fired?”

Chanyeol paused. Did he actually want to be fired? The answer was very obvious: Yes. He absolutely did. “Will... you fire me?” he asked, trying his all to stop the corners of his lips from tugging upwards. “Am I… fireable… right now?”

“You were fireable the day you stepped in here!” his manager shouted. “Deliver this and get out of my sight for a minute!”

A bag containing boxes of chicken was thrown straight at Chanyeol, him catching it just in time before it smashed into his face. “Get out of your sight? I’ll still have to come back here after I deliver this,” he said. “Aren’t you going to fire me?”

“If I could afford it I would have fired you a long time ago. But why am I even answering you? Just get out and deliver it!”

Chanyeol scowled and picked up a scooter helmet on the way out. It was a humiliating helmet to wear with its picture of a chicken face on the front and small wings on the side that stuck out. He turned around and waved the helmet in front of him in rage. “Can’t you at least give me another helmet?!” he yelled.

“You still didn’t leave?! Get out already!” The manager went towards a chair, picking it up as if he was going to throw it. Chanyeol had on a horrified expression while scrambling out of the building. He jumped onto the store-provided scooter, still holding onto the bag of chicken, as he drove far away from the insane man.

When he believed that he was far enough, he stopped the scooter on the side of a road and looked back. “What’s wrong with him?! Just wait. When that first episode airs then you better be afraid. You’d be so afraid that the rest of your hair will fall out!” He vented his frustration on an imaginary figure in the air, getting off his scooter and randomly kicking and punching the invisible enemy.

The late awareness of stares from people around him ended his lame martial arts display, his hand reaching up to pull the helmet shield over his face. This was when he took the time to check the address placed inside the bag, which was apparently—and surprisingly—close to where he was according to his phone’s GPS. “What a of luck on a horrible day,” he muttered before getting on his scooter again.

The scooter didn’t get very far before he stopped again from the spotting of two familiar people behind the clear window of a cafe. His dormmates, Ahreum and Gong Myung, were laughing happily with each other while luxuriously sipping on a cup of something he guessed was coffee. He didn’t want either of them to see him so he continued to ride his scooter towards the delivery destination, but only a few feet were covered when a small animal suddenly ran out in front of his path.

A yell came out of his mouth as he jerked his scooter to the right, body falling out of the scooter and onto the ground. No pain was felt as he tried pushing himself up, but when a helping hand reached out to him, he took it without thinking. “Thanks,” he said, dusting off his clothes and checking for any injuries after getting back on his feet.

“You sound like someone I know,” a female voice said.

He smirked, a scoff held back, not believing that he was being flirted with right after an accident—which was a delusion created by his ego, but he only, much later, realized that. “Are you trying to hit on m—”

“Chanyeol?”

The face of Seul-ah became visible through his helmet shield, shock enveloping him. “I-I’m not Chanyeol. You’ve got the wrong person,” he said, turning away and speaking a few pitches higher to mask his identity.

“You sounded like him though, but now your voice sounds abnormally high.”

“Did you see my face?” He nervously waited for an answer.

“No. Your helmet is a bit too dark.”

“Then how can you say that I’m this Chanyeol guy? Look, I don’t have time to stay here and—”

“Seul-ah!” Ahreum happily ran up to Seul-ah with Gong Myung following behind. “I thought you had work. What are you doing here?”

“I was running an errand.”

Chanyeol saw the other two persons he didn’t want to encounter that day and silently cursed under his helmet. He was starting to regret not running over whatever it was that came in front of his path. If he had just continued along his way then he wouldn’t be stuck in his current situation.

“We just left a café. Do you have time now? We can go somewhere together,” Ahreum said.

“I have to get back to work,” Seul-ah answered.

“Oh.” Ahreum was clearly disappointed, but she continued smiling. “Then take this before you go.” A newly bought bracelet with gray and blue beads was handed to the her. “I...” She turned to Gong Myung who mouthed back, “Tell her it was you.” Ahreum shook her head, continuing to say, “Gong Myung and I got it for you. I even got a matching one for myself.”

“Thank you,” Seul-ah said as she slipped the bracelet onto her wrist.

“You’re welcome,” Ahreum replied.

As exchanges were being made between his other dormmates, Chanyeol took the opportunity to stealth his way over to the fallen scooter, pull it up, and jump on it before speeding out of the scene. “This city is way too small. This city is way too small,” he repeated over and over again to himself as if traumatized from the unfortunate coincidence.

Whatever it took to get the delivery over with and head back to the dreadful chicken restaurant, he was going to do it; no care was left in him about the safety of himself or others. He sped on his scooter, zipping and swerving through roads and sidewalks, to get where he needed. After arriving at his destination, he flew off his scooter and ran up the stairs towards the correct apartment. “Chicken delivery!” he announced after ringing the doorbell.

Loud voices were heard from inside, and he could clearly hear someone saying, “Hey, the chicken is here!” and a responding, “You go get it!” Whoever the other people were on the other side, they sounded very obnoxious in his opinion.

The door opened and out came a middle-aged woman who looked overdressed for someone staying at home with her flowing white dress and flowery scarf draped around her neck. “Do you have change?” she asked after handing him the money.

“Uh… let me check.” Chanyeol took her money and searched through his pockets, but searching was difficult with the bulky helmet on his head. He wasn't riding a motorcycle, so he couldn’t understand why his insane manager had to use such a large helmet for a simple scooter. “Hang on.” He reached up to take the helmet off. It was getting a little too hot anyway, making it extremely refreshing when the head container came off his head. He started looking through his pockets for change again, hitting jackpot when the texture of coins were felt on his fingertips. “I think I have—”

“Oh my…” He stopped and looked up to see the lady with agape. “You look… perfect.”

Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “What?”

She answered by pulling him inside, a of panic rushed through him. “L-Let go!”

“Oh my. Did I scare you?” She giggled after already bringing him into her domain.

Chanyeol yanked himself away from her and took a large step back. “Don’t come any closer or I’ll call the police.” He raised a menacing finger, daring her to move an inch towards him.

“I didn’t mean to be rude and be physical with you. It’s just that…” She scanned him up and down. Chanyeol made a face, sincerely creeped out by her. “Do you want to be my model?” she asked.

He knew exactly where this was going. With his status as an art student, he knew there was only one thing this creepy woman wanted when she asked that. “I’m not going to let you paint me . Never!”

“?” She started laughing. “I don’t want to paint you .”

“You… don’t?”

“No.” She turned around and called someone. “Eunmi!”

A young woman around his age came out from around a corner. “What now? Did you get the chicken?”

“I got it, but I also got something else.”

“What?” The woman, apparently named Eunmi, noticed the tall male standing at the front door. Her eyes became enlarged while her hand covered as if in shock. “Who’s he?”

“The delivery guy. Don’t you think he’s perfect?”

Eunmi nodded, eyes not deviating from Chanyeol. “Can any of you tell me exactly why you think I’m perfect?” Chanyeol questioned.

The older woman turned towards him. “It’s because you look—”

“Like a manhwa character,” Eunmi finished for her, blushing afterwards.

“Yes, and you will look splendidly handsome in historical clothes.” The older woman took his hand and gave him a handshake. “My name is Shin Aebong. I have a webtoon about a handsome, dashing man falling in love with a beautiful concubine. It’s a forbidden love story that—”

“He doesn’t want to listen to the entire synopsis,” Eunmi said.

“Didn’t I tell you to talk to me with more respect!” Aebong glared at Eunmi before continuing to smile at Chanyeol. “That’s my assistant, Eunmi. She helps draw my webtoons.”

“You’re a webtoon maker?” Chanyeol asked. Aebong nodded. “And you want me to model for you?” She nodded again. Chanyeol inwardly smirked. He didn’t like anything associated to webtoons and had no intention of being their model, but this could possibly be a great opportunity for him to make some money. “I’ll do it if you buy one of my paintings.”

“Paintings?”

“Yes. I’m an artist and my paintings are out of this world.” He took out his phone and showed them some of the ones that he had a picture of. “You can either buy the ones that I already painted or you can have me paint something on-the-spot.”

Aebong gasped at his artistic work. “You’re skilled,” she honestly said. “How much does it cost to buy one?” Chanyeol held out five fingers. “50,000?” she guessed. He shook his head. “Add another zero,” he said.

Aebong gasped again. “500,000 won?!”

Chanyeol nodded. Usually he charged much less, but that was when he was selling to college students who were too broke to spend much money on quality art. However, this was a different case. He assumed that she could afford it with her having a job and being a lot older. “If it’s too much then I guess I’ll just leave.”

“Wait!” She stopped him. “Your paintings are nicely done anyway. They’re worth the price. I’ll buy one.”

“I’ll buy one too,” Eunmi added.

“Okay, I’ll bring them to you tomorrow. You can choose any of them.”

“And how about being my model. Are you going to model for me?” Aebong questioned. Chanyeol was about to answer, but the sound of the doorbell interrupted him. “Eunmi, go get it.”

“Why do I have to do that? You’re closer.”

“I’m in charge here. Go get the door,” Aebong ordered.

Eunmi groaned and did as told. “You know, if you give us your passcode then we can just enter by ourselves.”

“That’s exactly why I won’t give either of you my passcode. You think I can trust you two to come in whenever you want?” Aebong turned back towards Chanyeol. “So what’s your answer?”

“You have two assistants?” he asked, avoiding the question. “Why do you need that many people just to make a cartoon?”

“Because, to be honest, I’m better at telling a story than drawing. For my beautiful story I need beautiful drawings, so Eunmi and Seul-ah draw it for me.”

Chanyeol froze. “Seul… ah?”

“Yes, that’s my other assistant.” She leaned in closer to him, lowering her voice. “She’s strange, but she draws amazingly. If it wasn’t for that, I would have fired her by now. Actually, I will fire Eunmi first and maybe Seul-ah later. Those two get on my nerves, but Eunmi is more annoying and isn’t as skilled.”

Chanyeol wasn’t listening when the woman revealed way too much information to him; instead, he paid attention to the sound of the person entering through the door behind him. “I got you the stockings,” an oh-so-familiar female voice said. It was the same voice that came from the same person he didn’t want to see again that day.

“Don’t say that in front of the guest!” Aebong scolded, going over to her and snatching the stockings out of her hand.

“Guest?” Seul-ah asked.

Chanyeol gulped, quickly putting on his helmet. “Uh, I’ve gotta head back.” He bowed at them before sprinting pass Seul-ah towards the door.

“Excuse me.” Seul-ah’s voice made him stop in his tracks. “You need a band-aid. Your arm is bleeding.”

He checked his arms, discovering a medium-sized cut on the left one. He didn’t understand how he could have missed seeing it before, but it wasn’t important as he ignored her and continued out of the apartment. Once out, there was nothing that he wanted more than to go home and take a long nap. It was already unfortunate enough to have to work at a chicken store, but why was it that he had to encounter Gong Myung, Ahreum, and Seul-ah on the same day while doing his job?

And he even met Seul-ah twice! Out of the three, she was the one he wanted to see the least. He sighed, got on his scooter, and headed back towards the chicken store to get the day over with.

 

---

 

Chanyeol got back to the dorm completely exhausted. “You're back.” Ahreum greeted him when he got inside. She sat on the couch with Gong Myung next to her while the TV played a variety show.

“You two had fun on your date?” he asked them.

Ahreum blushed and said, “It wasn’t a date!”

“Whatever you say.” He left them be and started towards the back door. It was a long, agonizing day, so he went out to the back of the house for some fresh air. He took a seat on a swinging bench, eyes closed, enjoying the cool breeze that blew by as the bench lightly swung back and forth.

The back door then opened, ruining his state of relaxation and causing a frown to form on his face when Seul-ah stepped out. “Why are you out here?” he asked, no energy left to hide his annoyance.

“Am I not allowed out here?” she asked back.

“I want to be alone,” he honestly replied.

“I’ll be quiet.” She started to walk past him, but then stopped and stared at him.

“What are you looking at?” he said, full to the brim with annoyance.

She shrugged before continuing past him to sit on a chair by a round table, placing down her sketchbook afterwards. Sounds of scribbling then filled the air as her pencil came in contact with paper.

“It’s not quiet,” he grumbled.

“I apologize.” The sound of scribbling disappeared, but when he looked at her, the sight of her hand moving in slow motion was too tiring to watch. “Hey, I don’t care anymore. Just draw normally,” he said.

“You’re very indecisive,” she replied.

“I’m not indecisive. I’m just being kind and letting you draw freely.”

“That doesn’t seem like the case.”

Chanyeol sighed. He didn’t even want to deal with her anymore. All he wanted was some peace, quiet, and the absence of people, but of course she had to come and ruin everything again. Suddenly, the day-ruiner asked, “When are you going to bring the paintings?” The question made him freeze as he slowly turned to her. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“Webtoon writer Shin Aebong. I think you met her earlier today. She wonders when you’ll come to bring her the paintings,” she answered.

“I… I’ve never met anyone like that.” He nervously held his breath, hoping that she wouldn’t catch on to his lies.

“You’ve never met her?” Seul-ah asked without breaking concentration from the work she was doing in the notebook.

“Never even heard of her.”

“I guess I’ve mistaken,” she finally said. She didn’t ask anything further than that as silence fell between them. Chanyeol slowly breathed, irrationally afraid that one wrong release of breath could evoke suspicion in her. He reminded himself to be more careful from then on, especially around Seul-ah.

One wrong move may release his secret: a stupid secret in the eyes of others, but a life or death one in his dramatic mind.