Bang bang bang. “Chanyeol!” Bang bang bang. “Chanyeol!”

The door swung open and Ahreum jerked backwards at the suddenness of it. “What?!” Chanyeol emerged from his room, cranky and annoyed from having his beautiful sleep disrupted.

“We have to start cooking.”

“Why do we have to do it so early in the morning?” he groaned.

“Because the food has to be ready to go by the time I leave for the shoot! And you don’t have anything important to do in the morning.” She then grabbed his arm to pull him out towards the kitchen.

He eyed her, a finger raised up to point at his dark circles. “Do you see this? This is telling me I'm not getting enough sleep, and it's making me less handsome. Don't you see what important thing I have to do right now?”

“I told you to go to sleep early last night, but you wouldn't listen.”

“I'm a college student! You should know that college students never go to sleep early!”

“I went to sleep early and I'm a college student too.”

He glared at the heartless monster in front of him. “Why couldn’t you do it last night?” He grumbled while she led him out, but was too tired to resist as his feet trudged along behind her.

“Because it has to taste fresh. I can’t give cold lunchboxes to the staff!”

“Yes you can.”

She stopped to give him a look, and it was that moment where he noticed Seul-ah and Gong Myung sitting at the kitchen table, neither looking any more awake than he was. “This is torture,” he muttered, shaking his hand out from her grasp and taking a seat beside his other listless dormmates.

“Good morning,” Gong Myung said with a yawn while waving, eyes repeatedly closing and opening as if blinking could keep the drowsiness away. Seul-ah, who usually greeted the others when encountering them, didn’t even try and kept her eyes closed.

“It’s a terrible morning,” Chanyeol replied. “What time is it anyway?”

“6.”

“6?!” Chanyeol’s mouth fell agape. “Are you kidding me?”

“I told you guys to go to sleep early for a reason,” Ahreum said while putting on an apron. “Now I need you three to help me get all of the ingredients out. Chop chop! Let’s go!”

“Chop chop? Who says that anymore?” Chanyeol said.

“Me. Let’s start cooking now, c’mon!” Ahreum went over to the kitchen table and pulled each of her sleepy dormmates out of their seats. In a matter of minutes, the group got separated with each doing an individual task.

“I will run away. I won’t run away. I will run away. I won’t run away,” Chanyeol mumbled with every slice he made on the carrots; the last carrot slice would be the determining factor in whether or not he would run out of the dorm, away from a sociopath named Im Ahreum. A few chairs away sat Seul-ah, who was in charge of peeling the necessary vegetables, but the peeler she was holding stayed stuck in the middle of a carrot while it was in the process of being peeled.

“Seul-ah…” Gong Myung lightly shook her shoulder when he saw how still she was. He then brought his head forward to take a look at her face and saw that she was staring aimlessly downwards at something, her eyes lost of all liveliness. “Seul-ah.” He waved his hand in front of her. No response. “Seul-ah.” His hand reached up to gently pinch her cheek this time, which finally got her mind to come back to reality as she blinked and turned her head towards him.

“Oh, Gong Pa—”

“Myung.”

“Myung,” she corrected herself.

It didn’t take long for him to realize that it was sleepiness that got ahold of her, explaining her stillness the moment before. “Try your best not to doze off and get this done as fast as possible. The faster we get this done, the faster we get to go back to sleep,” he encouraged. Seul-ah nodded and gave him a thumbs up before going back to peeling.

“Hey, Gong Myung,” Chanyeol called without looking up from the carrot slices.

“Yes?” Gong Myung answered. Chanyeol didn’t say anything as he beckoned the other male over, head still not looking up from the carrots. Gong Myung went over, asking a “What?”

Chanyeol placed his hand behind Gong Myung’s neck and pulled the male’s head closer to him. “Distract Ahreum for me,” he whispered so that only Gong Myung would hear.

“Why?”

Chanyeol’s other hand sprang up and displayed a carrot slice in front of Gong Myung’s face. “This carrot is telling me to run away. I have to listen to it.”

Gong Myung furrowed his eyebrows. “What?”

“Listen to me. You must distract her. Make sure she doesn’t look this way.” Chanyeol’s face remained serious while telling Gong Myung the details of his escape plan. “Just distract her long enough for me to get to the front door. You’re the only one I trust here,” Chanyeol finished.

“But you’ve known me for the least amount of time,” Gong Myung pointed out.

“That’s exactly why I trust you the most. You don’t know what those other two are actually like, but I do. So are you going to help me or not?”

“Chanyeol, did you finish cutting everything, yet?” Ahreum asked, unknowingly interrupting the planning of the soon-to-be escape act.

“I’m done with the carrots,” Chanyeol answered. He then dramatically blinked twice at Gong Myung while subtly pointing at Ahreum with his head. “I don’t think I can do it,” Gong Myung mouthed.

“Why not?” Chanyeol mouthed back, looking both betrayed and desperate.

“Ah!” The sound of sizzles and a short shriek coming from Ahreum got the attention of Gong Myung. “Are you okay?” he asked while running over to her.

“I’m alright.” She rubbed at a spot underneath her eye.

“Did some oil splash onto you?” he worriedly asked. “Let me take a look.” He pushed her hand away as he brought his face closer to hers. “It got red here…” He gently rubbed the part of her skin that got splashed by a drop of hot oil, eyebrows knitted in worry.

“I-I’m alright.” She took a step back. “It doesn’t hurt at all. I need to get back to cooking or the chicken might burn.”

“Okay, but take this.” Gong Myung went over to the cabinets to get something before handing her a pair of safety glasses.

She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think I need it.”

“But I think you do. It would be bad if the oil gets into your eye.”

“I really don’t want to wear it,” she said, face scrunching at the thought of looking like a carpenter while simply cooking a chicken. “I’ll look strange.”

He stepped towards her, placed the safety glasses onto her face, and smiled. “Safety is more important, and compared to me, you don’t look strange with it on at all. It looks cute on you,” he assured.

Ahreum blushed. She didn’t know how to reply at his flattering comment, but she didn’t have time to think much about it when a certain figure, military crawling on the ground, caught her eye. “What are you doing?” she asked the male. Chanyeol must have not known that she was directing her question at him; his limbs still fervently pushing himself towards the front door of the dorm, making him look like a strange, wiggling lizard with long limbs. “Chanyeol,” she called. The male froze mid-crawl. “What are you doing?” she asked again.

“C-Cleaning the floor,” he quickly said.

“Uh-huh…” Ahreum raised a brow. “I vacuumed over there yesterday.”

He gulped. “So that’s why I didn’t pick up any dirt.” Chanyeol nervously laughed and stood up, voluntarily going back to his seat to continue cutting the rest of the vegetables. His hand was shaking with each cut he made, preparing for Ahreum to blow up on him, but fortunately Ahreum only shook her head before going back to cooking. “Hey,” he whispered when Gong Myung walked by as he grabbed the other male by the arm. “You should have stalled her more!”

“Oh… right.” Gong Myung realized that his previous actions made it seem like he was helping Chanyeol out with his plan. To be honest, he didn’t mean to actually get involved in the escape plan, but what good was it going to do if he told the truth? “Why were you crawling on the ground?” he asked back. “It would have been faster if you ran towards the door instead.”

“I crawled because Seul-ah could have seen me! Don’t you see that she’s facing the door?!”

“But she’s asleep,” Gong Myung pointed out. Chanyeol turned towards her to check for himself, facepalming five seconds after his brain registered Seul-ah's closed eyes.

“Let’s pretend this never happened,” Chanyeol said, giving up on escaping after discovering how much a lack of sleep had increased his stupidity.

Hours later, the cooking was done and all of the lunchboxes were packed. “Good job, everyone,” Ahreum said. “You can go back to sleep now.”

“How can I when I have class in an hour?” Chanyeol complained.

“Take a one hour nap right now,” Ahreum said.

“And be late?”

“Since when did you care about getting to class on time?”

Chanyeol paused. “You’re right,” he said. He laid down in the couch he was sitting on and moved around to get into the most comfortable position. “Don’t wake me up. I’ll let my body naturally do that.”

“We wouldn’t wake you up even if you asked,” Ahreum said while checking her phone. “I’m going! Thanks for everything, everyone!” She grabbed the huge bag containing the lunchboxes before rushing to the front door. “I made a few extra lunchboxes for you guys. They’re on the counter over there, so remember to eat them later.”

“Ahreum, do you have classes today?” Gong Myung asked out of curiosity.

“Yeah, but I already notified the school and everything so I’ll be excused,” she explained. “I hope you guys are looking forward to my drama.”

“When is it coming out?” Gong Myung questioned, being the only one lively enough to interact with her. Seul-ah was zoned out at the kitchen table, mindlessly chewing on jellybeans, and Chanyeol was trying his best to catch up on some sleep.

“I’m not exactly sure. I think it’ll be some time next year. The drama is pre-produced so I don’t know exactly when,” Ahreum answered.

“What?” Chanyeol’s eyes shot opened. “The drama is pre-produced?”

“Yeah,” Ahreum said.

“Pre… produced…”

“Why? What’s wrong?” she asked Chanyeol at the strange look on his face. “Don’t tell me that you’re that excited for it to come out.”

“You don’t even know…” Chanyeol muttered.

Ahreum checked her phone once more and hurriedly wore her shoes after seeing the time. “I’ll get going now. Again, thanks for everything guys!”

“Good luck on your shoot,” Gong Myung said.

Ahreum showed her gratitude at his generous statement by giving him a head nod and a smile. She then left her university as fast as she could while hauling the gigantic bag filled with lunchboxes. Getting to the film site was a workout that was not planned beforehand, but the physical strain proved to be worthwhile when the staff members showed appreciation at her thoughtfulness.

“Hello! I’m rookie actress, Im Ahreum. Please take care of me!” Ahreum bowed with a big smile on her face before handing a lunch box to one of the staff members; the same statement was repeated over and over again towards each person. The tediousness of it could have been tiring for anyone else, but for Ahreum, her energy had yet to deplete even by a fragment of a percent. The explanation lied in the fact that it was the first time she had such a large role in a drama. Despite it being a supporting character, compared to her past roles as background extras and random passersby, this was the largest role she had gotten yet.

“Hello! I’m rookie actress, Im Ahreum. Please take care of me!” she repeated towards the director, bowing a few extra degrees and causing her nose to nearly touch her legs.

“Im Ahreum?” the man said.

“Yes, I’m Im Ahreum. Please take this lunchbox.”

“Aren’t you the one who was rejected from auditioning at first?” he asked her while accepting the meal.

“Ah… y-yes, that was me.”

“It’s not every day where Kyeong Sook changes her mind. I have high expectations from you.”

“Kyeong Sook…” She looked at him curiously before something clicked in her head. “Oh! That animal print lady?” After saying that and realizing that it could have came off as an insult, her hands shot up to quickly cover .

“Yup, that’s her. Kyeong Sook sure likes her animal print…” The director shook his head as he opened the lunchbox. “Anyway, I have high expectations. I’m looking forward to what you can present.”

“Yes! I will give it my all!” She widely smiled at him and bowed once again.

The director only nodded, mouth busy chewing the contents in the lunchbox, before walking off towards somewhere else. Since the director left, Ahreum continued to search for people to pass out lunchboxes to, greeting them with more enthusiasm than ever after interacting with the director. “Hello!” She approached a young, pink-haired woman with a friendly smile. “I’m rookie actress, Im Ahreum. Please have this lunchbox.”

“You’re a rookie actress?” The woman suddenly seemed very excited to meet her. “I am too!”

“Really?” Ahreum’s smile grew brighter.

“Yeah!” The woman brought out her hand. “I’m Kim Nahyun.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Ahreum said while shaking her hand. “How old are you?”

“I’m 22.”

“Woah, I’m also 22! We’re the same age.”

The two of them started talking together after finding out their similarities. Apparently from the conversation she had with Nahyun, she discovered that Nahyun had the small role of a lackey of one of the bullies in the drama, was taking a break from college for a year or two, and was not a part of a company or agency—the last bit being the same as Ahreum’s situation. “You don’t have an agency either?” Nahyun questioned.

“No. Not yet,” Ahreum answered.

“So how did you find out about these auditions taking place?” Nahyun asked. “It was so hard for me to find out about them since I don’t have a manager or anything.”

“It’s actually pretty easy for me to find them. My University has this bulletin board with flyers and advertisements, and my Professors tell me about opportunities too. Because of that, I haven’t taken the time out to find a company.”

“Really? What school do you go to?”

“Seoul University of the Arts.”

“What? You go to Seoul University of the Arts?” Nahyun exclaimed in astonishment. “I bet you’re really good at acting then,” she continued.

“I wouldn’t say that I’m that good.”

“That University is super hard to get into,” Nahyun reasoned. “No need to be humble with me. You deserve to brag if you go to that school.”

Ahreum laughed. “I think I just got lucky,” she humbly said.

“Ehy… I told you that you don’t have to be humble in front of me,” Nahyun giggled. The two continued to converse about different topics ranging from the different acting jobs they’ve done before to what they were worrying about at the moment. “Yah!” Nahyun shook Ahreum’s arm while pointing at someone. “It’s EXO’s Sehun!”

“Sehun?” Ahreum turned her head. Nahyun was pointing at Oh Sehun: the rising star idol and actor. His popularity spanned across different demographics, but his main fans consisted of young females in their teens and 20’s. Ahreum met him at the script reading, though she wasn’t able to speak with him other than reading the lines in the script. He was a popular idol after all, and had left a few minutes after the script reading ended to go to his next schedule.

“I think he just arrived,” Nahyun said. “Woah, he looks even more handsome in person.”

Ahreum laughed from seeing Nahyun's lovestruck face. “Are you a fan?”

“Of course! Who isn’t a fan of EXO?”

“True,” Ahreum said while nodding. “But since you’re a fan, do you want to come with me and give him a lunchbox?”

“No! I can’t do that.” Nahyun shook her head, flustered.

“C’mon, it’ll be fine.” Ahreum pulled Nahyun with her towards the popular idol/actor. “Hello,” she greeted him.

Sehun faced them. “Oh, hi.”

At the sight of his handsome features, Ahreum was starstruck from witnessing his stunning visuals up-close. But he wasn’t her favorite member so her reaction was small compared to his fans, and possibly made her seem like she wasn’t a fan in the first place. This was, as a matter of fact, good because it would allow her to maintain professionalism while filming with him. Nahyun, on the other hand, couldn’t hide her emotions as she stood there with wide eyes, awestruck in front of Sehun’s presence.

“I’m Im Ahreum. We met at the script reading.”

Sehun seemed confused before his face lit up in recognition. “Ah, right. I remember.”

“I hope we can get along,” Ahreum said as she handed him a lunchbox. “Please take this.”

“Oh… thank you,” Sehun said.

Soonafter receiving the lunchbox, Sehun left towards his manager after he was called. “I can’t believe I saw him that close up!” Nahyun squealed happily when her idol was out of sight. “Did you see the way he smiled? He looks even more handsome in person!”

“Yeah, he was,” Ahreum said.

“You were so composed when you were talking to him.” Nahyun looked at her surprisingly. “How did you do it? I couldn’t do anything. I wanted to say something to him, but nothing came out.” Nahyun pouted.

“He’s not my favorite member in EXO,” Ahreum admitted.

“Ohh,” Nahyun nodded in understanding before playfully smiling. “But I bet it’s also because your school has a lot of celebrities, right?”

“Not really. I actually don’t see a lot of celebrities there.”

“Really? But your University is famous for having many applications from celebrities since it’s one of the top universities.”

“I guess not many of them passed the admission process.”

“Really? I guess I understand why. The admission process is hard. I tried applying, but I didn’t get in. You’re amazing for being able to go there,” Nahyun said.

“I think I just got lucky,” Ahreum said, staying humble.

“I also heard that your school has a lot of good looking people.” Nahyun lightheartedly nudged her. “Is it true?”

“Maybe.”

“I knew it!” Nahyun giggled. “How good looking are they? Can you rate them on a scale from one to ten?”

“I’m not sure. There are a lot of people that go there, and all of them are different. How about I show you something instead?” Ahreum said. She then took out her phone and showed a picture.

Nahyun’s eyes brightened at the sight of Ahreum’s dormmates, falling open and staying that way. “Who are they?” she asked. The picture was of Ahreum and her dormmates on the day they went out to a barbeque as Gong Myung’s welcome party, taken just before they started the drinking game that caused Ahreum to pass out from drunkenness. “They’re all good looking,” Nahyun continued.

“Those are my dormmates. I share a dorm with them.”

“You share a dorm with them?” Nahyun gasped with still agape. “Your dormmates are so good looking. Both of the guys are handsome, and even the girl is beautiful.”

“She’s cuter in real life, personality-wise and everything.” Ahreum leaned closer and pointed at Seul-ah in the picture. “Her name is Yoo Seul-ah, she’s a 2nd year so she’s the youngest in the dorm. This guy here is Park Chanyeol and this other guy is Gong Myung. They’re both 3rd years and are the same age as us.”

“No wonder you weren’t fazed when talking face-to-face with the Oh Sehun,” Nahyun mentioned. “You get to see good looking people every day.”

Ahreum laughed. “Maybe I could get them to visit us on set so that you can meet them,” she suggested.

“No no no no.” Nahyun pushed the phone back towards Ahreum. “If you do that, I won’t be able to focus on my acting. I’m weak in front of visually stunning people.”

The two of them looked at each other before laughing. They then continued to talk and talk, Ahreum feeling happy that she made a new friend.

 

---

 

EveryDay Chicken was once again void of everything: customers, tasty chicken, and happy Chanyeols. Chanyeol boringly sat at one of the tables and stared out the window. There were some people walking by, but they were too smart to enter the lousiest chicken restaurant in Korea. “Get back to the counter! I’m not paying you for slacking off!” his manager yelled.

Chanyeol mind-scowled at the sight of his manager. “Yes, sir,” he had no choice but to say. It was true that he got paid for working at the chicken store, which was surprising because he thought that he wouldn’t get paid at all since the agreement only touched upon Ahreum getting to audition. However, he was paid minimum wage; he didn’t exactly know what it was before, but now he did. It was almost like being paid nothing as he found that being paid minimum wage was not enough to pay for any of the things that he liked. Selling his paintings to broke college students allowed him to make more than twice the amount he was making at the lousy chicken store.

Though he now understood why they were so broke with how little part-time jobs paid. A tiny bit more sympathy grew in him, but then again, he believed his paintings were worth going broke for.

“I’m going to go somewhere,” his manager said, putting on a jacket. “When I come back, you better be behind that counter.”

“What if I’m at the back making the chicken?”

“Don’t talk back to me,” his manager said before leaving. When he was out of Chanyeol’s sight, Chanyeol allowed all curses, glares, and scowls to freely appear. Holding it back was suffocating; releasing it was invigorating. He then took some time to look around the deserted store, remembering what Ahreum had said.

“So the drama is pre-produced.” He laughed in disbelief. “I guess I’m stuck here until then.” He sighed. Then dropped his head onto the counter. He woke up at 6 in the morning because he had to prepare lunchboxes with Ahreum and now he was stuck in a chicken store for who knows how long because of Ahreum. At least his manager wasn't at the store often. The lazy man always went out and left him to watch the store alone, which was good for Chanyeol as he got to be lazy, himself, since he was left unsupervised.

The bells at the entrance rang, signalling the entrance of a customer, but Chanyeol wouldn’t raise his head up. Sleepiness was too prevalent to care about the customer’s wants. “May I make an order?” the customer asked.

“This place sells really bad chicken,” he stated without moving.

“I know. I still want to make an order.”

“You should leave. You’re going to waste your money.”

“I’m not wasting my money,” the customer said. “I want to make an order.”

Chanyeol grew confused at the customer. This person knew that this place sold bad chicken, but said that they were not wasting their money ordering it and still wanted to make an order? How strange. He lifted his head to meet this strange person, growing surprised for a split second at the person’s face. The surprise lasted very briefly because one: he was too tired. And two: it wasn’t that surprising to think that the person in front of him was strange. Everyone who knew her would definitely, undoubtedly, most certainly describe her as strange.

“Oh, it’s Chanyeol,” Seul-ah said before waving her hand in greeting.

“What are you doing here?” he asked her, too tired to sound surprised.

“I’m here to make an order,” Seul-ah said.

“Yeah right. What are you really here for? Are you here to blackmail me? Now that you know that I work here, you’re going to threaten to tell everyone on campus, aren’t you?”

“No. I only want to make an order. Shin Aebong tried calling to place one, but apparently it wasn’t the right phone number, so she sent me.”

“Shin Aebong? The creepy webtoon lady?”

It was understandable that she came here because of that. The Shin Aebong woman kept trying to place an order with the store, hoping that he would deliver chicken to her place again, but he pretended that the number she dialed was wrong in order to avoid coming near that apartment. Not only was he afraid of encountering Seul-ah there—not that it mattered now—but he was also slightly afraid of the Shin Aebong woman as she was even more strange than Seul-ah—which was also saying a lot. It also made sense that the woman was trying to get in touch with him since he did seem to have agreed to be the woman’s model when he told her to buy his paintings first.

But he wasn’t actually going to do it, the actual plan being to sell his paintings to her and then change his mind, leave, and never come back to that building ever again. Some people may think that he was scamming the lady, but it wasn’t like that. As a human being, one is allowed to change his mind now and then, and it wouldn’t be considered a scam if he simply changed his mind. And again, the woman was weirder than Seul-ah, making it potentially very dangerous for him to agree to model for her. Who knows what she might do to a handsome guy like him if he worked for her.

“Yes. That is her. So you did meet her after all,” she said. “Also, since I happen to know you, can I get a discount?”

“What? No,” he said. “Just answer me this, since when did you know that I was working here? You must’ve known way before you came today. When was it?”

“Since now.”

“You’re lying. When did you really know that I worked here?”

“I was suspicious when you smelled like chicken every day. I also saw the same cut on your arm as the chicken delivery man I saw earlier before,” she said. Chanyeol grew more conscious of his scent, taking a sniff at his shirt and checking the, almost, completely healed cut on his arm. A flashback then played in his head.

 

“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.

 

According to the memory that he recovered, when he thought that Seul-ah was just being annoying and simply looking at him, she must have actually been staring at the cut on his arm. Still, even though his current situation wasn’t so great, he had to admit that getting the flashback was pretty cool since it was like the ones he saw in the movies.

“But I didn’t jump to conclusions,” she said. “However, it seems like my suspicions weren’t unreasonable now that I see you here.”

“Look,” he seriously said. “I don’t want Ahreum or Gong Myung to know that I work here.”

“Is it because you don’t want to give out friendly discounts?”

“What? No,” he said. “I don’t want them to know because they think that I got Ahreum her second chance at auditioning through me being the charming person I am. But as you can see, it wasn’t like that, and I don’t want them to find out about this.”

Seul-ah blinked while staring at him. “That’s an unreasonable reason,” she stated.

“It’s not! It perfectly makes sense! I have my image on the line here!” He sighed, rubbing his temples with his fingers. “Look, if you keep this information to yourself, I’ll give you free chicken to-go and you won’t have to waste your money. It’s even better than a discount.”

“I wouldn’t be wasting my money either way because this is Shin Aebong’s money,” she pointed out while holding the money up.

“I’ll give you free chicken for a month,” he changed his deal.

“I wouldn’t like to eat the chicken here for a month. The chicken here tastes ugly.”

“I’ll let you take some of my paintings.”

“I don’t care for your paintings.”

Her words shot through his heart and pierced it. “Y-You don’t care for my paintings? You have no soul.”

“I don’t believe in a soul.”

“Exactly. That’s because you don’t have one.” He composed himself before making another suggestion. “I’ll buy you jellybeans for a month,” he said. There was no way that she was going to refuse this. She was a jellybean addict to the core. With such an addiction, she couldn’t say no.

“A month wouldn’t be enough for me. I would like a lifetime supply instead.”

“You want me to be your free jellybean dispenser for a lifetime?” he asked with his brows raised. “I can’t do that!”

“Okay.”

“Okay? You’re not even going to try to negotiate?”

“Why would I want to negotiate?”

He sighed again while continuously rubbing his temples, his brain about to explode from frustration in two seconds. But then again, she was right. Why would she want to negotiate? He was the one who desperately needed to negotiate with her. “How about a year? I can buy you jellybeans for a year.”

“It's not enough.”

“Three years.”

She shook her head.

“Ten years.”

She shook her head.

“Are you only going to nod when I say lifetime?”

She nodded this time while he sighed again, wanting very badly to smash his head onto the counter with enough force to break his own skull. After thinking for a minute, he snapped his fingers at the amazing idea that emerged, his face brightening and shooing away the depressed gloominess that was there just before. “If you keep my secret,” he started, confident that this was going to be the deal breaker. “You’ll get to go on a date with me.”

“I would prefer to have the free chicken for a month.”

His jaw dropped. Another shot through his heart and his ego. How could she even compare the disgusting chicken of EveryDay Chicken with him? She wasn’t human. She was a monster. “Then what do you want?”

“I want to make an order.”

“No. Not that. What do you want for me to do so that you’ll keep my secret?!”

“Nothing. I’ll keep your secret for free.”

He looked at her surprisingly. “You don’t want anything?” She nodded. “You’ll just keep the secret for me?” She nodded again. He couldn’t believe it. He was Park Chanyeol. He was capable of giving her anything and everything that she wanted. He was the best person to blackmail because he had everything. Who, in their sanity, would not want anything from him? Maybe she had something up her sleeve. Maybe she was lying when she said that she would keep the secret for him without needing anything in return, but then she’ll blackmail him later or tell the whole campus that he worked at a lousy chicken restaurant.

He couldn’t let that happen.

“How about money? I can give you money.”

“Do you have enough to make me the richest human on Earth?”

“What? No! I don’t have that much!”

“That is too bad. I would not like money, then.”

“I can still give you a lot. How much do you want?”

“Enough to make me the richest human on Earth.”

“I said that I don’t have that much!”

“Then I will not accept it.”

He clenched his fist and nearly banged his head onto the counter out of anger. “You run one hard bargain,” he muttered through gritted teeth. “Will you say no even in front of one trillion won?”

“Where will you get that much money?”

“My pare—” He stopped. His parents would never let him take that much money just so this stupid secret of his would be kept. They wouldn’t even let him take out a thousand won if they knew that this was the reason. “Nevermind. How about I get you a pet? Girls like cute animals, right? I can get you a dog, a cat, a rabbit?”

“Pets aren’t allowed in the dorm.”

“You could take it home.”

“I prefer reptiles.”

“Reptiles? Aren’t girls supposed to like cute things?

“Reptiles are cute.”

He stood still, simply staring at her before figuring that this was in actuality, the least strange thing about her. “I’ll get you a reptile then.”

“I already have a tortoise.”

“You have a tortoise?” he looked at her in surprise.

She nodded. "His name is Woong. Would you like to see him?”

“No, I don’t want to see him.”

“Okay.”

“Just tell me what you want.” His hand went up to his hair to ruffle it as his blood pressure continued to increase exponentially. “Do you want me to be your slave or something?” He then threw up his arms in frustration, but then noticed the twinkle in her eyes.

“That sounds like a good deal,” she said.

“You… want me to be your slave?”

“Yes.”

“You refused everything else, but you want me to be your slave?”

She nodded in response.

At first he thought it was strange that she didn’t want anything considering that he was Mr. Capable Park Chanyeol. But now he understood. She was doing some sort of psychology thing on him, manipulating him into doing what she wanted. She was clever. Frighteningly clever. Under the dreamy demeanor on her surface, she was hiding the cunning ability she had. He didn’t catch onto it immediately, but he did now. He wasn't going to allow himself to be manipulated. Not by her. “I change my mind. I’m not making this deal,” he said.

“Okay,” she simply replied. “Then may I order now?”

“How can you move on so quickly?! You should try to convince me or something.”

“Convince you of what?”

He sighed. A headache was about to form in his head, and he was slowly falling back into her clever manipulation from the torment she was causing. “Convince me to take the deal and be a slave and everything.”

“Why would I do that?”

“You said that you wanted me to be your slave.”

“I don’t want it that badly," she said with a shrug.

"Then what else do you want?"

"I don't want anything," she said. He grunted and finally smashed his head onto the counter. The pain and throbbing felt on his forehead was excruciating, but not as excruciating as the mental pain she was giving him. 

"Just kill me," he mumbled. 

"I apologize, but I can't do that. That goes against my morals and the law."

He grunted again before lifting his head and staring straight into her eyes, all sanity lost. Only the desire to keep his secret and have Seul-ah disappear from his sight remained. "I'll take the deal. I'll be your slave."

“Okay,” she easily said. At how easily she agreed to this one thing without any negotiation needed, he threw his arms up and grabbed a fistful of his hair, pulling at it before banging his head onto the counter again. He had fallen into her trap. He had fallen right in, but why was he feeling slightly relieved that he got her to agree to something? The answer could only be that she was a master manipulator and he was a desperate man who loss his sanity. "You should stop commiting self-harm, especially to the head. The head is more sensitive than it looks," she said.

"You're hurting me more than anything else in this cruel world..." he muttered, face down on the counter. He then raised his head again. "You are taking this deal, right?"

“Yes, but I do not wish to call you a slave. You’ll be called a minion instead.”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “Minion?”

She nodded. "I will also be recording this,” she said while taking out her phone. “Please smile and say our deal in detail.” She pressed the button to start the video recording before nodding her head to initiate that he should start talking.

“Why do you need to record this?”

“Evidence,” she said while stopping the recording. “Now please explain the deal in front of the camera. You can use the old dorm pledge as your template.” The recording started again and she patiently waited for him to start speaking.

What did I get myself into? he thought to himself before complying, already deprived of his capacity to resist. “I, Park Chanyeol, made a deal with Yoo Seul-ah that I will be her… minion?” Seul-ah nodded and waved a hand for him to continue. “I will be her minion and do whatever it is that she asks of me.”

“And you will be my minion until you officially stop working at EveryDay Chicken. Please say that also.”

Chanyeol sighed but complied again. “And I will be her minion until I officially stop working at EveryDay Chicken, but in return…” The end of his lips curved up into a smirk as he stared at the camera. Energy was regained as it was time to add his part of the deal into it. This was the part he was waiting for. This was the part where it was going to be worth losing his sanity and agreeing to be the evil girl's minion. “She cannot tell Ahreum or Gong Myung that I work here. If she tells Ahreum or Gong Myung in any way that I work here then I will personally—”

“You can punch me.”

“What?” The smirk on his face dropped while his eyes widened.

“You can punch me if I tell them.” She waved her hand again to tell him to continue.

“I’m not a delinquent. Do you think that I can punch a girl?”

“Then don’t think of me as a girl and punch me.” She demonstrated the action by punching the air with her free hand. “You can do it like that.”

“If I do it, it will be way harder. You may end up in the hospital.”

“It’s alright. You can punch me.”

“You know, I don’t understand how someone like you can exist.”

“Sometimes I also wonder how the world exists. But please continue, you’re wasting the recording time.”

He scoffed. "If she tells Ahreum or Gong Myung that I work here,” he continued, “then I will personally take away all of her jellybeans.”

“I prefer getting punched.”

“Aren’t you a girl? Why do you want to be punched so badly?”

“Being punched isn’t that bad.”

“For the last time, I can’t punch a girl!” he shouted. “What kind of man would I be if I hit a girl?”

“You can just not think of me as a girl.”

His hands went up to his head, clenching his hair from not believing that she was actually saying that. “Okay, fine! But I’m only going to flick you on the forehead. I’m not punching you.”

“If that is your decision, then please say that instead.”

“If she tells Ahreum or Gong Myung that I work here, then I will flick her on the forehead. Are you happy now?”

“I thank you for participating,” she said as she stopped the recording. “Congratulations, you are now my minion.” Her hand was held out, waiting for him to shake it.

Chanyeol took her hand and gave it a limp shook. “Just keep your part of the deal or you’ll end up getting flicked, okay?”

She nodded before saying, “Can I place a chicken order now?”

“You still want to eat the chicken here?”

“I’m on an errand. I don’t want to eat it, but I was told to come here to buy chicken. I was also told to try to force you if necessary to become Shin Aebong’s model. However, I don’t feel like doing the last part and I believe you have a right to choose.”

“Thank you so much for letting me choose,” he sarcastically said. “I’m definitely not going to be a model for that creepy Shin Aebong woman, so just tell me your order and get going.” At that, Seul-ah told him the order and he told her the cost of it after punching it into a machine.

“I would like the cost to be free,” she suddenly said. “This is the first thing you can do as my minion.”

He let out a breath and gave up on everything, simply nodding at her request. With the store barely getting any customers and him having to give a free meal to one of them, it would be a miracle if EveryDay Chicken didn't go bankrupt. But bankruptcy didn't concern him as the thought of EveryDay Chicken closing down and the look of dread on his manager’s face filled him with utmost happiness. He went to the back to prepare the chicken, slight happiness regained at the thought of the lousy chicken restaurant’s downfall.