“It needs some work, the previous owner passed away a year ago and the family hasn’t had the money to repair the shed. Or the siding.” The realtor says as she opens the front door to exit the simple one story house. “I’m sure it’s not something you’re unable to fix up, Mr. Park. But I have several other houses in the area I can show you that would be much more to your liking.”

Needs some work? More like needs to have a total renovation, but the house is still standing and there’s running water and electricity which is more than some traditional houses in the area have.

Jinyoung rests his hand on the doorframe and looks out towards the hilly farmland beyond. The sky is calm and so blue that Jinyoung takes it as a sign of something good. He can smell the earthy scent of grass and farmland – a sweet and marked difference from the city's pollution.

All in all, he likes the house. From it’s cracking paint to the creaks in the door hinges and floorboards. The house is a mixture of old and new coming together in an attempt to update to today’s more modern conveniences. It was no high-class apartment in the city, but it has four walls and a roof over the top.

This house has seen better days.

Jinyoung makes an easy decision.

“I’ll take it.”

The realtor is taken aback, “Are you sure? This is the first house I’ve shown you. There’s five other houses on the list to see today that are much more modern and up to date.”

Jinyoung cuts her off, “Yes, I want this one. It’s perfect.” A house outside of the city where he can be himself without the prying eyes of the media and their giant camera lenses. “And exactly what I want. So…when can I make an offer? And do you think I can move in soon? How about in half a month?”

“You can, well…let’s head back to my office and I’ll draw up the paperwork necessary. If they accept I’m sure you can move in soon, no one is living here right now to move out.” She fumbles with her purse to find her car keys. His offer must have thrown her off balance.

“Great.” Jinyoung puts his sunglasses back on. “I can’t wait.” Things are looking up today.

His manager will never know what hit him.

“Park Jinyoung hyung, what the hell did you do now? I’ve been trying to get through to you since yesterday. Are you ignoring my calls?”

The voice coming through the cell phone sounds like screeching and Jinyoung regrets taking the call.

“Of course not,” he says, lying through his teeth.

“You’re doing this on purpose aren’t you hyung? I haven’t seen you much in two years and now you’re being hard on me since I got promoted to managing you. Hyung you’re my first big client you have to tell me these things.”

Jinyoung finds it near impossible to ride his bike and speak on the phone at the same time, so he slows to a crawl as he pedals down the dirt back roads.

“Don’t make it sound like I committed a crime or something. I just bought a house.” He steers his bike with one hand through a curve in the road.

“Where are you right now? I heard that you bought a house from the tabloids. The tabloids of all places! I’m your manager you’re supposed to run these things through with me first before you go spending all your money.”

“But it’s my money to spend. And believe me it wasn’t expensive.”

To be honest, it isn’t that he didn’t tell his manager because he doesn’t like him. In fact, he loves the guy. Jinyoung bought the house first because his manager would never approve of him moving to the middle of nowhere when he could force him to stay in Seoul.

His manager makes a frustrated exclamation on the other end. “You were supposed to come into the office this week to read over your revised contract agreement. Management isn’t going to be happy if you keep them waiting much longer.”

“I know. I don’t want you to get in trouble either.” Jinyoung switches hands between steering and holding the phone. “I’ll come in next week and go over the contract.”

“Hyung you’re not lying to me again are you?”

Jinyoung smiles, “Of course not Yugyeom my cutest dongsaeng.” He can hear the gagging sound over the phone.

“Hyung stop it.”

“I can’t stop you from being cute-” – Jinyoung almost looses his balance when his bike runs over a patch of gravel – “aaany more than I can stop myself from being handsome.”

“I’m going to hang up now,” his manager says, “I’ll call you again soon. Don’t do anything else without consulting me.”

“Yugyeomie why are you being like this to hyung? Yugye-” The beeping sound of a disconnected call stops Jinyoung from further embarrassing his young manager. He grins and slows his bike down to put his phone back into his pants pocket. He’s always so easy to tease, Jinyoung thinks.

There it is then, everyone in the country probably knows what he’s been up to since he left the service now. The news of him moving to the country didn’t take long. He’d only bought the house a half a month ago and moved in three days ago.

Well, people may have guessed something is up when he emptied half of his apartment in Seoul without warning. He did tell his parents at least under oath to not breath a word of his departure until he was settled in.

Someone in his family is a snitch, and Jinyoung suspects it’s one of his sisters. He can’t do anything about it now, so he just pedals further down the road towards his house.

Jinyoung is nothing if not a creature of habit, which is why he’s riding his bicycle down the back roads early on a Sunday morning. Waking up early is something he picked up from the army – unwillingly – and finds it a hard habit to break. One month since he’s been out of the army, and here he is, still waking up at almost six in the morning and going to bed by nine.

The bike tires crunch against gravel scattered along the road. Almost home, he chants in his head, ears using the chirping of birds as his morning anthem. He strains his legs, feet pushing down hard on the pedals, until he makes it up the hill and can see the small house he bought in the middle of farm country.

Pulling into his front yard, Jinyoung puts on the breaks and hops off, thighs burning.

“Workout done.” Living in the country gives you the benefit of talking to yourself and not looking stupid.

He glances at his watch, it’s ten forty-five, almost close enough to wait for lunch, but his stomach is growling. All he has in his fridge is water, juice, left over fish from last night’s meal, and eggs. Looks like he’s eating rice and leftovers again.

As he’s opening his front door, a peculiar sound coming from the shed he hasn’t spent any time in because he finds it creepy stops him. He freezes, hand resting on the doorknob, head turning towards the sound.

He’s torn between thinking he should check it out, and ignoring the creepy noise and getting inside as fast as possible. Jinyoung bites his inner cheek, and heads over to the shed, heart rate increasing with each step. There’s nothing creepy in here, he reasons, creepy things only happen at night.

It’s probably a wild animal, his house could use some patching up and the shed has areas of rotting wood waiting for an accident to happen. Even so, he grabs the mop he’s been using to clean off the cement in front of the house and holds in firmly in his hand as he approaches the shed.

Standing on his tiptoes he peers into the window, the dirty glass letting enough light to allow him a view of the room. He can’t make anything out in the darkness of the closed room, but before he gets two steps away from the shed he hears the noise again.

This time it’s louder like someone or something was scratching its nails down on the wood, digging a hole in the wall. The last thing Jinyoung wants is to get bitten by a rabies infested bat or whatever it is that has taken residence in there. For all he knows, there’s a regular old menagerie of wildlife living inside, and Jinyoung’s not about to go in the shed and find out.

If only they had let him take a few guns home from the military.

A loud band spooks him away from the window, sending him running back to the house. Heart racing, Jinyoung throws the mop on the ground and heads into the house.

Maybe he’ll call someone to come take a look at it later.

He can see it now. Star actor Park Jinyoung scared of rabbit family living inside his shed. Park Jinyoung runs from small furry mammal, we’ve got it on video! Netizens rolling off their desk chairs in laughter while they type comments that he’s not manly enough.

Jinyoung gets himself a glass of water to quench his dehydration, which must be impairing his sense of judgment. He sips and stares out his kitchen window, which has a perfect view of the shed.

It looks like something out of a horror film at night, and an eyesore during the day.

Jinyoung wonders if he should hire someone to tear it down. Then at least there won’t be anywhere for strange noises to come from.

The thought comforts him enough to forget about it for another day.

It’s been a week since the odd noises have given Jinyoung a reason to sleep with his window locked at night. Though, his neighbors have told him that sometimes there are animals that get inside their sheds too. He has a number to call if he wants someone to come take a look at it, but since the problem hasn’t happened again he’s letting it slide.

Not that Jinyoung wants it to happen again.

All he wants is to enjoy his time away, exercise, and spend some time outside before his manager finds him and drags him back to Seoul. He’s under a contract after all.

He’s happy to know that there will be more days in his future where he can walk up to his house, eating a chocolate ice cream like he is doing currently. On such a nice day like this with the sun shining bright and a slight breeze that isn’t too cold, but just right. His neighbors outside in their fields where Jinyoung can see them with their sunhats on between the rows of crops to be tended to as he goes by.

All in all, Jinyoung believes today is going to be a great day for doing nothing. Maybe even read a book or watch mindless television.

He’s planning on reading outdoors as he walks up to his house on his way back from the grocery store, ice cream pop in hand and grocery bag hanging off his elbow. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get very far before he notices something is very off about today.

It might have something to do with the guy lying down in his front lawn.

Jinyoung almost drops his ice cream pop on the ground when he sees the man sprawled out in a heap in his front yard. “Yaaahh –” he says, dragging out the vowels, voice dying out when he realizes the guy could hear him.

The shock stops him from proceeding further, so he stands still with one foot in front of the other in mid step. He fumbles with his phone in his pocket, taking it out, thumb scrolling past the unlock screen.

Should he call the police, or should he ignore him and hope he goes away?

The man’s dirty, wearing mud splattered clothing, and he smells. Even from a distance away Jinyoung can smell the stench of unwashed sweat from down wind. He edges closer, hand still gripping his phone.

“Hey,” Jinyoung says, and then speaks louder to get his attention, “hey you.” The bag from the grocery store hooked under his elbow jars him in the stomach. He gets no response from the man. “Wake up.”

The man remains unresponsive on the ground much to Jinyoung’s chagrin.

Jinyoung puts his phone back in his pocket and sidesteps to pick up a fallen stick from the scraggy tree growing by the dilapidated shed. He wields the stick like a sword, cold half eaten ice cream in his other hand. “Hey man this is my yard.”

He pokes the man’s back with his stick. “You need to leave.” He jabs the stick into the man’s back with more ferocity.

Fortunately for him, the man stirs, hands uncurling from tight fists and legs straightening.

“Good, you’re awake. This is my home that you’ve passed out in, not yours. If you could, find your way back home that would be great,” says Jinyoung, removing his stick from the man’s back. He takes a step back, not just out of courtesy, but also to not have to smell the strong odor off the man’s body.

Rising upwards, the man hunches down to a squat, and he emits a noise from his throat Jinyoung didn’t know is humanly possible. A mixture of a growl and a hacking noise that sounds painful to the ear.

“Woah, man. I’m not here to fight.” Jinyoung takes a step back, afraid that the wild man who’s appearing more dangerous by the second will charge him. “The stick? I’m sorry.” He drops the stick. “Do…do you need some help?”

The man drags his hands across the dirt and grass, and it’s the first time Jinyoung catches a glimpse of how long the man’s fingernails are. He’s unkempt, dirty, smelly, and lacking personal hygiene. Maybe he should have called the police.

“Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital?” Please don’t hurt me, Jinyoung thinks, I need this face to work. His plastic grocery bag slams into his side again, and Jinyoung doesn’t miss the look on the man’s face as he watches the bag with extreme concentration.

“Are…are you hungry?”

At the words hungry, the man perks up and his stance becomes less threatening. A sense of relief rushes over Jinyoung, but he doesn’t want to chance it and get too close. “Here, I’ve got some food in my bag. You can have some.”

Jinyoung ignores how his ice cream pop is slowly turning to liquid and picks through his grocery bag. He doesn’t have much in terms of nutrition, two rice balls, some apples, and snack bags. They were just some snacks to go with the frozen pork belly taking up space in his freezer.

But, he can’t just give the man who looks like he’s on his last leg a bag of shrimp crackers.

“Would you like a rice ball? I don’t have much,” Jinyoung says, and takes the plastic wrapped triangle out of the bag. “I wasn’t really expecting company.” He leans forward, extending the snack, and in a matter of seconds the rice ball is snatched out of his hand.

The man bites into it, plastic and all.

“Ah! Don’t eat the plastic,” says Jinyoung, dropping his grocery bag on the ground. The man doesn’t pay him any attention until Jinyoung yells for him to stop. “That’s bad, don’t eat the that. I don’t even know how you broke it with your teeth.”

Cheeks full of food, the man looks completely harmless. Jinyoung squats down next to him while keeping a respectful distance. “Here, let me unwrap it.”

The man chews and holds the rice ball close to his chest.

“Come on, I’m just helping you.”

Jinyoung holds his hand out palm up as if coaxing a small child. He pushes down the ridiculousness of his actions, one grown man coaxing another. Though, he feels this is the best approach. There is a wild quality about the man in front of him eating his rice ball – something not quite in Jinyoung’s realm of normal.

“It’s okay.” Jinyoung rests his elbows on his knees and smiles, “You can have it right back.”

On the man’s bottom lip, a few pieces of rice cling to his face. He stares at Jinyoung’s hand before handing the rice ball back. His long fingernails and cuticles are edged with dirt, as if he’d been digging around in the dirt.

Jinyoung pulls away the remaining plastic wrapping, crinkling it up in his hand before handing it back. “Here, please eat.”

The man peers at Jinyoung’s hand then spits the half eaten rice mixture into his own hands and extends them towards Jinyoung.

“Uhh.” Jinyoung feels rather disgusted. “You can keep it.”

However, the man keeps shoving his hands towards Jinyoung and doesn’t seem to be taking no for an answer. After a brief struggle where Jinyoung pushes the man’s hands away and the man s them back at him, Jinyoung notices the shiny saliva coated plastic floating in the rice.

“Oh, plastic, right.” Grimacing, Jinyoung pulls out the wet plastic with the fingers he had free between holding his ice cream pop - how gross.

In the meantime, the man shoves the food back into his mouth, grabbing the rice ball with empty hands, and shoves the majority of it in his mouth. Jinyoung flicks the plastic into his grocery bag and what remains of his ice cream pop to remove the bad taste in his mouth while watching the man swallow down what is left of Jinyoung’s snack.

He looks at Jinyoung with wide eyes, and Jinyoung feels a strong pang of regret in his chest for finding him gross. He shouldn’t be so quick to judge him.

“I’ve got another one. Would you like it?” Jinyoung reaches into the bag and pulls out the second rice ball. He was planning on eating it later, but he doesn’t need it as bad as this guy.

The man scrambles to grab the snack, so much that Jinyoung looses his balance and falls backwards on his with the man looming over him. Jinyoung hits the ground hard, the remaining bit of his ice cream pop now inedible in the grass. Rest in peace delicious ice cream.

Jinyoung holds his breath, removes the plastic, and lets the man take the rice ball from him.

“You’re really hungry aren’t you?” says Jinyoung, moving to a more comfortable position away from him. “What’s your name? I’m Park Jinyoung, you may have heard of mee…aaybe not.” Who was Jinyoung trying to fool? It isn’t likely the guy here knows of actors if he knows about television at all.

He uses his thumb to point at his chest, “I’m Jinyoung. Do you have a name?” Jinyoung backtracks.

The man stares Jinyoung in the eye, mouth chewing, and points at his throat. He raises his eyebrows with a blank expression and dull look to his eyes. A pang of regret speeds up Jinyoung’s heart rate.

“You can’t speak? That’s okay, we’ll think of something.”

A rough gravely sound like a growl or a rasp comes out of the man’s mouth, and it takes Jinyoung a beat to realize the man is trying to speak. His voice is hoarse and rough against Jinyoung’s ears.

“Ma…k.”

“Mak?” Jinyoung repeats.

The man frowns, corners of his lips turning downwards deeply. He tries a second time, “Mahhhrrrkk.” He rolls the r sound in the back of his throat. Jinyoung worries that Mahrk is going to choke on some unchewed rice trying to tell him his name.

“Mah-rk, ma-mahhrrk?” Jinyoung asks, trying to make the same sounds the man is making but failing miserably. Then a thought dawns on him, he’s heard a name like this before in English. “Mark! Your name is Mark?”

The man, Mark, lifts his head up and the corners of his lips rise to a small smile.

“Well Mark would you like to get cleaned up?” Jinyoung figures it’s the least he can do to be hospitable to the stranger, and he’s not going to lie to himself about how bad the man needs a good scrubbing.

Mark tilts his head to the side and his fingers clean. Gross. Jinyoung holds back his tongue from saying something he shouldn’t about hygiene habits.

“Inside?” – Jinyoung points to the house – “Come inside and get cleaned up?” He speaks slow and gently, “Follow me Mark.” Standing up, Jinyoung picks up his grocery bag, motioning for Mark to follow him.

A confused expression comes across Mark’s face, but he stands up and follows him nonetheless.

Harmless, Jinyoung thinks, this homeless guy acts like a puppy. A large man sized puppy that smells, growls, and eats like he hasn’t had a proper meal in ages. Jinyoung’s too much of good guy to ignore him. Plus, he’s probably a nice guy once he’s cleaned up and has a good meal inside him.

Under all that dirt might be a good man.

This is probably a bad idea.