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Partners for LifeWith classes finally over comes the unbearable heat and everyone was desperate to escape it.
The Bangtan Squad were planning on going for a swim through group chat, but when asked where, everyone started throwing suggestions.
It was Yoongi who first suggested the beach he went to during his cousin’s birthday, but the entrance was expensive and they also have to pay for a cottage. It was Seokjin who suggested next, saying they should go to his uncle’s resort. They would’ve agreed if it was just some local resort but it wasn’t and everyone instantly said no, unless Seokjin was willing to pay for everything which immediately changed his mind. Taehyung suggested the beach his family usually went to since the only thing they have to worry is the cottage but it was in Daegu.
“Hey guys,” Jimin butted in, “Why don’t we help my grandmother with her farm animals?”
“Jimin, we’re planning here to escape the heat, not venture further.” Jimin could hear Seokjin’s sassy tone through the screen.
“I know, I know, but,” Jimin said. “She lives near a lake, it’s clean mind you. She said once we’ve helped her with the animals, we can all take a swim there. How about it?”
As mentioned above, classes were over and comes the unbearable heat and everyone was desperate to escape it, so with everyone desperate to cool off, the Squad instantly agreed, despite Seokjin trying to reason them out but failed and decided to go along.
Jimin’s father brought them to the outskirts of Seoul, somewhere far away from the city and much closer to mother nature. It was a three hour drive and everyone fell asleep until Jimin woke them up, telling them they were already close.
Namjoon, who was sitting on the left side of the car, looked outside the window to be greeted by the vastness of the lake and the pine trees surrounding it. He could see the vivid blue sky and the healthy green pine trees reflecting the surface of the water. It was so inviting everyone was eager to take a dip immediately.
Once the car came to a halt, Jimin was the first to bounce out of the vehicle, followed by his father. The others were slowly emerging from the vehicle, some were still in a half-asleep state and groaning and stretching to take the slumber away. Jungkook, on the other hand, was sleeping peacefully on his seat, unaware that they arrived, as usual.
Yoongi climbed back in to wake the maknae, even repeatedly lightly slapping him in the process. After the umpteenth slap, Jungkook’s eyes were fluttering open, but his irises were rolled back, telling him he was still in a deep slumber. Yoongi sighed in defeat. Seeing this was going nowhere, he grabbed the teen and carried him like a baby out of the vehicle. Hoseok laughed at the site and offered to carry the maknae instead, seeing how Yoongi wasn’t used to carrying Jungkook’s weight. When Yoongi gave Jungkook to Hoseok, as if on instinct, Jungkook wrapped himself around Hoseok and mumbled incoherent words. Hoseok had to bounce him in his hold when he was slowly slipping off from his grip.
They approached the two-story white house where Jimin and his father were greeting an old lady, sitting by the swinging chair under the porch. She looked happy and rose from her seat, ruffling Jimin’s jet black hair, complimenting him that he looks more handsome with his natural hair color.
Jimin escorted her towards his friends, putting a hand on her shoulder and the other firmly gripping her hand as they made their way down the short flight of stairs.
Everyone bowed 90 degrees, except for Hoseok, who was still cradling Jungkook. Jimin’s grandmother chuckled at the sight. She told them how happy she was right now to see the people who were close to her grandson, even telling them how Jimin used to be a shy and meek kid who once cried the whole day when his father left him at day care.
“Ok, that’s enough, grandma.” Jimin said, embarrassed and flushed. “How’s about you show us our rooms so we can get started with the farm?” He continued, trying to avert the topic.
“Ah yes, follow me dearies.” Jimin’s grandma kindly said, turning a heel with Jimin still holding her. She whipped out her hand, telling Jimin she was still a strong lass who could still take care of herself. Jimin went along with it but still protectively held his hands out while she was climbing the stairs.
Upon entering, they were greeted by another flight of stairs with the view of the living room behind it. Granny Hyeri, as what she would like to be called, scolded Jimin for thinking she’s all shrivelled and weak from her age while he was instinctively wrapping his arm around her and gripping her hand.
Granny Hyeri showed them the guest room, the inside was occupied with two single beds and four futons stacked on top of each other in between the two beds. Granny Hyeri apologized for the small space. Namjoon told her they didn’t mind since they were used to sleeping in a cramped place. Seokjin counted the futons and noticed there were only six, he looked at Jimin and he must’ve guessed his suspicion.
“I have my own room just next door.” Jimin said.
After they arranged the futons and placed their luggage inside, Granny Hyeri escorted them to the farm, with Jimin still in his protective mode when going down the stairs, in which he got another scolding from the older woman. Jungkook woke up while Hoseok was climbing down the stairs, dazed and confused as to why he was being carried like a baby.
Granny Hyeri lead them to the farm, which was just behind the house. It was a pretty big farm; a ranch made for the cows and horses were near the lake, at the centre was a fence forming a square occupying a large space, containing hens, geese, and three turkeys, and another pen near the woods contained oinking pigs. The boys wondered how Granny Hyeri was able to do all the work on her own.
“You see boys, as the days go by so does my age and it’s becoming even harder to collect eggs and milk without hearing a painful snapping sound on your waist.” Granny Hyeri walked over to a separate shack connected to the house. She flung the door open, revealing equipment they will be needing.
“Since there are seven of you, I need two working on the cows and horse, another two on the birds, and the remaining three feeding the pigs.” Granny Hyeri left Jimin in charge and went back inside the house.
Jimin chose Yoongi, Namjoon and Seokjin for the pigs, even though Seokjin greatly refused, Hoseok and Jungkook with the birds and him and Taehyung with the cows and horses. With that agreed upon, they proceeded to gather the needed equipment from the shack and went to their work.
Feeding the pigs wasn’t as easy as they thought. Just as Seokjin was about to dump another bucket of pig feed, one piglet jumped right in the puddle of mud, a wave of the murky liquid landing straight to Seokjin’s white shirt and his arms. Namjoon laughed at the sight when a bigger pig jumped in the mud puddle behind him, a larger wave of mud hitting him from behind, coating him. Now it was Seokjin’s turn to laugh. Yoongi, on the other hand, seemed to only have like small droplets of mud on him as he swiftly avoid the mud while putting their grub in a dirty trough.
“Woah, easy there boy.” Jimin said as he took out a horse, leading it to the water hose. Taehyung took a look inside and started thinking cleaning his cat’s litter box wasn’t so bad after all. He gave up trying to milk the cow a while ago. Since Granny Hyeri didn’t own any advance equipment to make milking easier, saying that technology will only spoil her and it’d be useless if the electricity were to go out. No matter how much he squeezed down the udder not even a pinch of milk came out.
“This is so easy.” Jungkook blurted out while entering a hen house, casually grabbing fresh eggs out of their nests and putting them in the basket he carried. Hoseok was doing the other set of nests and exited along with Jungkook. They were done with the hens and geese, now they needed to collect eggs from the turkey.
Just as they were about to approach the two nests near the resting turkeys, a male turkey suddenly unfolded its back feathers and looked menacingly at Hoseok and Jungkook. Hoseok approached cautiously and crouched down, slowly grabbing the egg until it marched straight at him. They were gobbled out of the paddock and it stopped before the fence, glaring daggers at the two.
Jimin laughed in embarrassment, telling them that he forgot to put John Henry, the turkey’s name, on his leash. Just his name was a problem.
When Namjoon, Yoongi and Seokjin were done with the pigs, Jimin called for them to help Taehyung with the cows. There were three common cows and two brown cows, Taehyung and Jimin working on the two brown cows, Jimin teaching Taehyung how to properly get milk out. He soon taught the other three.
When Hoseok and Jungkook were done gathering the eggs and refilling their food and water trough, all that was left was clean the turkey’s pen. John Henry was on a lookout for the two while they swept the ground of feathers and bird feed. Neither of them dared get any closer to John Henry.
The sun was slowly descending, creating a gradient of purple and orange in the sky. The boys were exhausted and entered the house. Upon entering, they were greeted by the sweet aroma of freshly baked pie from the oven. They were about to gather around the table when Granny Hyeri complained of how dirty they were and needed to take a bath before eating dinner.
The boys decided to go with their usual bathing ritual; Seokjin and Yoongi first, followed by Hoseok and Namjoon, and lastly Jimin, Taehyung and Jungkook. The latter group made screeching noises when they were greeted by a jet of cold water from the shower hose. Apparently, the first two pairs used up all the warm water.
Once they were finished, they quickly head down to the dining area. Steam was emitting from the pie placed neatly on the centre, plates with glasses and forks circling the said food. Granny Hyeri appeared from behind the refrigerator door, carrying a jug of Kool Aid.
They all looked worriedly at Taehyung but he was already on his seat first, making Granny Hyeri pour his glass of Kool Aid. Jimin was about to stop her but Taehyung quickly took a sip. Taehyung must’ve suspected everyone’s suspicion so he looked at them, flashed his pearly whites stained with red, and gave them a thumbs up, in which everyone sighed in defeat.
It wasn’t long before Taehyung started blabbering things that were complete nonsense and nearly hogged the pie to himself. It wasn’t long either when he suddenly ran out of the house, carrying with him a glass jar.
“But there aren’t any fireflies around here.” Granny Hyeri said, but Taehyung was already out of the door, swinging the jar at just about anywhere.
“I hope he doesn’t go into the forest.” Granny Hyeri worriedly said.
“Don’t worry, Granny Hyeri, he’s smarter than he looks.” Namjoon reassured, but Granny Hyeri’s expression remained serious. She sighed and told them about something unearthly lurking in the forest. That caught their attentions, especially Jungkook.
“Well, the previous owner told me I shouldn’t venture too deep in the forest, because I might be kidnapped.” Granny Hyeri started.
“Kidnap? Who would want to kidnap you?” Jimin questioned.
“It’s not just me, but it would kidnap just about anyone.”
“But why?” Jungkook interrupted.
“Well, they would take the identity of their victim, aiming to replace them in the real world while the original gets lost in the forest.”
“So almost like a doppelgänger.” Jungkook interrupted, again.
“Not exactly. You see, a doppelgänger will appear from time to time, warning you that your time is up, but this one, this one that kidnaps your identity, will try to gain your trust and will do everything, even kill someone, just to live in our world.”
Author’s Comment :
I decided to split this up into two because I didn’t expect it to be this long. Honestly speaking, I have never heard of this creature before, it was mostly Aswangs and Manananggals that were used to scare me to sleep.
Hope ya’ll enjoyed this!
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