“Ah jinjja what are we doing here in the forsaken place?”

“It’s a family holiday! Let’s enjoy it while we’re still young! We’re not going to get this when we’re working,” Jinki said to you.

“Yeah but why are we looking after chickens in the middle of a forest? IT’S A FREAKING FOREST! WHY ARE THERE CHICKENS HERE?!” At least that was YOUR opinion. It was the summer holidays and the Lee family’s vacation included the suggestion to bring their older son’s best friend along, together with her family.

“Hyung, I’ll go back into the house first,” Taemin said to his brother. The best friends stood outside the henhouse, with Onew trying to push you to go inside with the cup of chicken feed. “Okay, okay! I’ll go in! Just… Don’t rush me,’ you said to him. Skipping to the henhouse, he opened the gate and waited for you to get in. But you were still contemplating whether to enter into the pit of cluck.

“You know what? You go ahead in and pick up the eggs. I’ll just feed them from out here,” you said in defeat.

“What?” Jinki walked towards you, forgetting that the gate was open. “You can’t feed them from the outside.”

“Yes I can. I’ll just throw it through the fence!”

“No, you have to respect them and sprinkle it INSIDE there,” he argued before pushing you from behind again.

“Shireo shireo shireo!” you cried to him as you leaned on him to prevent any progress on his part. “ANDWAE ANDWAE ANDWAE! JINKI-AH!”

“Yah, they’re just chickens!” he said with his head down still trying to push you.

“THEY’RE OUT OF THE HOUSE!” He let go immediately to look up from behind you, causing you to fall backwards. The scoop of chicken feed flew and landed all over you.

“MY PRECIOUS!!!!” Onew screamed at the chickens that had liberated themselves from their pit of cluck. “_______! Help me! I can’t catch them on my own! My uncle’s gonna kill me if even one is missing!” he exclaimed as he pulled you up and helped you to dust off the feed.

“What do I do? What do I do?!” you yelled at him. He quickly went after a nearby chicken and picked it up. Trust the chicken king to know how to pick up chickens. “Hold it like how I’m holding it. Don’t put your hands under the wings or else it will freak and flap its wings.”

You hesitantly touched the wings and held the chicken by its sides. “Go put it in the henhouse.” You walked slowly towards the henhouse and let the chicken into the henhouse, closing the gate after it. Looking at the chickens pecking on the spilled feed, Onew said, “We’ll get them all. You can take your time. I’ll handle most of them.”

As you two transported the live poultry back into the henhouse, you felt guilty for having caused so much trouble. “Mian, Jinki-ah. I shouldn’t have been so afraid of them in the beginning.”

Onew just smiled at you, “It’s okay. At least you overcame your fear of live poultry.” That’s what you loved about your best friend: he was always so optimistic, killing noonas with his eye smile. His weird gag behavior was what kept you going on happiness coz you totally got his gags, unlike your group of friends back in Seoul who tended not to get his jokes or just found them lame.

Counting the chickens in the henhouse, you noted that the number did not tally up. Going into the henhouse to recount them, he realized that the rooster was still missing. It was nowhere to be seen around the henhouse, so you t