“Why don’t you like chicken?” Is a question Bae Juhyun has been hearing for over, well, basically her entire life.

Why, you’d ask.

And the same response—excuse—she’d give would be how she had a bad experience eating chicken while she was younger—thanks to her mom and an entire week full of soy-sauce chicken— and it developed into a phobia. She’d talk about how her head would’ve hurt badly and how she would have turned pale just from eating it.

Of course she would.

Anyone would have too actually, if they had gone through what she really went through.

As far as Juhyun could remember, she had been by the countryside; although she wasn’t too sure where exactly and it was odd since it was also high up in the hills and chickens wouldn’t have been able to make it that high up—not with their inability to fly—or so Juhyun had remembered.
She had been wandering around the spiraled tracks up the hill and to its summit—which happened to be full of stones and pebbles. It likened to a secret hangout place that only if one was adventurous—and patient—enough to traverse the route uphill, would be able to find.

Oddly, there had been chickens when she reached the top—hens to be precise.

Juhyun found it odd since there was barely any grass or fodder around enough for them to want to be in this place and was like a terrain. What could they have possibly wanted out of scouring the area?

Juhyun stepped on some fallen twig which alarmed the chickens. They snapped their bobbing heads abruptly towards her and that was when Juhyun realized they didn’t look normal.

And her running along the terrain path had confirmed that they were indeed not normal.

Juhyun didn’t dare to look back, for fear that she would have caught their bloodshot eyes which she had been terrified of earlier. The chickens started cawing—a spine-chilling sound which embedded itself deep in Juhyun’s memory even years after.

This must have been revenge.

She only had two spring chickens in the week—or three—but it wasn’t as if Juhyun had a choice either. Her dad had been away for a while, coming back with livestock of poultry and her mom decided that it would have been chicken for the entire week.

Juhyun didn’t understand why she was being chased by chickens but when she felt a light peck against her heel which cause her to trip over some pebbles, she had never been so afraid in her life.
She found herself wincing as her palms scraped against the tiny rocks on the ground and drew blood.

The chickens behind her started strutting towards her menacingly and encircling her in their coup, as if ready to attack her.

Poultry had never been this scary to Juhyun.

Flustered, Juh