Those were too many chickens. Too many.

“I didn’t know you guys had this many chickens,” Seulgi said with surprise as she watched the barn be flooded with chicken. In reality, it wasn’t that many. It was just twenty of them or so, maybe more, no less. But to Seulgi, who was dead sleepy still, the numbers were multiplied by four and then by ten. Too many, too many. They were in the walls--yes, IN--, they were everywhere, way too close to her for comfort. It’s not that she was afraid they’ll hurt her, but that’s exactly she was afraid of. As the idea loomed over her head, she slowly woke up, but still way too tired to function.

“Hey, I didn’t know we had this many either,” Irene said rather playfully, obviously not serious, handing over one of the baskets in her arms to Seulgi. “There’s about twenty-five of them, all of them laying eggs.”

“Do you guys need that many--.”

“I want you to catch at least ten of them, I can handle the other fifteen plus,” Irene said confidently and with a commanding tone on her voice. “Can you even catch ten of them?”

Was this a challenge? Seulgi was always up for a challenge, she never backed down on it and never gave up until she destroyed and obliterated that challenge. This was perhaps one of the reasons she was so successful. When people told her that she couldn’t, she said ‘I don’t care about what YOU think’ and went right on to do it. So, defiantly, Seulgi smirked and responded. “Watch me.”

And she sure did watch her. She watched her fail rather hilariously. Apparently, Seulgi was a clumsy woman when she was fresh off the bed, and not at all tactful with how fragile some eggs are--perhaps not entirely aware yet. Every time a chicken passed by and made a sound next to her she jumped and the egg in her hand went flying elsewhere. Irene was jumpy, but this was another level of jumpy that she would never reach even if she was half asleep. It was absolutely hilarious to watch, Irene almost wished she had the record scratch app on her phone again just to take it out and play a scratch every time Seulgi destroyed an egg.

“Okay, stop right there,” Irene giggled softly as the stubborn Seulgi was about to grab more eggs. If she didn’t stop her, they would be having an eggless breakfast.

Seulgi did not catch ten but just three of them were intact in the basket. Looking at the eggs with a certain pride and ignoring her sticky hand. What she couldn’t ignore was the genocide occurred in the farm, looking around and merely leaving out an ‘Oh’ in response to what had just happened. At the physical effort, she was a little more awake now.

“We got a lot of work to do with you, have you never touched eggs in your life?” Irene remarked in a teasing manner as she began to do her side of the work, grabbing the eggs as carefully as she could before nicely settling them down on the basket, not frightening the chickens as they waltzed about..

In complete contrast to Seulgi, Irene was taking her time making sure no eggs were destroyed or recklessly placed on the basket. Seulgi was in a definite hurry! Maybe she was so used to her frantic schedules and her hasty morning routine before she went to the studio to record. It would certainly take some time getting used to, not having to be so hurried to do… well, anything.

Stepping back and watching, Seulgi responded to her tease. “I have, I’ve touched many eggs, but I’m always fully conscious when that happens.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Irene said immediatelly, the chickens not at all alerted by the familiar pale woman’s presence, or at least not alerted by how smooth her movement near them was.

Noticing this, Seulgi pointed at them. “And of course, I don’t have chickens jumping at me while I grab my eggs.”

Irene smirked mischievously and looked up at her. “Oh, you’re just making excuses now.”

Seulgi frowned, feeling a bit ticked off by the accusaion. “No excuses, just facts.”

“As you wish,” Irene shrugged while she continued on. “You’ll be fine, you’re going to get used to it and so you’ll replace me,” with her back now turned to Seulgi, she smirked.

“What? Hell no!” Seulgi shook her head rather violently. “You’re the egg girl, I am NOT doing this job.”

“Aww, why not? It’s fun,” Irene laughed softly, counting how many eggs there were in her basket. It seems Seulgi had destroyed more than what she was meant to. “Jesus, Seulgi, you kind of… uhm, almost left us eggless.”

“AND you want me to do this every morning instead of you,” Seulgi reasoned further. “I mean, look at this mess.”

“I am very much looking at it, Seulgi. It’s kind of… uhm, everywhere?” Irene shook her head in disapproval. “What a massacre.”

Suddenly, Seulgi started to think and an idea had dawned on her head and made her body gently shake. “Wait,” her voice was suddenly a little smaller and a bit worried. “Will Joonhyung get mad at me for this?”

Irene glanced over to Seulgi briefly and shrugged. “Maybe?”

Seulgi suddenly shuddered noticeably, not really wishing to see an upset Joonhyung. He didn’t look all that nice to begin with, he was absurdly intimidating if you encountered him in an alleyway, but to boot he was also very mean when he got angry, he was quite brash as well.

One time, she recalls her mother telling, he got locked in the school bathroom by the janitor. He had gone to pick up Joy at her school, she was only eight years old at the time and she was held back because she had yet to finish an assignment. A tough assignment it seemed because her other classmates--not all but some of them--were also lagging back behind her. Joonhyung wanted to get home as quick as possible, as it seems he was about to burst, he truly needed to pee, but disliked public bathrooms! But Joy was taking too long and for this Joonhyung quickly speed over to the boy’s bathroom and used it.  

First thing that surprised Joonhyung was the fact that the bathrooms were pretty squeaky clean for a public school, recalling that they had been freshly reconstructed and gotten back to work just a month or so before then. Second thing was that, when he got out, the door for the bathroom was locked shut, rather out of nowhere.

The janitor, a grumpy man who looked like he had been a criminal before, had not even bothered to check the bathrooms and locked the doors before he even searched it. To make matters worse, a young boy of nine years of age came out of the bathroom as well, panicking at the fact that the door was closed. The young boy didn’t like being in enclosed spaces, especially one with only a small window further up in the tall wall at the end of the room, that being the only light source coming into the room--as the afternoon sun was slowly starting to come down.

To see the young man panicking Joonhyung started to aggressively bang the door and try to kick it down, cursing the fact that they had metal doors. It isn’t after Joy finished her assignment that she sits and waits. Soon, she asks the teacher for her father--thinking he’d forgotten about her--and they go to search for him, finding him locked in the bathroom and losing his mind almost. The grumpy janitor is dragged back (cursing the house down, too) and the door was opened, the young boy comes out crying and Joonhyung goes immediately to the janitor.

The poor man had never been so scared in his life. The janitor, I mean, not Joonhyung.

It was rather extreme, Joonhyung admits humbly, but he grabbed the janitor by his collar and shouted right in his face, spit everywhere and his eyes fully wide--the grumpy Janitor too was fully awake that moment. “How ing dare you be so ing reckless?! In charge of CHILDREN. You’re lucky I was around because that kid walks to his home by himself and NO ONE is going to ask for him. He would’ve been here all ing night because of YOUR lazy !”

The janitor gulped and did not bother to respond. His smart mouth was no longer smart, or a mouth. If anything it was now a thin line of anguish, wishing he’d be elsewhere now. It was true, he remembers that this boy used to wait for his father to arrive and pick him up, only to find that he didn’t remember. The Janitor remembers this kid going home by himself, walking the streets, especially how the kid greeted him the week prior and gave him a spare lollipop! The man felt so ashamed suddenly, his attitude now in line.

For good measure, Joonhyung grabbed the keys from the janitor’s pockets (all of the keys, even HIS) and walked away, being followed by a confused teacher and a scared janitor. Right behind the school building, behind the outdoors gym, there was a little hang out spot with thick tree branches laying down in a semi circle. Many older kids ventured here and hung around, as it was an off limits area for the younger ones. This place was a little furher up the terrain, making the walls lower by comparison. Behind that wall was a house, from an eldery couple, next to the house was a building of some sort. Joonhyung didn’t quite knew what it was, but all he knew was that he threw both key sets to each place. One for the house, one for the unknown building.

With that, he grabbed Joy, grabbed the young scared boy and drove them both home, his anger soon dissipating. Now, the janitor had to do twice as much work as he did before, for which Joonhyung said ‘He who is lazy works double.’

Seulgi shuddered once again upon remembering, imagining herself in the janitor’s situation for a moment. Feeling that the set of keys would now be her phone and what other things--but then she remembered she didn’t have a phone here…

The fear was still very much the same.

“Seulgi!”

The slim young woman jumped and looked at Irene who was now walking out of the barn and tapping her watch, “We have to make breakfast NOW, not tomorrow.”

“Wait,” she began, jumping out and hopping out of the chicken’s way as she ran towards her. “Do you really think Joonhyung will be mad?”

Irene laughed softly. “Wow, you really get scared easily, don’t you? He won’t, just relax.”

With that, Seulgi sighed with relief. “God.”

“We just like to have some to spare, Grandma likes to eat some extra eggs every now and then.”

Seulgi then suddenly gulped and felt a twinge of embarrassment and guilt. Certainly, she felt a lot worse, she almost preferred to have Joonhyung mad at her. “Oh,” she said ever so softly.

With this change, Irene noticed right away and glanced over to her as they continued to walk towards the house, taking their time despite being in somewhat of a time limit. “You really love her?”

Now, Irene didn’t mean to ask especially not with the way it sounded. But the damage was very much done.

Seulgi tensed up and frowned. “Of course I do, she’s my grandmother! What do you think I am, some sort of monster?”

“No!” Irene said right away, shaking her head. “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I just… thought you didn’t want to be here.”

No, no, no!

Seulgi stopped and crossed her arms, looking incredulous. “Oh? Well, I DIDN’T want to be here, but I would’ve been more enthusiastic if I had been told that grandmother Kang was dying in the ing first place.”

Irene stopped as well now, turning to look at her. Suddenly, Seulgi’s tears the day before and her attitude made sense, but it was making Irene angrier for a reason. “Watch your language and what do you mean? You didn’t know before coming here?”

“Of course not,” Seulgi spat back, looking around, finding herself in the middle of the field as she pushed the issue further as she usually did. “Give me a ing break. You people really--.”

“Geez, sorry, but I thought you’d pay more attention to your family affairs. I’m not even in this family, Seulgi, and I know about it.”

“Try having a superstar’s life and packed schedule and then you tell me what you find out,” Seulgi shot back right away, her voice raising. “You’re lucky if you get to breathe!”

To Irene, this sounded like a lousy excuse, making her roll her eyes and begin in a mocking tone. She’s just had enough of Seulgi. “Oh poor you, getting millions and millions of dollars every day but not able to even call your family every now and then? Come on, that’s pathetic.”

This was unfortunately true. As much as Seulgi wanted to hide behind the facts with some half-truth, she had to admit that she’s neglected her family, she’s neglected the most important people in her life. And for what? For some friends, some drug-addict rich kids that did nothing but to constantly waste their health and wealth in useless and unnecessary things, for some socialites on instagram? She’s rich! She could take some vacations and be fine, have money and time to spare. What forbid her from talking ot her family? What forbid her from bonding with the people who believed in her from the start?

What was so hard in making a few calls?

Seulgi suddenly found it a little hard to breathe again, a bit overwhelmed. Maybe this was one of the many things that was wrong with her, maybe this was one of the reasons she was sent here in the first place. But this doesn’t erase the fact that her life--her hard work--as a whole is being perpetually misunderstood all the time. It was always ‘shut up and get to work’ or ‘stop whining, you have money, everything is fine.’

She was not going to let Irene see her tears either. Still frowning and angry, she finally spoke. “ you.”

“Oh yeah, me for being right. You are a bit of a brat, you know that?” Irene rolled her eyes (noticing Seulgi flinch at how strongly she used the word despite not being one to swear) and continued walking. “I’m not here for your tantrums, Kang, let’s get moving.”

Seulgi knew that was true. No matter what she said or what she did, Irene would NOT change her mind about her. After all, she thought like many people did. Seulgi was a monster, Seulgi was a brat, Seulgi was this and that. Trying to convince people otherwise had become tiresome, she can no longer find the words or the patience.

But she doesn’t realize the actions she must take and how loud they could be.

They both marched to the house with a big gap between them, nothing but silence being exchanged after that encounter. Finally home and in the kitchen, Seulgi put the basket down on the counter and instantly jetted out of the kitchen. Irene was about to protest and complain, to scold her to get back there and get to work until she remembered that she promised the woman that she could have her shower after collecting the eggs. The idea was further cemented in when the slow and lethargic shuffling of Kang Dohee’s feet was made present.

“Was that an intruder I saw going up the stairs?” Grandmother Kang asked in her near-mute voice, walking slow.

Irene sighed and shook her head. “No, no. That was Seulgi, she went to take a shower.”

“Oh.”

“Why are you up so early?” Irene asked suddenly, washing her hands as she glanced up at the clock on the wall. “Breakfast is not ready.”

Grandma Kang smiled a little. “Ah, I didn’t know it was this early. But I wanted to see Seulgi and talk to her. Tell her to come down to talk when she’s done, alright?”

Irene then nodded and watched the elder go back to her room, turn on the TV and perhaps settle down in her favorite chair. Before anything, she decided to quickly go up to the upstairs bathroom and tell Seulgi this. Irene may not be as old as Dohee but she sometimes forgot simple things as well. So, she slowly made it upstairs, careful not to wake anyone up, and stood outside the bathroom door.

She would’ve spoken and knocked, if it wasn’t for the undeniable sound of crying battling against the sound of a strong current of water trying to dumb it down. It wasn’t just any sobbing, it was a real and raw crying, emotive and from within. For a moment, she thought it was Joy who was weeping inside the shower and it wouldn’t be the first time. For good measure, she walked to the bedroom and saw Seulgi’s bed empty, Joy’s bed full with her sleeping body and a small snore to accompany it.

Irene then realized that, perhaps, she had been a bit too tough--especially on a young lady that was already mourning a certain death, and a death she just found out about no less. That wasn’t something you tell someone who is about to lose someone dear to them. Maybe, and just maybe, being tough on the girl was not the solution?

It’s not a good idea to call Seulgi a brat when she’s going through a tough period even if she’s been a brat, maybe she’s just heard that too much that it doesn’t mean anything anymore. What was the point of telling something to someone when they’ve gone deaf from how many times they’ve heard it anyways? It’s a waste of time, Irene concluded. It’s been a waste of time for a long while.

Maybe Seulgi had a heart and was a human too, even with all that money and all her shallow friends.

With a regretful heart, Irene walked backwards and walked down the stairs, leaving a weeping Seulgi alone. Sometimes, that’s all you need. To cry, and to cry alone.

Life was , Seulgi concluded as she stopped her tears. People would not understand her, and people would not bother to even try it. That was that, once again arriving to the gloomy conclusion. She composed herself as best as possible, washed herself throughout and calmed down. She finally got out of the bathroom after the third desperate time Joy knocked, who claimed was about to burst into a pee fountain ready to douse the entire house in the foul stench of it. Despite having her eyes look a bit puffy, she looked otherwise normal and perfectly fine, behaving as such as well.

At least, she could dry herself up and dress up in privacy while Joy was in the bathroom doing her business, which gave Seulgi a bit of time to take into the decorations.

She’s noticed the posters before, but on Joy’s desk there was a laptop, some books (probably for school, Joy doesn’t look like an avid reader), and a family picture of all of them running around in the farm, well except a very young Joonhyung who was sitting and holding a slightly pale babygirl in his lap--seemingly entertaining her--as the others played. The only one missing was Dongho, because he hadn’t been born yet. Then, next to that picture was the photo of a very handsome, very charming, lightly tanned man, absurdly familiar. His hair was jet black, combed back, his eyebrows bushy, his ears protruding, monolids proudly present…

It didn’t resemble Seulgi as much as it did her father. Last time Seulgi saw this man was when she was eleven years old.

This was Kang Rokhyun. And in that moment, the young superstar hears something.

“Damn, don’t I look haaaandddsoommeeeee.”

Seulgi froze for a moment, a little afraid to know where that voice was coming from but she knew exactly who that voice belonged to.

Or used to belong to. That could not be Uncle Rok, definitely not. But what if it was him in fact? Seulgi covered herself with the towel right away and turned around and saw him.

Clearly it was the unmistakeable presence of Kang Rokhyun, in all his tan glory, his champion smile glowing, his masculine physique (reminiscent of Dongho’s in fact) was intact, leaning cooly against the wall with his arm crossed. But… he looked different, or felt different. He didn’t look a day older than he was years ago, he was wearing a white long sleeved shirt, his dogtags and baggy white trousers.

He looked like the hotshot he always was, the chill guy that the ever so gorgeous Alyssa McDonald married. But he looked slightly… vague, faint. Transparent?

Of course he did, he was dead.

“Seulgi!”

Someone knocked on the door and the moment Seulgi looked away to see that the door was locked, he was gone. Just like that. Seulgi was startled, confused, and perhaps embarrassed that he saw her in this moment. Gulping, she composed herself to respond with a shaky voice. “Y-yeah?”
 

“Grandma Kang wants to see you and breakfast is ready!” Irene’s voice shouted from the other side of the door and soon her footsteps were heard fading.

Seulgi was still astonished, turning back to the spot where he was. But he wasn’t there, he was gone, not a single voice or noise could be heard except for Seulgi’s shaky breath.

At the speed of Usain Bolt on crack, Seulgi dressed up in something simple while she thought about what had just happened. No matter how much thought, how much careful detail she tried to grasp at, it didn’t make any sense. Hallucinations? She’s never had one, she was not likely to have one either. Apparitions? She’s never had one before either and didn’t necessarily believed in those things, what started it now of all times? Was it the country air? Was the Country Air any different than the Big City Air?

It had Seulgi so bothered that she put her pants backwards and her shirt inside out, so by the time Joy walked into the room she laughed her off without a care in the world who might hear her cackle. Seulgi was still shaky.

No, let’s be frank. Seulgi was still scared.