November 11--Pepero Day, when every lover around South Korea are busy delivering a box of chocolate sticks to their loved ones, is today, and Baekhyun is home in the middle of a forest, heating enough water for two packs of ramen while clipping his toe nails and enjoying the night comedy show on television. He laughs on beat after every funny part, clips a nail when the humor dies down, and listens to check if the water is boiling yet every once in a while.

What a wonderful day.

He's trimmed all except his right big toe nail, and now he moves to it when the power goes out.

He didn't pay the bills. Being the cool guy that he is, Baekhyun skillfully finishes up in the dark even though he cannot see. He gathers the traces on the floor and dumps them into the trash can to wash his hands. "At least the water's still running."

After years of living like this, Baekhyun mastered the art of seeing in the dark. He probably can slice and dice cucumbers on the living room telelvision if he wants to if he can afford any cucumbers. Amazingly, he has a television though.

It's a little past six in the afternoon, so barely any light is shining through the windows. The water has not yet boiled, meaning he wouldn't be able to eat his stupid ramen. Baekhyun turns off the gas.

Alright. Now what?

To the convenient store.

Baekhyun grabs a neatly ironed coat and wraps a scarf around his neck. Don't misunderstand, he might not have enough bling bling to pay his bills, but he had enough fan girls to present him nice warm clothes, electronics and other products. 

In fact, if not for the fact the power is out, his house and himself would look perfectly well-off. He's Byun Baekhyun. He has a reputation to keep. He can't look shabby or distasteful. He has ladies to impress. Who knows? Maybe one of them might be his future first love.

Closing the front door behind him, Baekhyun pauses. A long slithering snake slides just out of his view, and there's someone lying on the cold cement ground outside his house.

A girl with only a large plastic bag around her body is lying face flat, unmoving.

Baekhyun just stares and then walks past the body without much thought. He's too busy for that.

Wait.

Cocking his head to the left and then to the right, he works his starving brain. Really? There cannot possibly be a girl lying on the street in the middle of winter. He turns around to check if he saw that right.

The girl is gone now, and instead, there's a small bird within a lump of plastic bag.

'Of course. A girl? Pfft. You wish, Baekhyun.'

He's about to continue on his way to the convenient store when the sound of a dog barking stops him.

A large bulldog with its saliva oozing out between his fat lips is barking at the poor bird.

Now, Baekhyun isn't a nice fellow, but he isn't a cruel one either. Immediately, he runs and shoos the beast away. It runs off for a couple of feet before stopping to growl at him again.

Bending down to the ground and mumbling to himself, he unwraps the scarf off his neck and wraps it around the bird. Byun Baekhyun, you're being silly, he's telling himself. Upon closer inspection, the bird has injured its leg.

Still, he picks up the bird, using the scarf as cushion and looks for a place to put the bird. Maybe a higher ground, so the dogs can't--no, then the cats might gather. Maybe even a hawk.

In the end, the front door of his house is opened, and the bird is placed on his sofa.

It'll just be for a little while, and then he leaves to buy himself a cheap dinner.

 

---

 

'I'm scared.'

A girl with long golden brown hair and a green plastic bag around her body hurriedly moves her legs down the alley way. She looks as if she was not used to using her legs. Even though she is out of breath, her bare feet continue slapping the cold pavement as she runs for her life.

Slithering after her at her heels is a large boa constrictor. Where it came from and why it's after the girl was not important in this situation.

'Somebody help me!'

Up ahead, there is an opening in the forest, and she sees a vacant house. Almost there. If only she reaches it, she can hide in there. The girl throws the remainder of her power into the last spurt. Unfortunately, her legs awkwardly cannot keep up as she trips over her own foot and lands on her face with her arms spread out from her. Although she managed to make it out into the clearing, the persistent snake bites into one of the girl's leg and easily breaks the skin with its fangs.

It hurt like hell. The girl does not even have the energy to scream and her consciousness starts drifting away. There is the sound of a door opening as she blacks out.

Then, she wakes up, panting.

A dream? No, her leg is sore, but it isn't unbareable. Shivering slightly and looking down at her bloody legs, she's marvels at her own tolerance to the pain. There is a scarf wrapped around her body. The plastic bag is gone, leaving her skin exposed to the warm air around her.

Warm air? The girl realizes how unusually warm this place is. Finally realizing that she is in someone's house, she takes a deep breath of relief and wraps the scarf around her leg. 'I wonder who saved me?'

Growl...

The girl stared at her bare stomach. Dear whoever saved her life, this girl you saved may die of starvation now.

Still but unashamed, she drags her body off the sofa and around the dark room.

 

---

 

Baekhyun counts the change left over in his pocket as he walks back home. 'I have about three days worth of food left. My next pay day is in a week. If I eat half the food each day, then I can last around six days. That should be good' The boy nods, satisfied with his plan.

Does the bird need to eat? He is starting to regret bringing it home, and the image of the girl from earlier is still bothering him. The more he thinks about it, the more real it seems.

'Could the girl have turned into a bird?' He stops walking and laughs loudly to himself like a lunatic--"hahahaha!!"--earning some stares from the neighbors before he disappear into the forest. 'Good one, Baekhyun. You're a funny guy. A girl turning into a bird? Ha! You're frickin' hilarious, Baekhyun.' Still complimenting himself for being funny, he continues deeper into the forest.

Already home, the funny Baekhyun opens the front door and walks in, shaking his shoes off and pulls off his coat.

Someone grunts in the kitchen.

"What the hell. Who's there?" Something squeals like a pig at his voice. It's even later into the night then before, so it is difficult for Baekhyun to make out what the figure was in the kitchen, but he believes it's some kind of animal.

Before the thing in the kitchen escapes, Baekhyun drops his coat and runs to where he keeps his flashlight but slips on something wet on the ground instead. Although in pain, he manages to open the one of the drawers under the television and flip on his flashlight. He turns it towards the ground and sees blood. "Oh god." He's not just scared. Nope, he's absolutely freaked.

Honestly, if you hear wrestling noises in the kitchen and find blood on the floor of your house during a black out, you would flip sht too.

Right away, Baekhyun raises his flashlight into the kitchen and finds a small pink fleshy thing emptying a packet of ramen sauce powder into its gasping mouth.

It's a girl.

Wait, it's not just any girl. It's the weird one he saw earlier before it turned into a bird.

"Who are you?" He shouts at the girl. "What are you doing here?"

The girl finally realizes she's been spotted by someone and slowly rises up, revealing herself to the boy. 'Ah! A human! Wait, I'm a human now too.' On her feet, the girl notices how frightened the boy looks and raises her hands up in the air as if she is trying to calm the boy down. "Don't be scared, human. I'm a human too." A bit of the ramen powder puffs out of .

"What?" Back to his senses, Baekhyun attempts to comprehend what the girl just said and oogles at the girl before realizing that she's... yes, . She's been for a long time, huh? Immediately, he points at the coat on the ground at the entrance of the kitchen. "Can you put some clothes on?!"