The stranger first comes to the house in the countryside in the early winter.

Cabbage husks cover the fields as the mountains against the grey sky prepare for the first snow. trees line the dirt road and the tall grass is a pale brown as it sways in the cold wind.

The oldest boys are digging in the yard for spots to bury clay pots when they see him. He’s a tall figure walking over a hill on the trail that leads toward the house from the main road. He arrives suddenly as if appearing out of thin air, wearing a suit with a hat and carrying two large trunks as he walks up to the property.

“Who are you?” Youngbae asks as he sets down his shovel, wiping the sweat from his brow.

The stranger takes off his sunglasses and puts them in his pocket.  

“Is this Lee seonsang’s house?”

“I asked you who you are and I don’t like to repeat myself.” Youngbae says as the younger of the two men puts down his shovel as well.

A young woman comes out of the house wearing a deep blue dress with a kimchi stained apron.

“Chae, don’t come out of the house!” The older boy tells her but she walks out anyway, her long dark hair fluttering in the wind as she joins the men in the yard.

“What’s going on here?” She asks, looking curiously at the well-dressed stranger.

“Are you Lee seonsang’s daughter?” The stranger asks and she nods. He bows, taking out a letter from his jacket pocket and handing it to her.

Chaerin takes the envelope, opening it up to see her father’s writing. She reads it silently as Youngbae and Seungri watch the stranger suspiciously. Folding the letter back up and putting it into its envelope, she nods. She places the letter in the pocket of her apron and looks up at the stranger.

“I’ll show you to your room if you follow me.” She tells him and he allows her to lead the way up to the house and through the front door.

He looks around at the large but mostly empty interior. A young girl sits in the living surrounding by heads of cabbage making kimchi. She looks up at him and immediately looks away shyly. He turns his head as he notices a baby grand piano covered by fabric on the other side of the spacious room.  

“The piano you can use is down the hall.” Chaerin says, noticing the direction of his gaze. He follows her as she walks past the baby grand and down past a short hall. At the end of the hall if a padded soundproof door, unlike any of the other doors in the house. “This is the practice room you can use anytime you’d like. The entire room is soundproofed so you don’t need to worry about disturbing anyone.”

They walk up the stairs and to another hallway but lined with more rooms. He looks at the doors with names on front in handmade hanging signs.

“How many other people here?” He asks and Chaerin laughs, the sound deep and pleasant.

“It seems like a lot, doesn’t it?” She opens up a door with no sign. The room is empty except for a desk propped against a big window. “This is the room that you can use. If you need anything my room is just across from yours.”

He sets down his trunks, flexing his fingers sore from having been holding onto the handles for a long while.

“I’ll get you a futon,” She says as she leaves for a moment. He looks around the room, not knowing what he expected. He was just thankful to have somewhere to sleep. Chaerin returns with her arms full of blankets and a futon. She sets the futon down and brushes away the wrinkles from her dress. “Dinner will be in a few hours, I’ll call you down.”

She turns around to leave the again but he stops her.

“Wait, I never got your name.”

She laughs again.

“I’m sorry, my name is Lee Chaerin. It’s nice to meet you Mr. Choi.”

He looks at her startled as she bows to him.

“I’d prefer if you didn’t call me that.” He says uncomfortably.

“Then, oppa?” She asks as she looks at him curiously.

“No, no.” He shakes his head, looking embarrassed as she stifles another laugh turns to go.

“Please rest and make yourself at home, ahjussi.”

A few hours later, Choi Seunghyun sits in his new room reading. There’s a light knock on the door and the young girl he had seen in the kitchen peeks in her head.

“Dinner is ready, ahjussi.” She says quickly before disappearing as suddenly as she had appeared.  

He puts down his book and starts to walk down the stairs where he can already begin to hear the people gathered on the first floor. The house is lively and filled with noise unlike the quiet apartment he had lived in before.

“Oppa! Seungri-yah, wash your hands before you sit down!” Chaerin yells as he enters the room and he’s shocked to see that the two men washing at the sink are shirtless. She notices his presence in the room and turns to him. “Did you rest well?”

He nods and she sees where he’s looking. She shrugs her shoulders and he takes this as a sign that while she’s not exactly happy, it happens too often for her to do anything about it. He sits down at the table by the young girl and the two other men.

“I should introduce everyone,” Chaerin announces as she finally joins the rest of the residents at the table. “This is Dong Youngbae, he’s the oldest, or second oldest now. Next to him is Seungri, he’s my age. And then this is our Lee Hayi.”

“My name is Choi Seunghyun, it’s nice to meet you all. I apologize for intruding.”

“It’s fine, ahjussi.” Seungri says with a wave of his hand as he eats his rice. “We’re all intruding, you’ll get used to it.”

The front door opens as they all eat and two men walk in, putting their coats on the rack and walking into the room. He can tell looking at them that they come from good families, with their hair gelled back and their clothes expensive and tailored. Chaerin gets up suddenly and goes to the kitchen, hurrying to get them rice as the two men sit down.

“You should have told me you were coming.” Chaerin says in exasperation as she sits back down with everyone else.

“Sorry, it was a last minute decision.” One of the men says as he begins to eat.

“I’ve never seen you before. My name is Wu Yifan.” The other man says as he notices Seunghyun at the table.

“Ah, I’m Lee Soohyuk. I heard while I was over at the train station that you had arrived.”

“I’m Choi Seunghyun. I just got in today.” He introduces himself with a nod.

“These two are students, too. They come by often to play the piano and go through the records and sheet music.” Chaerin adds as she gestures to the two men, as if reassuring him that they don’t actually live in the house.

The group eats dinner while joking around and laughing, the house filling up the sounds of the many people clinking their glasses and moving around. It’s strange for Seunghyun to be around so many people. Lee seonsang had warned him that the living situation would be a little unconventional. He feels slightly uncomfortable but drinks his beer and eats the delicious homemade food quietly. He watches each time as Chaerin goes to get someone beer. She’s not that much younger than he is and he wonders why she isn’t married. Youngbae notices the stranger looking at Chaerin and elbows him in the arm.

“Oh, sorry, ahjussi.” He apologizes half-heartedly as if it were an accident and continues to drink his beer.

“Are Youngbae and Seungri musicians as well, to be living here?” He asks and Soohyuk laughs as if it’s impossible to believe.

“These two? No, they’re just orphans.” Soohyuk answers casually.

Seunghyun gives them a sympathetic look but Youngbae and Seungri seem as if they don’t want it.

“Hayi likes to sing,” Chaerin changes the subject quietly. “She’s taking lessons. Her voice is very soulful and pleasant to listen to. Ahjussi, do you like foreign musicians?”

“I listen to some.” He tells her, knowing that she’s purposely redirecting the conversation.

“Hayi sounds like Aretha Franklin, very soulful.” She says and he looks at the young girl in surprise as she hides behind her hands.

“Hyungnim!” Hayi groans in embarrassment as she gets up from the table. “I’m leaving!”

“It’s been a while since I ate here,” Soohyuk comments with a laugh. “Hayi-ah still calls you hyungnim?”

Chaerins nods as she takes a beer from Youngbae and sips it in a way that’s somehow elegant.

“It’s because Chaerin-ah is a gangster.” Yifan remarks as he cracks open another beer. “Ever since she punched that guy out at the market, she’s been hyungnim.”

“Stop talking about that incident, Yifan.” She asks shyly. “I feel bad enough about it without the whole village talking and constantly bringing it up.”

The front door opens again and a young man walks in. He has a black eye and a bloodied lip as he walks in and goes to the kitchen to grab himself a beer. As he sits down at the table everyone is stunned to silence as he eats hungrily without saying a word. Chaerin finally gets up, getting him a wet towel to wipe his face.

“I’m sorry, ahjussi. This punk is Song Mino.” She says without looking at him, grumbling at the young man as she fusses over him.

“We’re going to get going, Chae.” Yifan announces as he and Soohyuk get up to leave.

“Be safe travelling home, Yifan. Soohyuk oppa.” She tells them as she continues to wipe the blood from Mino’s face while he remains quiet. “Ahjussi, there’s a first aid kit under the kitchen sink. I’m sorry for asking you this but could you please get it for me?”

“It’s wouldn’t be a problem at all, Chaerin-ssi.” He says as he gets the first aid kit and hands it to her.

“Mino-yah, you crazy bastard. I don’t even want to know what trouble you got into this time.” She chastises the young man as she reaches into the kit and grabs the disinfectant alcohol. “I hope that it stings!”

He hisses as she cleans the wound on his cheek and she hits his arm.

“Don’t you dare think that hurts when you haven’t been home all day without telling anyone where you would be!” She continues to nag him and Seunghyun gets up uncomfortably.

“I’ll be excusing myself to my room now.” He says as he starts to leave.

“I’m sorry for this, I hope that you rest well. If you need any more blankets or something please feel free to come get me.” She tells him and he nods.

“Thank you for your hospitality.” He bows before walking up the stairs and going to his room to read.

In the middle of the night, he sits up from his futon, unable to sleep. A tree branch taps on his window as the wind rattles the glass against the pane. He reaches into one of his trunks to get out a second pair of socks as his feet feel cold. He gets up, deciding to go downstairs to make himself tea and walk around in an attempt to warm up. The stairs creak beneath his feet in a way he didn’t remember them doing before. The house seems eerily quiet after he had seen it so full of life earlier in the evening. As he steps down from the stairs he sees a figure in the dark. A woman in white sits at the piano with her dark hair in a loose braid falling down her back. He watches startled, wondering if this is some kind of countryside ghost. The figure slowly turns to look at him and his panic is eased as he realizes it’s just Chaerin.

“Oh, ahjussi, it’s you. What are you doing awake?” She asks in surprise as she sees him looking at her. She notices he’s in his pajamas but wearing a large coat with a scarf wrapped around his neck. “Are you cold?”

“Just a little bit, I’m not used to the winter in the country yet I suppose.” He answers and she nods in understanding.

“I put on the hot water to make some tea if you’d like to have some.”

“I’d be grateful for that, thank you.” He says as he watches her cover the piano bench again before going into the kitchen. He follows her and she pours him a cup of tea.

“I apologize for dinner earlier, it’s not usually that hectic.” She says and he has a feeling that’s not really true but he smiles.

“It’s fine. I’m not from a large family so I’m not quite used to it yet.” He admits as he drinks the tea, feeling it warm his body.

“It can be nice but if you ever want some alone time you always run away into the rice paddies where no one can find you.” She tells him with a small smile as she drinks her own tea, her eyelashes casting pretty shadows on her cheeks in the lamplight. He laughs softly, imagining that she probably wants to run away a lot.

“Do you take care of everyone by yourself?”

“For the most part, yes. I have Hayi to help but she’s still in high school so I want her to study and hopefully get into a university one day.” She sets her cup in the sink and he tries not to notice the sadness in her eyes because he knows she doesn’t want him to see it. “I’m going to go to bed. I’ll see you in the morning for breakfast, goodnight.”

She doesn’t look back as she walks away, disappearing into the dark stairwell. 

- - -

Author's Note: Hi! Thank you to everyone who has subscribed, I hope you enjoy this story! I wanted to try something kind of new so we'll see how it goes. I thought it would be fun having Chaerin and everyone in the country and it makes me laugh thinking that her Baddest Female image kind of translates to being the "village gangster" even though she's not happy with that at all hahah. I also realized while writing this that poor Youngbae is 161 cm while TOP, Kris, and Soohyuk are all over 180 cm so that kind of makes me laugh and it will probably be mentioned a few times hahah.

This story has a secret so see if you can figure it out in the future chapters, it will definitely play a big part as the story goes on. Please leave a comment, I would love to hear your opinions on the story and what's going on so far!