Cluck!

In the bathroom, Sin Jeong-Hyuk scratches his chin, turning his face to his right, checking out his reflection.

"She likes my beard though," He murmurs to himself as he picks up the razor and runs it on his chin to get rid of the last of his stubble. The ghostly sensation of her lips running on his jaw shoots up in his mind.

"Tch!" A few drops of blood fall in the white sink. "Damn it!"

He grimaces at his reflection. "Don't think of stupid things."

The chicken has gone mad. She needs to be taught what she can and can't do. For example, she can't kiss him like that. It's absolutely not allowed.

"You aren't allowed to think about it either." He points his index finger at the reflection. "It's not a big deal. So, a kid kissed you. Didn't Mirae used to kiss you when she was little?"

Comparing Chicken to his thirteen-year-old niece is a little…

"Even Mirae has some sense," He grumbles, washing the blood on his chin. "She wouldn't kiss me like she did when she was a little toddler."

How is that Chicken so different from her little sister? Chang Mi-Young is like… He shudders when he recalls that little demon.

"Being her fake husband was difficult." He turns on the hot shower. "I can't imagine what will happen to her real husband."

Didn't she say that she doesn't want to get married because she has no desire?

He narrows his eyes. No desire? Who kissed him? Who was rubbing her face on his…

"Just a kid." Sin Jeong-Hyuk covers his face and exhales, exasperated, "Don't think about it."

***

Later on, he's lying on the bed with a straight face.

"Everything in life is temporary." He mumbles, "Cut off lust. Cut off desire. Be one with Buddha. No, just do a robotic dance. Damn it! I can't dance even if my life depended on it. Should I work out? When did I work out last time? It must have been a year ago. I can't sleep."

What is sleep? A good sleep sounds foreign to him. Ever since he left S City, he hasn't had any good sleep.

"Maybe something is wrong with my pillows." He makes no attempt at getting up and checking what's wrong with his pillows. "Chicken wants to see a therapist. Maybe I should take her to someone. Keeping her sane is my responsibility."

His phone starts ringing.

Sin Jeong-Hyuk lazily reaches for the phone on the bedside table. Even without looking at the number, he could tell that it's from his chicken. He has set a special ringtone for her -- a song by Daydream.

"Speak." His voice is gruff, a little hoarse. He's still mad at her for kissing him without his 'permission'.

[Cluck!]

He frowns. Did he hear a chicken? "Chicken, I am not in the mood for jokes…"

[Cluck! C-Cluuuck! Cluckkk!]

Even though it's a real chicken clucking on the phone, he could tell that the bird is rather anxious. "Did you get a part-time job at some chicken rearing place?"

The call is over.

"What the…" He stares hard at the phone. Did the chickens make a call to him? Is this possible? It could be an accidental phone call.

[BEEP~]

There's a text from her. He opens the messenger.

--

Chicken: MISTER HELP ME

Chicken: I AM DYING

Chicken: MY HANDS ARE GOING AWAY

Chicken: COME ALONE I DON'T WANT TO GET CAUGHT BY THE POLICE

Chicken: I CAN'T TYPE FOR LONG

Chicken: B SUBWAY STATION

--

The messages stop coming.

Eh? Sin Jeong-Hyuk blinks his eyes. Dying? Police? Hands going away?

Sin Jeong-Hyuk grabs his coat and runs out of the house.

***

Sitting on the cold toilet bowl, Chang Seol parts her beaks and inhales the air sharply. The fluorescent light glistens on her inky black feathers.

---

Mister: Where are you?

---

The phone is lying above her discarded clothes on the floor of the bathroom stall.

Her hands are gone. She wraps her long reptilian wings around herself, squeezing her body in the bathroom stall. Her head can hit the ceiling if she raises her head. She looks at the phone screen with tears brimming in her round obsidian black eyes.

How can she reply? Her fingers are gone. She lowers her head and looks at her chest. Her torso and legs are covered with reptilian black scales with sea-green lustre. She has no idea what is going on.

Is she going crazy? What's happening to her body?

[Mister: I am at the subway station. Just where are you?]

What would happen if Mister sees her like this? Can she trust him? What if people capture her and throw in the zoo of exotic and rare animals?

She could imagine the headlines of the newspaper: a weird chicken-lizard was found in B Subway station.

---

Mister: if you don't tell me, I have to contact the police.

---

"Cluck!"

(Don't!)

Her voice is low and sad. She stretches her talon and tries to tap the screen. But it is difficult to send a message with her long black pointed nails.

Chang Seol takes a deep breath and tries again.

***

Sin Jeong-Hyuk frowns at his phone.

--

Chicken: W

Chicken: O M

Chicken: A

Chicken: N

--

Why is she sending messages like this?

And what does 'Woman' mean?

He calls the number again.

[The number you are calling is unreachable.]

"Damn." He looks around. A hundred scenarios rush through his mind like a storm: chicken in a strange situation, chicken getting her finger broken and not being able to type the messages properly, chicken dying somewhere.

Where can he find her? There are no more messages. She doesn't want him to contact the police.

"Where are you, Chicken?" He runs around, searching for that petite figure in a red coat until he sees a 'woman restroom'.

Is she in there?

He marches toward the restroom and pushes open the door. "CHICKEN!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" Women's screams nearly render him deaf. He covers his ears and rushes out of the washroom while apologizing loudly.

"She's probably not in there." Sin Jeong-Hyuk wonders if there's another woman's restroom here. But how is he going to go inside a woman's restroom in a crowded subway station?