Vicious

1

      It was a hot, hellish summer day. The worst part was our Jimin had to walk miles to a house where his new job was. The place was called Kim Manor and was conveniently placed in the middle of the woods.

     The day after arriving at a small town on the outskirts of Seoul, Jimin took a look at the bulletin board in the lobby of the inn-tavern he was staying at. There wasn't much to choose from there. The population of the small farming and fishing town was only about 200, afterall. There wasn't even a school.

     There were numerous ads for mechanics and scullery maids, some for painting and tending to livestock. But, young Jimin didn't know anything about cars or livestock since he came from poor cityfolk. And Jimin obviously couldn't be a scullery maid since he was not only a man, but had little experience with cleaning fancy houses. There was still yet painting, but Jimin liked to paint pictures, not walls.

     The boy was about to give up and choose a painting job when he noticed a lonely handwritten ad asking for a gardener. Our Jimin absolutely loved flowers. As a young boy, he had his own vegetable garden in a large pot in his auntie's window sill. Well, he had it until some drunken past lover of his auntie's threw up in said pot, killing his poor crop. After that, our little Jimin could never look at it the same way.

     Nevertheless, Jimin throughout his adolescenthood always had at least one flower in the house or his room. Was it the color that it added to the otherwise dull, depressing room? The life? Or was it Jimin's unquenchable thirst to love and care for something when his aunt wasn't home? He never asked himself these questions, because he was a humble and simple soul.

     As Jimin eyed the ad down, he couldn't help but let it run through his mind for a second. All the other ads were the kinds that one would snatch and take the information from, but not this one. It looked like it wasn't to be used, but to be tickled into giving its contents, even though they were plainly written on the page.

     Why was it that way? Was it the personal touch the handwritten page had compared to the print? Could it possibly be the undertones of a heavy, dark aura surrounding it?

     Dark aura or not, Jimin needed the job, and he had a fondness towards flowers, so it should be fine. He took the page and set off for Kim Manor.

---

     Atop a grumpy mule Jimin was talked into renting, Jimin clippity-clopped his way down the road he was told Kim Manor was on. It was oppressively hot outside and, even under the trees, Jimin still felt like he was melting alive.

     The mule, however, was a whole different beast. Not only would it stop frequently to eat grass or to shit, but it would also try to turn around to go back home, to which Jimin had to wrestle him back around by the bridle made out of haystring. This wrestling match would last at least a good three minutes.

     Meanwhile, since said mule didn't come with a saddle or even a blanket, and was skinnier than a rail, it's spine ran up Jimin's ass the whole way. It's gate with all the oscillation only made it worse, rubbing back and forth, over and over in between his ass cheeks. It's not like he could stand up in stirrups or sidesaddle, because Jimin wasn't experienced enough and, once again, didn't have a saddle.

"Mang, stop!!" Jimin squeaked as his noble steed ducked his head to take another grazing break. Jimin had enough of it at this point.

Mang, however, did not even acknowledge that his priceless headstall of haystring was being tugged and yanked at by our puny Jimin.

"I said stop!! At this rate, if we get there, it'll be by next week!!!" he whined and gave Mang a good, sound spurring to the gut with his heel.

In protest to this, Mang lifted his head and whirled his body around to trot back to his home, Jimin or not.

     Our soft boy, being dainty as he is, fell straight off the ass of the half-ass, hitting the dirt with a grunt and a heavy thud. Luckily, he had a backpack full of clothes to cushion his fall, so he wasn't injured in the slightest.

     After a few seconds of lying still on the ground and catching his breath, Jimin finally pulled himself up to look for Mang, but instead of trotting off like he initially thought, he was peacefully munching on some shrooms with a random guy petting his side. Who the hell was that!? Where did he come from!??

     The lanky-looking dude turned his attention away from Mang to look at Jimin with a smile.

"Are you okay?" he asked with a raspy, but not gruff voice. Even though the guy looked Jimin's age, the guy sounded like his voice went through a lot of trauma from screaming or smoking.

Jimin gulped and licked his lips out of nerves as he clutched the bands of his backpack. "Uhm, yeah. I'm okay."

"Is he your's?" the tall man asked, referring to Mang, "He's really thin, you know."

Jimin shook his head no to the first question as he snorted and looked down at the ground. "Yeah, I do know. My ass is... raw."

The guy chuckled as he gathered the makeshift reins, gently tugging them up to lead him over to Jimin. "Where you headed?"

"Kim Manor. It's around here, right?"

"Oh! I-! Am friends with the butler there!" the guy exclaimed loud enough to rattle the ground. That's the trauma.

Jimin jumped a little and smiled. "Oh, good. Am I on the right track?'

"Yup! Right up the street there," he said and pointed up the street a ways to a sign that read, of course, Kim Manor.

Jimin turned back around with a big smile and gave a little bow at the head as he took Mang's string. "Thank you."

"No problem. I was actually on my way there. I'll walk with," he said and gestured for Jimin and Mang to take the lead.

     As they walked, Jimin began to feel a little better about the guy. He had such a happy, positive energy about him and seemed to be smitten with Mang... for whatever reason. It really loosened Jimin up a lot.

"So what's your name?" the guy asked as they reached the drive and broke away to open the gate.

"Jimin. Park Jimin," our boy replied politely.

The guy gave him a nod. "Whatcha want with this place?"

"I'm replying to the ad for a gardener." Jimin answered whilst walking through the gate with Mang, stopping to wait for the guy who never revealed his own name.

His face lit up with an open, heart-shaped smile. "Oh, how wonderful! I'm glad to hear it, because this place needs a touch of life!"

Jimin smiled. That sounded pretty promising that he'd get the job. "Yeah, I hope I get it. What's your name, by the way?"

"Oh, Jung Hoseok." he said as he locked the gate back.

"Nice to meet you. Would you do me a favor and walk me to the door?"

Hoseok eagerly nodded and began the brisk trek under the pines.

     Hoseok was fast. Very fast. Damn his long legs and big body. His ass didn't look too bad either... Jimin had a hard time keeping up with him, not to mention he was practically dragging Mang behind him, the lazy half-ass.

     Eventually, they emerged from the forest of pines out into an open area where the large house sat. Hoseok was right, the place... was lacking. There was a pond in front of the house, but there was nothing in or around it. It was just... there. There were dead vines all around the house, cluttering it up and ruining the paint and material. The bushes were overgrown and everything seemed so... dead and tired.

Hoseok grabbed one of Mang's reins. "I'll put him in the stables for you," he offered, to which Jimin couldn't deny.

     As Hoseok walked off with Mang, Jimin drew in a breath and set off for the front door. Jimin looked around the property, scoping it out and taking in the view. The forest that surrounded the front of the house tapered off towards the backyard, that is, if there is one. From the front, it didn't seem like there was much room for gardens, but perhaps the back told a different story.

Our Jimin had a lot of work to do...