“No. I don’t want to,” the boy says as he angrily throws his mask to the side. It hits a water bottle without a cap, resulting in a completely wet jacket.

“Stop throwing stuff around and calm down. Everything will be fine. It’s only normal for you to be nervous –” The manager tries as he walks to the door of the dressing room and closes it so the boy won’t hear the chanting of the crowd anymore.

“Nervous? I’m not nervous! I’m not nervous at all!” He picks up a shoe of the costume for the third song, and aims for the mirror.

“I’m just not singing.”

“Hyunwoo, please…” The manager is pretty much begging by now. Daesung’s convinced he’ll drop on his knees if that’s what it takes to persuade him. When the boy starts throwing the other shoe as well, Daesung sighs and picks up the wet jacket. With a disapproving look on his face, he drapes it over a chair so it can dry.

“I said no!” This time he kicks the rack that’s carrying his outfits.

“Just get out there and sing!” It’s obvious the manager is losing his patience, especially when the sound of the chanting becomes audible even through the closed door, but the boy doesn’t waver.

“No.”

There’s a moment where neither one of them says a thing, the only thing they share are some intense stares, and the only thing they can hear is the very much impatient crowd.

“That’s breach of contract,” the older man then calmly warns.

“So?” Hyunwoo raises his right eyebrow, it’s his way of showing he’s defying his manager.

“So there’ll be consequences if you don’t go out there.”

“Chh,” the boy whiffs.

“You can’t do anything or you won’t have a Hades anymore. You need me.” He then lowers himself stubbornly into a chair. Realising the boy’s right, the manager desperately starts looking around for something to convince him. That’s when his eyes fall upon Daesung.

“You. Boy,” he beckons Daesung. The latter looks to his left and his right, and when he sees no one is standing near him, he looks back to the man.

“Me?” What in the world could he mean to him?

“Yes. You.” He pulls Daesung’s arm until he’s standing right underneath the light.

“You seem about the same height as Hyunwoo, why don’t you go in his place?”

“What?!” Daesung quickly pulls himself out of the light and steps back until he hits the wall. Has that man completely lost his senses? He’s being utterly ridiculous.

“You go in his place, it won’t be a problem. All you have to do is move your lips to the words of the song. It’s not that big a deal anyway since Hyunwoo does the same,” the out-of-his-mind manager shrugs. Daesung’s still shaking his head when Hyunwoo indignantly jumps up from his chair.

“That has to be the most stupid idea I’ve ever heard,” he snorts. He looks like he doesn’t care, but there’s something in his eyes saying he did not anticipate this reaction.

“I’ll pay you. How much do you want?” The manager reaches for his wallet and picks out some money.

“Three million Won, is that enough?” He waves it right in fro