Being god of the underworld was a pretty lonely job. But his father had been one as well as his father’s father and his father’s father’s father before that, and now it was Kibum’s turn. And he hated it. To him it was like being a glorified hotel manager who’d welcome in guests to their hotel except in this case they were all miserable and instead of sorting into rooms they would be sorted into the you’ve-been-okay underworld or the burn-for-eternity underworld. And all that intense heat was really not good for his complexion.

But Kibum had practically no choice so he was stuck in this dark gloomy hole with only his dogs and a few trillion angsty dead souls to keep him company. Neither were very talkative he found.

Sitting on his grand throne munching through a packet of crisps he motioned left or right to the spirits lined up in front of him. All it took was a quick glance and Kibum could sense what part of the underworld they belonged in. A shivering man fell to his knees begging. Kibum sighs. The worst ones always knew their fate before it had even been announced.
“Have fun in hell you piece of !” Kibum shouted after him as he was dragged away before turning back. His eyes widened in surprise at the next in line.

This one was glowing; a brilliant, warm light which cast out into the very darkest corners of the room. He couldn’t be human, at least not completely. His assistants murmured amongst each other, one leaning up to whisper in his master’s ear.

“He’s one of Demeter’s children” Oh gods, not again, Kibum’s brow furrowed. Pollution was getting steadily worse up on the surface, more and more of Demeter’s kids ended up down here, lungs clogged up with fumes. What the hell was going on up there?

“Hi?” Kibum’s eyes flashed down to the man, and observed him more closely. Looking past the strange glow he produced, he was incredibly attractive, he had this earthy, rough beauty which Kibum rarely saw down in the Underworld. The man’s skin was lightly bronzed from thousands of years under the sun, his hands were callused from toiling at the soil, his muscles well defined from such labour. Kibum was inevitably drawn to him, he’d never been up to the surface himself but he often found himself longing to go up there, to see whether the sky was really as blue as everyone said.

“Are you sure you didn’t come to the wrong place? You know heaven is up there beautiful?” Yeah sure this really hot guy had just recently died but a little flirty remark wouldn’t hurt anyone.

“Uhh…” the man blushed, anxiously running his hands through his long hair, “You are the god of the underworld, right?”

Kibum’s shoulders sunk, noticing the quick change in topic. Great, here was an attractive guy but he was either straight or just not interested. Just his luck.

“I wouldn’t be sitting on this uncomfortable chair for days on end if I wasn’t.” Kibum couldn’t help some bitterness leak into his tone.

“It’s just that ah- no I shouldn’t say.”

“What?” If Taemin was up on Olympus talking about him again he’d have to go up there himself and hunt him down.

“Well…I always heard that the god of the underworld was uh a bitter old ”

“Oh!” Kibum relaxed back into his throne, and Taemin was free to live another day “That must be my grandfather. I only just started a millennium ago, as you can see I’m not old. ‘Bitter’ and ‘’ however are a bit more debatable”

“Ah I see.” The man grinned and Kibum was forced to squint. How was everything this man did so…so glowy? “I must be quite out of the loop then. I imagine all the nymphs are gossiping non-stop about how attractive this new god of the underworld is.”

Kibum was taken aback, heart stuttering like a 14 year old in love rather than the several thousand year old god he was. Was this guy trying to flirt with him? Feared overlord of the grimmest place in the universe?

The man meanwhile threw back his head and laughed, low and soft, “You proud of me Seph? I met this really attractive guy and hit on him straight-up, just like you said I should! I mean, uh, it took me until I’d died to get to this point but baby steps.” Returning that twinkling gaze back to Kibum he proceeded to hit on him further as if Kibum wasn’t flushed enough as it was “At least your angelic face will be the last thing I’ll see before I’m carted off to hell”

Kibum at this point was full face blushing, he couldn’t believe this guy. He wasn’t even being smooth about it anymore. The man just grinned back at him, a tinge of red on his glowing cheeks.

One of his assistants gave him a pointed jab in the side and Kibum tore his eyes away from his beaming face. Then it dawned on him.

He had to strike the final blow, he had to out the life from this beautiful soul until he was empty, mindless.

He hated this. He did this everyday. Everyday he sentenced good people who died too early to wander aimlessly for the rest of eternity. And before he could even think it through he’d said it.

“Leave.”

The assistants shrieked, clawing at Kibum’s robes but he batted them aside easily. The man looked up in shock.

“But- but- can you do that? I mean I’m pretty dead right now.” He bent over coughing as if to make a point, feebly letting out puffs of smoke

“Follow the route you took here, Charon will take you back across the River Styx. As long as you don’t look back you will live” He had heard of his grandfather doing such things beforehand, why couldn’t he do the same?

The man reached up and grabbing Kibum’s hands, he kissed them both tenderly. Kibum could feel the warmth of those plump lips seep through his cold skin.

“I will never forget this. I will live out the rest of my life trying to repay that debt, even though I don’t think I ever can. And I will find out a way to see you again. Hopefully without dying though”

Kibum wistfully stared after the man as he sprinted away, following him as far as he could to the banks of the River Styx. Stray beams of sunlight streamed through the entrance to the underworld on the opposite side. The man’s golden hair briefly glinted in the light before he disappeared into the world above.

“What the have I done” His darlings, Commes des and Garcon nudged and nuzzled him as he collapsed by the riverbank, head in his hands. “If dad finds out I’m dead”

And sure enough one of his assistants snitched.