Byunghee found himself daydreaming about the guy again and again, though he was really trying hard to concentrate in his classes.

Not only that, he still couldn’t find himself a job… damn his heartless ex-ex, ex-boss. He was doing fine for the moment, but he couldn’t bother his parents with his money problems and he couldn’t live off his friends either…

‘Jung-shi, would you introduce us to your new song?’ his teacher brought him back from his reverie, and he hastily made his way to the front.

He seriously needed to settle either his financial and emotional problems or he will get in trouble; and he didn’t plan to lose his scholarship.

‘How much can a bar singer earn?’ Byunghee asked, as he absentmindedly chewed on his breakfast.

‘Why?’ Mir inquired, sipping on his juice as he went through his lyrics and poem collection. ‘Want to work as one?’

‘Well, yeah… I mean I can sing quite well and it would be a good practice… plus I really need a job.’ he answered, finding the idea more attractive the more he thought about it. ‘I kind of hate coffee machines at the moment.’ he added, snorting at the thought of his previous job.

‘Hmm, but won’t it be tiring… working through the nights than attend school?’ Mir asked, scribbling down ideas for his next poem.

‘Guess it will be, though I’m not planning to work every night.’

‘And have you thought of a place? Maybe the lair?’ Mir smirked, wiggling his eyebrows in a you-know-what-I-mean way.

Byunghee just flicked the air threateningly.

‘Alright I’ll shut up.’ Mir said, hurriedly covering his forehead. He didn’t need a concussion at the moment. ‘But I would like to see you dance on the counter.’ he said smirking cheekily, as he made his escape.

‘Yah! Come back here you brat!’

‘I asked around.’ Jinwoon announced, plopping down beside Byunghee the next Monday.

‘You did what?’ he turned to look at him, not really understanding what he meant.

‘Since you were a wuss to come with me to Demons’ lair…’ Jinwoon started with a grin.

Byunghee stood up, huffing in annoyance. He had enough teasing so he didn’t went out with them last Friday… but it seemed to have a reverse effect.

‘Sorry, sorry.’ Jinwoon said, not really feeling sorry and pulled Byunghee back down. ‘So I asked around the area if they needed singers.’

‘Really?’ Byunghee asked, surprised at the concern.

‘Hmm, but I didn’t find you a good enough place…’

Byunghee sighed in defeat, guess he needed to return to coffee machines.

‘Only…’

‘Only?’ Byunghee asked, maybe he didn’t have to…

‘The Demon’s lair.’

Okay, he will go back to the coffee machines, it was decided.

‘No.’ he refused outright.

‘Why not? You could at least do the tryouts, and you could give us discounts and you could see the man of your recent dreams.’ Jinwoon blabbered, grinning again.

‘Hell, no.’ Byunghee said, glaring at Jinwoon.

‘Pretty please.’

‘No… and don’t give me that lost puppy expression.’

‘At least try, Kwon will a lot if you don’t show up. I kind of bragged about you.’ he added, giving his best smile.

‘What are you, my PR manager?’ Byunghee asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘You might need one.’

‘You are such an idiot.’

‘Never said I wasn’t.’

‘At least you admit.’

‘So will you try?’ Jinwoon tried again.

‘…’

‘Okay, than I will tell Kwon that you drop by tomorrow.’ he said, standing up and skipping away.

‘Wait I didn’t-‘

…Why was he even trying?

He was riding the bus the next day… to his might be new work place. Though Byunghee highly doubted he would get the job, he was not exactly the type to jump on counters…

But Mir was very helpful selecting songs for him, getting a good outfit for him.

He felt like he was getting introduced to girlfriend’s family instead of a job interview.

He strode along the familiar alley, when the bar came to view. He stood in front of the door, getting nervous all of sudden, and knocked. It was still early afternoon; the place was not open yet.

‘Come here.’ came a commanding voice from the side of the building.

Byunghee turned to move and spotted the owner by the corner.

‘The back door.’ the Leadja gestured, and disappeared from sight.

He followed, turning into a darker alley, finding a bright red door slightly ajar. He pushed it open and a resting room combined with a storage room greeted him.

‘Plop down.’ sounded the voice from above, and Byunghee noticed a staircase that led upstairs.

He sat down; feeling even more nervous as he glanced around the place… it was decorated in a similar fashion as the bar.

‘So kiddo, I heard you want to work in a bar, right?’ Leadja appeared on the stairs, jogging down.

‘Yeah… I want to try it out.’ Byunghee answered, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck.

The guy plopped down across him on a beat-up leather sofa and looked him up and down.

He didn’t say anything, hawk-like eyes bored into his.

Byunghee noted that this guy was not to mess with. He seemed not much older than him, but he had a mature and dangerous aura.

Then the guy cracked a lopsided smirk.

‘I like your looks; you might be popular… though it’s not enough. Sing and I will see about it.’ he said, messing his hair up.

Byunghee sang short arrangements of songs and the guy nodded in approval, red feather-earring following the motion of his head.

‘Good… But do you know anything at all about this place?’

‘Well… you entertain the costumers with shows and you don’t serve anything mixed.’ Byunghee said, remembering the teachings of Jinwoon.

‘Right… that sums us up nicely.’ Leadja smirked. ‘But I warn you, this place has many more secrets than that… but you’ll have to find out about those yourself.’ he said, eyes glinting mysteriously.

Byunghee vaguely wondered about the meaning of that sentence, but he didn’t have the time to think much. He got a shock because of the next thing Leadja said.

‘I’ll take you in if you survive today’s shift.’ he said standing up stepping in front of Byunghee.

Byunghee just stared at him with big eyes… was he seriously hiring him just like that?

‘I’m Park Jaebeom, Leadja for the costumers and Jay for you.’ Jay introduced himself holding his hand out for him.

‘I’m Jung Byunghee, and you can call me however you want.’ Byunghee said standing up and shook the offered hand. He was still surprised at the sudden challenge to work immediately… but this place was not normal by any standards to begin with.

‘Welcome to hell, kiddo. If you get through my test, I’ll give you a proper name.’

Test? It didn’t sound good…

‘So kiddo, this...’ Jay said, gesturing to the room. ‘…is the resting area and storehouse. That up there is my office, if you ever need to go there you are in deep .’ he smirked.

Byunghee gulped. The man was short but hell he could threaten with just a glance.

‘I just kicked out another newbie yesterday.’ Jay continued in a nonchalant voice. ‘He got scared because of some stupid drunkard. So I tell you in advance, anybody crazy you get a drink from him and kick his .’

Nice work ethic. Byunghee thought.

‘By the way how well can you drink?’

‘… good I guess?’

‘We will find out, because you will drink with the costumers.’ Jay said smirking. ‘Since it’s Tuesday you will only work with two more Demons plus Joon.’

‘I thought there were 6 of you…’ Byunghee said, feeling slightly disappointed… maybe he won’t see the Panda today…

Why am I even upset? He thought, shaking his head.

‘Yeah, but only on Friday… that’s the messiest and the best day to get money.’

Well, it made sense…

‘Do you plan to work in these?’ Jay asked, looking Byunghee up and down again.

‘I didn’t know I’ll start tonight.’ Byunghee answered, looking down at his black t-shirt and jeans.

‘I actually asked it because it’s good… but we will need something tighter for you... Still the jacket has to go; you have nice muscles to show off.’ Jay chuckled, patting him on the shoulders.

‘So anything I should do until we start?’Byunghee asked, not really knowing what to do with himself at the moment.

‘How about moving those boxes and filling up the bar? Go get familiar with the place.’ Jay said and moved up the stairs again.

Byunghee was texting Jinwoon about his progress, when the back door opened revealing Joon, the bouncer from last time.

‘Boss I’m here.’

‘About damn time.’ came the voice from upstairs. ‘I got a newbie, greet him.’

Joon glanced around the room surprised when he finally noticed Byunghee. Then with a wide smile he approached him.

‘Hello, I’m Lee Joon, or Cerberus. Nice to meet you!’ he said, shaking Byunghee’s hand enthusiastically.

‘Hi, Jung Byunghee.’ he greeted back, starting to lose the feel of his arm.

‘What Cerberus? No one calls you that!’ came the snorting laughter from above.

Joon just rolled his eyes, pouting up at the ceiling.

‘They do! It’s because I have three personalities!’ he whined in a cutesy voice.

Was he really a bouncer here?

‘Yeah, the idiot, the muscle-idiot and the delusional-idiot. That’s what they call you!’

‘Hyuuung!’ he whined louder. ‘You are embarrassing me in front of the new guy!’ he added, looking sheepishly at Byunghee.

Byunghee smiled back shyly, not really knowing what to do with the guy, when the door opened again.

This time the Diva marched in, huffing in annoyance.

‘Those damn s dared to criticize my style again!’ he shouted, throwing his bright blue bag on the couch.

Byunghee understood why… bright orange jacket with that bag must have burned out someone’s eyes.

‘Kwon, get over it… even Joon doesn’t understand you.’ Jay said from above. ‘And you are showing a nice first impression by the way.’

To that the Diva turned abruptly around, spotting the staring duo. His dark expression immediately lightened up.

‘Byungie!’ he shouted, running over and tackled a surprised Byunghee into a hug.

‘Hi.’ Byunghee blurted out, patting the guy’s back awkwardly.

‘So you will try out?’ JoKwon said, delighted and smiling brightly.

‘You know each other?’ Joon asked, eyes big as saucers.

‘He is my Jinwoonnie’s friend; I met him two weeks ago.’ Kwon explained, turning towards Joon and still not releasing poor Byunghee.

‘Stop strangling the guy!’ came a loud voice from the door. ‘I could hear your scream from the other street.’

It was the Emperor, bright red hair styled messily, as he smirked at the trio.

‘Yah boss! Did you get fresh meat?’ he shouted to the ceiling.

‘Yah boss my… ‘

‘Okay, understood.’ Emperor shouted back to the grumbling Leadja and went over to the “fresh meat”.

‘Lee Junho.’ he extended his hand, eyes disappearing in an eye-smile. ‘Don’t listen to that grandpa, he is an annoying nagger.’

Byunghee shook the offered hand, introducing himself as well when the noise of a screeching chair came from upstairs.

‘Lee. ing. Junho. Get your prized up here.’ came a grave voice and a cold chill ran up Byunghee’s spine, causing him to shiver a bit.

‘See ya later.’ Junho smirked, sticking his tongue out and jogged upstairs.

‘Come. It’s usually not nice… that brat seriously has a death wish…’ Kwon shook his head and grabbed both Joon and Byunghee by the arm, dragging them to the bar area.

The curtained door closed behind them, but some muffled yelling could still be heard.

‘So anyway… Your first day, right?’ Joon smiled at Byunghee as he sat up on the counter. ‘What will you show us?’

‘I plan to sing, though not sure how I should start.’ Byunghee answered.

‘No worries, I’ll show you the know-hows of this place.’ the Diva smiled and immediately hopped up on the counter, beside Joon. ‘I’m glad you are in when it’s my shift… imagining Chansung with him, not the friendliest bunch out there.’ he chuckled looking down at Joon.

‘Right, though I know him since forever he can still be an .’ Joon laughed and patted the place beside him. ‘Hop on then Byunghee, we will help you out.’

Byunghee climbed up, trying to find the best place to do so.

‘Who is Chansung?’ he asked, standing beside Kwon.

‘The Italian.’ Joon answered simply and Byunghee nodded without another word… right, not the friendliest bunch.

‘Now you see, the people usually start to come in at 8; they all want to drink in quiet or beside slow songs. Can you sing ballads or rock?’ JoKwon asked.

‘Yeah sure, most of the songs I write are ballads anyway.’

‘You compose songs?’ Joon asked, surprised.

‘Well dummy, he is a Music major.’ Kwon answered, as if it was the most obvious thing.

‘Yeah, I do write songs.’ Byunghee said, smiling at Joon. The poor guy seemed to be embarrassed not knowing this fact about him.

‘Than from 11 to 4 is the time for the noisy block.’ Kwon continued. ‘That’s when you need to keep the crowd’s interest. Drink with them, tease them, hell even seduce them.’

‘…okay.’ Byunghee answered. Seduce them?

‘Don’t worry; I’m here to keep you safe.’ Joon smiled, noticing Byunghee’s worry.

‘That’s it. You need to feel the mood, we don’t work by written schedule here.’ the Diva smiled and hopped down. ‘Open the doors Joon and get Junho out here.’ he instructed.

Byunghee also got down. This job didn’t sound so hard…

‘Oh and watch out for Jay, he might surprise you.’

Yay~ another chapter is out!

And this little plot bunny is already runnin way ahead of me, so expect a lot more chapters, this will be a long ride! :D