The auditions took a while for there were still some stubborn people who believed they could act, sing and dance so the judges (Sungyeol, Taeyeon, Inguk and Sungjong) had to cut them off in the middle of their performance. Some of them threw a fit, others who were more sensitive cried and ran off stage. But eventually, all the minor roles were taken and decided. The only roles that were left were the prince and Yerin, the maid.

“Well, now’s the time to audition for the prince’s role,” Sungjong spoke up, flipping to the next page of his clipboard as Jessica — who received the role as the y princess Jieun — walked off the stage. He frowned, staring at the page for a bit. “Well, that’s . . . odd.”

Inguk and Hoya exchanged secret smiles, knowing why he found something odd.

Sungyeol turned to him. “What’s odd?” he asked curiously.

“No one signed up for the prince.”

“Wh — what?!” Sungyeol spluttered. “That’s absurd!” He turned to the mischievous two, for they had been in charge of getting names of people who wanted to audition for the play. “There really wasn’t anyone?”

“Nope,” they replied in one voice.

“Are you sure you want to be the male main lead?” Inguk asked the group of guys who had said they wanted to try out for Prince Junhyung.

“He’s pretty boring,” Hoya nodded.

“He’s the main lead, though. Why wouldn’t he be awesome?” Tao wanted to know. If they didn’t write his name down onto the clipboard anytime soon, he swear he was seriously going to have to wushu their butts in.

“I don’t know,” Inguk shrugged casually, glancing over to Hoya who nodded. “He gets a lot of lines so there will be a lot of memorizing to do.”

“That’s okay, we expected it,” Hyunwoo replied.

“You’ll have to pretty much cancel your social life to be him,” Hoya chimed in, “for a role that doesn’t even have any intimacy with the maid or the princess. How torturing, being the lead and not being able to get close to the girls.”

Luhan frowned. “No intimacy?”

“Not even a kiss?” Sehun pouted.

“Skinship?” Hyunwoo didn’t like the idea of not being able to even touch a girl.

“Nope,” Hoya and Inguk lied blatantly.

The males all shot each other looks before they shook their heads and turned to walk away, grumbling under their breaths.

“Sehun, let’s go get bubble tea,” Luhan said, gesturing toward the younger boy.

“Coming, hyung!” Sehun chirped, following him out.

Tao and Hyunwoo sighed heavily and shook their heads, disappointed. They, too, walked off with grumbles and complaints incoherently being mumbled until their footsteps disappeared around the hall.

As soon as they were gone, Hoya and Inguk high-fived each other.

They swore to secrecy, right down to their graves, that Sungyeol was never going to find out about this.

“Eotteoke?” Sungyeol frowned, thinking hard. He turned to Hoya. “You’re out, you’re already the king.” He turned back to Inguk, who shook his head fervently. “Well, why not? You can be the rising star for once.”

As if it was all planned and scripted out, Inguk flashed a mirror to Sungyeol’s face so when he said “you can be the rising star for once,” he had actually been saying it to his reflection in the mirror.

He scowled.

Sungjong tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Come to think of it . . . sunbae, why don’t you take that part?” he wanted to know. “I’ve only ever seen you act as the main lead once and you were a pretty good actor. Why don’t you take the main lead for the play? I think you’d make a good prince.”

Inguk and Hoya nodded. Taeyeon was in favor for this idea as well. Sungyeol would make the perfect prince. If only he believed that like how the others did.

Sungyeol felt trapped. He didn’t know what else to do, especially since there really wasn’t anyone who was going to be the prince and if he didn’t take that role, he would look bad as a leader and Sungjong would not be able to give everyone a good show with his drama. Everything fell on him. “. . . Fine . . .” he found himself saying.

Yes! Inguk and Hoya slapped high-fives, proud that their plan worked. Sungjong nodded happily, noting it down on his clipboard and announced that the role for the maid would take place now while Sungyeol slumped into his seat, wondering if he had made the right choice. But he sighed, knowing he didn’t have a choice.

It was either do or die.

At that moment, Hyunyoung caught Sungjong glancing at her and sighed. He was reminding her of the promise she had made about considering and she had been thinking about it throughout the auditions, and she was still thinking about it. “I’ll be going to the restroom,” she muttered, excusing herself.

She was feeling rather flighty. She didn’t know how to act, she didn’t know if she was better than her sister to get the role. What if she makes a fool of herself? What then? She didn’t want to be laughed at.

Meanwhile, up on stage, two girls had passed while she was still contemplating about auditioning and Sungjong and Sungyeol haven’t found their Yerin yet. There were only two more girls to go (not including Hyunyoung).

“Who’s next?” Sungyeol asked, hearing the clicking of heels as he looked at the casting list. Moans were heard coming from his friends and even Sungjong cursed under his breath. Whoever it was, it wasn’t a good sign and he had a sinking feeling he knew who it was. He looked up and groaned inwardly.

Hara stood in the middle.

“Cut.”

Sungyeol had not meant to say it so bluntly, so abruptly. He thought of it, yes, but he didn’t think he would’ve accidentally blurted it out aloud and his eyes widened and covered his mouth when he reali