"Enough! I hate hookers and blow! I hate bottle service in Vegas with super models! I hate dancing with Tiesto and a thousand chicks on a Spanish island! I hate it all!"

Jimmy looked up, eyes wide with anticipation. "Are you... perhaps upset?"

Chanyeol tried to shake off the pounding hungover headache, paused to ponder, and slowly slipped back into his signature angelic smile. "But I guess I wouldn't know I hate it without trying. So thanks, hyung!"

Jimmy was once again blinded by his sparkling white teeth, flashing through the huge grin.The crimson flames in Jimmy's eyes dimmed, as his demonic tail slowly dropped to the floor like that of a sad pup. Back to ground zero, he told himself, this is why demons should not believe in hope....

Life, or afterlife more appropriately, was not suppose to be so tough for him. Being a rock star in hell brought immense popularity. All the succubus girls adored him, and the young deceased souls were mostly loyal fans that requested for his music during their punishment hours. He got assigned the shiny title of entry level demon, and gladly went above to complete the required sporadic demonic sightings, before rushing back down to jam with Zeppelin or Dimebag, over an infinite supply of any drug of choice.

But then Satan, the Anti-Christ, the Beezlebub, or as Jimmy called him now, "the f'ing party pooper", made a requirement that all new demons must complete an impossible task to prove their "worthiness". And his assignment? To corrupt the legendary "Happy Virus", perhaps the most joyous and optimistic soul alive.

"Why? Why KPop? Why this girly goofy giant walking Rilakkulma plushie of a boy! Why why why...."

"Hyung, you are mumbling again. And maybe don't rub your face and pull on your hair like that, you will get wrinkles AND a bad hairstyle." Chanyeol subconsciously fluffed his own silvery bangs as he spoke.

Had it already been half a year since he first got spooked by this crazy tattoo covered doofus, Chanyeol wondered. Jimmy told him about the mission right from the start, something about corrupting his soul and such. Sure he was afraid in the beginning, but after a few months he started to realize Jimmy's tactics were quite...liberating? A few nights every week, Jimmy would teleport them to all sorts of crazy establishments all over the world. Always involving , greed, drugs and a thousand other vices in excess, Chanyeol had experienced things he'd never even been able to imagine. He tried out every tattoo he'd ever wanted (Jimmy ensured they all somehow magically peeled off after a while), learned a lot about female anatomy without ever being caught by the Dispatch (prolly the best part of this whole deal), and met all sorts of other fascinating musicians (although it was very hard to discuss musical merits when everyone's high as a kite). Jimmy always refreshed him by the end of the night so he could perform the next day and the world was none the wiser.

The problem was, even though physically he's always recharged, emotionally everything just became a little... numb after a while. Kyungsoo was the first to notice after a particularly long night Chanyeol and Jimmy spent backstage at a heavy metal concert.

"Chanyeol, you seem so...detached today."

Chanyeol could feel Kyungsoo's huge expressive eyes peering at him. He tried to ignore them and tilted his head more for his selca. The photo came out perfectly, but Chanyeol knew all the filters in the world couldn't rid of the look of weariness in his eyes.

"Kyungsoo ah, have you ever thought about what this is all for? This job, this life, this.." His voice trailed off, and his gaze extending far beyond the practice room wall in front of him.

Unfazed by his friend's strange question, Kyungsoo was quiet for a moment, and when he finally spoke, his voice was low but determined:"We are here to do what we love. It might take everything we got to keep working, but it's worth it."

So much was unsaid, but Chanyeol looked at his friend again, and he agreed.

That's why all the nights of greed and excess felt so liberating but hollow. He never earned any of it, never worked hard for it and yearned for it with all his soul. But sitting in a practice room after another long day of rehearsal, having Kyungson's firm shoulder next to him to rest on, he always felt infinitely more satisfied than all that crazy satanic magic could ever provide. All the boys in the band have fought so hard for their place in this job for as long as they could remember. Like soldiers of the same battalion, they were now bonded together by memories and sacrifices. The friendship and passion along had made the journey so fulfilling, that Chanyeol realized to his own surprise that fame, success and all other things he used to be fascinated about no longer interested him.

Snapping out of his meandering thoughts, Chanyeol's attention moved back to comforting the deflated Jimmy in front of him. "Hyung, could you teach me a few more things to practice on for drumming, please? I had so much fun last time!"

At the mention of drums, Jimmy jumped up so fast his tail knocked over a side table. "Oh sweet!!! Have you been using the practice pad I got you? Did you also use the metronome for your practices, cause it's awesome, right?!! Is your double roll improving? Let's hear you drop some sick beats, boy, you are a natural! ..."

As Jimmy rambled on and hurried to adjust the drum set, Chanyeol made a secret mental note to trick this fearsome demon with a heart of gold into less corruption effort and more drumming lessons.