Title: Pay

Pairing: none

Word Count: 901

“Another one?” Sanghyuk sighed as he felt someone enter his property, “foolish kids today.”

“You sound so old,” Hakyeon teased the shop owner, “calling everyone kids. You’re such an old man.”

“Hush,” Sanghyuk replied, “go and find Wonsik. I feel like I’m going to need the both of you to retrieve something for me.”

“Got it, boss,” Hakyeon grinned before retreating farther into the shop.

“Alright,” Sanghyuk sighed, fixing his cloths to look more presentable, “let’s get this over with.”

“Hello?” a soft voice called from the door followed closely by a couple of knocks, “is anyone in?”

“Open the door,” Sanghyuk called, relaxing into his chair and grabbing his pipe, “I’m here.”

“Oh,” the man opened the door, pausing when he saw Sanghyuk, “um, hello.”

“Oh,” Sanghyuk blinked, not expecting someone so cute and innocent looking to come to his shop, “strange, seeing someone like you here. What could you need from a shop like mine I wonder?”

“I-I,” the man paused, trying to collect his thoughts, “I need your help. A-a friend of mine, Hongbin, said that you helped him. I thought you could do the same with me.”

“Hongbin,” Sanghyuk hummed, “I remember him. He needed help getting people to see past his looks to the real him.”

“I need something along the same line,” the man said, “I’m the vocal of a boy group, but I want to be more. I want people to take my singing seriously. I want to act, but there aren’t many people who take idol actors seriously.”

“Your skills don’t speak for themselves?” Sanghyuk asked, frowning slightly.

“You’d think so,” the man sighed, “but every time it’s the same thing. I go on Masked Singer, do really well, and all the comments are how I did really good for an idol. I go to an audition, give it everything I have, only for the people holding the audition to reject me just because I’m in a boy group.” He glared at the floor, “I’ve heard so many casting directors say that they’d cast me if it wasn’t for my group.”

“So leave the group,” Sanghyuk shrugged, “I don’t understand why you need magic to help you.”

“I don’t want to leave my group!” the man cried, “I love my members, I love the music we create together. I just…….I don’t want to lose them just so I can have a little more of my dream.”

“I like you, Jaehwan,” Sanghyuk said after a moment, “you have a good, pure heart.”

“Thank you,” Jaehwan said before realizing that he hadn’t told Sanghyuk his name, “how……magic?”

“Magic,” Sanghyuk nodded in reply, “now, come back tomorrow and I’ll have something for you. Would you like to pay now, or tomorrow? It would give you time to consider if this is something you really want, if the payment is really something you want to give.”

“Tomorrow,” Jaehwan replied after a moment, “but…..what is the payment? Hongbin just said that you didn’t want cash, that he had to give you something else.”

“Your sense of humor,” Sanghyuk told him, internally smiling when Jaehwan froze, “now run along and think about your wish and its cost. If you’re still interested, return tomorrow. If I don’t see you, I’ll assume you changed your mind.”

“O-ok,” Jaehwan nodded before leaving.

“You don’t want him to come back, do you?” Taekwoon, Sanghyuk’s assistant, asked as he stepped out of the shadows.

“Not really,” Sanghyuk replied, “I’ve heard that kid sing and he’s acted in a few shows that not many people have heard of. It’s only a matter of time before someone recognizes his talent.”

“You did this for his actor friend, too,” Taekwoon frowned, “sacred him off because you felt it was only a matter of time before fate fulfilled his wish.”

“And I was right, wasn’t I?” Sanghyuk grinned, “a few weeks later and Boom! He gave a performance so good that people had no choice but to see the actor hidden under the model.” Sanghyuk paused, “you think that’s why Hongbin told him to come here? He knew I’d do the same? Do you think he thinks I actually did great his wish? Should I look that brat up and set him straight?”

Taekwoon sighed, smiling softly as his master’s kindness. While doing things like this didn’t really help the shop’s bottom-line, he couldn’t say he disliked it. Too many magic users didn’t care about the people who came to them asking for help. All they wanted was payment and to hell with what happened to the person making the wish. Sanghyuk wasn’t like that, he cared about the people who came to him. That was why they got so many customers of both the human and creature variety.

“Sanghyuk~~!” Hakyeon called, running into the room with Wonsik close behind, “you lied to me! You didn’t need anything, you just wanted to get rid of me!”

“Not true,” Sanghyuk smiled, “I do need you to get something for me.”

“Then why is the customer gone?” Hakyeon challenged.

“Never said what I wanted had to do with him,” Sanghyuk countered, “I need you two to get me lunch.”

Hakyeon let out an affronted squawk which drew a laugh from Sanghyuk. A fight soon broke out between the shop owner and fae with Wonsik trying to play mediator. Taekwoon just watched, smiling slightly at the antics of his little family.

A/N: so, two of my favorite manga series are The Ancient Magus’ Bride and xxxHolic. For those who have read xxxHolic, you should be able to see the inspiration. The Ancient Magus’ Bride inspiration will come in during later parts.