"I'm sorry, we're closed," Jaehwan called out, so busy cleaning the counter that he didn't look up to see who had arrived.

When he raised his eyes however, he found Hongbin and Sanghyuk, with Hakyeon in the middle.

"Oh, you guys finally brought him," he stated.

Sanghyuk nodded. "He wants to do the spell."

"Come again?"

"The spell," Hakyeon said, his low soft voice now devoid of emotion. "I want to go through with it."

Jaehwan took a gander at the person who was supposed to be his boss. The hopeful light in his eyes had disappeared, making his brown eyes look like a deep black abyss, and Jaehwan felt like he was being drawn into their depths.

It was unsettling to see his normally happy and cheerful boss like this, devoid of all hope and joy.

"Alright..." he trailed off.

"What do I need to do, Jaehwan?" Hakyeon asked, his voice strained, as if he was trying to keep all his rage under control.

"W-well," Jaehwan knew he shouldn't be messing with Hakyeon when he was in this state. "It requires a few ingredients..."

"And what are those ingredients?" 

"I-I have a list," Jaehwan said, pulling out a piece of paper and sliding it over the counter.

Hongbin picked up the list, his eyes scanning the ingredients. As his eyes moved down the paper, he paused upon a specific one. "One of these ingredients may not be possible to obtain," he mournfully said.

Hakyeon swiftly turned to him. "What do you mean?"

"This says that we need a pomegranate," Hongbin said.

"We can get that from the nearest grocery store," Sanghyuk pointed behind him.

"From the Underworld," Hongbin continued, raising his eyes to Sanghyuk, letting him know that his interruption wasn't appreciated at all.

"The Underworld?" Sanghyuk asked. "Is it talking about the pomegranate that Hades gave Persephone?"

"Looks like it," Jaehwan murmured.

Hongbin turned to Jaehwan. "How do you expect us to get something like this?" he asked. "This fruit only exists in the Underworld. Do you expect us to go all the way down there?"

"Yes."

All three of them turned to Hakyeon, who had been standing quietly by the counter, looking down. His one voice had made them stop in their tracks, and Hongbin looked at his friend as if he were crazy.

Hell, with the way he was acting now, he was probably way gone.

"You're not seriously going to go to the Underworld," Hongbin said. "May I remind you that the very Lord of the Underworld may not take very kindly to us dropping by for a chat?"

Hakyeon ignored him, focusing his interest on Jaehwan. "If the spell requires us to go to the Underworld, so be it."

"Alright," Hongbin piped up. "I know I encouraged you to do this, but the Underworld...I didn't think it would take so much. No way am I letting you-"

"There might be a way to the Underworld," Jaehwan piped up.

At once all the attention was focused on him, a mixture of curiosity, disbelief and just general "what the heck did you just say?"

"What?"

"I've been to the Underworld before," Jaehwan explained. "It was a year or so ago, but I think we can still use that way."

"You've been to the Underworld," Hongbin stated, narrowing his eyes at him. "Where on Earth have you been?"

"A lot of places," Jaehwan shrugged, before turning to Hakyeon. "But there's a way."

"Can you take us there?" Hakyeon asked, ignoring Hongbin's open mouthed silent protest followed by Sanghyuk placing his hand on the elder's shoulder and shaking his head as if it were a lost cause.

Jaehwan nodded. "Yeah, I can."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Jaehwan cracked a smile but it faltered when he saw the emotionless look on Hakyeon's visage.

"Wait, the entrance to the Underworld is in the mortal world?" Sanghyuk asked, staring at the boat bobbing happily in the water before him.

"Haven't you been keeping up with the news on Olympus?" Jaehwan asked, stepping into the boat. "Civil war? Hades lost?" he prompted, to no avail as he was faced with the dumbfounded expressions of the other three.

He sighed. "A couple of years back, a sort of civil war broke out on Olympus, with Hades on one side and Zeus on the other, of course. Hades wasn't happy that Zeus had turned away a son of his who was desperately in need, and that turned into defiance for all other policies that he had. Hades, of course, lost, and Zeus publicly humiliated him by crowning him as the Lord of the Underworld in his weakened state."

"Ouch," Hongbin murmured. "That would have hurt his pride so much."

Jaehwan nodded. "Yup, and he's definitely not a fan of anything 'Zeus' related for a while, at least until he regains his strength, which may take a few decades...or a few centuries."

"So remind me what this has to do with the entrance being in the mortal world?" Sanghyuk asked.

"Oh," Jaehwan piped up. "Because of the last battle, Hades lost a lot of his energy. Hence he has trouble maintaining everything in the different plane. So for now, the entrance is in the mortal world." He scratched his chin. "I don't think it'll make things easier though. I do know that Hades has Cerberus guarding the gates at all times, and Cerberus is in a pretty foul mood after the humiliation of Hades."

"That's just great," Hongbin grumbled. "I also take it that Hades isn't going to be happy having two sons of Zeus just waltzing around his kingdom without an invite."

Jaehwan nodded. "Yeah, about that, we'll need to make sure we get in quick and fast. But just in case we get caught," he turned to Hakyeon, "can you have a backup plan ready? We may need to negotiate."

Hakyeon hummed. "Leave that part to me," he said, an unnatural confidence in his voice. "Just get us there."

Jaehwan gave him a mournful nod, gesturing to the boat silently. Before Hongbin could raise his final protest, Hakyeon had already stepped into the boat.

There was no going back now.

Fitting how the entrance to the Underworld would be on some uncharted island no one could find.

He had noticed how as they sailed through the river, a light fog had started rolling in, getting thicker over time. They'd known that it was no normal fog, considering the strange feeling in their gut, as well as the mysterious touch it gave on their skin. Eventually, it had parted to reveal a strange island that he was sure didn't exist before.

On asking Jaehwan, the elder had informed him that the fog had taken them down a couple of planes to find the entrance, and while the island had always existed, it was nothing but a tourist attraction in the daytime. 

Finally landing at the island looming up above them, the four disembarked into the eerily silent island. Sanghyuk felt a bit uneasy, especially when he noted that the only sound was the sound of leaves crunching under their feet. 

"What now?" Hongbin turned to Jaehwan.

"We find the entrance," Jaehwan replied.

Hakyeon watched as Jaehwan walked away from the trees and into the dense woods. He pushed through the foliage, allowing the others to make their way with relatively less struggle, until they were finally standing in front of what looked like a massive clump of vines and creepers.

Jaehwan pushed aside some of the creepers to reveal stone.

He further pushed aside the creepers to reveal something etched into the stone; it was a drawing of some kind, a drawing they recognized as the symbol of Hades.

Jaehwan pressed his palm to the symbol and it glowed blue for a minute before dying down. A deep shuddering could then be heard all through the island. Jaehwan then pointed behind them.

Turning around, they found a similar stone pillar, but now with a deep hole. Looking down the hole, they found a set of stairs leading down.

"Those stairs lead down to the Underworld," Jaehwan confirmed his worst fears.

But considering the determined look on Hakyeon's face, Sanghyuk knew that there was no way Hakyeon would turn back now. He truly was too far gone.

The four walked down the dark stairway only illuminated by the little light that Jaehwan could summon on his palm. Sanghyuk had offered to speed onward and check if it was safe, but Jaehwan had shot it down, fearing that him running around would wake the dog.

They slowly came up into a chamber, lit with firey torches lining the walls. 

"Alright, what now?" Hongbin wondered.

"I think we're in the entrance," Jaehwan said. "We need to find the gardens. If I'm right, it should be around-"

He turned around as he said that, but was cut off by a menacing growl.

All four of them froze in their places, slowly turning around.

They were met with the sight of a massive three-headed canine, its three sets of teeth bared and eyes blazing in anger.

The animal was over 6 feet tall at the shoulder, its three heads resembling those of a Rottweiler, with powerful, brick like jaws and teeth that looked like knives. It's entire body was thick and muscular, its paws large and wide. Sharp claws poked out of its paws, scratching at the ground. It was certain that it didn't even need to bite them in order to kill them. Just a swipe from those paws of its would be enough to kill all four of them.

"Cerberus," Hakyeon whispered, his voice trembling.

"Uh, Jaehwan," Hongbin asked slowly, taking a step back. "Did you forget to check for massive man-eating dogs?"

"I might have forgotten," Jaehwan gulped as the beast set its glowing red eyes on the four of them.

It slowly advanced, its claws clicking on the tiled floor beneath them, its snarling the only sound that could be heard, over the deafening sound of their beating hearts, that is. 

It opened its three mouths to attack and they opened their mouths to scream when a deep voice resounded.

"Cerberus, leave them alone."

The creature immediately closed its jaws, its ears pricking up. Hongbin could have sworn that he even saw its tail wave a bit.

They turned to the direction that Cerberus was looking at, the only area still shrouded in darkness, to find an armchair that looked like it was melded into the wall. Now that he thought about it, it did kind of resemble a throne...

Two torches lit up on either side of the throne to reveal someone sitting on it.

The newcomer looked around their age, in his early twenties. He had a long face with droopy eyes, and his hair was dyed a platinum blonde. He wore rather modern clothes, black ripped jeans with a black and white printed shirt covered by a black leather jacket. 

However, his eyes were no joke. The gaze he gave them was nothing short of intimidating.

"I suppose there must be a reason why you all are here," he said, in a deep husky voice that betrayed no emotion. "Is there a joke I'm missing out on and you all came to invite me?"

"W-who are you?" Hakyeon asked, even though he felt like he knew the answer.

"Me?" the strange man asked. "I don't know whether you're in the position to ask questions, since you are the ones in my house."

"Don't you know?" Jaehwan asked in a low tone, his eyes never leaving the man atop the throne. "That's Hades."