"Agh hyung, I knew I should've changed!" Chanyeol glanced at the surrounding and looked back down at himself: fluffy cartoon animal pajamas, a hard earned birthday gift from Showtime.

For once Jimmy had to agree with him. All around them was an oppressive darkness and the sound of a thousand whispering souls. The little boat they were traveling on was gliding silently through the waveless river that divided the living and the underworld, with their field of vision limited to only a small radius illuminated by an old lantern hung precariously at the front of the boat. Probably best not to disturb the crooked hooded figure steering the boat, or the massive hellhound perched beside the figure, black pointed ears erect and eyes shining in the darkness like burning ember globes.

"Sorry boy for waking you up and bringing you here, it's test day." Jimmy gave Chanyeol a gentle pat on the shoulder, and watched as Chanyeol gulped nervously at the sound of his words. "Don't worry. This test is meant to verify if I was able to corrupt your soul, no harms to you will be done. See, they are letting you cross the underworld river without losing all your life memories, not many mortals get to say that!" Chanyeol's sweaty hands tugged on his fluffy pajama shirt a little tighter.

By the time the boat landed, Chanyeol had been reduced to a shivering ball of nervous wreck, and Jimmy looked utterly bored. He mumbled apologetically about the inefficiency of bringing a living mortal through the underworld, as they went through massive crumbling gates with hundreds of strange peering creatures, and then settled into a dusty antique carriage led by four prancing skeleton horses blazing in flames. Sitting in the dark and warm carriage, finally worn out by all the fear and anxiety, a chanyeol felt his eyelids getting heavier and heavier. By the time Jimmy shook him awake, they had already arrived in front of an imposing ancient palace of sort.

Walking through endless empty corridors, they reached a massive room devoid of all furniture saved for two big imposing gilded thrones. The two seated figures got up to welcome them, and Chanyeol's worrying frown evaporated instantaneously. "Hyung!! Are they...? Can't be...!! Oh my, I played some Panterra in my first band Heavy Noise!"

"Yes yes, Zeppelin and Dimebag, in the flesh, well figuratively speaking anyway." Jimmy also appeared a bit surprised of this friendly encounter. Was this an epic demonic test or.. an idol fan meeting?

Chanyeol clapped enthusiastically like a happy seal, then regained his ingrained manners and reached for hand shakes while remaining in the deepest bow his lanky figure could manage.

"Hi there, Happy Virus and Rev, welcome to our humble abode!" Zeppelin gave both of Chanyeol and Jimmy an encouraging smile.

"So you guys are the test?!!" Jimmy asked incredulously.

"The big boss is out plotting some apocalyptic corruption scheme above, probably another Kardashian divorce or some presidential scandal." Dimebag winked at his drummer friend, his long hair shifting in the undetectable ghostly wind. "Hence we will carry out the test on his behalf. No need to be nervous guys, Jimmy's been working very hard on this case, and we heard Chanyeol was keen to try everything and may have even enjoyed a thing or two."

Chanyeol chimed in curiously:" So what's the test exactly and when does it start?"

"Well, it won't be as fun if we explain everything now will it? And take a deep breathe, because the test starts... NOW!" Zeppelin waved his hand decidedly in front of Chanyeol, and the world was replaced by a blinding white light that almost knocked him out.

Overwhelming flashing lights everywhere, accompanied by the clatters of tens of thousands of fans. Chanyeol rubbed his eyes to rid of the fogginess that clouds his vision and his mind. Frustratingly he tried to retrieve any last fragment of memory, of where and how he got here, and came up with nothing. It's as if all his recent memories were wiped clean.

"Hurry, get on stage now!" A rushed shove from the back, he turned around and saw a stoned faced Jongdae with tears welling up in his eyes. "What.." Before he could finish his sentence, another hard shove and he's walking onto the stage. The crowd of audience quieted, no pretty sparkling banners and lights, no cheers and his beloved fan chants, instead a silent eeriness that permeated the massive stadium. And the music started. It's Lucky, must be the end of another concert. Chanyeol sighed in relief, he had always loved performing this song, interacting with the adoring fans and relaxing to enjoy wrapping up yet another successful concert. He could do this, even though he had the strange feeling that something was terrible wrong this time around.

And then Baekhyun started singing, with a voice full of sadness that hit him like a hard punch to the heart. The other members were slowly making their ways to the edge of the stage, and instead of the usual flurry of joyous fan interactions, they were tearfully waving and bowing, while keeping their distance from the fans. And the fans... it's a sight that makes him sick to his stomach. All around the stage an ocean of bleakness. Many of the fans were crying uncontrollably, others were holding onto each other silently looking hurt and confused. His encouraging smiles were only returned with outbursts of tears and aversion of eye contact. After what felt like an eternity, the song ended and all the members returned to the center of the stage in a single line formation. He felt Sehun grabbing his hand and everyone bent into the deepest bow that lasts forever. They remained frozen in position until the stage lights dimmed, and one by one silently made their way off stage.

Chanyeol ran past the sobbing Sehun and grabbed Kyungsoo by the arm."What's going on? What happened? You have to tell me, I don't remember anything." Kyungsoo turned around and the look of despair on his face made Chanyeol wish he never asked.

"Chanyeol please I can't... I know this is all my fault... Please, I beg you, just let me go..." Kyungsoo's usually self assured and comforting voice was replaced by a pleading whisper, that seemed to have taken all of his strength to be uttered. Chanyeol loosened his grip and felt a wave of wariness wash over him. This must all be a terrible nightmare, and he desperately wanted to wake up.

"Chanyeol! Come over here! Chanyeol, NOW!" Everyone looked around to trace to the source of the loud yelling, and saw the band manager waving frantically at the end of a narrow white hallway. 

"Just go, it will be ok." Kyungsoo wiped the tears off his face and tried to sound encouraging. Chanyeol took one last look at all his band members. He will find out what has happened, and maybe there's a way to fix it all, there has to be...

The manager was visibly frustrated, by the time Chanyeol rushed to his side. "We don't have much time, you better be ready." He opened the door to reveal a big meeting room with a long table and one chair. On the other side of the table was a row of people sitting, and cameras and light equipment already set up and ready to go at multiple angles. A stylist noona hasely powdered his face and sorted hair, and before long he's sitting down on the lone chair at the center of the table.

"So Chanyeol, as you probably have already heard, all the photos from last night have already circulated online for the whole day. We have also received courtesy copies of all the newspapers that will be issued tomorrow morning." Chanyeol recognized the person speaking to be the Vice President of SM Entertainment. Following his gesture, Chanyeol opened the paper folder on the table in front of him, and felt faint at the sight of the photos splashed all over the newspaper front pages. Grainy overexposed photos, the background too dark to be recognizable. All the other faces had been blurred, but Chanyeol could clearly identify Sehun, Kai and Kyungsoo. It didn't matter they looked unconscious in most of the photos, the and compromising positions they were placed in assaulted the senses like the scenes of a horrific car accident, grotesque but taunting the viewer to take another look. There were also females, alcohol and drugs shown in various parts of the photos. Whomever planned all this wanted to ensure that EXO's reputation was destroyed, for good.

"But I swear it wasn't our fault. They were picked up by the wrong car last night and were drugged right away. It took us many hours to even find them..." The band manager's shaky pleading voice trailed off as the VP motioned for him to stop. Chanyeol was instructed to continue going through the folder as the VP resumed speaking."Our attempts at stopping the photos from spreading have obviously failed. Someone has been orchestrating a very detailed plan which involved hiring social media users to overwhelm the Internet with photos and various eye witness accounts of the boys having a drug infused all nighter with underaged fans and such. No doubt this scandal they've created will last a while, there are already other rumors circulating involving forged photos regarding the three members' past. And based on fan reactions tonight, I'd say whomever created this scandal has succeeded, EXO's image is tarnished forever, no matter what we do now. "

Chanyeol looked down at the other documents in the paper folder, these appear to be talking points, for him, of an announcement of some sort. He tried to suppress the simmering anger caused by the complete detachment in the VP's tone of voice, and clumsily attempted to bargain for some help."But surely SM won't give up so easily. We've done nothing wrong, we can always explain and wait for the scandal to pass, like we've always done before, right?" The VP's eyes shined for a split second, and Chanyeol swore he saw something positively devilish in those eyes. "Park Chanyeol, there's always a solution to everything, the question should be whether it's worth the price. We have pored through all the public polls and our long term strategic planning, you are currently the member with the most diversified career path and popularity spanning various critical demographics. We cannot save the band, but we can use the remaining fame of the band to launch a whole new universal star, as long as you are willing to sever your ties now."

"Wait, I'm not understanding this. You want to...give up on the band?! We've all worked so hard on this. You want me to... to ditch Exo?! I'm not that selfish..." Chanyeol struggled to comprehend what's happening and was almost at a lost for words. He looked at the manager in a panic but received no support. He's in this alone.

"Enough!" The VP stood up in a fit of frustration:"Stop being so ungrateful. I'm offering you what you've always dreamt of! Deep down inside you know that Exo is both a miracle and a curse for your career: it propelled you to stardom, but you will always have to share the spotlight with everyone else, and settle for lukewarm personal success. That is, until the new wave of younger idols pushes all of you out of the way, and your solo career steadily withers away without the fame of Exo. Well, this is your chance to change all of that, Park Chanyeol." The VP gestured at the rest of the few people sitting in the room."We've drafted the announcement already, it will be delicately worded so the public will be sympathetic of your situation and anticipate the hints of your solo activities in the future. These senior news reporters here will edit the video announcement you will record tonight and ensure the media projects a positive response. There will be a task force created specifically to scout out every career opportunity you are interested in, and to tweak your public image to ensure your popularity remains strong forever. Congrats, kiddo, you've out-competed everyone at Korea's most popular entertainment agency, and will have our full backing for an unstoppable solo career!" The VP's every word echoed Chanyeol's secret ambitions. It frightened him to have all his private fears and desires exposed under such dire conditions. He tried to voice the absurdity of the situation but the words would not come out. A thousand thoughts raced through his head as he desperately wished for a bit more time to think everything through.

As if able to read his mind, the VP's reprimanding tone continued. "Unfortunately there's not much time left for us, the public opinion is changing by the minute as the whole fiasco continues to evolve online. To capitalize whatever reputation is left of your previous image, and to preserve your existing upcoming solo commitments, we need to get the announcement video completed tonight. Are you ready to make the move? Or maybe you prefer to stay with your band friends on a sinking ship? You know the company has a whole slew of rookies to focus our attention on, EXO from this day onward will just be another forgotten group in hiatus, too bad." The VP beamed with confidence, the choice seemed so obvious to him.

The room was silent now, Chanyeol felt everyone's gaze upon him. The same expecting gaze he had felt since he was little, from his loving mom who always tried to groom him into becoming an entertainer; from all the passionate fans that followed him around even before debut; from a thousand trainers, peers, sponsors, stylists, reporters, photographers.... Always surrounded by a crowd but always a little alone. He wanted to seek for a comforting shoulder to rest upon, wanted to find a sunbae to help him navigate through the most absurdly challenging decision of his life, but deep down inside he knew, that he had always relied on himself, nobody else. And then, memories of the past few years flashed before his eyes, of absentmindedly looking for Kris in the dance formation long after his departure, of comforting a teary eyed Baekyung during the Taeyeon dating scandal, of persevering through every perfomance no matter how sick or weak he felt... Even during the gloomiest hours of crisis, it always felt better to bury the burdening thoughts deep inside, put on a happy face instead, and take care of everyone around him.  

There was always just one choice, screw all this non-sense, time to show them the true meaning of the Happy Virus! Chanyeol inwardly cheered himself on, and cleared his thoughts. He stood up and bowed deeply at the VP." Thank you for the opportunity, I'm very grateful, I really am. Well, this might be the dumbest thing I have ever done in my life yet, hehe..." Chanyeol started to grin." But I cannot do the announcement. I'd like to stay with the band." 

There were muffled gasps coming from everyone in the room, including the band manager. Again, the VP was the first one to respond, his voice now lower and dripping with anger."Let me clarify again, Park Chanyeol. Success and endless opportunities, or stick with the band that the company has chosen to abandon. Wait, or maybe you prefer we make this offer to Yixing instead, he'd make a handsome profit in China no doubt. But I always took you to be the competitive kind, you wouldn't give up this opportunity so easily to a peer, would you?" 

"With all due respect sir, let me clarify also." Chanyeol habitually fluffed his bangs, and his cheerful smile remained. "All of EXO has always promised to stick together, and I will not betray and leave my friends, especially when they are going through the toughest part of their careers. You can dice and slice the band, or promote whomever you prefer, the rest of us will try to keep working no matter how small the project is, as long as there's one fan left cheering for us. My apologies again sir, right now I really need to get back to the band." Another deep bow, before everyone could even recover from the shock to stop him, Chanyeol walked towards the door. All he could think of was Kyungsoo's teary face, and how he desperately wanted to go wipe those tears away and make him smile again. Yes Kyungsoo wold probably punch him out for it, but frankly it would feel like a welcoming relief compared to this nightmare he's stuck in right now.

As his hand impatiently turned the doornob, the door opened and on the other side was not the white backstage hallway he went through, but a blinding spacing of nothingness. Chanyeol felt dizzy as all of his memories, of hell, of Jimmy and the test coming rushing back to him like a tidal wave. Before he passed out of consciousness he could hear the concerned voices chattering around him.

"Jimmy, he frigging failed the test... We served up everything he ever wanted on a silver platter, and, NOPE, kid wanted to be a martyr. You didn't corrupt his soul one bit!"

"But, but... I tried everything! I spent more than half a year on this case!" 

"I'm sorry buddy but rule are rules. If a demon is unable to perform the demonic task assigned, he will cease to be in hell."

"WHAT!!! I didn't know this rule?! You gonna frigging kill me? I'm already dead Darrell! NOOOO....."

Chanyeol could no longer fight the overwhelming drowziness and sank into a dark unconsciousness.