There are two things Chris is good at: wishing he were doing anything else with his life besides being the leader of Hell, and tuning out the chaos of being said leader.

So, when the tumble of bodies fall out of the room on the left of his throne, he doesn't bat an eye.

Maybe he should've been a plumber instead.

The grunts coming from the men as they struggle makes Chris sigh and roll his eyes before reluctantly turning his attention to them, and immediately wishing he hadn't.

One of the three men is trudging slowly towards him, nearly steaming with annoyance as the other two are clinging onto his legs, doing everything in their power to stop him from advancing. Both of the men on the floor are wearing clumps of red strings on their heads, some disturbing take on Raggedy Andy dolls or something.

"Don't tell on us, Seungmin," the man holding onto Seungmin's left leg says, eyes wide and feet skidding on the floor as he's being dragged along. "We'll be good. I promise."

The man holding onto the right leg looks over in confusion before smirking to himself at seeing his accomplice roll his eyes and subtly shake his head in a no way are we going to be good way.

"What's that saying I'm always reminding you of, Changbin?" Seungmin asks.

Changbin mumbles something to himself, blowing air out of his mouth to get the strings out of his face.

"What was that?" Seungmin nearly growls, his face red with the exertion of dragging two grown men along his journey to Chris, who is seated on his throne in the center of the room.

"Broken promises get broken bones," Changbin says in a mocking tone. "I'm not gonna break this promise. I promise!"

"Double the broken bones," Seungmin says. "Double the fun."

"Felix, feel free to help at any time," Changbin whines. "My arms are getting tired."

"I'm doing my best," Felix groans back. "He's too strong."

"I'm running on pure rage at any given time," Seungmin says, more determined than ever when he looks down and sees what made him so mad in the first place. "I'm telling on you, and you're not stopping me."

"Please don't tell on us," Felix begs. "We're on our last strike."

"Please don't tell on them," Chris whispers to himself, wondering how long training would take to become a vacuum salesman instead.

Seungmin stops moving, maybe his energy finally dwindling after dragging the two men halfway across the expansive throne room.

"They took the strings of Fate and made wigs out of them," Seungmin says, throwing his arms out to the side, eye twitching when his fingers tangle in the wigs on the heads of the men still clinging to his legs like koalas.

The strings of Fate - the lifelines of the humans who live above them all - are what the Fates are in charge of. Seungmin, Felix and Changbin take care of the strings, organizing them and keeping track of the humans' pasts, presents and futures. When it's the end of their time topside, their string is cut and their soul makes its way down here (if they didn't get the golden ticket to go to the top floor) via the ferryman who carries them across the river to begin their new life.

And those all-important strings that control the fates of every human currently existing are currently tangled in a clumped mess on Felix's and Changbin's heads.

"Why?" Chris asks, knowing if he authorized for an Office Max to be built down here, he would excel at working there.

"Maybe it's the Fates," Changbin says, expectantly looking over at Felix.

"Maybe it's Maybelline," Felix responds, both of them beaming at each other.

"That was your genius prank?" Seungmin looks down at the other two Fates who are silently shaking with a fit of the giggles. "To make wigs and make a joke about a makeup line?"

The smiles fall on their faces as they take in Seungmin's words.

"You said—" Changbin starts.

"I thought—" Felix says at the same time.

Chris purses his lips. "Let Seungmin's legs go."

"This is all your fault," Changbin says, flopping away from Seungmin and standing up, flipping his string wig out of his face with a dramatic flick of his wrist. "This is what I get for letting you plan the prank."

"I know, I know," Felix says, also letting Seungmin go as he pulls the strings off his head. "I just got mixed up with—"

"Wait," Changbin says, his eyes spacing out as he holds up a finger. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

He and Felix meet eyes, and Seungmin groans in annoyance as Chris just sighs.

Changbin and Felix have a weird, borderline-creepy way of communicating and all of them aren't totally convinced they aren't running on the exact same wavelength at all times.

The two of them nod to each other and run off, the red strings flying in the wind.

"What about their punishment?" Seungmin asks, crossing his arms over his chest. "You said last time that this was their last chance to take things seriously."

"I'll think of something," Chris says, knowing damn well he's actually thinking of how well he would adapt at being a vet instead of this.

"I don't get paid enough for this," Seungmin grumbles to himself, turning on his heel and walking back towards the room the Fates use to store the strings.

He raises his voice as he gets closer to the room, his feet stomping in the direction the two little gremlins scurried off to just a second ago.

"You'd better be re-organizing those strings by age and overall physical health!"

The door slams shut behind him, and Chris relaxes into his throne.

Peace and quiet.

As soon as those three words form into Chris's mind, a loud rumbling from outside the main door sends them straight back into the abyss.

"That'll be Cerberus back from their potty break," Chris says to himself, wondering if maybe Foot Locker is hiring.