Jonghyun stretched languidly in his seat, his arms reaching out behind him and his feet brushing against the seat in front. His hip bumped against the small fold-out table that extended from the arm rest of the chair as he shifted back into a sitting position. If he had had papers on it, the actions would have knocked them all to the floor – something that occurred all too often during lectures. Those tables were far too small and sloped far too much to be safe to leave rounded objects, such as pens, on for extended periods of time. This was especially true when the lecture was as boring as the one Jonghyun had just attended. Such lectures often involved the aspiring composer shifting a lot to prevent himself from falling asleep which, more often than not, jostled the tiny lecture theatre tables. 

“Wow, Jjong. People would assume you had a hard life.” The boy next to him chuckled, ruffling his shaggy, dark hair and simultaneously pushing the loose strands out of his eyes.

“Harder than yours, loser.” A long haired girl chuckled from the other side of the male. She growled playfully as the boy swatted her pen out of her hand before bending down and snatching it up from the floor, continuing to pack her bag like nothing had happened.

“I had work late last night and then I got inspired, I didn’t get much sleep.” Jonghyun said, his speech distorted by a large yawn.

“Woo,” The boy uttered dramatically, falling backwards into his seat. “The life of a big-name composer.”

“’Big-name composer’?” Jonghyun laughed, “I’m a student the same as you.”

“And the only person in this room to have a published song.” The boy countered.

“Jiwoong, we’re the only people in this room.” The girl said, deadpan. Grabbing the boy, Jiwoong, by the arm and pulling him upright, she started dragging the resistant male from the room. “We’re going to be late for our next class.”

“See ya, ers.” Jonghyun grinned, saluting lazily. It was his free-period now. His friends were taking an art class – one being an art student and the other literature student who wanted something ‘fun’ to fill her schedule – and Jonghyun just didn’t have any talent in any art related area other than music.

Standing up and stretching lazily, the blonde meandered out of the lecture room and headed towards the library. He had a few assignments due and was planning on spending the next few hours working on them. There was one in particular he wasn’t looking forward to working on. He was supposed to write a referenced essay on peoples’ reactions to music and how music affected the psyche. He sort of understood the basis for that assignment – understanding how people listened to music would aid in better music writing, in theory – however, he wasn’t a psychologist and had barely passed even basic science classes in high school so he was prepared for this to take a while.

-

In the first six months after the release of the documentary very little about Jonghyun’s life had changed outwardly.  Most of the changes were subtle and to the casual observer there was no clear change at all. However, to those closest to the issues, it really had. Sodam had commented more than once about how he was now much more open about his status as an idol fan. He still kept it toned down but, if she had a friend round he wasn’t afraid to make a casual mention about things only a fan would know – whereas before he would keep quiet even if it was clear that he wanted to join in the girls’ conversations. He had also gone to the record store to buy the new SHINee album on day of release. This wasn’t unusual on its own as he always went to buy them on the first day. However, he had never been to the record store alone before. His sister always acted as his security blanket, being forced to attend with him and to make the actual purchase. Sodam had looked confused when she caught her brother just as he walked out of the house, his bag slung over his shoulder and his blonde hair styled a little more than normal. On probing he had revealed where he was heading and she had squealed quietly, looking proud. She wouldn’t have to pretend to be interested in a group she didn’t care much about anymore – besides caring because her brother liked them – which was great for her. However, the best thing was that her brother was finally, finally, starting to become more comfortable with himself and admitting things he liked.

Jonghyun’s relationship with his father had also changed. For the first time in his life, Jonghyun’s old man seemed to accept his son’s choices about his future career. It hadn’t changed quickly and it hadn’t changed dramatically; his father was a cold man and he wasn’t one to change his opinions quickly. However, he was slowly coming around to the idea that Jonghyun was going to pursue music as a career. Jonghyun was pretty sure the man had already accepted it, in some way, but following the documentary, the man seemed to realise that his son could actually make a living out of this thing that he had previously only considered to be a hobby.

Jonghyun hadn’t even told his parents about the competition until the day his documentary aired. Although, technically, he never actually told them. His sister had collapsed heavily on the living room sofa one Saturday evening and taken the remote from their father’s hand. Jonghyun – who was walking through the living room on his way to the kitchen – couldn’t stifle his chuckle at the shocked look on the man’s face. Sodam, although strong-willed and mouthy at times, was not usually one to disrupt their father when he was relaxing in the evenings. The man was cranky without his nightly dose of bad television and no one in the family wanted to deal with that.

Sodam had proceeded to flip the channel from the comedy rerun his parents were watching to the channel the SHINee documentary was being aired on. His father had not been impressed and he had proceeded to lament about the fact that his daughter was going to become obsessed with those ‘girly looking singers’ just like his son was. Jonghyun hadn’t been aware that his father knew about his love for the idols and, in a strange way, it made him happy that the man had even noticed. It meant his father cared enough to pay attention to the things his son liked. Ok, so he didn’t agree with many of Jonghyun’s choices and the two men often didn’t see eye to eye but the man was never too confrontational about it. When Jonghyun had broached the subject of music school the man hadn’t told his son he couldn’t go, he had just said Jonghyun had to fund it himself. There were a few other choice words in there but there wasn’t all that much bite behind them.

“Oh, shush, dad. You weren’t even watching that show.” Sodam berated their father playfully. “And I need to watch Jjongie doing his thing.”

Jonghyun had frozen in the doorway, a glass of water in his hand. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see his parents’ reactions to this.

“Jonghyun’s on TV?” His mother asked, confused.

“Yeah, he wrote a song for SHINee.” Sodam explained, shooting a look over her shoulder at her brother. “It’s totally awesome that his music is getting recognition.”

Jonghyun smiled lightly, leaning against the door frame. He was still slightly scared of his parents’ reactions but he now understood what his sister was doing. Instead of watching this show online or recording it for later, she deliberately watched it now, with their parents in the room. She was trying to help their parents understand. To help them realise what Jonghyun’s music meant to him and to realise that, despite what anyone said, he was going to do this his way and make the music he so loved to create.

He stayed in the back of the living room, near the door to the kitchen for the entire hour and, despite parts of the documentary being incredibly embarrassing – especially his little fan freak out about meeting SHINee – he was pleasantly surprised to see a slight smile on his father’s face when the music video played and his mother’s happy smile as she bopped to the beat.

As his dad walked out of the living room, he saw Jonghyun’s position in the door way, clapping his son on the shoulder as he walked past he said, not looking at his son, “I don’t get that pop music stuff but it wasn’t terrible.”

That sentence, as unsupportive as it may sound to anyone else, was one of the most important things his father had ever said to him.

Then, after weeks and weeks of nothing major happening, Jonghyun’s life had really started to look up, all at once. All because of one, quiet producer. Not that his life was bad pre-Juliette and its subsequent popularity but it had become a little stagnant and repetitive. Honestly, writing that SHINee song and meeting his idols had been the best thing that had ever happened to the male. Meeting his idols probably ranked up there as being one of the best experiences of his life. Those that knew him always asked if he was still in contact with the four-piece and there were occasionally forum posts about what had become of him. As much as Jonghyun would love to say ‘yes, absolutely’, that would be a total lie. He hadn’t seen or heard from the singers since he recorded for the documentary and honestly, he hadn’t expected to – why would he?

He also wasn’t getting recognised in the streets or treated like some kind of celebrity. He had had a five minute segment in an hour-long documentary which, due to being about a single, fairly new, idol group, had a limited audience to begin with. He had been recognised a few times by hard-core SHINee fans but nothing ever came of it. They usually greeted him and began asking questions about SHINee, not even caring about the boy in front of them.

However, from the whole experience, he had acquired a firm friendship/mentorship with Sungkyu. The older man had definitely taken the blonde under his wing and was always willing to talk, usually via email, although Jonghyun had called him more than a few times to sing him a new piece whilst he was inspired. He still gave amazing advice and had even edited a few of the blonde’s songs personally to make them more marketable (not that he intended to sell these pieces, but it was good practice) and teach him the most common types of feedback he would receive.

The man had been horrified when he learnt that Jonghyun wasn’t applying to music schools for the current intake year and had basically forced the application form upon him, even signing off as a reference and scouting out scholarship opportunities for the teen himself. It was via these scholarships that the boy had managed to achieve a place, his savings able to cover the remaining fees that weren’t covered in the stipend and his work at the cafe covering any living expenses. The composer had been integral in Jonghyun’s enrolment and the young man was endlessly thankful and had told the man so ever since, regularly.

In fact, as the boy reached the library and settled himself comfortably in a study booth, setting up his laptop in front of him and pulling out his school books, he decided to email the man. He had recently received an email and a sound file from the composer that he hadn’t yet found time to check and since he had no other classes and only his essay to do, he decided to take some time to listen to it now.

Navigating to his email window and downloading the file, he read through the email and gasped in shock.

Jonghyun,

I have had an idea floating around my head for a few months now and it is finally coming to fruition. As you are probably aware, I hold you and your skills in very high regard. Although you are still untrained, your musical talent and ability to compose original and marketable music is fantastic.

Therefore, I approached the higher-ups in SM and asked their permission to collaborate with you on my newest project. They were initially hesitant however, I persuaded them that you would be nothing but a benefit. I feel that you will be great but I also feel that, without constant stimulation, you might lose that individual flair that makes you such a talented composer. Thus, I arranged this project – mostly for your benefit but also for mine. I too like to challenge myself and this will improve my work, also.

Unfortunately, this will have to be a royalty-free role for you. Although, you will receive an initial composer’s payment, partial due to the limited work you will do. However, I believe the experience will be more than enough payment. The publishing of your name as co-composer on a track that should hopefully become well known is also a boon. As your lecturers have probably already informed you, your network is one of the most important things in your career and this will aid in its growth.

So, more about the project, if you choose to accept. I have attached my initial idea for the music for the chorus, take a look when you have time and feel free to inform me if it is unsuitable or you have any improvements to suggest. This will be a joint project so don’t be afraid to tell me something is bad, I am not the superior here, we are on equal footing for now.

More background for the song: it will be for SHINee and I know you know their previous work well, so I don’t need to brief you for that. Their new album will be a mixture of pop and slightly more ballad-oriented songs so we can play around a little and come up with a range of genres.

I understand this may seem daunting and you may be too busy to accept my proposal but I feel this could benefit you and I greatly.

Regards,

Sungkyu

This email was followed by an official looking SM Entertainment signature block which declared Sungkyu’s full name, job title and contact details. His usual emails to Jonghyun did not normally contain this feature and, when he had first opened the email, Jonghyun had been a little confused by its presence. However, now he had read the contents, it made a lot more sense.

Jonghyun probably sat staring blankly at his screen for a full ten minutes. Although he couldn’t be certain of the time because his mind was filled with static noise. He was in shock, he knew that Sungkyu liked him and he knew that the man held him in high regard but he had assumed it was as a student who still had a lot to learn. For the man to offer him a co-composer role was nothing short of incredible. Any other student in his school would jump at the opportunity and Jonghyun was no different.

Setting his essay to the side for now – he would finish it tomorrow – Jonghyun played the attached sound clip, writing notes on a blank notebook and drafting potential ideas for tunes, rhythm and lyrics to accompany it. His mind was already swirling with ideas and he had already mentally catalogued all the songs he had already written which could be taken, in part, and modified to fit the theme. 

So here he was, Kim Jonghyun, almost a year after the submission of his song to the SHINee composition competition. A year ago he had been working long hours in a cafe with big dreams of going to music school and maybe writing for the stars. Now, he was sat in the music college of his choice, penning a second song for one of the largest idols groups in South Korea. He had friends and family who supported him and a mentor who wanted him to succeed. His life and his future had never looked so bright. So, no matter how long the hours, no matter how tired he was after a day of lectures and a night working at the cafe, he didn’t care. He was exactly where he had always dreamed he would be and he was going to make the most of it.

 

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CHAPTER NOTES: Jjong the university student. I imagine the university Jjong went to is basically my university and all his classes are basically like mine. Which makes zero sense because he’s doing an arts degree with all his music courses and I studied science. Also… Australia. But hey, drawing from experience and all that.

Also this story has now broken 1000 views on this site. That is so awesome, you don't even know. You guys are the coolest, I swear <3