Jonghyun was sure he had never been this nervous before in his life. Shifting awkwardly in the waiting room chair, he pulled at his tie, needing something to do with his hands. He felt like a weirdo - wearing a suit, when everyone else in the building appeared to be wearing more casual clothing. Well, some people were in suits, he supposed. However, all the people his age appeared to be wearing trendy casual clothes or strange mixes of fashion that most people would not be able to pull off. To add to his humiliation every single one had looked at him and smirked as they walked past, as if they knew why he was there in the building. They probably assumed he was some sort of desperate auditionee or someone here to beg for a job.

The rest of the people passing through, mostly older men and women, walked around in business wear, much like Jonghyun himself. However, they walked with a sense of purpose and belonging – most clutching a stack of papers or an electronic tablet to their chests as they strode past. Jonghyun had a sense of purpose, he knew exactly why he was here, but belonging was definitely something he lacked.

Looking at the clock for the fifteenth time in as many minutes, the young man sighed once more and stretched out the cramping muscles in his back. He had had to switch out his shift at work, in order to make this meeting. Monday morning was one of the shifts the teen had held since he had graduated high school and this was one of the first times he had ever missed it. Luckily, his boss had been fine with him taking the day off – even with such short notice – and had scheduled another employee for the day.

Unfortunately, his shift switching had led to him having to work his least favourite shift in order to bulk up his hours. The Sunday night closing shift was always hard work as, although the boss ensured his establishment was always clean, he scheduled a weekly deep clean that took place every Sunday night after closing. Thus, Jonghyun had spent the night before this meeting bent down and scrubbing cabinets, appliances and the floor. That, unfortunately, meant that Jonghyun was a little stiff this morning.

His scheduled meeting, arranged purely by SM Entertainment with the expectation Jonghyun would arrange his schedule around it (which he totally did), was meant to occur at 10am. The teen had gotten ready in record time that morning – to the confusion of his mother – and travelled across the city to the SM Entertainment Head Office with a bounce in his step and a grin on his face. However, when he arrived at the imposing building at 9am, he realised that, although being early was a good thing, this early was probably pushing it. So he had headed to a nearby coffee shop to grab a drink and a bite to eat in the hopes of wasting some time and calming his frazzled nerves.

As he ate, he unfortunately, had a lot of time to think and the more he thought, the more nervous he became. He had already won the competition. In his mind, he knew this. The directors and producers had clearly liked his song and they wanted him to attend this meeting. However, that didn’t stop his mind from conjuring up many thousands of bad scenarios: What if they suddenly decided they didn’t need a new song at all? What if he hadn’t won and they just wanted to tell him how bad his song was? What if they had showed his work to SHINee and they had hated it?

It had taken him a few seconds and a large swig of still scalding coffee to jolt himself out of that last train of thought. He knew, logically, that SHINee had probably already heard his song and probably even had input on the outcome of the competition. Even if they hadn’t yet heard it, they would likely enjoy it purely because it was a competition entry. He also knew that his win had already been announced, so to retract their decision now would look bad for SM Entertainment – although they could just produce a statement saying he cheated, or something. Jonghyun shook his head vigorously to dislodge those thoughts. He may have garnered a few odd looks from the other patrons of the café for his actions but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He wouldn’t allow himself to head down that line of thinking. He had won and his song was going to be sung by SHINee. He should be excited, not sitting here psyching himself out.

Sitting in the waiting room of the SM Entertainment building (he had arrived and checked in at 9.45am after finishing his coffee and breakfast roll) was not helping things. The large room was empty, except for the occasional worker passing through on their way to the lifts and, Jonghyun assumed, their offices. It had only been ten minutes so far and Jonghyun was getting antsy; not that he hadn’t been antsy to begin with.

Jonghyun had given up on his uncomfortable seat by 10am and was instead wandering round the waiting room, observing the strange, abstract art on the walls and generally doing everything he could to distract himself from his nervous thoughts. This was how he was found by Mr. Song, the man in charge of the competition and the man who had initially contacted Jonghyun about this meeting.

If anyone were to ask the young man what happened when he met Mr. Song, his answer would be ‘he came and collected me from the lobby’. However, if anyone were to ask Mr. Song how he met the competition winner he would answer: ‘the poor kid looked like he was going to wet himself. I think I surprised him, he actually let out a quiet squeak when I tried to get his attention.’

Once he had overcome his initial embarrassment and Jonghyun had calmed himself to the point he didn’t look like a human tomato, Mr. Song (who refused to be addressed as anything other than Mr. Song), escorted him up to the third floor and into a small meeting room.

“Mr. Kim,” Mr. Song began, as he settled into a chair, gesturing for the boy to sit on the opposite side of the table.

“Jonghyun is fine.” The teen assured as he too sank into a chair, shifting uncomfortably as he tried to find a good position.

“Jonghyun, then.” Mr. Song continued, his lips quirking only a little in what was possibly an attempt to calm down the nervous looking boy in front of him. Sadly, the man’s face was not built for comfort. The stern set of his eyebrows and the harsh lines of his jaw did not allow for soothing facial expressions and his voice would always be on the more commanding side. The man presented a rather imposing figure, overall. If Jonghyun had been less nervous, he would have considered why this man was in charge of public relations. He looked like the sort of man who told you what to do and you did it. Although, if he had considered it – which he hadn’t – this was likely a good trait for a man working in public relations to have; especially when idols and their many fans are heavily involved. Jonghyun knew well just how intimidating some kpop fans could be. Of course, Jonghyun was currently busy freaking out over the fact he was in SM Entertainment’s headquarters and he was so close to getting his song performed by his favourite idol group ever. So he didn’t consider anything other than the immediate. “As you are aware, you have won the composition contest.”

Jonghyun couldn’t prevent a small smile from working its way across his face as he nodded eagerly, leaning forwards in his seat, “Yes, thank you so much for choosing me.”

“The choice wasn’t all on me, Jonghyun. “ Mr. Song said, “There were a lot of very strong entries to this competition. However, the board especially liked yours. They felt it truly fit the group’s aesthetic, more so than the other entries.”

Jonghyun’s grin grew even wider as he heard the compliment, his eyes lighting up as his absolute favourite topic came up. “I’ve been listening to SHINee since their debut and I tried really hard to create a song that would highlight all their individual talents. I’m glad it worked.”

“It did.” Mr. Song agreed. “And I can see that you know the group well from your entry. I’m a glad SHINee has such loyal fans.” The man’s voice was so deadpan, it was difficult to tell if he was sincere in his statements or not. “Now, in a little while, a music producer and one of SM Entertainment’s most important composers will arrive and do some edits on your song, to make it more marketable.” Waiting for Jonghyun’s nod of understanding, the man continued. “We will first have you sign some forms releasing the song to our ownership and allowing us to use it as we wish; with your name as composer, of course.”

“These’re the stipulations outlined in the competition rules, right?” Jonghyun asked, already sure he was right.

“Ah, good. You read those. Many people do not.” Mr. Song said, sounding thankful. “You have, in essence, already agreed legally to these terms by entering the competition. This is more a formality to ensure you understand your legal rights and for our records.” Pulling a sheaf of papers out of his briefcase, Mr. Song passed them over to Jonghyun.

“Thank you, sir.” Jonghyun muttered absently, already scanning through the document under the watchful eyes of the stern public relations manager.

It took him a good ten minutes to read through all the paperwork. Jonghyun may not have understood every word, there was quite a lot of legal jargon in there, but he had understood enough to get the gist of each document. It helped that he had already read through the similar information outlined in the competition rules before he submitted his song; it meant that what he read was not too much of a surprise.

He would not receive any royalties from the songs release and SM Entertainment were allowed to edit, remix or modify the song as they wished, as well as allowing other groups under the SM Entertainment label to perform it. This all sounded rather negative but, the fact that he, a nineteen year old barista with no formal song writing training, would have his name listed as the writer and composer of a SHINee song that would be published in their next album and performed live by the group themselves on national TV was more than enough. Signing the document was an easy choice. He had been writing for SHINee for years, even if they would never hear any of his other songs, and to actually have them perform one, even if it only happened once, was beyond fantastic.

The signing of the document also brought a large sense of relief to the teen. The second his name was on this paper, SM Entertainment absolutely could not pull out of the contract. Unless, of course, Jonghyun broke any of the rules (which were stipulated on the third page) and luckily, he had not and did not intend to in the future.

By the time this process was complete and the signed documents returned to the public relations manager, Jonghyun and Mr. Song only had to wait a couple of minutes for the producer and composer to arrive. Those minutes had passed in awkward silence because Mr. Song did not seem to be the type for small talk and Jonghyun was too nervous around the stern man to say anything.

The producer was an eccentric looking man in his mid-thirties, with a large mane of dyed red hair and a suede suit in a worryingly bright shade of blue. He had bounded into the room with enthusiasm, greeting Jonghyun with a firm, if a little over enthusiastic, handshake and professed loudly how much he loved the song. The composer, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. His short stature – on par with Jonghyun himself – was made even more unassuming by his meek manner and dull grey suit. However, when he saw Jonghyun, who was still looking a little dazed after the hurricane of a producer – “Call me Woo, kiddo!” – he smiled warmly and greeted him with a firm handshake and a soft pronouncement of “You may call me Sungkyu.”

“Now, shall we get down to business?” Mr. Song asked, once everyone had taken their seats. Jonghyun watched with interest as Sungkyu set up his laptop and connected it to the meeting room’s projector screen. The display loaded slowly, revealing his song, already open on music editing software. Honestly, Jonghyun was a little jealous. This was high-end software. The barista had written and composed the entire song using the cheap, battered keyboard in his bedroom and an incredibly rudimentary free music creation software that allowed him to create basic sounds and tunes. Maybe, one day, he would be considered skilled enough in this field to gain access to this software, or even be able to afford it himself. He was sure the subscription fee was more than he would earn in year at his current job.

“Of course!” Woo agreed, reaching into his messenger bag to pull out a notebook. “So I made some notes about your song. All good, I assure you.” He reassured, turning to Jonghyun who was seated next to him and patting him on the shoulder enthusiastically. “I love this song. I listened to it and went ‘this is the one’. I really campaigned for you to win. The others were good but this one, it’s perfect for our boys. It’s like you truly know them.”

Jonghyun blushed at this statement, his ego swelling just a little at the bombardment of praise. “Well, I have been a fan since their debut...”

“Oooh a fan. That’s even better. It’ll look so good on the press release. So many people enter these things for the chance to get famous and don’t even know the group they’re writing for, you know? You must know.” Woo continued, his voice excited, not waiting for any sort of answer to his barrage of words before he carried on speaking. “But a fan always knows best. They know what they want the group to do and sing and they know what other fans want too. Ooh this is perfect.”

“A male fan in certainly unusual,” Sungkyu spoke up, quietly. “A male fan with your composition talent is even more so. Where did you study?”

Jonghyun looked down at the table embarrassed, “I didn’t. I can’t really afford college right now. I’m saving up.”

“Well that’s certainly impressive and actually explains a few things.” Sungkyu said. Jonghyun looked up at that statement, the pride he had felt from Woo’s praise fading, just a little. Reassuringly, Sungkyu spoke again, “There isn’t much that needs to be fixed with your song. Hence my belief you had formal training. I have a few suggestions that I will go over in a minute, just to make it flow better. But overall, it’s very good.”

“What did you mean, ‘that explains some things?’” Jonghyun asked, looking across the table to the other man. It may have sounded cheeky of him to ask but he was really curious and anything he could learn that could help him improve his composition skills was something he wanted to know.

“People who have been to music school tend to make all the same mistakes.” Sungkyu began, his voice slipping into a tone that belied his teaching skills. This was clearly a man who didn’t mind talking others through problems and teaching them new things. “Everyone is taught the same way and, even with their individual styles, the same common mistakes occur over and over again. You didn’t have any of those and you clearly have a natural ear for music and song structure but there were some small issues that anyone with a formal education would probably have had drilled out of them by the time they finished their studies.”

“Ah.” Jonghyun said. He didn’t fully understand what the other man meant but he sort of got the idea.

“And that’s all fantastic.” Woo said loudly as he reached across the table for the computer mouse, cutting off anything else the two would say, “But we have limited time here; let’s get this show on the road.”

The four men had been working in that meeting room for nearly four hours with only a short, half hour, break for lunch. Between them they worked to create a workable version of the song that they believed would work well with the concepts for the coming SHINee album as well as sounding as polished and professional as people would expect from an SM Entertainment group. The three SM Entertainment staff members had been impressed by Jonghyun’s insightful comments as well as his acceptance of constructive criticism and feedback about parts of the song that were less usable. He had, once he got past his initial nerves, tried to ask questions about why things were being edited; not because he disagreed with the men’s judgement but because he wanted to learn how to make his songs more professional and usable in an industry setting in the future.

“Ok,” Mr. Song said, a stiff smile on his face – not because he was annoyed but because that appeared to be the happiest the man could look. “So I think I understand how the backing track for this section will sound now.” He pointed out a section in the music that was very vocal heavy with a solid beat in the background. They had been working on this section for approximately half an hour, none of them quite able to pinpoint what they disliked about it but all knowing something was wrong. Finally, however, Woo had made a change that all the men in the room were happy with. “But I’m not sure how that would sound when it was sung.”

Jonghyun and the other two people in the room looked up from what they were doing and looked at where the business man was pointing. “Oh,” Jonghyun said easily, “that sounds like this.” He then proceeded to play the section in question and sing along. His voice was clear in the small room and, although untrained, it was clear that the teen had practiced this skill at least a little.

“Wow.” Woo exclaimed, “You were holding out on us, kid. Where did that voice come from? That was you on the recording? I assumed you got a friend to do it.”

“Ever considered being an idol?” Sungkyu asked, a teasing smile on his face. Through the course of the day, he had gradually opened up to the younger man and almost seemed to consider him a student of sorts, taking time to talk through certain processes and things that would be useful for Jonghyun when composing in the future.

“I did actually.” Jonghyun said, laughing nervously and scratching his neck awkwardly. “But then I realised that I preferred writing songs to singing them. And my dancing leaves a lot to be desired.”

“Whatever you say, kiddo.” Woo chuckled genially before looking back at the screen as he stretched out his tired muscles. They had been in the room for so long that all four men were starting to feel the stiffness in their necks and arms. “I think we’re almost done here, actually.”

After a few further issues had been resolved, only another half an hour had passed and they all simultaneously decided that they were finished there. Standing up and stretching out his back, Mr. Song gestured at the other three males in the room. “Well, I’ll head out first. I’ll go submit this for final checks and backing track and vocal recordings. It shouldn’t need to be changed too much before release. Sungkyu, can you Jonghyun out when you are done here?”

“Of course.” Sungkyu agreed, slotting his sheet music into a folder and tucking it into his bag before starting to shut down his laptop and stow all associated wires.

“I’ll go take this upstairs and get the ball rolling on music video creation.” Woo grinned, also starting to pack up the scattered sheet music across the table and a USB containing the finished song.

“Music video?” Jonghyun asked, confused. The deal had been for a song on the album. Nowhere had the competition mentioned a music video.

“Yeah!” Woo grinned. “This song is totally title track quality.”

“But...” Jonghyun trailed off, not quite sure what he was trying to say. Honestly, he was in a state of disbelief. Already, this day was too good to be true and now they were telling him there would be a music video, too.

Seeing his mental state, Sungkyu clapped him on the shoulder firmly. “You did good, Jonghyun. You deserve the recognition for this.”

Looking up at the men, wide eyed, Jonghyun could only blink and stutter out a hoarse thank you in response.

“We’ve got all your contact details, kiddo. We’ll call you when we need you again.” Woo grinned, clearly enjoying the dazed look on Jonghyun’s face.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Jonghyun looked at the eccentric man in confusion. “Again?”

“The interview. Don’t tell me you forgot? I thought that would be the part a SHINee fan would remember most.”

Seeing Jonghyun’s blank look, Sungkyu cut in to explain, “In order to publicise the competition, a one-off TV special will be made about the competition. It will have the group’s thoughts on the song and a live performance and now the music video teaser, I assume.” He said, looking at Woo for confirmation. “As well as a short interview with you and a meet and greet between you and SHINee.”

Jonghyun nearly choked on his tongue when he heard the last line. As he was coughing and stuttering, he looked up at the composer with questioning eyes.

“You really didn’t know that? It was on the competition details page.”

“I had forgotten. I was so swept up in the moment of my song being performed by SHINee and… yeah, I forgot,” Jonghyun said, once he had regained control of his vocal cords and his lungs no longer felt like exploding. He was glad he was still sitting down because he wasn’t sure his legs would be able to support his weight after that bombshell.

“I’ll call you and let you know when we need you, kiddo.” Woo grinned, as he headed out the door. “It’ll just be short interview, no more than ten minutes and it’ll probably be cut shorter for TV. Nothing to freak about. See you next time, yeah?”

Jonghyun and Sungkyu were then left alone in the meeting room together. The older man looked at the shell shocked teen next to him and chuckled aloud. “Come on, let me you out.”

Jonghyun stared at him blankly for a few seconds before visibly shaking himself out of it and nodding his assent. Standing up to leave, he only almost tripped over a chair once and he was ten percent sure the other man didn’t see it. The two men walked out of the room together with the professional composer making small talk about Jonghyun’s life and composing experience as they walked.

“This was the ... I don’t know, fifteenth full song I’ve written for SHINee. Not to mention all the song fragments and little things I’ve written. They’re huge inspirations for me and I always found it easy to come up with ideas when I wrote with them in mind.” Jonghyun gushed, having gotten over his apparent shell shock from earlier and having grown comfortable with the other man over the span of the meeting.

“You’ve written other songs?” The composer asked. “Could I maybe listen to them, some time?”

Jonghyun looked at the composer – a little happy he didn’t have to look up at the man due to their similar heights – and smiled, “I would be honoured.”

“Great.” Sungkyu said, softly holding out a business card, which the teen took with reverence. “Here’s my details. Just email any songs you are willing to show me, I’d love to take a look.”

“Could you...” Jonghyun hesitated, not sure he was confident enough to ask this. It seemed a little upfront of him to ask this of the composer. He had only met the man today and he was about to ask him to spend major amounts of time helping someone he barely knew, “Could you possibly teach me some things? You know, help me improve my composition.”

“I’ll give you some feedback on every song you send my way. If you would like.” Sungkyu agrees. “I can also suggest some good resources that may help you improve. I probably won’t be as good as an actual teacher would be but I will try.”

“That would be great.” Jonghyun grinned, as the two stepped out of the lift on the ground floor. “Thank you very much.” Bowing low in thanks, the teen bid the older composer goodbye and practically skipped out of the company foyer. He drew some confused looks from other people passing through and he was certain he heard Sungkyu’s quiet chuckle behind him but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He was so incredibly happy right now.

 

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CHAPTER NOTES: I based the initial meeting on a meeting I once had with a potential supervisor for my honours year. Obviously, I studied biology and not music but one meeting is much the same as any other, right?