“Shindong hyung? What are you doing here? Are you joining us for the meeting with Siwon today?” Hyukjae asked, slightly surprised to see Shindong this early in the morning. He thought that Shindong was in Jeju island to direct a music video for SHINee, but maybe he had gotten his dates wrong. Since their discharges in July, both he and Donghae had been working overtime to get things in place for Super Junior’s return later that year as well as get their own subgroup D&E ready for a return. It was more than 2 hours until the meeting that Leeteuk had scheduled with Siwon, Donghae, and himself. Hyukjae had come into the office early to take care of some last-minute arrangements for the upcoming KCON concert in Los Angeles. He and Donghae were scheduled to leave later that afternoon for the US, and Hyukjae wanted to make sure there were no last-minute glitches.

“No, I’m here to talk to you alone,” Shindong replied with a heaviness in his voice that rarely surfaced. “If Donghae knows we’re having this conversation, he’s be furious.”

At the mention of Donghae, Hyukjae’s curiosity really piqued. He said nothing but raised an eyebrow at his older friend.

“Sit down.” Shindong ordered. “You need to change the set that you and Donghae are going to perform at KCON. You can’t let Donghae try to perform some of the more strenuous songs.”

“Why not?” Hyukjae was now totally confused. He had thought Shindong was here to discuss Siwon, who was just getting out of the army and Seoul National Police this morning. But no, they were discussing Donghae. “Why can’t he do it?”

The look on Hyukjae’s face was incredulous when Shindong finally stopped talking. “No, that’s impossible. He would have told me. He would have told us. How can he not tell us something like this?!”

“That doesn’t matter. Whatever the reasons are, we have to respect Donghae’s wishes. He’ll tell us when he’s ready. In the meantime, you need to change the set so that he won’t over-exert himself. I don’t care how you do it…change to all ballads if you have to...but he can’t be dancing around to some of the more arduous routines that we have.” Shindong stated. “I watched Donghae during the practice sessions last week, he can barely breathe after some of the songs. From what Yesung overheard, Donghae has short-term medication that can help his heart function, but any additional stress on the heart muscle will just make things worse for him.”

“So does everyone in the group know?!” Hyukjae demanded. His mind was racing.

“No…Siwon knows. Ryeowook told me and Youngwoon. And Yesung overheard Donghae and Siwon arguing about it. But Siwon and Donghae don’t know that the rest of us knows.”

“But shouldn’t…shouldn’t we tell everyone else? Heechul…Leeteuk…Sungmin…Kyuhyun…Hangeng…Henry…Zhoumi…even Kibum…we need to tell them.” Hyukjae insisted. “They need to know so we can take care of Donghae….”

“No. I’m not sure they can handle this news right now…especially Leeteuk. He was so happy when we had that meeting a couple of months ago and he pushed for all 9 of us to return with this new album. Besides, if this news gets out…it would be total chaos. The media will pounce on us and the fans will freak out. That kind of hysteria is the last thing that Donghae needs.” Shindong argued. “Just get through with KCON this week. Once the 2 of you are back and Siwon returns from his UN trip, then we can have a meeting to discuss everything.”

Tired didn’t even begin to describe how he was feeling right now. It had been an eventful 10 days, from his discharge to the first reading of his new drama to the UN trip to Vietnam, he had jumped back into civilian life at breakneck speed. Now, he wanted nothing more than to fly back to Seoul, get back to his own home, crawl into bed, and not wake up for a day or two. And yet here he was, sitting patiently and staring out at the magnificent vista that is the Hong Kong skyline. From this flat, which he had bought anonymously a few years ago, located in the residence wing of the Ritz Carlton hotel, the view of Hong Kong island is spectacular during the day, but is exquisitely beautiful at night, and 1:30 AM certainly qualified as being very very late at night. Siwon stared out the floor-to-ceiling bay windows that allowed Hong Kong harbor to flow into his living room. He waited patiently as his 4 guests reviewed the papers in front of them. His plan was audacious, shocking even, and he didn’t want to endanger its chances by appearing too eager, too enthusiastic.

His first guest let out a slow whistle as he reached the page spelling out the strategy and finances of the deal. “Wow…now I know why you scheduled this meeting at this time of night.” Jackie Chan teased as he read through the proposal. He may have the image of the lovable kung fu expert on screen and in public, but Jackie was as cold and calculating a businessman as they came in this city whose very air has been termed to be the ‘smell of money.’

“This…this is bold. This is daring. This is going to create the biggest entertainment company in all of Asia. But…can we pull this off?”

“Thank you, 大哥. Yes, we can do this…but I need your support.” Siwon replied respectfully. He looked at his other 3 guests in the room, careful not to get his hopes up too much that they saw the same potential that Jackie Chan did in his proposal.

“I’m in.” The God of Song stated simply as he finished the file and put it back on coffee table. He had never forgotten how he and his friends had suffered even as they rose to great fame and achieved unfathomable success. He still remembered that day, almost 15 years ago, when he heard that Gor Gor had jumped out of the 24^th floor of the Mandarin Oriental. The pain of that day, and of the knowledge of what drove his friend to such an act, still haunted Jacky Cheung. He had waited and waited, and finally this was an opportunity to change things.

Zhang Yimou was next to speak. As with the others in the room, he remembered his initial reaction when this young, brash kid had approached him with this plan more than 3 years ago. The only thing he had known of Choi Siwon at the time was that he was part of the second wave of hallyu, or Korean entertainment phenomenon, that was sweeping Asia and the globe. Since then, of course, he had come to learn that there was much more to this “kid” than he could ever have imagined.

“Yes, I’m ready to join as well,” Zhang stated when it was his turn to respond. “This is very audacious, but if we do it right…we will be making history.”

As each person spoke, Siwon allowed himself to be just a tad bit more optimistic. But now, as he focused on his final guest, he knew this would also be the hardest person to convince.

“Siwon-ssi. No wonder my grandmother always loved you more than me,” Lee Shinhae joked. The heir to the Shinsegae fortune sat in awe of his friend. They had been friends since grade school, given the history of their two families, and were as close as any brothers can be. He had to admire the way Siwon went about this…methodical, deliberate, strategic. And the plan was brilliant. “When we do this, we will be leaving our family names behind and building our own names. Of course I’m in.”

For the first time that evening, Siwon allowed himself to breathe and crack a smile. He poured everyone a glass of champagne, which had been chilled and waiting. “Gentlemen, it is agreed then. A toast…to Alpha Omega Entertainment Holdings. And to making history.”