“Come on, Key,” Minhorolled his eyes as he dragged his older group mate roughly towards the elevator.

“Come on, Kibum,” Onew, too, walked behind his fellow member and pushed the complaining diva forwards.

“Y-yah!” Key whined, trying to plant his feet firmly onto the carpeted floor of the SHINee penthouse.

“Jagiya, we’ll have a great night, alright?” Jonghyun approached differently, but with the same sweet-talking concept he so often uses.

“You’ll be too busy checking out the girls to have a great night,” Minhonoted.

“I won’t!” Jonghyun protested.

“It’s a SMent artists-only meet up. Not even a party,” Onew replied as he finally shoved the quintet into the elevator and pressed the button to the parking lot underground.

“See? Of course I won’t, even if I wanted to.” Jonghyun pointed out.

The rest of the group nodded their heads. They knew that as labelmates, they were supposed to know each other better than themselves, for the sake of the company, the news presses, the fans, and for themselves.

But unfortunately, they were all too shy to get close to their sunbaenims. And when their hoobaes, f(x), debuted, they were too shy to approach them as well.

Onew shook his head. Maybe that’s why all the contacts on s’ phones are from other companies.

As if hearing Onew’s thoughts, Key’s finger pressed a speed dial and he held his phone to his ear.

“Nicole-sshi! I’m gonna be busy-”

The rest of the members followed suit, calling their own friends from outside the company. Soon the elevator was filled with members trying to drown each other out, talking louder and louder on the phone until at last, the elevator announced their arrival at the parking lot.

“Bye, Nicole/ Yubin/ Nichkhun/ noona!” the members chorused in unison and snapped their phones shut.

The group of 5 couldn’t be SHINee without Onew’s traditional stumble when they exited the elevator, into the cold atmosphere of the parking lot.

“Everything he does, it’s Onew sangtae~” the group teased in a singsong voice as they reached their manager’s car.

“Manage- Lee Soo Man sunbaenim!” the group bowed repeatedly. They stood up stiffly after a round of formal greetings and looked confusingly at their CEO.

“Aigoo~ Onew-ah, you’ve grown so much taller!” their friendly CEO extended an arm out the driver’s window and ruffled Onew’s hair.

“And Jonghyun! My dinosaur! Key, my little princess, of course.” Lee Soo Man kept complimenting his youngest boy group, watching them as they got flustered and they smiled with embarrassment.

“My Dream Teamer! And the ultimate guy maknae of SM!” he regarded Minhoand Taemin.

The five boys bowed their heads respectfully, now warming up to the bubbly personality of Lee SooMan.

“My little boys! Jump into the backseat and feel free to join my girls!”

SHINee lined up and orderly into the van, and that’s when the words ‘my girls’ sunk in.

In the backseat were f(x), their eyes like deer in headlights, wide open with fear and unexpectedness.

“Weeeeeelll…” Jonghyun hesitated, and then sighed.

“Anneyonghaseyo, we’re shining SHINee!” they raised their arms in their usual greeting half-heartedly, greeting the younger girl group.

“Hello, we’re f(x)!” f(x) replied, mocking their enthusiasm.

The van was soaked with awkward silence, except for in the front seat. Lee Soo Man was excited about his upcoming project with his major groups. He couldn’t wait to see the results, and he mentally thanked YG and JYP.

“Why do I hear no talking?” Lee Soo Man teased, calling from the front seat.

“Yes, sunbaenim,” Onew nodded and painfully turned to Luna.

“Isn’t this like school?” he blurted.

“How so?” she asked, making small conversation.

“SHINee is like an adjective…doesn’t that remind you of Language Arts and Literature and stuff?”

“Lemme guess…f(x) is like math class?” Luna cracked a small smile.

“Yep!”

Amber laughed.

“Then doesn’t it seem like Super Junior and SNSD are kindergarten?”

The groups fell into silence. “What?” Key exclaimed, confused.

“Oh!” Krystal doubled over, laughing.

“Sorry Sorry is like teaching kids etiquette and Gee is like…”

“Teaching kids the alphabet?” Taemin suggested, laughing gently.

Nobody was more surprised at their now-heated conversation than Lee Soo Man himself. He smiled proudly and with relief- maybe making a family wouldn’t be as hard as he thought.

“Unnie, it’s just a small SM party, it’s not like other bands or newspapers are gonna be there,” Seohyun said, looking up from book whatever from her collection of Shakespeare plays.

“That’s the point, maknae,” Sooyoung reached down and tapped Seohyun’s nose playfully, then returning to curling Taeyeon’s hair.

“What’s the point?”

“It’s a SM meet up. S.M. And who’s gonna be there? The people we wanna get closer to. And what better to make a good first impression?” Jessica said, excited.

“We already made a first impression though…let’s see…around a decade ago,” Seohyun noted, returning to her book.

“Come on, maknae. Get excited. You wanna make more friends, don’t you? We all do!” Tiffany smiled her signature eye-smile, warming up their stubborn maknae.

Seohyun finished her chapter and stood up obediently.

Yuri, just finishing Yoona’s makeup, pretended to wipe away a fake tear. “Our maknae…so mature and listens to her unnies…”

“Just remember, my brain is good for memorizing maths formula and poetry, not for memorizing every boy group member out there.” Seohyun managed to slip through before her lip was sealed by a stick of lip gloss.

“Hyung, why are you dressing us up like that? You’ve never done this to us for other parties,” Donghae asked, surprised.

Leeteuk smiled tiredly, but his dimples appeared anyways, which meant that he wasn’t that annoyed.

“I want tonight’s meeting with the other groups to be presentable. Last time at FAME was one of my worst nights ever-” he started, but was interrupted by a hurt Eunhyuk.

“Hyung, you didn’t like my musical?” Eunhyuk whimpered.

“No!” Leeteuk quickly tried to replace his words.

“No as in you didn’t like it, or as in No, you’re wrong, I do like it?” Siwon asked calmly.

“No as in I loved it! But I honestly, truthfully wish that this awkwardness between our groups stops. That night at FAME, because I so obviously wanted to avoid more awkward moments with SNSD, I suffered the many tackles of fangirls. Now imagine, if we were all on good terms, would I have this bruise beside my eye? Or this scratch or this…”

“FIRST ONE THAT GETS EYELINER FROM YESUNG’S ROOM GETS TO STAB LEETEUK HYUNG IN THE EYE!” Kyuhyun announced, rushing towards Yesung’s room to interrupt their leader from more ranting.

It was a small party, because Lee Soo Man was targeting mainly on his groups. He knew that the solo artists were all great friends but it was those with group mates to talk to that became limited when it came to other groups.

He wasn’t a bit worried when he looked into the big room and saw his five groups- TVXQ, Super Junior, SNSD, SHINee, and f(x)- separated into different corners of the room.

Nothing could escape his eagle eyes as he saw the glances shot between the groups. To his relief and surprise, they weren’t glances of hatred or jealousy, but they were nice, hopeful glances.

He smiled and rubbed his hands together before jumping onto a tall chair.

“Oh my gosh! Don’t hurt yourself, Uncle Lee!” Sunny screamed, rushing to help her uncle.

“Do not fear, I can take great care of myself, Soonkyu my niece,” Lee Soo Man smiled at his niece reassuringly.

The other groups had too, rushed forward, to help their CEO.

“Well, now that you’re all gathered here, I have an announcement to make.”

“Are we gonna have another Winter Album? But now it’s like…SMTOWN: The Spring Album?” Changmin suggested.

“No, my son. But that is a great idea. I might consider that…after you all pass the course of SM Elite.”

Excited and curious chatters ensued. “SM Elite? Is that like some program for trainees?” Krystal whispered.

“It’s probably a TV show or something…” Key mumbled to Taemin and Minhoand they looked at him, nodding and pondering.

“Yeah, probably a TV show, like Adonis Camp or something,” Donghae smiled, overhearing SHINee’s discussion.

“But he said pass the course…is it like a school?” Yunho contemplated.

“A school?! Like, math, literature, chemistry?” Changmin’s eyes displayed endless fear.

“Guys?” Lee Soo Man called, but his voice was drowned by the volume in the room.

“Guys?!” he tried again.

“I HATE THIS LOVE SONG, I HATE THIS LOVE SONG…HARU HARU EH EH EH EH EH 2NE1 I WANT NOBODY NOBODY BUT YOU AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN!” he sang loudly, ignoring the fact that he was offtune.

“Sunbaenim! We can hear you now…” Leeteuk bowed politely.

“Oh! Well anyways,” Lee Soo Man continued as if the past minute of random singing never occurred, “SM Elite is a program- not a TV program- to help ensure that we’re all friendly within this company. The essentials in life are not money or fame, but family and friends. It’s a boot camp-like thing, but it will be neither dangerous nor extremely easy.

“Yes, you will have your groups by your side. But I trust you enough to survive without them, or at least survive without talking only to them.” Lee Soo Man paused sternly to look at each one of his artists in the eye.

“There will be food and water and everything a normal person needs, so you do not have to worry. You all get to pack your own luggage because I expect you to be out there for at least a week or so, but there is a limit to how heavy your makeup bag or whatsoever could be.

I will personally take away all phones and laptops and all those fancy stuff you kids have that I have no clue how to use. Questions?”

“So SM Elite is sorta like…The Hunger Games?” Tiffany asked.

“If by the Hunger Games you mean not violent, not an extreme environment, you get afternoon snacks and friends and no chance of death, then yes, it is.” Lee Soo Man smiled.

“No more questions? Great! Go back and pack your bags. We will meet at the main office in an hour.”

As the groups nodded and left to return to their respective vans, Lee Soo Man cupped his hands over his mouth.

“OH BUTYOU MAY BRING YOUR IPODS AND MP3 OR MUSIC PLAYERS! If you really like dancing to your own songs that much,” he added, smiling to himself.