Chapter 27

A middle-aged man stepped out of the car amidst the flashes of cameras and the screaming of questions from reporters and fans alike.  News had spread quickly about the assault and hospitalization of SHINee’s Lee Taemin and it was the hottest news topic in South Korea tonight and everyone wanted to know the story.  It was leading all of the news stations, was all they were talking about on the radio and had become the number one search on the internet within thirty minutes of Taemin collapsing on the set.    

The man pressed his lips together in a scowl and pushed his glasses up the ridge of his nose before walking into the hospital at a quick pace.  Entering the building, his polished shoes clicked smartly on the floor as he headed for the waiting room he had been told that SHINee was holding up in while waiting for news on Taemin.  This could not wait.

As he entered the room all eyes, except Key’s whose eyes remained trained on the wall across from him, turned to him.  While the Lee family looked confused at his presence, SHINee looked shocked and Onew most of all flashed fear.

“Mr. Lee…”

“All of SHINee, outside now.  We have a problem.”  Lee Sooman spoke in clipped tones that brooked no argument.  Even Key was roused from his chair to follow the others out of the room, though no one really thought that he was aware of where he was going at the time. 

The hospital allowed them into another empty waiting room and Lee Sooman thanks the woman.  As she left he quickly rounded on the group, “I already know what happened so no one needs to explain anything to me.” 

There was an antsy nervousness about the man that they had never seen around him before, or really associated with him before.  After all, he was Lee Sooman.  The man was a music industry legend, what did he have to be nervous about?

“I distinctly remember telling you Onew, that news of Taemin’s…tendencies…could not get out.”

Onew looked genuinely confused, “But all people know is that Taemin was taken to the hospital right?  How could they know…” but he cut himself off as Jonghyun groaned and let his head fall into his hands.

“Oh no…”

“Oh yes, Mr. Kim.  I think you better tell the rest of SHINee what else happened today on that set.  Or better yet, I’ll show them.  Seeing as how there were a couple hundred fans in the audience and some of them had very good seats to the show and their cameras were ready and waiting to film anything that went on today.  The videos have already been uploaded to the internet and are receiving thousands of hits every minute.  Fans here and from around the world are trying to figure out just what happened to Taemin today.  Not to mention that crowd of reporters waiting outside this hospital to pounce on you all the second you try to leave.”

Lee Sooman was fuming as he pulled out an iPad and pulled up one of the dozens of videos that were now floating around before handing it over to Minho, who sat in the middle, so that they all could see just what happened that afternoon.  In all of the drama of today and trying to figure out just what was wrong with Taemin, they hadn’t got around to figuring out what had happened other than their manager being the cause. 

Even Key’s eyes were glued to the screen as they watched as Taemin went down and Jonghyun dove off of his chair to catch him, they watched the medics shoed the singer away and they watched intently as Jonghyun charged across the set and started to beat the ever-living crap out of their former manager.  Jonghyun hadn’t realized that he had looked so wild when he went after their manger.  It only now struck him that it had taken six people to hold him back, but he didn’t regret a single thing.  He would do they exact same thing again in a heartbeat if made to live through it again.  But the worst part about the video was that the camera being used clearly had very good audio capabilities.  And so SHINee also got to hear as their manager spilled the beans on poor Taemin, outing him to the world after having beaten him so badly that he was now fighting for his life. 

The video cut off suddenly, but SHINee had seen enough to know that the damage was done.  No matter what, the idea of Taemin being gay would have been introduced to the public in a spectacular way.    

Suddenly Key stood up, he may have seemed unresponsive but he could still hear what was going on around him and now he was just fed up that Lee Sooman was trying to make them think about anything else right now other than Taemin getting better.  “I’ve had enough.  What does it matter?!  Right now I could care less what the world thinks of me or Taemin, all I care about is whether he’s going to live.  That is far more important than careers or images.  No offense Mr. Lee, but go to hell, I’m going back to the waiting room so that I can hear about Taemin when the doctors are finished.”  Key his heel and fled the room like a man possessed.

Lee Sooman looked enraged.  No one spoke to him like that or treated him that way, least of all a mere performer in his own company – an underling really. 

“Sir, to be frank, I’m with Key on this one.  Taemin might not survive the night.  It seems incredibly petty right now to be worrying about how it looks to the media or our fans.”  Onew said.  Standing up as well.  “Just imagine that it was your wife who had gone through the ordeal that Taemin has, and someone came in and wanted to talk to you about how it would affect your image or career.  Would you really care?  Because I highly doubt it.” 

Lee Sooman stopped short.  Taken aback by the morality lesson he was receiving from a man who was young enough to be his son.  He was about to counter the young whelp when Minho spoke up.

“The way I see if there are two paths for SHINee now, but they are ones that we must discuss as a group, without you or the rest of SM trying to micromanage it.  Either we come clean and say yes, Key and Taemin are gay and are dating each other, or we say that our manager had a mental breakdown.  No one who has seen the tape or witnessed his behavior would doubt that.  Then you can write off anything that he has said as the ravings of a mad man.  Now if you’ll excuse me sir, I’m going to go and wait for news.”  And with a small bow Minho left as well, with Jonghyun and Onew following shortly after.

Suddenly the most powerful man in the South Korean music industry found himself standing alone in a room, having just been taken to task by a bunch of men that he had intended to dictate to.  Instead of SHINee following the company line, they were rebelling.  They were more concerned with their friendship and their relationships than their career.  He wondered for a moment how that had not been stamped out of them after three years in this business. 

He was surprised at the insight of Choi Minho who had always seemed so quiet around him that Sooman wasn’t sure if he’d ever heard his voice before when it wasn’t a recording of some sort.  He hadn’t thought of writing it all off as the ravings of a lunatic, but that would work.  The man had clearly come unhinged at some point in his crusade against Lee Taemin, but he thought that maybe he should leave this one up to the group.  It seems like they had a strong bond and some good minds within.  He would let them chose which path they would take for now.  He could only hope that the public was with them when they figured out which path that was. 

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