For some reason it didn’t faze Key at the time he received the news from his dad that he would be attending a new special school instead of normal college. Key had good board scores and did generally very well in school, but it was Key’s persona that attracted the scouts when they came to look for possible new students at his Seoul suburban high school. Key was well-known in his high-school for being well dressed, knowing everyone, and having quite the temper. But even Key’s enemies were impressed by his demeanor and confidence, so when everyone matured a little bit coming into high school, people stopped picking on him for his feminine looks or taunting him for his liking for dance and art. Key grew into a handsome, tall, glowing young man and left a lasting mark on the high school grounds. 

Key’s dad was very wealthy and knew that Key needed a specialized school. The International Seoul Academy for the gifted (ISAgifted) not only allowed the students to cultivate their gift, but to train in areas that seem fit after a series of assessments. Key was a little bit nervous because of the assessments but overjoyed because students would be living in apartments around the city, not in school dorms. The school didn’t have many students, so classrooms and other teaching environments were intimate and small, but this allowed each student to get special attention.

It was about a week and a half until Key would be going to begin assessment period as an ISAgifted freshman. There was a long and very informative handout that Key had to read through so he figured he should do it now in advanced. 

Congratulations and welcome to your freshman year, Kim Kibum!

Welcome to the International Seoul Academy for the gifted. You have been accepted because of your talent, grades, work ethic, and overall impression while you were in high school. ISAgifted is not an average school because you will be put into learning environments that you have never experienced before and this may mean you will not be in a classroom. Also, you will be rooming in very nice and comfortable apartments around the city. As a freshman, you will be mixed in with upperclassmen in your unit flats for rooming as well as your classes. ISAgifted places you with flat mates of the same gender that will be in many of your classes and whose interests and different personalities will allow you to branch out. You and your flat mates as well as your roommates will all receive cellular phones with each others’ numbers programmed in. We want to promote family like relationships with your fellow brothers/sisters at the school. Although it is a co-ed school, your flat mates who also serve as your mentoring groups for support throughout your years as an ISAgifted student will be of the same gender. This handout will outline how assessments will be organized, and it will tell you who your mentor for the four years of schooling as well as where your flat is located and who is in your mentor group. We hope that you will become more than you ever thought you could be and make ever lasting relationships here at our academy. 

Kibum, or as our records show, Key, you are a very gifted performer and artist. Your abstract and graphic design showcase in your regional art fair was very impressive and really showed your passion for the arts. Also, your student run dance academy put on an amazing show year after year. Our administrators enjoyed coming to watch the performances and were overjoyed when you were elected as a co-dance captain your sophomore year. Your impressive growth has only fortified our genius decision in adding you to our community. 

You will receive all your schedules and materials within a few days after the week of assessments. The first night you come, you will meet your flat mates and roommate. You all will have two days to settle in and the upperclassmen can show you around the school. These two days are for relaxation and getting to know people so do not stay cooped up in your room. The third day, you and your flat mates will all spend time with your mentor, who is going to be an administrator, professor, or counselor. He or she will make sure you have everything you need before you go into the assessment period. 

Assessment period is a week long period when each day, for a week starting three days after you arrive, you will be put through different tasks. You and your flat/mentor group are assessed together in a group, but complete your tasks alone. When you get to your flat, in your room will be a list of the assessments you and your flat mates will be taking. Although the upperclassmen have taken assessments before, each year, based on new found talents students are tested and challenged. Off campus is the assessment center. You must be on time for your scheduled assessments each day. Each assessment lasts three hours, the test itself is an hour and a half, there then will be a half hour grading period where the assigned professor will evaluate your performance, and the last hour will be your critique and questioning with the designated professor. For the whole assessment week, you and your group will be assigned to one convention room. These convention rooms are very large and are sectioned off so each of you and your flat mates have a separate section for questioning, waiting, and critiquing, although the test may not take place in the assessment center. This assessment allows us to place you and your flat mates in classes that will benefit you the most. You will have at least one of your flat mates in each of your classes, so don’t feel overwhelmed because there will always be a familiar face in your classes. After assessment week is over, there will be another two days of rest for you to find your new classrooms, and replenish your energies for classes to begin. The day after assessment period is the day your mentor will give you and your flat mates your schedules, and a pep talk, as well as their cellular phone numbers in case of emergency. Materials for your classes will be given by the professor of that class and not your mentor. 

In the package you received a week ago contains your cell phone with your flat mates’ numbers programmed in, your apartment key to your flat, a map from your apartment to the school campus, and a map from your apartment to the assessment center, your flat mate and roommates names and information, and your mentor’s name and their room number which you will find with your flat mates. (The upperclassmen in your flat have been with your mentor and have stayed in the flat since they started at the school, so don’t worry, they know what they are doing.) 

You will be sharing your flat on the corner of Songdam located above the Pok Pok Ramen Shop with: (pictures included  just so you know what they look like) 

Your assigned roommate (in your individual room) is Choi Minho, but you are free to change if you would like. 

Junior: Lee Jinki (Onew) 

Sophomore: Kim Jonghyun 

Freshman: Choi Minho

Freshman: Lee Taemin 

Your college mentor, who Jonghyun and Onew have had, is Mr. Park Jungsu. He is a vibrant, positive presence and is a great help. He likes to go by Leeteuk and he is a young teacher in training and is also the assistant music director. 

You are probably already informed but the day you must come to school is August 19th. You have already completed online registration, so head right to your dorm and wait for your flat mates in the flat common room. Here you will decide where to have dinner together so you can get to know each other. (All restaurants marked with the ISAgifted logo give student discounts including Pok Pok Ramen Shop.) We wish you the best of luck and cannot wait to see your progression, for you are an extremely unique and gifted person. 

-Your ISAgifted faculty and student body 

Key couldn’t wait. He was so excited to start his new life as a ISAgifted student. The assessment period sounded like an intense and stressful time, but hopefully his new roommates and him would become good enough friends that all the stress would be diffused and they would have fun together. He was also excited about the ramen shop below his flat. He would have to watch his figure. All Key knew was that ISA was not a normal school and he would not be a normal student. As he was packing he glanced at the pictures of his new flat mates. He kept trying to play the name to face game because although there were names and pictures, it didn’t specify who was who. He figured out for obvious reasons the adorable, bright eyed cutie with his hands on his hips, wearing the Taemin T-shirt was in fact freshman Lee Taemin. He looked young for being a college freshman. Key couldn’t quite place who Minho, Onew, and Jonghyun were. He figured he would find out August 19th. Park Jungsu sunbaenim looked very friendly and vibrant. Key was excited, and he liked the feeling of uncertainty. 

Miles away, scattered across South Korea, four other unique young men were opening similar letters, unaware of what the new ISAgifted school year would bring. Unaware that once the five of them met in the common room of the Songdam corner apartment flat above the Pok Pok Ramen Shop, their lives would change, and they would be enduring and celebrating a college experience they would never forget. 

Congratulations and welcome to your freshman year, Lee Taemin!

Congratulations and welcome to your freshman year, Choi Minho!

Welcome to your exciting sophomore year, Kim Jonghyun!

Welcome to your exciting junior year, Lee Jinki!

A/N: Soooo, comments? questions? concerns? pairings? ideas? anything? 

This first chapter was fun to write and I am happy with it, if you're not, tell me please. Also, my bias in SHINee is the one and only Choi Minho, so I will try to hide my bias a bit, in another fic I may or may not be posting, I find myself just rambling on and on about him. Thanks guys!