K Y U H Y U N

Everyone was in a sour mood that night. We have all gathered at the lounge just below the roof deck. The floor lamps casted a dim, cold glow about the room, their lights reflecting off the dark green soju bottles Ryeowook had bought but nobody dared to touch.

No one spoke for a while. We just sat there, staring into space and at each other.

Finally, Eunhyuk gathered enough courage to speak. I’ve been observing him for a while now and judging from his expressions and his movements, he appeared to be the one who’d been hit the hardest. “We’ve got to do something.”

We all looked at him and although we didn’t say anything, our faces conveyed the same message: What? What do you want to do?

After spending years living under the same roof, Eunhyuk had no trouble inferring. “I don’t know. Anything! We could boycott all of our activities until they decide to hire Hae back.”

I sighed. “Think for a moment, will you? Refusing to participate in scheduled activities will harm no one else but us. SM Ent. will probably lose some revenue here and there, but that could be easily recovered, given that they increase their investments in other groups and …”

“I don’t care about that bull,” Eunhyuk interrupted, his voice rising a bit. “All I care about is that we get Hae back!”

I felt my temper take over. “But you’re not thinking logically! Of course we all want Donghae back, but we need to strategize!”

“Look at you speak like a know-it-all,” Eunhyuk snapped back. He leaned slightly forwards and pointed his finger shakily at me. “And you’re not even using your honorifics!”

“Everyone,” Siwon stepped in. He started to speak in that diplomatic “will you calm down” tone of his. “The last thing we need is a fight and a black eye. Eunhyuk is right. We have to do something about this. Kyuhyun is right as well. We need to strategize. But we have to talk about it as calmly as we can. When someone speaks, everyone has to listen and no one is to interrupt. Is that clear?”

We all nodded like obedient children in preschool.

“Good. Now who wants to go first?” Siwon asked.

“Wait! We can’t start an official scheming session without a whiteboard and markers,” Sungmin got up and ran to his room. Leave it to Minnie to remain enthusiastic and lively despite the graveness of the situation. Moments later, we sat around a giant whiteboard and we each held pink markers in our hands.  

That was how Operation Fishing Rod was formed.

We were going to get Donghae back.

~~~~

We weren’t alone.

As we took our first steps towards the SM Entertainment Administration building in Seoul, we took comfort in the fact that we were backed by hundreds of SM artists and trainees and hundreds of thousands of E.L.Fs all over the world.

We were all dressed in formal attire – except for Sungmin, who once again managed to “sneak” pink shoelaces. Manager Kim was also with us, of course. He was a key player in this operation.  

“Donghae is like a son to me,” he told us the night before as he brusquely wiped his eyes with a worn handkerchief. “Of course, I’ll help you get him back.”

Leeteuk walked ahead of us. In his hands, he held the petition as well as the boycott letter, in case the former would be rejected.

This was a huge risk we were all willing to take - a stupid risk, if you ask me. It’s like we were biting the hand that was feeding us. But, as Zhou Mi wisely put it the other night, “The hand that feeds us may be the same hand that may harm us. And that’s what the company is doing to Donghae. We have to protect him.”

I guess he made a point, as indistinct as it may be, and since we managed to involve a majority of the population of Korea’s entertainment industry, the chances of success have increased and we might as well give it a chance. 

The elevator doors slid open and we marched down the hallway into the chairman’s room. From behind, I clearly watched each member’s reaction as we finally faced the door. Siwon’s hands were clasped behind him – clearly in prayer. Sungmin, Zhou Mi and Henry have all huddled up together like amateur batters during their first ball game. Eunhyuk stood right in front of me - his head held up straight, his shoulders squared. Manager Kim almost looked as confident save for the quivering fingers which betrayed him.

Ryeowook, Shindong, Yesung, Heechul, Kibum (who surprisingly took the time to join us despite his supposedly busy schedule) were either shifting their weight on their legs or scratching some part of their body.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Leeteuk took hold of the door knob and twisted it slowly.

Soon, we stood face to face with Lee Soo Man. He stood at a height not far from us (a couple of centimeters shorter than Heechul). He looked at us from behind his square spectacles as if he already knew why we were there.

“Good morning,” he greeted with a note of suspicion.

“Good morning,” Manager Kim seemed to have shrunk. He stood slightly behind Leeteuk, almost cowering.

“Sir, you probably know why we are here,” Leeteuk spoke up. He took out the petition (which was actually a hard bound book) and gently placed it on the desk that separated us from the company chairman. “This is a petition which was signed by a million artists and fans alike. We only have one goal in mind and that is to persuade you to hire Lee Donghae back.”

Mr. Lee Soo Man quietly picked up the book and leafed through the pages as we stood there, waiting for him to decide the fate of our helpless band member, Lee Donghae.