“What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do?” I muttered miserably, banging my forehead against the wall. This was not how my life was supposed to end up like. I was supposed to be rich and impeccably famous – not stuck in this pathetic little hellhole. God should’ve just killed me then and there.

“Key?”

I heard a soft voice speak. Much to my relief, it was surprisingly familiar.

“Ji Hyun!” I looked up to see my personal assistant (who was obviously no longer my assistant) peering in from the doorway of my bedroom. Her face was contorted in between confusion and deliberate concern.

“Key, what’s wrong? Dae Hyuk just called me this morning to tell me that you’ve gone crazy. What did you drink last night to make you this mental?” She asked me, edging towards me to examine my face.

I threw a hand to my forehead and plopped down on my bed. “J-ji Hyun-ah,” I croaked. “Do you see that over there?”

Ji Hyun looked up to the wall right across my bed. “What? Your wall?”

“No, no,” I pointed up at the signed and sealed resolution that God had made me sign. “The resolution, on the wall. Do you see it?”

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ji Hyun shook her head. “There’s no resolution on your wall, Key.”

She was starting to sound a little too dubious. I was beginning to worry for myself as much as she was also. If I don’t straighten out quickly, then I’d probably end up some place worse than this. Like a mental institute.

Just then, I felt my phone vibrate and an unattractively cheap ringtone go off. Whoever I was during this life, I had to say that I really have horrible taste in ringtone. I looked over at the caller ID of my phone, and turned to Ji Hyun.

“Who’s Shin Dae?” I asked her, pointing to the contact that was calling my phone.

Again, Ji Hyun’s confused expression appeared. “That’s your boss, Key.”

“Y-yeobosaeyo?” I answered my phone, my voice still quavering uneasily.

“Ah, Key, you’re finally up eh?”

That voice was too familiar.

“God?”

He laughed, and His laughter was deep and rumbling, kind of like Minho’s whenever he’d be laughing and my head happens to be resting on his broad chest with the reverberating sound of his chuckle rolling deeply into my ears.

Damn, I miss Minho.

“I know,” the voice on the other line said, suddenly.

“Huh?” I jumped up in surprise.

“I know, Key. I know that you miss Minho and the rest of SHINee. But this is a new day, son. Stop fretting and worrying about where you are, you’re only making your roommate and best friend even more worried about you. Right now, Ji Hyun is thinking about calling up a doctor to get you checked.”

I could only stutter in response. My “boss” was actually God. Oh, great. He’s never really going to leave me alone, isn’t He?

“No, I’m not going to leave you alone, Key,” he said. So yeah, apparently He can read my thoughts, too. “I’ve put you on this earth for reasons you’re too unfamiliar with. The least I can do is guide you and be here on this physical world to help you out a little, right?”

I gulped. “R-right.”

 “What are you waiting for? It’s already 8:10. You were supposed to be at the studio thirty minutes ago to help me set up the clothing rack for the boys’ newest photoshoot.”

“Ph-photoshoot?” I looked at a calendar that was hung up on the wall, and there was a big, red circle around the May 11^th box in that calendar. The words “SHINee Elle Girl” photoshoot were inscribed inside that box. I was dressing up the boys today?

“Yes, you are dressing up the boys today,” God told me. “Now stop being confused and look like you know what you’re doing. Okay? Meet me down at the studio in less than ten minutes, or every minute you waste will come out of your paycheck. And trust me, you do not want anything to come out of your paycheck.”

Before I could ask Him where on earth is the studio, God hung up on me. I grumbled in frustration as I looked down on my phone. Just then, I remembered that Ji Hyun was still in the same room as me. I looked at her expectantly.

“Do you know where SHINee’s supposed to be holding their photoshoot today?”

***

Ji Hyun was a Godsend – no pun intended. But seriously, without her, I’d be kicked out of my apartment that I share it with a 3^rd year accounting major named Jeon Dae Hyuk (which I found out by casually prying information about my new self from Ji Hyun on our way to the studio) with nowhere to go. There were so much things about my new self that somewhat fascinated me. Like the fact that I’m a fashion major and that I apprentice a big name in the styling and fashion industry in Korea. It’s so funny how God’s corporeal being here on earth is, get this: a Korean fashion “god”. That gave me the giggles. Anyhow, He’s God and He gets to choose whatever He wants to disguise Himself as, so why not choose the highest position in the most glamorous industry possible? God definitely had good career tastes.

While we were on the commuter bus (and that was the first time I ever rode public transportation in a long time since debuting with SHINee), Ji Hyun told me all about myself. I was surprised that she didn’t seem so confused over the fact that I was so curious about myself. She was a big help. I was relieved to know that she didn’t only just know where the studio was, but also that she was assigned there that morning. She’s not anyone’s personal manager (unlike before, when she was my personal manager/assistant), but she was secondhand to SHINee’s two different managers. Only now did I realize how much assistance SM gives us. We must be a really rowdy group of boys for having so much managers and assistants.

“So, um, who’s your favorite member?” I asked her. We sat side by side near the back of the bus, since most of the seats were taken by these ahjummas commuting to the city’s Farmer’s Market to sell their chrysanthemums and other overly-fragrant potted flowers.

Ji Hyun looked up for a minute to think about it, but instantaneously, she responded, “Onew-oppa.”

I made a face. “Hyung? Eh. Why him?”

She laughed lightly. “Why not? He’s adorable and super nice. He’s also such a gentleman.”

“But… he’s so awkward.”

“So?” She smiled, trying to hold in a laugh. “I think that only makes him cute.” She said this so softly, I had to strain my ears to hear her properly.

“Cute?” I rolled my eyes. “Onew-hyung is anything but cute.”

“Oh, whatever,” Ji Hyun shrugged. “You can think whatever you want, but I’m convinced he’s one of the best in SHINee.”

I stared at her for a minute. Her eyes were gleaming, and there was the pinkest trace of blush on the apples of her cheeks. I snapped my fingers.

“You like him, don’t you?”

She turned around in her seat quickly to face me. “What? N-no… I-I don’t!”

“You do!” I accused, pointing my finger at her. “Yes, you do! You like Onew-hyung, don’t you? I can see it in your eyes!”

“Key, calm down,” she said, putting my finger down. “Okay, I admit it. I kinda have this really, really, really tiny crush on him. But it’s not a big deal – it’s just a crush, alright? There! Happy now?”

“Hmph. Onew-hyung’s not all that great…” I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest and turning away from her. I don’t know why, but I could feel the faintest tinge of jealousy in me.

I didn’t think Ji Hyun heard me, because she began to hum one of Onew-hyung’s songs, “The Name I Loved” to herself, a big smile on her face. I could only roll my eyes in disgust. I love Onew-hyung, but really. I can be cute, too.

We sat in silence for a minute, until I told Ji Hyun to stop humming Onew-hyung’s stupid song.

“You’re not even humming it right,” I told her sourly.

“Sorry,” she said, her bright attitude remaining. “It’s a catchy song, that’s all.”

I rolled my eyes. Ji Hyun turned in her seat to face me again.

“So, you’re coming over tonight, right? It’s my mother’s birthday today and we were going to have a dinner at our place. I invited you two weeks ago, so you can’t say no now!”

“Oh, um…” I honestly didn’t know how to respond to that. For the whole time that I’ve had Ji Hyun as my assistant, she had never disclosed any of her personal life with me. It was always this one-sided kind of relationship, wherein she knew every single detail about my life and I knew nothing about hers. So her inviting me to her place, let alone to celebrate her mother’s birthday, was something new. But since she’s supposed to be one of my best friends in this new life, I knew I shouldn’t decline. “Sure! Of course I’ll be there.”

“Great!” She beamed at me. “We can just go together after work then.”

***

When we reached the studio, I felt like crying. I saw all these people running around trying to get this and to get that, and for a minute, I thought I was Kim “Almighty Key” Kibum. But I wasn’t, and these people that were running around were not running around for me. They were running around for SHINee – minus Key. And then when my baby Taemin and my y Minho and my dumb but still kind of y Jonghyun and awkward Onew stepped outside of their dressing room into the photo set for the photoshoot, I wanted to cry. I wanted to run up to them and give them a hug and lean on Taemin’s shoulder as I cried in happiness at the sight of them, and then wipe my tears and snot on Minho’s shirt like what I used to always do when I ended up crying. And also because Minho’s shirt was hideous and it deserved to have snot wiped on it.

“Key-ah!” I heard Jonghyun say and he was waving his arms, like the idiot he always was. I turned around to double check if he really was waving at me (but really, who else would have the nickname, “Key”? That nickname is too glamorous for anyone else to uphold, to be honest). He was, so I waved back. He trudged up to me.

“Why are you late today?” He asked. Again, I doubted who I actually was, because Jonghyun was actually talking to me, as if I were still part of SHINee.

“Oh, um, I had a pretty rough morning,” I said, which was an understatement, to say the least.

“Ah, I see,” Jonghyun nodded. “Anyway, now that you’re here, the guys and I were wondering if you wanted to go out with us tonight. We don’t have any schedules after the photoshoot, so we were planning to go to a noraebang. Want to join us?”

Immediately, I wanted to say yes. But I knew that Ji Hyun had invited me to her mother’s birthday dinner ever since two weeks ago (as she claims) and I knew that I already said yes… but this is Jonghyun. This is Jonghyun and the other SHINee boys. I’ve known them longer than I’ve known Ji Hyun and I miss them, I missus. And I knew that these SHINee boys would be very busy later on because of other schedules, and free days like these don’t come so often. What if this would be the first and only time I can spend with them?

With that in mind, I immediately jumped on the bandwagon.

“Sure! I’ll be there!” I agreed enthusiastically, throwing the thought of a disappointed Ji Hyun out of my mind. “What time and where?”

 Jonghyun disclosed to me the details of our date tonight, and I could only beam up in excitement. It was just like the old days again. I guess, maybe, this new life of mine would be so bad after all.

***

The noraebang date with the guys turned out to be pretty alright. I was half-worried that there’d be an unnecessary run-in with fans. But despite the fact that neither of them went out in disguise, we weren’t bombarded by any fans.

“We’re not that famous, Key,” Minho said, laughing when I asked him why that was so. He explained, “Ever since we debuted, we honestly haven’t really gotten anywhere. The management at SM is trying really hard to get us somewhere, but our popularity just won’t get any higher.”

“What?” I asked in shock. “But I thought you guys were! You just did an Elle Girl photoshoot today! Elle Girl is a pretty big magazine.”

“Yes, but it wasn’t like a 10-page editorial, like what our DBSK-hyungs do. It was just for one page, and then a five-paragraph cover story. That’s it. That’s the closest thing SM Ent. could do for us concerning big magazines,” Onew said.

We were at a small noodle shop as they were telling this to me. I looked over the table at the four boys that I’ve grown to know and love, and as I came to realize their un-popularity, my heart could only faint.

I thought I was going to be so envious that they were still part of SHINee while I wasn’t, but it seems as if the tables have turned for them, too. They weren’t aware of it, but my selfishness and greed from my past life had a negative effect on them in my new life, too.

***

When I got home, I noticed that Dae Hyuk was still up. The lights all over the apartment were turned off, except for the TV, which allowed its superfluous electronic glow to emboss the whole living room. My roommate looked up from his spot on the couch as soon as I shut the front door behind me.

“Had fun with those SHINee boys?” He asked.

“Yeah, how’d you - ?”

“Ji Hyun was just here,” he said, getting up from off the couch. He stretched a little bit. “Don’t tell her this, but she was a little upset. She invited you over for dinner, but you blew her off to be with those boys.”

I frowned. “Well, you can’t blame me! I haven’t seen them for awhile and – ”

“You ‘haven’t seen them for awhile’? Really? Key, you see those tooty-frooties everyday for work, but you can’t seem to set aside just one night to go over to Ji Hyun’s place and greet her mother a happy birthday?”

“She’s not my mother, alright? And Ji Hyun’s just a friend. It’s different with these boys, and they are not ‘tooty-frooties’!”

Dae Hyuk scoffed. “Look at you, you sound like you’ve known them longer than you’ve known Ji Hyun.”

“I have! You don’t even know!” I retorted back in defense.

“Really? So you’ve know Jonghyun, Minho, Taemin, and Onew for eight long years now? So, they’re the ones that you grew up with? They’re the ones that helped you get your apprenticeship? Tell me, Key, was it those SHINee boys that helped you when you were struggling financially, or was it Ji Hyun?”

I could only blink. “I-I’ve known Ji Hyun for that long?”

Dae Hyuk sighed in disappointment. “Kibum, sometimes it’s really frustrating how you tend to always forget who your true friends are.”

And with that, he switched off the television and proceeded to his sleeping quarters, leaving me in the dark.

A/N: GUESS WHO'S BACK?! YUPP. It's been FIVE LONG MONTHS since I last updated this. IDK what came over me, but lately, I've been debating on bringing this fic back to life. I guess it's because I've been gaining alot of subscribers for this even though I haven't updated it at all. I felt bad, so this is why we have a new chapter! You lovely subscribers/readers/commenters deserve a new chapter, and you deserve to see where this fic is going! Right? Right! :) :) :)