Entering the SME headquarters SHINee were immediately lead to Lee Sooman's office.
Waiting in front of the massive ebony door they looked at each other's faces anxiously .
But even manager Choi was shrugging his shoulders helplessly.
No, they definitely didn't know the reason for this.
"Come in!" their boss was shouting
Taking a deep breath they stepped in.

"Why so serious? Sit down!" Lee Sooman ordered and they all happily agreed to do as he said.
No, they wouldn't be scolded for something... Definitely not.
That was when they noticed the presence of someone else. A foreigner to be exact.

"I see you are wondering who this young lady is? This is Miss Sarah. And she will enlighten you all as to how you are perceived by your fans."
Key cleared his throat signifying that he wanted to say something: "Uhm, but isn't this kind of obvious? I mean we already give the fans what they want, right?"
"Well," Sooman said "I thought so too, but there is more to that than it seems, maybe Miss Sarah could explain herself?"
"Sure, you see, fans may show you that they like you the way you are, BUT they reveal how they would want you to be by other means."
ONew finally spoke up: "And that would be?"

"Fanfictions"

"Fanfictions?" Taemin asked "the stories fans write about us?"
"Exactly", she smiled."I can say I have read about 500 stories about you and am able to tell you how the fans see you and how they want you to be"
Now she definitely had gotten all of their attention.
Fanfictions? They all had heard about those. But never really had the time to read them.
"So, how about I start telling you a little about this and please feel free to interrupt me and ask questions."
A collective nod could be seen and so Sarah proceeded her implementations.

"First of all you have to acknowledge that by your fanservice you triggered certain pairings among the 5 of you..."
Shocked they looked around each other...this Was definitely getting awkward.
"So far this leads into 2 directions: intense friendship or ...well Romance."
Again, our boys looked rather shocked.
"The most popular 3 pairings are 2Min, OnKey and Jongkey. Are those couple names clear to everyone?"
Minho, Jonghyun and Key were nodding reluctantly while Taemin and Onew still looked a little lost. But as soon as Key leaned over to them to hint things you could practically see the lightbulb over their heads when they too, finally got it.

"Okay, ...I See this is slightly uncomfortable for you so maybe I should just go on. There are many stories where the fan who writes the story takes the part of your lover. Those might be more interesting for you."
When she glanced at SHINee she could see relieved faces.
"Good, I have prepared a small list to get the main points of how those fans write you in their stories"
A sheet of paper was passed around:

Onew: clumsy + too kind-hearted --> might have hidden aggressions

Jonghyun: funny + carefree --> reckless player

Key: talented + caring --> self-centered, arrogant

Minho: quiet + reliable --> someone who can explode every moment, ill- defined mind

Taemin: cute + childish --> lures people in to get what he wants

This was definitely not what they had expected.
"Shocked?" Sarah asked.
"A little, yeah"Jonghyun answered.
"Could I ask something" Onew questioned. When she nodded, he resumed: "So, the first two adjectives are what we are like and the following is?"
"Oh, I forgot. This is what the fans wish to find in you!"
Minho couldn't quite believe this: "But this doesn't make sense. Why would they want us to be a bunch of players and psychos?"
"Good question! You see, you are all portraying a perfect being. Those girls want to be the ones to find your flaws, to bear with you through imperfections."
This strangely made sense.

"So, I hope this first excursion was informative for you? Sarah will give you further insight in this matter whenever your schedule allows and we will try to work on a new marketing concept with this data." Lee Sooman said concluding. "I wish you a nice rest of the day, you may go now"

So SHINee went home. None of them spoke; each of them thinking deeply about what was said.
When their manager had dropped them off they immediately went to their computers to see for themselves.

3 hours later they gathered in the living room to talk about the stories they had read:

Jonghyun had one where they had to deal with another SM girl band that had to work with them,
Minho read about a rather deep friendship between him and Nichkhun (his eyes were darting around nervously),
Taemin was still sad about this story, where his one and only love died tragically,
Onew told about a heart-wrenching story where he had a weak heart that almost killed him,

And Key? Well Key told them how he had started his first application story and was already in the process of picking girls...
 

(3.3.2010)