Taemin often wondered what would happen if SHINee were four and not five.

The first person missing was Onew. The leader never made it to the audition because he never believed that he had a good voice. He finished his school as the second best and went to a respectful university, where he studied to take over his family’s business one day.

Jonghyun took over the leader’s position as he’s the oldest now, and he didn’t do so bad either. But when things got rough, he had no one to lean on, so he locked himself inside his bedroom where he cried by himself to sleep. He also lost his ultimate duet partner so he did his duets with Key instead, and their harmonization didn’t go that well as Key’s voice was too high but they still got applauded, anyway. And there’s no one to accompany Jonghyun when he wanted to do crazy things so he did it alone, sometimes he pulled Minho along with him but it was never that fun.

There was no “Onew appa” for “Key umma” so it was Jonghyun again who became the appa of SHINee but Key complained a lot about how hard it was to be a “single parent”. No one to comfort Minho whenever he felt useless or lost in a competition so he’d sulk in his bedroom, blaming himself for everything before finally Key had enough and yelled at him to stop pitying himself, leading into one more fight.

Taemin didn’t have anyone to practice vocal with so he practiced alone, on the solitary of SM building’s rooftop, straining by himself to hit the right note but was never sure whether he was good enough or not. When he cried because he missed his family, no one stayed beside him between his tears, though the other members did come a few minutes after to cheer him up. There was also no one in charge of reminding him and helping him finding his missing things so Taemin grew more careless, losing his cellphone twice a month and almost got deported more than once for dropping his passport. And since there’s no one keeping him entertained, he rarely smiled, let alone played around with his hyungs.

SHINee lost the sweet, deep, angelic voice that also functioned as a bridge between their voices, and it’s harder to combine Jonghyun’s powerful vocal and Taemin’s soft one but their manager assured them that the music synthetizer would be doing its magic. Their ballads also didn’t go as smooth but Jonghyun and Key did their best to keep the melody in line while Taemin and Minho struggled to overcome the difficult notes. No one making body gags or lame jokes or bad puns during variety shows that people started to criticize them for lacking of variety skills but Jonghyun tried his best to lighten up the mood, while Taemin was constantly pushed to speak more. The amount of their fried chicken delivery decreased dramatically since SHINee’s chicken mania never existed. And their image went manlier for real as no one acting as the “fake maknae”.

Still, with all those obstacles, SHINee’s first album “The SHINee World” sold 30.000 copies and they successfully grabbed Best New Male Group in Mnet Asian Music Awards, marking them as the best rookie group in South Korea.

Their dino-faced lead vocalist was next. Jonghyun never made it to the audition as well, as he didn’t think he would be able to handle all the dancing. He joined another company along with his highschool band and met SHINee on a few occasions, and they greeted each other with polite nods and bows instead of big smiles and cheerful jokes.

Their debut didn’t go that smoothly as they missed the strong and powerful vocal but there was Onew who sang with all his might to make it up. Unsurprisingly, he became the main vocalist of SHINee and got the most part to sing. As a result, he often strained himself too much as his voice wasn’t naturally high. He also did well in variety shows and concerts with his infamous sangtae but a few people commented how Onew stood up too much and overshadowed the others.

There’s no mate for Key’s soul, no one accompanying him shopping or going to various places so he went alone, sometimes he would drag one of his friends or the members along but instead of helping him choose the right clothes they would only whine about how tired they were and dammit Kibum are you gonna rob all the department stores in Seoul and you already have enormous collection of clothes so why do you need more et cetera et cetera. The infamous Jongkey was no longer a possibility so he clung to Onew instead, trying to find comfort and warmth from the leader but couldn’t help but to feel some emptiness in his heart. No one giving him surprise birthday present, no one wanting him for their Christmas gift, no one proposing to him in shows, no one comforting him during the rendition of One when he cried so bad that his voice failed and no one sending him flowers to wish him luck for his first musical.

Minho had no one to tease about height but it didn’t matter anyway, as he mostly kept quiet on the shows, even after four years, since no one’s there to break his shell. And he went alone to gym since no one would come along but he had quite the fun hyungwhoring Siwon and Changmin and Kyuhyun and whoever he met there. Taemin had no one helping him singing his part in Romantic back then when he still didn’t trust his own voice. And his cute image stayed longer since no one doing the infamous Internet War with him or persuading him to go to gym.

SHINee didn’t do skinship with each other that much, nor did they have to comfort someone who turned into blubbering mess as soon as their first concert finished. No one writing a thank you song for their fans so they couldn’t help but to feel a bit disappointed but still they accepted SHINee’s Sherlock comeback well.

And one year later, SHINee made a huge, successful comeback with Ring Ding Dong with their manlier, darker concept. No longer a rookie, they were hailed as one of the best groups in South Korea.

Their almighty diva was next. Key succeeded his audition but never made it to debut as he found it difficult to travel back and forth from Daegu to Seoul so he couldn’t train much and therefore was dropped out of SM’s training system.

Now, SHINee missed the shrilly voice but there was still Jonghyun and Onew, their vocals filled the missing parts successfully and the company was so proud of them that they never had any heart to tell anyone that Stand by Me and In My Room would be better sung with three people. Instead of two rappers there was only Minho and he did his best but his low baritone couldn’t hit the high notes well, and people started to comment how inaudible SHINee’s raps were. And he almost had an asthma attack while rapping Get Down by himself. Onew tried to help in a few occasions, though rapping was never his passion in first place. Taemin also had to dance alone whenever they had dance battles, sometimes Minho would be added but gained a few critics about their dancing skills being on different levels.

No one in charge of being an umma so their dorm only got messier every day, Onew tried to make them clean their dorm but his efforts mostly ended in vain. No one cooking for them too but Onew did his best. Sometimes he would ruin his cooking whenever he felt too tired or pressured but the other members had no heart to tell him. And more than once, they had to save Taemin (and themselves) whenever the maknae felt hungry at night and since no one’s there to make him food he had to cook by himself and almost set the kitchen on fire.

There’s no mate for Jonghyun’s soul so he took on Taemin instead, touching and rubbing him whenever possible but never proposing to him on screen since Taemin was far from being a feline-eyed, high-cheekboned boy he always imagined. He also had to go to various places alone, sometimes dragging one of his friends or members with him, but once again, he could feel there’s something (or someone) missing.

Onew had to take care of the “kids” alone but he couldn’t do that much without the naggy mother. And since there’s no one forcing him to buy clothes he merely relied to the coordi-noonas and his fans to provide him with new ones. Taemin learned about fashion from Minho and immediately got rid of anything pink inside his wardrobe. Onew got the task of waking him up in the morning for school but since the leader was such a sleepyhead, Taemin often came late.

And two years later, they were still able to grab their fans’ hearts with their dark concept in Lucifer and much fresher image in Hello.

The next person missing was Minho. The flaming charisma never arrived to the audition either because the support from his parents never came. He continued his study too like his parents had requested him to, never knowing that he had quite a talent in modeling and rapping.

SHINee had no tall, imposing figure with frog-like eyes as their face of the group, and though the company tried Taemin and Jonghyun to fill the position, everyone could say that they lacked something. Key did all the rap parts alone and became SHINee’s representative in rap battles, and though he did well, he couldn’t help but to think he could use a hand once in a while. Most of SHINee’s songs didn’t have any rap part though since no one’s there to write it and eventhough they didn’t miss anything, all of them thought a little addition would be nice.

Now, Jonghyun had no one to fight with, no one hiding his belt inside the fridge and no one teasing him about his height. The picture of him wearing dino hat was never on internet either since “Minho Photoshop Competition” never existed. And he got trouble sleeping since they moved dorm as he had no one to share room with.

No one fighting with Key on their trainee days so his first two years went flawlessly but he couldn’t help to feel a little bored. After all, what is life without a bit of rollercoaster ride? Onew ate much more and did less sport since no one reminding him to live healthily and their manager started to threaten to chop his head off if he didn’t manage to lose weight.

Taemin didn’t have anyone who protected and took care after him at the beginning of their path. And since 2min never existed either, he sought comfort from the other members, mostly with Onew because Jongkey were too inseparable. The title of SHINee’s aegyo king automatically had to fall on him and Taemin tried his best, giving cute expressions and funny actions but as he got older, he sometimes felt like he could never truly put his heart on it anymore.

And three years later, SHINee made their Japanese debut and expanded their popularity to other countries, naming them as one of the best groups in Asia.

Taemin didn’t want to think about how SHINee would do without him but his turn would come eventually. He also succeeded his audition but didn’t manage to debut with SHINee as the company thought he was too young. He finally debuted with EXO on 2012 and became SHINee’s hoobae.

Minho became the real maknae of SHINee now and he gladly accepted the position, ready to make the fans swoon with his aegyo but sometimes was betrayed by his own tall body and manly figure. No one in the band who could actually dance from the heart but Key proved his almighty-ness even in dancing and was immediately appointed as their main dancer. The soft voice was never there but it didn’t really matter since most of SHINee’s songs were high.

Onew lost a dongsaeng he always wanted to take care of, well it’s not like the other members didn’t need care and protection but he couldn’t really picture them as his real younger brother because firstly, their age differences weren’t that much, and secondly, they were even sometimes more mature than him in terms of mental age. He also practiced singing alone on the rooftop of SM’s building, and though everyone told him that he was good, he secretly missed the existence of a soft voice singing shakily but heartily beside him. And he mostly kept all his lame jokes for himself as nobody else thought they were funny.

There’s no “son” for “Key umma”, no one waking him up at 2 o’clock in the morning demanding food, no one to wake up for school and no one to teach about fashion. And he threw out all the expired banana milk since no one’s there to drink it. Jonghyun had no one to do Internet War with him, and after secretly trying Key for a while they had to drop out the plan (rumors said that Key refused to do so, stating that “what happened in bedroom, stayed in the bedroom”).

There’s no other “Min” in SHINee to create the precious 2min so Minho became more and more of a er, until he arrived to a point in which saying Jonghyun and Key were mad was even an understatement. No need to be a hyung so he looked up to his hyungs more and more, especially Changmin and Kyuhyun, making all people in SM aware of the evil maknae crew. No one to play games with, no one coming to him to seek comfort and protection and no one ever jumping into his embrace happily.

But still, four years later, SHINee ended their one year and six months hiatus from Korean activities with Sherlock, held a successful Japan Arena Tour, made their Japanese comeback with Dazzling Girl and 1000-nen, Zutto Soba ni Ite, and won Best Dance Performance in Mnet Asian Music Awards.

We can do well even when there were only four, Taemin thought. What if one day, one of us decided to leave? What if one day, SM decided to drop me out? If things could remain the same, would I be missed?

“Taemin-ah?”

Taemin jumped a little as Minho’s voice snapped him out of his daydream. “Y-yeah, hyung? What happened?!”

Minho sighed. “We are going to practice, Taemin-ah. You coming?”

Taemin blinked. “O-of course. Mianhae, hyung. I was just...losing my focus.”

Minho nodded. “We’ll be waiting for you outside, neh? Don’t take too long, or Kibum would be mad again.”

He turned around and was about to open the door when Taemin called him softly, “Minho-hyung?”

“Yes, Taeminnie?”

“What would happen if one of us leave?”

Now it’s Minho’s turn to blink. “What? You’re...thinking to leave?!”

Taemin shook his head. “No, it’s not that! I was just wondering...whether things would remain the same if we were only four.”

Minho sat beside the maknae. “So, that’s what troubles you?”

Taemin let out a shaky laugh. “You must be thinking I’m being silly.”

Minho raised an eyebrow. “I’m not.”

Taemin blinked again and stared into Minho’s eyes. “Really?”

“Well, I should say, I would be lying if I said the same thought didn’t pass my mind once in a while.”

“Then...in your imagination, what would happen if one of us wasn’t there?”

 “Then things would never remain the same, Taemin-ah.”

“But...”

“There’s no buts.” Minho stared intensely at Taemin’s eyes. “We are SHINee. We are a five-membered group. Each of us has our own crucial part in the band. If any of us leaves, we’ll be no more five shining lights. And we can never reach this point without each other. You have to remember that, Taemin-ah.”

Taemin bit his lower lip. “Are you really sure, hyung?”

Minho smiled. “Yes, I’m really sure.”

A smile finally broke Taemin’s lips and he hugged Minho tightly. “Thanks, hyung.”

Minho laughed and ruffled the maknae’s hair. “You’re welcome. Now, can we start practicing?”

They entered the practice room and stood on their usual position for Sherlock. As they performed their already coordinated choreography, Taemin silently examined the other members.

Onew, the clumsy leader.

Jonghyun, the cool main vocalist.

Key, the triple threat.

Minho, the charismatic rapper.

And Taemin himself, the powerful main dancer.

Like Minho had said, each of them had their own crucial part in the band.

If separated, they were merely imperfect individuals.

But, together, they completed each other and became the shining SHINee.

Taemin didn’t know how long they would last. Maybe fifteen years later, ten years, five years, or even one year?

But for now, they were good.

fin.

A/N: First of all, I never meant to insult anyone in this fic, so if any of you feel that I mocked any member in this fic, I’m really sorry, it’s never been my intention in first place. I love SHINee with all my heart and I would never, ever speak anything bad about them. Second, I wrote this story when it's just been four months since I started to be a Shawol, and though I had tried my best to write this story based on real facts and I even enlisted the help from my friend (who is a professional Shawol), I felt like messing up here and there. Third, I know the ending is so freaking bad but I can’t think about anything better so...yeah. Feel free to give me constructive criticisms so I’ll be able to do better next time!