The atmosphere was quiet and tense. All the SuJu members were gathered together in the modern spacious office of their CEO, Lee Soo Man. They’d been brought here right after their schedules and their manager hadn’t said a word about why.

“Hyung,” Sungmin whispered softly to Heechul. “Did you do something?”

Heechul grimaced.

“Normally I would say yes. But I can’t think of anything. Not lately anyway.”

The door swung open and everyone startled when Lee Soo Man walked in. He gave them a small nod and calmly walked across the room to sit behind his desk. They waited. Leeteuk glanced at their manager, but his face was blank and void of any hints to what was coming.

“Boys,” Lee Soo Man rumbled softly.

They stared at him quietly.

“Let’s have a little chat.”

He leaned back into his chair to get comfortable.

“A few days ago you asked me for permission to film fan fiction. And I, obviously, refused.”

He nodded to himself in thought. The boys hadn’t been happy about it. He knew. Even now some of their faces grew dark in rebellion.

“Fan fiction is a tricky business,” he sighed. “It’s inevitable for an idol, but it can both break or make you. More often break than make when the media pays too much attention to it.”

“Yes sir, you already explained this to us the last time,” Leeteuk carefully interjected, sensing the frustrated fidgeting of the others next to him.

The CEO held up his hand to tell him to have patience. He did have a reason for calling them here.

“I truly dislike taking risks in an already turbulent time where scandals seem to pop up at every turn. Yet I can’t deny it sometimes certainly pays off to do so. So I’m willing to change my decision. You boys will be the first idols to act in a movie written by your own fans.”

Their mouths dropped in an almost comical way. An amused smile played on Lee Soo Man’s face. Leeteuk was struggling to find the right words.

“But I thought… You were quite… adamant about your decision last time we spoke, sir.”

“What made you change your mind?” Siwon added in wonder.

Their CEO smiled fully now and nodded towards their manager.

“You have Hyun Soon to thank for that. He asked me to at least look at the statistics of the ELF-Challenge before deciding.”

Donghae and Eunhyuk were already beaming up at their manager in gratitude. Hyun Soon quickly covered a chuckle with the back of his hand.

“Goodness, I never imagined there were so many fans writing stories about you boys, not to mention how many more are reading them. I should be alarmed, but I’ve been told all entries followed the rules stated. And I’ve read the five winning stories myself, I certainly believe a good screenwriter can make something out of it.”

They all stared at him in shock. Their CEO had read fan fiction? Heechul couldn’t help himself, he started laughing so hard his stomach hurt. Lee Soo Man didn’t seem to mind. He never would have imagined himself reading those stories either. Heechul’s laughter was infectious, soon everyone was chuckling at the thought.

“The lawyers are working out the legalities. We’ve already found a director willing to take on this project.”

“That’s fast,” Kyuhyun blurted out.

Lee Soo Man grinned at him.

“Time is money.”

He pushed back from the desk and got up from his chair.

“So you boys will be quite busy next week. You’ve got signed albums to deliver to 25 passionate writers, 15 backstage-passes to issue and 5 writers to charm into agreeing to your crazy idea.”

They all turned to Siwon.

“What are you all looking at me for?!”

“The boss said to charm,” Kangin grinned. “That’s your department.”

“Why me?” Siwon still protested.

Shindong snorted.

“Would you rather leave it to someone like Chul?”

Heechul threw him a glare, but Shindong laughed it off.

“Let’s just make it a joint effort,” their manager soothed with a chuckle.

“And now off with you. Go, go.”

SuJu got up from their seats and left the room, overwhelmed with the sudden turn of events.