A/N: Hey guys. Loong time no see!! (One month to be exact, I’m so sorry) Hope you guys are still following. I was in Korea so couldn’t update.  I feel totally re-inspired after my Seoul trip and gosh, I deleted the original chapter 1o f Saga 2. Young Soo won’t be dating Yun Ri, well he won’t end up together ultimately…3 guesses to who Yun Ri ends up with! Young Soo too!

Anyways, on to the long overdue and much improved story. It may sound weird, but it’s really fun to write Se Kyung…am I weird?

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Shin Se Kyung sat in the chair in the hair salon, uncharacteristically excited about the fact that large chunks of her luscious black here were being chopped off. ‘Jong Hyun oppa, I can’t wait for you to see me again.’  ‘Miss Shin, I know I took off much of your hair, but this new ‘wild look’ fits you very nicely. I’m sure you will play your character in The Killer perfectly.’ Shin Se Kyung smiled sweetly at her hair stylist, ‘Thank you so much, with your haircut I’m sure I will.’ But inside her mind, what she was really thinking was just how matching her current hairstyle was to her boyfriend’s. She had very subtly hinted that she wanted her new hairstyle to resemble Jong Hyun’s, in a very round about manner of course. Sweeping the few strands of fallen hair off her crisp white shirt, Se Kyung strutted towards the cashier with a confident smile. There was no way that the romantic Jong Hyun would not be touched the gesture of cutting her hair to match. She knew what she was doing.

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  Despite the butterflies that seemed to be ramming his stomach with the force of a 3-year old high on pixie sticks, Lee Young Soo dare say that this was the calmest he’s ever been prior to visiting his father’s office. ‘Out of my own volition nonetheless, the things these 5 boys do to me…’ He thought with a wry grin. ‘Lee sshi, CEO Lee will see you now,’ the secretary seated at the table told Young Soo meekly. Replying her with a smile, he straightened his suit before walking through the door, commonly known to the staff of SM entertainment as the gates of hell.

  Inside the functional office sat the infamous Lee Soo Man, the hate of all fans and fairy godmother of all aspiring stars sat, typing something on his Lenovo laptop. A few seconds passed in silence and without so much as looking up, he barked, ‘Do you have something to say or are you just going to stand there all day?’ The manager of Shinee had long since given upon getting any fatherly reactions from his dad, but the venomous words did hurt his confidence a little. ‘If I could have just a moment father,’ Young Soo said formally as he placed a folder on Lee Soo Man’s table, ‘I have a proposal that you may be interested in.’ Staring at the folder that said S.M. The Ballad, Lee Soo Man looked his son in eye with great interest, ‘Go on, I’m listening.’

  ‘Along with the market research carried out recently by our marketing department and several analysis I have done myself, all of which can be found on page 6 of the proposal,’ Young Soo motioned to the folder that was not being touched. ‘Young Soo, my son, I’m a busy man. These papers are what my secretary reads, not me. Get to the point or get out.’ Lee Soo Man spat out irritably. The icy tone did little to falter Shinee newest manager, he was on a mission and this proposal was getting pushed through no matter what. ‘The point is,’ Young Soo slid the proposal further across the table at the word ‘point’, ‘Our consumers are sick and tired of idols and their repetitive songs. Ballad singers and groups are now starting to dominate the market, a market that we do not have a share in.’ Young Soo’s disrespectful tone was not missed by the CEO. ‘Are you insinuating that my managing abilities are poor?’ His father challenged. Feigning hurt, Young Soo made a shocked expression, ‘Of course not father! I’m merely stating that SM Entertainment has a market gap in our portfolio, an opportunity, if you may.’ Inwardly, Young Soo rolled his eyes at his own words. Of course he was insulting his father’s managing abilities, sure SM had its successes, but look at how TVXQ and Shinhwa ended up, look at Shinee right now. Even their current money tree, Boa, gained her fame while under Avex’s management. Raising a skeptical eyebrow at the proposal, Lee Soo Man picked it up and flipped through it and paused at a certain page, ‘And you’re saying that this is our solution to this….opportunity?’

  Through the reflection in the glass mirror behind his father’s seat, Young Soo noticed that his father had stopped on the page of the suggested members. Knowing that he had a tough road ahead of him, Young Soo  nodded, ‘JYP has 2AM, the smaller entertainment companies have all either signed on winners of Superstar K2, or have began debuting non-idol singers, even YG Entertainment has Gummy.’ The words ‘we have nothing’ was left unsaid, but was understood. ‘My son, we make idols, it’s what we’re good at.’ Lee Soo Man countered. Young Soo figured his father would say as much, SM has recently chartered a private jet for SNSD for their upcoming year end activities, the girls Japanese foray have also cost the company a good bit, along with all the increased security for all the bands because of Jong Hyun’s scandal, there was little budget left to debut a new band. Not at the moment at least.

  Meeting his father’s challenging gaze, Young Soo leaned forward to reinforce his point, ‘That’s the brilliance of this proposal father. We’re taking our idols and showing everyone that they’re not JUST idols.’ Hearing his son’s words, Lee Soo Man his finger and leafed through the proposal again, ‘And you plan to do this with an expired rock singer wannabe, a rookie, the new star child of scandals and Kyung Hyun?’ Young Soo bit down on his tongue hard to prevent himself from slamming the table, he hated it when his father referred to their artists as items. Sure, Jay was old, but calling him an expired rock star wannabe was really crossing the line. Instead of voicing his displeasure however, Young Soo smoothed the jacket of his suit and replied in the sweetest tone he could muster, ‘Like I said, that’s the brilliance of this plan. Making use of Kyung Hyun and Jay’s existing popularity, we give Jino a chance to prove his worth with seniors and Jong Hyun a chance to demonstrate his vocal prowess and show the fans that they’re more than idols, they’re singers. Hence rebuilding their fanbase.’ ‘You mean Jong Hyun’s fanbase.’ Lee Soo man corrected. Mentally slapping himself for his mistake Young Soo corrected himself, ‘Yes, Jong Hyun’s fanbase. And build Jino’s fanbase before his proper debut. He has a much better chance of achieving success if introduced with seniors that are already accepted than in a new group that will definitely be compared to some of the more established groups these days.

  Nodding at his son’s reasoning, Lee Soo Man put down the proposal and stared at his son with a very blank face. ‘Let us assume, and I emphasize the word assume, that your proposal has been passed, who will manage it? We don’t have the manpower for the financial resources to back up this project.’ Young Soo once again surpressed his impulse to shove the proposal in his father’s face and say “It’s written RIGHT HERE.” Instead he continued calmly, ‘Since this is my idea, I would be honored to take charge of this project. As for the production team, I understand that we are challenged in terms of our resources at the moment, hence I have contacted several of my acquaintances to lend a hand in this project. The demo of the songs for their have already can be found on the last page of the proposal, the names of the crew can also be found on the page before. They are all either fresh graduates or interns, thus they have agreed to do this for minimal pay as long as they are credited properly-‘ Young Soo shut up abruptly as his father’s gaze hardened and became increasingly menacing.’

  ‘How long have you been in my company Young Soo?’ ‘3 months father.’ ’90 Days…that’s not a really long time, so what exactly gave you an idea that I would give someone with only 90 days experience free reign to carry out their own project with a team comprised of solely his contacts in my company.’ ‘…’Young Soo swore in his head. He had forgotten just how possessive his father was of his company. Father and son sat in uncomfortable silence for several seconds, until Lee Soo Man picked up his phone and yelled gruffly into the receiver. Within moments, a knock can be heard on the door, ‘Come in.’ Slowly, the door swung open.

  ‘Father.’ The man behind the door greeted with a smile. Hearing his voice, Young Soo froze. His father didn’t…. ‘Soo Jun, sorry to call you from lunch early, but your brother here came to me with some very….boggling ideas, that I feel obliged to share with you.’ Lee Soo Man addressed Young Soo’s proposal flippantly. Gritting his teeth, Young Soo constantly reminded himself that his sole objective was to get his proposal pushed through, at any cost. ‘You most certainly must forgive little Young Soo’s insolence, he is after all an inexperienced child,’ Soo Jun chided in an equally dismissing tone. Young Soo hated his half-brother with passion and it wasn’t hard to see why.

  ‘Ahem…well,’ Lee Soo Man cleared his throat to break up the glaring contest between the brothers. ‘Soo Jun, read through this proposal and make any necessary amends you deem fit and execute it. I put this in your capable hands. And Young Soo, you’re Shinee’s manager, I would appreciate it if you put in more effort into managing them rather than coming up with these radical ideas. Dismissed.’ Soo Jun caught the manila folder that Lee Soo Man tossed to him and gestured for Young Soo to make his leave. On his way out of the office, the youngest son of Lee Soo Man had to constantly remind himself, he had achieved his goal. But for some reason, he could not shake the bitter taste of defeat from his mouth.

  ‘It’s ok,’ he calmed himself, ‘I know what I’m doing.’

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  Moving day has always been somewhat of a bittersweet matter to the boys of Shinee. It was bitter because they had to say goodbye to their old house and pack up their mountains of belongings in minimal time. The sweet part of the event was that, they get to have a bigger house, which for the 5 boys who always had to share rooms, is always a welcomed change.

  Opposed to their usual moving routine however, Jong Hyun and Ki Bum were both at the company. Ki Bum had to squeeze in a last minute rehearsal with Krystal for his upcoming concert solo while Jong Hyun was called back to be briefed about some new project he was to participate in. As the leader of the group, JInki led the youngest two members, both heaving boxes behind him to their new apartment and moved to unlock the door. Sticking the key into the keyhole, he found it strangely unlocked but shrugged it off, perhaps it was the movers, at that thought he pushed the door open. Then, he froze.

Jinki’s POV:

  Something tells me that Ki Bum and Yun Ri would flip if they saw who was standing in front of us in our new apartment, wearing an apron. ‘Nick hyung?’ I called out tentatively. ‘Hey Jinki! Come in come in, hope you guys don’t mind me setting up the place while you guys were busy. I have already taken the last room down the hall, next to Young Soo’s room? So you guys just take your pick yea?’

  ‘Uh no offense hyung..’ Tae Min who was equally shocked as me asked, ‘But why are you here?’ Nick who went back to cooking whatever he was making looked up and answered with a sunny smile, ‘Oh Young Soo didn’t tell you guys? His business meetings were with my boss so that they could work out a deal about Warner being your label when you promote in China and Taiwan and also so that I could get transferred to SM and work as your manager! Lee Soo Man sshi is thinking about expanding you guys into the Asian market next year and although Young Soo is familiar with Japan, it doesn’t hurt to get someone with experience dealing with the Chinese markets. Plus I’ve always wanted to come back to Korea, so it worked out great.’

  Yup, wait till Ki Bum and Yun Ri hears this. They won’t flip. This house will.

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 3^rd Perosn’s POV:

  Jong Hyun hopped on the cab, ‘S.M. The Ballad huh? At least the company hasn’t given up on me, that’s always good.’ After telling the driver his destination, Jong Hyun pulled out his phone and saw two messages. One from Ki Bum and another from Se Kyung, Without thinking, Jong Hyun scrolled down to Ki Bum’s and opened it.

  ‘Jagiya! <3 I’m still rehearsing with Krystal, ugh, that girl has NO swagger man, she’s worse than her sister! It’s so sad that they rejected my idea of having a combined stage with you T.T But that’s expected right? Blow them away with your hotness my love! See you back at our new home. Yun Ri bought me some new noise cancelling headphones, so, I call dibs on rooming with you! Don’t spend too much time with that SSK k? I’ll be waiting for you at home!’

  Reading his boyfriend’s adorable message, Jong Hyun can’t help but let a smile creep to his face. The shy Ki Bum is always so much more expressive through messages. His smile widened at the comment about Krystal and hidden jibe at Jessica. Guess the rapper still had some resentment towards her from when Jong Hyun had a crush on Jessica. He quickly hit the reply button and began typing a reply to his beloved, until he remembered the reason why he was on the cab. Se Kyung.  Letting out a groan, Jong Hyun set aside his bias and went back to the message menu to read Se Kyung’s message. Speed reading it, Jong Hyun looked up and out the window. ‘I’ll be there in another 20 minutes anyways…’ As if coming to a decision, Jong Hyun moved his thumb away from the reply button and went back to his saved box to continue typing his reply to Ki Bum.

  Se Kyung could wait, Ki Bum always came first. Hitting the send button, Jong Hyun felt an odd sense of accomplishment, like he had finally done something right. ‘For once, I know what I’m doing.’ He said to himself.

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  Jong Hyun looked at Se Kyung who sat across him in the VIP booth of the restaurant, sporting a new hair cut that eerily resembled his. ‘Oppa, you like it? I know that everyone is saying that it’s a new look for my new role, but honestly I just wanted to have a couple hair style with you, do you like it?’ Jong Hyun has always been a er for romantic things and it took every ounce of willpower in his body to not feel touched at Se Kyung gesture. Sure, he felt no love for this woman, but he definitely felt guilt at how serious she was taking this relationship of theirs, and how un-serious he was taking it.

  ‘Yea Se Kyung, I love it…’ ‘What about me?’ ‘Huh?’ Jong Hyun snapped out of his reverie. ‘Do you love me?’ Stuttering, Jong Hyun tried his hardest to sound sincere while suppressing his rising guilt. Just as he felt like he had the situation under control in the cab. ‘You know I do silly.’ ‘As a friend,’ Jong Hyun added mentally. The waiter came over to refill their drinks and scurried away quickly as Se Kyung cast him a sweet but at the same time threatening smile. ‘Say it then,’ she challenged the lead singer. Jong Hyun feigned a confused look. He could play dumb, he did that well. ‘Say you love me!’ Se Kyung whined. The lead singer of Shinee gave the woman before him a once over, this is the ‘cool queen’ Shin Se Kyung? ‘I love you, now lets eat.’ Jong Hyun said quickly, and added in his head again ‘as a friend. I love you as a friend.’ The actress pouted at the less than sincere reply but left it alone. She knew that the Taiwan trip would change the chemistry of their relationship somewhat, she knew from the moment their new manager picked up Jong Hyun’s phone and told her his phone was confiscated.

  Leaning across the table so that her cleavage showed, Se Kyung reached over to clean off the spaghetti sauce off Jong Hyuns face. Instead of staring down her shirt like any other man would, Jong Hyun was busy staring at his phone. Setting down the napkin in her hands, Se Kyung tilted Jong Hyun’s face so that he was looking at her directly. ‘Oppa, is your phone more interesting than me?’ Instinctively, Jong Hyun almost wanted to say yes, but caught himself last minute. ‘No! Of course not Se Kyung! It’s just, you know my phone got confiscated, so I miss it a lot…it’s a stupid sentiment, but you know how I am…’ He lied through his teeth. The truth was that he was waiting for Ki Bum’s reply. His lover was finally back to his sweet adorable self and was talking to him again, how can he not wait in anticipation for his every message?

  Hearing his explanation, Se Kyung looked down. It was her fault his phone got confiscated, she should not be so mean… and as she did that, a stray piece of hair fell into her face. Out of habit, Jong Hyun reached over to tuck the hair behind her ear, ‘Layered hair is annoying isn’t it?’ Mistaking his gesture for affection, she looked up at him with a bright smile, ‘I love my hair though, we match now!’ Seeing her enthusiasm about their first shared couple trait, Jong Hyun felt his resolve soften. Maybe he should put in a little more effort at being a good boyfriend, if not to reciprocate her feelings, but to make it up to her for lying to her.

  Se Kyung grinned behind her wine glass at the fact that Jong Hyun stopped obsessing over his phone for the rest of dinner. Sure, he left on the dot and refused the after-dinner walk with her, but she had definitely milked her new haircut for all its worth.  Twirling a piece of her hair between her fingers as she sat on the cab her way home she grinned, her adversary might be the Almighty Key but she knew what she was doing…oh yes she knew what she was doing…

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 Ki Bum’s POV:

  When Jong Hyun came home complaining that they were singing Miss You for their debut, I assumed that he was just doing his routine whining. Although he had kept S.M. The Ballad’s activities a secret from us, citing it as a surprise for us, it’s no secret that he wanted to be a soul singer, so many of the pop songs that the company makes him sing aren’t really what he likes. But that’s something we idols all have to deal with, myself included. The company knows best, so we have to follow their orders.

  But looking at their performance on Music Bank now, I’m starting to wonder if the company did know best. This song was definitely not like anything I had heard on S.M The Ballad’s website. The teasers were all urban soul songs, not this generic ballad crap… The four of them sang the song beautifully, but there is only so much a great singer can do to a crappy song and this is a perfect example.

  ‘Young Soo hyung, why did you get them to sing such a-‘ I stopped myself from finishing my sentence as I watched our manager grip his chopsticks with enough force to snap it. Nick placed a comforting arm on his shoulder and the 4 of us stared at them in confusion. ‘What’s wrong Young Soo hyung?’ As usual, our maknae was the one to brave the sensitive situations. All of us seated at the dining table awaited a reply. Instead of Young Soo hyung’s voice however, we heard Nick reply us, ‘CEO Lee didn’t allow Young Soo to take on the project, it got reassigned to someone else. The songs you heard on the website were the original songs Young Soo had in mind to promote with, but the new manager had different ideas, so it would seem.’

  ‘Bah, grow a spine Young Soo, if you don’t like what he’s doing that do a forceful take over, it your way is really better, then your excuse of a father won’t say anyway if it all works out. Judging from the fans lack of reaction, even they have difficulty deluding themselves into thinking that the song is any good. And I completely agree.’ I looked at my cousin strut across the living room, remote in hand, wearing, disturbingly, Young Soo’s shirt, towards the dining table. Nick stared at the shirt on her with almost equal disdain, which led me to remember what happened a few weeks back.

Flashback

  It was after my rehearsal with Krystal and Yun Ri offered to help me move into our new apartment. That was just an excuse though, she just wanted to dump all of my leftover things that was in her apartment to my new one. ‘Ki Bum..oppa…’ I heard her mutter the last word exceptionally softly. The use of that term caused me to stop short in front of the front door. ‘What did you just call me?’ I asked her. ‘O..oppa!! I called you oppa dammit! You have a problem!?’ I wanted to nod and say yes, I do. She could finally use that word! That means she was finally getting over Nick! I was ecstatic, even at being addressed as her senior despite being born on the same day. ‘I need to tell you something important k! And wipe that stupid grin off your damn face!’ She said embarrassed, I kept laughing. I trust that she would probably wipe the grin off my face, violently at that, but since she was holding two huge boxes and had no hands, I took advantage of the situation and laughed a little longer.

  ‘Young Soo asked me to date him and I said yes!’ ‘*SLAM*’

  The moment she said that, the front door opened before I opened it. The figure before us froze, just as I did and I swear my brain nearly had a meltdown trying to process her words and the identity of the person standing at the door at the same time. Several minutes passed awkwardly as the wheels of my brain turned slowly. Nick is in my apartment wearing an apron and Yun Ri is dating Young Soo hyung. Cool. I can handle that. If Yun Ri is dating Young Soo hyung meant she’s over Nick which meant I had no reason to be pissed at the man before me, well not NO reason, but at least less reasons. Coming to terms with myself, I smiled at the man, ‘Hi Nick,’ and proceeded to push past him and into the room. Behind me Yun Ri stared at Nick a few seconds more before greeting him with a simple, ‘Yo.’

Tae Min’s POV:

  Jinki hyung, Min Ho hyung and myself watched nervously as Nick hyung stood still at the front door with Ki Bum hyung and Yun Ri nuna. We had a bet to see if they would flip when they saw Nick hyung at the door. Despite the few awkward moments though, Ki Bum hyung and Yun Ri nuna entered the house without much of a reaction, though Nick hyung on the other hand was behaving much more strangely.

  Behind me, I heard Jinki hyung jump up in amazement. ‘There was no bloodshed!’ Catching onto his insinuation, Yun Ri nuna walked over and the very heavy looking boxes into his lap, ‘Oh there was supposed to be bloodshed?’ She said sarcastically, then right after she said that, we all watched as her fist made painful contact with Jinki hyung’s skull. ‘Here you go, we have bloodshed. Don’t forget to put those boxes in Ki Bum’s room. I’m going to crash my boyfriend’s room. Which one is it?’

  Her boyfriend? We all looked at each other in confusion. Nick hyung pointed at Young Soo’s room dejectedly. Realization dawned on us, along with shock. A few moments later, I finally spat out, ‘, they’re dating?’

  ‘Tae Min,’ Ki Bum hyung looked at me with a glare, ‘Language.’ I stuck my tongue out and life returned to normal.

End Flashback

3^rd Person’s POV:

  Young Soo after hearing his girlfriend’s words went into a pensive mode. After a while, he smiled a grin that was common on Yun Ri’s face. ‘You know what, I’ll do just that.’ The same smirk quickly made its way onto Yun Ri’s face as she dug into dinner.

  Yes, for once, they definitely all knew what they were doing.    

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A/N: whoot! Finally! Hope you guys liked this. Next chapter will talk about the filming of Hot Times and of course WE FINALLY GO INTO 2011! I’m so tired of writing 2010…@.@ Hopefully the 4k words chapter made up for not updating much. I’m going to crash now. I’m landing in Maldives as I type this. Will try to update from this little island.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! Please keep reading. I LOVE YOU GUYS!