The walk down the long corridor leading into the conference room was silent - but crackling with heavy tension. Most of it radiated from their manager in waves, giving the air around them a suffocating feeling. His silence scared Onew and Minho more than any screaming he could have done.

It was so tense that Onew hadn't even realized that Taemin and Key had lingered in the conference room. It wasn't until they were almost to the staircases that lead upstairs to the main part of the SM entertainment building, that he did.

When their manager turned around to reach for his ID card in his back pocket and gain access to the door, he noticed that Choi Minho was the only one behind him. He glanced at Jinki, only to see SHINee's leader's eyes downcast, and narrowed his eyes, frowning.

"Where the hell are Kibum and Taemin?!"

Onew finally looked up, startled upon hearing their manager's voice after a long walk of silence. He looked behind him as well, frowning in confusion.

"They're probably still in the -" Minho started saying, but cut the words short when their furious manager yelled at Minho to drag them down here.

Seeing the look on his hyung's face, Minho obeyed immediately and took off down the hall at a run, leaving Onew and their manager under the soft glow of the yellow lights along the darkened hallway.

As soon as Minho was out of sight, having slipped around a corner, their manager had his forearm under Onew's chin, not enough to cut off his air or to injure him, but enough to get his point across and to keep him still. Onew flinched at the sudden, unexpected attack, instinctively turning his head to avoid the blow he thought he would be receiving from the manager's upturned hand.

Normally, if the manager wanted to punish then, it was a quick and painful slap to the cheek, or the traditional 'broom' punishment, where you were hit on the hips with a broom. He had never thought that his manager would ever full out attack him, or, at least not do anything that would injure his voice - but he was proved wrong.

"Listen to me and listen to me well, Jinki." The manager hissed. "I want Jonghyun punished."

(A/N: Hey everyone :P I just wanted to thank you for reading real quick and remind you - their manager probably isn't at all like this. He would never treat the boy's like this, I just put him in here to fill the character role. I'm sorry if I offend anyone...I didn't mean it in that way.)