Manager walked in some time later to find all his remaining members with tear tracks down their face, he glanced around and asked,

“What happened?”

Without even managing to look up, Key pushed the leather bound book towards him and Manager scooped it up. He flicked through the pages and scanned some of him entries. His heart sank. He knew his eldest member had some insecurities, that much was easy to see, but he had no idea he was battling so many demons. He placed the book down carefully on Onew's side table and just looked down at the depressed boys. He hated to see any of them sad but they had to understand what their Leader had been going through and how much he really did for them without their knowledge or any thanks in return. He walked over to Jonghyun and placed his hand on his shoulder,

“Meet me outside, all of you. There is something you need to know”

Jonghyun's eyes lifted from his lap and looked to his with tears still in them, he nodded. Manager then squeezed his shoulder a little and turned to leave, giving them all a minute to clear their faces a little and stretch out after sitting by Onew's bed for so long. Soon though, all four were sitting in a row of plastic chairs in a deserted hall, looking into their laps with red eyes and faces as they had roughly wiped their tears away.

Manager paced along their line of chairs, wondering where to begin; he never thought he would have to have this talk with them. Then he stopped straight in front of them in the middle, scanning them again. He could see their guilt was already eating them up but they needed to know, he sighed

“Look guys, you know I am never too harsh on you, I try to be a good Manager and to take care you. But honestly I am really disappointed in you. What happened to you? You used to be closer than brothers but you've been treating him like he was merely a stranger in the streets in fact even worse; you've been acting as if he was never there in the first place. You used to have so much fun, none of you could ever go a day without laughing at something - Onew made sure of that. But in the last 3 weeks it seems like you have still been trying to have fun only without your Leader, anyone can see it isn't the same. But I need to know what you were thinking when you started being so cruel to Onew. The thing that keeps us so close is trust, yet you immediately assumed Onew would leave you for money? You know he would never do such a thing.”

While he talked, SHINee's faces all contorted with guilt and pain. They knew they had wronged their leader terribly but to hear it so strongly said straight from their Manager, who had always been kind and understanding, just made it all seem so much more real and serious.

“Look, I'm not saying these things to chew you out. I know you feel bad already for your actions but you need to understand how hard Onew has had to work as your leader and all the extra time and effort taken to make your lives as easy and fun as possible” he paused then started again,

“If you looked at Onew for the first time, what would you see? You would see a fun, goof ball who makes everyone laugh with his sangtae and looks like he doesn't have a care in the world. But that is what he wants you to see. He lost his mother at a young age and his father was not a nice man; eventually he even got kicked out of what was supposed to be a loving home. Since then he has been trying to rebuild some form of stable and loving family, which he thought he found in you guys. But he is very insecure about himself and he is constantly worried he will mess up and ruin everything he has tried to make for himself. He looses sleep when he stays up late to fix your schedules to make sure everything goes smoothly, he skips meals to make sure you get enough to eat and are well taken care of. He forgets to look after himself so he often falls ill, but he tries his hardest to hide it so people around him won't worry. He is worried if he burdens you, you will grow tired of him and leave him like his first family did. He needs you more than you realise, and you need to know what he has been doing for you secretly and without thanks for the last 4 years.”

He took a deep breath and went to stand at the end