In no time at all, they were at the studio which was located on one of the floors of the SM Entertainment headquarters. The two boys hesitated at the door when they saw a bunch of people look up from their workstations or instruments to stare at them.

“Good afternoon!” Alex chirped cheerfully. Everybody gave the customary reply, still staring at Riku and Dae curiously.

“Yush!” Both Riku and Dae deepened their voice and greeted the men and woman in the room. They all muttered their greetings, the women giggling a bit.

“Uh,” Riku stammered, tugging at his suddenly too-tight necktie. “Annyeong, Riku imnida.”

“Dae imnida,” Dae gave a nervous smile.

A round of greetings were exchanged. These were the people in the studio that would be helping them out. There was, of course, Alex who would be shadowing them everywhere and helping wherever she could and then there were the people to give them technical support on the mixing console and the musicians who might be rotating throughout their music-making.

“These two are very good at what they do,” Alex introduced the techs. They looked like two regular tech guys with messy hair, untucked shirts and ripped jeans. Their sneakers had seen better days. But they carried an air of confidence about them that put the two of them at ease.

“And Manager thought that these musicians might be able to find that sound we’re looking for. They’re also really good at what they do, they actually worked on SHINee’s first album,” Alex introduced the musicians.

One of them grinned, his fingers plucking a few strings on his bass. “We were just finishing warming up. Now, what sound were you looking for?”

“Well, just… Something like…” Riku floundered a bit, looking around the room. He had never done this before and never expected to have any actual input on their sound.

“Something like this,” Dae swooped in to cover for Riku, humming the few lines that they had made up on the spot when they had been changing. “… Something like that.”

“Arasso…” one of them mumbled, picking up an electric guitar to play the notes Dae had hummed while someone else started writing down notes on a music sheet. They worked out the notes while the mixing producers gathered around to give their input. Before they knew it, they had spent a couple of hours in the studio and Alex had watched, fascinated as the two new idols had charmed their unsuspecting audience.

‘Manager had wanted to test their appeal on outsiders, and look at that, they’ve already won some unknowing fans!’ Alex cheered silently inside his head. “Omo… They are naturals!”

“One moment, I think I had too much water before…” Dae strolled away from the group over to Alex. “Where’s the lady’s room?” he asked a little bit too loudly, though fortunately nobody was really paying attention. Alex punched his arm anyways.

“Oh, Dae, you are so funny!” Alex laughed loudly while glaring at the blue haired boy. “The MEN’s washrooms are just down the hall. Just turn left at the end of the hall and it’s the door on your right, just follow the signs!

“Men’s room?” Dae repeated. “Jinjja??”

Alex sighed, “Just pretend it’s a uni room then!”

Grumbling, Dae headed out to the bathroom, finding it with little to no problem and did his business. But trying to get back to the studio was the hard part.

“Where the hell am I now…?” Dae muttered, wandering around. He had been wandering for a good couple of minutes and felt seriously lost. “Maybe here…?”

He opened the door and was greeted by the sound of loud laughter that abruptly stopped as the door opened, five pairs of eyes staring up at the stranger coming in.

“Ah, mianhae I was… OMO SHINee!!” with widened eyes Dae stared at the five young men in the room who all exchanged confused looks and awkward smiles after the little outburst. He quickly wrapped his hands over his mouth and took a deep bow. “Mianhae…”

“Aniyo, it’s okay…” a low voice replied and he glanced up to see that one of them had gotten up from his seat. “Can we help you?”

“No! I mean yes! I mean… maybe?” He could almost hit his own head against the wall, here he was a girl-disguised-as-guy who was stammering and making a fool out of himself in front of one of the hottest boy bands alive. “Ah… I’m looking for the recording studio, I kind of got lost in this building.”

“Ah, first time here?” another boy, one with black hair and round eyes asked. “We had the same problem…”

“No, Hyung had the same problem,” the third one, a more feminine looking guy spoke and chuckled as he turned to another guy.

“Hey, those signs leading towards the bathrooms are very confusing! I swear someone switched them around while I was inside there!” the fourth replied to his defense.

“No one switched the signs, Jonghyun, you’re just stupid enough to get lost in a building.”

Dae tilted his head, “I have to admit that the signs did seem to lead me astray though…”

“SEE!” the boy, identified as Jonghyun, jumped up happily and pointed at Dae. “See!”

“Why are you pointing at him like that, hyung?” a boy with bleached blond hair chuckled and Jonghyun quickly lowered his hand as he noticed his rather impolite gesture.

“Anyway,” the first boy that had spoken up said and turned back to Dae. “From here just walk to the end of the hall and turn right, all the way to the end of that hall and then it’s the first door on your left.” He explained simply.

Dae nodded and flashed a faint smile, “Thank you for your help,” he took a polite bow and slowly backed out of the room before turning around and almost bumping into Alex. “Aish…”

“Here you are!” he huffed. “Seriously, what part of follow the signs didn’t you get?” he frowned down at the smaller person.

“Those signs need to be updated!” Dae scoffed.

Alex shook his head, “It’s a good thing I found you… Come on, before you guys are late!” he nudged his head backwards and Dae noticed Riku leaning against the wall on the other side of the hallway, waiting impatiently and curiously. Alex was walking incredibly fast and Dae tried hard to keep up. “Manager told us that she had someone important for you two to meet!”

“Who?” Riku frowned curiously as they followed Alex into another hallway.

“You’ll see~” he chirped back mysteriously. Whoever it was though was pretty important as they went all the way up to the top floor. 

Dae got lost in the SM Building and found herself in a room with SHINee. Sign me up for that adventure!