Half an hour left before the prerecording and we do not have a VCR yet!

This was the catastrophe that I was facing the very first day as a Manager! I was totally lost as to what should I do when I suddenly looked towards the audience that had gathered at the broadcasting station to see SHINee perform.

In a moment I had this crazy idea,” What if I ask the fans to send in their pictures to a particular id in the next five minutes and in 10 minutes or so we can compile those pictures with a background chanting of the fans…will it work? I looked for Jack and Will”

When I presented the idea to my sub-managers, they were surprised if it can be done in such a short time, but they seemed satisfied with the solution for that fan video would be really apt in portraying SHINee’s glory. “Well, I don't think there is any other solution as you two are also not giving me other ideas. So lets go with it. Jack you announce that SHINee wants its fans to participate in the VCR making and it is especially for those who came today. This is the id at which they have to send in their pictures/videos. Okay and tell them that this id is open only for 10 minutes. Go! We don't have much time!”

I rushed to the green room to get my laptop but was careful enough not to show the urgency.

For the past ten minutes the new id that I had given the fans was flooded with pictures and videos that the fans took and made related to SHINee and I must say that it totally reflected how much love these fans had for these 5 stars.

After the ten minutes passed I made Jack announce that the time was over and that no more entries would be considered. The next 15 minutes me, J and W spent bent over the laptop going through the fan’s multimedia and trying to make it into a musical timeline. The result seemed satisfactory. I was just hoping that it seems okay to the SHINee as well.

It was time for the pre-recording, which was done without the VCR according to the rules of SM and after the 5 minutes pre-performance and a 5 minutes touch up; it was cue to the final performance.

The VCR started and SHINee was startled. They looked at the VCR, which had all the cheers and pics of SHINee taken by the fans. It made them all sentimental.

After the VCR ended the 5 of them looked at me and nodded. Just like an involuntary action I nodded back and it seemed that the VCR instilled in them a new wave of energy and their passion poured from their very soul. This performance of SHINee made me realize what SHINee World meant to them and why the fans loved them. SHINee received light from the fans in form of their love and that reflected on the stage with utmost sincerity. These idols knew that what they were was solely because of the love they received.

The performance was a success but there was no time to enjoy the success for the next schedule that is the interview was due in 10 minutes. As soon as the boys came down from the stage I told the stylists to tone down the thickness of their makeup so that the guys are a bit more comfortable and then told the guys to come to room 210 after 5 minutes and I hurried to that room to greet the interviewer.

Half an hour interview and a stage performance was the only busy part of the day. After all this SHINee changed into their practice outfits and we headed for the practice room.

There was a lot of traffic so the van seemed to crawl through the roads. “Why did you change the VCR Aansha”, was Key’s question. It reminded me that I had completely forgotten to tell them what had happened in the morning. I briefed them about the whole mishap. “That was an innovatively quick idea Aansha. Well now I think it is an advantage that we have a smart manager who is a computer professor. I must say that we all loved the VCR a lot. It was hundred times better than the ones made by our Art Director for it was filled with all the love from Shawols”. “Thanks Jjong. I am just glad that everything went smooth. Oh, are you boys hungry? It is already 1 and you had your breakfast quite early and moreover I don't think we will be able to reach the practice room earlier than an hour…I made snacks in the morning”

As soon as I said snacks there was a “Yes” in unison. These were the moments that made SHINee appear not as idols but primary school kids, cute!

It was already 8 pm when they finished their dance and vocal practice. During the dance practice I was busy sketching a draft of the next week’s schedule trying to fit in the new casting requests along with the sufficient time needed for their upcoming album’s vocal and dance practice and recording. I between I was called to make a video of them practicing so that they could get a rough idea of how it would all look on the camera. They were completely professional, and I loved that about them.

During vocal training they would sometimes ask if it sounded good and I would give them an honest reaction. The whole setup at SM was really involving except for the fact that they hardly had any sufficient break to eat nicely. But now I was the manager so I would adjust the in between fifteen minutes break to 10 minutes and the left 5 minutes would then be added to their eating time.

The day’s activities came to an end. As they were dropping me off, MinHo said, “ Thanks for today. You were great. It will get easier day by day so Fighting!” I chuckled “Thanks MinHo, you are always considerate. And thank you guys for being patient with me. See you tomorrow..”

A week passed by and just like MinHo said, things got smoother with each day.

“Oh God! Today it's a jam-packed schedule and plus in the evening there is a SM family party! I don't know how I will survive the day!”