Title/Prompt: Others

Author: Rosetta Stone

Pairings: SM Town Members

Rating: G

Summary: A meeting of all the SM Town leaders.

***

It wasn't often. But it does happen. Lee Soo-Man would get the idea of bringing in all the leaders from his company into a meeting. And that's where he found himself. He was sitting in the main board room and around the table were all the leaders from each of his bands. To his right was Kangta, and the left was BoA. It was always those two on each side of him since they were his longest artist in the company. After that it went by seniority. Next to Kangta was Leeteuk, then Onew and finally Kris. After BoA, there was Yunho, Taeyeon, Victoria and Suho. Besides the two EXO members everyone was sitting comfortably at the table. They each had a pad of paper and a pen in front of them and a glass of ice water in front of them. Each person was staring at Soo-Man in curiosity as he seemed to go over his notes. At the end of the table Suho and Kris were shifting in their chairs nervously. This was the first big meeting they got to sit in on since their debut.

"What's the matter?" Onew questioned as he leaned close to them.

"Sorry, we are a little new at this. Weren't you nervous your big leader meeting?" Suho questioned his hyung.

"I was but you have to remember, I had Leeteuk-hyung helping me out. If you need anything you can ask any of us. We know it can be a little stressful at first."

The two EXO members smiled softly at this. Despite what anyone said about the company and its politics, the groups all looked out for each other. Leeteuk leaned forward and sent a wink to the pair.

The two grinned at this. Across from Leeteuk Yunho rolled his eyes in humor. BoA nudged him lightly in the side for it and the two shared small smiles.

"Thank you for all coming. I know you all have busy schedules right now and I appreciate all the work you've done." Lee Soo-Man began at the head of the table.

"Only because you tend to work us to the bone." Victoria muttered under her breath. Taeyeon shot her a look, but the corner of her lips twitched in amusement.

"With the new SM Town tour coming up I want to get some ideas for song selections, collaborations, and other things."

"Where does the show start this time?" Yunho questioned.

"Anaheim, California. And as you know, with the new projects starting at the company, Kangta will not be at that show. But this will be a great opportunity to introduce EXO to the world."

Everyone looked to the two newest leaders with encouraging smiles. The  others tried to return it but it looked like they were forced. They felt more like deer caught in the headlights of cars than two new leaders for what was predicted to be great bands.

"What is everyone thinking?"

Even though Kangta was the oldest in both age and years in the company. Everyone turned to the Super Junior leader for ideas. The man had leadership qualities that Kangta did not possess since even during the H.O.T days he was not the leader. And Leeteuk had experience leading fourteen other members in the company’s most successful group to date. The man had a contemplative look on his face as he stares at his notes and then the rest of the members.

"We should do a few collaborations with them and some of the leading acts. How about a collaboration with BoA and Girls Generation?" Leeteuk suggested.

"Amber even offered to learn something with Kris for an act." Victoria added.

Kris nodded to this. He had spoken with the rapper from f(x) to come up with ideas. Something that a certain Canadian Chinese man was a bit jealous about, or so he's heard from Tao who has befriended the two Chinese members from Super Junior.

"I think we should have Eunhyuk and Donghae perform their collaboration as well." BoA suggested. "The international fans seem to like those two together as much as our Korean fans do. And it's such a fun song."

"I think BoA is secretly an ELF." Yunho added. "She tends to sing more of your songs than she does of mine."

"Jealous Jung Yunho?" Leeteuk teased across the table.

"Slightly." Yunho easily admitted with a grin. "My dongseangs are stealing my favorite girl with their disco dance."

"Whatever. You and I both know that the new solo I'm working on will have you in it." She replied with an eye roll.

"Amongst other dancers." He muttered under his breath. "When will we get more of these Yunho/BoA moments the fans are humming about?"

"When the still dedicated YunJae fans calm down." Kangta replied with a sigh. "We've been over this Yunho. We can't announce the relationship until the fans are all on board."

"I'm sick of waiting." Yunho grumbled with his arms crossed. BoA smiled lightly and patted him on the arm.

"Well I know Girls Generation will be short members. Yoona and Yuri both have schedules during that time." Taeyeon brought up as a change of topic. She was tactful to steer them away from a pouting Yunho who was close to another tantrum.

"Same with Siwon." Leeteuk added, catching on quickly.

Soo-Man nodded since he knew this. He looked over at Leeteuk.

"What about Kangin?"

Leeteuk shifted slightly in his seat.

"He's still adjusting to being out of the military. I don’t want to rush the return just yet. The fans understand The band understands."

The others nodded at this. They all knew Kangin would need awhile to get back into the swing of things. After all he left with a lot of bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. Kangta, as the only person at the table who had recently been in the military knew that the first few weeks back were always the strangest. To get back into a swing of normality.

Well as normal as a famous K-pop idol can get.

That reminded Kangta though.

"Jungsu, what are your military plans?"

The leader of Super Junior squirmed again.

"I've spoken with the members. They know exactly what day I will go and who will take care the responsibilities while I'm in. We won't tell the public yet until we are closer. Don’t need them to hound me every day with information until we are all ready. But we will be okay. I the band."

Soo-Man seemed to accept this answer because he began to go on with the rest of the meeting. Everyone was paying close attention to the older man.  They knew that this tour they did was great publicity for the company and the fans and they liked traveling around the world for it. 

At the right of Soo-Man, Kangta glanced around the table slowly.

For as long as he's been in the company he has never met such a tight group of people. Having gone solo he has known the best of both sides of singing with a group and on his own. Across from him BoA has always been on her own. And it made her a strong confident woman every time she took to the stage. But he knew that that her strength also came from the man next to her. Even though he went through his own struggles with his band seemingly falling apart around him, he was also very strong. And now his soul purpose was keeping his one member on track without any problems.

Taeyeon was a strong woman as well. But her strength came from the other eight women who shared the stage with her. And even though that group seemed to have their fair share of antis because of some early comments, she was able to bring them to the top of the music industry. Victoria had an easier time with the fans. But the company did not put as much energy on the five f(x) members as they should. It was something Kangta disagreed with. He knew that given chances, those five will prove to be strong reliable singers that would be great for the singers.

 He eyed the two newest leaders and had to softly sigh. EXO was another example of Soo-Man's arrogance at work. As much as he liked the twelve boys, and he really did find them endearing, he didn’t think now was the time for another group. He needed to focus on what was already in the company and help them out. Groups like DBSK that seemed to be struggling or SJ which was going through a huge change. And they seemed too young to get thrown into the lion's den just yet. Onew was sitting with a bored look on is face as he tried to pay attention. Kangta liked the Shinee leader a lot since he knew that out of the current bands, this one will probably not have as much drama as the others. It was obvious that their team really liked one another and would stick together for the longest time.

And then there was Leeteuk. Unlike the others, Kangta had the most respect towards the other man.

When he debuted everyone laughed at the idea of such a large group of men on stage together. And they pushed past it. Each member brought something to the table that another was lacking and it was quickly apparent that SM had created a real gem. The fans fell in love with them and a simple project group became stars for not just the company, but their whole country. Leeteuk was always there for that. He was a strong public speaker, and a dedicated leader for his teammates. They all loved him and followed him no matter what, something the other leaders here still had not mastered. With the military  duty so close the ballad singer knew the other man was more stressed than normal. And yet everyday he stepped on stage for his fans with a smile on his face. No matter how stressful his own life may be he always had time for his band mates. He was respected amongst the idol world and the other label mates. And the trainees loved him because he was always so kind to them. He was not just the leader of Super Junior.

He was the leader of all leaders, the leader of SM Town.

Leeteuk, feeling the others gaze on him, turned with a polite curious smile.

"Hyung?" He whispered.

"What are we going to do with out you Jungsu? I don’t think we'll be as strong without you here." He whispered back.

Leeteuk's smile was kind. He patted the older on the hand.

"Hyung you need to think like a Cassie and keep the faith. In the company and in us. We will be fine, with or without me, because we are dedicated in what we do and the fans always support us. Don’t worry."

Kangta chuckled at this. Leave it to Leeteuk to speak like a true leader.

"What is it you always say?" He asked with a grin. "This is not the end?"

"It's the and." Leeteuk finished. "I stand by that every day."

Kangta decided he should start following that as well. It was not the end of anything, of Super Junior or the company, it was just another page to this already amazing story. Kangta looked forward to see the other come back out of the military in two years. He knew everyone in the room was going to miss the man next to him. But two years was a short time. Leeteuk was not replaceable either.

He was like no other.