Due to popular demand, SM Entertainment immediately decided to announce 2 more showcases set two weeks after Taemin’s very successful first showcase. Taemin and his production team had no rest in those two weeks of preparation. They had to come up with a few more different ideas and touches to the showcase in order to offer the crowd something new. Taemin had to set aside a lot of other schedules, having no time for hangouts, personal activities or whatnot. He went fulltime until these two more showcases came to a grand finish.

            After the showcase, Taemin was starting to feel burned out. In order to give their top artist proper care, SM Entertainment granted Taemin 4 weeks of break from work. It was unusual for SM to give their artists such a long period of rest, and they would only do so unless they had no choice. Taemin wasn’t sure whether SM was genuinely worried because they saw how much he worked his off or they just really planned this all along as a reward for his success. Usually, SM overworks their most successful artists a bit too much, but maybe this time SM saw that Taemin overworked himself by his own will that they suddenly felt concern. Whatever the reason was, Taemin loved it. He wanted to rest. Though Taemin loved to indulge himself in his work, this time he had no choice. His body was craving for a getaway from all of these.

            Although he was granted the rest that he wanted, Taemin didn’t feel rested even in his own house. Fans, sasaeng or not, have crowded outside his home and waited for him to come out.  Taemin usually gives out good fanservice but he knew this scenario very well and it wasn’t a safe one. The last time he went out of his home to meet his fans, overly crazed sasaengs physically harassed him and he wasn’t going to let that happen again. All the SHINee members were old enough to move out of their dorms and have their own homes. Due to this, Taemin didn’t feel the security he got from the companionships of his hyungs anymore. And even if Taemin grew to be more independent over the years, sometimes he still needed other’s help.
           

            It was the second day of his month-long vacation; Taemin figured it would be best to stay out of Seoul for a while. As big as he already is, many would think Taemin’s ideal vacation would be a grand getaway on a cruise ship or escaping to a high-class (and extremely pricey) resort but this is a grave misconception. Despite all the fame and fortune, Taemin wants to keep things as simple as possible. Even if he loves his work as a popstar, he still wanted to live a life as a normal citizen. Taemin packed his stuff into a hand luggage, grabbed his phone and wallet and dressed as hidden as possible with his long silver locks hidden inside a beanie. He left during the third morning of his vacation, and he left the earliest hour possible. Though nobody was waiting for him outside his house, his heart pounded with much anxiety knowing that a sasaeng could catch him anytime. As much as possible, he didn’t want anyone to find out where he’s going. Sasaengs these days are very unpredictable, especially now that Seoul’s technology is growing. The sasaengs maximize the capabilities of their smartphones and sources, in order to track their victims. That’s why Taemin was frantic. He ran to the nearest bus station and waited for a bus that headed outside Seoul. Taemin didn’t actually have a particular place in mind; he just really wanted to stay out of Seoul for a change of ambiance (and of course to escape the idol life). The first bus that stopped by was a bus headed to Daegu. Daegu seemed to be a practical destination, and so Taemin boarded the bus quickly. Taemin beeped his t-money card to pay for his fare, dropped his luggage in the luggage section and took a seat. He looked around and saw that not much people were heading to Daegu. Taemin let out a sigh of relief. “So far so good, hopefully it’d be a smooth quiet ride” Taemin said to himself as he laid back comfortably. Taemin tried to clear his mind by listening to some music on his phone. He wanted to be occupied because he knew it was going to be a long trip. Taemin just closed his strained eyes to give them a rest. No matter how much Taemin tried to rest, he still wasn’t feeling that sense of peace his insides craved for. He squirmed around his seat but still couldn’t find that comfortable, relaxing position. Taemin blew air out of his nose in frustration. He just stayed still and thought of other ways to relax himself. He thought maybe listening to soft music would help somehow.
 

>select your playlist
>Classical &Ballad

As he selected this playlist, his favorite song “River Flows Through you” was the first song that played. This was a song that was very dear to Taemin and he immediately put it on loop. Oh, how he missed this sweet melody. It was the song he listened to whenever he had to go through tough times in his early youth. It helped him get by. It was a long time since he last heard this song, maybe because Taemin really didn’t have enough time to sit down and listen to songs (except the ones he needed for performances) lately. He remembered how much this song helped him back then. When he was bullied in elementary school, this song soothed his tiny fragile heart and stopped him from crying. When he wanted to audition for SM Entertainment but everyone underestimated him and discouraged him from doing so, this song inspired him to keep on practicing until the audition day. When he felt pressured that he won’t be able to debut because of the difficulty of juggling his studies and his training, this song cleared his mind of the pressure that stops him from going on. This song had a mysterious energy that motivates and touches his soul. As Taemin reminisced the countless trials that he endured with this song, he started to think why he had to go through all those. Never had it crossed his mind that God threw all these at him out of hatred. He always thought that pain and trials was vital to a person’s growth. He thought that if he didn’t experience these, he wouldn’t learn to solve his own problems and that itself would cause more problems. He wouldn’t learn to stand up by himself. Then Taemin thought that there was something more to it than just that. He came to realize that we’re all meant to experience ugly happenings in order for us to appreciate the beautiful ones. This realization changed Taemin’s heart. His bitterness towards the pains of his past turned into gratefulness. He thanked God that he went through all those and got him to where he is now. Taemin’s conclusion to this thought calmed his restless mind and gave him a sense of peace. The song continued to play until it lulled Taemin to sleep. It was just what he needed. And thus “River Flows Through You” had helped Taemin once again.

*after several hours*


“Hey boy, wake up”

“Wake up, kid!”

“Aish this kid. YA IREONA!!”

Taemin’s deep sleep was cut off by a rugged push. He rubbed his drowsy eyes, opened them and looked around to see that all the other passengers had left. It was just him and the bus driver. The bus driver roughly pushed him up on his feet and handed him his luggage.
 

“Hurry up and get off kid! This is the last drop off station at Daegu!” screamed the driver as he pushed Taemin to the exit. As Taemin got off the bus, he gave the driver ajhussi an embarrassed bow in which the driver didn’t respond to and hastily drove off. Taemin looked up, covered his face in his hands and let out a groan. He lightly slapped his face to recover from his deep sleep. It was already dark and cold when he got off the bus so he had to keep going. After walking a few meters away from the bus stop, he found himself in a quiet neighborhood. A few people were out to go eat, drink or just merely take a walk. Taemin walked deeper into the neighbourhood to check the vicinity and look for an inn to stay in. Taemin kept walking and suddenly, he passed by an open chimek (chicken and beer) stand with chairs and a table. The sight and aroma of the deep-fried, soy garlic chicken caused Taemin’s stomach to grumble violently. He realized he hasn’t eaten anything ever since he left Seoul early this morning so he immediately ran to the food stand, ordered some chimek and grabbed a chair. As soon as his food was served, Taemin feasted on the chicken right away. He ravishly munched on each piece of chicken and gulped beer after every swallow. It didn’t take long for him to finish everything up. He had to order a second and a third helping in order to satisfy his deep hunger. As Taemin finished up his third serving of chicken, he finally felt satisfied. “Aaah…” Taemin let out a sound of delight.  “You liked the chicken?” asked the ajhumma who manned the chimek stand. Taemin gave her a nod and she smiled delightfully. He sat for a while to digest everything he ate and thought of whipping out his phone to search for the nearest inn. Taemin searched his pockets but his phone didn’t seem to be there. He dug through the zipper of his luggage but didn’t find anything but clothes. Taemin double-checked his pockets and every section of his luggage but he was unsuccessful. That was when he realized that the bus driver pushed him quickly out of the bus that he might have dropped it there.
“Aish! So darn stupid…aigoo!…” groaned Taemin as he held his head high out of stress. Taemin easily loses his things and it drives him nuts everytime. His friends either tell him that his hands have huge holes or maybe he was blessed with “magic hands” that makes things disappear magically. How frustrating.
“What seems to be the matter, son?” asked the ajhumma.
“I seemed to have dropped my phone inside the bus I took earlier. I needed it to find my way around the place” replied Taemin while his right hand pressed the back of his neck.
“You’re from Seoul aren’t you?” asked the ajhumma.
“Neh..” replied Taemin.
“Oh, you’re a city boy. That explains why you’re so handsome and glowing! How could I help?” exclaimed the ajhumma.
“Oh, neh..kamsahamnida...hehe..”  embarrassingly replied Taemin. “Ajhumma, do you know where the nearest inn is? I really need a place to stay in for tonight.”
“Neh. You just keep going forward from here until you see a yellow neon sign that says ‘Sel Inn’ ” answered the ajhumma.
“Ajhumma, do you know what time it is as of now?” asked Taemin, worried that the inn might be closed.
“It’s just 9:56 pm. Don’t worry, the inn doesn’t close until 3 am, you’ll get there in time” replied the ajhumma.
“Oh, thank God. I'll be on my way. Jeongmal kamsahamnida~” said Taemin with a 45 degree bow.
“Neh, cheonma~” replied the ajhumma and bowed back then Taemin went on his way.

            After 15 minutes of walking Taemin found himself in a dimly lit street. He didn’t have a good feeling about this area but he just kept his cool and continued walking. He really wanted to get to the Inn as soon as possible because he was really tired. At least the presence of the houses in that area sort of made him feel safe.

 (*author’s note: This neighbourhood is fictional. It’s a small imaginary neighbourhood cramped up somewhere near the business establishments of the city such as super markets, shopping stores, etc. Daegu is full of high-rise buildings but I thought it’d be more appropriate for this point in the story to be set in an area with actual houses.)

As he continued walking on the sidewalk, he saw 2 drunken ajhussis walking towards his direction. They were maniacally laughing, one of them holding a thin empty glass bottle of soju. This was nothing new to Taemin, he has encountered way too many drunk people in his teens especially when he had to walk home from late night training. Taemin just tried to veer away, looked straight and kept walking until he finally went past them. Taemin felt relieved and thought it was finally safe. It was all fine until one of the ajhussis started to notice Taemin as he started to go farther from them. The demon of intoxication took over the two. They sneaked up to him from behind. Despite being drunk, these two old men were able to sneak up behind Taemin quietly without him noticing at all. As they walked behind him, the ajhussi with a bottle lunged at Taemin to swiftly and mindlessly smashed the bottle against the side of his head. *CRASH!* The bottle crashed loudly and broke against Taemin head knocking the young man down, leaving him unconscious on the ground. It happened too quick that Taemin wasn’t even able to react. He wasn’t even able to make sounds of pain. He passed out immediately after the hard impact. The two drunken men burst into wild laughter as they kicked and made fun of Taemin’s unconscious body lying on the sidewalk. It was all fun and games for the two until a light flashed from the house parallel to them. The two old fools ran right away in fear of getting caught as the door of the house started to open. A longhaired, pale skinned, petit lady came out of the house to check what had caused such a loud crash. She looked out to the street and gasped as she saw Taemin lying on the sidewalk along with the pieces of the broken glass bottle. She quickly went over to Taemin to check his condition. She placed her hand on his chest to see if he was still breathing and checked his pulse. After seeing that Taemin was still alive but unconscious, she immediately carried him inside her house and rested him on her living room couch. She didn’t even struggle to lift Taemin (he was known to be very light). As Taemin laid on the couch, she examined Taemin’s face and saw two small cuts on his right cheek. Two small cuts couldn’t be the only results of a bottle to the head. She immediately pulled away Taemin’s beanie from his head to check his condition further.

His silver hair was stained with blood.