Chapter Text
Cho Aera was, for lack of a better word, stressed. She'd only been hired at SM three weeks ago, almost, and she was already tasked with such an important role! God, this company was going to be the death of her. Of course, she knew what she was signing up to. She just didn't expect to be thrust into this situation so early.
She shook her head. There was no use lamenting about something already decided and out of her control. All she could do now was deal with it as she would with any other project.
Except, it wasn't any other project. This was a huge one! After all, she'd only done some minor paperwork concerning Red Velvet and looking over a few Super Junior members after they'd been injured in some mission - it was mostly Heechul and Kangin who she'd ended up with. Outside of that, she hadn't done much.
And now, suddenly, she's part of the staff in charge of this new supergroup? God, and she hadn't even interacted with them before.
NCT, EXO and SHINee. All three were quite well known within SM; even rookies such as herself knew about them and they were hardly told anything. And for good reason, too. It was a wonder as to how the public hadn't heard of them at this point.
NCT is the biggest group in Korea when it came to superpowered groups. With Twenty-Three members, and more to come, NCT quickly became one of the most diverse groups, with Chinese, Japanese and Thai along with Koreans in their group. They had three subgroups within, specialising in different things: attack, defence, and support. Aera didn't even want to get into the rumoured Dream Lab.
EXO, too, has been quite a big group, formed with, initially, twelve members. She didn't know how, but they lost three of them, two in one mission and another in a later one. Still, nine was a big number. Not nearly as big as NCT, but big. They too had two subgroups within them, though they were more balanced with both defensive and attack-lenient members in each group. Apparently, according to some guy who was demoted, they'd been found with their powers instead of awakening them in SM.
SHINee were legends - even outside of SM. They only had five members, but they worked so well together. Well, they considered themselves five even though one had passed away during a mission. It confused her, but she didn't want to be disrespectful, so she ignored her. It's rumoured that all members had simply overpowered abilities, all of them somehow of the same element. Which element exactly had been kept top secret, along with both their origins and any plans put in place for them, but she hoped to find out when she met the member assigned.
Speaking of, there had been seven members selected. Four from NCT, two from EXO, and only one from SHINee. Lee Sooman had selected them personally, to form the ultimate group, capable of beating anyone. Which is probably why they're starting in America.
It only made sense. Korea had all the other groups. They might as well start overseas. Even if only one of the members was fluent in English.
So, Aera stepped out of the taxi and looked at the building before her. It looked to be a normal vacation house, if a bit on the large side. However, she knew, underneath it was where things got interesting.
"Ah, Cho Aera, I presume?" She looked over and saw a man waving her over. She nodded and smiled, walking over as he beckoned. "You'll be in the group in charge of the subjects' health. We noticed your skills when dealing with Super Junior and have decided to keep you around to control the troublesome personalities."
Ah, that made sense. She'd have been screwed if she had to be in charge of something like planning missions and so on. Caretaking seemed much more manageable.
"Proceed to the basement. The room you're looking for is the Conference Room. It's labelled so I assume you won't have much difficulty."
"Of course," Replied Aera. She waited for a few more seconds. When it began evident that he wasn't going to say more, Aera huffed and left to find the basement. She didn't even catch his name. How rude!
It took her some time, maybe about ten minutes, but she managed to navigate the pure white walls and maze-like corridors and found the room. Steeling her gut, she knocked shyly and walked in, making sure to bow to her sunbaenims and greet them before looking around anxiously. Her station was labelled and she quickly went over.
She felt somewhat out of place. The women and men around her were dressed in medical outfits and looked like real doctors, which they probably are. Meanwhile, she was in her usual formal outfit. At least it was professional? A suit with a pencil skirt and black heels were professional enough. And besides, she wasn't even a medical officer, so it didn't matter all too much.
Aera was taken out of her thoughts when the door opened. She along with the others turned to the door.
Seven individuals walked through the open doors. Her heart thumped thunderously in her chest. This was it. These are the people she had to look over.
"Ah, you're finally here." Lee Sooman smiled from behind the desk. Half of their eyes narrowed at him and the others seemed flustered. Either way, Sooman ignored them and continued. "Now, I'm sure you're all confused as to why I called you here. Well, aside from Taeminnie."
Taeminnie? The one in the middle pursed his lips at the name so she assumed he was Taeminnie. If that was his name, anyway. Sooman tended to give nicknames out to anyone.
"Before we start, please introduce yourselves to the staff and each other."
The first to actually speak was the one at the far left, closest to her, with a brown bowl cut. "I'm Byun Baekhyun," he sighed, bowing to everyone. "I'm from EXO. Nice to meetcha." EXO. So he was one of the two.
The one next to him shrugged and bowed first before introducing himself. "Kim Jongin. I go by Kai. From EXO, too." Ah, so those two were from EXO? Aera could feel her face heat up.
The next to go was one of the most attractive guys she'd ever seen. "I'm Lee Taeyong from NCT. I'm in your hands." He bowed too and somehow even that was intimidating.
Taeminnie sighed and went next, equally as intimidating as Taeyong. "Lee Taemin," Ah. So Taeminnie was a nickname. She thought so, "of SHINee. Let's work together." SHINee. Oh, fuck. The levels of intimidation skyrocketed. He looked so young but SHINee had supposedly been active for almost twelve years.
"Hello," The next one politely greeted, bowing deep. Unlike everyone else, he only bowed once and looked up again. "I'm Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul of NCT. But you can call me Ten."
Thank. Fuck. There was no way she'd memorize all of that. Also, she knew that he'd be from NCT due to the process of elimination, but holy shit, he's from NCT.
"Um, I'm Wong Yukhei, but you can call me Lucas." The next one bowed low - at 90°. Also, holy shit. How is he so handsome? She swears everyone in NCT is about twenty-six or less. How can he be so young and have those proportions? "I'm from NCT."
The final member bowed repeatedly. Only once he bowed to everyone did he introduce himself, "I'm Lee Minyeong, or Mark, of NCT. It's great to meet you guys." He was adorable. He looked so... so squishable. And his voice had that slight tilt to it that gave his anxiety and eagerness away.
So, in short, Sooman seemingly chose the best options. In her opinion.
"Okay!" Sooman clapped. "Now, onto the reason as to why you've been called here." He clicked one of the various buttons on the desk and an image was projected onto the wall behind him. The word SuperM was in a large, bold font, the 'u' underlined in red. "I'm aiming to create a supergroup, starting here in America. It will be called SuperM and I want the seven of you to join."
"What?" Kai blurts out and turns to Taemin. "You knew about this?"
Taemin drew his lips into a somewhat thin line. "I was told that we'd be forming a supergroup in America, but nothing else outside of it." He sighed and unfolded his previously crossed arms. "Speaking of, what is the aim of SuperM?"
Aera felt a shiver travel up her spine when Sooman's face changed. His smile morphed into something wicked, reaching his eyes and stretching across his face. He tilted his head slightly which only added to the horrible feeling in her gut.
"To destroy our opponents."
"..."
"What...?" It was Mark who spoke, voice breaking and eyes wide. Her heart lurched out for him. "Why...? What do you mean...?"
Sooman sighed. "To explain further," he hit a key in his keyboard and the image changed. Now, it showed the various buildings belonging to their opponents - YG, JYP, PStation, CUBE, and more, "I need them gone. They're SM's biggest competitions. I can have other groups handle the targets in Korea. For now, I need you to handle America and then the industries in Korea. Understood?"
It wasn't just the seven of them and her who was horrified. Others had looked pale and tensed at his words. Most, however, seemed completely fine with these turn of events. How jaded had they become? In fact, how often did this sort of stuff happen?
"And if we say no?" Taeyong challenged, fists clenched and his eyes narrowed into a glare. She didn't blame him but at the same time, she felt that his defiance was best kept under wraps.
Sooman sighed, "It seems you've forgotten who owns SM." He met his glare with his own intense gaze. "I do. I own SM. As such, I own you and your friends' lives. Refute and... Well..."
Aera felt like throwing up.
"...Fine." Ten had all but spat, eyes still alit with defiance. "I accept."
"We all do," Baekhyun spoke, loud and clear. He didn't look pleased, but he did look determined. "We'll join SuperM."
"Splendid." Sooman smiled. It was his usual, calming smile, but Aera felt sick seeing it. Even more so than when she saw his creepy grin from moments before. "Now, shall we take you to your training rooms?" It was a question, yet it was anything but.
"Whatever." Kai glared. "Go ahead."
Seven members of the staff walked up and found their assigned member. Taeyong was quick to whisper to the others in NCT and Baekhyun and Kai stuck close to each other. Taemin hovered close by Kai, but not too close.
Aera watched with bated breath as they left the room.
"Now, then!" Sooman clapped and gained their attention at once. "Let me read out the assigned rooms."
God, she hated him.