The Boys & I

Chapter 22: New Project Unit Called SM-B&E

After the success of my solo career as a singer, SM Entertainment called BoA and me for an important meeting. I saw BoA inside the conference room, waving and smiling at me. I greeted her. She congratulated me for a successful solo career. Suddenly, Mr. Lee Soo-man entered. We greeted politely. And he announced, “I would like to launch a new project unit and it’ll be called ‘SM-B&E’.” BoA and I were happy and excited.

SM Entertainment announced publicly that they will release another project unit. K-Pop fans were very excited. Rumors came out that the new project unit would be BoA and me. We haven’t confirmed but we gave a hint to our Twitter followers. The album consisted of 5 songs. Our schedule was so hectic because of recording, album photo-shooting, dance rehearsing, and music video filming.

SM-B&E: B.E.S.T. (BoA & Eunkyo in SM Town)

1. 쌍둥이 자매 (Twin Sisters)

2. B.E.S.T.

3. 음악 로열티 (Music Royalty)

4. 일본 만화경 (Japanese Kaleidoscope)

5. Asian Pop Divas

6. Angel’s Beat (BoA’s solo)

7. Sexy Girl (Eunkyo’s solo)

After a couple of months, SM Entertainment officially released the music video teaser on their YouTube channel. Twelve days after, the ‘B.E.S.T.’ MV had been released thru SM’s YouTube channel. In just one day, my music video had 2 million views. We thanked all Jumping BoAs and all SONEs (especially Kyosplayers) who watched our MV on YouTube via Twitter. Our album was launched 7 days after. It was just sold for almost 200,000 units on the first day of its release. We performed the songs ‘Asian Pop Divas and ‘B.E.S.T.’ in Ingikayo, Mnet Countdown, Music Bank, and Music Core after the official release of my MV. Our co-SM artists went to K-Chart programs respectively to show support: EXO on Ingikayo, Super Junior and f(x) on Mnet Countdown; Kangta and SHINee on Music Bank; and Girls’ Generation and TVXQ on Music Core. ‘B.E.S.T.’ went number 1 on 10 consecutive weeks. We had a farewell performance on the 12th week wherein our song became number 2 and the new number 1 went to CNBlue.

A week after we wrapped up our album promotions in Korea, SM Entertainment announced that we will be releasing the project unit’s Japanese album with same name. Then we went to Japan and Taiwan to continue our album promotions overseas. We thanked all the fans for their support.

We came back to Korea after a month. BoA and I became close friends in the drama ‘Parfait Love’ but we became best friends because of our project unit. She’s like a big sister to me who cares for me. We went to SM Entertainment building. We’re surprised that one of her best friends, Yunho and my boyfriend Jonghyun gave us a bouquet of roses and congratulated us.

I entered Mr. Kim Young min’s office. He smiled as I went inside and hugged me. He congratulated me for a job well done. I grinningly thanked him. But he asked, “Do you want a leave? Or vacation?”

“Huh? No need. I can still work,” I answered.

He asked again, “Are you sure?” I nodded.

“Eunkyo, you must need a break,” Jonghyun said as he entered Sir Kim’s office.

I asked Jonghyun, “Why are you here?”

“I called him inside,” Sir Kim replied.

There was a moment of silence. Then Sir Kim said, “I’ll allow you to take a vacation overseas for two weeks. Anyway, Eunkyo’s dad wants to meet Jonghyun.”

“HUH???” That was a surprise. So we’re going to the Philippines? I asked the CEO, “Are you serious? If the fans of SHINee and Girls’ Generation…”

“That vacation would be a secret, ok? By the way, Jessica will take over to your MTV show while you’re in a vacation,” Sir Kim honestly responded. I seriously nodded at the CEO while Jonghyun smilingly stared at me. The CEO added, “Jonghyun will spend a 2-week vacation with you in Manila while you will spend another 2-week vacation in another country.”