"One more time!" Yunho yelled across the room, his patience wearing thin. 

Jaejoong was crouching with both hands on his knees, gasping for air, no longer caring about the sweat running down his face.  

',' he cursed himself for making another mistake, closing his eyes with a grimace on his face. 

Hours turned to days as the new member familiarized himself with the dance, as well as with the group formation. Each passing second became intolerable not because he couldn't finish the track without messing up, but because he could no longer look at the members. He felt mortified for each time he made an inaccurate move, feeling guilty that the younger members had never once uttered a word of complaint. The look of exhaustion plastered on their faces was unbearable to watch knowing that he was the reason for their misfortune. 

"Five... five minutes," Jaejoong held up five fingers, begging the leader for a break.

"No one is getting out of here until I say so! Again!" Yunho said firmly, almost sounding like a growl. 

The rest of the trainees dragged their feet back to their places and smoothly executed their choreography with skill and confidence. Jaejoong felt his body sway with the music, still thinking about that well-deserved break. 

'Don't up this time Jaejoong', he repeated to himself.  

But it seemed like his self-talk did more harm than good. He watched himself lift his left arm while the rest lifted their right arm. 

The new member said nothing this time, anticipating the leader's expected disapproval. 

"How many times do we have to go through this Jaejoong?" There it was. 

Jaejoong felt the last remaining energy leave his body, as he slumped to the floor feeling lightheaded. 

"Hyung, maybe a break is all he needs," Changmin suggested, feeling bad for his friend. He could tell that the singer was as frustrated as the leader.   

"No one is taking a break. Back to your positions!" Yunho yelled, forcing Jaejoong to stand up. 

"Yunho-ssi, at least let the others go," the new member muttered weakly. 

Yunho walked over to the speaker, ignoring his plea. 

The song began and Jaejoong found himself moving with difficulty. The leader immediately turned down the music when he noticed the singer's weakening movements.

"Yah!" Yunho shouted before heading to where Jaejoong was standing. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked, lightly pushing the man's shoulder. "Do you think this is a mothering joke? That you can just screw around and half- your job?" 

"Hyung..." Yoochun tried stopping him. He can see that his hyung was about to snap.

Jaejoong remained quiet, unable to think of a comeback. He wanted to apologize, but his head was no longer functioning. 

"Yunho hyung, it's only been three days since he started learning the dance. Please go easy on him." Changmin begged inaudibly. 

"Exactly! Three days yet this is going nowhere! I've been nothing but easy on him so stop giving me that look! Like I'm the one at fault here! Our debut is right around the corner, do you think that this is acceptable? Do you think that people will go easy on us just because we're rookies? For crying out loud, wake up! We don't have much time!" He turned around and looked at Jaejoong with fire in his eyes.

"And you! You need to get your together! I'm not going to let you bring us down." 

Yunho turned to his dongsaengs and made a decision he was probably going to regret.

"All of you, get out!" 

"But hyung, I think that it'll be easier for him if we practice together..." Junsu retorted. 

"Out now!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. 

The younger trainees jumped, Yunho's voice sending shivers down their spine. They glanced at Jaejoong with pity eyes and slowly made their way out of the room, wishing that they could take the poor guy away from their scary hyung. 

Yunho was breathing heavily as he felt a migraine making its way. He brushed it off, determined to pull an all-nighter with the new member. There was no way he was going to let their group become a laughing stock.   

"If you think that I'm just gonna let them replace Ho Jun with a person who can't even finish a dance routine, then you're wrong. If you're having a hard time  right now, then you're definitely not up for what's about to come. This is just practice Jaejoong, we're far from the real thing, so stop ing around." he mumbled. 

Jaejoong felt his eyes stinging but he hid the tears that were threatening to fall. Yunho was right. This was just the beginning, he can't just quit now. He was going to ignore the pain in his body and practice until he could no longer walk. He heaved a sigh, standing straight as he waited for the track to begin playing.

Jaejoong felt the music rushing through his body, losing himself to the sound of their voices clashing together, as his feet moved to the corresponding beat. He watched himself on the mirror, his pace speeding up as the music quickened. It was nearing the end of the song and all he can feel was excitement and relief anticipating the completion of the routine but  instead, the oldest member found his body touching the dance floor, sharp pain sprinting down his ankle. 

Before he could even scream in pain, the new member heard the leader curse for the nth time that day. All he could do was hold onto his throbbing ankle, pushing back the tears that were coming back. Jaejoong was beyond annoyed with himself. He was so close.  

"You got to be kidding me Jaejoong. Is your body made out of paper? Why can't you do anything right?" Yunho was raging, wanting to rip his head off. 

"I'm so sorry, I lost my balance and... and I didn't think that I-"

"Didn't I tell you to keep your excuses to yourself! For the last time, I don't want to hear them! What I want you to do is to finish this dance so that I could finally get the out of here and get some sleep. It's that simple Jaejoong!" 

Jaejoong couldn't stop his tears this time. He turned his head to hide from the frightening gaze of the leader, afraid to be caught. He looked at his ankle and realized the pitiful state he was in. He let out a muffled sob, body shaking as he struggled to stop crying. 

The leader stood there, watching Jaejoong in disbelief. 

"Are you ing kidding me?" he mumbled with a laugh. "Are you crying? Why?" Yunho's face stiffened. "I should be the one crying Jaejoong, not you. I'm the one stuck here with you. I'm the one who has to deal with your !" He watched the other man tremble. 

Yunho shook his head furiously, not knowing what to do with the other man. "So that's it? You're just gonna cry and pray that things will get better for you?" 

Jaejoong swiftly wiped his tears when he realized what he was doing. He let out a deep sigh to stop the tears from falling. He counted to three and stood up, ignoring the stabbing pain on his ankle. He didn't look at Yunho, he couldn't. Instead, he stared right at himself on the mirror, disgusted at the mess in front of him. 

'Stop it Jaejoong,' he told himself, clenching his teeth.  

"Are you done?" Yunho asked calmly this time. 

Jaejoong simply nodded, still not looking at the leader. 

"Another thing I don't tolerate is crying during practice. Strict training is part of your trainee life. If you can't do it, then quit. I'm not going to chase after you." 

And with that, the leader walked towar