I came out of that tiny practice room. Before I came out of it, I poked my head out the door to see how many people were in the hallway. It was possibly the busiest time of the day, and everyone was outside, either relaxing or talking. I took a deep breath and walked out of that room. Time to throw myself into the sea.

I knew I was expected to initiate all of the greetings to my seniors - as I found out with a sharp scolding when I hadn't on the second day here - and so when I came upon a group of seniors by two years, I bowed to them and said loudly, "Hi, sunbaenim."

They turned around to look at me, and for the first time in three months, they accepted my greeting. "How's it going?" said one of them.

Although this was such a small gesture to be expected everywhere else, this made me just as happy as when I received that compliment from Ryeowook earlier today. "I'm well, thank you. I'm working hard." I smiled. This had to be the first time I've shown them my smile.

"I see. Come to the basement with us and the rest of the boys in a few minutes. Meet the new trainees, tighten discipline on them a bit. Everyone should be there," said another one of them.

"Yes, sunbaenim," I said with a wide smile again. They turned their backs on me again to talk to one another, but I wasn't troubled. I was happy that they were finally talking to me.

I stood there, unable to participate in their conversation, a few steps away at a water cooler. As I took a drink, the seniors called out my name. "Kyuhyun, let's go."

This probably was also the first time that any senior besides Ryeowook had called my name. "Sure," I said.

I walked with them down the stairs with them, feeling more at home at SM than I ever had. The basement was a poorly lit room. It was like any other floor, except that it was never used for any other purpose, it seemed, besides senior scolding and occasionally punishing their juniors. When I got there, about four seniors were already there. I bowed to each one separately. They smiled and gave a nod. This was the first time for them as well. I smiled back and at this moment, the two other boys that started at SM at the same time as me came in as well. They looked around for a second and noticing everyone else, bowed several times. The seniors acknowledged their greetings with nods as well, and they seemed as pleasantly surprised as I had. A few minutes of awkward silences, and then the elevator dinged.

The four newcomers to SM had just arrived, chattering happily with each other. And why wouldn't they be? They had just started training in the best entertainment company in the country to achieve their dreams. They were probably all the most popular in their own right in their own schools, and so they probably weren't used to this either. They saw about the 15 of us standing here, and stopped talking. They then gave a quick extension of the neck to signify bowing. Oh man. They were in for a treat.

"Come closer," said one of the oldest trainees, Minhyun, with a charismatic frown. He was older than me by three years, and had been training for more than six years. There was talk that he was finally going to debut soon as the 13th member of Super Junior, which was obviously going to be a tremendous honour. One of the juniors gave a small drop of the head again with a cocky smile, but the other three, finally realizing the atmosphere of the room, had stopped smiling and gave a more respectful bow as they moved closer. "Stand in a row. Hands out of your pockets."

They seemed a bit flustered, but soon formed a line. "Hey, you," said Minhyun, indicating the boy who had given the curt bow. Then without warning, the senior lifted up his open hand and planted it with all his strength on the side of junior's head, also catching his face. "Is that how you greet your sunbaes?"

The junior, clearly surprised, stared into the senior's eyes with anger. However, as was probably a good strategy, he remained quiet. "Lower your eyes right now," said Minhyun. The other three juniors lowered their eyes, but the one that Minhyun had just slapped continued to stare into Minhyun's eyes. Every other senior looked around at each other with disbelieving eyes. Minhyun lifted his hand again and the junior finally lowered his eyes. I was sure that Minhyun was going to punish this kid. "That's better," he said, but then noticed that the junior was seething with lowered eyes. "I don't like the expression on your face. Change it."

Somehow, Minhyun had gotten through to him already; the junior lowered his head.

"We're letting you slide since it's your first day. But from now on, be more careful with the respect level," said one of the other seniors. Minhyun, being one of the biggest seniors, had taken a step back now - he didn't need to be involved with the youngest juniors.

"Cho Kyuhyun, you're responsible for this one. Make sure he does everything right. If he ever does something wrong, you'll be punished as well," said Minhyun, indicating the problematic junior. Did that just happen? Did I just get a junior assigned to me? I didn't even know that Minhyun knew my name. Before I could respond, the seniors were already assigning the younger seniors to the juniors.

"I expect you guys to do better from now on," said Minhyun, and with that, he left the room with his cohort of seniors. Even then, the juniors didn't bow from their waist. I made a half-motion to leave with everyone else, but then stopped myself. Oh god, if I didn't do well with this junior, I could be on the receiving end of punishment again. When the new juniors and I were the only ones left in the room, I gave the other three juniors a wave of dismissal. The one that I was responsible for remained in the room. I suddenly felt awkward; I didn't want to be the senior that I so hated the others were.

"Um... right. What's your name?" I said in mixed informal speech.

"Jonghyun," he said. He also used mixed informal speech. "I'm a 90," he said, indicating the year he was born. So I am two years older than him. I nodded back.

"The the problem is, that's not how the entertainment industry works."

Jonghyun just looked at his feet without saying anything.

"Sunbaes are the biggest things here. Treat your sunbaes even more respectfully than you treat your teachers... Greet everyone if you see them, bow from your waist. Start with that," I said. "Also, just as a word of caution, don't use any of the practice rooms on the far side of the third floor. Don't even go in that area. That area is reserved for the sunbaes."

"Okay," he said with a scared look on his face, still in half-informal speech. I smiled, trying to loosen him up. But with him, I also felt better.

"Okay. I have things to do. Just be prepared to work hard and respect your seniors. That's all you can do for now."

"Sure," he said. He bowed his head to watch me leave, and I made a point of bowing mine slightly as well - I wanted to respect my juniors as much as I respected my seniors.

As I was on the second level to grab my things before heading home, I saw one of the senior in the hallway. I smiled and bowed again. "Hello, sunbaenim!"

He smiled too. "Hi. Thanks for taking on the junior."

"Thanks for leaving him to me," I said. "I guess I'm not the littlest junior anymore," I said with a smile.

He laughed too. "By the way, you should start using the bigger practice rooms. I've told the other seniors already so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Really? Thank you, sunbaenim," I said with a big smile.

"Not a problem. You were leaving, I think, so I'll see you at the progress check tomorrow," he said.

I bowed again from my waist, and he patted my back. "Yes. Have a good night," I said. Content, I left the building to be greeted by a warm summer night.