"Ummm... Hello?" I peeked through the door nervously. This is where I'd been told to go so I could set up my school stuff. It was an office deep within the SM building, and I had no idea who I was going to be talking to, other than that it was somebody official.

"Come in."

I did, trying to look as humble as possible. I raised my eyes to see where I was going, and saw a middle-aged man sitting behind a desk.

"Sit."

He had a heavy accent, I could tell that already. Especially because the Korean accent made the "Si" syllable sound like "shi", so the command to "sit" didn't sound all that appealing. I did as I was told, however.

"Melissa, You?'

"Yes, that's my name." That was what I assumed he was asking, at least.

"School, name Choi Min Sung. Understand?" I could tell he was struggling to get the English out, considering that the sentence structure was totally wacko.

"Are you saying that I'm going to go by a Korean name while I'm in school?"

He nodded. "Company pick two school advise you go. Work best for SM. You pick. Den (Then), you choose class."

I was getting a headache trying to translate this. I supposed it was the same feeling that Spanish speakers got when Spanish-language students spoke to them in Spanish.

"What two schools?"

"One arts school. One school for foreign students." He picked up a folder and held it out to me. Gingerly, I took it with both hands, as is polite in Korea, and opened it. Sure enough, one was an art school, which would be good for being a trainee, but I kind of wanted an intellectual education. So I picked the foreign school. I could see why that was one they wanted. It wasn't too far from SM, so it would work with my schedule.

"This one." I held the envelope out to him.

"Kure. Dis is form for registration. Go home. Pick class. Come back tomorrow, we register."

He gave me a form with a booklet, and then said, "You can go now, Minsung."

"Nae... Kamsahamnida..."

I bowed a little and left.

"So you're going to that foreign school?" Min Hee asked.

"Yeah. I'm picking classes now."

"You know that's the same place that SuJu filmed 'No Other', right?"

"Chincha?! It's THAT foreign school?!"

"Yes, Mel."

"Woah!" I grabbed the booklet and leafed through the campus pictures. "Omo, it really is!"

Min Hee laughed. "Have fun. Pick good classes."

"Don't you have to pick a school?"

"No, I graduated school early when I found out I'd be coming here. I have to get a job, since my family isn't supporting me."

"They're not?" My parents didn't really have the money to help me out, either, but I knew they would if they could. So I supposed that I had better get a job, too. 

"No, they've disapproved of me being a singer for as long as I can remember. They're always 'be more like your brother. Do what your brother does. We're so proud of Jay.'"

"Oooohhh, so you have to live up to your parents' expectations set by your brother. What's he like?'

"He's one of those people who got perfect grades in high school, went to college to become a businessman, and now makes a ton of money. We're both really hard workers, when it's towards something we want. It's a trait we both have. It's just... what we want is different."

I shrugged. "I have an older sister, but I've never really had the stress of trying to best her. It just came naturally to me." I'm sure if Jackie were there, she would have made a face, but probably agreed. It had always been that way. She'd be good at something, but when I tried it, I'd be just a bit better. Cross Country, advanced math, Forensics, acting, singing... I didn't know why it was like that. It's not like I was trying to be better than her, it just... happened. Okay, there were a few times where it was a deliberate challenge, but those were a minority. But for some reason, Jackie never held it against me. I guess we just both realized that we were destined for different things. 

"That must be nice," Min Hee replied, making a face. 

"Meh. If you don't live with it everyday, it seems that way. But I grew up with it, so I guess I just naturally expect sibling relationships to be that easy."

"If only." She looked up at her SHINee poster thoughtfully for a moment, then said, "I'm going to go out job searching. Want to come?"

I shook my head. "No thanks. I want to figure out what classes I'm going to take first. And I've got to e-mail my school counselor from back home... It'll probably take all day."

"Alright. See you later, then."

"Hello, I'm uh..." What was my Korean name again? "Choi MinSung, here to see the human resources manager?"

The woman at the reception desk looked at me blankly. Crap. 

"Uh..." Oh! I had an idea. Quickly, I rifled through my packet of papers and showed her the business card Julia had given me. "I need to see this man."

She must have gotten the idea, because she nodded. "Director in meeting. Wait." She gave the card back and motioned to one of the chairs in the lobby. Well, at least now I knew what I was doing. Good thing I brought my laptop. Let's see, it was about 1PM now, so it'd be around yesterday at 11 PM at home... yeah, they'd be awake.

I flipped open the computer and went to the video chat site that my friends and I had set up before I left. Sure enough, Em was online. Dork. She should get some sleep.

"Hey, Mel. You waiting, too?" Min Hee asked, plopping down in the chair next to me.

"Yeah. I was just going to videochat my friend Em. You want to join?"

"Yeah, sure. We don't have anything better to do."

I was about to open the chat when I felt a hand on my shoulder and a loud, familiar voice yell "HI MEL!"

It was a good thing I had a good grip on the computer, or I would've sent it flying, I jumped so high. "Henry! You scared the crap out of me!"

"Sorry. Whatcha doin'?"

"Videochatting my friend."

He watched over my shoulder, just out of view of the camera, as I clicked on the chat button, to create the video link. I saw Emily's face over take the screen, and then four voices call "MEL!!!!"

"Woah! All of you are at Em's house?!"

"We're planning something. You'll find out eventually."

"Did you see my video?"

"Yeah. Did your downstairs neighbors really come to visit you? Your music was pretty loud when you made it."

"Yeah, we didn't really turn the music down that much, but we didn't have anymore visits from EXO members, so..."

"Wait, what?"

Suddenly Em was pushed out of the way by a very hyper Jacklyn. "You didn't actually get showed around by Henry, did you?! You're lying!"

"What?! You saw the picture, didn't you?"

"Photoshopped." She glowered at me.

"It was not!"

"There's no way he'd take a picture with you!"

"She has a point," Ali put in. "I mean, you've been there less than a week and you're telling us that you've met idols. Be a bit more realistic."

"Come on, you guys. If I was going to photoshop a picture of myself and an idol, why would I pick Henry? I'd probably pick Sungmin or Kyuhyun."

Over my shoulder I heard a "Hey!"

I turned to Min Hee. "You saw us, right? Out in the hallway?"

She smirked. "I don't know. I wasn't a part of this."

Suddenly ignoring the conversation, Em's face got REALLY big in the screen. "OH MY GOSH, I LOVE YOUR ACCENT!!!!!" Typical Em. She loved just about any accent, so long as it wasn't hers.

"Well, thank you." Min Hee answered.

"So, you've met Min Hee," I said, rolling my eyes. "Min Hee, these are my friends: left to right, Eliz, Ali, Jacklyn, and Em."

"Hello."

"Stop avoiding the topic!" Jacklyn yelled, "you have to PROVE that photo!"

Exasperated, I yelled. "Fine! I'll prove it! Here, talk to Henry!"

I tilted the computer screen back so that the camera could get a full view of Henry.

"Hi! How's America?"

I looked back at the computer screen. For the first time in as long as I could remember, my friends were silent, just looking at Henry in shock.

"Do you believe me now?" I scowled at the screen, breaking their reverie.

"You're not kidding. She wasn't kidding." Em murmured to Ali, still slightly in awe.

There was another moment of shocked silence, and then suddenly the noise exploded.

"Have you met any other idols?" Asked Em.

"Like SHINee?!" added Eliz.

"Why is Henry there with you?!" Interrupted Jacklyn.

"Woah, woah, woah, GUYS! Slow down! First of all, no, I haven't met any other idols. Henry was one of the first people I met here. Before Min Hee, actually. So no, I haven't met SHINee." An image of talking to Kyuhyun after the auditions came into my mind, but that was technically before I came to Korea, so that didn't count. Not to mention that they didn't really need to know about that.

"And as to why Henry is here..." I thought about it for a second, then turned around to look at him. "Why are you here?"

He shrugged. "On my way to practice. Thought I'd just drop in and see what you were doing."

"What, are you two like, friends, now?" Eliz asked suspiciously, giving me that look that friends always give you when they think there's something romantic going on when there really isn't. I looked back at Henry.

"I don't know, my Twitter follower, are we friends?"

"Sure. You can be my English buddy!"

"What about me?" Min Hee squeaked.

"Sure, you too."

We laughed until a female secretary walked up to us. "Min Hee, Minsung?"

We nodded. She said something in Korean, and Min Hee nudged me, saying that it was time to go.

"Well, I've got a scheduling meeting to go to." I frowned. "Nothing to look forward to, though. He has typical SM Engrish. Well, bye you guys, talk to you later!" They all said their goodbyes, including energetic ones for Henry and Min Hee. I clicked to end the connection, then turned my computer off. "Well, Min Hee, let's go!" To Henry, I said, "See you next time, English buddy."

He just grinned and said, "Have fun. I'm sure a smart person like you will really love going to school and learning stuff. Me, I have to go to dance practice."

"Ugh, I cannot stand that guy's Engrish! This is the whole reason that I came here!" I yelled, flopping down on the bed.

"Learn Korean, and then you can start fixing the English," Min Hee answered, "And shouldn't you be more worried that you're going to be starting school in the middle of the school year? And Korean schools have sixteen-hour days. And when you're not in school, you have all kinds of practice for the company. You're going to be exhausted."

"That's the beauty of the foreign school. The company convinced them to let me have a fourteen hour day. Besides, I'm used to having to stay after school until six because of musical and play practice, and I'll be starting at the second semester, so it shouldn't be too bad. It'll be fine. What about you? What's your schedule like?"

"I have a lot of the same spots open as you do, but I don't think they overlap any. When you're in Korean class, I'm going to be in vocal training. So it doesn't look like we have anything... no, wait! We have dance practice together!"

"Yippee," I said sarcastically, making a face. Just messing around while we painted had shown me that Min Hee was at least ten thousand times a better dancer than I was. I suppose that most of trainees for SM would be, but it just feels horrible knowing that you're going to have to try to keep up with someone so much better than you before you even start. And you can't even hate her, because that person is your roommate.

Min Hee must've been reading my mind, because she patted me on the back and said, "Hey, don't be like that! This way I can help you!"

"Oh really? So how do you benefit from this?" She may be my friend, but there was always a price for every kind of assistance, even from friends. Especially from friends. 

She sat down on the bed next to me and looked at me a bit embarassedly. "You see, I've trained for a long time to be a good dancer and singer and all that, and I am, but..."

"The picture of modesty, aren't you?"

"Oh, hush. Anyway, I'm good with technique and perfect execution. But there's something I've never been able to do."

I waited, sensing that the payment for her helping me learn how to dance was coming up.

"I... um... I'm not very good at expression."

I could feel my face spasm as I tried not to laugh. So she was just like B2ST's Hyunseung-- wonderful at the actual actions, but quite lacking in emotion, no matter how much he tried.

"And so?" I asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"Well, you said that you were an actress in high school? A pretty good one?"

"I like to think so. If I hadn't been, I wouldn't have been casted in big roles."

"Can you... teach me?"

I bit my lip. Teaching someone how to be expressive was just as difficult as trying to teach someone how to tell the difference between cinnamon's and pepper's kinds of spicyness. You know that it's a fact, but you just don't know how to explain it. On the other hand, Min Hee was offering to help me dance, something I knew would be a heavy chore all on its own. I was a fairly bad case. So I gave in.

"Alright, I'll do what I can. But I'm not making any promises, okay?"

"Sure. So, deal?" She held out a hand for a handshake. I took it, gave it a quick shake, then said, "I'm going to take the first turn cooking. But first I have to go look around and see if I can at least get a cheap microwave. A mini stove would be better, but I'll take what I can get."

I locked the door behind me, only after making sure that I had my key and my purse. It was my first time going out into the streets of a big city by myself. Well, unless you count when I got lost in the rain at my first state Forensics meet in Madison, but that wasn't quite as big of a city as Seoul. But I'd be fine. I'm a tough girl (and this time I brought a map). 

Sunday afternoon, Min Hee nearly fell off of the bed when I ran into the dorm in a flurry of excitement, holding a huge cardboard box. "It CAAAAAAME!" I plopped down on my bed and started ripping the box open. Finally done, with the help of a pair of scissors, I pulled out my rice cooker and hugged it. "Oh my dear, how I have missed you."

Min Hee rolled her eyes, but I could tell that she was just trying not to laugh. "Don't get so excited, Mel, you'll freak people out."

I just grinned and went over to the "kitchen" section of our room, putting the rice cooker down on the makeshift counter we had made out of pieces of a broken table the dorm manager had been about  to throw out.  After checking to make sure that my beloved rice cooker had access to an electrical outlet, I went to the tiny refrigerator next to the counter that we had found laying on the side of the road. It worked just fine, but it was very... dirty when we found it. It had taken most of the day to clean it up, and then it had been a project to get it into the dorm. But now it was here, and it was protecting my precious aged cheddar cheese from the summer heat. I pulled a block of it out and sliced off a piece, offering it to Min Hee. She declined, so I shrugged and ate it myself. 

I sat down on my bed and opened my laptop to watch an episode of "Super Junior Intimate Note", something I always did when I needed to relax and laugh. Min Hee and I would be starting our extremely full trainee schedules the next day, and both of us were nervous. So we were making the best of our last day to relax by sitting back and being lazy. It was great. 

When I had finished the second episode, I sat up and suddenly decided to paint my nails. I looked under my bed, where a lot of my stuff that wasn't food or clothes was stored, and started to panic.

"Oh no! Oh no oh no oh no!!!"

"What, what what what?" Min Hee asked, looking concerned.

I sat back on my knees, utterly defeated. "I didn't pack my nail polish..."

Min Hee exhaled a laugh. "Geez, I thought your purse was missing or something. What's the big deal? You can just go get a manicure." 

I looked at her doubtfully. "You do realize how much manicures cost, right?"

"Not much, in Korea." 

I thought about it for a moment. I had always painted my own nails. It kept them strong, so I could still do gardening and housework without breaking them. I liked to paint pretty patterns. 

After a bit of thought, I jumped up and grabbed Min Hee's wrist, trying to pull her to her feet. "Come on, let's go get a manicure!" I'd never gotten a manicure. Although I supposed that was slightly surprising, since I always took good care of my fingernails. 

"Ow! Bloody hell, your nails are sharp!" She stood up, looking down at the scratch marks my fingernails had left in her skin. They weren't bleeding, but I had definitely scratched her. "And they're long!" she added, "Yeah, you really need a manicure. Are you trying to develop claws?"

"Don't think that idea hasn't crossed my mind." Truthfully, it had. I had often considered the number of ways I could use my long finernails for self-defense.

"Okay, okay, I'll go. Just remember to lock the door behind you." She grumbled, flipping her magazine closed. 

When we came back, my nails had transformed into lovely black-and-silver yin-yang symbols. I felt more confident about myself when my nails were painted. Which was a good thing, since I would need every bit of confidence the next day when the real work started.