"Are you Choi Minsung? Come in." I complied, going into the office I had visited with Henry days ago, where I'd be taking my Korean language class.

I sat down in front of the desk and looked up at the woman behind it. Korean, very obviously, but also an American. You could always tell when a Korean had lived in the U.S. for a while. I don't really know how to explain it; there was just something different about them.

She leaned towards me, taking me in. "So, your actual name's Melissa, right?"

"Yes..."

"Since this is your Korean class, you'll be going by Minsung. My name is Angie Lee, but you're to call me Lee-Sunsaeng, or Sunsaengnim. I'm not a permanent worker for SM; much like your representative in America, Julia Mayfield, I'm contracted to help you. Aresseo?"

I nodded. "Nae, aresseoyo."

Sunsaeng leaned back in her chair, apparently satisfied that I could answer her in Korean.

"Alright, let's see how much you know. Start with your introduction."

I smiled inwardly, remembering my Spanish-Korean conversation with Kyuhyun. Were it not one of my idols, like him, I probably would've forgotten everything I learned in that conversation, but as it was...

"Annyeonghasseo, je ireumeun Choi Min Sung imnida." 

"And where are you from?"

It went along for a while like that, until my time with Sunsaeng was up and I had to start heading for the public bus to go to school. The entire time I was thanking the heavens for Cho Kyuhyun. There were a few things Sunsaeng asked me that I didn't know, but most of them I at least had an idea of, thanks to him. It was the first time I'd been happy about having that conversation, instead of trying desperately to forget about it. 

Sunsaeng herself didn't seem like too bad of a person. She asked relevant questions, and when I didn't get something, or wasn't certain, she'd encourage me. From what I could tell, she genuinely wanted to help me with my Korean.

I couldn't say the same thing about my high school. Most of the classes were in English, thank God, but my classmates kept looking at me like I was someone absolutely hateful. It was a foreign school, but most of the students were still Korean, with a sprinkling of Westerners. But even the white people were regarding me like I had killed their puppy. It was extremely difficult to concentrate in every single one of my classes, especially considering that i had come in at the middle of the school year. When I sat down in Korean history class, I was maurauded by rubber bands at the back of my head. It took every bit of self-control I had not to jump up and beat the crap out of every single one of them. But I figured that getting kicked out of high school on the first day was not the kind of news my mother wanted to hear from me, nor was it something that would make SM keep me. And Korean classes were much more difficult than my classes at home, so not being able to think was a major problem.

I sat down to lunch at a table by myself, feeling like a complete loner (Oetoriya, oetoriya, daradiridaradu...), and wishing that Min Hee was at school with me. At least that way I'd have an idea why everyone was glaring at me. Back at SM, and in the dorm, I had her to keep my chin up, but here I was by myself. Picking at my rice with my chopsticks, I thought that this was going to be a long year if things continued this way. Maybe if I just try to be friendly...

I glanced over at the table across from me. As I expected, they were all staring at me. I smiled and waved, but sure enough, they all whipped their heads back around as if it was a shame to see me. Great. I'd been the new kid at school once before-- I hadn't lived in the same Wisconsin school all my life-- but I didn't remember it being this bad. I was staring fixedly at my food, trying not to meet anyone's eyes, when I heard a tray being slapped onto my table, and somebody sitting down across from me. Almost afraid to, I looked up.

A guy. He was staring at me suspiciously, which was a step up from the death-glares I had been receiving from everyone else. 

"You're the new girl, Choi Min Sung, right?" he asked, looking right at me. I almost had a heart attack. My God, he had an Irish accent. I loved Irish accents. Although, looking at him, I suppose it isn't too weird that he was Irish, considering the pale skin and red-orange hair. He wasn't particularly good-looking, though. Regaining some of my dignity, I sat up in my chair and glanced around. Everyone was staring at us.

"Yeah, I'm Minsung. You?"

"Kang Ji Sang. But between you and me, my name's John."

"Melissa. So, John, what brings you to the table that all of the lasers are pointed at? Pity?"

I ate a bit of shrimp, watching his face.

"I guess. Do you even know why everyone hates you so much?"

"Nope. I'm pretty sure it's not because they're jealous of my everlasting beauty."

His lips twitched. "No, but they are jealous of you."

I snorted a laugh. "And why would that be, oh Wise One?" Okay, I must admit, the bitter sarcasm came out when I was in a bad mood, even when people were trying to be nice. But from the day I'd had so far, I figured that I had good reason to be generally annoyed. 

"You're here because you got into SM, right?" 

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Everyone knows. And they're jealous because they all want to be where you are."

I thought about it for a second, realizing that he had a plausible point. I mean, if I went to a school that an SM trainee was going to, I'd be jealous, too. But I don't think I'd be giving death glares. 

But when I said as much to John, he just said, "you're not the first one. The trainees that come to this school always end up being popular with the teachers and get their pick of the opposite gender, no matter how not beautiful or handsome they are. It's that charm that trainees have- probably what gets them picked by companies. Notice that the darkest glares are from the girls?"

"Isn't that usually how it is? Women are jealous, vengeful witches," I remarked, carefully avoiding the actual words that were popping into my head.

He grinned. "I'm glad you understand that."

I wasn't really sure what to think of him. "So why don't you instantly hate me? You realize that people are probably going to start picking on you now, too, right?"

He shrugged. "I've never really wanted to be rich, famous, or popular with the ladies. I always just wanted to go to school, get out, and take over my Dad's business. You could call me crazy, but I actually always wanted to. Most of the time you hear a story like that, it's because the father always wanted the kid to do what he does, and the kid wants to run away. But not me. I like what my father does."

"And what does your father do?"

"He's a foreign relations person. Closes the gap between companies all over the world. That's why we're here in Korea."

"Ah." It didn't seem so bad. I'd though about doing the same thing myself, a few times. But I figured it might not turn out too well, because of my firey temper. 

Now that I knew why everyone was being so cruel to me, I saw them all in a new light. Poor souls. They can't do it themselves, so they hate on the people who can. 

"So, basically, everyone's going to hate me no matter what I do?" I asked, looking at the clock and gulping down my orange juice.

"Pretty much." 

"So they'd be pretty upset if I were to keep my head up, act like I don't even realize they hate me, and then do better in school than they do?"

"Probably."

"Challenge accepted." I grinned at him, then said loudly, so they could all hear, "You would never believe me if I told you that I'm being followed on Twitter by Super Junior M's Henry Lau! Or that I've had a whole conversation with Kyuhyun!"

John raised an eyebrow, smiling slightly. "Are you just making that up?"

My turn to smirk. "Absolutely not. I have pictures." I winked at him, and he grinned back. Thank God for the Irish. It was in my family. It was in John's voice. And everyone knows that the Irish are the greatest at pranks and pride. So I knew he'd help me. As long as I kept it fun, John would do his part. I wouldn't say that we became friends by the time the bell rang to go back to class. I'd say that we were more... partners.

"So, how was school?" Min Hee asked when I came to stand next to her in the dance practice room, waiting for the teacher.

I made a face. "It . Everyone's jealous of me. I'm probably going to have a lump at the back of my head from all of the things it's gotten hit with."

"Awww, really? That's terrible!"

"Yeah, the first half of the day was completely unbearable. I thought I was going to explode! At least the other half of the day I had John on my side."

"Oooh, who's this John?"

"Don't even go there. He's just someone who decided to be nice. And he's Irish."

"I see."

We had to quiet down when the teacher came into the room. He had an obvious dancer's build, and looked like he was about in his mid-thirties. Although it was hard to tell with Asians. Most of them looked like they were twenty until they turned fifty, and then they suddenly looked extremely old. Call me rasict if you like, but it's just something I've observed. 

Anyway, the teacher came into the room with a clipboard and started calling off names. Most of the trainees were Korean, I noticed, although some were Chinese. And, of course, I was the only blonde in the room. Talk about a way to stick out. 

"Choi Min Sung?" 

No one moved. I looked around, wondering why she wasn't answering. The teacher looked around annoyedly. "Choi Minsung?"

Min Hee elbowed me. 

"Oh! That's me!"

"Please memorize your own name, Minsung," he said, without even looking up, (Or at least, that's what Min Hee translated for me. I felt bad for her, having to tell me everything that everyone was saying) "Alright, that's everyone. Please line up against the back wall."

We did as we were told, facing him. I could see my reflection in the mirror, along with the faces of everyone else in the room. Goodness I have pudgy cheeks. Min Hee was distracted most, whispering everything he said to us in Korean to me in English.

"So you all are the new crew this year, huh? Well, I hope you know who you're going to get compared to." He unfurled a promotion poster for SMTown, featuring everyone we had ever idolized. "All of these people are ten times better dancers than the best of you. By the time you graduate from this class, they'll be just as good as the worst of you."

He paced back and forth, stopping at me. "I have high expectations of you all. If you don't meet them, then consider yourself no longer on the road to becoming an artist."

I gulped. Great way to open up the class I'd been dreading all day.

"Now, people tell me that my teaching is unorthodox. Why? Because I don't teach you. You teach yourselves." 

There was a considerable amount of murmuring. We were going to teach ourselves?!

"Think of it as a pre-test. Your assignment is to, as a class, learn a dance and perform it. How well you do will determine how the entire group does. So you're all going to have to get along. Do you all understand?"

We nodded, and he walked to a corner of the room and picked up a cardboard box filled with little slips of paper. 

"Each one of the songs in here is a popular hit by an SM artist. Who wants to represent the class and pull out the one you'll be doing?"

A short boy with beautiful black hair stepped out. He couldn't be more than fourteen. "I'll do it."

He walked up to the box and stuck his hand in, shuffling around through the papers. He pulled one out, then opened it and read it aloud. 

"Super Junior- Sorry Sorry."

I wanted to jump with joy and cry at the same time. "Sorry Sorry" was one of the Kpop songs I had learned a good piece of the choreography to already. However, there was a reason I didn't know all of it. "Sorry Sorry" had plenty of parts that looked a whole lot easier than they actually were.

The teacher laughed. "Well, I wish you all luck." He sat down in front of the mirrors, watching us all expectantly. All of us turned to each other. How were we supposed to start? What were we supposed to do?

Min Hee was our saving grace. She walked out in front of the group and started giving people the names of a member. By some of luck, there were twelve people in the class. The boy next to me: Ryeowook. The tall girl on my other side: Han Geng. Assigning members for this particular dance was extremely important, since which member you represented determined what you'd be doing for your dance. Min Hee pointed to me, hesitating for a second. I could tell what she was thinking. What part could she give me so that I wouldn't drag the group down? 

"Minsung... Heechul." 

I just nodded. She'd made a good choice. Actually, I was slightly surprised as to how easily everyone accepted that she was taking charge. Although I supposed that everyone was so unsure as to how to begin that we needed someone who was a trained dancer to get us started.

Min Hee assigned herself the most difficult part: Eunhyuk. Then, she started to help us arrange ourselves in the formation we'd be in for the dance. We went over the basic moves. I can't even count the number of times I went the wrong direction, stepped on someone's foot, or tripped on my own foot. All the while, the teacher just watched us, that expectant grin on his face. We went home with the homework that we were to study the dance of our respective member, and what exactly he was doing. 

By the time the class was over, My feet hurt like nothing else, and I was feeling fairly horrible about myself. Were I not so stubborn, I probably would've started to cry. We filed out of the dance practice room, the only person behind me being Min Hee. 

"Hey, what's wrong?" She asked, catching up to me. 

"I can't... do this. I'm going to mess up everything." I could hear my voice break.

"Oh come on, you weren't that bad. That black-haired girl with the glasses, now SHE was a clutz!"

"You didn't see me! I'm an ELF, I should know this song! But I just can't seem to get it! I feel like a failure. I'm not even sure why I'm here. I'm here to be a songwriter, not a dancer!"

Min Hee's hand cracked across my face. I held my quickly reddening cheek, staring at her in shock.

"Are you going to be like this?" She yelled, "Are you going to keep not believing in yourself and letting your clumsiness get the best of you? So you're not a dancer, so what?! Are you just going to wallow in shame, or are you going to do something about it?! I thought you had pride, Mel. I thought you were a strong, confident person. I'm disappointed." She glared at me for a second, then marched off with another half of the group. 

I watched her go, feeling a tear trickle down my cheek. I just couldn't do anything right today, could I?  But I couldn't go after her. I had vocal training. Maybe I could do better at that. I would see her later in the dorm. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. I couldn't keep beating myself up about my lack of coordination. The first step to solving a problem is to admit there's a problem. Well, I'd done that a while ago. So the second step is to do whatever it takes to fix the problem. 

I looked down at the four blue bracelets on my wrist, then clutched them in my other hand. Confidence. I'm sure that's what any of them would tell me. 

I wiped my face, walking through the building towards the vocal practice rooms. I was crossing the lobby, checking my schedule when someone plowed into me. My papers fell out of my hands as I hit the ground, knocking the breath out of me. I looked up, and met the eyes of Girls' Generation's Jessica. She sneered down at me. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, honey," she said in English, "you'd better pick that up quickly, so you can get out of the way of people who have more important things to do." She flipped her hair and turned around to catch up with the two other SNSD members she had been walking with, not even looking back at me. 

I could feel my blood boiling. That had been no accident. She had delibrately shoved me. Just because she was some big star... 

In shame, I started gathering up my papers and putting them back into their folder. I was fighting back tears again, but this time these were the burning hot tears that came when I was fighting back the urge to rampage and destroy something. Since I couldn't do that, I always ended up crying, in some kind of compensation. 

I felt a hand on my elbow, helping me up. "Gwenchanha?"

I stood up, getting ready to thank him, but my voice caught before I could get any words out.

Sungmin.  

He was still holding my arm, his deep brown eyes looking at me with concern. "Gwenchanha?"

Great. The first time I meet Lee Sungmin, I'm a blubbering mess. I wiped my eyes, nodded. 

"Do you... speak Korean?" He asked carefully in Korean, and then in English. I shook my head, still at a loss for words. He was every bit as handsome and sweet as I had imagined him to be. 

He leaned over and picked up the rest of my papers and handed them to me. He smiled gently, as if not knowing what to say, now that we'd determined that I couldn't understand Korean, and then turned to go. 

"Demo!" I heard myself call after him. He turned, looking back at me, so I continued, "Demo... Nihongo ga... wakarimasu."

He walked back to me, apparently intrigued. "You speak Japanese?" He asked, switching to the language I had spoken to him in. I could feel my heartbeat quicken and blood rush to my face. Oh my god, it was Sungmin. My favorite member. Cute, sweet, absolutely wonderful Sungmin. And I was speaking to him in Japanese. Was I always going to be meeting the Super Junior members by speaking a non-Korean-or-English language? Well, who cares. I most certainly didn't. I was talking to him, that was all that mattered. 

"Yes, I do. I'm sorry for troubling you, Sungmin-senpai." I felt suddenly out of breath, especially when he smiled at me. How do you breathe, again? I couldn't remember. All I knew was Sungmin, right in front of me, and that  had to make sure I spoke formal Japanese to him.

"I'm sorry about Jessica. Don't mind her; she can be that way sometimes. I think she's suspicious of you, since you're so different from all of the other trainees. I'll try to talk to her."

He was going to talk to Jessica for me? Was this real? Did I really hit my head when Jessica slammed into me, and this was all a dream?

"Thank you... Senpai." I bowed, a proper 30-degrees bow.

He just smiled. "You're the trainee from Wisconsin, right? Melissa?"

Oh. My. God. He knows my name! He knows where I'm from! If it were anyone else, I'd probably be thinking that this was a bit creepy, but my brain was probably dying from lack of oxygen right about then. So I just said, "Yes, that's me. But I go by Minsung now."

"Oh, I heard about you from Henry! You're the one who speaks Spanish, right?"

I nodded. 

'Oh, Kyuhyun mentioned you, too! You're the one who taught him all of the Spanish words that he's been using to drive us all crazy!"

I felt my heart drop to my feet. Kyuhyun had remembered me. He remembered our entire conversation from back in California, and he remembered that I was really an English speaker, but had pretended to only know Spanish. And somehow he'd known that I'd become a trainee. Henry had been talking about me. And both had told Sungmin. 

I hid my face in my hands, peeking at Sungmin through my fingers, then nodded. "Yes, that was me."

"Wow... I really admire you. You're just barely a trainee, and yet you're already so prominent in the company! It takes a lot to make Kyuhyun remember a girl. I've tried more times than I could count." He smiled, and I wasn't sure how much longer my knees could hold me up because I'm pretty sure that they were going to give in any moment. He had an absolutely adorable smile. And he... he admires me? HE admires ME?! Since when did the universe reverse directions?!

"I... I uh... um... thanks." Was all I got out. Ugh, stupid stupid stupid! Is that all I could say?!

"I'm sorry, you probably have somewhere to go, don't you? You looked like you were in a hurry, and now I've made you late."

I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to be on my way to my vocal training lessons. Oh crap! My teacher was going to be furious! 

"Omo, thank you for reminding me! I'm going to be in so much trouble!" I screeched, starting to panic, but not wanting to leave, feeling like I'd be rude to just run off on Sungmin. Not to mention that I wanted to treasure every moment that I had with him. It was more precious than gold. Even more precious than cheese curds! 

"Here, since it's my fault, I'll you. Then I can explain to your teacher why you were late, and I can get blamed." He held out his arm, being very gentlemanly. 

I stepped back, "Oh no! I don't want to get you in any trouble, Senpai!"

"Don't worry about it. They never stay angry at me for more than a second. Just a bit of aegyo and they give in pretty quickly." I could believe it. If Sungmin ever did aegyo to me, I'd probably become his willing slave. 

With my face more red than I could ever remember it being, I took his arm, if only because I'd feel bad to reject it. Sungmin was talking to me, Sungmin had helped me, Sungmin was escorting me to my next class. Had I been having a bad day? Even if I could remember, I didn't care. 

"So, where are you going, Melissa?"

"Mel." I said. I just wanted to hear him say it. 

"Alright, Mel. Where are we going?"

We. Sungmin and I. Goodness, I am in fangirl heaven right now. "Vocal training."

"Ah yes. I should probably do that." As if Sungmin needed vocal training. Just talking, he had the voice of an angel. Briefly, I remembered that I had been trying to hide the fact that I was an ELF, so that people wouldn't look down on me. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. I wouldn't be able to act like a non-ELF right now, even if I tried. 

We went up the stairs, towards the room. As we walked, we passed the open door of where Girls' Generation was practicing their newest song. I met eyes with Jessica and fought the urge to stick out my tongue at her. However, returning bad manners didn't make me the better person, so I held it in. Instead, I smiled at her in as friendly a way as I could manage. We passed the doorway before I could see her reaction.

Sungmin walked with me into the practice room. No one was in there but the teacher, so I realized that it would probably be another one-on-one teaching session, like my Korean lessons were. 

"You're late, Choi Minsung," she remarked in Korean without looking up. It was one of the first phrases that Lee-sunsaeng had taught me, because she thought it would be important for me as a trainee. When she did, she jumped, startled to see Sungmin. 

"And what are you doing here?" 

"I'm sorry, Sunsaengnim..." he said, pouting his lip in typical aegyo fashion, "It's my fault that Minsung is late. Please don't punish her!" 

She looked back and forth between the two of us, then shook her head. "That's quite alright, Sungmin-shi. But don't you have somewhere to be?" 

He shook his head. "There was going to be an interview, but it got canceled because the reporter is sick."

She thought for a moment. "Then why don't you stay, and help Minsung with her vocal training? I'm sure an actual professional singer might be able to give her some useful pointers."

"Sure! What do you want me to help with?" 

"Can you play the guitar for Minsung? I want her to sing a song for me, so I can get an idea of where she's at vocally."

He sat down and picked up the guitar that was leaning against her desk. "What song?"

My teacher regarded me. We'd been speaking in Japanese for most of the conversation, something I hadn't even noticed until just now, when I realized that she had a distinct Japanese cast to her features. But then what was being said sunk in. I almost didn't hear her say "Please sing what you know of the Korean song, 'Arirang'."

Vocal training with Sungmin. I'd be spending almost an hour with him. Please tell me that this wasn't a dream. Because if it was, and I woke up, I think I'd start crying.