Having Henry over at our dorm had been entertaining, I will admit. Actually, when we told him about our EXO sunbaes coming to tell us that our music was too loud, he made a point of plugging my mp3 player into the speakers and blasting "Don't Don" ridiculously loud, and whipped out his violin to play along with his part of the song. Min Hee and I almost collapsed from laughing. Especially when one of the EXO members showed up to our dorm to yell at us and saw that it was really Henry making all of the noise! He didn't say anything, but his face just turned white and he ran away. Nice guy, huh? 

Anyway, we spent most of the time talking and laughing at Henry's antics. And then he tried to teach me how to do "popping", his favorite dance style. Yeah, that didn't go over so well. Apparently I have the ability to do the movements, I just lack coordination and have a horrible sense of balance. Or at least, that's what he told me.

At around midnight we reluctantly kicked him out. I should have gone to bed earlier, but I was too busy rolling on the floor laughing. I couldn't understand why so many people hated Henry. Every experience I had ever had with him only proved that he was adorable and hilarious. Loveable in every possible way.

When I did go to bed, though, I was out like a light, since the day was so exhausting. So, needless to say, I was a bit upset when I heard my phone buzz about an hour later. Grumbling, I grabbed my phone off of my dresser without looking, and then peeled my eyes open to look at it. 

Dong...hae? I had him as a caller ID? Oh wait, that's right. I opened the picture message, bleary-eyed. It was a picture of Fishy and Hyukkie with their hair a new color. 

It said, in interesting-looking English, "We get new hair. You think ELF like?"

They didn't look too bad. Eunhyuk had gone back to the red-brown hair he had had for Super Show 2, and Donghae had darkened his hair to a sandy brown. But that wasn't important. What was important was that they were getting their hair dyed at one in the morning!

"You both look nice, but I think the ELF would be more concerned about your sleep schedules. The ELF want their Oppas to be healthy! Fishy should sleep more!" was what I texted back, before dropping the phone back on the dresser and passing out.

I was pretty tired the next day. It took about six cups of tea to keep me awake the entire school day, which is a lot, even for me. At least the bullying was starting to die down a bit, since Henry showed up at my lunch table. At this point, I think they still hated me; they were just too scared of me to do anything about it. Something I didn't really mind. 

I headed to dance class, ready to learn about the proper way to do the wave. Now that we had completed our pretest, Sunsaeng was teaching us the specifics and basics of pop dance. It was when we were covering stuff like this in class that I could really understand what Henry had said about lacking coordination and balance. I could do one movement at a time, but I was having difficulty keeping them together.

Today we were supposed to learn about the body wave. I tried to prepare myself, but it turned out that I wouldn't be joining the rest of my class in the lesson. Midway through attendance, Sunsaeng got a phone call. After a few brief words, he hung up and called, "Choi Minsung?" the expression on his face was daunting, like I was headed for a pit of snakes or something. "The big man wants to see you."

"The big... man? Who's that?" Was that one of the Korean plays on words that I still hadn't quite gotten the hang of yet?

"The big guy. The one on top. Producer Lee Soo Man wants to see you." I could hear my classmates gasp. Have I ever told you what "SM" stands for? Well, nowadays, since Lee Soo Man had retired from being CEO and was now just a producer, it stood for "Star Museum" (tacky, I know),  but I'm pretty sure you're able to figure out what it used to stand for. Yeah, getting called to see him was a big deal. And a really, really scary one. 

But I nodded, bowed to Sunsaeng, and left the room, feeling twelve pairs of eyes on my back. I didn't need to ask where the producer's office was. I already knew. I'd just been carefully avoiding it until then.

I knocked gently before entering, murmuring meekly, "You wanted to see me, Lee-shiljang?"

"Ah, Minsung. I apologize for calling you out of your training. Please, have a seat. Would you like some coffee?"

"No, thank you. I don't really like coffee," I replied, sitting down gingerly. He was being really nice. Like he was going to say something that I wouldn't really like. But maybe it was just my SM-hatred coming up again. It made me suspicious of him. 

"Ah, I see. Well, Minsung, I can tell that your Korean has improved immensely since you arrived here."

I just nodded.

"Well, since I'm taking time away from your training, I'll get straight to the point." He pulled a few piece of paper off of his desk and held them out to me. "You helped write this, didn't you, Minsung? This song by Producer Kangta?"

It sounded like an accusation. "Yes, sir. He asked me to edit the English lyrics of the song. So I did my best to make them sound good. Did I do something wrong?"

"No, Minsung. You did as you were told; there's nothing wrong with that. I was a bit surprised at Kangta's insistence that you get recognition for this. We were planning on giving this song to TVXQ, as their next single. However, if your name appears on the credits..."

He was going to tell me that they were going to deny my participation in the song, wasn't he? Should've known. 

"It will look very good for the company to have a trainee already participating in songwriting."

"I'm sorry, sir, I... what?" It had taken a second for me to process what he had just said. 

"It will be advantageous to show the world how good our relations are with the Americas, to have you as a writer. However, we can't very well use your Korean name to do that, can we?"

"No, sir, probably not." What was he getting at?

"Your name, Merisa," He said it with a definite Korean accent. I almost wanted to laugh. But I didn't feel like getting kicked out of the company, so I didn't.

"It lacks a certain... uniqueness. You need a stage name. A pen name, in your case. Such as Park Jungsoo being Leeteuk, Lee Hyukjae being Eunhyuk... a name like that. But for you, it would be best to be an English name. However, as you made a point of at your audition..." his lips twitched, "English is not our strong point at this company. So tell me, what does your name mean?

"Uhh..." I didn't know how to say "Honeybee" in Korean. Or "Honey". Or "Bee". 

"It means..." I struggled for the words, then gave up and said it in English. "It's Greek for 'Honey Bee.' You know, umm... buzz,buzz, flower, drink, buzz buzz... uhh..."

I did motions with it, feeling like an idiot. Luckily, I think he got it.

"Aaaahhh, 'kkulbeol'. Interesting. What did you say it was? Hah-nee Bee?"

"Honey Bee, yes." I was getting really uncomfortable. 

He tapped his fingers on the desk, looking down at the song thoughtfully. "You're very popular around the company, Minsung. I've heard a lot about you. You're a Super Junior fan, yes?"

I winced. Looks like I was not hiding anymore. At all. "Yes."

"Some have been telling me that you're being called both 'Henry's Pet' and the 'Queen ELF'."

I knew about the Henry's Pet thing. The Queen ELF name was news to me, though. "Queen Elf? Why would people be calling me that?" 

"It's a name I've heard you referred to by the Super Junior members. Something about being the fangroup representative?" He gave me an odd look.

"It's a long and confusing story I'm not entirely sure about myself. But what does this have to do with my pen name?" I asked, instead of what I was actually thinking, being "the members were calling me 'Queen ELF'?"

"Queen ELF. Hahnee Bee. Both are English, yes?"

"Yeah... I mean, yes, sir."

"How about we combine them? Queen Bee." He said it like "Kuween Bee". 

"It reminds me of what my aunty called me once."

"Excuse me?"

"What, oh, sorry. Never mind. That sounds like a good name."

"Good then." He picked up a pen and crossed out "Choi Minsung" at the top of the paper, writing over it, "Queen B". Just like that. The song, "Envisioning You" was officially credited to "Kangta and Queen B".

"You may leave now, Kuween Bee."

I did.

Dance class was almost over by the time I got back, still wondering what had just occurred. it was equally beneficial for them to say that Kangta had written those English lyrics himself, so the fans could gush and say "What wonderful English he has!" but they didn't. Instead, I was given a pen name to use for my first official songwriting collaboration. I should be happy, right?

Sunsaeng tried to give me a brief overview of the lesson, but gave up when he determined that I was a hopeless case. "I'll help you when we get home," Min Hee whispered to me before we had to leave. Time for vocal training. 

The next week, I made my way through the SM building to my Korean class, occupying my mind by running through the first few concepts of Psychology in my head. I was so focused on Dispension of Responsibility that I wasn't looking where I was going and ran into someone. 

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I should have been more careful!" I almost shouted, my eyes coming back into focus. I grabbed her arm, to try to help her up. 

"Yes, you should have," she said, turning to look at me as she stood up. It was BoA-sunbae!

I turned crimson. "Choisoimida, Sunbae." Big Bang had been my first Kpop artist. BoA had been my second. 

"That's alright, I'm sure that you didn't do it on purpose. That would be silly." She tilted her head to the side, looking at me oddly. "You're Henry's Pet, right?"

I was never going to live out of that, was I? "Yeah, that's what people call me."

"Ah, I thought so. Well... take care of him. Poor kid, he's been through a lot. Anyway, I have a meeting to be at. Goodbye, Henry's pet."

I watched her go, thinking that if she thought Henry was a kid, then I must be a baby. I knew Henry had been through a lot. But it had never crossed my mind that I was taking care of him. I thought the fact that I was nicknamed his pet indicated that it had always been the other way around. 

I went the rest of the way to the classroom, sitting down in front of Lee-sunsaeng, lost in thought once again. I expected her to start lecturing about Hangeul, but instead, when I entered, she said, "Congratulations, Choi Minsung. You've been doing so well at learning Korean that I've decided to send you to your final exam!"

"Send me? What does that mean?" I had a bad feeling about this. Especially considering that she looked so happy about it. 

"Have you heard the words 'total immersion' used when referring to learning a language before?"

"Nae, sunsaeng." Yeah. It meant that if you wanted to learn the language, you go to the place where it's spoken, where absolutely no one spoke your language. Supposedly it was the fastest way out there to learn a language. 

"...Yes," I replied carefully. Sunsaengnim was planning something. I was pretty sure that I wouldn't like it. 

"Well, that's what we're going to do with you. Some might say that you're already in a total immersion situation here in Seoul, but I'm afraid that you have too many people around you that speak English. For example, Henry Lau and your roommate, Kim Min Hee. They may be limiting your learning experience."

My heart sank. "You mean... you're going to keep me away from them?"

"Not exactly. You see, rice harvest season is coming up. And you, Minsung, are going to help. You'll be spending two weeks at a farm in Jeolla-do. Helping with the harvest. Doing some... hard labor."

Greeeeeaaaat. That's exactly what I wanted to hear. I mean, I grew up out in the country, helping my mom take care of chickens, weeding the garden, and stuff like that. But I'd never harvested rice before. The closest I'd ever come was eating it.

"But what about schooling? And my training?"

"I was hoping you would ask that. You see, this is the fun part," She began excitedly, "Since you're one of our beloved trainees, the company's sending you off with a small film crew. So if or when you debut, we can release a mini-reality show about Queen B doing a good deed in Korea. It will be wonderful publicity for you. Provided, of course, that you make the show interesting. Talk to the camera. Talk about yourself. Work hard."

"So... you're saying that they're sending me out to Jeolla-do with a camera so the whole country can hear me talk to myself?"

Sunsaengnim bit back a smile. "You leave in two days. Good luck, Minsung."

Haha. Haha. I could barely contain my excitement. Rice harvest. Hard work. Part of the country where no one speaks English. Somebody, anybody, please... SAVE ME!