Eventually I made it back to my dorm, feeling the numbness weighing down on me. Min Hee asked me what was wrong over and over again, but I just didn't know what to say. I didn't expect her to feel pity; I had brought it upon myself. I had to know that my awful mouth would get me in trouble someday. 

I knew what the next day would bring. Somehow, SM would find a way to pucnish me; to get all of the money I owed them, and then kick me out of the company. My time at SM was always going to be short. I didn't know what I would tell my family, and the Wisconsin Girls. I had failed, because I put my status as an ELF above everything else. 

Numbly, I got up and grabbed my bags. I pulled out the contents of my dresser and began to dump it in, not caring if it was organized. I'd be back in the United States soon enough.

"Mel, Mel, MEL! What are you doing?! Min Hee ran over, grabbing my hands away from my dresser. "Mel, I want to help, but I can only do that if you tell me what's wrong."

I felt the tears overrun my cheeks again, the heat and salt of a boiling ocean. I told her everything, probably looking like a complete weakling, whining to her while I cried and sobbed, but I just couldn't seem to stop. 

"And tomorrow they're going to kick me out. I know it. Why wouldn't they? They have every right to," I finished, wiping the last of my tears away with the back of my hand.

"But didn't you say that you owe too much money? And that they can't get it out of you?"

"I don't know how the legal system in Korea works. For all I know, they can. I just said that to make myself look intimidating. Besides, even if they can't get it legally, there are other ways."

Min Hee hugged me, her slim form a warm comfort. "Hey, you won't know until tomorrow, right? And you can't give up yet. Don't you have a song for Super Junior?"

"It's not finished yet."

"Exactly. So you have to stay in the company until it's done. Even if you have to force them to stay by kicking and screaming. You're good at that."

I choked a laugh. 

"So don't pack your things. If you leave, I'll be missing a roommate, and who knows the kind of person they might replace you with." She shuddered. "You can't leave me, okay?"

I nodded. "I'll try, Min Hee. I guess we'll find out tomorrow."

I had no idea what fate awaited me when I went into the company building the next day. Everything was different, and yet I started the day the same way, heading straight to Lee-sunsaengnim's classroom.

When I entered the room, I saw her, tapping her pencil on her desk and regarding me. I slid into my usual chair, steeling myself for whatever news she had for me.

I'm going to get kicked out. I made a terrible mistake, making a fool out of the management, and now I would have to pay for it. I'm sorry, Oppas, it's all my fault; I couldn't control my stupid mouth...

"So, Minsung, do you regret defending Zhou Mi?"

Did I? Despite risking everything in order to do it, did I really regret it?

"It was rash, Minsung. And dangerous. You needn't endanger your own future in order to protect Super Junior. It almost cost you your trainee status."

I looked up, wondering if I'd heard correctly. "Almost?"

"Removing you from the company was what was planned. They were going to do it. However, when the foreign investors asked the management about when you were going to debut, the company decided that you're valuable enough to keep."

My mouth dropped open. Being friendly to the investors had been my saving grace. So I wasn't getting kicked out?!

"Fortunately for you, they've developed a special interest in you, for whatever reason. SM doesn't want to lose those investments, so they find that removing you from the company so soon after the exhibition would be very difficult to explain. So they're giving you a second chance. You will, though, be getting punished. Simply in a different manner."

Any punishment but getting kicked out sounded good. "How?"

"You're being given a job."

"A job? But they can't make me do slave labor! It's against the contract!"

Sunsaengnim chuckled. "Oh no, you're getting paid. A decent sum, even, although the company is taking a good piece out of your salary, it's still a fair amount. More than what the people working in cafes make.'

"So how is this a punishment?" I asked, thinking that Min Hee and I had been begging SM to give us some kind of paying job, or let us get a job. Until then, they had refused.

"They're giving you a very undesirable task. It'll be hard, irritable work. You're going to be working as a housekeeper for these dorms." She handed me a sheet of paper with an address and two apartment numbers. "The previous housekeeper quit, leaving them without one for a few weeks. You'll be taking over for her."

She leaned back in the chair. "I'm sure you can handle it, Minsung," she said before I could ask anything. Why did I get the impression that she knew something I didn't?

"Also, you'll no longer be coming to this class."

"Sunsaengnim!"

She waved my questions away. "SM has decided that your Korean is good enough now-- you don't need me. From now on, in the time period in which you took lessons from me, you'll instead be taking an acting class. Today is our last day together. I can't say you're a perfect student, Minsung, but you've definitely made things interesting."

Nervous, I knocked on the door of the apartment number Sunsaengnim had given me. I'd never been a housekeeper. I had enough difficulty taking care of my own living space, let alone someone else's.

I knocked on the door again, my heart skipping like a scratched record.

The door opened. "Annyeonghass-- what are you doing here?!"

"I-I'm your new housekeeper. This is the right place, right? Apartment 51? I've been told to take care of the upstairs apartment, too..." I stammered, staring fixedly at my feet.

"Minsung-ah, how did you know where our dorm is?!"

How did he know my name?

Ripping my gaze away from my own feet, I let it rise, traveling up his legs, over his chest, and finally to his face.

"Eunhyuk-oppa!"

No way. Impossible. It couldn't be.

"How'd you find our dorm?"

"I don't-- I didn't-- this is your dorm?!"

"Wait, you're our new housekeeper?! YOU?!"

I nodded. "I guess so."

My mind was completely blown. How could this be?! getting daily access to the SuJu dorm was every ELF's dream! Both innocent and not-so-innocent! And I actually knew these guys! Did that director know that I was an ELF?! I thought everyone knew!

He must not have, because if he'd wanted me to be punished, he wouldn't have given me the key to the SJ dorm. Because to me, that wasn't a punishment at all.

"Hey guys, our housekeeper's here!" Eunhyuk called while I took off my shoes in the doorway. "You'll like her, she's adorable!"

I glared at him, before walking behind him into the dorm. 

Before I knew it, SuJu members were spilling out into the living room from various directions. I knew this dorm. Originally, the dorm on this level had Eunhyuk, Yesung and then KyuMin. But Yesung was gone. 

"Adorable? Eunhyuk, don't take up to Ahjummas to that level." Kyuhyun groaned, making a face. 

Eunhyuk grinned. "Let me present our new housekeeper, Choi Minsung." He stepped out from in front of me, leaving me exposed to two pairs of eyes. 

"YOU!" They both yelled at once. 

"I swear to you guys, SM seriously sent me. I'm not just being a creeper fan. I didn't even know this was your dorm until a minute ago," I sputtered out, still in awe that this was happening. 

"It's okay, we believe you, but... you?! Usually housekeepers are Ahjummas, who've been doing this for a while, and..."

"I really don't know. I'm sorry, I'll do my best to take care of you." I bowed, feeling embarassed. 

"Umm... okay. Should we... give you a tour or something?"

Sungmin and Eunhyuk exchanged glances and then simultaneously declared "We nominate Kyuhyun."

I could see the glare forming on his face, but it looked like he was outvoted.

"It's okay, Oppa." I interrupted. "Let me clean up this spot on the floor first, it looked like someone spilled something, and it hasn't been cleaned up yet. Where are the cleaning supplies?" 

"Ahjumma kept them in the closet right there," Sungmin answered, indicating an easily visible closet at the entry to a hallway. I went into it, and, with some difficulty, found a cleaning rag and a bottle of floor cleaner, and set to work on the spot while the members watched awkwardly. 

Remember that I have a sensitive nose? While I was leaned over, scrubbing, a peculiar scent drifted to me. "Oppa, is this alcohol?!"

I looked up, and they looked embarassed. Kyuhyun, though, just shrugged and said, "It was Ryeowook, when he was hanging out down here. He spilled."

"Don't worry, Minsung-ah. No matter how much Ryeowookie drinks, he never seems to get drunk, despite how small he is," Sungmin explained, followed by consent from Kyuhyun and Eunhyuk. 

"Unlike Sungmin, who gets drunk after one glass," added Kyuhyun.

"You would know, wouldn't you?" I muttered, standing up now that the liquid was cleaned up.

"What was that, Jageun?"

"What, oh, nothing. Sorry." I knew that Kyuhyun and Sungmin shared a room, and, like any fangirl, my thoughts immediately jumped to KyuMin-related thoughts. Oh, the treasures I could discover as a housekeeper here. I wonder, if I were to take a blacklight to their room, what would I find? The idea was ever-so-enticing.

I shook my head to clear the thoughts. Clean mind, Melissa. Clean mind. "So, that tour?"

"Okay, okay, fine. But it'll be quick, since I left my game running..." typical Kyuhyun, more worried about his computer game than anything else. 

"So down this hallway, there's Yesung's room." He led the way, opening the door so I could see inside. "As you can see, it's a mess. Oh, and you'll have to take care of Yesung's turtles. It's one of your jobs, since Yesung's gone."

"Who's been taking care of them while you've been without a housekeeper?"

"Ryeowook has, since he shared a room with Yesung when he first got Ddangkoma," Kyuhyun answered. "You'll have to ask him about it, because I have no idea."

"It's okay. I'll figure it out. I'll go ask him about it when I go to the other dorm." I gestured to Kyuhyun to continue.

"Okay, down this way is the room I share with Sungmin." He still wasn't using any formalities, I noticed, but then again, he was Kyuhyun.

He opened the door, and I peeked inside. "Oppa, your room is a mess!" Clothes were everywhere, and I saw a scattering of empty boxes on a desk in the corner that I assumed were games. A dresser I assumed was Sungmin's because of all of the pink I could see just from the doorway was hanging open, a few items dangling from the top. 

The beds were messy, too. One had tangled bedsheets, and pillows thrown about, while the other was just in disarray, like its occupant had reset its blankets every night, but not very carefully.

"Umm... whose beds are whose?" I asked, as innocently as I could, trying to force the dirty thoughts out of my brain.

"That one is mine, the other is Sungmin's." Unsurprisingly, the one with twisted sheets was Kyuhyun's. I knew he tended to sleep in weird positions, and also fell asleep in the middle of doing something. It wasn't a surprise that he slept fitfully. 

Then, out of nowhere, a lump under Sungmin's blankets moved, and a ball of fur came to greet me. 

"OH MY GOSH, it's adorable!!!!! I went into a crouch and pet it. "You're Sungmin-oppa's dog, Caocao, right? Awww, aren't you pretty?!"

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes while I gave CaoCao a belly rub. "You even know our pets' names?"

I shrugged. "I haven't memorized the names of Yesung-oppa's turtles yet. I'm still working on it."

"Well, make sure you lock him back in there, or he'll fight with Choco." I did, straightening back up.

"Okay, I think I might start the cleaning with your room. This is worse than my room in America."

"You had just one person!"

"Not true! I was only alone in my room for about two years. Before that, I shared a room with my Eonni."

"Whatever. And how do you know you're going to start with our room? You haven't even seen Eunhyuk's yet."

"Eunhyuk-oppa is a very organized person. His room is really organized."

"How do you know?"

I gave him a sidelong look, raising an eyebrow.

"Right. Moving on." 

We walked back down the hallways, and there was another room. "Okay, this is Eunhyuk's. You ready?"

I shrugged, and he opened the door.

As I expected, it was the picture of organization, not an item out of place. Feeling more confident, now that this was the third room, I strode in, looking around.

On Eunhyuk's bed lay a fluffy Pomeranian I recognized as his dog, Choco. He was asleep, though, so I didn't bother him. The wall in front of me was occupied by a huge bookshelf full of mangas. I ran my finger over the bindings of them, looking at the titles. 

"Woah, he has the whole Gundam series?! How long has Oppa been collecting these?!"

"Minsung-ah, you like manga?!"

Eunhyuk was standing in the doorway, giving me a strange, wide-eyed look. 

"Um... yeah. Actually, I spend more time watching anime. But I have a few manga. I collect Fruits Basket, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles, xxxHolic, and I'm trying to get more of InuYasha. Oh, and for anime, I'm a huge Macross fan. My favorite's Macross Frontier." I bit my lip, realizing that I'd gone on an otaku rant.

Eunhyuk was silent for a moment, then turned to Kyuhyun and said, "call Leeteuk-hyung. I think I'm going to marry her."

I felt my cheeks turn red. "Oppa! Don't joke like that!"

He laughed. "Sorry, Minsung. I'm just kidding. It's just, usually girls don't like this kind of thing..." He joined me in the room, pulling one of the volumes off of the shelf.

"Yeah, well, I'm American. Standards are different."

"So have you read Gundam?"

"No... I've always thought about it, but I never got around to it,"

He handed me the volume he'd pulled down. "Here, you want to borrow it?"

My eyes widened. "Chincha?!"

"Sure. Just make sure you take care of it." I nodded profusely. 

"Okay, Oppa, thank you! I'll do my best! Oh, and I'll take care of the room. You need to change your bedsheets. They smell."

"You can tell from this far away?!"

"I have a sensitive sense of smell," I reminded him, remembering the first time we'd met, when I'd doused him with a can of air freshener. "For such an organized person, you need to work on your personal hygiene."

I saw Kyuhyun silently chuckling from the doorway, and bowed to Eunhyuk. "Anyway, I'll do that as soon as I can. For now, I need to finish the tour."

We left Eunhyuk in the room, going back out to the living room. "Okay, so this is the living room. And through that doorway over there is the kitchen. About the kitchen, you'll have to ask Ryeowook, because he's the one who cooks the most."

I nodded, then looked around. We'd passed the washing machine when we were going down one of the hallways, and I was curious about it. "So... who does the laundry?"

Sungmin, who was sitting on the couch watching a variety show, met eyes with Kyuhyun, and then both of them looked at me.

"Woah, woah, woah, NO! I can't do your laundry!" The thought sent horrible yet lovely thoughts running through my mind. "Besides, do you really want a fangirl going through your used underwear?! Is that really a good idea?!"

They seemed to think about it, looking amused. "Are you saying you'd steal something?" Kyuhyun grinned.

"I-I don't... you know I won't-- I-I-I'm not like that..." I can't say the thought wasn't extremely tempting. 

"So just be a good girl, Jageun, and we won't get mad. But if you make me do it, I'll be very, VERY mad." Kyuhyun patted my head, and I felt a bit miserable. It looked like I was doing the laundry. Fun, fun, fun.

"Fine... I'll do my best. thank you for the tour, Oppa. Now I have to go repeat the process for the SuJu dorm upstairs..."

Sungmin got up from the couch, hitting the "off" button for the TV remote. "Here, I'll go with you, since we don't want everyone else to misunderstand."

So I went with Sungmin back trhough the door, and up to the second floor where, before, Donghae, Leeteuk, and Ryeowook had lived. 

Now, apparently, with Leeteuk gone, Kangin had taken over his room, because that was who opened the door.

"Sungmin? And who's... AHJUMMA!"

"I am not an Ahjumma!" I shot back the moment he finished the word. "But I'm working as a housekee--"

I halted when I felt a bit of fluff brush against my foot. "OH MY GOOOOOOD!!!!!!" I screamed, immediately reaching down to pet a tiny white dog. "Oh my gosh, Kangin-oppa, is this Gongju? I always thought she was so pretty!" 

She seemed curious, but shy, hiding behind Kangin's leg. Ever since I saw a gif of Gongju backing off a table until she fell in Kangin's lap, I'd shown my friends, and Em and I had agreed that if we were ever to go to the SuJu dorms, we were going to dog-nap her, even though she wasn't a SuJu fan. Of course, now that I was here, I figured that I couldn't actually do that.

I straightened back up, looking up at Kangin sheepishly. "I'm sorry. I... like... animals." I remembered a time when I'd freaked out some little children by talking animatedly to a scarlet macaw in a pet store. What can I say? I was a strange one.

"So, anyway, Minsung's our new housekeeper."

Kangin seemed interested now. "So you're a housekeeper Ahjumma?"

I made a face, once again stating that I was not an Ahjumma. 

"Sure, sure. Well, come on in. I'll show you around." He moved aside, and I once again took my shoes off, following him into the second dorm. "HEY GUYS! Get out here, Minsung's our new housekeeper Ahjumma!" I guess no amount of correcting was going to get him to stop, and I was tired of trying.

Donghae and Ryeowook appeared, looking at me with surprise. "ELF Queen?" Donghae asked. I nodded, my mind wandering, like it usually did. I wonder if SM purposely put Yesung and Ryeowook, Donghae and Eunhyuk on different floors? Ah, that just means they'd have to go up or down a floor in order to--

"Ahjumma, did you hear me?"

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts once again. "I'm sorry, Kangin-oppa. What did you say?"

"I asked if you were shown around the downstairs dorm."

I consented, so he didn't give me the full tour.

"My room's down that way. It used to be Leeteuk's room, so we'll have to figure it out when he gets out of the military." So my suspicions were correct.

"Donghae's is that way, and Ryeowook's is down the other hallway. Make sense?"

I nodded. "Okay. I'll do my best, Oppa."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I ended up filling the time that had been taken up by school. No better job for the ELF Queen, right?

We'll see.