Manager Kim opened his door and grinned. "Ah, Minsung. Forgot your keycard again, didn't you?"

"Manager Kim, I don't work for SuJu anymore," I teased. 

"Doesn't mean you don't still want to get in, you erted child, you."

Jung Ah stifled a laugh. I glared at her, then shrugged. "True as that may be, that's not why I'm here. Jung Ah says I'm giving her a hard time. That I hate her, and she doesn't know what to do."

He looked up at her, then back at me, then again at Jung Ah. "I'm not a counselor, you know."

"Come on, Manager Kim!" I prodded, "can't you help us, just this once? Manager Kim is the coolest manager in SM! Although, I guess, if it's too inconvenient to teach things to Jung Ah, we can go to Girls' Generation's manager instead..."

He made a face at me, then opened the door. "Alright, alright, come on in."

I flashed a grin at Jung Ah, who rolled her eyes. We took a seat around the low table in the living room. 

Manager Kim came out with two cups of tea and set them in front of us. "Since I know our Minsung here likes her tea."

I smiled and took a polite sip, then put it down, coughing. "Manager Kim, did you ever take the leaves out?! It's so bitter!"

He half stood up, threatening to knock me over the head, so I shut up. He sat back down, shighing. "Well, first of all, Minsung, try calling her 'Eonni'. You can't be calling your manager by her first name all the time."

I looked at her, then nodded. "Okay. Manager Eonni it is."

"Good. Anything else?"

"Manager Kim!"

"Okay, okay, fine," he conceded, chuckling. "Jung Ah, you used to be Minsung's friend, right?"

She nodded. "We were trainees together."

"Why don't you try loosening up? You're wound up as tight as a kite string."

"I can't!" she complained, "They'll fire me. And then I'll really be kicked out of the company."

He shrugged. "Sure you can. Just because you have to keep this wild kid under control doesn't mean you can't have fun with it. Try teasing her a bit. Make fun of her for getting up late. Throw pillows at her in the morning to get her out of bed. You think I'd last a second against all those kids if they hated me?" he asked, obviously referring to the SuJu dorm just down the hall. "They'd gang up against me and throw me in some pool in Taiwan!"

"Didn't they do that already?" I asked.

He shrugged. "All in good fun." He turned back to Jung Ah. "Lighten up. I've had this job for almost ten years now. Once you get experienced, you can start to bend the rules a little. But for now, just try to enjoy yourself. You'll have plenty of chances to make a fool out of this kid, I assure you."

"I think that'll just make her hate me even more."

Manager Kim leaned forward. "You were the intern with me earlier, right?" Jung Ah nodded. "When you were supposed to be observing me, what did you see?"

"You seemed really irresponsible. You got up after the boys once or twice, not even worried. They'd ask you about their schedule, and you'd just shrug and throw them your phone. When they were playing around, you started recording them instead of reminding them to focus."

Manager Kim laughed a little. "It's because I trust them, Jung Ah. They need to learn to make mistakes, or else they'll never fix them. And if I don't let them have a little fun, then we'll both go insane before the year's out."

"But the company-"

"-has too many artists to stick its nose into the business of every single one. It's okay, Jung Ah. You don't have to be Minsung's mother. You're her manager. That's different."

I smiled at her. "What did I tell you, Eonni? He's awesome."

He shrugged. "Jung Ah, if you want, you can try studying under me for another day. Try and pay attention to other things besides my irresponsibility."

Jung Ah glanced at me. "But... Minsung's schedule..."

"Minsung, what's your schedule for tomorrow?" Manager Kim asked, turning to me.

"Ummm... I have an appointment with the orthodontist about getting a nighttime retainer to straighten my teeth at seven thirty, then at nine I go back to the company for some vocal training and songwriting. At eleven I need to head to SBS for hair and makeup.  After that I have filming until midnight."

Manager Kim looked back at Jung Ah. "Is that everything?"

Jung Ah bit her lip. "...yes."

"Great, then! Minsung, make sure you know what you're doing tomorrow. Jung Ah, we're heading to an event in Busan tomorrow. Be ready. The boys can be really rowdy. Can't they, Minsung?"

I nodded.

"So Minsung, are you going to pay me back with some of your home cooking?" Manager Kim asked.

I sighed and grabbed a pillow off of his couch and threw it at him. "Fine. But don't sit there and complain about every single little thing, like last time!"

I stuck my tongue out at him and left the room, Jung Ah following behind me. Once we were out of the room, she muttered, "I thought you were supposed to do that with your own artists..." 

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You acted so insolent to him, and he's not even your manager."

"What? Oh, that? That's just because I worked with him so much. He kind of started to treat me as if I were one of the members. He's like my uncle by now."

"You throw pillows at your uncles?"

"My uncles used to hang me upside-down and hold me by my feet so I could walk across the ceiling," I explained.

Jung Ah stopped in the hallway, then looked at me, then started giggling. "Walk across the ceiling?! No wonder you're so messed up!"

"Ya! Eonni!"

The next day, I was totally on my own. No Jung Ah to yell at me to wake up, no manager to remind me to hurry up when I was taking too long to do something. I confess, I'd only actually had a manager for a month, but I'd gotten used to it. 

That particular day, though, I had none. Jung Ah was following Manager Kim to Busan, and I had to figure it all out by myself. Personally, I wanted to skip the meeting with the orthodontist, because the idea of sleeping with a retainer in my mouth didn't sound all that appealing, but the company had insisted that I get my teeth straightened out to remove my "lovely" overbite, but they didn't want me to wear braces because that would destroy any images of me looking beautiful. So nighttime retainers it was.

Fortunately it was over quickly. I'd be back the next week to get it picked up. Yay.

I had some extra time, so I just headed to the company a little early for my vocal training. Maybe if I was lucky, I could chat with someone before my schedule actually began. Sadly, with my new, chaotic actress' schedule, I never encountered Zhou Mi when I went in or left the room. It had never lasted very long- only a few minutes going down the hallways unless he decided it was time for another Chinese lesson- but I still kind of missed it. 

"Queen Be!" I heard as I entered. Tiffany ran up to me, looking as pretty as usual, with her black hair curled into elegant waves. 

"Hey, Tiffany. What's up?"

"Do you want to get coffee with me tomorrow morning? I need to talk to you about something."

I shrugged. "I'll talk to Jung Ah about it and text you, 'kay?"

She nodded. I looked at her outfit of the day, then up at the other girls passing by. "You'd better hurry, Tiff. looks like you have a schedule you need to get to."

She nodded. "Yeah, we're going on Star King today. See ya tomorrow, then, Mel!"

She waved, going back with the rest of Girls' Generation. I waved to the rest of the girls, then turned to go to my vocal training lesson.

I missed Nakata-sensei. The new teacher was really picky, and got flustered at everything, while Nakata-sensei was always calm, even when she was annoyed. Also, the new teacher was totally Korean, so I could no longer practice my Japanese in class.

"No, no, no, NO! Stop using your head voice! Stay in your lower range."

I tried the line again, trying not to growl as I sang it. 

"And now you're too quiet. Do it again, while trying to keep your volume up," he sighed.

Well, I'm sorry, sir. I go to my head voice because I can still hit the note while making it loud. I'm a soprano, not an alto. My voice doesn't go that low. But I kept my thoughts to myself, just trying to get the note right. I always found that hitting the right notes and putting emotion into them was usually good enough. Sometimes you had to play with octaves in order to do that.

"No, no, do it again."

Oh, Hell with it. He wants volume, I'll give him volume. 

"THERE IS NOTHING BUT PAIN UPON THE DIVIDE!
I WORRY, AND PRAY, AND HOPE, AND CRY
THAT SOMEDAY THEY'LL BOTH BE ALRIGHT!"

The teacher rubbed his ears, glaring at me. "Yes, that's quite wonderful, Minsung. However, that's not the song you're singing."

"Then can we at least sing a song that's in my range? I know, you're supposed to be trying to expland my range, but you can't expect me to be able to go to full volume with notes I can barely hit. One thing at a time. I'm not a man, you know. My vocal cords are thinner and thus higher-pitched than the average males. I can go on an entire anatomical litany about this."

The teacher just glared at me. "Are you finished?"

"Would you like me to start over?"

"Don't be a smart-aleck."

"I didn't think that word was in the Korean vocabulary."

"It is. Now sing."

"You just want to hear my pretty voice again, don't you?"

"Choi Minsung, you're testing my patience."

"Do I get an A+, then?"

"Is this a joke to you?"

"I'm getting frustrated, okay?! I've been taking this class for a month, and I feel absolutely no sense of success. My range hasn't expanded at all, and my self-esteem drops by the day. I can't learn if you're not teaching!" I fell back into my chair, finally finished.

He continued to glare at me. "Do you delight in making things difficult for this company?" he asked.

"Why, yes, actually, I do. It gives me a sense of fulfillment."

"Your sarcasm is not appreciated here. You should stop trying to bite the hand that feeds you."

"I'd stop if the hand that feeds me would just GIVE ME THE FREAKING FOOD!"

"Perhaps we should stop our lesson for today."

"Oh, now that would be nice."

"Your rebelliousness won't get you anywhere, you know."

"That's what you think."

"And what makes you say that?"

"Are you a psychologist or something? Because you ."

"Where exactly does your confidence come from? I have to ask. It's definitely not from your singing abilities. Do you want to go onstage with the voice you have right now? Laughable. You could never make it. If you were in a group, you could get away with it. You could be covered by the other girls. But you can't. As a soloist, you have to be soprano and alto together. You have to be a better singer than the best singers in groups. If you're put in a group, your voice still needs to be heard. Can you do that?"

"I never debuted to be a singer."

"Too bad, Choi Minsung. You don't have a choice."

He's lucky I was sitting on my hands to warm them up at that moment, because otherwise I would have broken his fricking nose. 

Finally the teacher was gone, and I was by myself on the training room floor, with my notebook in my lap and a pencil in my hand, happily scratching away at the paper.

I heard a knock on the door and looked up. It was Ryeowook.

"Are you going to hog the practice room to yourself, or can other people come in and practice?"

"Only if I'm allowed to stay and listen," I replied, setting my notebook aside. I wasn't getting anywhere with that song, anyway."

"That's good, actually. I wanted you to listen to something." He sat down at the piano and handed me a sheet of music. "How is it? Are the lyrics okay?"

I frowned, reading them. "It sounds like a children's song."

"Ya!" he yelled, snatching it back. 

I chuckled. "Okay, okay, sorry. It's a nice concept, but I think you need to add some deeper lyrics. Is it for your girlfriend?"

He nodded, smiling. "How did you know?"

"Because those are the exact kinds of cheesy words that I'd want my boyfriend to say to me," I replied without even thinking about it. "Like this one. 'I'll kiss you as soon as I can, before anyone else can take it from me. Your first kiss.' That's just dripping with romanticism!" 

He laughed. "If you ever get a boyfriend, I'll be sure to tell him that."

"What do you mean, IF?!" I shouted, "I'm going to get one someday!"

"Okay, okay, when you get a boyfriend."

"Better. Anyway, I like it. Just change a few lyrics, and she'll crumble like aged cheddar when you sing it to her. Or at least, I would. Then again, I'd crumble if you were singing about dragons and unicorns." I shrugged.

"Okay, don't laugh," he demanded, opening the piano keyboard. "Just listen, okay?"

I nodded, smiling. He began to play, and I leaned my head against the wall, smiling to myself. Wookie had such a sweet, pretty voice. Actually, his voice was similar to mine. High-pitched, and although he could hit the lower notes, you could tell that wasn't where he was comfortable.

And that was just his voice. Let's not even get into how completely adorable his lyrics were.

He finished playing, and I stood up to pinch his cheeks and give him a hug. "Aigoo, whoever managed to catch this adorable guy has no idea how lucky she is!" 

"Is Minsung jealous?" he teased, even as I gave his cheeks another pinch. 

"No." I grinned and let go. "Not her. Jealous of you, in a way. I wish I could meet someone who'd make me want to write sweet, cheesy, happy songs like that."

"I don't think you have to worry, Minsung. There's someone out there. Trust me." 

I pulled away, giving him a weird look. "How do you know?" I crossed my arms, looking straight at him. The motion, though, brought my watch into the attention of my eye.  "Oh s***! I'm going to be late!" I grabbed my stuff, then looked back. "Don't think I won't come back for the answer, Oppa. And be honest, okay? Bye!" I ran out the door to head to my hair and makeup session.

 "You look tired today, Queen Be," Hyuk Soo asked while we were on break for filming.

I sipped my water bottle and put it back down. "That's because I've been on my own today. Jung Ah-- I mean, my manager-eonni-- is on a study session with Manager Kim. I never realized how hard it is to keep track of it all by myself, and my schedule is fairly simple. I can only imagine how difficult it is for Manager Kim, taking care of all those boys, all of them having a different schedule, all of them with different talents, different desires... as much as I admire my Oppas themselves, there's no denying that their manager is pretty amazing, too."

"Manager Kim? Ah, you mean SuJu's manager, right?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm used to talking to people who know who he is."

"No, that's fine. It's fun to hear what's going on in that tiny head of yours."

"This tiny little head of mine can speak and read five languages almost fluently, refer to any part of the body using anatomical terms, and give a decent, psychologically viable explanation for everything you do."

Hyuk Soo put his hands in the air in submission. "I admit defeat. Please don't give any examples. I'm happy with my ignorancy."

"I'm not. I never have been. Since I was in elementary school, I always wanted to learn more, more, more. Being an artist is nice, but a lot of the most successful ones quit school to start their trainee lives, so they just give me blank looks when I say something. Most of the time it's just funny, but it can be slightly annoying sometimes."

"You must get along well with Kyuhyun-sunbae, then? He's pretty smart."

I smiled a bit to myself, looking down at the water bottle in my hands. "Not really. All Kyuhyun-oppa and I do is bicker. We once got in a heated arguement over the exact amount of time it had taken for our tea to cool down to room temperature."

"Who won?"

"Kyuhyun-oppa, of course," I answered, "he's good that way. You know, being the king of comebacks that he is. Always knows the perfect thing to say to crush you into submission. I can give calculation after calculation, fact after fact, but you just can't win against that."

Hyuk Soo chuckled to himself. "Sounds like love."

I gaped at him. "What?!"

He laughed again. "At least the way you see it in dramas. Forget the cute, adorable guy that's super nice to the girl and is her best friend. If she argues incessantly with a guy, she's most likely going to fall in love with him."

I made a face at him. "That's dramas. Not real life."

"Believe me, it happens in real life, too." He stood up, then held out his hand to help me up. "Come on, Queen Be. Break's up. Time to film our own romantic scene. With the guy you argue with incessantly! Now how about that?"

I punched him in the back, but I couldn't help the way he'd sent my thoughts spinning.