... I think I'll need to talk to our club adviser," you tell Hyukjae. "I'm sure he knows people." 

"When can you ask him?" 

"Probably Friday because during club hours," you reply. "But that's if he's not busy and asks someone else to substitute for him."

"I'm running out of tiiiime..." Hyukjae cries. 

"You're worrying so much that you're not even acting like your usual idiot self anymore," Donghae says. "Chill, Hyukkie. Just trust Haneul. Since I'm in the same club, we can do it together." 

"Okay..." Hyukjae says, still worried. "But I'll go with you just so that I can finally go back to being my stupid self."

June 18, Friday, After club hours: DANCE STUDIO

Fortunately, it's Yunho who is teaching your club today. You and the rest of the guys perform the choreography assigned for this session and Yunho wraps things up.

"Next week," Yunho announces. "I will not be here because our group TVXQ needs to go to Japan for a fan meeting, so I won't give you any homework choreography today, okay, guys? See you in two weeks!"

You and Donghae look at each other.

This is our only chance to ask him!

You both quickly approach Yunho.

RRRRING! RRRRING!

"Yes, hello?" Yunho answers his phone. "Ah, Jaejoong-ah."

D: Okay, I guess we'll wait until he finishes his call.

You and Donghae wait awkwardly beside him as your other club mates leave the room. Heechul and Donghee call out to you.

"Hey, guys," Donghee says. "What are you still doing standing here?"

"We need to ask Yunho something," you reply.

Heechul's head somehow slithers onto your shoulder. "Are you planning to ask Yunho for help with our class' festival boooooth?"

"Uhhh..."

"I knew it, hahahaha!" Heechul cackles. "That lazy monkey is still not doing things himself and needs other people to do his work for him."

"But hyung, he's not part of our club so he wouldn't be able to ask Yunho," Donghae replies, trying to defend his friend.

"Ohohoho, say what you want to say," Heechul shakes his head and places his hands on his hips. "It's difficult to transform a lazy person into anything great."

Heechul and Donghee leave the studio. Yunho is still on his phone and packing up his bags.

"Why didn't they tell me earlier?" he says into the phone. "They know I teach a dance class at Seoul High on Fridays at this time. No, I didn't receive his message..."

He waves at you and Donghae, still standing there, and starts to walk out the door, totally oblivious to your reasons.

"H-hyung!" you both call out. He doesn't hear you and exits the studio.

"We have to follow him," you say.

Donghae nods in response.

SEOUL HIGH GATES

"I can't believe he's still not done talking on the phone," you whisper to Donghae as you both walk 2 meters behind Yunho.

"He seems to be a really busy guy," Donghae says.

"Yes, don't worry, oppa will take you out to dinner soon, Changmin-ah," you hear Yunho say sweetly. "Now, give the phone back to Jaejoong. Wait, who is this? Hello? Yoochun?? Stop messing around with me guys, hahaha! I'm on my way there already." 

=_=

You and Donghae trudge helplessly behind Yunho.

EXTERIOR, SM ENTERTAINMENT BLDG

After following your club adviser through the subway and the streets of Seoul, Yunho enters a big agency building along Apgujeong street in Gangnam.

"He was on the phone the entiiiire time!!" you shout in frustration to the building. "Now, how are we going to enter this stupid building??"

You fall to your knees in despair. After a moment, you glance at Donghae who takes an ID out of his pocket and waves at the guard at the entrance of the building.

o_O

He turns to you and gestures for you to come along.

SM ENTERTAINMENT, LOBBY

"Stupid fish, why didn't you tell me you were a trainee," you mutter sourly as you fiddle with the big visitor's pass pinned to your uniform. 

"I thought you already knew," he laughs.

"Not officially," you pout. "Who among the other guys are trainees now, too?"

"Hmm," he taps his chin. "Me, Youngwoon hyung, Jongwoon, Heechul hyung, Donghee, Ryeowook--"

"He's a trainee??"

"Yeah, he was scouted at the band performance too. Anyway, there's also Jungsu hyung, Sungmin... and Hyukjae."

"HYUKJAE IS A TRAINEE??? WHY DIDN'T HE JUST ASK HIS SUNBAE-NIMS HERE HIMSELF??!"

"Haneul, even I don't know our other sunbae-nims," Donghae explains as you both go up the escalator. "We're just trainees. There are more than a hundred other trainees here who are waiting for their turn to debut and to them, we're silly wannabe kids. Even though we see them sometimes in the hallways, they're still celebrities to us and we can't be close to each other. They live in a world of their own." 

"Is that how it works in here?" o_O

He nods. "So we need to ask Yunho for help since he's friends with loooots of big stars. But if we can't, I think we'll be okay because though I may not know famous talents of SM, I do have several trainee friends who I think are really good."

On the second floor, you pass by a lot of rooms that look like dance studios. Donghae stops in front of one room and peeks inside. He knocks on the door and enters.

TRAINING ROOM C

The boys inside bound over to Donghae. "Donghae hyung!!!" they shout.

"Hey, guys!" Donghae cheerfully waves as the tallest boy jumps on him. He tries to catch him but they almost fall over. "Minho-ya, you're too hyper today."

"Only when I see you, hyung," the kid named Minho says in his low voice. 

"Who is this with you, Donghae hyung?" another skinny kid asks. 

"Oh, guys, this is my classmate and best friend, Kim Haneul!" Donghae announces as he grasps your shoulder tight (just like a bro). 

TT TT Best friend.

"I thought Hyukjae hyung was your best friend," the boy in a cap asks. 

"Isn't Kim Junsu the best friend of Hyukjae hyung?" yet another kid with green contact lens asks. 

You all look at Donghae for the answer. 

"They're all my best friends~!" he sings, waving his hands in the air.

Everyone falls over.

o_O

Oh, Donghae.

"Before I forget, these are Minho, Taemin, Jonghyun, Onew, and Key!" he gestures to the corresponding members.

They all bow. "It's nice to meet you, Kim Haneul hyungnim~"

You feel flattered about how they so politely called you "hyungnim".

"It's really nice to meet you guys too," you bow back, smiling.

"So what brings you here, hyungs?" Minho asks.

"Well, we were looking for Yunho hyung because we need performers for our school's summer festival," Donghae explains. "Did he go directly upstairs?" He looks worried.

The trainees look at each other. "We haven't seen him," Taemin says. "He probably went to the sunbaenim's training room upstairs."

"We're not allowed to use the rooms there because that floor is reserved only for the famous stars of SM," Jonghyun tells you.

"They scold younger trainees if they loiter there," Onew adds.

"We would have liked to help you but we might get into trouble," Key says apologetically. "Sorry..."

"You could wait until he finishes his rehearsals," Minho says. "But it will take too much time. They practice for looooong hours."

You and Donghae are downcast.

Suddenly, Minho brightens up and says excitedly, "Hyungs!!! Why don't you get US to perform instead?"

Donghae looks at you. You look at Donghae.

"I totally forgot that that was our Plan B," Donghae laughs. "Let's do it!"

"Oh, Haneul hyung, Haneul hyung," Taemin says happily. "We were actually already grouped together so we're gonna debut as a boy group but they haven't decided what our name will be yet."

"And we don't know when we'll be debuting," Key adds.

"We've been training  with this song that they gave us," Jonghyun says. "I wonder if we can perform that. Will the agency get mad?"

"Nahhhh," Taemin says. "But just to be sure, let's keep it a secret."

"How many more performers do you need, hyungs?" Minho asks.

"Well..." you think. "Maybe around 3 performers?"

"Okay, let's go hunting~!!" the boys cheer.

You all go out into the hallway and peek into every training room on the second floor. You see lots of really young boys and girls practicing.

One room, though, is quite peculiar. There is a band playing heavy rock music. The guys inside look... a bit strange. 

"LET'S GET THEM TOO!" Donghae says.

"TRAX?" Minho asks.

"Yep," he nods. "I heard they're debuting on July 20. Our festival is a few days before that so we can get them!"

You smack Donghae on the head. "Babo. That means that they'll have no time to perform at our festival because they're too busy practicing for their debut."

Plus they look kinda scary...

"Well, we won't know until we ask them, right?" Donghae grins. Before you can stop him, he knocks on the door and goes in with the other trainee boys.

The one called Key stays back at looks at you. "He's always like that," he chuckles before following the rest of the boys inside.

You're too afraid to go in but after a moment, you finally step into the room. You see the band members nodding their heads and giving Donghae a thumbs up.

Just like that, they agreed? o_O

Standing dumbfounded by the door, Donghae jumps over to you and says, "Haneul, they agreeeeed~"

"No kidding?" @_@

The band members wave at you too and nod to confirm Donghae's news. "THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH, HYUNGNIMS~~" Donghae shouts and waves.

You all go back outside the room. "I can't believe you got them in less than a minute," you say, scratching your head.

"Well, you know, I'm actually very charismatic~" Donghae says, lifting his eyebrows in a self-absorbed manner.

"Pshh. Yeah, right," you reply. "We need one more performer for the festival. Anyone in mind?"

"OH!!! OH OH OH!" the trainee boys shout, jumping up and down. "WE KNOW, WE KNOW!!"

"Donghae knows very well too," Onew giggles.

"OH!" Donghae shouts, understanding. "Do you mean... THAT person??"

"That person?" you ask, cluelessly. o_O

You hear shouts outside the door. All of you look through the glass. Donghae points at the pretty girl with orange hair being followed by a crowd of reporters and paparazzi.

"THAT person."