[A/N: There are no past events in this one...]

You feel your heart pounding beneath your tightly bandaged chest as you enter in Lee Sooman's office. Upon hearing the door open, the owner of the office, Mr. Lee himself, turns his attention to face you. He's older from how you remember him, but then again it has been years since you have seen them... or has it? Why do you get the feeling that you've seen him recently?

It hits you. A couple weeks ago, when your father called you to his office after having that lie about you published, a man entered his office. It was Mr. Lee Sooman...

Curious, you try to recall what they spoke about...

Mr. Lee stands up from his desk and your father and another manager also rise to greet you. 

You make a 90º bow, out of respect for them. "안녕하세요 [Annyeonghaseyo]!"

"Welcome, Mr. Hwang," greets Mr. Lee. "How are you doing this morning?"

"Fine," you reply. You bow your head slightly. "감사합니다 [Kamsahamnida]."

"Please, have a seat," he says, gesturing to one of two empty chairs in front of his desk. You politely nod your head in response and cross over to one of the empty chairs. You take a seat after the rest of the men have sat back down. You catch your father's gaze on you.

"Let's get down to business, shall we?" Mr. Lee asks. 

You nod in response. 

"From the recordings I've seen of your audition, you have a very impressive repertoire."

"감사합니다 [Kamsahamnida]," you reply with a grateful smile and small bow of the head.

"As I believe Mr. Jang has already mentioned to you, we can not train you, since you are above the average age for trainees here."

You feel your father's eyes focus on you again. You ignore his gaze, though it's making you nervous.

"However," Mr. Lee continues. "I believe we have a place for you in a group that has been around for quite a few years now. They are currently struggling right now since a lot of their fans recently left them while they were fulfilling their military duties. Quite frankly, we are not sure if they will make it. However, we figure that by adding a new member to the mix we just might be able to jump start them back into their place." He smiles softly. "However, we also realize that it may not work out. If that happens, you will have at least gotten the publicity and your contract with us can be transferred into a solo career." He pauses for a moment, showing you a copy of the contract. "Do you have any thoughts?"

"Not really," you respond. "Except for I am curious as to what group I would be in." You recall the conversation you overheard between him and your father. They had spoken of trying to retire a group. Will they put you in that group?

Mr. Lee gives you a reassuring smile. "Are you saying you would like to sign the contract?"

You smile. "Let me read over this real quick before I give you my answer."

"Of course," he replies with a smile.

You pick up the papers from off the desk, sitting back in your chair to look over them. You notice your father's eyes are trained on you, as if studying you, like an alchemist pouring over his notes diligently to find the perfect solution to his concoction to turn lead into gold. 

You carefully read over the in's and out's of the contract. If the group fails and SM does not deem you worthy of a solo career, they have the rights to terminate your contract without your consent.

You ponder over this.

If the band fails....

Why would that be an issue?

...Unless it was the one they wanted to retire.

If you do not sign the contract you lose out on the only shot you have left to obtaining your dream... If you sign, there is a chance it will not work out.

It looks like this might be a risk you have to take. 

You look up from the contract. "Do you have a pen?"

Mr. Lee nods, a smile on his face. He hands you a pen. You lay the contract flat on the desk and sign on the dotted line at the bottom of the last page on the contract. You hand him back the contract. "감사합니다 [Kamsahamnida]."

"Would you like to meet the leader of your group so that we can discuss some details?"

You nod. "네 [Ne]."

He picks up the phone off his desk. "Miss Kang, can you please send him in?" He sets down the phone. 

There's a knock on the door before the door opens slowly to reveal your group's leader. 

It takes everything you to have to maintain a relative poker face. You would have never guessed that it would be HIM. 

As his eyes connect with yours, a look of confusion crosses his face. 

Leeteuk bows his head quickly to everyone in the room. "안녕하세요 [Annyeonghaseyo]!"

"Leeteuk, please have a seat next to Hwang Jaekyu here." Mr. Lee gestures to the empty seat next to you.

Leeteuk nods in response and hurries over to sit. He bows his head to you politely.

"I guess you are wondering why I called you here," begins Mr. Lee. "Well, as I explained to yesterday when we talked about how your group has lost a lot of support from fans recently, we have to make a few changes." He gestures to you. "We are adding a new member to your group to hopefully generate more publicity and get you back in the frontlines again."

"Sir," begins Leeteuk politely. "Forgive me for speaking my mind, but we tried to add two other members several years ago. You know how that turned out."

"Indeed, I am fully aware of the fact."

"Don't you think that the same thing could happen again?" Leeteuk tries to be respectful, bowing his head in submission as he asks this question. 

"We have considered the possiblitly a great deal," Mr. Lee responds. "It could happen easily. However, we are running out of options, Leeteuk. The way I see it, if things don't change and you don't generate more publicity and fans, we could potentially see the end of Super Junior in just a matter of time. Possibly you could be looking at the disband of Super Junior in as little as six months."

Leeteuk looks down at his hands, nodding at the truth of Lee Sooman's words. "I understand," he replies softly. He looks up at Mr. Lee with a determined smile. "We will do our best to keep Super Junior going and with greater strength." He bows his head.

"I'm glad to hear that, Leeteuk," Mr. Lee says somewhat proudly. "Now, moving on to some of the small matters to discuss. As you now know, Jaekyu is now a member of your group. I have arranged a press conference in two day's time to announce the new addition of the SJ family. Before the interviews though, you will have to perform as a full group with Jaekyu. Perform 'y, Free, & Single' for this." Lee Sooman turns his gaze to you. "You will have to learn this song within the allotted time, mind you."

"I will, sir." You bow your head.

Mr. Lee continues. "Starting now you are an official member of Super Junior. You will live in the same dorms as them, since I believe there is an extra room somewhere over there."

Your father speaks up, looking at Leeteuk. "No one is using the extra room, is there?"

Leeteuk shakes his head. "아니요 [Aniyo]. However, a cousin of Sungmin's stayed with us for a few days, but left about a week and half ago to move back to America."

You notice a smirk appear across your father's face, no doubt thinking his deception worked and stopped you from pursuing your dream. 

How wrong he is...

Mr. Lee nods. "Well, then. It's settled. Jaekyu will stay at the dorms with you all and promotions will begin in two days. I can not stress how important this is for you all to do your best with this."

"Understood," replies Leeteuk with another slight bow of the head. "We'll do our best to make Super Junior even better than before."

"Well then," he stands up and everyone else in the room, including Leeteuk and you, does the same. "I don't believe there is anything else to be discussed. Have a good day!"

Leeteuk and you bow. "안녕히계세요 [Annyeonghikyeseyo]!" Both of you head toward the door. You open it, holding the door open for him. He exits and you follow close behind. You follow Leeteuk into the elevator. As soon as the doors slide to a close, he turns to you, puffing up his cheeks. "We need to talk."

You nod, thinking about the conversation you overheard two weeks ago. "We do."

****

"This isn't going to be easy, you know?" he says, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"I know," you respond, tilting your head back as your lean against the park bench.

"They know that there will be some ELFs who will retaliate and go back to the whole 'Only 13' issue. They know that adding a new member could potentially destroy us." He sits back with a sigh. "I think, however, that Lee Sooman still is rooting for Super Junior though. If he wanted to completely disband us now, he could..." He takes a deep breath. "I think he wants us to prove him wrong."

You smile, nodding your head. "Well then, let's prove them all wrong."

He smiles. "We will." He chuckles. "This is going to be interesting having you as a member." He smiles. "Don't worry. We'll protect you and try to prevent anyone from finding out." He gets up off the bench. "Well, I guess we should let the others know." He pulls out his cell phone. "I'm sending a group text, telling everyone to meet us on the tenth floor. We'll discuss everything then."

****

As everyone continues to listen to Leeteuk and you explain what's going on, you cannot help but feel both excited and scared. A lot is riding on this working out...

Leeteuk takes a deep breath, looking down for a moment. "I know we've all been through the hate before, but if we can pull this off and become even stronger because of this, we will probably accomplish more." He grins. "I want to finally be able to add Henry and Zhou Mi too, officially that is."

You see both Henry and Zhou Mi's eyes light up. You look over at Leeteuk and grin as he asks,"What do you guys think?"

Everyone lets out  exclamations of excitement.

Leeteuk stands up from his spot, raising an outstretched hand. "WE ARE SYUPEO JUNI--"

Everyone else stands up, including yourself, stretching out hands. "--OYEO!"

****

You lean against the sink in the men's washroom, trying to take a moment to relax before you have to go out there. You are comfortable with the dance, since Eunhyuk had already taught it to you before all this and yesterday's rehearsals went extremely well. However, you are nervous about how ELF will response to you. You take a deep breath, looking at yourself in the mir