Kyuhyun was rushing through the corridor; or rather, the manager was hurrying him through it. These days, the rest of Super Junior was really busy, and the young man could only hope ardently for a glance of the group he was supposed to be a part of. Formal introductions had yet to be made. He bumped into a tall, gangly man.

Backtracking, he saw that it was Leeteuk, the leader of Super Junior, and stammered out, “Sorry...hello.”

The tall, gangly man looked him over once rather disgustedly, and replied, “Is this how you talk to your elders?”

And Leeteuk marched off, zooming down the corridor with a mechanical efficiency that the young man one day wished to possess. He himself was so unbusy, like a restless extra on an especially large movie set.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled after him, quite shocked. It was Kyuhyun’s first meeting with the leader, and he had ruined it. 

The manager prodded him forward, and he resumed his course to the dressing room. Once inside, with the pallid fluorescent lights glaring down at him, he stripped off his jacket. Several female employees took height and circumference measurements, so that they could relay them to the costume designer, who would fashion themed costumes for all of them for their upcoming album, ‘U’.

Kyuhyun rolled up his T-shirt, and they measured his midriff, then proceeded to his arms, the length of both sets of his limbs, even the circumference of his calf.

“Wow,” he murmured to himself, trying not to show any reactions to the staff unintentionally tickling him. “Aii…”

When he was done, the manager took him aside. He had a stern, apologetic look on his face.

“The dormitory rooms are all full, so you will have to use a sleeping bag in one of the rooms. Is that all right with you?”

“Yes, thank you,” he answered, not really processing what he had just heard. It was almost as if he did not yet exist in the collective conscience of the company. He had not even met all the team members yet, and he had already offended one of them, the oldest of them no less. 

Weird, geekish kid. Kyuhyun tried to banish the thoughts to the back of his mind, but he could not help but feel a little hurt. Maybe he was not meant to be a singer. Maybe his father was right.

That night, after a catered meal of chicken with damp, warm lettuce, rice and surprise company from the third oldest and youngest members of the group, Yesung and Ryeowook respectively, Kyuhyun lugged his sleeping bag into Yesung’s room. He left the door ajar. He heaved the rest of his luggage against the wall. 

Yesung had told him to set up his sleeping bag beside his own bed, for that was the only space the tiny room allowed. He shook out the rolled up sleeping bag, and with a slapping sound, spread it before him in a single line. He was just about to fetch his pillow and books when Yesung entered, stumbling slightly.

“Ah, you’re here, Kyuhyun-dongsaeng,” the older man greeted.

“Nn, thank you for having me here, hyung,” he tried respectfully, and felt relieved when Yesung smiled back at him briefly.

"Good night." 

It was eleven o'clock. 

"Good night," Kyuhyun replied awkwardly, trying not to discreetly steal a glance at the objects that cluttered Yesung's bed. Were those music sheets? The older boy even had stuffed toys. 

"You read?" Yesung asked, pointing at the small pile of books at the edge of Kyuhyun's sleeping bag. 

"Yes," he said. 

"What titles are they?" 

Kyuhyun told him so. The usual nerd picks influenced partly by his high school reputation as a serious academic  - history, astrology and a famous adult novel. 

"Woah, you must be smart," Yesung told him. 

"Not really." 

He was glad to be recognised. 

"Don't worry. You will get to meet all of us eventually," the older boy told him vaguely, as he settled into his bed covers and pulled the blankets around him, "When you want to sleep, please close the lights." 

Kyuhyun stayed up for another half an hour, playing his online games for some comfort. It was Starcraft: clashing with other foes and nodding in time to the electronic music through his earphones. When Yesung started to snore, he ended the game, and wistfully got up to switch off the lights. Then, he lay in bed, blankly staring at the lump on the four-poster bed, before he fell asleep on the floor. 

The next day, one of the other boys whom Kyuhyun did not recognise was hogging their room in the morning, even before Kyuhyun had awoken. Yesung and the boy chattered animatedly, largely ignoring the youngest of them all. As Kyuhyun stepped out of the bathroom, Yesung finally made the introduction.

“Kyuhyun, this is Hangeng-hyung. He’s a few months older than me.”

‘Jesus’, Kyuhyun thought.

“Are you Kyuhyun?” the very old boy asked, peering at his face.

He nodded, his heart squeezing in nervousness, “Nice to meet you, Hangeng-hyung.”

“You’re very quiet,” observed the older boy with no amount of malice.

Kyuhyun was taken aback at the forwardness of the boy. He was probably going to have to learn how to do it too.

But all he