The next several hours passed in a blur after the morning’s excitement. Idols and assorted people walked to and fro between the makeup room and photo room. People shouted orders. Lights flashed. I sat curled in a chair away from it all, my nose buried in the book Siwon had given me. No one really spoke to me, except for Alex, who offered me a bite of something around noon. People stared at me, but soon I disappeared into the background as they grew accustomed to my presence.

It must have been close to three o’clock when someone gently placed a hand on my shoulder, distracting me from the ‘Korean Sentence Structure’ chapter. Uki whispered, “The boys are done. Come on, let’s go.”

Having not moved for quite a long time, it was pretty difficult trying to get out of that chair. I stretched, a strange sound coming from my throat, then put the book in my backpack, gingerly uncurling my legs and standing. Flashes of light were still going off in the room; apparently Super Junior was the first one to be done. The volume level hadn’t changed at all.

Uki started to usher me out of the room. “I pulled a few strings to get us done first, since the boys are so busy today. With all their variety skills, they have a lot of schedules. Oh yeah, and by the way, would you rather go to Sukira or dance practice?”

We stepped out into the fresh air; the yellow fog from this morning had cleared away significantly. A van was at the end of the driveway, and all the crazy fangirls had left save for a few. “What’s Sukira?” I asked as the short girl bundled me down the drive at a much faster pace than usual.

“Kiss the Radio. It’s a radio program the boys DJ. Honestly, if I were you, I’d choose that. You’d get to learn some popular songs from over here, and you wouldn’t have to sit in a room watching sweaty, stinky guys dance for hours.” She popped open the door; the boys had squished, leaving a seat free for me. Or maybe that seat had always been there, and that morning they had just spread out more. Either way, I plopped down in it, grateful I wouldn’t have to sit in Henry’s lap again.

“Then I’ll try the radio thing, I guess,” I said to Uki as she slammed my door and climbed into the passenger’s seat. I was acutely aware of several sets of eyes boring holes in the back of my head, trying to understand me. The van shot forward and merged into traffic, making me wish I had put on my seat belt earlier.

“Alright! Just stick close to Sungmin or Eunhyuk then, they’re the hosts today.”

I nodded wordlessly, then pulled my book out of my backpack again as she spat out a few words in Korean, assumingly saying that I was going to Sukira. After a few minutes of driving (and I swear, I think we nearly crashed fifteen times) the boys began to talk amongst themselves, laughing and sometimes singing at the top of their lungs. One or two fell asleep, apparently exhausted.

But I just sat there, blankly staring at a page labeled ‘Basic Conjugation’. Worry was trickling down my spine. I really, really hoped Mary wasn’t going to make me do anything at the radio thing. Besides that, I was starving, having only eaten one bite of kimchi at lunch. My stomach gurgled longingly at the thought of the seaweed I had finished last night (was it really just last night?) But as my stomach complained, a pang of pain shot across my back, reminding me of what happens when I break the rules. I unconsciously placed one hand on my stomach, trying to make it shut up as I tried to focus enough to read.

Peals of laughter erupted behind me as a couple of someones started singing, “YMCA!” as loud as they could. I chanced a look behind my chair and stifled a giggle. All of the boys had their hands underneath their chins, shrugging their shoulders and looking adorable, as they continued to belt out the lyrics. “Y,M,CA! Da dara dara da Y,M,CA! Da dara dara da…”

A groggy Eunhyuk, who I thought had been asleep in the seat next to me, simply swatted at Donghae, the instigator. “Yah, so noisy,” he mumbled in Korean (I think). Instantly Donghae started singing even louder, leaning closer to his ear and screaming, “Y,M,CA!!”

“Yah!” Eunhyuk yelled, bolting upright and out of dreamland, but before he could continue, the car shuddered to a stop outside a squat little building. Instantly the van quieted as the boys fell back into their “I’m a perfect idol” acts, and the side door of the van opened to give access to the sidewalk.

I shut my book and grabbed my backpack as Eunhyuk motioned for me to get out. I did so, quickly followed by him and Sungmin, then the door slid shut behind us. Uki’s window rolled down. “Goodbye!” she called in Korean. “Take care of Taryn!”

“Okay, bye!” the boys replied as the van peeled away, then they started heading up towards the squat building, me in tow. There weren’t many fangirls here, and these ones seemed pretty tame and nice, so Sungmin stopped for a picture before catching up to Eunhyuk and I.

Inside the building, they checked themselves in and got a visitors sticker for me to put on my shirt, waving a friendly hello to the person at the front desk. They then pulled me through the door just to the left, from where they seemed to know exactly where they were going. They took a few turns, bowing to (but not saying an actual hello to) a few miscellaneous people in the hallways, then opened a door and stepped in, throwing their jackets in a corner.

In the middle of the room was a large table, big enough to seat ten people. Microphones and computers were set up on the table, and on the far wall I haltingly read “Super Junior: Kiss the Radio”. Two cameras were set up in two corners of the room, angled towards the table. Wires and equipment were everywhere.

Eunhyuk and Sungmin sat down at the far end of the table, Eunhyuk in front of a Mac. He started fiddling with his headphones while Sungmin motioned invitingly to the chair next to him. Grateful, I sat down, realizing for the first time how fortunate I was to be with two of the members of Super Junior I felt the most comfortable with.

A red light over the door , illuminating the closed door. Eunhyuk nodded to Sungmin, then cleared his throat, bringing his microphone a bit closer to his mouth. “Welcome, everybody, to Super Junior: Kiss the Radio!”

~~~~~~

Hey everybody! I must say, I am so stoked to be working on this again, and I must say, it feels good to be following a set plan with this rather than blundering about in the dark. I hope you all like this chapter, I can't wait to get the ball rolling! Please tell me what you think down in the comments :) Thank you all for sticking with me!

Oh, and just so you know, I plan on being more regular with my updates now. Maybe not every day, but no fewer than once a week. I'm in my senior year of high school, so I'm doing college stuff, plus my swim season is starting up here soon, so I won't have a ton of free time, but I am definitely going to set aside some time to work on this.

Just out of curiosity, are there any Running Man watchers out there? I really can't wait for 118 to be subbed :)