I had now officially been entitled Pinky by Kang.

Apparently he thought the name Shin was too manly for my girly appearance and so gave me a more fitting title. I had now been working there for a week and every day the work became considerably easier. Kang actually decided to do more than just water his favourite plant and helped me with the washing of the cars. He claimed that he left most of the work to me since he was gauging my ability to work, but somehow I felt like it was just laziness of his part.

Either way, I was beginning to like him more than I originally thought I would. I learned that he came to Korea from Australia with his parents when he was a teenager and that was why he disliked formalities so much. He thought that they just made an unnecessary gap between people.

He also said that he didn’t understand why people promoted equality among others, yet forced people to bow to others of a higher status. He was much more interesting than I expected him to be, and I found that I was beginning to admire him in the slightest. Not that I would ever tell him that, though.

In that week, I learned more about life than I had in the past year. I learned how to live on the bare necessities, learned how to manage money, and learned to appreciate having a home. Everything I took for granted when I was an idol was now gone. Even though the amount of pay I received was small, I was overjoyed every time the pay was handed to me.

I began saving up any of the money I didn’t use on necessities like food so I could buy some new clothing. So far I had only been able to afford a warmer jumper, but the satisfaction I got from purchasing that jumper with my own hard earned money was worth more than any pay check I had ever received at S.M.

The quote, ‘It’s only after you’ve lost everything that you’re free to do anything’ rang in my mind. Never had any words hit so close to home.

Every day that I walked to work, I would go passed the audition poster hung on the S.M building. I paused in my step every now and then, staring at the poster and thinking about my choices. I was considering auditioning again. Dancing was my passion and I really couldn’t see myself scrubbing cars for years on end.

Suddenly, something clicked in my brain. I had been so busy lately that I wasn’t even thinking about anything except for getting enough food to eat at night. If it’s 2004… then wouldn’t my Dad be here? Wouldn’t all the Super Junior members still be trainees? Another light bulb switched in my head when I realised that the teenager I met here last week must’ve actually been Eunhyuk.

I just played it off as a freaky coincidence, but now that I had confirmed to myself that I was really in the past, it all made sense. I thought about a few days ago when I was walking down the street, passing a few televisions that were lined up in the store window.

I was on my way to work, rubbing my hands together to try and warm myself up. I glanced to the side at the old fashioned T.V’s propped up on counters, showing some channel that I wasn’t particularly interested in. I was about to walk by when I thought I heard the words DBSK. I frowned and turned around to face the T.V, my eyes bugging out when I registered what the woman on the screen was saying.

“This song was released on the fourteenth of January, but is already rising on the charts. Get ready for DBSK’s debut hit song, Hug!”  I stared at the video as it started to play, my mouth hanging open in surprise. Sure enough, I saw Yunho Sunbaenim on the screen. That’s when it finally hit me. I really was in the past. There was no denying the facts anymore. I was… in the past.

When I thought of my Dad being here, I begun to shake slightly from shock, knowing that I would be able to see him again. When his coffin was lowered into the ground, I thought that would be the very last time I had seen his face. But now, I was lucky enough to maybe be able to see him once again. My shock turned into excitement as I made my decision. I was going to audition for S.M, not matter what.

I just had to learn to accept the extraordinary and move on. It wasn’t like there was anything I could do about it anyway. If I somehow made it into the company, I would be able to meet my Mum and Dad when they were younger. I missed my parents so badly, and this would be the perfect opportunity to see them. It was nearing the end of January, and I had until the end of March to practice for this audition. I wasn’t going to waste a single minute.

I made an effort to wake up an hour early everyday and go to sleep two hours later so I could practice my singing and dancing for the audition. I worked the hardest on my dance, knowing that it was my specialty and if they were going to accept me on anything, it would be my dancing skills. I never really was that great at singing. I wasn’t bad, but I just wasn’t particularly good either. But I knew I could dance. That was what I was really benching on. Whenever I had any spare time from work, including lunch breaks, I would work on my dancing to prepare.

It was tiring, but being a… well now a previous idol, I could do it. I wasn’t a stranger to lack of sleep and intensive practice.

I walked into work one day, especially tired from the rigorous dance practice the night before. My muscles were aching and my head was pounding, but I forced myself onwards. When Kang saw me he raised an eyebrow. “Pinky, you look like ,” he so eloquently said.

“Thank you for your kind observation,” I bit out, a little irritated that he called me out on my appearance. I didn’t feel great and even though I hadn’t seen myself in a mirror that morning, I imagined I didn’t exactly look fantastic either. Where are the makeup artists when you need them…?

“Why don’t you sleep more?” He asked as we made our way to one of the cars to start cleaning.

“Cant,” I responded briefly. “I’m auditioning at S.M soon and I need to practice.”

I heard Kang drop the sponge he was holding and I looked up in curiosity. “You WHAT?” He shouted.

“I… I’m auditioning at S.M,” I repeated, feeling a little awkward at his dumbfounded expression.

Kang just shook his head and muttered something to himself that I couldn’t hear. He resumed cleaning and I did as well when he spoke out of the blue, “Good luck.”

I felt my lips turn up involuntarily.

“Make a deal with me,” He ordered. “If you get famous, advertise my shop. We need a bit of money around here,” He grumbled.

I just laughed, “Sure, sure. Whatever you say.”

We worked in comfortable silence before I realised there was something I needed to ask him. “Do you have a video camera I could borrow?" I asked. “I need to record a video of me dancing to send into the office.”

Kang just looked at me for a moment then went back to cleaning. “Don’t your parents have one?”

I froze on the spot and stopped cleaning, feeling a stab of pain in my chest. Kang seemed to pick up on my tensed up form and started at me while I just looked down at the ground.

“No,” I ground out, “No they don’t.”

Kang just sighed, “I have one you can borrow, but on one condition. I get to see the dance.”

I looked up hopefully, realising that he just offered me his video camera. “Thank you!” I burst out happily.

Kang just grinned, “You have to dance right here, right now,” He instructed.

My jaw dropped open and I groaned, covering my face with my hands. “You can’t be serious,” I muttered, embarrassed he was asking to see my dance.

“Oh, I am quite serious,” he said mischievously, his lips turning up playfully.

“But-“

“No dance, no camera,” He interrupted looking proud of himself.

I just dropped my shoulders in defeat. I needed that camera, damn it. I stood awkwardly away from the car, feeling shy. It was ridiculous when I thought about it. I used to dance in front of thousands of people on stage, but now here I was, embarrassed to dance in front of a single person. I relaxed my shoulders to ease the tension and began to get into a rhythm.

I danced what I had mainly figured I would be doing in the audition, some parts still a little choppy, but I felt like I was doing not too badly. I finished up the short dance and looked to Kang. He had his mouth hanging open a little and quickly shut it when I raised an eyebrow.

“Maybe I should get your autograph now so I can mass produce them and sell them,” He joked.

“Ha. Ha,” I responded dryly. “Hilarious, now let’s get back to work.

Kang just tutted. “It was good,” he admitted, coughing a little into his hand to hide his awkwardness. Despite his appearances, he really was just softie inside.

A/N: Fight Club reference, anybody? :D