Training started as normal the next day.  There were only 20 trainees left.  20 had been eliminated throughout the last full training day.  Junichiro and Michiko were among the ones left in the count.  The trainees were scattered around the gym as Changmin and Yunho socialized with them.  None of the Super Junior captains were around because of a scheduled event.  Noriko really wanted to ask Kyuhyun, Kangin and Eunhyuk about their Shade battles to see if they had just as rough of a time.  Junichiro showed up in the gym and appeared to be holding up alright.  Noriko wanted to go talk to him but Yunho approached her and whispered in her ear.  Her expression changed from relief to concern as she politely nodded her left then left the area. 

“Where is she going?” Junichiro thought as he stretched for another long day.

Noriko headed straight for the main conference room.  She kept her breath steady and walked with a firm stance, trying to appear as professional as possible.  Yunho had told her the board of directors wanted to see her immediately.  She had a feeling they knew about last night and she was possibly in a world of trouble.  Taking one more deep breath, she opened the door to find 8 directors of the board sitting around a large oval table. 

The room was large and with a gorgeous view.  Windows filled the outer wall to give the entire room a touch of sunlight.  A chandelier hung from the tall ceiling directly over the reflectively clean huge brown table.  The chairs were the most comfortable of office chairs, able to move freely on wheels and lean back to the comfort of the seated.  The directors seated in the chairs all had expressionless faces as Noriko was signaled to sit in the open chair, located a bit far from the heads to make her aware she was the purpose of that meeting.  She sat down and noticed a name plate in front of each of them.  Directly in front of her sat Kim Young Min, the head CEO of SM Entertainment.   He was the only person Noriko recognized and she only knew him from when she entered the company.  He would appear on rare occasion to talk to the employees but most of the time he was the media face.  Noriko checked the name plates of the other 7.  They read as:

Song Jin Ki

Shin Jae Joong

Shin Hyuk Woo

Park Ji Hae

Lee Chan Wan

Kim Han Joon

And lastly, Park Kyeong Ji, the name she remembered from the TVXQ photoshoot.  All of them were male and most likely aged in their 30s and 40s.  She hadn’t worked directly with any of the board members.  It was always other assistants on the same level as Noriko that she communicated with in the company.  Noriko gulped as she waited for one of them to speak.  Kim Young Min broke the silence.

“Nice to see you again, Noriko Kikawa.”  He used her full company given name.  She knew it was for a professional manor but she was taken offguard.  She stood up and fully bowed to the board then sat right back down without a word.

“You’re probably wondering why you were called here,” Young Min tapped a pen against a tablet in front of him.   “Someone reported to us that they witnessed you out with a trainee last night passed the trainee’s curfew.”  Noriko thought back to the shadow she noticed on the ground that night.  “Not only that, it was reported you endangered the trainee.  This is something we simply can’t have.”  Noriko lowered her eyes, trying to keep them away from the stares of disapproval she was receiving. 

“Is this true?” Young Min gave her a chance to defend herself.  She couldn’t quite deny the charges.

“To whoever witnessed this, it is true that I was with a trainee passed the curfew, however there was an emergency.  I was just about to walk the trainee back to the dorm right on time until I sensed a Shade in the area.  Due to that concern, I rushed off and the trainee had followed.  I apologize for the trouble I caused and it will never happen again.”  It wasn’t a complete lie.  She kept her expression stern to back up her words.  Young Min leaned back in his chair.

“What is this about the trainee turning mad though?  I heard they turned furious and started dodging at the Shade.  That seems like a very odd reaction for someone that hasn’t trained enough to fight a Shade.”  Noriko thought about what he said, realizing there was no mention of seeing a third person.  She felt rather relieved the person hadn’t seen Mir, because this would lead to a whole other level of punishment.

“The trainee just panicked and wanted to defend themselves.  They didn’t know what else to do.”  She barely blinked when she said that, hoping they would believe it.  Young Min pondered on it.  All the other directors stayed motionless and expressionless. 

“I actually believe you for the most part.  You’re a very good 2^nd seat you know.”  Young Min set down his pen and leaned towards Noriko.  She slid down in her chair feeling nervous.

“Problem however, you still should be punished for this.  We can’t have trainees having their lives risked before they are ready.  It’s something that we could ultimately get in trouble for.  So I have a something in mind.”  Noriko repositioned herself in the chair and looked into Young Min’s eyes.  “I feel it may be best if we take you off of the rest of the training.”  Noriko clutched her seat handles, visually upset at those words.  “There are only 20 left and we’ll be keeping all 20 until the end of next week to watch their growth.  After that there will be 10 left which will go into a teaching system and no longer be trained by the 2^nd seats, so there’s really no need for you to stay in the training.”  Noriko bit her tongue, wanting to beg for her training position back, but she kept her cool. 

“In all honesty,” Young Min continued, “maybe it’s best if you keep your focus on the current 3^rd seats.  You can’t do much for Exo-M stationed in China but Exo-K is still very new to the squads.  Those boys could use your guidance.”  Noriko was relieved she wasn’t kicked out but she worried that she couldn’t keep an eye on Junichiro’s and Michiko’s progress. 

“If you believe it’s for the best,” she sighed, accepting her punishment.

“I’m happy to see you understand.”  Young Min smiled.  “You know,” he continued, “Super Junior is preforming on MNET tonight.  The assistants could probably use your help in getting them prepared.  I know they would probably appreciate your presence.  Don’t worry about returning to training, I will call Yunho and let him know the circumstances.”  Noriko hurried to her feet and bowed to the directors. 

“Thank you for giving me another chance.  I’m sorry and will never do this again.”  She headed out the door feeling somewhat relieved.  She walked down the hall a bit before she let out a heavy sigh.  Who could have seen her?  Only the trainees were staying on the SM campus and the three Super Junior captains already knew about her.  

“What am I gonna do?” she thought about her two trainees.  She rubbed her forehead at the sudden stress headache she could feel forming.  Just then, she took out her phone and turned it on.  She found she had a missed call from Junsu.  She called him back.

“Yoboseyo?” he answered.

“I saw you called me.  What’s going on?”

“I have a question for you.”

“What is it?”

“Have you heard from Jaejoong?”

Noriko’s eyes widened with concern.  “No, he was supposed to come by last night but never showed up.”  Both of them were quiet for a second.

“One of his fellow actors from Time Slip Dr. Jin called and said he never showed up.  I hope nothing happened.”

Noriko checked to see if anyone was around her.  “I’ll let you know if I hear anything.  He wouldn’t just up and disappear like that.”

“I appreciate it.”

The conversation ended.  “Where the hell are you, Jaejoong oppa?” Noriko thought to herself.  She left for MNET.    

**

Junichiro and Michiko were in middle of training with the rest of the trainees.  Today he got to work under Key and Minho of SHINee.  They worked together today because the focus was on martial arts skills, much easier to demonstrate with two people.  Instead of testing everyone’s abilities upfront, Key and Minho fell into instructor roles.  Key and Minho, being in one of the best dancing Kpop groups in existence, showed off their crazy dance skills.  They weren’t exactly doing traditional martial arts moves but they could do plenty of damage and looked awesome while doing so.  Key and Minho rapped while they moved, keeping their cool image.  They started rapping a part of Sherlock while demonstrating:

“Haruedo subaek beonssik neol tteoollida tteolchyeonaeda

Nae meorissogeul chaeun uimun nega wonhan geosi mwonga,” they took turns rapping.

Their choreography was impressive.  Michiko wasn’t one of the lucky ones to train under them however.  She had her own instructor which was she very pleased about.  It took some work to get what she wanted though.

Earlier that day right after Noriko left, Michiko approached Yunho and Changmin.  She introduced herself to them.  They seemed a bit baffled that a random person joined the training without them knowing.  She decided it was best she use her charm on them.  She pulled a lollipop out of her Pikachu backpack and handed it to Changmin.

“Here you go Changminnie oppa,” she flashed him a cute smile.  His grin was wide in response as he stuck the lollipop right in his mouth.  Yunho kept his eyes on her.

“What brought you here?” He asked.  Michiko played with her hair as she tried her best aegyo. 

“They told me I was strong and should try out for the squads.  I’m sorry they didn’t inform you.”  She gazed in his eyes and her possessive abilities.  Yunho was now under her spell.  Changmin was too focused on the lollipop. 

“Welcome to the squads.  I will do anything to accommodate you.”  Yunho bowed to her, Michiko blushed.  “Oh Yunnie oppa, you’re so cute.”  She checked back on Changmin and caught his eyes.  “If you want anything, you can ask me,” Changmin fell under the curse.  He gently grabbed Michiko’s hand and kissed it.

“Both of you are so sweet.”  She held her hands to her face, hiding her adorable cheeks and giggling.  She thought for a minute.

“What is it?” Changmin and Yunho asked in unison.  Michiko bit her lip.

“I really want to train under Jonghyun oppa.  Those mean Super Junior captains stuck me with Amber.  She’s not a cute man to look at.”  Michiko pouted.

“Oh yes we can arrange that!” the two men blurted out.  Michiko smiled.  She won this round. 

It was now a lunch break.  Junichiro noticed Noriko had never returned.  He sat down to eat his sandwich.  Michiko joined him.  “How are you feeling?” She asked, taking a bite of her food. 

“I’m okay,” Junichiro reassured her.

“Mir oppa told us about what happened.  I was out with Sang Hyunnie last night.”

“Sang Hyunnie?”

“Thunder oppa.  Oh he’s so cute when he buys me presents.  He’s so sweet to cuddle.”  She cuddled her Pikachu bag, noticing Junichiro chuckle.  Their lunch was interrupted by someone approaching.

“Hello,” this random person sat down.  They were another trainee.

“Hello,” Junichiro and Michiko sat with a blank look.

“I’m Taiki, nice to meet you.”  He reached out a hand to Junichiro who hesitantly took it. 

“I’ve seen you around,” Junichiro responded, curious as to why someone was being social now.  Taiki took a seat.

“I’m really happy I get to meet you.  From what I’ve seen you’re super strong.  I refuse to meet anyone weak because they won’t be around any longer anyways.”  Something was odd about him.

“Yeah, I guess you could look at it that way.”  Junichiro took another bite.  Michiko spotted Jonghyun sit down across the gym.  She decided to go over and flirt with him for a while.  Junichiro sat there alone with Taiki.

“Let’s be friends,” Taiki strongly suggested.  Junichiro nodded, deciding it wouldn’t hurt to make a new friend.  They chatted for the rest of the lunch break.

**

Noriko went out for an afternoon drink then headed to MNET.  It was evening already as she arrived.  She noticed the show line up posted outside of the studio. 

MNET:

Tonight featuring

2NE1

T-ara

Boyfriend

ZE:A

With special appearances by:

MBLAQ

And comeback stage by:

Super Junior (y, Free and Single)

Noriko was rather happy she would get to see MBLAQ as well as talk to her Super Junior oppas.  She walked in the studio and sat on a bench outside of the dressing rooms.  She held her head in her palms unable to hide her stress and despair.  Lee Joon caught her sitting like that and approached her.

“Noriko, what’s wrong?” he asked.  She glanced up at him.  Not even he could cheer her up but she shifted herself on the bench so he could sit.  He sat down and rubbed her back with his one hand.

“I got some bad news today,” she began. “I’m banned from training for the rest of the time.”

“Sorry to hear that,” Joon tried to comfort her.  “Is it because of what happened?”  Noriko nodded.

“Aish, they were harsh weren’t they.”  Joon thought outloud.  He turned his attention back to Noriko.  He really wanted to cheer her up. 

“Oh!  Well you won’t need to worry about Junichiro at all.  From what Onew has told me he’s really really strong.  And from what I’ve seen from Michiko she can hold her own.  I know they’ll be fine.”  Joon’s voice was full of energy.  He saw that Noriko was still down.  “Is something else wrong?”

Noriko sighed.  “Jaejoong is missing.” 

Joon was surprised.  “Jaejoong hyung?  He’s probably just not feeling well,” he reassured her.

“I guess you’re right.”  There was a hint of a smile from her.  Joon kept massaging her back.  She popped up with a question.

“Can I ask you something?” she said.  He nodded.

“Why did you give Onew a rose?” 

Joon was confused.  “Wait, what?”

“I was leaving the gym the other day and saw you give it to him when he got out of the car.  I was just curious.  He acted weird and gave me it to me saying it was from a fan for me which doesn’t make any sense.”

“Oh!” Joon remembered. “That wasn’t for Onew at all,” he laughed nervously.  “You see,” he searched for an excuse, “I… I just happened to find it and I figured he would be able to-”

“Hyung!” Thunder called.  “We need to go backstage.”  Joon didn’t budge.

“Listen, let me explain-” Joon tried to continue but felt his arm being dragged by Thunder.  Joon kept his eyes on Noriko trying to form words until he was taken out of sight.  Noriko sighed and stared at her feet.  Just then, Donghae showed up beside her.  His shirt was slightly ed to show his strong chest.  He looked like a knight in shining armor in his full performance outfit.

“Ah, Noriko!”  His smile was genuine and caused Noriko to smile as brightly. 

“Oppa,” she did her best to look cheerful.

“Can I ask you for something?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Can I show you my dance?  I’m still not fully confident in this y, Free and Single dance.”

“Of course, oppa.”  Donghae reached out a hand to help her up.  He led her to another area.  Lee Joon witnessed this from behind the wall backstage.

“Aish, what does Donghae have that I don’t?  I wanted to be the one to make her smile.“ He muttered. 

“Brains,” Thunder rashly remarked.  Joon slapped him in the arm.

“It’s your fault for this,” he complained and pouted his lip.

“You’re the one that created the mess,” Thunder shot back.  “Why can’t you just tell her how you feel?  I tell my Michiko baby that everyday.” 

“And here’s MBLAQ!” the MC announced.  The group prepared to walk on stage.

“It’s not that easy,” Joon thought to himself, then took a breath, preparing to present his lively image in front the the MNET crowd.

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I hope you enjoyed the chapter :D.  Let me know as usual :)