Just as I was putting my suit jacket back on after taking off the microphone, Ryeowook came to me.

"It's okay," he said. "It wasn't that huge, plus there was fault on both sides. They wouldn't write an article about it when there was fault on both sides."

I sighed and hung my head. "I'm so sorry. I don't know why I did it," I said.

"It's okay. Everyone makes mistakes. We just - have to not repeat them," said Ryeowook, patting me on the back. However, I could tell that he didn't really mean it, and was just as worried as I was. I looked up at Yesung, but he didn't say anything and was focusing on himself. Yesung had just opened up to me - did I make him resent me all over again?

For the entire ride to the dorm, I couldn't lift my head. As much as I didn't want to believe it or even admit it, I had ruined the press conference.

We had just walked into the dorm and I had put my bag down when Leeteuk came out of his room. Oh god. I avoided his eyes.

"How was it?" he asked. I hung my head without saying anything while the manager hyung sighed.

"Kyuhyun, we need to talk," he said, then he opened the door and let himself out. I bit my lip and followed him out of the suite, leaving Yesung and Ryeowook to explain to Leeteuk what had happened.

The manager hyung was finally making his way upstairs to the rooftop; I'd seen him take the other members upstairs many times, but this was the first time that he'd taken me there to scold, or maybe even punish? I didn't know. I didn't know what actually happened up there. But I guess I was about to find out.

When we reached the rooftop, we were greeted by the chilly end-of-autumn wind blowing harshly in our faces. I winced and shook my hair out of my eyes just as the manager hyung turned around to face me. I put my hands together and lowered my head right away, never meeting his eyes.

The manager hyung just looked at me standing there with my head down for a long time, then he finally spoke.

"Do you understand what you did wrong today?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," I whispered. There was another silence, then the manager hyung sighed with frustration. I was afraid that he would start screaming at me, but when he spoke again, his voice was surprisingly soft.

"Do you remember what I told you, really close to when we first met? That your actions now, have lasting consequences on you and those around you?"

I bit my lip. "Yes, sir," I said again.

"Back then, you hadn't debuted yet, right?" he asked. I nodded. "So back then, I was talking about you, me, and the team, maybe the company," he said. "Now, like it or not, you're a public figure, Kyuhyun."

I stiffened. Was - was I?

I'd never thought about it that way before. I thought I was just singing, and other people were listening. But... a public figure?

"Now, when you don't control yourself, you're not only disappointing us, but everyone you represent. Your fans, all the young people in the country, all the singers in the industry. And that amounts to thousands, tens of thousands of people, Kyuhyun. And I'm sure this includes your family."

The words hit me like a ton of bricks, and even in the cold, I could feel the blood drain out of my face. He was right. God, what if my parents read those articles tomorrow?

"So when I say you have to take care of yourself, when you train and when you learn to deal with situations like this, we're not saying it for the sake of saying it, Kyuhyun. We mean it."

I nodded again. "Yes, sir."

The manager hyung just looked at me for a few seconds again, then sighed again. "I don't know if I've gotten through to you," he said uncertainly.

I didn't say anything. I wasn't sure either. I'd been making the problem a lot lighter than it really was, and now that I understood a bit of how impactful my actions were, I wasn't sure if there was still more that I wasn't understanding.

"And really, there has never been a time when you've deserved a beating more than lately. I really have never been so frustrated with you."

I lowered my head a bit more. It was true. As much as I'd said that I was doing this for everyone else, now that I thought back, the way I'd been doing it had been selfish beyond belief.

"But Kyuhyun, I'm not going to beat you. And the sole reason is that I don't want you crying and risking damaging your voice for the K.R.Y. recordings later on in the week."

Relief was the first thing I felt, despite knowing that I'd done wrong. But almost instantly, the feeling turned into utter guilt. I couldn't believe he'd thought that far. God, everyone else was trying so hard to get me far, and I was screwing it up.

"I really will do better," I whispered. "I - I really will."

"I sure hope so," said the manager hyung, crossing his arms. "Because for everything you do wrong from now on, Kyuhyun, I'm going to take away a full week's worth of studying from you. That means you go to work in the morning, you come back at night, and you go to bed right away. And since the exams are in about a month, a full week is a significant amount of time to lose."

I probably would have protested if he'd told me this yesterday, or earlier today. I might even have thrown another fit. But now, it seemed so fair, and almost maybe even disproportionately easy. I nodded in agreement with his suggestion.

"Sir, as for today - " I said, looking up into his face for the first time. It looked resigned and frustrated more than angry or stern, and I felt terrible. "How - how do you think it will work out?"

"I don't know," said the manager hyung. "We can only hope the reporters think the main point of the conference was bigger than your little tantrum. But we'll have to wait and see."

I nodded and hung my head again.

"But whatever the result, it can't happen again. I hope it's clear why," he said.

"Yes, sir," I said quietly.

The manager hyung sighed. "Get downstairs," he ordered. "I want you to drink hot tea and then go to bed right away. No studying tonight."

I nodded, but despite the situation, a tiny, incredulous laugh escaped my mouth, much to the manager hyung's disapproval.

"Kyuhyun, you think this is a joke?" he asked, finally raising his voice.

"No, sir," I clarified hastily. "I just - I just found it ironic that the punishment for the huge mistake I made today is hot tea and extra sleep."

The manager hyung stared at me for a few seconds, then he shook his head.

"At least you understand how serious it was," he said. "Just know that if this was any other time during the year, it would have been a harsh beating and no meals for at least a day. But I can't risk your health right now."

"Yes, sir," I whispered.

The manager hyung opened his mouth to say something more, presumably, but then shook his head and wordlessly and made his way downstairs again. I followed a few feet behind as he walked into the dorm, still without lifting my head.

Leeteuk didn't have time to confront me when I got to the dorm because he had to leave for the Kiss the Radio broadcast with the manager hyung as soon as he stepped into the dorm, but I'm sure if he'd had time, he would have given me some harsh words - and I'd have deserved them.

Although I laid down to sleep early like the manager hyung wanted, I couldn't because of how worried I was for the headlines for the next day. When I closed my eyes, I could just see them in front of me.

"Super Junior's Kyuhyun... Where did he learn his manners?"

"'Reporter's question is a waste of time,' says Super Junior's Kyuhyun"

I covered my face with my hands. God... What had I done to myself? How embarrassed would my parents be?

And then thoughts of other headlines -

"Super Junior's polite image - was it all fake?"

"Super Junior makes name for itself as rudest rookie group"

What had I done to the team? The fans?

In a society that emphasizes manners and respect above all things... Why was I so stupid?

I was drowned in these thoughts when Sungmin and Donghae returned to the dorm from their schedules and the lights in our room. I flustered; they probably heard about my disaster already. I knew I should apologize to them, but I didn't know how, so I pretended to be sleeping already.

Sungmin and Donghae didn't speak while they got ready for the night, then Donghae spoke quietly.

"Kyuhyun, are you awake?"

I didn't say anything.

"Kyuhyun," he said again, a bit louder this time. I didn't respond. I didn't know if I was a light enough sleeper usually to have been wakened by a call of my name, but even if I were, I didn't want to have to face either of them. I felt a nudge on my back with Donghae's foot, with another loud "Kyuhyun," but I didn't react.

"He's asleep," whispered Donghae.

"God," said Sungmin with a sigh. "I don't know what he was thinking."

"He doesn't understand that being a singer doesn't just constitute singing," said Donghae. "He didn't focus on the other things as a trainee, he apparently just learned to sing and dance, and had one acting lesson or something."

There was a silence, then Donghae spoke again. "Do you know if it was really serious?"

"I don't know," sighed Sungmin. "Seunghwan hyung doesn't think it's going to be that big of a deal though, and apparently, the company's trying to block the articles," said Sungmin. I suppressed a sigh of relief. "But apparently, it was that bigshot reporter who wrote that terrible Shinhwa piece a few years ago."

My stomach tightened again.

"So the bigger thing is that we're on the wrong side of that reporter, then," said Donghae. "All of us."

"Well, there's a better chance at success if we have the fire for Kyuhyun's mistake instead of him taking it on his own," said Sungmin.

"God, hyung, I'm so sorry for saying Kyuhyun would do a good job in this sub-unit during that meeting," said Donghae. I felt my face flush. "You'd have done better, hyung."

There was a silence as Sungmin thought about it. "He'd have been in one sub-unit sooner or later, though."

"Who knows, they might have left him off," said Donghae with contempt. I guessed he was really angry at me. "Plus, if he weren't in the first sub-unit, this probably wouldn't have happened."

"It's too late now," sighed Sungmin. "I think we just need to teach him how to do better. We know he has good emotional control when he wants. When he first joined the team, he didn't cry or talk back for over a month."

"He's kind of... broken down ever since, though," said Donghae.

"There's nothing we can really do about it," said Sungmin. I heard him get into his bed. "He's the only one that can fix it."

"That's what scares me," muttered Donghae. "That we have no control over his actions. That scares me," he said, then the lights flicked off, and the two of them wished each other a good night.

I was up and checking out the headlines the next morning at 5am, before anyone else had gotten up. I had the major newspaper websites in the country open on my laptop, plus the smaller entertainment ones. None of them had published yet, and I was doing nothing but refreshing each page over and over.

Then about an hour later, the first article came up. I felt my heart pounding in my ears with nervousness as I quickly scrolled down with a shaking hand to read the headlines, anticipating the worst. However, I was greeted by a short, sweet, to-the-point headline.

Super Junior K.R.Y. announced

That was it?

I clicked on the link and started reading, but being so nervous, it took me several tries to read and understand each line.

SM Entertainment has formed a project group called Super Junior K.R.Y. At a press conference yesterday, Super Junior's Kyuhyun (Cho Kyuhyun, 19), Ryeowook (Kim Ryeowook, 20), and Yesung (Kim Jongwoon, 23) announced that they would be forming a sub-unit to promote in a group of three for the month of November.

In response to criticism that the large 13-membered group was lacking in vocal skill, the three main vocalists of the team will sing mainly ballad songs that would show aspects of their vocal ability that they were unable to show in the larger group.

The article then went on the explain the concept of a sub-unit, more or less accurately. It briefly mentioned Heechul and why the second album would be delayed, but it had nothing on my outburst.

Sighing with relief that at least one newspaper was down, I continued checking up on the other ones. As each new one popped up, I kept reading; to my genuine surprise, none of them had mentioned my fit.

Then the bigshot reporter that I'd had the fight with. His article came up as well, but again, it was more or less the same as the other articles, albeit with a bit more skepticism buried within the words, but nevertheless, it wouldn't be damaging.

I breathed a sigh of relief and almost felt dizzy, and as soon as the last of the articles were up at around 6:30am, I picked up my laptop and carried it to the manager hyung's room. I hesitated at the door, wondering if I was disturbing the couple hours of sleep that he got each night, but when I peeked inside his room, he was still awake, or he was up already. Either way, when I bowed to him at the door, he nodded.

"Hyung, have you seen the articles?" I asked timidly.

"No, I've been too busy making calls," he said, then he beckoned me over. "Let's see them."

I brought my laptop closer to him, and he read the articles with a small frown. His eyes lingered on the one that the bigshot reporter wrote, and he cocked his head.

"That's a bit worrying," he muttered.

I was thoroughly confused. "But it doesn't seem all that bad," I said timidly.

"No, this isn't bad," he said. "But he's been known to hold grudges. I expected him to have been done with this incident with a terrible article, but this - this is almost too nice."

I wet my dry lips. "So - "

"I'm just afraid of what he's planning on doing to us next."

*Author's note: I'm just going to thank LostInDreams for giving me the best virtual present ever for Chp 100. She's amazing.
Thank you so, so, SO much!!