I swiped my access card and stepped inside the SM building, still in my school uniform. Wondering whether I was dressed too inappropriately, I walked up the the second floor, which was the floor that I was supposed to be on. I paused in the middle of the hallway to double-check the room number on the printed schedule. As I stood there, I heard a cold "hey" behind me.

I looked up, and before I even got a chance to turn around completely, I felt someone roughly grab me by the arm and slam me against the wall. I coughed to counteract the gag reflex as an elbow pushed up against my throat. A hand grabbed my collar as I struggled to breathe.

"What the - " I managed, then I finally looked up to look into the attacker's eyes. It was Minhyun. He was clearly furious and red in the face.

I was caught between bowing and trying to continue breathing, so as I was trying to push away Minhyun's muscular build away from me instinctively, I was also consciously trying to lower my eyes to signify bowing.

"Tell me if it's true," he said, glaring at me.

"What is?" I asked with difficulty, not forgetting the honorifics.

"The word is that you're debuting with Super Junior," he said, seething. I was lost for words. Is this why he was so angry? However, he seemed to be even more angered at my silence.

A crowd had started to gather; it was a busy time at SM, when everyone was starting practice after school. Everyone seemed interested in my response.

"Well?" He gave a shove on my throat, which initiated another coughing fit.

"Please," I said, holding up my hands to the level of my neck involuntarily, but I stopped myself from physically pushing his elbow away. I gasped for breath and he loosened his hold a bit. I coughed again at this stimulus.

"I..." I started, then stopped myself. I wasn't sure what was going to happen to me if I had told him the truth, but he was going to find out sooner or later...

Minhyun was getting impatient. He took his elbow off my throat, grabbed my collar with both hands, and gave me a single shake. My head banged  against the wall, and I squeezed my eyes shut and frowned in pain. Minhyun gave me another shake at my continued silence, and my back hit the wall, hard, knocking the wind out of me. I gasped for breath for several seconds while clutching my stomach.

"Yes," I said after the I had regained enough of my breath, "it's true."

There was a gasp in the crowd and instantly, a buzz started. I expected Minhyun to ease off for at least for a second, but I saw a spark in his eye. Then instead of loosening his hold, his fists started quivering because he was clenching them so tightly.

"Don't fool with me," he said between his teeth with quiet menace, his face less than an inch away from mine. "Why would they debut a talentless thing like you?"

I was silent with terror, but I also had no answer to give.

"I... I don't - I wasn't the one to make the deci - I mean," I stuttered.

Then without warning, Minhyun let out a frustrated shout and let go of my collar. Instead, one of his hands reached up to secure my chin at the same time that the arm pinned the rest of my body against the wall so that I could't move, and the other had made a fist and had drawn back.

Punching in the face was an unwritten taboo at SM - anything that could potentially leave marks on the face could be hindering beyond belief to our activities. This was why physical punishment was usually contained to hips, and the seniors controlled their emotions well enough as not to hit their juniors hard enough to leave wounds in areas that may be exposed under regular clothing. In the short amount of time that he let go of my collar and drew his fist back, a million thoughts flashed by. If I got a bruise, would I not be able to debut? The music video was to be shot in less than a week. What am I going to do? The photoshoot for the CD jacket pictures? Oh god. This is going to ruin my career. And he's doing this on purpose. Unfortunately, all I could do was squeeze my eyes shut and turn my head as far as I could against the hand that kept my chin secured, and brace myself for the punch.

However, the punch had missed its timing - it didn't come within the second. I opened my eyes slightly after a few more seconds, my head still turned, to look at Minhyun. His fist was still drawn back and his eyes were fiery, but he wasn't looking at me anymore. Rather, he was looking to his right, towards the fist that was drawn. Another person had grabbed Minhyun's wrist to keep him from punching. I opened my eyes all the way and faced front again, and got a full look at my rescuer - it was Donghae.

"What's the problem?" said Donghae, still holding onto Minhyun's wrist. Minhyun let go of my face, finally freeing me completely. I stood up straight, finally taking my back off the wall, and pulled down on my school uniform shirt to straighten it. Minhyun faced the space between me and Donghae, his eyes down. Donghae let go of his wrist, and Minhyun dropped his hands to his side.

"What's going on?" asked Donghae again.

"Nothing," he said, clearly keeping his anger in and not meeting Donghae's eyes.

"Kyuhyun, you're late for practice," said Donghae sternly. "Be more punctual from now on or else."

"Sorry," I said, lowering my eyes as well.

"Let's go. The dance instructors are here and we can't waste time because of you," said Donghae, grabbing my arm and leading me out of the hallway. I lowered my head as I followed him through the crowd, red with embarrassment.

I was still rattled as he led me into one of the extra-large practice rooms, where the rest of Super Junior was practicing with the choreographers. Everyone gave me cold looks when I walked in, similar to the day that I found out that I would be a part of the team.

"Sorry," I said with multiple bows, turning an even deeper shade of red.

When I finally came around to my senses and had blocked Minhyun adequately out of my head, I realized that 8 dance instructors were in the room. It was ridiculous to think that there was a practice room in this building that could hold this many people. The room was so full that I couldn't even see the mirrors properly. Then, one of the dance instructors spoke.

"Okay. Just because of the sheer number of you guys, we won't be able to do a one-on-one instruction that we do with other groups to teach you the choreography. So we're splitting you up into two groups. Two of us will be working on overall formation of the dance with one group, and the rest of us will be doing one-on-ones with the other group. Does that make sense?" We all nodded.

"Let's begin," he said, and we started the practice.