"Sorry," I said, gasping for breath as I entered the practice room. It was clear that something had happened; the room was totally lifeless and Leeteuk was standing in the front of the practice room with his head down and facing the three choreographers who were present. They had apparently been scolding him, presumably because of me.

"I'm so sorry," I said, bowing multiple times. "Really," I said.

"Okay, let's not waste any more time," said one of the the choreographers, and Leeteuk bowed. "Get started, please."

"I'm sorry," I repeated. Leeteuk gave me a tiny glare, and started the track as the rest of us got into formation. I felt comfortable as we danced; I didn't make any mistakes, and danced every move as planned.

When we finished, the choreographers nodded in approval.

"That's basically what we wanted," said one of the choreographers, and we smiled. They then spent an hour making tiny adjustments to the dance in sections of 8 measures, and eventually, they were happy. With one final run-through, they were smiling.

"Good," they said. "It's ready for Mr. Lee Sooman's approval for tomorrow."

"Thank you, you worked hard," we said in unison, and they left the room, satisfied.

As soon as they left the room, there was was a smattering of cheering and clapping as the members celebrated the perfected the choreography. However, this celebration was brief; Leeteuk lined us up across the practice room right away. I was sure this was to address my lateness for this choreography check, and I was right. However, this time, it took a different turn.

"You guys, Eunhyuk, Donghae," said Leeteuk. The two of them looked up. "If there's a new member and maknae in the group, does it have to be my responsibility to babysit this kid? Shouldn't it automatically fall onto you guys to control him? Do you guys have no leadership whatsoever? You feel no obligations or responsibilities?" The two of them hung their heads. "Especially you, Donghae. You're roommates with him. Why haven't you scolded him or told him what he is responsible for yet?"

I looked to the side to eye them both, and was shocked to see that Donghae had tears in his eyes.

"You guys take care of this incident," said Leeteuk, and left the room. Every other member followed, but Donghae, Eunhyuk and I stayed put. I looked at the ground while Donghae wiped his tears away.

I had labeled Eunhyuk as the passive, mild one, but once he got into discipline mode, he was scarier than anyone else, including Minhyun, Leeteuk, or any teacher I've ever had.

Before even talking to me, and as soon as the door closed, he said, "hands on the wall, face the wall." I was so reluctant for another beating that I had stayed still for a few seconds, not to mention that I was conscious of the many trainees who were walking through the halls, peeking into windows. But with his repeated orders, I got into position. I hated being the youngest.

"Why were you late?" Eunhyuk asked. I normally would have answered, but he asked so forcefully that I lost my words. "Do you or don't you know that you inconvenience 12 people when you are late?" I was silent again. "Do you or don't you know?" he asked again, louder.

"I do," I said quietly.

"You know and you still do it?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," I said. I didn't know what else to say. In the meanwhile, Donghae had retrieved two brooms from the closet and handed one to Eunhyuk. As soon as I saw this, I turned around.

"Sunbaenim, I got into trouble at school and that's why I was late. I'm getting punished there as well, so please let it slide, just this once," I pleaded.

"You're getting a punishment there because you did something wrong there. You're getting one here because you did something wrong here," said Donghae sternly in his distinctive accent. "Get back on the wall."

I did as I was told. Eunhyuk lined up the broom to my hips, sending a shiver down my spine.

"Twenty," he said, and looked at Donghae, who nodded. He lifted up the broom, and I inched away automatically. "Stay still," said Eunhyuk. I forced myself back into position, took a deep breath and held it.

I heard the broom cut across the air, and it connected with my hips. There was a pause in which I heard the sound but didn't feel anything, and then there was a pain that I didn't know I could experience with just one swing. I let out the breath I was holding. "Wow," I mouthed quietly. I was breathing hard now.

Eunhyuk delivered another blow, and an involuntary cry escaped my mouth. How did such strength come out of such a small body? I shifted uncomfortably on the wall. 18 more of these and I might not be able to walk tomorrow, let alone dance. I looked up a little to see that a small crowd had gathered outside this practice room, and I blushed. I really hoped Minhyun and Jonghyun weren't there.

Donghae was the one to deliver the third and fourth and thankfully, it wasn't as hard as Eunhyuk's. However, after Eunhyuk's two blows, even touching my hips would have hurt.

Eunhyuk lifted his broom again, and I braced myself for another blow. When it landed, I let go of my breath again. My eyes watered, and I shook my head to try to clear the pain. As I was doing so, the practice room door opened. I stayed in position, but lifted my head a bit to see who was coming in. It was Siwon. I dropped my head quickly to look at the floor again.

"Hey, stop it," said Siwon, looking at Eunhyuk.

"Donghae and I have to deal with this," said Eunhyuk, shaking his head. Siwon glanced at the window where the trainees were watching. I avoided looking at anyone but the floor.

"I think you've made your point. Everyone's looking, so let's just go. Pick it back up at the dorm if you have to," said Siwon. Siwon looked at me with my hands still against the wall. "Hey, stand up straight. Just apologize and let's get out of here," he said.

I stayed against the wall for a bit to look at Eunhyuk and Donghae. "Get up," said Eunhyuk, and I did. I faced them and lowered my head.

"If anything like this happens again, we won't be letting it go, no matter who comes and begs," said Donghae. I dropped my head even more.

"I'm sorry," I said in honorifics, looking only at the floor.

Eunhyuk and Donghae walked out of the practice room, but Siwon faced me before he left. I was moving towards door and was halfway there, but seeing Siwon look at me, I paused. I should be last to leave anyway.

"Thank you," I said quietly.

Siwon opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. He just nodded. "Don't forget to clean," he said, and he left the practice room.

I had forgotten, and I started sweeping before my scheduled workout, which started in 45 minutes.

The cleaning was the first time in the whole day that I had for myself, and I was surprised to have appreciated this time alone. I had been so busy and caught up in every moment of the day that I didn't have any time to think about anything. I ran through the entire day through in my head as I swept. There was the breakfast incident to begin this day, and then I had blown up at Jonghyun over lunch, I earned myself a punishment at school, then was late to this choreography check, then had earned Eunhyuk's beating only to be saved by Siwon, who ordered me to clean the room before leaving. Nothing had gone right today. The problem was that the day was only halfway through; who knew what was going to happen for the second half of the day?

I had just finished the sweeping when there was a knock at the door. I looked through the window to see who it was, but I could only see a part of his back. I went to the door, broom in hand. I opened it to reveal Jonghyun. He bowed.

"Hyung, I'm just here to say sorry again," he said looking into my eyes, then I saw him eye the broom in my hand and I could swear that I saw him shrink. I ran my hand around my face, amused that he was nervous about the broom. The fact was that I hadn't had time to think about my outburst yet. I knew Jonghyun had no ill will and I knew that I had overreacted, but I was still annoyed that he so lacked the ability to assess situations. However, I was touched that he had gone out of his way to apologize to me right now.

"Okay," I nodded. "But I meant it when I said you need to learn to act more tactfully."

"Thanks for the advice. Sorry," said Jonghyun, looking at the floor. I put the broom down and put my hands on his shoulders.

"I'm sorry too," I said. "That's the second time I've blown up at you without meaning to. I'll try to do better. It's just been really hard and... I hope you understand. At the same time that I respect you as much as anyone, it's just... easiest to take it out on you."

"I understand, of course," said Jonghyun in honorifics. "I'm... sorry."

Seeing Jonghyun apologize to me so fervently reminded me of myself when I was in front of Super Junior, and I hated that I was giving Jonghyun a hard time the same way that Super Junior was doing to me.

"It's okay," I said. "You can stop apologizing."

"Okay," said Jonghyun, looking at the broom on the floor. "Were you cleaning? Can I help?"

"I just finished," I said, looking at the clock. I had 10 minutes to get to the workout gym downstairs.

"Are you okay?" asked Jonghyun carefully. I looked at him, perplexed.

"What do you mean?"

"I was walking by a few minutes ago, when, you know," said Jonghyun.

I laughed, embarrassed. So he was part of that crowd after all. "You really at this assessing situation thing," I said.

Jonghyun smiled. "I'll get better," he said.

"I'm fine," I said with a slight smile, rubbing my sore hips. "I'm telling you though, make sure you never get on Eunhyuk's bad side. It's crazy."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Jonghyun, nodding seriously. "It's because he uses both arms. I guess you couldn't see."

"Ah, that explains it," I said. "That borders on assault."

"You aren't so soft yourself, though."

"Oh, come on," I said with an embarrassed smile. "It wasn't that bad."

"Hyung, I still have the mark from that!" he said with a laugh.

"I think mine from that day are still there too, but it's getting hard to distinguish between marks anymore," I said. "I'll let you know how long these ones last. I'm guessing at least two weeks though."

Jonghyun shook his head. "That's crazy."

We were silent for a second, then Jonghyun looked at me. "Hyung, if you get one so often, have you thought about, you know, padding?"

I looked up with interest. "You mean, tissue paper in the back pocket and stuff?"

Jonghyun shook his head. "You can tell with tissue paper," he said. "There's, like, a spongy thing you can get, actually, that slips in between you and your underwear. Your pants are baggy enough to hide them completely. It doesn't work so well with boxers, and I know it doesn't sound all that sanitary but..." he looked at me. "You've never heard of it?"

I shook my head. This was news to me.

"It was really popular at my school at one point," said Jonghyun. "I can try to get some for you if you'd like."

"I'd really appreciate that," I said genuinely. I looked at the clock again. "Well, I have a workout now at the gym downstairs, and I'd better not be late," I said. Jonghyun nodded.

"Okay, hyung," he said, smiling.

"Oh, and uh... I'm due for one tomorrow, so do you think...?"

"That should be no problem. Take care, hyung."