I returned to work the next day. All of the other members had TV shows to film in the morning, so I was to spend the morning practicing at the office. In the afternoon, there was a performance at a non-broadcast event of some kind, but there was to be TV crew there for interviews afterwards. I took painkillers diligently every few hours which worked wonders for the pain, but it had made the entire day a lot more tiring and also had made me a lot more irritable than usual.

I was the first to be dropped off today, since my destination was closest to the dorm. When we reached the SM building, the manager hyung pulled me aside.

"Kyuhyun, you have to go to school tomorrow," said the manager hyung. "Just half the day, in the morning."

"Okay," I said. The manager hyung shuffled with the papers in his hand, apparently looking for something. I waited for a second, then spoke.

"Hyung, I heard you gave Donghae hyung Wednesday off."

"I did, like I promised," he said.

"But Donghae hyung has it wrong. He thinks I can take the day off as well," I said uneasily.

"Yeah, I canceled your vocal lesson and dance practice with the instructors for Wednesday already," said the manger hyung.

I paled. Did I really have to go to Mokpo with Donghae?

"But hyung, you haven't given anyone else a day off in months. You can't give me two days off in one week, especially while we're working on the promotions," I said.

"I know my job, Kyuhyun. Don't try to tell me what to do," snapped the manager hyung.

I hesitated. "Okay, hyung," I said. "But why do you want me to take that day off? It doesn't make any sense."

"It's what Donghae wanted, not me," said the manager hyung with a shrug.

"But I've seen you refuse plenty of times when the hyungs ask for days off," I said carefully.

"Get real. You're not half as busy as any of them," said the manger hyung.

I sighed. That was certainly true. The company had inadvertently created a mystery around me already. They still hadn't posted up my profile information on the official website, so that all that the fans knew about me was from the one interview that I did for the album jacket cover. I didn't even say anything about myself in that interview, so virtually nothing was revealed about me. However, this mystery concept seemed to garner much more interest and less controversy; the anti-fans, knowing next to nothing about me, couldn't be as active as they could be. And so, to maintain this concept, I wasn't scheduled to appear on any TV or radio shows unless the whole team was there for the entire week.

"Does the team know?" asked the manager hyung.

"About what?"

"The two weeks," he said.

"No, none of them know. And I want it this way, hyung," I reminded him.

"So Donghae wants to take you to see his dad without knowing?"

"I guess. Why?"

"Nothing," said the manager hyung, but he gave me a meaningful look.

I wondered if I should pursue it further, but then decided against it. Who cares.

"I wasn't able to book that big practice room for you today, they're doing some sort of filming there. You're in one of the smaller ones, but you're on your own anyways. You're okay with that, right?" said the manager hyung, handing me a piece of paper.

"Sure, hyung," I said, taking sheet the paper and looking at it. Room 232.

"I'll pick you up after lunch," said the manager hyung. After acknowledging my bow, he left the building.

I stepped inside the tiny practice room, which turned out to be the same one that I had used so much before I got on the team. I was expecting to have to kick the person who was using it out of the room since the trainees all missed school today to train since dawn, but I was surprised to find it deserted - as small as it was, it was a popular room among the juniors, and I found it difficult to believe that the new juniors weren't using this room more during some of the busiest days. I flicked on the lights to get a better look around.

I was about to set my bag down in a corner of the room, but to my annoyance, I found the floor dusty and clearly not cared for. I sighed. I would normally not really have cared and would have gone ahead and set my bag down, but being in the irritable mood I was in thanks to the painkillers, it suddenly felt totally unacceptable that the new trainees weren't taking care of this room when even I still swept the practice rooms after every practice. And with no one to take everything that I was upset about out on -

Irritated, I stepped out of the room and looked around the hall that was filled with trainees.

"Who used this room last?" I asked loudly with a frown. I saw a few of them look up and bow, but I ignored them. "Be honest. Who was in here last?" I asked again.

"Me," said a boy of about 16 or 17, clearly scared. I'd never seen him before, so I guessed he was one of the newest trainees, one that entered after I started training with Super Junior.

"Come inside," I ordered, looking at him. I kept the door open to let him into the small practice room. I saw him hesitate before walking inside. When I closed the door behind us, he hung his head as he faced me.

"Why is this room such a mess?" I asked. He said nothing. "You're not going to talk?" I said angrily. He stayed silent. "Actually, do you know what? I don't care."

I walked to the cleaning closet and took out a broom, and I saw him shrink.

"Wait, sunbaenim, I'm really sorry. Please don't," he pleaded. I looked at him.

"Don't be ridiculous. You have to be able to accept the consequences and make up for your faults if you don't act responsibly," I said. I walked towards him as he looked at his feet, clearly in fear. I held out the broom.

"Take it. Start sweeping right now," I said, handing him the broom.

He looked up, clearly in surprise that I wasn't using the broom to hit him. I suppressed a grin; I knew I would have reacted the same way if I were in his position. "I want this room to be spotless when I come back. Do you understand?" I said sternly.

"Yes, sunbaenim," he said with a bow, and as I put my hand on the door handle, he started sweeping fervently. As I was about to turn the handle, I felt a twinge of guilt as I realized that I had scolded a junior for the first time ever. I hesitated again, and closed my eyes. What had I just done? Did I just lose control with a junior, no less one that I didn't even know?

I turned my head to look at him again, who was still sweeping. I sighed, ashamed at myself.

"Okay, wait," I said, turning around to face him. He looked up, scared again. I clearly gave this kid a good first impression. "Okay. I didn't mean to yell at you," I said. He looked at me with the most questioning eyes I thought he could possibly muster.

"It wasn't even that big of a deal. I'm sorry," I said, blushing. I was embarrassed that I lost control, but apologizing to a junior wasn't the easiest thing in the world either.

"Um..." said the junior. He looked like he didn't know how he was respond.

"Just... I shouldn't have been angry at you. And I don't know why I'm not speaking to you in honorifics. We've never even met. I'm really sorry," I said. He just looked at me, perplexed. I clearly just made a fool of myself.

Shaking my head, I just stood there awkwardly. Why was I always in these awkward situations?

"Okay, let's get this room cleaned up quickly," I said in honorifics, opening the cleaning closet and taking out the second broom.

"No, sunbaenim, I'll do it," said the junior, looking extremely flustered. Gosh, this kid probably thought I was the biggest dork ever.

"Let's just get this done," I said, not meeting his eyes. "Go sweep that corner. I'll sweep this one."

He did as he was told, and in about five minutes of work in silence, the room was reasonably clean.

"Okay, I'll take care of the rest," I said, taking the broom from the junior's hands.

"Sunbaenim - I'm so sorry," he said with his head down.

"It's okay. Just remember to look after the practice rooms after you've used them," I said.

"Yes, sunbaenim," he said, looking at his feet.

"Get back to practice," I said, opening the door to let him out. The junior bowed and hurried out of the room.

As soon as he left, I had my face in my hands. I had never realized before how important it was to keep my temper in check when dealing with my juniors. The last thing I wanted to do was turn into a senior like the older hyungs on the team or Minhyun - had I cracked under the pressure and become like one of them?

After putting away the brooms back into the closet, I began practice, promising myself that I would never raise my voice again with a junior.