We were silent from the time we started changing to the time that we walked into the dorm. Once we all stepped inside the dorm, the manager hyung lined the rest of us up shoulder-to-shoulder in the living room while Youngjun hyung, Heechul's manager, took Heechul upstairs to the rooftop. I ended up between Ryeowook and Donghae, Donghae being on one of the far ends. The manager hyung was more disappointed in us than angry.

"Why does one member's mistake affect all of you? What's the point in working so hard when you're going to let those little things affect you so much?" he asked while the rest of us looked at our feet, standing perfectly still. He then started going through each of us and our faults individually, starting from the other end. My heart started to race as it got closer to my turn. Soon, he had finished scolding Ryeowook, and I hung my head, bracing myself for a harsh scolding. The manager hyung looked at me for a brief moment, then after a short pause, skipped me and went on to scold Donghae. I was confused for a moment as to why he wasn't scolding me since I had given the worst performance since my debut, but after he was finished with Donghae, he stood in front of me.

"Cho Kyuhyun, do you think you were added to the team to be such a terrible performer? How do you expect the fans to accept you when you perform like this?" he asked. I didn't say anything and hung my head. "I know you're busy at school, but you've let go of work completely. Is this acceptable in your mind?"

I was genuinely hurt by this comment, and spoke before I could stop myself. "Sir, I do study hard right now, but I only study on my own time. I've sacrificed school for work, but I've never sacrificed work for school."

"You really enjoy talking back, don't you?" said the manager hyung angrily.

"No, sir, I just - "

"Enough!" yelled the manager hyung. I closed my mouth as the manager hyung crossed his arms and muttered, "Unacceptable." I lowered my head again when the manager hyung shook his head. "Kyuhyun, follow me," he said, walking into my room again. I didn't know what I had done to deserve a private scolding, but I followed him inside my room anyway with my head down. As soon as the door closed, I opened my mouth.

"Hyung, that's really unfair. I - "

"I know. I just needed to get you alone," he said softly. Confused, I looked up at him. "Kyuhyun, I'm going to beat everyone when we get out there," said the manager hyung, looking into my eyes. My mouth dried out, but I couldn't maintain eye contact with him, knowing that I was at fault. "But I know how strongly you feel about this, so if you want, we can pretend you got beaten here and you can back out now. But your performance was still shameful."

I looked at my feet. I hesitated for a little while, then opened my mouth. "You're right. I deserve it as much as anyone else on the team," I said, but my voice was already quiet with apprehension.

The manager hyung didn't ask again; he merely nodded and went back into the living room with me following a few steps behind. I stepped back into my place in line between Ryeowook and Donghae, and lowered my head again. Ryeowook glanced at me a little, then found my hand with his and squeezed it for a brief second. I glanced at him as he mouthed, "Are you okay?" I gave him a microscopic nod and faced front again, as did he.

Soon, the manager hyung was standing in front of us again with his arms crossed. "I want all of you to come up one by one and put your hands on the wall," he said. Everyone glanced at each other for a second, then Leeteuk, who was on the far end of the line, stepped forward and put his hands on the wall. The manager hyung didn't even say anything; he just brought the broom down on Leeteuk ten times, after which Leeteuk stepped away from the wall and after a small bow to the manager hyung, returned to his spot in the line with a small sniffle.

It was such a shock, watching the older hyungs being beaten. They clearly hated it too, and I wondered how it was possible that they felt so comfortable beating me.

It was Ryeowook's turn before mine, and Ryeowook was visibly shaking as Yesung was getting beaten just before his turn. After Yesung stepped back into his place in line beside Ryeowook with tears of pain in his eyes, Ryeowook seemed have frozen into place. The manager hyung wasn't looking and was steadying his breath when he realized that no one was coming forward. He glanced at the line to look at who was next. "Ryeowook, hands on the wall," he said, tapping the wall with the end of the broom.

Ryeowook still didn't move; he was obviously petrified. "Kim Ryeowook, now," ordered the manager hyung. Ryeowook just stayed where he was, staring at the manager hyung with wide eyes, not even blinking. I lifted my hand and put it on his back, and he finally took small, hesitant steps forward. "Come on, Ryeowook. We don't have all night," said the manager hyung impatiently. I felt a twinge of discomfort as Ryeowook put his hands on the wall, shaking and obviously terrified. I saw the manager hyung line up the broom on his hips, and Ryeowook turned around to face him so fast that the manager hyung didn't even have a chance to lift the broom.

"Get back on the wall," said the manager hyung, annoyed. Ryeowook buried his face in his hands for a bit, then after a deep breath, put his hands back on the wall. However, when the manager hyung lined the broom up again, Ryeowook turned around again and crouched down.

"Sir, I don't think I can do this," he pleaded, getting on his knees.

"Kim Ryeowook!" shouted the manager hyung. Ryeowook lifted his head and I saw that his eyes were full of tears. I shifted my weight uncomfortably, but the manager hyung was unforgiving, and ordered Ryeowook to put his hands on the wall again. I bit my lip for a brief second, then I spoke, although I knew that it wasn't my place.

"Sir, if you'll allow it, I'll take Ryeowook's as well," I said quietly, stepping forward. Ryeowook looked up at me, but his tears were already flowing from his eyes. He was about to say something, but I shook my head a tiny bit to silence him and bent down to help in to his feet again. Ryeowook had given me so much whenever I needed him, while I had never done anything for him yet; this was the least I could do.

I saw the manager hyung consider, then he looked at me uncertainly as if to confirm my intentions. I nodded slightly while looking into his eyes, and he nodded back. "Fine. Get your hands on the wall, Kyuhyun." I took a deep breath and put my hands on the wall, readying myself for the blows. Ryeowook just stood there, still frozen in place.

Then the manager hyung delivered ten blows without breaks; each one was as hard as they had been last weekend. I started squirming on the fourth blow, but the manager hyung paid no attention and continued hitting. As much as all of my natural instincts were telling me to move away, I forced myself to stay where I was, knowing that if I moved, I could get hit somewhere else inadvertently and be injured. When he finished with ten, I stayed against the wall, silent tears of pain rolling down my cheeks.

"Those were Ryeowook's," said the manager hyung, his voice unsteady. I bit my lips and took one hand off the wall for a brief moment to wipe my tears. "And your own - "

The manager hyung started hitting again, but my hips were already so sore that I was already in an overwhelming amount of pain on the second blow.

"Wait! Please!" I shouted involuntarily. I exhaled and I finally started shaking while the manager hyung hesitated. He lined up the broom again, then he lifted it. However, it didn't come down on me; the manager hyung had put it down again with a sigh. I stayed against the wall, trying to forget the pain, then the manager hyung lined up the broom again. I turned my head slightly to glance at his face, and I saw that he had his teeth clenched with a very troubled look; he didn't meet my gaze although he knew I was looking at him. Then taking a deep breath, he delivered the eight blows that I owed without break.

I stayed against the wall to allow for the burning pain to pass for at least half a minute after he finished. The manager hyung didn't urge me to get away from the wall, much to my appreciation. When I finally stepped away from the wall, I couldn't stop my eyes from watering with the pain. I let out a breath, and after a small bow to the manager hyung, I turned to step into the line again. I took a few steps, but I realized that Ryeowook was still frozen into place. I put a comforting hand on Ryeowook's back and guided him back into the line. We stepped into it again, and turned to face the manager hyung again while Donghae, who was last in line, stepped forward to take his punishment. I dried my eyes and suppressed a sob as much as I could, but it ended up coming out as a whimper. I lowered my head, covered my mouth with the back of my hand and continued breathing hard as Ryeowook also lowered his head and cried into his hand. I lowered my hand as soon as the manager hyung finished hitting Donghae and faced the rest of us again, most of whom were crying.

"I really hope you start doing better and start carrying yourselves like the professionals that you're supposed to be," he said with disappointment dripping out of him. "I'm scheduling in an extra three hours of practice each day next week for all of you. Then maybe you will start performing acceptably." The 12 of us lowered our heads while the manager hyung threw the broom back into the closet and without acknowledging the bows that he got as he walked past all of us to the front door, left the dorm right away.

As soon as he left, we all stepped away from our places in line. A few of the hyungs who had held in their tears let the tears flow, and Kangin opened the freezer.

"There are two ice trays. We could probably accommodate the four oldest hyungs, and the rest of us can wait until it freezes again," said Kangin.

Leeteuk looked at Kangin for a second, then spoke with a sigh. "No, I don't deserve it. Youngwoon, you're the next oldest," he said, then he faced the rest of us. "I'm sorry for allowing such a terrible performance to happen. It's my fault for not organizing the practices and the dry run like I should have," he said, then without listening to the rest of us, stepped into his room. Realizing that the ice wouldn't be my turn until the third load, which was unlikely to happen in the near future, I started limping into the hallway as well when Ryeowook took my arm and put it around his shoulders.

"Kyuhyun, I'm so sorry," he said, tears still flowing from his eyes. "I really wanted to stop you and take my own. I don't know why I couldn't. I'm really sorry."

I shook my head and wiped the tears that were on Ryeowook's face with my hand. "I promised I'd do better as a friend before," I said with a small smile. "I just hope you'll find this an acceptable beginning to me doing better. I still owe you so much, Ryeowook."

"Kyuhyun," he said, then he started crying into my shoulder.

"It's okay. I can do at least this much for the friend who got me this far," I said, then I then brushed my hand over his head and opened the door to his room. After guiding him into it, I closed his door before he could offer me his bed and hobbled into my room.

As soon as I opened the textbook, my phone rang from my pocket. I pulled it out and looked at the screen. I saw that it was the manager hyung, and I flipped open the phone. "Hello?" I answered, trying to sound as if I hadn't been crying.

"Kyuhyun, are you okay?" asked the manager hyung with worry exuding his voice.

"Yeah, hyung," I said quietly. "I really deserved it as much as anyone else."

I heard the manager hyung sigh with relief. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to call, Kyuhyun."

"Okay, hyung. And I'm so sorry to have disappointed you with my performance," I said, then I hung up without listening to his response.

As I laid there on the floor, trying to ignore the persistent pain, the door opened. Expecting it to be Donghae or Sungmin, I ignored it and just focused as much as I could on my textbook. I didn't look up until I heard the person at the door say, "Cho Kyuhyun."

I finally lifted my head to see, to my surprise and confusion, Yesung standing at the doorway with a tiny frown.

"Sunbaenim," I said, with a small bow from where I was lying. I made to get up, but Yesung shook his head.

"It's okay. Don't get up," he said. I stopped trying to get up and continued looking at him from the floor. He looked at me for a second, then he bit his lip. "I should have been the one to take care of Ryeowook. I'm the hyung he relies on the most - you're really his dongsaeng," he said, looking into my eyes. I didn't know what to say, and I just stared at him. He sighed then threw something on the floor within an arm's reach beside me. "You deserve this," said Yesung, then he walked out of the room without another word. I picked up what he had just thrown and realized that it was a plastic bag that was filled with ice cubes that was given to him as he was one of the four oldest hyungs. I was touched and opened my mouth to say a word of thanks, but Yesung was no longer in sight. I put the ice on top of myself and with relief from pain flooding over me, I turned my attention to my schoolwork again.