Heechul finally joined us for dance practice for Dancing Out, but he didn't even talk to anyone else; he just did what he was told to and learned the choreography. After four hours, most other hyungs seemed to have mastered both the formation and the dance itself, but I still barely had the beginning of the dance. At around 10pm, the hyungs felt comfortable enough to call it a day.

"We should be ready for the Malaysia music video filming next week," said Eunhyuk optimistically. Then Eunhyuk looked at me.

"Kyuhyun, honestly, learning a dance with you is the most frustrating thing I've ever had to do," he said with a small smile. I normally would have smiled back, but I just bowed with apology, having such a difficult day with no sleep.

"Sorry, I'll work harder," I said.

"Okay, I'll call the managers to come and get us by bus," said Leeteuk, pulling out his phone.

"Wait, sunbaenim, could we go through it just one more time with video?" I asked, rushing up to the front of the room to open up the tripod and set up the video camera that was in the room.

"All of us?" asked Leeteuk with a tiny frown.

"Um, if that's okay," I said with a small nod. "Just - just so I don't lose track of the formation when I'm practicing on my own," I said, hoping he wouldn't be too angry at me.

"I'm not doing this," said Heechul, then he walked out of the practice room. There was a brief, awkward silence, then I bowed.

"Sorry," I said to everyone else in the room apologetically. "Just once more."

"Okay. Just once, then," said Eunhyuk looking around. There were groans, and I bowed.

"I'm so sorry. If you do this just once, I'll stay here until I have it ready to be practiced tomorrow," I said. I started the recording, then with another few bows, quickly got into formation for the dance. After a nod, Leeteuk started the music, and we started the run.

After it was finished, I bowed to the team again as they all left the practice room to go back to the dorm.

I stayed at the office until 5am. After I had finished learning the choreography, I was shaking from the soreness of practicing for almost 20 hours without sleep the night before, and I was more exhausted than I had ever been. I considered calling the manager hyung to pick me up to go to the dorm, but I stopped myself; the manager hyung probably needed rest, too. I hesitated, then texted Ryeowook to ask him to bring me a change of clothes the next morning, and went to sleep on the floor of the practice room.

The next day, I assured the manager hyung that I was okay with the manager switch. I didn't really notice the switch for the first few days since we spent the entire week as a team, and were transported by bus to and from the office. The only difference was that there was a room rearrangement at the dorm. I stayed in the same room with Donghae and Sungmin, but Ryeowook no longer had his own room; he began sharing with Leeteuk. As a result, I wasn't able to bother Ryeowook his room freely anymore. I was introduced to Jinsoo hyung, who turned out to be extremely strict, the next day by Seunghwan hyung.

"Hi, hyung. I'm Kyuhyun," I said with a bow and a small smile of nervousness.

"'Hyung'?" asked Jinsoo hyung with a small frown. "How about 'sir'?" he asked.

"Uh, that - that's fine," I said, flustered.

"Do you not call your other managers 'sir'?" he asked. I glanced at Seunghwan hyung.

"Uh, we do sometimes," I said. "When we're in trouble." Seunghwan hyung laughed.

"Not even when they're in trouble. Only when they're in a crapload of trouble," said Seunghwan hyung. I smiled, but Jinsoo hyung just nodded.

"I see. But I'd like you always to call me 'sir'," he said.

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry," I said, blushing. Then looking back and forth between the manager hyung and Jinsoo hyung, I waited to be dismissed.

The entire week was dedicated to learning the choreography and recording for Dancing Out, and as hard as I tried, I seemed to have to spend at least twice the amount of time that everyone else was spending on the choreography. The most frustrating thing was that although I had practiced so hard every day, Eunhyuk didn't hold himself back from laughing at me.

"Look at Kyuhyun when he dances. He's so stiff, he's like a freaking tree," he said one day to the general laughter in the room, but having worked so hard, I didn't find it funny and just bowed in apology. Nevertheless, Eunhyuk spent a lot of time coaching me individually until the night before we had to leave for Malaysia for the filming of the music video.

The night before we had to leave for Malaysia, I was in a panic about my exams at school; I had barely been able to study during the week, and I now had just a week to go through more than half of the material that I had learned over the term, and I was totally dismayed. I was on the kitchen table, studying, when Jinsoo hyung returned to the dorm with Seunghwan hyung at around 4am. I got up and greeted them as they passed the living room.

"Kyuhyun, why aren't you in bed?" asked Seunghwan hyung with a comforting hand on my shoulders.

"Because I don't have one," I said with a straight face, looking up at him. I saw a small frown form on his face, then I smiled. "I'm kidding. I'm studying. I haven't had a lot of time to study this week."

"How ready are you feeling for those exams?" he asked, looking concerned. I sighed.

"Hyung, there's no way I can do this," I said with my face in hands. "I'm not even half ready, and I'm missing all of the review classes. How am I supposed to rank in the top 20 against all these kids who are able to spend day and night just studying? It's just - not possible."

"You can do it. Keep studying," he said with a pat on my back. I started to nod and pulled the chair out to sit down again, but Jinsoo hyung spoke.

"No, Kyuhyun, you should go to bed. We leave for the airport in five hours," said Jinsoo hyung. I looked at him.

"Oh, sir, I guess I haven't told you yet, but I need to do really well on these exams, otherwise my teacher isn't going to help me get to university," I said. "So I really need to - "

"I can already see your dark circles from a mile away. For the sake of the music video, you should go to bed," he said.

"But sir, this is just as important for me as - "

"I'm here to manage your work life, not your academic one," he said sternly.

"Hyung," I said, looking at Seunghwan hyung, expecting him to defend me. He hesitated for a second, then he sighed.

"Do what you're told," he said. My jaw dropped open.

"No," I said, shocked. "Hyung, I need this so much. You know that."

"He just wants the best for you," he said. I glowered at him.

"I went the entire week on just ten hours of sleep for this," I said, shaking with anger. "Giving up now is silly beyond imagination. And sir, you're wasting my time," I said, glaring at Jinsoo hyung.

"Cho Kyuhyun, do as I say," he said, starting to raise his voice.

"Really. You're really wasting my time, sir," I said, then I sat back down at the kitchen table and picked up my pencil again. I had sat there for a few seconds when my books were snatched up from the kitchen table. I looked up in surprise. Jinsoo hyung had taken them from the table and stowing them in his own bag.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I screamed.

"Jinsoo, just let him at it," said the manager hyung with a sigh. Jinsoo hyung shook his head.

"Kyuhyun, go to bed right now," he said. I scoffed.

"No, I can't," I said, furious. "I'm not at work right now, so please, may I have my books back, sir?"

"It's affecting work. Go to bed right now," he said.

"No," I said, seething. "Sir, I'm not going to sleep until I've done what I wanted to get done today. So the earlier you give the books back to me, the earlier I go to bed. I want to sleep tonight as well, sir."

"Kyuhyun - " started Jinsoo hyung angrily, but Seunghwan hyung got there first.

"Jinsoo, he really won't sleep if you don't give it to him," he said. "He's gone almost four days without food in the past to get what he wants."

"So you let the boys do whatever they want?" asked Jinsoo hyung.

"They know right from wrong. If they do something wrong, they'll know it and they'll let us stop them or punish them. But they're stubborn about what they think is right and their goals. In those cases - yeah, you have to let them do what they want. Because otherwise, they'll do anything to achieve their goals. And they often hurt themselves in the process, whether they mean to or not," said Seunghwan hyung.

"Not on my watch," said Jinsoo hyung through gritted teeth. Then he took the bag with my books in it into his room.

"UGH!" I shouted in disbelief. Then I looked at Seunghwan hyung. "Hyung! He just - "

"Okay, Kyuhyun. Give me a minute," he said with a brush of my shoulder with his hand, then he followed Jinsoo hyung into his room.

I sat at the table, waiting for the manager hyung, but he wasn't back within the minute; he wasn't even back in the hour. I brought a different book from my room to study in the meantime, but I could barely focus, being so angry at Jinsoo hyung for even thinking about doing what he did. When the manager hyung came back with my books, I barely even looked at him.

"Thanks," I muttered, taking them back in my hands.

"You're packed and ready to leave for the airport in four hours, right?" he asked.

"I have everything that you put on the list of things to bring," I said.

He nodded and looked at me again. "Just know that he really just wanted the best for you. And to be honest, that's what every other manager would be doing."

I sighed. "I know. If you just let him know that school is just as important to me as work, I'm sure I'll do well with him. I'm really sorry for doing this. I really wanted to stop being such a child." To my surprise, the manager hyung shook his head.

"He can't handle you yet. For now, I'll just go back to the old times when I took care of the five of you. We'll see what happens after," he said.

"You said you were overworked, hyung," I said, uneasy.

"You guys come first," he said simply, then after a pat on my back, he left me alone at the kitchen table to study.