I returned to the dorm with the manager hyung in his van again after the visit while the other members got on the bus again to run to their schedules.

"Hey, you're okay, right?" asked the manager hyung, giving me a small glance.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I assured with a nod. We drove past the fans at the walkway, then I smiled. "Those fans are really something else," I said.

"Yeah," said the manager hyung, smiling back. "By the way, you really need to monitor more. The fansite owners would be disappointed when they find out that you don't even know the sites exist."

"Yeah. I'm going to get myself a laptop soon," I assured. "I was wondering whether I should wait until my salary was back, but if that's not going to be until January... I probably shouldn't wait. So let me use your computer to order it online later today."

The manager hyung nodded, then glanced at me. After a short pause, he spoke. "So we didn't talk about school yet," he said. I looked at him for a little, then I sighed.

"The teacher just wanted me to use celebrity status to get into university."

The manager hyung glanced at me. "Are you going to do it?"

I hesitated. "The thing is, hyung, the only reason why my parents agreed to me training at SM in the first place was because I told them I'd continue to try hard at school."

The manager hyung shrugged. "All with the goal to get you into a good university, I'm sure."

"I don't know about that. My dad runs... uh - an academy, so - "

The manager hyung burst out laughing. "Seriously? So he really wants you to study for the sake of studying?"

I smiled. "I think so."

"You don't have to try to please everyone, though. Do what you think is best," he said with a shrug.

"I know, but he's still my dad," I said with a small smile. "He didn't want me to do this in the first place. I feel like I can't break my end of the promise."

"He might not have to worry," said the manager hyung with a small smile. "The company wants you to start learning Chinese. Conversational Mandarin."

I looked up with widened eyes. "What? Why?"

"I think they're planning on taking you to China, for concerts and promotional activities and what not," he said.

"So... so I have to learn Chinese on top of studying for my entrance exams?" I said, cocking my head. "I took Chinese as my third language at school."

"You learned to speak it?" asked the manager hyung with raised eyebrows.

"No, just to write it," I said.

"Yeah. You have to learn to speak it. Everyone on the team does," said the manager hyung.

"Oh," I said, feeling uncertain.

"You get a tutor, but there's also always Hankyung if you get stuck."

I sighed. "Am I going to have time?"

"Sure, if you use celebrity status," he said. I shook my head.

"Hyung, I actually can't. Can't. I promised my dad I'd apply without it," I said with a tiny smile.

"You're going to be overwhelmed," he said.

"I'll see how far I can go," I said, then I put my head back on the headrest and closed my eyes.

A few days later, we were getting ready for the Dancing Out goodbye stage in the waiting room. "This feels weird," I said, helping to secure Ryeowook's in-ears to his neck with the tape. "I can't believe we're not going to be on stage every weekend anymore."

"We'll still be at a lot of festivals and what not. And those are good because we get paid by the performance," said Ryeowook, moving his head around to make sure that I'd done the job correctly. "Anyway, we just have to do well on this stage and - "

"Hey, guys, we have another nomination for Mutizen Song award," yelled the manager hyung. We cheered, but we'd gone several weeks with nominations and no wins for Dancing Out, I doubted that this week would be any different. As I stood, thinking, Ryeowook tapped me on the shoulder and held up a piece of tape to my neck.

"Can you be a bit considerate and bend down as I'm doing this?" he said irritably, taking hold of one of my in-ears. I laughed.

"Sorry, I forgot how short you were," I said with smile, then I crouched down to let Ryeowook tape the in-ear wires to the side of my neck.

To our relief, our stage went as well as we could have asked for, and believe it or not, we did win the Mutizen Song award that day. None of us cried with joy this time, though - this was our goodbye stage, after all, and Heechul wasn't here.

When Leeteuk was handed the microphone to say the speech, he gave it to Donghae instead. Donghae took it, then he smiled. There were tears in his eyes. "Dad, I know you're watching over us from heaven," he said into the microphone with a small smile. "Thank you for getting us here." The tear fell from his eyes while Eunhyuk turned Donghae around, away from the camera, and picked the confetti out of his hair.

Then Leeteuk took the microphone again. "And Heechul, who couldn't be with us today - get well soon, we miss you, and you deserve this more than anyone."

As we returned to the waiting room with the trophy tightly clenched in Leeteuk's hands, the manager hyung looked at us proudly. "Congratulations," he said with a wide smile. "You guys deserve it more than anyone. I'm so proud of you."

We gathered around in a big group hug and stayed hugging for a while, then Hankyung suddenly raised his head and let go of the hug.

"Wait, I got a - a call," he said in his Chinese accent. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "It's Heechul!" he said, then he opened his phone. "Heechul!" he said into his phone happily. We watched, wondering whether he would get angry. However, Hankyung put him on speakerphone after a brief "Okay!" We gathered around the phone.

"Hey, you jerks!" said Heechul in a bright voice. "Congrats, but if I'd been there, we probably would have won it last week as well. And Teuk, you said I deserved it, so you'd better drop off that trophy in my hospital room right now before you return to the dorm tonight!"

Everyone laughed at his wit, but I bit my lip. Heechul must be heartbroken not to have shared the win with us, and he was obviously acting; he was so upset that he threw his breakfast at us a few days ago for not being able to participate in the second album. There was no way he was over it already.

I stepped away from the circle with guilt and sadness while everyone else crowded around the phone to chat with him. After the call ended though, the manager hyung gathered us around. "Are you up for going to the hospital before the company dinner?"

We gave nods of agreement, the manager hyung beamed. "Get changed and get on the bus," he said, then he left the waiting room to call the bus in.

As we reached the hospital on the bus, I tapped the manager hyung on his arm. "Hyung, I'll stay on the bus if that's okay," I said. "He won't notice if I'm not there."

"If he's not going to notice, why don't you just go?" said the manager hyung, exasperated.

"He might notice if I do go," I said.

"Fine. Stay on the bus," he said, then he let me stay on the bus while all of the other members got off the bus with the trophy to give to Heechul.

They were back in a few minutes, and once we had taken our seats on the bus again, the manager hyung addressed us.

"Guys, this is the company dinner, so remember your manners, and try not to get too, too drunk," he said.

There were mutters of "Okay" around me.

"And promotions are finally over, guys! Eat as much as you want!" said the manager hyung with a bright smile, and a smile finally appeared on my face.

The entire Korean barbecue restaurant had been booked for us for the day because of just how many people there were; on top of the twelve of us, all of the managers, the stylists, the make-up coordinators and the company representatives were there, totaling the count to at least fifty people in all. We bowed with big smiles as we entered the restaurant.

"Congratulations on a successful goodbye stage," said a representative with a smile of his own. As we bowed, he nodded. "Your salary are going up like we promised, and we thought a bonus was in order for all 13 of you. You'll get a cheque in the mail."

We bowed with appreciation as we took our seat at a table. Ryeowook and I sat down next to each other. Soon, the beef and pork reached our table to be grilled.

"Gosh, we haven't had real meat in so long," said Ryeowook, looking excited.

"Don't drool over the food, now," I said with a laugh.

Ryeowook smiled happily as we waited for the meat to grill. Then, he looked at me.

"Hey, since we're waiting for the meat to cook, do you want to play a game?"

I looked at him skeptically. "What?"

"Let's see how many raw garlic slices we can eat without crying. If you win - "

I laughed. "I don't think so. Why would you do this when you're not on some variety show that forces you to?"

"Look, if you win, Kyuhyun, I'll give you my bed for a week."

I thought for a second, then I opened my mouth to speak. At that moment, the door of the restaurant opened, but I didn't look.

"No, you share with Leeteuk hyung. I wouldn't sleep there if you paid me," I said. However, Ryeowook wasn't looking at me anymore; he was looking at the door with his mouth open. I stared at him.

"What? Ryeowook, close your mouth," I said. He didn't.

Confused, I turned my head to look at what he was goggling at. As soon as I saw what he was looking at, though, my mouth also dropped open.

A company representative was standing at the door, accompanied by -

"Boys, meet Minhyun," said the representative with a large smile. "He's going to be added to the team for the next album."

*Author's note: Thank you all so much for the support :') I love you guys so much. SO MUCH. And I tried to say this in the comments, but don't worry about the events not seeming like they're going to follow the real ones. Everything will go right. Don't worry :)

Really, though, I'm writing this note because from here up to a few chapters, I think I'm going to try something new. You know how sometimes in movies, they do those "alternate ending" things in the bonus credits? I had a few ideas on how to deal with Minhyun (he was such a loose end...), and I had a really good idea (honestly... I think a better idea than the one that's going to appear here - it's really a lot cooler and it ties it up in a nice little bow, probably neater than the one that's going to go here), but it really cuts the flow of this story because of how... hmm... intense I wanted it to be. But seeing as I really still want to share this version of the story (not to mention I already wrote half of it, lol), I'll just share that version of it on a different "story" concurrently as I'm writing this one, but the two stories will branch out from there. :P I'll try to keep that story at around 5 chapters or so. I hope you enjoy, and here's the link:
Alternate Scene