‘Okay guys!’ The thirty four year old choreographer clapped his hands to get the attention of his famous students as he entered the practice room. ‘Since all of you know the choreography already, we will be just refreshing your memory today and will have a practice tomorrow. After that, you will practice it once again the day before the concert. Savvy?’

‘Ne!’ The sound filled the medium sized air conditioned room.

‘Good! Now take your positions. Hyoyeon-shi, you can stand aside until your turn comes.’

Hyoyeon nodded. ‘Arasso seongsangnim.’ She then went to the side and stood there as the five handsome guys tried to remember their positions.

‘Hey, why are you standing there! That’s my position!’ Kai pushed his sunbae/friend Taemin from the centre. ‘Who said! I stand in the middle when the music starts!’ He pushed his hoobae/friend.

‘You are in the middle, not the centre!’ The dark guy retorted. ‘They are the same!’ Taemin pushed his friend and the two started pushing themselves.

These guys! Creases formed on the choreographer’s forehead as he saw the two young boys fight like kids.

‘Cut it out guys!’ Eunhyuk, the oldest in the group, interfered by pulling them apart. ‘Taemin, Kai is right! You stand in front of him in the middle between me and Luhan.’ He then looked around. ‘Where is Luhan?’

Luhan, who was standing away from the group, rubbed his neck in embarrassment. ‘I am here sunbae. I don’t remember my position. That’s why I was standing aside.’

The choreographer, widely known by his stage name bboy Kim, silently watched the boys as they sorted the issues by themselves and stood at their proper positions. ‘Okay!’ He heaved a sigh. ‘Play the music.’ He ordered as one of his assistants the music player.

Maxstep was a group made to do the promotional video of PVL which was the product of the famous car company, Hyundai. The best dancers/rappers of SM were selected for the same. The song was powerful and so was the choreography. There was only one girl in the company, who could be in par with the best male dancers.

Hyoyeon.

Hence, she was the single girl in the group and her part came only after two minutes and twenty five seconds but was undoubtedly, the best part of the song. The fierce blonde rapping in her husky voice was a treat to both eyes and ears.

As the song, Maxstep, started playing and the guys stepped along with the beat of the music. At times, a few of them froze when they forgot the steps and looked at their neighbor. Some of them did the wrong steps with so much confidence that even the ones who were doing the right ones, copied them. They even bumped into each other when one of them forgot to change their position on time.

In one word, it was a mess.

‘This is Specialist HY’, Eunhyuk said and Hyoyeon, slowly yet skillfully, made her way into the centre of the group from the left side. Mesmerized by the blonde’s dancing skills and her curves that were evident even though she was wearing a loose grey sweat pant and a black tank top, the boys forgot more steps and positions and the dance got messier than it was, if it could get any messier that is.

            The dance ended with the six of them standing in a horizontal line and pretending to hit the glass in front of them.

One of the assistants’ was the only person who was clapping after their messy performance. But eventually, he stopped because no one else in the room was clapping and his boss looked unsatisfied.

With his left hand across his waist and the right one holding the chin, bboy Kim asked. ‘How do you think you guys did?’

‘It was okay?’ Taemin answered which sounded more like a question.

‘Really?’ Their Seongsangnim asked in a sarcastic tone.

‘Okay! I will admit it. We screwed up big time!’ Taemin confessed and the other’s nodded along.

‘Kai-shi did a good job.’ Bboy Kim commented and Kai smiled widely. ‘Compared to other’s that is. This is not a compliment, if you are wondering.’ He finished and the young lad’s smile vanished the same way it appeared.

‘Again! You will do it until I am satisfied.’ He clapped his hands again ignoring the protests of the young boys and girl in the form of groans.

In the black square clock, the shortest white needle had touched the number 10.  Mr Kim had been mercilessly making the 6 idols dance for the last three hours. He was adamant that he won’t let them go unless they perform it without even a single mistake, even if the sun peeks in through the blinds that were covering the windowpanes of the room. Though air conditioned, the room was filled with an unpleasant odor of cologne mixed with sweat.

By the time the unfortunate group had managed to get an okay sign from their teacher, they were exhausted to the point that they would sleep even while standing. They all slumped down on the floor and chugged down water down their throat like they have been thirsty since the day before.

‘Taemin-shi, Eunhyuk-shi and Hyoyeon-shi, you three did a great job.’ Bboy Kim started citing his evaluations. ‘Henry-shi, I know you are doing your best but put a little more power into your steps.’ The tired singer nodded back while