Late spring of 1997, we suffered from the first fight of our group. Shinhwa had barely been established when Eric was named leader of the group. It was very logical to the rest of us, especially for me and Pil Gyo who had knew him the longest. Eric was tall, good looking, capable, and first and foremost the oldest out of the 6 of us. That’s when Eric started telling everyone to call him hyung, well except for Pil Gyo and Dongwan who he decided should be friends. That’s when Minwoo hyung had yelled, “I’m a friend too, I was born in 1979!”

Eric had given Minwoo a cold stare, “the papers say you were born in 1980. You should be calling me hyung.” To be truthful I never quite understood Eric’s need to declare his position as hyung, I’ve never needed to do so in LA. But I went along with it, if he wanted to be called hyung and he was older than there was nothing wrong with it. The rest of the members didn’t budge either, I guess it wasn’t fair for Choong Jae to say anything or Pil Gyo and Dongwan.

“The records are wrong, my dad registered late. I was born in 1979, my birthday is earlier than those two!” With that Dongwan and Pil Gyo looked at Minwoo, they have been having trouble calling Minwoo as well and they have been using the more formal ‘Minwoo-Shi’ instead of his name or a title. Choong Jae had called him hyung, I expect it was either out of respect or something else. 

“I don’t believe it. I’m your hyung, call me hyung,” Eric had insisted. Eric was certainly looking for a fight, it was terribly childish to insist on the title. But no one would dare say a word, I silently wondered if the rest were trying to figure out how Minwoo would react. Personally, I had faith in Minwoo hyung, he would find a way to prove himself. But what difference would it make, he wouldn’t have to call Eric “hyung” but the rest have been calling him in an acceptable manner.

The dance instructor had barged in to this tense moment, and dance practice was resumed. Once the music was Minwoo’s rage had disappeared, to me Minwoo would always be the best dancer. Choong Jae danced well, but he was no where as smooth as Minwoo was. I suspect it may have been Minwoo’s temper that day that made his dance stand out. Or maybe Choong Jae’s shock from recent events that had lessened the impact of his often powerful moves.

On the left and right were the weaker dancers of the group, when Pil Gyo said he had two left feet I didn’t realize that he was so poor at dancing. Dongwan’s dance made me wonder how he passed his audition, I assume he must have been accepted due to his pretty face. Pil Gyo tripped over his foot, while Dongwan missed a beat, from the outside we must had looked like a flock of geese pretending to dance. The music stopped as a crash was heard, Pil Gyo had fell to the floor. With that we received a scolding from the dance instructor, and a punishment of repeating the same dance movements for the next two hours. 

While training may seem brutal we managed to fit in dinner. We were told that we could only order food under a certain price, with a limited menu to choose from we all ended up with the same meal. The usually rowdy dinner table became silent, Choong Jae had tried to make conversation with Eric but the conversation quickly died. In the end Dongwan and I discussed about the new comic we were reading in whispers, while Choong Jae and Pil Gyo silently played ‘rock-paper-scissors.’ Minwoo and Eric continued to eye each other from across the table.Thank the heavens that dinner was short and we were ushered in to practice once again. We walked passed the H.O.T seniors while doing so, and no matter how close Choong Jae and Kangta Sunbae were he still had to bow down low like the rest of us.

By the end of the day when we returned to our respective homes we had long forgotten about the argument that had taken place earlier in the day. At least all of us seem to have, but Minwoo despite appearances had not. As of then we didn’t have a group dormitory yet, Minwoo and I shared a student room not far from the company. That night Minwoo had gone through his luggage and pulled out an old photo album. I was amused at how much he had packed to bring to Seoul, I hardly brought anything with me and my family sent whatever I needed when I asked. 

In the photo album was Minwoo’s Baek-Il (100 day) photo with a clearly stamped date “11/05/79” exactly 100 days from Minwoo’s preferred birthdate. Minwoo had asked me if that would be enough to convince Eric. While there were many reasons that Eric could have refused the photo as evidence, the photo seemed to provide substantial evidence that Minwoo should not be required to address Eric as Hyung like I would. Minwoo seemed oddly pleased with himself and had tucked the photo into his bag.

The next day we followed the same schedule again, the morning was filled with individual or skill training. Eric and I were trained in rap, Choong Jae and Minwoo in dance, while Pil Gyo and Dongwan got to go to the recording studio to practice. The whole time I stared at Eric nervously having a mild idea as what was going to happen, and I could only hope that the outcome would be positive.

After lunch we had entered the dance studio and that was when Minwoo approached Eric. He stood there staring at Eric, as Eric continued to talk with Choong Jae. Minwoo gave a faux cough which signalled Eric’s attention, he did not seem amused. I guess he was waiting to be addressed as ‘Eric hyung’ and with the polite “I apologize for my ignorance yesterday,” attached to the end.

Minwoo rudely shoved the photo in to Eric’s hands. It was the same photo that he had safely pocketed in to his bag just the night before. Eric stared at the photo for a second and responded, “alright let’s be friends.” I expected Minwoo to jump up and down in excitement or at least do a fist pump, but he stood there and nodded in agreement. The rest of the room had finally let their breath out as they sighed in relief. Pil Gyo and Dongwan slapped Minwoo in the shoulder as they had always been so close. On the other hand Choong Jae stared at me.

I never was able to call Choong Jae anything, and to be truthful I tried to avoid talking to him all in all. But that is a story for another time, this was the story of the first cold war in Shinhwa, one of the longest one’s in the history of Shinhwa as it took 24 hours to resolve. From then on we became better a resolving conflicts, whether be it with words, our fists or just plain understanding. With this the main organization of Shinhwa was complete, and we soon moved in together opening a new chapter in our lives.

A/N: I would like to thank Yipxinyieunice for the first comment on this fic, it propelled me to right another chapter. On the other hand I appologize that this chapter was so short, but it was based on a real life event and wanted it to be one chapter. As I feel appologetic I will start working on the next one immediately.