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Jiyeon noona - in charge of taking care of trainees

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That morning as I headed in for my dance lesson I met Jiyeon noona in the hallway."Annyeonghaseyo Jiyeon noona," I said as I bowed to her."Annyeonghaseyo Henry-a. After your vocal lesson today you need to meet me on the 12th floor okay? The president wants to meet with you." I looked up at her then with a great deal of trepidation, "Did I do something wrong noona? I'm really trying to learn Korean as fast as I can..." She gave a slight smile, "Aniyo Henry, something good is about to happen but I can't say more. Just meet me after class okay?"

"Okay noona," giving her a quizzical look I bowed again, "I'll be leaving first noona."

"Yes yes, you don't want to be late to class now. Remember, straight after class, 12th floor." She started to walk off towards a group of trainees who had just entered. I saw my dormmate Taemin amongst them and gave him a wave as I caught his eye. I hurriedly turned around to make way to my vocal lesson, all the while wondering just what had I done that would warrant a meeting with the president. No matter what Jiyeon noona said about it being good, my gut told me that this would be just the beginning, of what, I'm not sure, but it didn't bode well for me.

Reaching the 12th floor after my lesson I was met by Jiyeon noona at the elevator doors. "Quickly quickly, everyone else is already here." She ushered me in behind the glass doors of the executive office. I moved quickly behind her wondering just who else would be at this meeting with every step that I was taking feeling heavier and heavier. As the doors opened and I entered the office my eyes widened at who was inside.

There at his desk was Mr. Lee, I had only ever seen him once after my audition when my mum had to be persuaded that it wasn't a scam and that it was really SM that wanted to train me. In front of him was Leeteuk sunbaenim and his manager hyung. Word around the academy was that manager hyung had his own fanclub and his nickname was Prince Manager. It seemed fitting now that I had seen him. If I didn't know that SM didn't have any other boygroups then I would have thought he was part of one. 

What surprised me most was the ominous and dark face Leeteuk sunbaenim had on. I couldn't possibly have offended him somehow could I? I had never actually met him before and I'm quite sure that I hadn't offended any of the other trainees...just what was going on.

Mr. Lee looked up as we approached his desk, "Ah Jiyeon, Henry has finally arrived I see." He had a smile on that indicated I hadn't anything too bad considering he wasn't yelling about terminating my training. "Leeteuk, this is the boy I was telling you about. What do you think?"

Leeteuk sunbae gave me a once over and I started fidgeting nervously. "If you think he'll do sajangnim then he'll do." I looked around to noona and Prince manager and both were giving me assuring smiles. They didn't seem to be helping my nerves at all, if anything they made them worse.

"So Henry, you know that we took you on for your amazing violin skills so it's time to put them to use. As you know, Super Junior are making their comeback soon and with it they'll be releasing a song that features a violin solo. Being that we took you on for that very reason, I have decided that we will feature you." I looked at Mr. Lee in amazement. Seriously? He was going to let me, a mere trainee, feature a violin solo in their comeback? What was he thinking? I mean, the opportunity is too good to pass up...but seriously?

"Ummm..." I look around anxiously hoping noona would somehow save me from answering but all she gave me was that encouraging smile of hers and kept nodding at me to say yes. "Mr. Lee, I don't know if I'm good enough for that. Surely there are trainees who have been here longer than me that would be better suited for this opportunity."

"No Henry, if there was, do you think I would have picked you? I'm not about to go and let my star idol group have a comeback with a less than stellar performance. I've decided you will be doing the solo and Leeteuk is here to take you and introduce you to the members. I've also been thinking about branching out to the Chinese market and seeing that you are Chinese by birth and your Mandarin lessons are progressing nicely, if you do well with the music video, then you will become one of the members of an SJ sub-group. I have yet to decide how many members or which SJ members will take part. However, know this, this opportunity will only come once. If you don't give it your all then you may never get another chance to break into the market again." Mr. Lee was serious. On top of that he wanted an SJ sub-group, with me...ME, Henry...as a member.

"If...you think it best Mr. Lee then...I will follow your words." I wasn't sure if I was making the right choice...but then it didn't really seem like I had a choice. The decision had already been made and my fate had been decided. As Mr. Lee was talking I could see that Leeteuk sunbae's face was darkening. What had I gotten myself into.

"Leeteuk, take him to meet the rest of the group and let him listen to the song and see you guys practice. You don't have long to prepare him and I want everyhting perfect for the MV shooting. Jiyeon, cancel the rest of his classes today and tomorrow we'll talk about his schedul for the rest of SJ's promotion period." "Yes sajangnim." "Okay, off you all go, I have work to do." 

Just like that we were all dismissed. I bowed and turned back to the elevator and out the glass doors. While waiting for the lift, JIyeon noona started to congratulate me, "Chukahaeyo Henry, this isn't an opportunity available to everyone. I'm glad you're able to show them all your talent now. Don't worry about your classes, as the President said, they'll be put on hold for now so you just worry about getting ready for the shoot, okay?"

Jiyeon noona had always been especially nice to me, she wasn't that much older and had taken a shine to the shy quiet foreigner that I was when I first started here. If it wasn't for her then I'm sure I would have been kicked out for accidentally offending someone with my manners or messing up my words. "Gomawoyo noona. I'll try my best." I couldn't return her enthusiasm though. I could hear hushed whispers coming from the other side as Leeteuk sunbae and his manager were engaged in a whispered debate.

These events seemed foreboding, and the chill down my spine didn't help any. Would the rest of SJ be as angry at me like Leeteuk sunbae? I hope not, I guess we'll see soon.

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Korean:

안녕하세요
An-nyeong-ha-se-yo (Hello)

아니 요
A-ni-yo (No/That's not right)