I arrived back at the company on Monday just in time for the Academy. Lucky me!

"Seung...James Kim!" a happy squeak of delight came from Sulli when she entered the class and saw me sitting at my desk." How are you? Are you okay? We've all missed you." To my surprise, quite a few of my classmates nodded their heads in agreement.

"I see young Kim has made his return. You'll have to work hard to catch out to our classmates...Do we have any volunteers to help tutor young Kim on the lessons he's missed?" Mr. Chan asked.

Again, to my surprise, most of the class raised their hands to help. I was humbled by the show of support they were willing to give me. They were willing to give up their much deserved and limited free time to help me catch up! 

"Well, Mr.Kim. Looks like you're quite popular. Pick someone and I'll write out a couple of permission slips for you to use the cafeteria after-hours." he waved his hand for me to hurry up and pick.

"If Yang Sulli wouldn't mind, I would truly appreciate the help?" I asked sheepishly.

She smiled warmly, "I would like to help out, if its okay with you, Sinsangnim?"

"Great. You have a week from today to hand in all missed assignment, Of course, you're still required to have all new assignments done as well."  What else was new?

"Good to see you back, man!" Kevin sat down across from me with his lunch tray. Soon, I was surrounded by most of my dorm-mates. It was the first time I had seen Kim Hyun Joong use his sunbae status to get Kevin to slide over.

"My Dongseung, are you good? I can't believe they didn't fire that guy's a$$!" his anger was evident. His language shocked the others at the table; he was talking about a teacher after all.

"If he tries anything like that again, so help me!" he was getting a little worked up about it.

"Hyung, I am alright... Really! I appreciate your concern. Truly! ... Please, don't do anything that could jeopardize your chances of becoming a real trainee." I was concerned.

For obvious reason, I couldn't explain everything to my friends but I did best that I could to reassure them that I was fine.

"Kang Sinsangnim, personally, came to my house and apologized to my parents for 'his carelessness'. He admitted his faults. We're going move on and both learn from our actions." I stated.

All the kids stared at me in astonishment.

"Wow, Kim! You're a better man than me." Kevin stated and grabbed my hand and shook it.

At voice lessons, they were told that I was to stay in the mid-ranges to avoid putting strain on my vocal cords for the next few days.

Kevin was sticking to me like glue. I drew the line at him following me into the washroom. "Honestly Kevin. I am fine."

The biggest test was next.  Everyone was on edge, you could almost feel the under current in the training studio as my group waited for Kang Bok Gu to enter.  It felt like a battle was about to start, and I was the general surround by my army. Kim Hyun Joong stood slightly in front of me, Kevin on my other side with the other all around me waiting for the show to start.

Kang Bok Gu entered in his normal way. "Form up."

The boys hesitated. 

"Let's get a move on," he clapped his hands a couple of time to get them moving. "Ah, I see Young Kim is back. Welcome! ..."

With that, the group moved to their right places and bow to our instructor.

"Kneel...Bow...Up." There was an awkward silent as Kang Bok Gu sat there meditating with his eyes closed. A few minutes went by, the group was looking side to side at each other, wondering what he was up to.

 "First, I will say I am glad you're back, James Kim.  I trust your recovery is going well...Secondly, I was honoured to meet your family and felt grateful that they accepted my sincere apology over my careless actions...Lastly... James and I have decided to learn from our past actions and move on beyond them." He stood up and walked towards me.

 "My goal is to prepare you all physically for the challenges that await you. I am committed 100% to that task." He extended his hand down to me. I grabbed it. He pulled me up, and to my and everyone else’s surprise, gave me a quick hug.

   "Enough of this, let's get moving." he shouted and clapped his hands. "Kim Hyun Joong lead the boys in the warm-up...James Kim, Remember what your limitations are! Let's get started, this isn't a nursing home, Boys!" and with that, I was back.

A/N: short but necessary... what's your thoughts on Kang and Seungri's Truce?