....

A/N: Warning: contains corporal punishment that some might find uncomfortable.

He did not say a word as he drove me home. But as he pulled in front of my father's estate house, he said, "He's waiting for you in his study."

Of course he is.

As quietly as humanly possible, I opened our front door, praying my dongseungs were out of earshot of the door chime.  So far, so good, I carefully slipped on my slippers and calmly made my way down the hall towards my father's study.  If Sunhee knew I was here, she'd be all over me like a dirty shirt. I needed to face my dad without a cling-on.

I knocked lightly on his door.

"Come."

I entered and closed the door behind me.

"Lock it." That did not sound very promising.  I felt a shiver run down my spine, but I did as I was told.

I approached his desk. He was standing with his back to me looking out the window.  I glanced out past him to see Sunhee and Jaihee in the distance, splashing in the pool.

I stopped just in front of his desk and waited.

"What am I going to have to do to you to make you think about your own safety... as well as those who try their damnedest to keep you safe!" his voice was stern.  He slowly turned around and placed his shinai on his desk. I stared down at it, as it registered in my brain.

A minute pasts by...he always liked to let things sink home.

My heart skipped a number of beats. I remember how it turned out the last time he held that sword.

"Ah-bo-jee, Be-yen-ida! I should've called to inform you that I was going out to eat. I totally messed up on that, but he still did his job and watched out for me. I was safe and in no danger...I'll go and apologize to him right now, if you want." I turned and headed for the door.

"Stop where you are!" I froze immediately, hand on the doorknob.

 "You're pretty good at thinking on your feet. I'll give you that." He picked up his sword and walked around to the front of his desk.

"I'm sure that would've worked on most people... but I'm not most people...Turn around and come here." He said as he leaned against his desk, his bamboo sword resting on his shoulder.

I dropped my hand and my head as I turned back to face the consequences of my actions.

"It's not only about your unscheduled lunch but how you chose to get there, riding with an unlicensed and inexperienced driver. I thought you had more common sense than that... But once again, you prove to me that you don't use the sense god gave you when you should." He lowered the sword so the tip was touching the ground.

"Well Seungri ... You leave me no choice since talking about it doesn't seem to work." He tapped the floor in front of where he stood. "You know what to do."

My brain went into overdrive, how could I get out of this... undamaged. I slowly walked over to him, even though I wanted to be far away from that man and his bamboo sword.

"Ah-bo-jee, I'll take my punishment ... But please remember... I've lots of training this week. I need to be in top physical shape if I want to advance." That's the best I could think of in my state of near panic.

I lowered myself into a kneeling position and looked up at my father. My eyes were pleading with him.

"Keep going... We'll call it square with 10 ." He tapped the floor once more. I slowly got myself into the push-up position. "Hold steady."

"I know from personal experience that you'll be able to continue your training without any adverse effects... One thing's for sure, you'll definitely won't be sitting idle." It was hard to believe my father, Jeung Jihoon aka Rain, successful actor, singer and businessman was ever in this kind of predicament.

He moved into position. "Remember to count out-loud."

This time I knew what to expect. "Thwamp!"

But the first blow still caught me off guard. I dropped to the ground from the force of the strike but quickly got back into position.

"Hana." My voice sounded strange.

The next one landed slightly below the first one. White pain exploded after a second.  Christ! "Duel!"

"Set" seared just above my thighs where my seat met my legs. My breathing turned into panting. I wanted to jump up but held my position.

"Net!" That fell in the middle on new territory. I dropped again but pushed up immediately.

"Dasot." I took in lots of air.

"Six!" I screamed out...that one flamed across the top of my rear. There was a pause. “What was that?” He asked.

“That was number 6.”I said in shaky English. “Right, then” he started again.

"Seven!" I grunted as my arms began to tremble.  Only three more to go.

"Eight.." The tears were rolling down my face and off my chin. So what! I bet no one could go through it without losing at least a few tears.

"Nine" I blew out in a rush of air... Just one more!

"I hope you will remember this... so there won't be a next time!" and with that he landed his final blow with such force that I felt like I might pass out.  The sound of "Ten" was breathless and foreign as I fell to the ground, exhausted.

"Make sure you're down for dinner at 7:00pm sharp. Your mother has worked hard today, preparing your favourites." He threw the shinai on his desk and left the room.

At least he was kind enough to shut the door after he left, so I could have some privacy as I tried to get myself under control.

My brain was swirling around the events of the last 24 hours. How did this happen? Not even 18 hours ago, I was on stage. Having the performance of my life...beating all my competitors finishing in First place. My father (the CEO) calling me back out on stage to shake my hand, congratulating me on my victory!... But now... Here I lay in a painful state. Does this even make sense?!

My muscles were stiffening. I had to get up. I took a deep breath. One, two, three! I staggered to my feet. Yeah! This was not going to be fun.

I headed up the back way to my room, hoping not to bump into anyone.

I made it in and closed my door. I slowly stripped out of my now-tight jeans and grabbed a pair of sweats from my dresser. I headed to the can to inspect the damage.

"Jesus!" You could see where each of the strikes had landed vividly across my poor derriere. If you didn't know better, it looked like someone had used a very thick red highlighter and ruler, to draw perfectly straight lines across that area... if it weren't for the raised welts spoiling the effect.

I carefully changed into just sweats and walked back to my bedroom area. There was a knock at my door. I wanted to ignore it but thought better...I walked over and opened it.

"Your father asked me to give this to you." It was my security guy holding an ice pack.

Figures...Killing two birds with one stone. My dad was always thinking. The guard could see that I was punished for my thoughtlessness and now I could apologize without an audience.

"Thank you, aujussi." I took the ice pack from him. "Sorry about earlier...Sometime I don't think things through. I'll try harder in the future." I bowed politely.

"I'd appreciate that, young sir...Hope the ice helps." He turned and left.

I set my watch alarm to go off at 6:15pm then I lay across my bed on my stomach, positioning the ice to help the most affected areas. The consequences of my actions definitely took its toll on me. I was so exhausted that I drifted off quickly.

"beep...Beep...BEEP!" I regained semi-consciousness. Tried to focus on the sound. Shook my head and roll over. Quickly realized my mistake, I launched myself off my bed.

I let out a loud sigh and looked at my watch. 6:47pm. Great!

I ran into my walk-in closet, grabbed my loosest dress pants and a nice shirt. Throwing my t-shirt off as I go. Stopping at my dresser to grab a clean white one. Quickly, shoving it on with my dress shirt following, I headed for my washroom. Splashed water on my face and did a quick run through my messy hair with my wet fingers which brings most of the unruly locks back into behaving. Finished buttoning as I re-entered my bedroom. Slipped off my sweats. I contemplated underwear for about two whole seconds. Not happening. Slowly pulled my dress pants over my injury. Looked around to find a belt to hold up these very big and loose pants. I glance at my mirror. It would have to do, I was out of time.

I took the back stairs two-at-time to the dining room. I was cutting it real close. As I rounded my last corner into the room, my grandfather was just sitting down.

My father gave me a hard stare. I went to my seat and waited until both my father and stepmother were seated. Then it was my turn. I took a deep breath and sat. Yeah! Not very pleasant! I winced and blow out some air. My dad snickered. But my stepmother gave him a warning look and he stopped.

"Once again, Congratulations on winning last night! I wished I could have seen you perform."  She reached over the table a patted my hand. "I'm so proud of all the hard work you're doing...No matter what the outcome, I can see that you have grown a lot both physically and mentally."

Her smile was genuine. She was actually proud.

"Thank you, Mother... I'll try hard not to disappoint you." I bowed my head at her. "You've worked hard yourself... And out-done yourself, again."

"Enough, boy! Dinner is getting cold!" Leave it to my grandfather to spoil my moment with my stepmother.

"But the boy is right. It looks and smells wonderful. Let's enjoy!" my grandfather said.

As tradition, we all waited for the eldest to start eating. Then you'd say something like "Hope you enjoy your meal or thanks for the meal" before you take your first bite.

Dinner was delicious, as you would have expected. I filled myself to almost bursting to my stepmother's delight.

"Your appetite has greatly improved that explains why you've grown so much. It looks good on you! I bet you have lots of girls swarming around you." She smiled happily.

My dad laughed. "One of the many benefits of being a probee or a trainee is he doesn't have time for girls."

I'll keep myself nice and safe, just nodded my head.

"Your sister and brother were a little disappointed that they didn't get to see you today. Maybe, a little later, you could pop in Sunhee's room to read her a bedtime story. You know she'll be waiting for you." My stepmother didn't say that to be hurtful. It was just the truth.

"I will definitely go and see my little monkey." I smiled at her so she knows I understood her.

"After you finish with your dongseung, I'd like another word with you in my study." My dad said.

My head snapped over to him. I couldn't hide my look of alarm quick enough. He half-laughed at my reaction. "To talk, son...just to talk."