The alarm sounded at 6:00 am. My roommates moaned to shut it off, I quickly jumped down and reset it to 7:00am. Grabbed my clothes and headed to the can.

I headed down to Studio B. The place was deserted, the lobby was silent except for my footsteps. The roll-down shudders were still down. Security arrives at 6;30am.

Luckily, the janitor's room wasn't locked. I quickly got to work and finished it in 45 minutes.  You may be wondering why I didn't use the mop, especially when nobody is around. The truth is all the classes and studios have cameras in them. And I know with Kang Bok Gu personality, he would definitely check to make sure I did it properly.

I scanned my key card to see my schedule, Body Wellness, dorm lounge at 7:30am.
I decided to try my luck in the cafeteria again.. The staff was busy preparing today's meals.

 "Excuse me, may I take one of those individual cereals and a milk?" I asked one of the older women who was wiping out one of the steam table.

She smiled kindly, "Can't wait for your scheduled breakfast? "

"To be honest, I missed having dinner last night. " I confessed.

"Oh, poor thing! Take 2 with you. Don't forget some juices too." I couldn't help but smile brightly at her."Com-sum-nida." I bowed to her as she handed me a couple of juices.

"Try not to skip meals,  it's not good for a growing boy."

"I'll try hard not to. Thank you for your concern, Ujima." I take the food and headed for the stairways.
 
The dorm was as active as a bee hive. People going in and out of the bathrooms, eleven people all trying to be ready for 7:30am. 

I grabbed a bowl from the drying tray,  sat down at table and ate.  I was still hungry but it would have to do for now. I decided to text Kang Bok Gu to let him know that I had finished my punishment. A few minutes later,  I received his response. "2:30pm...not one minute later." That was all it said.  A shiver ran down my back. I hate to think what he would do if I was late twice in a row.

All twenty four male probees stood in the large lounge area by our dorms. Two slim females came over and opened one of the wall cabinets. They started grabbing yoga mats out. 

"If you could lift the couches and tables over to the wall. We will start the morning exercises. Everyone either lifted something or grabbed mats to lay on the floor.

That half hour flew by, it actually helped some of my very stiff and sore muscles. I never thought I'd be doing Yoga. At the end of the Session, we all bowed and thanked our instructors. We would see them again tomorrow.

I headed back into our dorm while most headed down for breakfast. I grabbed another quick shower, put on my polo shirt and packed an extra t-shirt, shorts and my training jacket into my backpack.

The cafeteria was bustling with activity.  We were not the only ones scheduled  to have breakfast at this time. There were probees from every groups here as well as regular trainees.  Most of my group had already finished eating by the time I got there.  I picked up a tray and filled up my plate. It smelt delicious. I went over to sit beside Kevin. He was just finishing the last couple of bites.

”Pretty impressive! You were right that they don't cheap out on the food here." He held his glass of milk up and saluted the cafeteria staff.

Right now, I ‘d eat about anything.” I stated. But he was right the food was impressive.  

    Once again, to my surprise, we weren’t the only ones going into The Learning Academy.  At  8:55am, it looked like every group was milling around the entrance or hallway.  An announcement came over a speaker.   “ We will be posting everyone’s assigned classroom at 9:00am.  Please line up in our group colours, oldest to youngest.  Please stay to the sides and do not block the hallway. “

    We quickly obeyed and were standing quietly outside the Learning Academy; the two girl groups first, followed by the boys.  At nine, a bell sounded.  A young woman taped four coloured papers on different four windows.  Another announcement stated, “Now, in a timely fashion, one at a time, go and find out what classroom you are assigned to and go there quietly.”    

    There was no reason to rush.  I ended up being assigned to one of the larger classrooms that held twenty people. When I entered the class, I quickly looked for a seat at the back and found the whole back row empty… What a bunch of Keeners!  

    “Good Mornings, Ladies and Gentlemen. I hope you all remember my name.”  Everyone quickly stood up quietly as Michael Chan walked into the room.     
    
“ Good morning, Chan Sinsangnim.”      “ Let’s have you all sitting in Alphabetical order.”   He rifled through the name of 8 before mine. People hastily moved to their assigned seat. Two of the other younger guys from my dorm were present but Kevin wasn’t.   He quickly finished off “ And last by not least, Sulli Yang.”

    My head shot up; did he say Sulli Yang?  I quickly scoped out the room.  There were ten girls and ten boys in the class and sitting two rows over and behind me was someone I had hadn’t seen in almost 2 months.  I smiled at her and she did the same back.

 Pencils and papers were being handed out by two of the girls.

    “You will be tested on a wide variety of subjects to see if you have been placed in the appropriate level at this Academy. The first is an English assessment test.  We believe this group has the benefit of speaking and writing fluent English and Korean.  This could be an advantage if you learn to capitalizes on it. You have one hour to complete it.”  He was looking directly at me. 

This really .  I did all these test before. Do I really have to do them again?! 
 
I raised my hand and waited.  ”Is there a problem?" he looked down at his paper. "Kim, isn't it?" So he was going to stay true and act like he doesn't know me. 

"Chan Sinsangnim. I was born and raised in Canada for most of my life. I don't understand why I need to be tested on my level of English." I spoke in English to him to prove my point. 

"Have you graduated from High school with grades that you can enter University with?" He asked sternly back in English.

"No, I've not finished quite yet." I answered. 

"There lays your answer. Everyone always has room for improvement. You need to graduate first and this is part of that process. Understand, James Kim?" He emphasized my name. "...If there`s no more questions, you can begin."

Crap! I had to it up and redo all the stupid tests again. What a waste of time and effort! I reminded myself that  I was James Kim not Jeung Seungri here. I looked back at Sulli, she smiled and waved her pencil at me.  I picked up the pencil, took a deep breath and wrote the stupid test again for the second time.

We were given short 10 minute breaks between each test; first English, then Korean followed by a mathematics test. I looked at my watch as I finished my last question, it was 11:50 am. To my surprise, most of the kids were still focused on finishing their exams. I couldn't be one of the only ones done. I looked around, only two other looked like they were done. One had his head down on his desk. The other was leaning back with his eyes closed. 

I wanted to leave, but that obviously wasn't an option. I stretched and yawned. I folded my arms across my chest and closed my eyes. I was conserving my energy for the rest of today's challenges.

"Time! Place your pencils down and pass your papers forward." Micheal Chan ordered. "Tomorrow, our true work begins. Work hard. Study Hard. Class dismissed."

Everyone bowed to Chan and slowly began to filed out. I quickly grabbed a piece of scrap paper and scribbled down a note for Sulli. It asked her to only use my English name and that I would appreciate it, if she could keep my true identity secret. I carefully handed the folded paper to her, telling her it was for her eyes only.