My name is Lee Kiseop. I was born on the 17^th of January 1991. I am currently in an amazing Korean idol group called UKiss. I'm still not sure what it stands for since it's in English and Eli and Kevin, the Americans, came up with it. I just joined the group so I haven't been in any MVs yet. Except 'Not Young' where I appear for a split second or so. I'm scared by all sorts of things. Heights, bugs, spiders and...apparently kids, to name a few. Or, more like, one kid. You see, having joined not too long ago, I expected to be the newest member of UKiss. I've learned all the dance routines, get along well with all the members, even Kibum who likes to tease me a lot, and even got a few lines in our new comeback song, which is in a month, btw. And that's exactly why we couldn't believe it when the company decided to add yet another member to the group. Wasn't seven enough? Did we really need an 8^th member? I immediately felt depressed. Was it perhaps because of me? I have a really bad history of being rejected by numerous Ent.Companies in the past. Maybe I wasn't doing my part as the new guy well, and they needed someone who was more fun, better far better than I. And who was it anyway? I heard rumors that he's really young, so I spied on the younger trainees who I thought were capable enough to join, but the CEO caught me and reassured me that he wasn't one of them.The company refused to tell us until last minute. Just two weeks before our comeback. Everything happened so suddenly, we didn't know what had hit us. We were in the dance room practicing as usual, when our manager came in looking somewhat tired and worried and next to him was no other than....Alex!

"Come here, guys, there's someone I need you to meet", he called us gesturing to be quick.

"But hyung, that's Alex. We all know who he is." Dongho stated.

"I know guys. But you won't call him 'Alex' from now on. His stage name in 'Gin'."

"Why 'Gin'?"

"Wait a sec, he's the new guy?"

"So, I'm not the maknae anymore?!"

"Isn't that Japanese for silver?"

"Is he even Korean? I'm just saying, he don't look that Asian to me."

"Our comeback's in two weeks! How will he ever learn all the moves and lyrics and whatnot?"

 "So since he is the youngest, I get to boss him around,right?"

"I mean his hair does have sort of a silverish tint to it, but it's mostly white"

"SILENCE!" The managers' angry voice echoed around the studio. "YES, he is the new guy, YES, he is the new maknae, and I''m not the one who decides the stage names here. He already knows the dance routines and songs, so you needn't worry about that either. Now all that's left is for the eight of you to get along with each other. Alright? Now then, dancing's over. Get back to the dorm and get some rest. We can talk tomorrow." Nobody uttered a word and we drove back to our dorm in silence.

      The drive home was torturous. We were sleepy and we usually take a nap on the drive home, but this time, we were all wide awake despite being dead tired. Curiosity was driving us crazy, there were so many things each f us wanted to ask him and the atmosphere was really tense. Alex, or rather Gin had curled himself into a human ball, if that's even possible, and was looking out the window quietly. He had a sad angry look on his face ever since he entered the room with our manager, and he didn't utter a single word the whole time. I noticed he was bruised on his face and neck and basically any visible skin. He was wearing more clothes than the last time we saw him. He was still wearing that dirty soldiers coat, but at least this time he was wearing shoes, ankle boots, and torn jeans.  We finally got home and everybody rushed to their rooms to lie down at last. I couldn't be bothered to even do that, so I just plonked myself on the sofa and closed my eyes expecting to fall asleep instantly. Instead, my eye lids sprang back open and my eyes landed on a slim figure in the middle of the room. Not having quite understood what just happened, I tried to close my eyes again but I  couldn't. For some reason I laid there wide awake staring at the new figure. Soon I saw the other members coming out of their rooms hesitantly. I looked at Xander and he looked at me and I understood that however tired we were, we wouldn't get to sleep if we didn't satisfy our curiosity.

"So", Soohyun-hyung was the first to speak after we all found somewhere to sit comfortably, except Gin who stood silently in the middle of the room looking down. "Uhm, it wasn't that long ago we met, about a month or so ago, so you remember us, right?" Gin nodded. His eyes were sharp and he had a hard sinister look on his face which, although I would never admit it, honestly scared me a lot.

"So what should we call you? Alex or Gin? What's your full name?", Eli asked in slightly broken Korean.

"Edmund Alexander Romanov-Akise", he answered completely apathetically.

"That's.. pretty long", Kevin commented.

"So are you half Korean or something? Asian at all?", Eli asked.

"M'dad 'as Japanese, and mi mum was Russian." He answered in English although I didn't understand what he had said. All of us Korean members turned to Kevin, Eli and Xander-hyung for translation. They seemed a bit shocked,save Xander-hyung, that the kid was fluent in English, but they translated it nonetheless.

"His father is Japanese and his mom is Russian", Xander-hyung translated quickly.

"Did you grow up in England? Your accent's really good", Kevin asked excitedly in English. Gin shook his head.

"So how did you learn it?", Dongho asked once Kevins question was translated.

"Mi mum was a translator for big companies back in Russia. Picked it up from 'er, I s'ppose."

"Was? You mean is, right?", I asked.

"My parents died a long time ago. Didn't get to see 'em much, either."

"Wait, you said you had a dad", Xander-hyung butted in. Ed looked away avoiding Xander-hyungs eyes, even though he didn't look the least bit ashamed.

"I see", Xander-hyung mumbled to himself.

"Well then, what do we call you? What do your friends call you? Because for some reason, I don't think anyone calls you 'Alex', do they now?", Soohyun-hyung asked.

"Ed."

"Ed?"

"Ed."

"Ed it is, then."

"So where do we put him?"

"Donghos' room, of course."

"Wait a second, I didn't agree to this."

"Never mind, we didn't ask you. Besides, the spare bed's in your room and you two are the youngest, so you'll get along better." Dongho rolled his eyes but didn't protest.

"Ok, that's enough. It's already past 2am. Off to bed all of you. Dongho, show Ed to his room.", Kibum ordered.

That night I didn't get much sleep. I was too afraid of something,someone. That wasn't the Alex we met a month ago,no way. That child was timid and had a friendly aura about him. The kid who came now was a terrifying stranger. The look on his face was as if he wanted to murder someone, as if he was plotting a robbery or some horrible crime, and the fact that there was only a thin wall between us scared me even more. If only this was a dream. If only I could wake up from this nightmare!