Chapter 278 Stage Name
The eight members of EVE stared into oblivion, already feeling stressed about the amount of work they had to do in such a short amount of time.
"Gosh, what did we sign up for?" Casper asked. "We can't overwork cats," he said, pointing to June.
June glared at him before sighing in defeat, knowing that Casper was right. A comeback in less than a month already sounded impossible. However, knowing Azure, they'd try to make it possible…even if it meant overworking their artists.
"Hey," Sehun cheered them up. "At least, we're idols now, right? And we'll be having our very first live! Isn't that exciting?"
"I guess it is," Akira said. "I can't wait to meet our fans."
Just then, the door opened, and Mr. Ong (who was still in his chair) came in with a new person—a man appearing to be in his early 30s entered the room with a curt smile.
"Right, he just arrived, so I wasn't able to introduce him to you earlier," Mr. Ong said. "This is Lee Chul, your manager starting from today."
June observed the seemingly innocent-looking man and bowed his head in respect.
Chul made eye contact with everyone, greeting them with bright smiles. However, when he locked gazes with June, he merely gave him a nod of acknowledgment.
June's eyebrows furrowed, but he let it go since it could have been a mere coincidence.
"I still have a lot of work to do," Mr. Ong said. "So Chul will be going over everything you need to know before your live."
As soon as Mr. Ong left the room, Chul slumped on the couch. "I'm a huge fan of the show," he started off. "Can I get your autograph, Zeth and Casper? I've always been a big fan! It's a shame Jaxon and Jinsol aren't here," he muttered under his breath.
Zeth and Casper looked a bit weirded out, but they gave their autographs nonetheless.
"Thank you for this," their new manager excitedly said, pocketing their autographs.
"Let's first start off with your personal accounts," Chul said, going back to professional mode. "We will not ask you to delete your accounts or forbid you from posting on it. However, you need to ask permission whenever you want to post something."
They nodded in understanding.
"As far as I know, all of you have personal accounts except for June, right?" Chul asked.
"I have a personal account," June said.
"Oh, you do? What's your name?" Jisung excitedly asked.
"I can't say it," June said. "I need to write it."
"Let's talk about that some other time since we have a live scheduled in half an hour. I'm assuming it's only for your personal endeavors?" Chul inquired. "If that's the case, then I suggest you don't use it anymore."
June frowned, feeling like Chul became more hostile when he talked to him. Did this guy not like him or something?
"Now, we're going with your stage names. Some of you have similar names to existing idols, so we need to change it a bit."
"First, Jisung," Chul said. "We'll go with Ji. It's short, straight to the point, and it's also your nickname."
Jisung smiled and gave Chul a thumbs-up.
Ji sounded pretty cute.
"Next, Sehun," Chul continued. "Hmm, I don't think we need to change your name, actually. It's alright. You can keep your name."
Sehun sighed in relief.
"The other members can also keep their names," Chul said. "I quite like your names."
"Ah, but wait," he quickly added. "We need to change your name, June. There are a lot of active idols with similar names—Jun, to be precise."
June frowned. He always thought his name was fitting for his image. Besides, most idols weren't plain 'Jun.' They had prefixes before it—Renjun, Junhui, Junmyeon, Joon...
"So, June…Choi Joon-ho…your stage name is going to be…"
"Hoho."
Yup, this dude definitely had something against June.
***
Hoho.
June thought the challenges would dial down a bit once he secured a debut spot in Rising Stars.
However, that seemed to be a misconception.
His members couldn't stop laughing after their manager left the room.
Jisung wiped his eyes after a great round of laughter, almost falling out of his seat.
"Are you done now?" June asked, not finding the situation enjoyable.
"Oh gosh," Akira exclaimed amidst his laughter. "Hoho? Are they serious about that?"
"The center of a new idol team is actually going to be named Hoho? I don't know about you, but that sounds quite iconic," Zeth chimed. "Ah, I'm glad I'm not in the center now."
June glared at Zeth, causing the latter to laugh even harder.
"I thought they were great at making names. Nico, whose name was originally Paul Ni…Ni Paul benefited from getting a good stage name," Sehun said.
"Where'd you even learn that? And is he mixed?" Ren asked.
"From C-Jay. That kid knows everything…and yes, I believe. I think he's half Nepalese," Sehun responded.
"Well, that explains it," Jaeyong said. "Seriously, though, do you think they're serious about June's name? I don't think I can take him seriously if that happens."
"They're not serious," Casper said. "They definitely can't be serious."
June hoped so.
However, once the door opened and Chul came in with a tripod, June knew that they were being serious.
"Hoho, set this up," he said, giving the tripod to June.
"Gosh," Jisung whispered. "I think they're serious."
June pursed his lips in frustration. Were centers usually treated like this?
He set up the tripod (after much difficulty) and propped the phone on the stand. However, Jisung quickly came to his aid since June didn't know how to set up a live stream.
"We're rolling!" Jisung exclaimed, pulling June back to the couch.
The members of the new idol group perked up, looking at the camera like lost meerkats waiting for their next prey.
"How does this work again?" June whispered to Jisung.
"We're waiting for people to come in," Jisung whispered back. "Oh, I think they're here. We have 10,000 viewers now! Let's greet them."
Zeth looked around and cleared his throat.
"Hi, guys!" he exclaimed. "We are the members of EVE. Thanks for tuning in to our first live!"
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