Murder.
June froze as soon as he heard those words.
He definitely murdered someone before—but only for very good reasons. Most of the people he killed were those who deserved it.
However, someone like Choi Joon-ho didn't feel like he had the guts to murder someone.
Yet, here he was now.
[Congratulations!]
[You have accomplished the mission: Find out why Haruki hates you.]
[Reason: Murder.]
[You have now earned hard work points.]
[50 hard work points can be converted to an upgrade. Have fun upgrading!]
June knew he should be happy to accomplish the mission, yet he didn't have the heart to smile.
It only led his mind to have more questions.
He lifted his head, wanting to clarify it right then and there. However, as he looked around the restroom, he realized that he was now all alone.
He cursed under his breath and left the bathroom to look for Haruki. However, as he opened the door, Akira and Casper appeared before him.
"Oh, you're here!" Akira exclaimed.
Then, he turned to Casper and patted his back.
"I knew I could trust you," Akira proudly complimented the taller member.
June frowned as he tried to gauge what the two were doing.
"What are you two doing?" June asked.
"Oh, I had Casper sniff you out like the dogs in the airport that sniff drugs," Akira said. "It worked!"
June paused for a moment after he heard Akira's statement. Then, he shook his head and started walking away from them, determined to find Haruki.
However, the two didn't give June a chance to escape as they placed their arms under his armpits and carried him like a princess.
"Put me down," June deadpanned, pinching both their arms. However, they withheld the pain and continued carrying June to their waiting room.
"We're going to celebrate!" Akira exclaimed. "Jay brought fried chicken for everyone."
June groaned in annoyance. It wasn't as if they weren't eating fried chicken every day already!
They arrived at their waiting room, ready to celebrate their victory. However, Jay quickly covered Akira's mouth before he could scream.
"The three other members are here!" Jay exclaimed.
Akira looked at him with confusion. Jay subtly gestured to the two new people in their room, causing Akira to finally calm down.
June and Casper stared at the duo, wearing suits and professional smiles on their faces.
"They're reporters from SBC," Jay said. "They're going to air a special video about your win, so they have a few questions to ask."
Jay then leaned closer to the three most problematic members of EVE.
"Behave," he warned.
Honestly, all of the members of EVE were problematic, but Jay was worried about these three's responses the most.
June quietly sighed before sitting in the center seat. He wanted to sit at the corner since he really wasn't planning on speaking a lot. However, Akira and Casper rushed to the two other empty seats on the side, leaving June no choice.
"Hi!" the woman excitedly said, looking excited for the interview.
"I'm Lee Dami, and this is my cameraman," she said, pointing to the man by his side.
"I will only be asking a few questions, so I hope this won't be too much of a hassle," she shyly said.
"Go ahead. We can take as long as you'd like," Akira said, smiling at the pretty reporter.
Jay shook his head as soon as Akira opened his mouth. The interview merely started, yet he was already causing trouble.
He clearly whispered to Akira that Lee Dami was his type.
In the end, it was clear that not only the members were crazy, but their manager, too, was on the same wavelength.
"Let's start off from the beginning!" Dami said, still blushing from Akira's greeting.
"Why did you guys decide to join King of Kings when it hasn't been that long since you joined Rising Stars?"
"Our company made us join!" Sehun exclaimed, causing Jay's eyes to widen.
He wasn't expecting Sehun to be a problem, but he answered so bluntly.
"Yeah," Zeth agreed, making Jay even more stressed. "We weren't planning on joining, then bam! We were here because the CEO told us too. We didn't really have a choice."
"We don't regret it, though," Jaeyong said, sensing Jay's stress from behind the camera. "I felt like we grew a lot as a team and even strengthened our friendship during the show. It was a great opportunity to hone our skills and mingle with other artists in the industry."
Jay finally calmed down after Jaeyong salvaged their answers.
"Now, you were hailed as 'The King of Concepts' by your fans," Dami started the next question. "How do you come up with such great concepts?"
They all turned to one particular member—June.
He was the so-called 'concept-maker' of their team, so he was the only one who could answer the question.
However, he was busy picking at a stubborn piece of skin sticking out of his nails. He tried to cut it short, but it only elongated, making him feel even more stressed.
"June," Jaeyong coughed, tapping his shoulder.
June finally lifted his head and found most of the people in the room looking at him in anticipation.
"Yeah?" he asked, not really getting the question.
Dami chuckled at June's cuteness.
"Your concepts are great," she repeated. "All of us are curious how you are able to come up with such great concepts."
"Oh," June said. That was an easy question.
"With my mind, of course," June seriously responded.
It took a while for his answer to sink in. Then, Dami laughed awkwardly.
"Sorry, what was that?" she asked, wondering if she heard wrong.
"With my brain. I think of the concepts with my brain. I don't think there's any possible way," June elaborated. "Oh, sometimes, they come from my heart. Not the literal heart, but the metaphorical heart," he even clarified.
Casper chuckled while the other members stared at him in disbelief.
Jay felt his blood pressure rising up, so he held onto the back of his neck and leaned closer to Dami.
"Next question, please," he whispered.
"Right," Dami said, going back to professional mode.
"It hasn't even been half a year since you guys debuted, yet you've already made so many records," Dami complimented, making the members smile.
"Tell me—what are you most thankful for in this journey?"
"That's easy!" Jisung said. "My family."
The crew members in the room nearly cooed at Jisung's cute answer.
"All of the mentors," Ren said. "From when I was a trainee, to the mentors on Rising Stars, and down to the people who are helping us right now. We wouldn't have come so far without them."
"I'm thankful for my members," Jaeyong said, earning some teases from his members.
"Aside from everything I've mentioned, I'm very thankful for astras," Akira quickly added, earning nods of agreement from the rest of the team. "We wouldn't be here without them!"
Jay sighed in relief.
At least, this question seemed to be going right.
However, he must have spoken too soon.
"Luther," Casper suddenly said.
It was the very first time he spoke in the interview, so Dami's attention was quickly captured.
"Huh?" she asked. "Luther?"
"Yeah—Luther," Casper seriously said. "I'm really thankful for my cat, Luther. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been an idol."
Jay slapped his cheeks to wake him from this nightmare.
These boys seriously needed some media training.
