Summary: The group gets called some names and attends their first fan event. Jae gets called to the office.

A.N.:  Another tough chapter to write. But so satisfying! Only one chapter left after this one. Eeee! It’s so exciting.^^

As you probably noticed, Fireflies has a new name. I’m prepping for the next section, since we’re so close. If you or anyone you know wants to help me with a header pic for Part Two, please let me know. My photoshop skills are sad. :(   

A.N. 2: I was lucky enough to get several beautiful posters, all of them are on my blog. Big thanks to the artists! ^^

As always, comments are adored. ♥

—*—

Three weeks until debut.

Time passes in a blur of training. We’ve learned how to answer reporters, how to field awkward questions, and what topics to avoid entirely. We’ve learned our best angles for photographs, how to handle wardrobe malfunctions, and tricks for fixing smudged makeup. We can turn down liquor without offending our host and know how to address everyone from street vendors to celebrities. And we can perform our dance routines in our sleep.

So I’m curious about what today’s PR session will teach us.

It must be important, because it isn’t just the usual staff members in the studio today. Seonsangnim and Raena are here. Raena is firing instructions at Jaejin, while her staff hooks up a computer to a large projector screen.

Yoochun nudges me. “Are we going to watch a movie?” he whispers.

I shrug. No idea. I look over to where Yunho is reviewing paperwork with Pak. Responsibilities as group leader keep him out hours later than the rest of us, yet he’s somehow still the first one up every day. His eyes look tired.

I want to curl up beside him and sleep for days, snuggling against him. I sigh. All my fantasies are about cuddling with Yunho these days. I watched Yunho sleep for hours the night we made up, his face sweet and peaceful as he dreamed away beside me. I’d been too happy to sleep. Reality was better than my dreams. Hearing Yunho say he trusted me and wanted me in his life meant…the world. It was everything. All these years, my betrayal weighed on me. I lived every moment terrified he’d find out. Terrified I’d lose him if he did. And now the pressure is lifted. Yunho understands. He’s going to help me. I wanted to lie there forever on that narrow bed in the dark of Yunho’s room, watching him sleep and floating on a sea of bliss.

“You and Yunho seem to be getting along better these days.”

I snap out of my dreamy haze and find Yoochun looking at me. His expression is neutral, but his eyes are sharp.

“We do? Yeah, I guess we are.” I shrug, trying to come across casual. “You know how it is. Every friendship has its ups and downs.”

He nods and starts to say something, then stops. He shakes his head and finally says in a quiet voice. “You’re a good person, Jaejoong. You deserve to be treated well, remember that.”

“Okay. Thank you.” I nod. What the heck? Is he…warning me about Yunho?

Before I can panic about what he knows, or thinks he knows, Raena is clapping her hands for our attention.

“Alright, boys. Important stuff today. First, let me tell Mr. Lee what a spectacular job you’ve been doing so far. The response has been impressive. We released group portraits with short interviews and the reaction was…well, easier to show you. Jaejin, will you hit the lights?”

The lights go out and we look at the large screen. It shows an online fan café. The forum header features a picture of our maknae next to the words “Choikang Changmin.”

Yoochun reads aloud the text underneath Changmin’s picture. “The Youngest DBSK Member Awakens Hearts with His Aegyo.” The room bursts into laughter. Junsu cackles and pounds the tabletop as Changmin’s jaw drops. As he reads the posts underneath the title, each more gushing than the one before, his ears turn red with embarrassment.

Raena grins. “I know it seems extreme, but remember: you’re the Gods of the East. Exaggerated language like that is exactly what we want.”

Seonsangnim purses his lips and nods. “I like it. It’s a good match for their concept.” He turns to Raena. “What’s ‘choikang’ in English?”

She consults her notes. “It’s ‘Max,” like ‘maximum.’ The best.”

“Good. Let’s go with that for his stage name.”

Changmin looks befuddled at his new name. It happened so fast. The rest of us exchange nervous looks, wondering what our names will be. We don’t get to choose?

Raena continues with her presentation. She shows pages from fan cafés for the group and for each member individually. Yoochun and Yunho are the most popular. The fans seem to really like their personas. They’re already calling Yoochun “Micky” in his forum.

I’m almost afraid to see my fan page. How is my silent, “mysterious” persona working? When my forum flashes onscreen, I quickly look down. Then I take a deep breath and peek up to see what they said. It’s post after post of almost the same comment: “Omo! How pretty!” and “Ooh, pretty boy!” and “Waaah, he’s prettier than most girl idols.”

I hate it. Pretty. Always pretty. Why am I never “handsome” or “cool”?

There’s an uncomfortable silence as everyone reads down my page. With no personality to judge me by, the fans are focusing solely on the way I look. Some of the comments are explicit, and I feel a blush rise in my face. I’ve seen plenty of ually forward comments about famous idols before. And there have been risqué comments on everyone’s forums. But it’s a different experience when girls are talking graphically about what they want to do to me.

Yoochun nudges me with a greasy smile. “Lucky. Plenty of fish in the sea for you.” Yunho shoots us a dark look from where he sits by Junsu. He’s not smiling.

“We’re getting a strong response to you as the group visual,” Raena says, “But you’re not connecting with fans the way the others are, so we need to work on that.”

I bow my head in agreement, but inside I’m frustrated. How am I supposed to connect with fans when I’m not allowed to talk?

A few more pictures flash by on screen, mostly involving statistics about projected sales and pre-orders. I try to follow them, but they don’t make a lot of sense to me. Seonsangnim seems pleased, though.

Raena finishes up. “That puts us right on target for your first fanmeeting next weekend. We’ll print up small photo booklets that fans can buy for you to sign. We need you to choose your names today so we can include those in the books. Okay?”

We all nod.

Seonsangnim steps forward. “Remember, DBSK won’t be successful in Korea only. We’re going to dominate Japan, China, all of Asia. Your name must match the group concept, but also be larger than life. Global. Monumental. Understand? You will be legends. So a name from the old myths would be a good choice.”

We must look confused, because Raena jumps in to explain. “I think Mr. Lee is referring to some of the ideas we tossed around earlier. For example, Jaejoong looks like he stepped out of a classic Joseon adventure. He has the clean, pure features of a hero. So we were thinking 'Youngwoong' would be a great name for him.”

“Oh, he’s a perfect hero.” Seonsangnim’s words have the faint sneering undertone I’ve come to expect from him. It still stings, though, even after all this time. I turn away and catch Yunho staring hard at the CEO, his lips a tight line. But he says nothing.

“How do you feel about it, Jaejoong?” Raena looks hopeful.

Hero? Me? It’s silly and arrogant, and I’ll be embarrassed if people call me that. But I don’t say that. “It’s good. Hero sounds good.”

“Great!” Raena beams her approval. “That should give the rest of you an idea of what your names should be. Think it over for a few minutes.”

Yoochun turns to me. “Hero? I don’t know if that’s better or worse than mine. At least I have an excuse.”

“Excuse?”

“Yeah. I was nine when I chose my name.” He grins.

I elbow him and smile back. I look at the others. Only Junsu and Yunho need stage names now. They’re both thinking hard, scribbling on notepads, tapping their pens against the paper. Changmin looks unhappy.

“What’s wrong?” I ask him.

“Choikang,” he responds sourly. “I hate it.”

“Hey, you’re talking to Youngwoong,” jokes Yoochun. “He can’t judge you.”

Changmin gives a wan smile. “We’ll suffer together, hyung.”

“Choikang Changmin hwaiting!”

“Youngwoong Jaejoong hwaiting!”

Loud voices interrupt us. Seonsangnim is speaking to Raena in a raised voice. His face is red with rage and he jabs his finger in the air at her to punctuate his words.

“I told you before. It’s out of the question. I disapprove of the entire campaign.”

“But, Mr. Lee, please reconsider. Our focus testing indicates that this ‘couple romance’ will be enormously popular. You know how idol fans are. They’ll make couples whether we want them to or not, so we should control the presentation and profit from it. Here,” she shuffles through some papers and holds one out to him. “Look at these financial projections—“

He angrily pushes the paper away. “No. That’s final. You overstep your bounds. One more word on the subject and you’re on the street. Clear?”

He’s almost purple with rage, eyes cold dots behind the gold-framed glasses. The room’s gone so quiet that you can hear his angry breathing. All eyes are glued on the argument.

Raena clutches the papers to her thin chest and bows low. “I humbly beg your pardon, Mr. Lee. Please forgive me.”

Seonsangnim gives a short nod, then turns and leaves without a word, visibly fuming. Only after he’s gone does Raena straighten up again. Her face is a mixture of embarrassment and confusion. I’ve never seen our scary PR director at such a loss before. I feel sorry for her.

Jaejin sidles over and timidly offers to take the papers from her. She gives him the packet with a grateful smile. When she turns to face us, we all quickly avert our eyes. Nobody knows what to say.

She takes a deep breath, then plasters a smile on her face. Her clap for attention is as brisk as usual. “Alright, let’s hear what you’ve come up with. We have Micky, Max, Hero, and…what about you, Junsu?”

He looks down at his scribbled notes and pouts. “I was trying to think of what Seonsangnim said about being big and global, so I thought…’Xiah.’”

Blank looks from everyone.

He explains. “It’s short for Asia. Because I don’t want to be known just in Korea, but to be famous across all Asia.”

Raena nods with thoughtful approval. “I like it. It’s exotic, symbolic, global. Good job! Xiah it is.”

Junsu beams. At least he likes his name.

“What about you, Yunho?”

“I decided I want to be U-Know.”

“Yunho?”

“U-Know.”

“What am I missing?” She’s looking at him in confusion. We all are. Does he want to use his real name? I don’t think Seonsangnim will let even Yunho get away with that.

“It’s not Yunho. It’s U-K-N-O-W. Like, I know that you know that I know you, so you know that I know that we know each other.”

The look on Raena’s face is priceless. “Come again?”

“It means that I want you to know that I understand. As leader, I want everyone to know I understand them.”

“You know that you’re going to have this stage name for your entire career, right? Ten years from now, people will still call you by this name.”

He nods. “I know.”

“You know. U-Know Yunho. Well, you won’t have trouble answering to a new name, anyway.” She shakes her head and raises an eyebrow. “I can’t decide if it’s brilliant or…not so brilliant. I’ll run it by Mr. Lee and see what he thinks.”

She makes some more notes, then tucks her clipboard under her arm.

“Excellent. We’ll add these stage names to the booklets and have them ready for the fan signing next weekend. SM has a strict code of conduct for these events because they can become…chaotic. But we’ll make sure you’re prepared. Jaejin will teach you what to do. Are you boys excited to meet your fans?”

We all nod. Yes!

She gives a sudden grin. “I hope so. Because they’re foaming at the mouth to meet you.”

—)(—

The screaming doesn’t stop. From the moment we arrive at the signing venue, the fangirls in line start yelling at the top of their lungs. “Oppa! I love you, oppa!” The noise is deafening. Cameras click centimeters from my face, the flash bursts blinding me. Security guards us down a cordoned-off path to the building. They protect us from the crush of the crowd, but hands reach across the ropes and pull at us. One girl grabs my shirt so hard that I’m jerked backward. The guard pries her hand off, but my shirt’s hem is torn. The wardrobe noonas are going to kill me.

The crowd is a blur. It’s hard to see the faces half-hidden behind “I ♥ DBSK” signs, but I can see their eyes. Some girls are crying. Some seem angry. Emotions are riding high in the crowd, washing over me. I feel anxious, unsettled, a little scared. This isn’t at all how I pictured our fans.

The guard throws open a steel door, and I stagger inside. It’s mercifully empty and quiet in here. I take a deep breath and try to quiet my pounding heart.

“Stay right here and don’t move.” The security guard slams the door behind him as he leaves to the next member.

The room is a huge, unremarkable reception area in the Myeongdong Central Shopping Mall. The walls and floor are plain white, the ceiling is acoustic tile. Huge banners are hung around the room, each one featuring the face of one of my members. I’ve seen the pictures hundreds of times, but they look different blown up over four meters tall. Velvet ropes zigzag across the room to define a queue area, and long tables by the walls display merchandise for sale. At the far end of the room, there’s a row of five tables, each with a member’s banner hung behind it.

Bang! The door behind me flies open and Junsu stumbles in on a wave of screams. His eyes are wide with terror. The guard slams the door behind him as he leaves for the next member.

“Yaaahh… That was crazy!” Junsu seems stunned.

“I know! Look! They tore my shirt.” I show him the damaged material.

“They look so shy and sweet hiding behind those signs, but their hands are like crab claws!” He’s shaken up.

Bang! The door opens, and the guard shoves Jaejoong in before leaving again.

Jae’s clutching his arm in pain. What ha