Chapter 392: Another One

"We have been selected for the project," Mr. Ong said, merrily spinning around his chair while playing with a zygote-shaped stress ball.

Yes, a zygote-shaped stress ball.

Jay bowed his head with a smile.

"Thank you, sir. I will relay this to the members," he said.

"How are they doing, by the way?" Mr. Ong asked.

"They're doing okay," Jay said. "They seem pretty tired with all the work they had to do for the past week, but they're coping well."

"Good," Mr. Ong said, still playing with his stress ball, now tossing it high in the air.

"And how's their center doing?"

"He's still in the hospital, sir," Jay responded. "I visited him yesterday, and he seemed to be recovering well. The doctor also said he's recovering faster than the average person."

"That's nice," Mr. Ong chimed.

Jay cleared his throat. "This project—how do we go with it while June is still in the hospital?"

"Beats me," Mr. Ong chuckled, causing Jay's eyebrows to furrow. "I say we start preparing for it now. We can't really delay anything since we're also going to be preparing for their comeback at the end of the first quarter."

"Do you think we can delay this project a little longer to wait for him? He's an integral part of the team," Jay insisted.

"They can't push back the date anymore. Other groups are already settled. They've known about it since last December. June will just have to adjust once he comes back. He can join the group when he's okay," Mr. Ong concluded.

Jay pursed his lips in frustration.

"Make sure they do well, okay?" Mr. Ong smiled, rolling over to where Jay was standing and placing a hand on his hip. Then, the older man tightened his hold on Jay's hips, squeezing tightly.

Jay flinched, feeling the pain radiate through his leg.

"I let the shooting incident pass since it gave many opportunities for ambassadorships. I just hope you don't commit the same mistake," he said, a wide smile on his face.

However, despite his happy expression, his eyes held a glint of seriousness, making Jay quiver.

Jay quickly nodded.

"That is noted, sir."

"Good," Mr. Ong exclaimed, removing his hold from Jay's hip.

"I'm looking forward to their performances."

***

One week had passed since June woke up, and he was now feeling better than ever. There was still an ache on his left shoulder, but it didn't debilitate him from doing his daily activities.

He could even dance with minimal pain now!

However, he was still bored out of his mind.

He even became more active on their group chat, but it seemed like all his members were busy since they only replied late into the night.

Minjun diligently went to school, too, so June was all alone in his boring room.

Dr. Oh came a few times to pester him into participating in a 'human' project, but June didn't find it interesting or ethical.

So, for now, he was stuck scrolling on Navel to satiate his boredom.

- I know the company said that June was alive and well, but I'm still worried.

- June, are you really alive?

- We haven't heard from him ever since the incident. I feel like he's severely injured.

- June, we miss you! When are you coming back?

As days passed, astras were getting more and more worried for June.

"Right," June said. "Let's send them a photo, at least."

June opened his back camera and took a picture of his hand doing a thumbs-up with the hospital room in the background.

He quickly posted it with the caption: 'I'm doing good, guys. I'll be back in no time.'

June thought the reactions would be more positive since he started receiving praise for his covers, but he was definitely mistaken.

- You're still on about this June impersonating shit?

- I can't believe this guy also got injured like June.

- I think he needs genuine help.

- Guys, it looks like he's in the same hospital as June. Should we report this to Azure?

June shook his head as he looked at hundreds of doubtful comments.

When are they going to believe that he was June?

"My username," June whispered, the thought suddenly dawning on him.

Now that his previous mission was finished, he could actually change his username.

He still couldn't forget how hard it was to create a username back then, so he was surprised when the first thing he typed was actually accepted.

"Hmm," he satisfyingly smiled as he looked at his new username.

'That should do it,' he thought.

A pop-up appeared on the screen.

Are you sure you want to change your username? This could only be done one time.

June pressed the 'accept' button on the screen and watched as the magic unfolded.

Then, he sent a screenshot of his page with his new username to Minjun.

June: Hey, kid, how'd you like my new username?

June didn't expect Minjun to reply right away since he was still in his class. However, he did, and June anticipated his reaction.

Minjun: As expected, you're shitty at this.

June frowned, staring at the screenshot he sent.

What was wrong with 'Hi_ImJune_from_3V3'?

***

A couple more days later, June was now practically injury-free.

He was definitely still not at his 100%, but the beautify potion came in handy with repairing the bruises on his face as well as the scarring on his left shoulder.

Dr. Oh stared at the beautiful creature before him with sparkling eyes.

"Mama Mia! He looks fresh out of the womb," Dr. Oh muttered.

"See? I'm all better now," June said, showing him his gunshot wound. It was non-existent at this point because of the Beautify potion. However, the potion merely healed the aesthetics of his injuries. In the end, they still pretty much hurt.

"You really must be part lizard," Dr. Oh said. "I've never seen a patient recover this fast before."

June sighed, placing his backpack on.

"So, I'm free to go now, right?" June asked.

"You still have about three days of recovery, but from what I'm seeing, I think you can go back."

June smiled. "That's great! Where do I pay my bills then?"

"Don't worry," Dr. Oh said. "The bills have already been paid by the company."

"Sweet," June exclaimed. "I'm gonna go now, then."

"Wait," Dr. Oh said, causing June to halt. "You're not going to call for your manager?"

"They're probably busy. I'll just take a cab," June said.

"Are you sure?" Dr. Oh asked. "I can give you a ride to the company, and we can talk about...research matters," he suggested.

June shook his head in amusement.

"I'm not participating in your human research, Dr. Oh."

The doctor slumped in disappointment while June happily skipped out of the hospital room.

It felt like he had been stuck there for years, so just merely seeing the sun had already brought a smile to his face.

He quickly hailed a cab to take him to the Azure building. He saw from the group chat that his members were practicing for a performance (one he didn't know of), so he decided to give them a surprise.

June arrived at the building and wasted no time in going to their designated practice room.

He stood outside the door for a while, listening to his members' friendly bickering.

"I think you should stay here in the middle," Akira said.

"I don't suit this part," Jaeyong said. "Why don't we have Ren try it?"

"But I'm already in the middle for the part before this," Ren sighed.

"I think June would suit this part the best, honestly," Jisung said, causing June to smile.

It seemed like his members missed him quite a bit.

With that, June opened the door, revealing himself to his members.

They were baffled, to say the least.

They were planning on fetching June from the hospital on the day of his discharge, yet here he was!

"What are you doing here?" Jaeyong asked, still perplexed.

"I'm all better now," June said, making his way inside. "I see you're having a hard time without me," he smirked.

The members stared at him for a while before he was bombarded with hugs.

"Bro!" Jisung exclaimed, practically throwing himself at June. "You're here!"

Casper silently walked to his side and gave him a little poke.

"You all better now?" he asked.

June nodded.

"I'm so glad you're here," Zeth said. "It was so hard acting as a center proxy for our previous performances."

June chuckled, looking at the relieved faces of his teammates.

"I see that you're all working hard," June commended them. "You guys took a lot of projects while I was gone."

"Tell me about it," Akira sighed. "We haven't gotten any rest for the past weeks. Not to mention, we still have to alter our opening performance now that you're here."

June frowned in confusion, tilting his head to the side.

"Opening performance? For what?" he asked.

"For King of Kings," Sehun said.

June frowned. "King of Kings?"

His members looked at each other with perplexed expressions before turning toward him.

"King of Kings," Zeth repeated. "The new survival show we're going to participate in!"