BTS's RM Shares The Story Behind His "Runch Randa" Stage Name

Before BTS‘s RM was RM, formerly known as Rap Monster, he was an underground rapper who went by several names, including Largo, The Nexist, and Stealo. His most well-known pre-debut name is Runch Randa.

In Episode 1 of BTS’s new collaboration, The MapleStory Originals | MapleStory X BTS, RM revealed how “Runch Randa” was born. It all started with the MMORPG MapleStory.

“I was looking to come up with a rapper name back in 2007, and I had a friend back then who taught me about rap. About Garion, Eminem, and Outsider,” he said. RM was active on Jungle Radio, an underground hip hop cafe, from 2007 to around 2010, when he signed with Big Hit Entertainment.

“I shared a MapleStory account with that friend,” he said. “and the character’s name was Runch Randa…I was thinking of a name and just went with that.”

After hearing Runch Randa’s origin story, Jimin joked that BTS exists because of MapleStory.

Then Jungkook asked the question fans have been asking for years; what does “Runch Randa” mean? RM didn’t get the chance to answer. His members jumped in with their own explanations!