NOVEL NEXT Chapter 237: Ranking Ceremony
On his left, Benjamin was stuffing toast piled high with beans, sausage, mushrooms, and tomatoes into his mouth and washing it down with hot tea.
On his right, Jamie was stacking a mountain of eggs and bacon in between two thick waffles while gauging how best to bite into it.
Across from him, Carlos was dousing a second plate of eggs and sausage with hot sauce and scooping it up with some flat bread.
Ari was thoroughly disgusted watching them eat and made it known.
"I just want you all to know that the way you all eat is disgusting."
"Burp!" in response, Jamie burped in his direction before continuing his meal.
"While you're complaining, clear your plate, yeah? Or I'm telling the nurse you're skipping meals."
"Snitch."
"You need to eat well to fuel your body and prevent injuries. When we have time later today, I'll help you stretch. Thoroughly. I may have been the person to injure you first, but I'll strengthen your bones, tendons, and ligaments or die trying. You'll never get a career-ending injury again." Mathew, who had the only normally sized plate of food with oatmeal and berries, promised passionately.
"Torturer number 1. And please stop cursing me, I've never had a career-ending injury and don't plan on getting one."
"Well, make sure you get more vegetables. You're so short, you clearly need more nutrients." Carlos added completely unfazed.
"I'm almost your height?"
"And weigh much less. So eat well so you can grow big and strong."
"Thank you, nagging parent number 1."
Ari turned to Vishal with a sigh, "Anything to add nagging parent number 2?"
The Indian boy sipped his tea before adjusting his glasses, "Hmm…no, I think they got it covered. I'll try to prepare something unique to nag you about tomorrow. So look forward to it."
"Then let's please change the subject."
"Are you nervous about the ranking ceremony?" Jamie asked Ari, mid-bite.
"Nope."
"You don't think you'll have to dye your hair red? Fans seemed pretty motivated to get your rank higher. You've been on quite the upward rise and won the extra team votes. Might be possible, innit?" Benjamin added, as he began downing the second round of his baked beans toast concoction.
Ari thought about the people ranked ahead of him before giving his honest feedback.
"Definitely not. Although I think my performance was good, even with the extra votes, I'll probably go up by 3 spots? Maybe 4 if I'm lucky. Everyone at the top is pretty popular, so as long as I eventually reach the top seven, it will be fine. Once I make it past this round, my hair is safe from all hair dye."
"Did you watch the episode last night after spending your day saving the town, promoting yourself, and flirting with a certain pink celebrity?"
"No. And I wasn't flirting with anybody. How do you even know about that?"
"I can't tell my secrets, but just know that none of you men can hide anything from me. I deep it all."
"That's called stalking and gossiping."
"I prefer the term collecting information from numerous sources and making friends in different places, innit. You really don't want to dye your hair?"
"No. All the reviews I've seen say the process sucks. I don't know why people want to see me as a redhead."
"Well, I don't blame you for avoiding it. I went blonde once and swore never to do it again. Rei went to re-up the red in his hair yesterday, and he's still crying about his scalp burning from the 4 rounds of bleach. Your hair is about as dark as his, so if you do it, you'll probably be crying too. Good luck mate, haha."
"Either way, it won't happen."
"Denial is a river in Egypt. I think it will."
Hearing Benjamin's devious laugh, Ari completely lost his appetite.
As he was contemplating leaving to get changed for the ranking and elimination ceremony, someone dropped something on the table beside his hand.
"It's good at covering things up. You can use it if you want to. And sorry." Ari glanced up at Rex, who quickly left after saying what he wanted, noting his red ears as he rushed away.
"Did the two of you fight?" Jamie glanced at the tube-like object before continuing to eat.
"Not really. Just talked."
Ben picked up the object, let out a whistle, and then handed it over.
"Whatever happened, he really feels sorry, mate. My sister uses this brand, and it's bare expensive. About 70 quid a bottle."
"Really, I'll have to thank him later then."
Ari glanced at the foundation before shrugging.
He wasn't one to turn down a free gift even if he didn't think he had done anything to deserve it.
"Don't go using it like you were using that white stuff before. You looked like a ghost. Or rather a French mime? Bonjour baguette hon hon hon~."
"Shut up, beans on toast."
"Oui oui, Paris. You don't understand, ze beans, ze toast, together, it'z a delicacy." At Benjamin's terrible French accent, Jamie burst out laughing, and soon the whole table was snickering.
Flipping the laughing British boy off, Ari got up to go get changed.
It was elimination day for 10 more people, and despite Benjamin's encouraging words, he hoped he wasn't a part of that.
More importantly-
Ari glanced up into the air while whispering.
"Still nothing?"
He was asking about the surprise mission reward, which still hasn't come in.
[Be Patient.]
[It will be completed soon.]
"Can I at least get the Camouflage Healing Band-Aid for my eye?"
[No.]
With a resigned sigh, Ari went to the bathroom and, using his fingers, applied the foundation over his bruised eye.
Surprisingly, it blended pretty well with his skin tone, and when looked at from afar, it seemed pretty normal.
"This is a nice product. I really have to thank him. And… I really need a haircut."
Even in its curly state, his hair was now brushing his shoulders. It was time to cut it.
But that would have to wait.
For now, it was time to head to the elimination ceremony.
With all of his heart, Ari began hoping that his rank, which he previously wanted to rise as much as possible, would stay outside the top 10.
****************
"Welcome back to my lovely contestants, you all look quite dashing today. Did you all watch the episode yesterday?"
MC Ryan Leary, dressed in a classic black suit, smiled at the contestants from the stage he was standing on.
- yesssssss
- nooooooo
While the responses were mixed, the overall consensus was generally positive, and hearing it, the MC laughed.
"Well, I watched it and it was fabulous. Today's setup is a little different. We will go through the ranking ceremony as usual, say goodbye to our friends who have been eliminated, and then your next mission will be immediately announced, along with some important announcements. Since this is the final mission before 30, yes, only 30 of you will travel to Korea for the next several weeks."
As the contestants began murmuring, MC Ryan Leary cleared his throat to get their attention.
"Without further ado, let's get started. When I call your name and rank, please come up, say a few words, and then take a seat on the pyramid. Starting with the contestant that came in 39th place, Vishal, please come up."
As Vishal walked toward the stage, Ari covered his mouth and whispered 'status' while taking a look at his stats for the first time in a while.
[Vishal Agarwal]
[Age: 20]
[Vocals: C-]
[Dance: C-]
[Visual: B]
[Rap: C-]
[Charm: C+]
Compared to before, when Vishal had mainly D stats, the late nights and early mornings of practice that he did without fail were dutifully reflected.
For someone with no prior experience performing and no system like Ari, it was undeniably impressive.
It was just unfortunate that his rank continually hovered on the lower end.
As he walked up onto the stage and gave his speech, Ari clapped hard, glad that someone he considered his friend had made it through another round.
As the pool of contestants continued to shrink, he found himself wishing that the people he was close to would continue to be safe and climb the ranks.
Hopefully, all of them could make the top 7 and debut together.
"Coming in 32nd place…Mathew."
"Coming in 24th place, Minjun."
"Coming in 23rd place, Minho."
"Coming in 20th place… Leo."
As his previous rank was called, Ari sat up and began paying attention while pushing down on Jamie's leg, which was being bounced up and down at a rapid pace.
He didn't know why the blond boy was so worried; he was definitely safely within the top ranks.
"Coming in at 15th place, Contestant Alfonso."
"Coming in at 14th place, Contestant Justin."
As members of his team started getting called, Ari began getting ready to get up.
Realistically, he didn't think his position had dropped down to 40 or below, so he should be getting called right about now.
"Coming in at 13th place, Contestant Jerome."
Any second.
"Coming in at 12th place, Contestant Choi In-su."
Please.
"Coming in at 11th place, Contestant Tae Young."
God, if you exist, now is the time.
"Coming in 10th place, Contestant Suzuki Rei."
"Merde, I'm cooked," Ari whispered to himself when his name wasn't called.
"Why are you complaining? Welcome to the top 10 and being a redhead, mate. Hope you don't go bald." Benjamin patted his back before paying attention to the speech being given.
Since his hair was going to get dyed red no matter what rank he got, Ari decided to relax.
"Coming in 9th place, with an unexpected drop from 6th place, meaning he is now out of debut rank, it's Contestant Rex."
- What?
- No way!
- he dropped?
- howw
- his performance was kind of bad.
At the unexpected drop of one of the strongest contestants who had firmly been in the top 7 all this time, the remaining contestants couldn't help but gasp.
What was actually going on in the top ranks?
They could only watch as Rex walked onto the stage, slightly teary-eyed but holding it together as he gave his speech in both English and Korean."I'm so sorry for disappointing those who supported me. I fell into a slump and just couldn't recover, but I promise to do better in the future and not let anything like this happen again."
"Thank you for that touching speech, Rex. I hope you get out of your slump and bounce back harder than ever."
As Rex took his seat, Ari prepared to get up since his name really should be called right about now.
"Coming in 8th place, with an unexpected drop from 2nd place, meaning he is now out of debut rank, it's Contestant William."
At the MC's announcement, the room fell into an absolute silence, with no signs of movement.
Even Jamie's leg stopped bouncing as he gasped in shock.
Nobody believed the name that was called, but the MC repeated it a bit louder this time.
"In 8th place, Contestant William, would you please come up?"
After another minute of silence, William finally stood up, adjusting his well-tailored uniform before stalking toward the stage.
As the blonde boy angrily walked up the steps, his gaze scanned the seats, searching for one particular face, and when he met Ari's eyes, he couldn't help but glare angrily, causing some other contestants to flinch back.
Ari just gave him a bright smile in return while clapping as hard as he could.
He was genuinely happy and hoped that William's rank would continue to drop straight to h*ll until he got eliminated.
"Contestant William, would you like to say a few words?"
"…I will get back to my rightful spot despite the tricks anyone tries to play. Bet on it."
The only person playing tricks is you, you blonde weirdo!
Leaving behind those cold words and not waiting for the MC to say anything, William spun around angrily and took his seat with a great huff.
"Well, I understand that emotions can get riled up when you're disappointed, so let's move on. Coming in 7th place, a rise of 13th places, is the man of few words unless it's to his fans. It's Contestant Ariel. Please come up."
When his name was called, Ari could only blink.
What the heck?
While he had obviously been expecting to be called, the fact that he was now ranked 7th was quite insane.
"Contestant Ariel, please come up." As the MC called his name again, Ari was snapped out of his reverie by the two people who were taking the opportunity to beat him up while pretending to pat his back.
"Heh, I told you!"
"Congratulations!"
"Thank you. I'll pay you back for this."
Shooting them a look that promised revenge, Ari slowly walked onto the stage where the MC shook his hand.
"Contestant Ariel, you've had quite a journey, haven't you. From being ranked near the bottom to entering the debut rank for the very first time. How are you feeling right now?"
"I feel great," Ari told the MC truthfully.
Used to the usual short responses when speaking to Ari, Ryan Leary continued the conversation.
"Oh? What are you happiest about? Do you have anything motivating you to rise this far?"
"I'm happiest about getting to this rank, and I would really like to maintain it. Additionally, I am very excited about the $10,000 tax-free bonus that production will pay promptly if I can maintain this ranking to the end. Unlike the other money that they have-"
Ari's microphone was immediately muted.
Catching onto the hint from the production team, the MC immediately changed the subject.
"Oh dear, it seems that there's something wrong with your microphone. Is there anything else that you would like to say? I distinctly remember you making a promise to the fans that you would be dying your hair red. Does that promise still hold true?"
Can I even say no?
Even if I was the devil himself, I would have to do it, after they worked so hard to get me here.
"Of course. All jokes aside, I'd like to say thank you to all the fans for voting for me. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to not only watch my team's performance but also go the extra mile and vote. And uhm…I guess next time we see each other, my hair will probably be red. I hope you're not disappointed when you see it."
"Ahaha, that's great. I look forward to seeing the new hairstyle. Please go have a seat."
Letting the MC pat him on the back, Ari took his seat, which was thankfully one step higher than where William sat.
[He's glaring at you.]
I know, I can feel it.
Pretending not to notice, Ari sat down comfortably while waiting for the ceremony to finish.
Levi came 5th.
Jamie came 4th.
Carlos came in 3rd place.
And for the final 2, that was once again between Daniel Kim and Benjamin.
"And the person who is now ranked first once again is Mr. Big Ben himself. Benjamin."
Daniel came in 2nd place.
And Benjamin finally reclaimed his crown as the contestant in first place.
As the MC held the microphone up to him, Benjamin had a bright smile on his face as he gave his speech.
"Wagwan and big ups to all the fans from around the world supporting this South London boy's dream. Big ups to the teammates who worked hard so we could have a great performance, and big ups to me for not giving up. We're back, baby."
Seeing the bright smile on Ben's face, Ari clapped as hard as he could, happy to see him happy.
It would be nice if things could remain like this.
"Now that we've said goodbye to the eliminated contestants, let's get started with some important announcements. Firstly, we've had a few personnel changes. More specifically, judge and trainer Jelissa will no longer be with us and will be getting replaced by a person specially chosen by the director who will be managing the formed group in the future."
At the MC's words, Ari's head immediately snapped down to look at William who had a bright smile on his face.