From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel

Ari spent the next 3 days looking for Levi.

He asked everybody from Levi's roommates-

"Have you seen Levi?"

"Give me back the thing you stole from me, you thieving orphan."

"Wow, congratulations. Your insults and imagination are getting more creative. Anyway-"

Ari immediately looked past William's annoying face and asked one of his roommates, a quiet boy named Tony, who constantly seemed to fade into the background.

"Have you seen Levi?"

"He was here yesterday for like 5 minutes, but he hasn't been in the room since."

"What time?"

"Around 8? Or 9? I came back early from practice."

"If he comes back again, tell me immediately. And tell him I'm looking for him. Got it?"

"…uhh." Tony glanced between Ari and William before avoiding eye contact.

"Let's try that again, got it?"

Seeing the number 2 crash out of the program glare at him, Tony found himself standing up straight and saluting.

"Yes, sir!"

Giving the saluting Tony a strange look, Ari moved on to his next harassment target.

The staff members-

"Kate, can you give me Levi's cellphone number? Or his home address?"

"Ari, I'm sorry. I wish I could help, but you know I can't do that. It's private." Kate gave him a sympathetic look but was surprisingly firm.

"Please? It's important. He's on our team, and we haven't seen or heard from him. I'm worried. Please?" Ari rounded his eyes and gave her his best teary-eyed expression, and seeing her waver, grabbed her hand pleadingly.

[Wow.]

[Your acting is getting better and better.]

You shut up!

"Pretty please? I'll never forget this!"

"Don't look at me like that! I-I'm sorry, but I can'ttttt." With tears in her eyes, Kate ran away to avoid looking at the eyes that were trying to hypnotize her into giving him whatever he wanted.

"Tch."

Ari clicked his tongue in disappointment before moving on to his next target of harassment.

"PD Em-"

"No."

"But I-"

"No. Out."

"Tsk."

"PD Ji-"

"What did PD Emily say?"

"Dang it."

Feeling like a crazy person, Ari spent his time between practice, running around looking for Levi, and had taken to camping in front of the door people used to sneak out.

He had even gotten a special capture tool delivered so that Levi couldn't leave once he found him.

Meanwhile, the person he was looking for had confidently walked through the front door and was now having a conversation with another blonde.

"When are you leaving? Your mom said she already spoke to you?"

"Soon."

True to his minimal style of speaking when he didn't want to be bothered, Levi gave a one-word response and continued to grab what he came back for.

"When exactly is that? Don't tell me you plan on performing this round?"

Levi glanced at William, seeing the familiar smirk on his face before looking away in irritation.

"No."

"Good. That green-eyed weirdo has been ransacking the whole place looking for you, saying he absolutely has to have you on the team for this performance. I guess it will be good for you to leave them hanging so their performance is even more terrible than it already is heheh."

There was only one contestant with green eyes, so it was apparent who William was talking about.

"Is that right?"

Unknowingly, Levi let out a tiny smile that quickly disappeared, and seeing it, the smirk on William's face got wiped away.

"I hope you didn't get attached and decide to stay. Remember that you're only here as a favor to me. And with you blocking me from being within the debut rank, you don't need to be here anymore. It's not like you wanted to do it in the first place, right?"

"I guess? Why does he bother you so much anyway? If he really stole from you, why not get your family to get it back?" Levi glanced at William as he put his headphones on.

"Family friend or not, that's none of your business."

"Then stop nagging me. I'll leave when I want."

On a whim, after leaving the shared room, rather than leaving straight away, Levi took the long way through the halls, automatically disregarding the people who flinched and scrambled out of his way.

He didn't know what he was expecting to see, but as he headed out the door, a cold feeling settled into his heart until something smacked against his back.

Spinning around and taking off his headphones, Levi saw a damp, angry face with literal steam coming from it, with the owner wearing an oversized fur hat and a brown tracksuit, pointing at him while glaring at him.

"Huff huff, finally found you, damn, deaf kiwi head!"

Levi: ಠ_ಠ

"Kiwi head?" What kind of insult was that?

Ari ignored the question and began asking his own.

"Where have you been?"

"Out."

"Doing what?"

"Stuff."

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

"Without telling the team where you were or if you were coming back? What kind of teammate is that?"

"Didn't you say to leave? And everyone was happy enough once I left. After all, all I do is threaten to beat people up?"

"If you were eavesdropping, then you should have stayed for the rest of it, you kiwi head."

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

"Because it's accurate. Are you quitting?"

"And if I am?" Levi asked curiously, wondering what Ari would say.

"Okay. Give me one last high-five? For good luck on your next journey. It's what we do in the countryside of France."

Ari held up his left hand with his right hand in his pocket.

Levi: ಠ_ಠ

What kind of good luck ritual was this?

Although he gave Ari a strange look, Levi obediently raised his right hand, and the moment he did.

Click-

Ari gave him a bright smile as he cheerfully handcuffed their wrists together.

"What the hell?"

"Let's become friends and get close so you can tell me from beginning to end why you think it's okay to skip 3 days of practice without telling anyone on the team. Then we'll tackle why you're anti-social and awkward, the lyrics you wrote for our performance, your relationship with William, and more."

"Take this off." Levi immediately yanked his cuffed hand, causing Ari to slide across the floor and almost slam into him.

"I lost the key."

"You know I'm strong enough to snap this, right?" Levi twisted the cuff again, his muscles straining, but surprisingly, the chain held firm even though it creaked.

"You can exert over 1000 pounds of force from your wrist?"

When Levi's eyes widened, Ari swung his attached hand playfully, "I specifically bought the military grade one after examining the door that you broke. Spent a lot of money on it, too. Ben can vouch for the fact that I flushed the original key down the toilet, and the new key won't arrive until tomorrow, and the chain is intentionally short enough that it can't be sawed off without hurting us both. So, we're stuck together for about….12 hours? Let's make the most of it."

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

"Are you crazy?"

"Maybe? Oftentimes, there's a voice in my head that only I can hear. I should probably get that checked out, huh?"

Letting off a resigned sigh, Levi began grumbling.

"Why are you doing this?"

"You mentioned Carlos, and I remembered that he and I got close when we snuck out to get tacos and buy dance shoes. So I figured we could do the same. Speaking of which, do you like French food?"

"I don't hate it."

"Excellent. I just got a fat pay day, so it'll be my treat. By the way, do you have a car and a license?"

"Why?"

"To drive us to go eat French food, of course. Also, I need to get my ears pierced."

"You're planning on using me as a chauffeur?"

"I have gas money, don't worry. I can also tip you."

"And you want me to drive with one of my hands handcuffed?"

"We can call a taxi instead if you want, although this might be a bit hard to explain."

Ari waved their handcuffed hands, and Levi gave them another dirty look.

"Whose fault is that?"

"Mine, of course. Regardless, let's go. I'm hungry and I'm trying to bulk up. Allons y!"

The walk to the car was silent except for Ari's whistling, and thankfully, Levi had a convertible whose top he lowered with the car remote so they could both just hop in.

And as the address was plugged into the GPS, Levi peeled off, and Ari enjoyed the wind blowing in his face.

"So let's chat. What's your deal?"

"There's no deal," Levi replied coldly.

Sensing a bomb resting in that response, Ari quickly pivoted to something he was curious about, "Then what are you studying at University? I remember you talked about an ethics class when we had to record the signal song with that insane director. Is it a requirement for acting? Is acting even a major?"

As someone whose college plans were to go to community college and figure it out from there, it was interesting hearing about an actual college student's experience.

"You're a shameless eavesdropper, you know that."

"Since we both eavesdropped on each other, I think it cancels out. Anyway, answer me, I'm curious."

After several seconds of silence, Levi reluctantly responded.

"…I'm a double major. Film Production and Acting."

"Ooohhh, smarty pants."

Levi quickly glanced beside him with an incredulous expression.

"…you're the valedictorian and you're calling me smarty pants?"

"I don't think it's all that impressive because standardized testing in high school is easy once you know the trick. What do you like about Film Production? And what's your favorite movie or show?"

"You're really asking that?"

"What? I'm curious. Unless you want to be handcuffed together in silence for the next 12 hours?"

With another sigh, Levi slowly began answering the questions.