From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel

"What the heck is going on?"

"UGH, the organizers are so irresponsible! What kind of cheap set is this?"

"Is the MC okay? I can't believe the lights fell on him."

"Ugh, I can't believe I paid money for this, and The Rejects aren't even performing. I rushed to the front for nothing. Should I just leave?"

Following the disappointing back-to-back incidents and announcements, the crowd, which had gathered to watch not only the Pop Star Academy contestants' performances but also those of new up-and-coming artists and a locally popular headliner, was quite agitated and upset.

A few people left to get a refund, but others who were there stayed where they were to make the most of it while letting their frustration and anger be known.

Among the audience were Pop Star Academy fans standing under different banners and posters, and hidden within the groups were some actual celebrities.

Thinking that she was well hidden despite her all-pink outfit, Pink Puma carefully pushed her way toward the front of the audience, grateful once more that she wasn't that tall.

She was angling to stand near some girls who had a banner that had Ari's name and face on it, and awkwardly stood by them while pulling her pink hat low over her face.

"Is that…?"

"Shhhhh, I thought it was our friend, but it's not. Let's not stare at strangers."

An Asian girl seemed to recognize her before looking confused and turning her friends away, and Pink Puma let out a sigh of relief, thankful that her cover wasn't blown.

She would proudly tell her manager that she could, in fact, blend in without drawing attention.

With her confidence in her hiding skills renewed, her eyes focused back on the stage and then on the large screen, where she could see the back of a person's head with curly red hair in a team huddle.

Immediately recognizing the curl pattern that was distinctly different from some of the other contestants who had perms or occasionally got their hair curled, and realizing that that shade of red didn't belong to Suzuki Rei, who was slightly tanner than the pale arm she was seeing, Pink Puma gasped before covering her mouth with her hand.

"Is that him? Did he dye it?"

"I think so. The brace on the hand is familiar."

"Turn around, turn around, turn around."

"Who the heck are you guys whispering about? Aren't these just fillers before they fix the sound issue and the main event starts?" a blonde girl who didn't understand what the fuss was about complained as the group beside her began getting rowdy.

"Don't you ever say they boys are fillers again. Ariel is beyond filler. His beauty transcends everything." A girl with brown hair whirled around to glare, and Pink Puma nodded in agreement.

"What's the big deal. I bet they're not even as good as Nebu1a. These are just random trainees at some random survival show, right? They're a dime a dozen."

"These random trainees have more talent in their pinky than Nebula or black hole or whatever." The other girl beside the Asian girl who first turned around shot back.

"Hmph, we'll see about that!"

"Yes, we'll see, so make sure you look carefully!"

Boom!

There seemed to be an agreement reached because the huddle on stage broke up, and the tall boy in a blue suit and an Indian boy quickly ran off backstage, and the other four turned around.

While the other three boys were handsome in their own right, the majority of the girls immediately focused on the person dressed in black and red, who was walking in the center.

It seemed that even the cameraman agreed, as he zoomed in and only showed Ari for several seconds, causing the audience to gasp.

"Oh my gosh. His hair is red. Wow."

"Hairstylist nim, clothing stylist nim, thank you."

"Parents nim. Thank you for giving birth to him."

"Oh wow, he's hot."

Hearing the girl beside her gasp, Pink Puma nodded as if she were the one being complimented before staring at Ari.

A strikingly handsome boy with bright red hair that seemed to glow in the sunlight and illuminating the surroundings with a fiery heat.

The hair fell in curls that perfectly framed his face, exposing slightly pointed ears.

As the owner stepped out from the team huddle, sea-green eyes, barely covered by red sunglasses perched on his nose, looked around as if memorizing everything.

Then he brought the microphone to his mouth in a lazy movement while waving.

"Hello, salut, hola, Kon'nichiwa, annyeonghaseyo, ni hao, and everything in between. How is everyone doing today?"

- boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

- terrible!

- go home!!!!!

- That voice? Phew

- I'm screaming without the s

When she heard a deeper, huskier voice than she expected, Pink Puma literally felt chills run down her body.

When had his voice gotten so deep?

And why was it kind of….sexy?

Despite the crowd booing, Pink Puma found herself straining to hear Ari even better, hoping that what she had heard was true.

"Wooooow. Tough crowd. My feelings are hurt." Despite claiming to be hurt, the handsome boy on stage began laughing as if he found their answers cute.

He even found time to pat the back of his tall teammate, who flinched from the negativity as he stepped forward.

"Obviously, you don't know us, and we don't know you, so let's get acquainted. On my left is Mathew. On my right are Leo and Minjun. Give the crowd a wave, boys, they don't bite. Crowd, please be nice, they're a bit shy."

Mathew, Leo, and Minjun waved, and a few shouts sounded out as their supporters cheered when their name was called.

"The two who went to talk to the staff are Levi in the suit, and Vishal with the red bandana. I'm Ariel, but you can call me Ari for short. Yes, like the fish princess, and no, it's not a girl's name; it means lion. Before we get into it, let's take a moment of silence for the MC who was injured. It could have been me or anyone else on the stage who was taken out. All jokes aside, he is having a rough day and clearly needs the good wishes for health and healing. On three, let's send him positive vibes and say Get well soon, Ryan. 1, 2, 3"

- Get well soon, Ryan!

Although a few people were initially reluctant, everyone had seen the MC being taken away by an ambulance, so they cooperated.

Clap clap clap!

"C'est bon. That's very good. I'm impressed."

Ari continued to talk, and many of the female audience members found themselves entranced not only by his appearance but also by the deep-accented voice that made them feel like they were the main character in a Parisian romantic film.

They needed to know who this was.

And with his usual casual demeanor, Ari walked over to one of the large speakers, shifting it slightly over before taking a seat with one leg up.

"Now, I know you all came to see some performances, but alas, there's an issue with the sound system, and though you can't hear it, I'm currently being yelled at in these to keep you entertained and…" Ari pointed to the silver in-ears that sparkled before ripping one of them out.

"To not sit on the speakers, so I decided to stand so I can see your lovely faces, because everyone looks quite beautiful."

- YOU LOOK EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL!

Holding his fingers to his lips while laughing mischievously, Pink Puma watched as Ari immediately stood on the tall speaker, causing some of the audience to begin laughing.

- They're going to turn his microphone off

- omg what is his problem.

"It's a secret, so don't tell the staff, and if you see anything about to fall on top of me, you have to warn me. Got it? I don't want to visit the hospital today."

- yeahhhhhhhhhh

- bro? How is this a secret? They're recording you.

- shhhh, he's delusional.

"To whoever said I was delusional, you are correct. Now, I've got a couple of questions to ask. Firstly, are you ready to see the best performance of your life?" Ari held the microphone out to the crowd, but they began booing and heckling him again.

- booooooo

- nooooooooo

- Get out of here!

"Beautiful people of America, you paid money and took the time to be here, and that's your response? Boooooo back to you! Even if you're not here to see us perform, you should be excited to see someone perform today, so let's try that again. ARE YOU READY TO SEE THE BEST PERFORMANCE OF YOUR LIFE?" in a much louder voice, Ari yelled into the microphone before holding it out for the crowd's response.

His green eyes burned fiercely as he stared at the crowd, making it clear that the only response he would accept was a positive one.

Hearing his voice, it felt like a wave of positive energy swept through the crowd as people suddenly became more excited.

- yeah

- yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

- helllllllllll yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

"Good! I have to ask, how many of you here are familiar with Pop Star Academy? I see a few banners here and there. Hello, hello!"

- wooooooooooooooooo

"Whoa! A good amount! For those who don't know the premise, 6 of the performances you'll see today are from contestants on the show who are trying to debut. My team is first, and we're performing a rap song produced by Lil Pumpy and modified by my teammates. As a matter of fact, shout out to the judges and the producers who helped make the songs we're performing today. They're down there, so wave and clap, please!"

Ari pointed down to the partitioned area where the judges were sitting on prepared seats and led the crowd for a round of applause.

The judges waved and posed awkwardly as cameras rushed to face them, since they were caught off guard.

And when they were done, he began laughing before speaking.

"Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, it's time for the most important question of your life….red vs blue. Please choose wisely, the right color is my hair color. Those of you who say red, let me hear your voices?"

- woooooooooo

"yay~"

A decent amount of screams rang out while Ari began making thumbs-up signs.

"Alright. And those who say blue make some noise."

- woooooooo

- yeahhhhh!!!!

- woo hooooo!

"Booooo~"

As the audience began to scream, Ari immediately began booing them playfully, and in response, they shouted louder.

Once they quieted down, Ari gave the audience a shady glance before bringing the microphone to his lips.

"Well, obviously, we can all agree that the red team won that round. Go red team!"

- nooo!

- You're lying!

- Blue team won!

- recount, recount, recount

- RECOUNT! RECOUNT!

Sticking his tongue out and laughing, Ari covered his ears with both hands and pretended he couldn't hear until the chanting got excessively loud and he slumped in defeat before getting off the speaker.

"Fine, fine, we'll check one more time. Blue team? Make some noise? Once again, remember that my hair color is the color you should be supporting, not the other team."

Running to the edge of the stage, Ari held the microphone out to the audience so they could scream to their hearts' content.

Following his lead, Leo and Minjun ran around trying to hype the crowd up as well, and Ari whispered into his microphone as he glanced toward the back of the stage while slashing at his throat.

"Cut their mics."

- wooooooooooooooooooooooooo

- yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh

- go blue!!!

Surprisingly, Leo and Minjun's microphones were cut, and as the two of them looked at him in betrayal, Ari shrugged.

"In France, we would say that is moyen. It's not bad, but not that great either. Red team? Show them how it's done. Un, deux, trois go-"

An intense roar incomparable to the previous one was heard, and Ari nodded in approval.

"Yeah, baby. As I said, the red team won."

"You're cheating. You gave your team a countdown, and you made them turn off our microphones." Leo complained and began chasing after him as Ari laughed and ran away.

"That was my evil twin, Leira. I've never cheated a day in my life. Ladies? Gents? Did I cheat?"

- yesss!

- Yes, you did!

- You're a cheater.

"Really? Are you sure?"

- yesss

- I saw it with my own eyes!

Completely disregarding the audience's complaints, Ari told Leo with a straight face, "They said I'm innocent and that you should stop falsely accusing me."

"They literally didn't not. I can hear them."

"Can I get the audience to cheer one more time. Pretty please? For the amazing performance that you're going to see?"

- woooooooooo

As people began to cheer, Ari quickly brought the microphone to his mouth.

"Cheer if you think I'm innocent. Wow, look, all those people are cheering for my innocence. I feel vindicated. Thank you for believing in me when my own teammate didn't."

"You cheated!"

"Nope."

"Ari! You cheated!"

"Lalalala, I can't hear you. Oh, wait, staff is saying that the music has been fixed? Let's clap extra hard for Levi and Vishal when they come. Oh, here they are! Wooooooooooooo!!!! Good job, boys!"

- clap clap clap

- wooooooooooo!!!!!!!

As Ari led the clap as Levi and Vishal came out, he arched his brow at them, and they both nodded.

"Well, thank you all for playing along with us. We'll hopefully give you the best performance you'll see today. Once again, go red team."

With a simple bow, Ari moved to the back of the stage along with everyone but Levi as he waited for the music to start.

And when it did, all of them flinched before staring at each other.

It was the wrong track.

Instead of the one they had been practicing, it was the original track created by Lil Pumpy.

As Ari began laughing to himself, he heard a slightly familiar voice coming from his in-ears.

{Why are you standing still? Start performing.}

"What?"

"What should we do?"

{I said start performing!}

"...Should we just perform?" Mathew asked while staring at Ari.

He didn't understand why he started laughing like a crazy person.

"Hell no."

"Are you sure? They're saying we should perform."

"Is this the song we practiced?"

"No."

"Then why would we perform to it. Just stand there and let it play. They'll realize their mistake and fix it." Ari told him, looking back at Levi, who was walking toward them, as the voice continued from their in-ears.

{You guys need to start performing, or you'll suffer the consequences and be disqualified from receiving any points.}

{Or even disqualification from the program entirely.}

"What? No!"

"Maybe we should-"

"Ignore it."

"But-"

"Ignore it. They're lying."

"Ari!"

"Seriously, ignore it. If anything happens, I'll take responsibility for it. Just stand there and stay quiet." Ari warned them as he stared straight ahead.

Just because he expected something to go wrong didn't mean he wasn't pissed when it happened.

Right now, the best way to handle this was to get someone to give a statement while he went to the sound station, but then-

"Want me to go?" Levi glanced between Ari's cold expression and the nervous ones of the others before ripping his in-ears out, tossing them to the ground, and stomping on them.

"Please."

"I'll be back. Keep one of those in." Levi pointed at the in-ear before stomping away.

{Stop wasting time and perform.}

Then you should play the correct file.

{You're delaying the other teams behind you. Just perform. The production staff will take accountability for the mess-up.}

I highly doubt that. They can't take accountability for anything.

As a matter of fact, you're pissing me off with this nonsense.

Getting irritated at the person constantly yelling in his in-ears, Ari ripped one of them out before turning around and speaking into his microphone.

"Sorry for the delay. This isn't our song. I'm not sure if there's a mix-up on the back end with the original song that was so generously provided to us by Lil Pumpy, and the version that we modified. Yesterday's sound check went fine, but if the staff backstage doesn't have the correct sound file after doing their best to fix the sound issue, no worries, we all have several extra flash drives with the correct song on them. In fact, Levi is actually on his way back right now to address the issue."

Ari calmly spoke into his microphone before muting it and staring ahead, as the voice in his ear continued to yell.

It was now a game of chicken, and he certainly didn't plan on losing.

After all, what were they going to do?

Kick him off the stage for not performing the incorrect song.

Stomp him from complaining?

Actually…

Thinking that he might as well go all out since he planned on saying what he wanted during his rap verse, Ari began chanting as he climbed up on the speaker once again.

"Play the right song!"

"Play the right song!"

"Play the right song!"

- Play the right song!

As the crowd began chanting, with people joining in simply because of the vibe, Ari smiled as he heard Levi's sharp voice in his in-ears.

{It's handled.}

"We just got word that they got the right file, thanks to Levi. Thank you for your patience, everyone. We'll get started shortly."

- wooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

"Social anxiety is afraid of you. And I think the production team is too." Mathew whispered as Ari came back to stand beside him while cracking his neck.

"Good. If they're afraid, they'll stop messing around with me. Either way, let's just do well, yeah? Take a deep breath."

Holding out his fist to Mathew, Ari smiled when the other boy took a deep breath and bumped it.

With their heads bowed, they waited for the music to start as methodical footsteps went on stage before them.