From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel

"Why did you call me? Don't you know I'm busy?" William spoke in a sulky manner as he was ushered into his uncle's office by the assistant.

"Don't you dare give me an attitude, boy." Wilfred glared at his nephew before pointing at the chair across from his.

"Sit."

Doing his best to make his displeasure known, despite knowing it would get him nowhere, William sat down in the chair with a resigned sigh.

Wilfred glanced at the teenager full of attitude in front of him before beginning to speak.

"Despite all of the resources being thrown at you, I'm trying to understand the lack of results that I'm seeing here."

"I don't understand what you mean by that."

Rather than answer, Wilford threw the binder on his desk at William, watching as he awkwardly caught it.

"What is this supposed to be? Confetti?"

"Evidence. From the PD. You've been quite busy, from what I've seen. Needless harassment of staff members and getting them to do your dirty work. Bullying of other contestants, threatening people, hitting them, and fooling around. Essentially, you've been doing everything except practicing and forming alliances. Why?"

"It's not a big deal, and I don't think it should matter. The family should easily be able to cover up any mishaps, and there's nobody worthwhile to make an alliance with. I have the team members I want in mind, and everyone else is fodder who will be getting eliminated sooner rather than later." William retorted in annoyance.

"That's not the point. You think you were sent to this program, given access to early information, to perform as poorly as you are right now? Life is all about alliances, and even if you have to pretend to like some of these contestants, it's best to do so. Instead, you're messing around and causing trouble. Twice! You were caught lip-syncing twice, and if it weren't for the PD wanting something from me and not wanting to tarnish her own reputation, or my own intervention, she would let the clips go out to embarrass you and force you to quit. Not to mention the other things you've done."

"I still don't see what the big deal is. Entertainers lip-sync all the time, and you can handle anything that crops up. That's why we're paying all those people like Assistant PD David, right? Although he's been useless lately. My rank was previously high. It will go back up once things settle again, especially when Levi leaves. I'll make sure of it. And as for the contestants, once I'm the leader, they won't dare to rebel against me if they know what's good for them. And by then, everyone will be trying to make a connection with me, not the other way round."

Wilfred stared incredulously at his nephew, wondering where to start his lecture before stopping.

There were more important things to discuss.

"Let's switch topics for now. The item that you were supposed to receive is supposed to boost your performance to unimaginable heights and make you a genius in the entertainment industry. I don't see any of the results I'm supposed to be seeing. Why?"

At the blunt question, William immediately looked down and tried to remain calm so his uncle wouldn't suspect anything.

"It's not working properly."

"Explain."

"There's nothing to explain. It's not working properly." William replied stubbornly while avoiding eye contact.

"That is not a good enough explanation. We've put in a lot of time, money, and effort to get that item for you. And you're telling me it doesn't work? What does that mean?"

"…exactly what I said. I don't have it under control yet. It's finicky…"

"Why not? According to the few pieces of remaining research seized from that man, it should have been transferred to you when you apprehended him. You yourself claimed that it was passed to you successfully. That it was working fine. Your skills should have been increasing linearly with no end in sight, instead of rising and falling like the S&P 500. When will it be under control? Along with your terrible behavior, why are your skills not up to par, such that the PD and executives are doubtful as to whether or not it would be worth adding you to the team, despite the fact that I'm going to be THE PERSON IN CHARGE!"

BANG!

Wilford Forbes slammed his fist on the desk, causing William to flinch and for the door to squeak shut.

The two people glanced over while listening intently to make sure nobody was there, and hearing no movement, Wilford turned to glare at William.

"Explain."

"I just-"

"Sigh." Wilfred Forbes cut in while rubbing his head, "The problem with you is that you fool around too much and have an ego that you have failed to back up your entire life. It's not your fault; you don't have to put in effort to achieve anything if you're from our family. So, since you clearly can't handle such a valuable item, give it back, and we'll give it to someone else. Your younger brother has been training hard, we sho-"

"NO!"

William screamed, rising out of his chair, and as Wilford gave him a look, he lowered his voice, sat down, and did his best to regain his previously nonchalant appearance.

He couldn't let his uncle know that he didn't quite have the correct item in his possession and instead had a faulty counterfeit.

"I mean no, I'm sorry. You're right. I've been slacking. I'll do better. I've just been under a lot of stress, and there's this one contestant who is always getting in my way."

"Ariel Matisse?"

"You know him?" William looked shocked as he met his uncle's eyes.

"Of course. Who doesn't? Due to the PD's meticulousness in providing all sorts of video feed, I had to watch your clumsy attempts to derail him not once, not twice, but three different times. All ending in failure. Aren't you ashamed?"

At the blunt words, William flinched again while avoiding eye contact, but Wilford Forbes continued undeterred.

"I have to hear about him in my meetings, I have to see him all over the news, and even worse, I have to justify why you are a better contestant to keep than he is. What's your issue with him?"

"We met previously, and he stole something very important from me."

"Not money or a woman, I hope. That would be pathetic of you."

"Of course not. It's something else." William tried to quickly gloss over the issue, but his uncle stopped him.

"What was it? When was it? From what's said about his background, there's no way that your paths should have crossed with him. So when did you meet, and when did he have time to steal from you? Don't Lie."

Icy blue eyes that seemed as if they could see through his soul stared at him, and William had to do his best not to flinch or wipe his sweaty palms on his clothes as he told as much of the truth as he could in hopes that his uncle would believe him.

"…it was an incident that happened while I was recovering the item from the old man. Ariel was beaten up for interfering when I was dealing with the old man and thrown in a dumpster, but I didn't realize that he stole my family ring in the process."

"I thought I told you to cut the issue off at the roots. Leave no evidence behind."

"Since one body already had to be disposed of, I didn't want to burden you even more, uncle. But I can guarantee he saw nothing since the men you sent captured him immediately. You can tell that he's afraid of me even now because he has never gone to the police about it at all."

"Hmmmm…"

Seeing that his uncle was considering his words, William calmly pushed ahead. "In fact, all he does is play petty tricks to tarnish my pride and reputation because he knows he's a weakling. He consistently tries to derail me at every opportunity, and he even turned the other contestants, PDs, and trainers against me. If you go back and check, from day one, he's the root of all my issues, and I want to capture him and make him pay." William complained, hoping to utilize his uncle's resources to capture Ariel, as his own were lacking.

"Well, there are two methods to capture someone. The carrot and the stick. From what you're telling me, the enmity between you two is too far gone for the carrot, so now the best way to derail this type of person who is a weakling is to tear him down, especially because his public image is so good right now. The angle with the foster mother and the arrest wasn't bad, but it was a bit hasty and not fully thought out. But now, hmm…there's potential..."

Wilford Forbes tapped his finger against the table in thought before nodding.

"I'll handle it. Your job now is to get that item under control immediately and show good results. Stop acting foolish and focus on the grand prize - becoming the most successful superstar that the world has seen. Show that you're a leader and a team player before using them as your stepping stone to super stardom. If you don't, I'll seize the item, and you'll be thrown to the back burner for someone more useful. Understand?"

"But I want to deal with him personally-"

"Don't worry. Once I have him captured, he'll be handed over to you. A Forbes should handle their own revenge and retrieve their own lost items. But your main task now should be doing what I told you. Naturally, you'll continue to be supported by my hidden staff, but I expect good results and changed behavior from now on, understand?"

"Yes," William replied in a much happier tone.

Once Ari was eliminated and in his uncle's custody, he would figure out how to get the item back.

"Good. Get out."

"Of course. Thank you, uncle. I won't give you cause for trouble again."

With a much brighter expression than the one he had when he came in, William stepped out of the office and wiped his sweaty palm on his legs before glancing up.

"Are you okay? Do you want a drink?"

A soft, almost whisper-like voice sounded out as a chilled bottle of sparkling water was held up to him.

William glanced up at the delicate face of an unnaturally pale girl with golden freckles, bright blue eyes, and copper hair that was pulled tightly in a bun.

"Thank you, Stella." William took it and quickly chugged it down with a happy sigh.

"You're welcome. I hope your uncle didn't yell at you, especially when you're working so hard. I've been voting for you." Stella whispered.

"As you should. Speaking of which, was there anyone here? While I was chatting with my uncle, the door shut, which is weird."

"I-I'm not sure? They had me making copies downstairs, and then I had to go to the clinic because I cut my fingers again." Stella held up thin fingers that were bandaged up, " Should I go get his assistant so she can investigate who was here, or was I supposed to take you to security to get the tapes for your uncle?"

"No, it's fine. It was probably the air conditioning. And really, you don't have to work so hard. Didn't my uncle promise to take care of you? You know money is not a concern for us, right? Just relax and do whatever you want?"

"I can't do that. Since my dad died and my family fell apart, I need to become self-sufficient. I'm quite thankful to your uncle for even giving such an unqualified person like me this internship position. Without him, I don't even know what-"

Seeing her choked up, William stiffly patted her thin shoulders.

"Don't worry, Stella. We'll find the person who dared to kill your father, callously threw his body in the dumpster, and stole the research that he poured his heart and soul into. It's the least we can do for a valued person such as him."

"Thank you." Stella looked down while avoiding eye contact, and, used to her shyness, William laughed.

"Of course. And you just let me know if you change your mind about getting into the music world. We're well-connected in the entertainment industry and will help you get into the next girl group that emerges or even support you as a solo artist. Okay? Even if your talent is not quite there, you can be trained until you get better, okay? I know how hard you work to sing and dance, even with your lacking skills."

"Okay."

Seeing that she was smiling softly and didn't seem to have overheard anything, William patted her shoulder, then her hand once more and walked away with a smile that soon faded.

The only thing on his mind was a pair of green eyes that always stared at him in a mocking manner.

You'd better wait, fish boy!

Your little streak of happiness and thievery is coming to an end.

And behind him, bright blue eyes lost their previous shyness and instead had a cold, calculating look instead.

"Ariel Matisse, was it?"

*****************

"Ah-ah-achooo!"

"You're sick? Again?"

Ari didn't reply to the obviously stupid question; he just stared at PD Emily with blurry eyes while coughing and sniffling.

"How? You didn't even get wet this time." PD Emily looked at him incredulously while backing away from the contestant, swaddled in blankets, wearing an oversized fur hat, and sipping a large mug of tea.

She didn't want to catch whatever germs he had.

"I don't know? Cough. Ever since I got here, I feel like my immune system has become weaker than usual. I have never gotten sick in the past 2 years while literally living on the street, but now it's literally every other week. Are you poisoning me?"

"First it was sabotage, now poison? You have some wild accusations, young man." PD Emily scoffed at the question, but Ari couldn't help but glare at her suspiciously.

"Since we both know that the first one is true, wouldn't the second one be in the realm of possibility? And even if someone were poisoning me, you'd probably let it happen as long as I didn't die and then later use the film to blackmail somebody to get your way so that you can play god on your stupid TV show. Then you'd come back and pretend you're doing me a favor while telling me the truth in hopes that I cooperate with you, Cough."

PD Emily: ಠ_ಠ

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

Was this kid psychic or something?

"Can't you just stay silent without getting the last word or poking into the truth of the matter?"

"Do you have a guilty conscience after sensationalizing the suffering of teenagers in the name of good TV?"

"Of course not."

"Then there's your answer, cough."

"Firstly. I'm not poisoning you, nor am I willingly letting others poison you. I have at least enough integrity."

"Wow. The bar is in hell."

"Zip it. It's clearly your body that has a problem. Did you contract a strange illness somewhere or go through something tragic and life-changing?"

"Every day on this program is tragic and life-changing, so I probably caught it here because of the PTSD you're constantly giving me."

And apart from dying once, nothing had really changed.

"Since you have enough energy to be a smart alec, I don't really care to worry about you. You know what we're doing this week since you and your friend decided to set things on fire?"

"Resting?"

"Of course not. You, him, and everyone else are going to be entertaining the fans and getting media trained out of your ass, and you especially will reassure your fans that not only are you not being sabotaged, you're being treated extremely well."

Ari blinked at her slowly before sneezing, then responding slowly.

"I don't think I want to do that since that's a lie, cough. You're not treating me well, and you're sabotaging me at every opportunity."

"The past is the past, and it's now time to move to the future. And Ari, I'm not asking, I'm informing you that it's happening and you'll cooperate unless you want to get kicked out of the program." PD Emily gave him a smile that brooked no disagreement, and Ari just sighed as his head throbbed.

"Can you even do that?"

"Yes."

"What am I getting kicked out for? I didn't break any rules recently."

"…lying about your age."

"I thought that was over with?"

"I suddenly remembered how much of a headache and legal liability it was."

"So this is blackmail?"

"I wouldn't put it in such crude terms. More like an exchange of services with a penalty for you if you don't agree."

So, blackmail.

"I'm sick."

"Take some medicine and get some sleep. It starts tomorrow, and I think it will be quite fun for you. Think about it, entertaining the fans and media training."

"Media training, you said? Cough, cough. I look forward to it." Ari gave the PD a harmless smile.

If she really wanted to put him in front of a camera, then so be it.

"Good. So do I."

PD Emily smiled back.

If he thought she hadn't learned her lesson and didn't have any measures to stop the inevitable nonsense and complaints that would come out of his mouth, then so be it.

"Heh."

"Heheh."

"Heheheh."

"Heheheheh."

With both of them cackling to themselves, they went their separate ways.