From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 334: Performance Day (4)

As Jamie and Benjamin’s team performed the song created by Jamie, Ari watched the television in the contestant area with all his attention, completely tuning out the rest of the people in the waiting room.

Apart from their midterm evaluation, since the two of them had promised not to peek at each other’s creations, it was his first time hearing and seeing Jamie’s team’s complete performances, and he had to say it was quite impressive.

Not only had Jamie made the song even better by changing things as Jelissa had requested, but every aspect of the performance had improved as well.

The choreography was tighter, the synchronization was better, the vocals blended well, and Benjamin’s rapping was as crisp as usual; it was clear that each person had worked really hard, and with the stage effects added, it looked so good.

And of everyone on the team, Jamie was knocking it out of the park.

His vocals were clear, his harmonies were on point, and his dancing was great.

Every part of the performance was eye-catching, but the song-

The song was really, really good.

Exceptionally good.

It was as if Jamie had written a picture-perfect pop song that perfectly showcased his vocals without any of his country influence, then adjusted other parts for the rest of the team.

He had even figured out a way to let Mathew, a person with terrible singing ability who was basically tone deaf, contribute to the vocals successfully, even if it meant having someone sing with him each time.

That in and of itself was amazing.

And while Ari was confident in his own team’s song and performance, he realized that, despite his easygoing temperament and over-the-top reaction, Jamie was probably the most talented contestant here.

And when given the opportunity, the right tools, and the freedom, he would excel on stage and make sure he stood out in his own way.

It almost wasn’t fair.

He was out here suffering and using his minimal knowledge to scramble and put together a coherent song, while Jamie was cranking out masterpieces like it was toast.

Ari renewed his vow to do his best to not only debut with Jamie and shove all the song creation work onto him, but he also had to continue teaming up with him for the rest of the competition, no matter what.

Why would he bother stressing himself and slaving away when there was a music genius right there?

It was better to encourage (force) Jamie to work and use his talents to the fullest, while Ari cheered him on and brought him protein snacks from the sidelines.

In fact, maybe he should buy Jamie a bribe. How much money was left over from Quiz on Block again? He had been spending it like crazy, but surely he could still afford snacks?

"Hey."

Ari began rubbing his ear at the grating, fly-like sound that interrupted his concentration.

"I said, hey!"

Shaking his head, Ari kept watching the performance, his ears pricked as he tried to identify every piece Jamie put into the song.

This part was synth-modulated.

He could hear guitar strums underneath.

Kick drums here.

Hmm...? Backing vocals? It had a bit of an R&B feel. Interesting.

"Hey!"

The annoying fly buzzed on, and, with his usual habit of ignoring irrelevant things, Ari kept staring at the TV screen, absently wondering if Jamie would share the file later so he could take a look.

That way, he could also lift things he would like to use later.

"Hey! I’m talking to you!"

Ah..flies were getting more and more annoying these days.

If only he had some bug spray.

Human-sized bug spray.

"Hey!"

After several seconds of being ignored, someone stood right in front of him, and when Ari glanced at the person in irritation, he realized that it was William.

No wonder he had automatically tuned the sound out.

Why was he here yelling instead of preparing to go onstage with his team?

Holding back an eyeroll due to the cameraman who was recording everything in the waiting room, Ari tried to see past him and catch the rest of the performance, but William kept moving to block his vision.

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

"Do you think you’re transparent?"

Because you’re not! Move!

"Fish boy."

Ari looked around in confusion because the last time he checked, that wasn’t his name, but William arrogantly brushed back his hair and continued speaking in his smug voice, "You’d better watch me carefully because my performance will blow anything you could conceptualize or create. I’ll show you that even if you copy me, you’ll never surpass me."

"....ouf?"

Are you crazy?

Why would I ever want to copy you?

If anything, aren’t you trying to copy me with that hair dye job, hairstyle, and costume?

Unlike his usual coiffed and pomaded blond hair, William’s hair was now a bright red color, with a middle part, and was curled, looking awfully similar to the way Ari naturally wore his own hair.

William had even added extensions to make his hair look a bit longer.

The whole thing looked a bit odd since the hairstyle didn’t particularly suit him, but if he liked it, then good for him.

Additionally, like Ari’s team, William and his team wore oversized white robes that covered their entire outfits from neck to shoes.

He even had an extra red ribbon tied around his neck, just like Ari, and it would be quite believable if people thought they were on the same team or that one person had copied the other.

Ari didn’t particularly care one way or the other.

A costume was a costume, and their songs were different; it was just odd to be accused of copying someone he despised when the other person was clearly copying him.

Glancing at William’s obnoxious face with dead-fish eyes for several seconds, Ari turned to the cameraman, who had walked closer and was excitedly recording their interaction, before turning back to William with a bright smile.

If you think you’re going to collect footage to use against me, I’ll make sure to wreck it.

"Tell your Uncle thanks for the increased budget, my team plans to continue to use it well."

"You-How did you know?"

Who didn’t know?

Do you think we’re all as stupid as you?

Why else would someone like you still be here if not for money exchanging hands?

Ari nodded knowingly.

"Ah, so the increased budget was from your uncle to pay for your crimes? Thanks for confirming my guess. Bribery in this day and age? Tsk tsk. Make sure your performance is good so your uncle’s money pays off, yeah? The audience deserves that much."

Seeing William flinch and then glare at him viciously, Ari dusted himself off and moved so he had a clear view of the TV screen and continued watching Jamie’s team’s performance.

Rather than wasting time on a person he hated, it would be better to see what he could learn from someone extremely talented.

As he walked by, Ari made eye contact with Vishal, who was staring at him, before looking away.

Saying hello, good luck, or break a leg?

Ari wasn’t friendly enough to waste his breath.

Between him and Vishal, there was a conversation to be had, but that could wait till later.

For now, he would watch and learn and prepare.

Until it was time to get on the stage.

****

"Thank you to the audience for putting in your vote. The next team, composed of 10 members with William as the Team Leader and composer. They will be singing a song titled ’Your Idol’, which was inspired by gods found in mythology and their fall from grace, the double entendre of an idol mixed with their sincere wish of wanting to be the idol for the dear audience and fans by any means necessary. Please give them a warm welcome as they come up."

When Ari heard the song title and summary from Williams’ team, he just laughed to himself and shook his head.

He had to say that that blonde kid, oop, he was a redhead now, right?

William was a funny guy.

He was really funny.

Very, very funny.

What an interesting overview and backstory of the song William supposedly wrote.

It almost sounded just like Ari’s overview he had submitted.

Cracking his neck in annoyance, Ari watched as the instrumental began, and William and his teammates began walking on stage with their hoods over their heads in a suspiciously familiar manner.

Meeting Levi’s eyes, who glanced at him after staring at the TV, Ari spoke up as he saw Levi’s eyebrow twitch.

And then twitch again.

"Annoyed?"

"Very."

The reply was short and ever, and the look in Levi’s eye was sharper than usual.

That was fair, considering how much time Levi had spent storyboarding and rearranging their choreography to be perfect.

Even if only a little bit was stolen, it was still annoying.

"Are they copying us? I thought so with the robes, but the song title, and then this-" Carlos whispered in a hushed tone as he glanced at the cameraman, solely focused on them, the last team remaining.

"Who knows. Maybe it’s a coincidence," Ari replied casually as he watched the stage lights turn on.

"Doubt it."

Ari continued watching as William ripped his hood off and, to the surprise of everyone, began rapping.

’They call me an artist!

They call me an idol!

I know who I am.

I’m never gonna change.’

"Well, whether it’s a coincidence or not-"

Walking to the TV,

Click.

Finding the power button, Ari quickly turned the TV off.

There was no point in watching or listening right now, and he had nothing he wanted to learn from William.

They had work to do.

"It doesn’t really matter. What others are doing is irrelevant to us. Let’s go get ready for our stage."

As Ari was preparing to head through the door, he felt a tug on his robe sleeve.

Turning back, he saw it was Daniel, who was chewing on his bottom lip, causing the vampire fangs to protrude.

"What?"

"I want to do a huddle," Daniel grumbled while continuing to chew his lips.

"Go for it. Have fun."

Carlos and Rei liked that kind of stuff so that it would look cute for the camera, and Ari would use the opportunity to stretch Levi out of sight again.

Daniel glanced at him and then the rest of the team with a sad pout while continuing to yank on his sleeve.

"I want to do it with everyone. It might be our last time being teammates, and I really liked it."

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

You liked being stuck with the entire team for 24 hours a day for 2 weeks?

You liked me dragging you and Carlos everywhere with me?

Kim Daniel, is your brain okay?

Staring at the contact-lens red eyes, staring at him expectantly, Ari sighed and gave up.

"Fine. Whatever. All right, boys. Let’s huddle and get this over with."

As the five boys threw their arms around each other, Ari held back a sigh and stared at Daniel expectantly.

The person who wanted the huddle should naturally lead it, but the Korean boy smiled happily, his dimples flashing.

"Let’s have our great, amazing, talented vampire cult leader say a few words."

"Flattery will get you nowhere. Start talking since you wanted the huddle."

"저는 영어를 못 해요.(I don’t speak English)." Daniel muttered while looking away as Ari’s eyes burned a hole into his face.

"Since when don’t you speak English? Start talking."

"When did your Korean get so good?"

"Practice. Are you talking or not?"

Seeing that Ari wasn’t going to fall for his nonsense, Daniel decided to change tactics.

Pumping his fist in the air, he started shouting.

"Leader Speech! Leader Speech! Leader Speech!"

As all their eyes turned to him, Ari shot a dirty look at Daniel, the smiling instigator, as his brain began rattling to come up with something.

Seeing the cameraman pointing the large camera at his face, Ari just decided to go for it.

He wasn’t one to come up with the perfect thing to say anyway, so he might as well be himself.

Smiling mischievously, Ari threw his hood up while rubbing his hands together.

"Following up with what Rei said while we were coming up with song ideas, today we’re going to be the bad guys. Everyone wants to beat us or be us, so let’s make sure the audience sees our hard work in its entirety and that we draw them to the dark side with us. Villains on three. One, two, three."

"Villains!"

"Let’s go."

*****

After watching the highly energetic second performance, Esther was in a surprisingly good mood.

Williams’ team song was surprisingly good, and while she wished some of the contestants had received more lines and a more central position, Esther had few complaints overall.

It was a good performance, and it was clear that he was a talented producer, all things considered.

It was too bad that his attitude was questionable because he seemed really skilled.

His song was amazing.

Additionally, Esther already knew William could sing, but today he had danced and rapped as if his life were on the line, completely blowing his teammates away.

She had initially discounted him, but seeing as William stepped up to the plate, Esther was looking forward to the final performance, which the last two teams claimed they wanted to beat.

With expectant eyes, she watched as Areum made the next announcement.

"Thank you to the audience for putting in your vote. The next team, composed of 5 members: Ariel, Carlos, Daniel, Levi, and Rei, with Ariel as the Team Leader and composer. They will be singing a song titled ’Your Idol’, which was inspired by Christian mythos and an angels fall from grace. Please give them a warm welcome as they come up."

Hearing the almost identical intro and the same song title, Esther frowned as the stage darkened.

What was going on? Had someone copied off someone else?

How was that allowed?

Before Esther could voice her complaints, she noticed the stage filling with fog and felt a chill down her back.

"What the heck? Why is it cold?"

Feeling goosebumps on her arm and seeing an ominous light flicker through the fog on stage, Esther felt as if she were in a horror movie where a killer would jump out of the mist and kill her.

What kind of stage was this?

It felt as if she were trapped in a nightmare.

Suddenly-

The projection of stained-glass windows, typically found in cathedrals, appeared on the backdrop, glitching occasionally.

As Esther watched, a deep vibration echoed before she heard foreign words accompanied by the sound of an organ.

Dies iræ illa (that day of wrath)

The two haunting voices, one singing at a high pitch with an unmatched clarity and pureness, while the other voice was so deep, it felt like your bones would rattle just hearing it.

Vos solve in favillam (that turned you to ashes)

The voices blended in a way that kept them distinct yet complementary, and as the volume increased, the red light peeking through the fog got more intense.

Naturally, even if they couldn’t see the faces of the contestants, fans of the show could identify the voices as Carlos’s and Daniel’s, and while it sounded good, they had never imagined this vocal pairing before.

It was good but also a bit scary.

Lapsus de caelo (fall from heaven)

One by one, robed figures, barely visible through the fog, began walking with slow, measured steps toward the center of the stage.

In flammas aeternum (into eternal flames)

In their hands were small lanterns that flickered like candles, and as they lined up in the center, the audience members tried to identify the team members by height.

I’ll be your idol

As the last line was sung, a spotlight swept across the stage, highlighting the contestant’s brightly colored eyes and white fangs hidden deep inside their hoods.

Then-

CRASH!

In a unified motion, each robed figure threw the lantern to the ground, turning the previously white fog blood-red as all the robed figures disappeared, except for one who removed their hood to reveal a darkly handsome face, licking blood-red lips and baring a bit of fang.

And as Esther stared between the large screen and the stage, she couldn’t help but be drawn into the haunting performance that was completely different from the previous performances.