From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 345: Vacation (6)

With Daniel’s help, they eventually caught a taxi after walking a bit, and the four of them crammed into the car with William sitting comfortably in the passenger seat while Ari, Vishal, and Daniel were stuffed into the back.

After being soundly defeated by both Vishal and Ari in a best-of-three round of rock-paper-scissors, Daniel sulked as he was forced into the middle, and the taxi took off, driving them to Gyeongbokgung Palace.

During the entire ride, the car was quiet.

Deathly quiet.

It was so quiet that the sound of traffic outside was the loudest thing heard.

There wasn’t even music playing, and the driver was focused solely on the road.

Nobody spoke; William was only recording himself with the camera, and everyone stared out their respective windows while Daniel stared ahead and fidgeted.

While he was fine with the silence, Ari had one thought - aren’t the fans going to hate us?

The PD specifically said to make their scavenger-hunt vlog fun and exciting as we tour around the city, but right now it feels like a funeral home!

If it were him watching the episode, and this team came on, he would fast-forward or curse the PD because it was so dull and boring.

And he could just imagine what people would be saying about him online.

’Ari is unfriendly and brought the group down.’

’Ari has no friends and made it everyone else’s problem.’

’Ari fighting with group members made the atmosphere awkward.’

He really began to miss Benjamin, who could make conversation with a brick wall or even Jamie, who would at least talk to him while ignoring the awkward atmosphere.

At this point, even having evil PD Emily would be nice.

At least she would spice things up, and that way, they wouldn’t have several hours of just dead silence.

Although he wasn’t one for small talk, somebody had to do something.

"So...uh...does anybody have any plans for the rest of their break? Doing anything fun?" Ari asked, hoping somebody would join the conversation.

[Very smooth. Very natural.]

[Not awkward at all.]

Shut up.

"Oh! Me! I’m going to spend some time with my family since I haven’t seen them in a while. My mom said she’s cooking up a feast, so I’m pretty excited!" Daniel said happily before his expression briefly darkened as he glanced at William.

Seeing that Daniel was engaging, Ari continued speaking with him.

"That sounds fun. You said your family is from Gyeongju, right? Where’s that on the map?"

"It’s to the southeast by the sea. You like the ocean, right? I think you would like it. There’s lots of seafood, it’s pretty, the weather is nice, and there’s a lot of touristy things to do there. You should come if you have a chance. You can stay with me, and I’ll take you around!"

"I’ll think about it. How about you, Vishal? Doing anything for your break?"

"No. Nothing. Just seeing friends and former coworkers and resting. It’s been a bit stressful."

"That’s an understatement. Sounds nice! William?" Ari bit back the vomit that threatened to come up from saying William’s name politely before continuing, "Are you doing anything fun for your break?"

"Wouldn’t you like to know?"

Ari: "....."

Well obviously?!!!

That’s why I’m asking!

Why can’t your stupid blonde head cooperate and have a conversation!

Instead of raging and grabbing the blonde boy’s collar, Ari just took a deep breath before forcing a smile.

"Yes. I would like to know. What are you planning on doing on vacation?"

"None of your business. Stop being nosy."

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

You know what, fine.

You can’t say I didn’t try!

You can just all be awkwardly silent the whole way there.

See if I care!

Resolving not to bother trying to include William again, Ari just continued his conversation with Daniel.

"Have you been to the palace we’re going to?"

"No, it will be my first time!"

"Me too. What other places do you think we’ll get riddles for? I think we might get a bridge riddle.

"Definitely Namsan tower..."

"If it’s there, do you think the PD will make us hike up the mountain?"

"....she might."

"Right? So let’s fight hard to get another riddle if they do that, or exchange phone numbers with the other team and exchange riddles with them."

"Isn’t that cheating?" Daniel whispered, looking scandalized.

"Would you rather cheat or hike up a mountain. Think of your poor, tired feet. We don’t even have hiking boots, and all we have to drink is that nasty drink..." Ari whispered back

"...let’s cheat."

"Good boy. You’ll go far in life."

"Stop corrupting him, Ari." Vishal interrupted while hiding a smile.

"How am I corrupting him if he’s older than me? Daniel, do you feel corrupted?"

"Yes."

You’ve been getting really bold lately, Kim Daniel. Real bold.

The conversation continued until they reached their destination.

"Thank you!"

"Thank you."

"Thanks."

"...."

After paying the taxi fee with the card that the production team gave them and thanking the driver, the four of them turned to look at the impressive building behind them.

All they could see was a long white wall and behind it the curved roofs of multiple older style buildings sticking out.

In front of them, a crowd of people was entering the gates, some wearing regular clothing while some were wearing hanboks of a variety of colors.

"Is this the right place?"

"Should be. Let’s walk near the entrance." Ari said as he began walking toward the wall.

As they got closer, he spotted a familiar staff member holding up a ’Pop Star Academy’ sign.

As they got closer, the staff member waved the sign happily.

"Congratulations! You made it!"

"Thank you!"

"Now all you have to do is go inside and take a proof shot, and I’ll give you the next riddle."

"Okay. We’ll be back." As Ari turned away,

"Wait, wait, wait. Have you looked at the bingo sheet yet?" The staff member quickly grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back

"Briefly?" 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Look at it again."

Ari brought it out of the book bag and quickly scanned through it.

It was filled with a bunch of photo-op ideas.

- take a photo in front of a statue

- take a photo in front of a bridge

- take a photo in front of a BTZ ad, etc.

"Right here." The staff member grabbed the sheet and pointed to something written in tiny letters below the instructions.

"If you wear a costume like a hanbok, mascot, animal, etc along with your brand vest, you can get a skip riddle advantage when you arrive at the riddle destination. Basically, you’ll get to skip some riddles, and that way, you get to the final destination faster."

"So...you want us to rent a costume? Do we even have money for that?" Ari asked. They had already used a chunk of it for the taxi, and by his estimate, his team would run out of money about halfway through.

"Maybe you do, maybe you don’t, but I think it might be worth it to try." The staff member said cajolingly.

"Let’s rent a hanbok! It’s pretty cheap, and you get into a lot of tourist places for free!" Ari glanced at Daniel, who suddenly seemed extra energetic.

"Should we?"

"Yes!"

"Absolutely not."

"I don’t mind."

Three different responses came, with 2 positive and one negative, and with the majority going for it, they decided to head to a nearby hanbok store recommended to them by the staff member.

Ring!

The moment they entered the store, one by one, with William in the lead, the young woman who came to greet them widened her eyes until she gasped dramatically.

"P-p-princes?"

"Pardon me?"

"R-r-royalty?"

"No."

Ari gestured to Daniel, their resident Korean, to begin speaking, smiling brightly, and he pointed to each of them as he called their names.

Rapid-fire Korean was exchanged before the woman clenched her fist with a determined expression.

"Understood!"

Moving at a fast pace, she dashed around the store, snagging sets from hangers and depositing them into each person’s hands, and then pointing to a room in the back.

"She says to change in there." Daniel translated helpfully as he clutched his own pile of orange clothing.

Every person had clothing except Ari, who just stood there with the camera as the woman repeatedly brought different-colored clothing to hold up against him before muttering and dashing back to the clothing rack.

This went on for 5 minutes until he finally had a complete clothing set made from different-colored pieces.

Green, teal, blue, purple, white. It was like she had robbed a rainbow and wanted him to wear it.

Ari glanced at the selected clothing and the store worker staring at him with expectant eyes, then back at the clothing selected for him.

"Why does everyone else have a uniform set that goes together, but mine is like this?"

"It just so happened that way. Please wear it, mermaid princess nim!" the store worker replied in accented English while her eyes sparkled.

"...I think you just called me something weird?"

"It’s just your imagination, mermaid-nim."

"...."

Is it?

"Please come and change. Right this way."

Letting her usher him into the changing room, Ari slowly put on the clothes.

It was a three-piece set with teal pants that were quite loose, a light purple overcoat with seashell patterns, a sea green inner shirt embroidered with waves that peeked through the sleeveless coat’s pleats, and white ribbons.

Everything that needed to be tied was tied, and he adjusted everything so it was comfortable.

After putting it on, Ari examined himself in the mirror.

Somehow, with this color scheme, a seashell-shaped fan, and his red hair...

[Well, hello there, princess.]

[Wanna trade me your voice for some money?]

Shut up!