From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 357: Is This Your Prince (5)?

With his unsmiling face, dressed in loose black athletic clothes, a black beanie, and headphones on his head, Levi looked as imposing as usual.

Especially as he glared down at his five teammates sitting on the ground.

Pointing to the chalkboard behind him that had messy handwriting, and much to the surprise of everyone, Levi began giving a long, thorough explanation

—Levi: [There’s nothing we can do about the midterm eval, so let’s move on. As mentioned earlier, for our stage to be the best, we need to account for viewers who came in person and those watching from home, and make it look good for both. I’ve thought about it, and here are the 3 things we need to focus on.]

[1. Camera work and lighting.]

[2. Dynamic choreography across multiple levels.]

[3. Accurate use of props and costuming.]

[First, the camera work and lighting. Please look at the storyboards I’ve drawn, including the stage standards and positioning. The camera crew will be coming later to demonstrat...]

As Levi began explaining everything and literally directing his teammates’ movements, the chat reaction was shock.

└ Is...is this my kid speaking in full, complete sentences?

└ Usually, getting Levi to say more than four words at a time is like pulling teeth. I can’t believe he’s lecturing so nicely.

└ Wow. He’s actually kind of smart? I just thought he was a dumb rapper.

└└ Watch your filthy mouth when speaking on Levi before I rip it out of your face and force-feed it to you.

└└└ ......calm down

└└└ Hey, my bad. I didn’t realize the Templars were full of shooters.

└ No, but really. How bad is the team leader and environment that the quietest kid, who doesn’t even like to talk, has to take charge and direct the team?

└└ It’s because their ’producer’ is trash and should have never been the leader.

While the chat was marveling at the unexpected change in Levi, he clapped on screen.

—Levi: [Chop. Chop. Let’s lock in and get this done.]

And then a practice montage happened, focusing on Levi, who seemed to have taken charge of the team.

From fixing their positioning, fixing costumes, adjusting camera angles, and more, Levi was literally in every scene and involved in every process.

Actually, all of Ari’s teammates were shown taking leadership roles and guiding the team, while the only clips of Ari were of him looking sleepy or nodding along as if he weren’t really paying attention.

└ Wow, he’s really a bum.

└ He’s just coasting along on their hard work.

└ Is this the first time the producer is being carried by the actual team?

└ And to make matters worse, they’re doing all this work for a garbage song! My poor kids.

└└ Please don’t remind me of that trash song TT_TT

Seeing the comments bash him, Ari couldn’t help but chuckle darkly before stopping as somebody tapped him.

Glancing back, he saw Levi glaring at him.

What did I do now?

"What?"

"That’s not what happened." Levi pointed at the screen.

"Obviously, I know that. PD Emily really knows how to tell a story."

"...I told her not to twist my words." Levi insisted.

"Ha. She’s not going to do that; she loves drama. I appreciate you trying, though."

Ari commented lightly before going back to read the comments.

He had to admit, people were really brutal under the guise of anonymity.

If he hadn’t been there himself, based on the production team’s editing, he really would have believed that he was an incompetent team leader and producer who just stood around looking sleepy and confused, while his entire team had to come together to pick up the slack.

Truly, he had to give PD Emily her props; she was a fantastic producer who should switch to writing fantasy books because her brain was so unique.

As she said, she didn’t even have to push the ’Copying William’ storyline, because she had a much better one lined up.

Have everyone praise Ari to the high heavens, cement him as the contestant to beat, and then throw a bucket of dirty water on him, painting him as incompetent and undeserving of his roles as leader and producer.

To Ari, who was in first place because people felt sympathetic toward him and was trying to use this performance as a proving ground, this was the most detrimental thing that could happen to him.

After this episode, he had no doubt that his rank would probably drop.

Hopefully, not a significant amount and not out of the top 7, but it would definitely drop based on this.

And then when eliminations came around, somebody would probably make another speech about how they didn’t need controversy to raise their rank or some other nonsense.

Sigh.

How freaking annoying.

If it wasn’t one thing, it was another.

That’s why he couldn’t help but laugh when Vishal accused him of being the PD’s favorite contestant.

Maybe her favorite to harass because she always found new and creative ways to bring him down whenever he thought he was finally doing well.

Feeling slightly irritated, Ari turned back to watch William’s team practice their performance while stock music played.

When it finally transitioned back to Jamie’s team, he had already calmed down and was filling out the silly bingo sheet when he spotted the matching comment or scene.

Finally, the scene shifted to the practice performance at the venue the day before.

As clips of Jamie’s team, marking spots and rehearsing choreo with pyrotechnics being set off, the comments went wild.

└ This looks like it’s going to be absolutely amazing! Are those spears?

└ Is Justin going to be okay? He’s still wearing a boot :( 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

└ Jamie looks so shaky and nervous on stage! You can do it, cutie! Take a deep breath.

As Benjamin’s team stood by the door before walking on to the stage for one more rehearsal, the camera panned to each of them before stopping at Jamie for a quick interview.

— Production Team: [How do you feel?]

— Producer Jamie: [ I feel really good. I think that we’ve prepared as much as we could and the fans will really like it!]

— Production Team: [Do you think your team will come in first place?]

— Producer Jamie: [I think we have a really good chance, so we just have to finish strong tomorrow and show everybody what we came up with and all the work we’ve put in!]

— Production Team: [So your performance will be perfect?]

— Producer Jamie: [ I think so! It was almost perfect last time, so we’ll give it one more go.]

— Production Team: [Yeah? Let’s see it then.]

As the team walked through the doorway onto the stage, instead of appearing in their practice clothes, they appeared in their full stage outfits under the gleaming lights.

Seeing the five men, exposing skin lightly covered in oil, and wearing leg-baring, arm-showing, ab-revealing clothing that was a cross between a toga and a Roman gladiator style skirt with sandals.

And as the camera slowly panned to each member of the team, showing each contestant in all their glory, exposing their fierce expressions, the chat naturally went wild.

└ lick lick lick lick

└ screenshot screenshot screenshot

└ thank you, boys, for showing abs and muscles! Please continue to do so from now on!

└ It should have been me! I should have been there in person!

└ Does anyone know if this will be released on WeTube in HD so I can download it for a friend

└└ a friend?

└└└ The friend is me.

└ Wow Wow Wow!

As the screen dimmed briefly, a neutral voice was heard speaking.

[What’s the title of your song?]

Then, Jamie’s recognizable voice was heard as he answered the prompt.

[The song is called ROAR.]

[Describe the theme of your song and performance.]

[It’s a bright and cheery song about acts of bravery, pushing on, and letting the world know that we won’t be silenced. Our hope was to cheer ourselves on and hope that others would use the song to do the same.]

As Jamie’s voice faded away, the stage appeared once more with only a single individual, Justin, sitting on a throne with the spear in his hands.

As he stared out at the audience with an arrogant expression-

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Justin began slamming the spear in time with the drums.

Dun dun dun dun dun

And then the bright, cheery sound of the song began to play, and the handsome boys came out on stage to perform the song.

When the performance finished, a massive amount of praise erupted for the nearly perfect performance.

└ No way! You’re telling me Jamie made that song from scratch?! What?

└ The song is so catchy. Will they officially release it?

└ Jamie! Good job!

└ This whole team is so talented!

└ Benjamin, I’m sorry I called you names because you left out Rex and tried to get your account banned because I was angry. I definitely see the vision now, but please include Rex on your team next time.

└└ You did what?

└ I don’t need to see the other team’s performance; there’s no doubt in my mind that this team won.

└ Benjamin, thank you for being the best leader and picking this team! Stylist-nim, thank you for the revealing outfits! Producer-nim, thank you for capturing it nicely for my screen!

People were praising the boys and sharing screenshots and clips of the contestants on Benjamin’s team as they tried to find the song on music platforms.

Additionally, because chatter about the 5 boys’ handsomeness and their gleaming, muscular bodies, among other talents, was widely liked and shared in such a short span of time, Pop Star Academy started trending, and more unrelated viewers tuned in to watch the show.

And without pause, the scene transitioned to William’s team preparation on stage.