From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 360: Is This Your Prince (8)?

Evil Production Team: Surprise To Our Lovely Contestants!]

[Since you all performed so well in Korea, we’re having a performance showcase in about a week.

It’s a chance to earn additional votes from fans who attend. Since attendance is optional, fans can only vote for those who participate and perform.

If you would like to participate, please reply to this message and report bright and early to the dance studio tomorrow morning, ideally, having formed new teams of at least 5 people, because you’ll have to perform a new song in addition to the song created by our contestant producers in your old teams.

I would also appreciate it if you chose the song you’ll be performing ahead of time so you don’t waste the production team’s time on recording nonsense.

We prefer for you to perform the songs and choreography as is, but if you want a special musical arrangement, you have to do it yourself.

This is a surprise performance, and there’s no budget for new costumes, so you’ll have to use your own stuff or the things we have from previous performances.

[.......]

[Please note that if you do not participate, you are not eligible for the extra weighted votes at the event, and this will be the last time to earn votes before the eliminations before the finals. Think carefully before making your decision! All the details will also be sent to your email, so make sure you read through them. Thanks!]

- Your Favorite PD

"The devil’s favorite PD but certainly not mine, you wicked woman," Ari muttered under his breath as he read through the rest of the message details. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

What kind of evil company informed the contestants who would be performing at the same time as the audience?

This was their vacation time before the grueling finals, which, according to the rumors Benjamin had gathered, would require them to perform several times in a short period and come up with a new song.

He was already preemptively dealing with that portion with Jamie and they were basically done, but now this bomb was dropped on them?!

No wonder PD Emily had asked if he was coming a while ago.

He should have suspected something back then!

As the lights in Levi’s home theater came on, he heard the previously quiet contestants chattering about the episode and the PD’s message as they read it.

"Isn’t it on the same day as your graduation? The time is pretty close too." Jamie asked worriedly as he read the details on his phone.

The votes were one thing, but he wanted to participate since it would be quite fun, but he had also promised to attend Ari’s graduation, which was a priority.

Although the performance was after graduation, given the distance and LA traffic, the likelihood of him making it on time was low unless a miracle happened.

"I-"

Just as Ari was about to say "probably not," due to his previous obligations, despite wanting the extra votes, his vision filled with an aggressively blue screen tinged with red.

[Ding!]

[Surprise Mission: Supposedly, Patience Is A Virtue, And Good Things Come To Those Who Wait. However, I’m Tired Of Waiting!]

[You have spent an unnecessary amount of weeks on the last mission board, and at the rate you’re going, the sun might implode and destroy this universe before you complete it.

While your weight gain journey is going well, I truly believe that you will never complete ’I’m not Bossy, I’m the Boss’ unless you’re forced into extreme measures.]

[Therefore, you must participate in the surprise performance showcase and, by hook, crook, or force of will, get voted into first place.]

[Reward: You will complete the mentioned task on the mission board + ???]

[Failure: -20 Stat Points, Loss Of A Random Skill, Destruction Of A Random Item]

[Cannot Be Refused.]

[Automatically Accepted.]

As the screen disappeared, before Ari could even say anything, NOVA sent him another message.

[Congratulations on your new surprise mission.]

[Make sure you complete it.]

[Or else.]

[^_^]

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

Or Else?

Weren’t we on good terms before? Now it’s back to threats?

And what kind of evil surprise mission was this?

Do you just want me to fail with that kind of penalty? Is that it?

Besides, I’m literally locked in for my graduation.

Do you know how busy my week is, even though I’m technically on vacation? Now you want me to practice for a performance I didn’t even know about?

Not to mention how far the two locations are from each other.

How am I supposed to attend both things in an hour?

[Figure it out, Mr. Valedictorian.]

"...Ari? What are we going to do? You’re not participating right? I won’t go either since I promised to come to your graduation." Jamie asked again.

"No. Haha. I don’t have a choice. I’ll participate, and you should too. My graduation isn’t important enough for you to miss out on this." Ari muttered while clutching his aching head as he tried to figure things out.

If he left right after giving his speech and ordered a high-speed ride, despite the traffic, he would probably make it on time, right? But since he had to be part of a team, what if he didn’t?

Or should he leave right after singing the national anthem duet ensemble he has been forced into?

Or should he just skip entirely and say he was sick?

After all, even if he didn’t attend, he would still get the diploma, so although he felt bad for the people who had already said they would attend, he could afford for his stats to drop by 20?

But then people would know that he lied.

And he couldn’t do that to fans who took time out of their day to come support him.

Even though he still though was very weird to come to a stranger’s graduation.

And he especially could do that to Grandma Lisa, Grandma Kim, Granny Choi and those who he had invited to come.

But then, he might really need the votes and couldn’t attend the showcase because of the mission.

"Ughhhhhhhhh."

As Ari began groaning with his face buried in his knees, Benjamin came over and dumped his entire weight on Ari’s back, almost making him collapse.

"Big man, Ari. What are we doing for your graduation, mate? Production scheduled this on the same day, innit?"

"Yeah, Ari, what are we doing? Oh, your back is surprisingly comfy. This is nice." Matthew’s voice sounded out as the weight on Ari’s back suddenly got heavier.

"You both want to die? Get off me, you heathens. You’re heavy."

Benjamin laughed before dropping even more weight on Ari.

"I’m not afraid of you, French boy. Think of it as weight-lifting training to get strong. Now, are we skipping the performance, or are we skipping the graduation?"

"We? Why do I keep hearing you say we? Since when did you start speaking French?"

Ari grumbled as he began pushing back on the two heathens piled on top of him.

"Because it’s a WE innit. We as in the graduation attendance crew and the graduate. Since WE are all in the same location, WE might as well team up, yeah? Are WE skipping the graduation or the performance? I’m fine with either." Benjamin added.

"I’m fine with skipping either, too," Jamie added.

"I don’t think I can skip the performance but I’m fine being a team," Carlos commented quietly before pulling Mathew off Ari, whose face was turning red.

"I definitely can’t skip the performance. I need the votes. Sorry, Ari." Mathew spoke up quickly.

Despite his hard work, his rank had been steadily falling because his rap and vocal skills weren’t improving, even though his dance skills were so high, and he always nailed the choreography.

And right now, he was a bit worried about making the top 14, so every vote mattered to him.

Although he would have liked to attend the graduation as promised, if he had been forced to choose, the show would definitely have come first.

"There’s no need to apologize for not being able to come. It’s just a graduation. Besides, I plan to attend both the graduation and the performance. I just need to figure out the logistics of how to get from point A to point B."

"WE."

Hearing Levi’s voice, Ari shoved Benjamin off of him before glaring at him.

"Speaking of which, are you crazy? It sucks that we lost, but you don’t need to defend me, and you definitely shouldn’t be talking to the production team like that. What are your fans going to say? What if they evil edit you?"

[Should you be the one giving that advice?]

[It’s very hypocritical coming from you.]

"I don’t care," Levi said coldly.

"You should. Do you want to get targeted by the PD too? You want to get slandered on the internet?"

Instead of replying, Levi just put his headphones over his ears and turned away.

He was clearly saying he had no intention of listening to what Ari had to say.

"Oi. Levi."

"Levi."

"Levi. You can’t ignore me forever. You didn’t suddenly turn invisible. I can see you."

"...."

Just as Ari was about to get up, Jamie decided to squish him back down to the ground.

"Logistics, right? If WE leave graduation early and ask the PD for a later performance time, that should work, right? We should ask her once we submit our performance idea and group." Jamie asked as he relaxed all his weight onto Ari’s back.

Despite Ari’s slim frame, his back was surprisingly comfortable, just like Mathew said.

"Again, why do I keep hearing WE? What are WE? All of you can just not atmmphh."

A large, pizza-scented hand covered Ari’s mouth entirely.

"So what song should we do? If it’s six of us on a team, I actually have a couple of ideas. It just depends on the vibe we’re going for. What do you think?" Jamie turned to Benjamin as he continued muffling Ari’s mouth.

"Let’s pick a cool but upbeat song. Something with a hip hop vibe? Or maybe rock? Since we’re all wearing black suits to the graduation, and probably won’t have time to change, let’s pick a song that matches that vibe. Black suits, sunglasses, chic yet a bit dangerous, you know." Benjamin began listing out his ideas while Jamie nodded knowingly.

Then, turning to Ari, he messed his hair up and pinched his cheeks while laughing.

"WE will all look cool, except for Ari. He’s going to be wearing his cap and gown cause he’s our cute, little valedictorian graduate, innit?"

Chomp!

"Ouch!"

Ari bit Jamie’s hand before shoving him off.

"Count your days, Benjamin."

"You don’t scare me, Ari, me boy. But seriously, though. Let’s plan properly. We go early for grad pics. After you give your speech, they call your name, we cheer as you cross the stage, and once you get your hardware, we’ll bounce out of there, yeah? That way, we can beat traffic and make it on time to perform. And if you dare say we don’t need to come or I again, I’ll sit on you for the rest of the day. Don’t test me." Benjamin warned Ari before looking back and catching Vishals eyes.

"Ayo V-man, are you joining us. We’re at 6 and don’t mind being 7. We’re just trying to figure out travel logistics from graduation."

Vishal quickly glanced at the pile of people surrounding Ari before shaking his head.

"I’m good."

Ari had made it explicitly clear he didn’t want him at his graduation so he did my understand why he was getting a fake team invite.

"Fairs." Benjamin shrugged before turning to Jamie.

"Music genius. Any song ideas for the performance?"

"Yes! Let me grab my laptop. There’s..."

As Jamie and Benjamin began looking through songs with Mathew and Carlos, Ari ended up sitting quietly next to Levi, who occasionally glared at him before looking away.

After the 5th glare, Ari finally spoke up.

"What? You want to sit on me, too? If you try it, I’ll bite you too."

"Actually..." Levi paused for a second before whispering in Ari’s ear, causing Ari’s eyes to light up.

"Seriously?"

"...probably? He’ll be back by then and will probably think it’s fun since he never gets to use that license. It’s just annoying to ask, and my mom will nag me." Levi grumbled.

"Ask him! Even if it’s annoying, ask him. Or give me your phone, and I’ll do it. As for your mom, let’s buy her flowers and chocolates to ask for forgiveness, not permission. Better yet, just don’t inform her." Ari demanded, grabbing Levi by the shoulder and shaking him.

"Get off me."

"Sorry."

At the sharp demand, Ari immediately released Levi, who shot him a dirty look before texting someone.

After several seconds, he gave Ari a thumbs-up.

"He said okay."

"Really?"

"Yes. ...Plus, we didn’t get to do it on the last performance, so..."

As Levi brought up the silly idea that he had floated semi-seriously at the PD, Ari couldn’t help but be touched that he remembered.

"Levi, I always knew I liked your style. You’re such a good person. There’s a reason we get along so well."

"Shut up."

"Don’t be shy. I want you to know that I appreciate you."

"I said shut up."

"You’ve come so far. I’m tearing up."

"I’m going to strangle you."

Although he was being prickly like usual, Ari swore he saw Levi’s lips quirk up a little and his ears turn slightly red.

Turning to the group of people who were making plans without him, Ari yelled at them.

"Ahem ahem. Calling the graduation attenders, once again, calling the graduation attenders. Gentlemen, how do we feel about riding a helicopter driven by Levi’s dad from graduation to the performance venue and climbing down a ladder onto the stage to perform?"

"Huh?"

"What?"

"A what?"

Seeing their shocked expressions as their heads whipped towards him, Ari laughed evilly.

"Thanks to the real MVP Levi here, the logistical problem is solved. And since we now have a fun performance tool, I know the perfect song to perform that will complement our grand entrance. Jamie remember the one we looked at before? Even that evil PD has no choice but to be shocked."

And if the audience dares not vote for us having the best performance of the night, I’m rioting!

As the joy of planning something thrilling consumed Ari, he totally forgot that he was supposed to be monitoring the online response to the show.

And due to that, he, and all the contestants who were trying to plan for the surprise performance were currently missing out on the raging fire that was burning online.