From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 110: Record Studio (3)

True to her word, Jelissa truly ground the contestants down to the bone, making her kind and gentle teaching style seem like a joke.

The number of times she repeated the words ’just one more take’, ’can you sing it this way’, ’I promise, just one more time’, before making a contestant repeat a single line of the song close to 50 times single-handedly built calluses on Ari’s ear, and made him look at her in a different light.

Despite her gentle demeanor and sincerity, she was truly a perfectionist and completely dedicated to getting the perfect sound out of the contestants.

When she saw different contestants getting frustrated in the booth, she would play back their first take and the latest take so that they could understand the difference and hear the improvement, which seemed to help motivate them to do better.

Occasionally, when a contestant would get stuck trying to make the changes that Jelissa demanded, it was Larry Jackson who came in as the voice of reason, urging Jelissa to move on to the next contestant.

By the time it was 11 pm, most of the contestants had recorded successfully, and everybody was tired and cranky except for Jelissa, who was still smiling energetically as she waved at them.

"Thank you all for putting in the hard work for recording. I’ll be up all night mixing and mastering it for your recording tomorrow. It’s going to be a really long day, so make sure your uniforms are clean and that you get a lot of rest. If you don’t, you’ll surely regret it."

Hearing yet another cryptic warning from her, Ari just raised his hands and asked point-blank.

"I know we’re filming the signal song performance tomorrow. Can you give us any details? Like who the film director is or what to expect? You’ve been dropping a lot of hints, and I’m quite nervous."

"Hmmm, Jelissa tapped her lips mischievously before looking at the cameraman, who shook his head before eventually nodding when she gave him a pleading look.

Laughing at her success, she pretended to whisper while holding out her pink, "You have to promise that you’ll pretend to be surprised tomorrow, okay? Otherwise, PD Ji-ho will have my head."

When they all nodded, she continued speaking, "I can’t tell you much since I don’t know the plan, but the film director is going to be Cooper Braggs. I’m sure you’ve heard of him, so make sure to get some rest and work hard tomorrow. Bye~!"

- Ughhhhhhh!!!

- No way!!!

- We’re cooked!

As groans rang out from a lot of contestants, even from Jamie, Ari turned to him in confusion.

Who the heck was this director that everyone seemed to know and despise?

Jamie’s blue eyes met his, and seeing that Ari looked confused, he pretended to check his head with a dramatic expression.

"... Do you live under a rock? Were you telling the truth? Are you actually an alien?"

"No, just in a tent." Ari quipped.

Seeing that Jamie didn’t get it, Ari elbowed him in the side, "Explain. Or I’ll start barking and scare you again, scaredy cat."

"I wasn’t scared."

Jamie immediately tried to jab him back, and after wrestling briefly with Ari, tapping out of a headlock, Jamie explained with a pleased smile as they got on the bus.

"He’s a really famous director known for three things. Being a perfectionist. Not releasing you until he captures the scene in his mind. And not letting people sit down on set."

"...at all?"

"At all. It doesn’t matter if it’s not your turn to film, if you’re a staff member, the cleaning crew, or a makeup artist. Nobody is allowed to sit down or leave. Says it brings the vibes down, my pops can’t stand him." Jamie whispered

"What if I broke my leg? Or I have an appointment?"

"That apparently happened on one of his sets, and he told the person that only one foot was broken and still made them stand."

"I heard that he locked the cast of a drama inside for 72 hours until he finally recorded the scene just the way he wanted." Carlos looked back from the bus seat in front of them and added to the conversation.

"You must be joking?"

"No, it’s true. I remember when my pops filmed something with him; he said it was the worst experience of his life, and he would never do it again. He was huffin and puffin about it for a whole week." Jamie replied seriously.

Ari could only stare incredulously as he listened to other contestants discuss the rumours surrounding the director.

What was wrong with those PDs?

Of all the directors to use, probably thousands in the world, they had to use a strange perfectionist who didn’t believe in chairs, locked people on set for 72 hours like a crazy person?

Weren’t these all human rights violations???

How was he not in jail??

Or maybe people were exaggerating and making up crazy stories?

As if guessing Ari’s thoughts, surprisingly, Levi chimed in from the seat across the aisle.

"I remember seeing that case in an entertainment ethics class I took for my major. Apparently, the cast sued him, but because of the type of contracts that they signed, nothing happened to him."

"What?"

"You know, now that I think about it, there were some weird things in our contract we signed for this show. Huh. Probably should have had the family lawyers look at it. Oh well." Levi added in a dry tone before looking back out the window and ignoring everyone once more.

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

Please!

Please tell me you’re joking!!

[Oh!]

[He sounds fun!]

[I can’t wait to meet him and learn his tactics.]

[Perhaps they can be utilized to make you complete your missions faster.]

[I am very excited.]

As his vision filled with frightening text from NOVA, Ari began wishing that Cooper Braggs would come down with a temporary, mysterious illness that would make the PDs replace him with a saner film director.

Throughout the bus ride back to the dorms, Ari was completely silent as he was sincerely wishing for the director to be replaced.

Once they were released, he made sure his clothing was clean before heading to the practice rooms where Leo had called an emergency meeting. freёnovelkiss.com

The moment he walked through the practice room door, he encountered another argument.