From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 129: Black Swan (6)

[Carlos Emilio Ortiz Rodriguez]

[Age: 21]

[Vocals: B- (S+)]

[Dance: C+ (S)]

[Visual: B+ (S)]

[Rap: D- (A)]

[Charm: B- (S)]

It had gone up!

Ari’s eyes immediately zeroed in on Carlos vocal stat, sighing in relief as he saw that it had risen from [C+] up to [B-].

While it wasn’t anywhere near Carlos’ previous A rank vocals, it was much better than before.

And if NOVA were to be believed, Carlos would continually recover while William’s vocal skills went down until he eventually took a stat from someone else.

MC Ryan Leary quickly announced the order, which was Justin’s Team, Adam’s Team, Eli’s Team, Benjamin’s Team, Rex’s Team, Leo’s Team, Jamie’s Team, Sam’s Team, and Adam’s Team.

Ari noticed that the team order was suspiciously set up so that the teams containing people who were friendly with William would perform after teams that had performed poorly during the performance evaluation, while William’s own team would perform after Eli’s team, which had F-grade and D-grade contestants.

Clearly, he was setting his team up to look good, especially in comparison to a bad team, and Ari really wanted to applaud William’s use of his brain.

If it were possible to do the same without cheating, Ari would have.

Unfortunately, his team had to compete against Rex’s team, which featured an all-black, punk leather clothing concept, distinctly opposite to theirs.

Ari could already see Leo’s face turning pale as he realized he was sandwiched between Jamie and Rex, who had very masculine songs and cool concepts, vs theirs, which was a bit more artsy.

As the contestants went back to their rooms less than 5 minutes after they had been called out, Ari just hung around the back watching as William exchanged glances with David, the assistant PD who had refused to help him when his things got messed up by somebody.

Seeing them making eye contact again while subtly pointing upwards, Ari rushed ahead and found a staircase that led to the roof.

Unfortunately, the door leading outside was locked, so he went to the bathroom close by, locked himself in the last stall, and stood on the toilet seat waiting.

After about 5 minutes with nobody coming inside, Ari began to feel a bit foolish.

Was he being overly sensitive because it involved the person he hated?

And what was the plan anyway?

It wasn’t like he had his phone or anything to record William’s conversation, even if he did overhear anything.

Just as Ari was about to climb down and leave, the door slammed open and shut before he heard several stall doors swinging and slamming before a harsh whisper.

"You can’t keep making me do this! The PDs let it slide today since we have more footage than we know what to do with, but you need to give me time to make propositions like this."

It was the voice of the balding assistant PD, David Taylor.

"It didn’t take you time to spend the money my father gave you, right? So just shut up and do your job appropriately." Williams’ tight voice sounded out with his Bostonian accent becoming stronger.

"Shhhh. Quiet down!"

"You already stuck your head that close to the floor to verify it’s empty, so who cares? I’m giving you a warning, you better tell me every detail of what’s planned days ahead of time, not hours before, like today."

"It was something decided last minute in a production team meeting. Besides, your team is good, so the performance order isn’t something important anyway."

"I get to be the judge of that, not you. I plan on getting to rank #1 and staying at rank #1, so instead of using that useless pea-sized brain of yours to think for me, just deliver me all of the information at once so I can make the decision instead of leaving things to chance. Am I clear?"

"....yes."

"Yes, what?"

"...Yes, sir." David spat out in a bitter tone, and Ari’s eyes widened at the clear subordinate dynamic.

"Good. While I have you here, tell me what the next mission is. And don’t give me nonsense about how the PDs haven’t shared it yet or it was decided last minute. You were hired because you’re on the ground and can be in those meetings, so I’m not surprised like last time."

"...It’s a stage opener and busking mission between LA and Vegas, but the locations haven’t been assigned yet."

"Oh? Is that right? Well, you do your best to get me a location in LA. I don’t plan on slumming it in a bus all the way to Vegas and doing anything in that heat. And as for other details..."

William’s voice lowered dramatically.

"I-I can’t do that. I don’t have the authority."

"I don’t care. Make it happen. Otherwise, pay back what you’ve eaten and prepare to deal with my father."

There was the sound of a click, and then the door opened and closed.

There was silence for several seconds before the stalls began rattling as something hit them.

BANG!

creak~

BANG!

creak~

BANG!

creak~

BANG!

creak~

BANG!

creak~

BANG!

"Damn shitty rich brat! Hate your guts! All you do is wave your daddy’s money around!!! Huff huff huff"

After the angry growl from the assistant PD, the sound of a door opening and shutting rang out in the smaller bathroom.

Ari waited another five minutes before carefully getting down from the toilet seat and opening the door.

As he stepped out, he glanced to his left, noticing an individual with the shock of bright orange hair and a black suit.

Black eyes stared into green eyes, and the bathroom was silent as the two individuals stared at each other awkwardly since they had clearly been eavesdropping.

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

Daniel: ಠ_ಠ

Well, this was awkward.

Tired of the tense silence, Ari decided to speak first.

"Where’s my snack bag?"

"...at the dorms."

"Give it back to me."

"...okay."

"Cool."

"Yeah."

Quickly washing his hands, Ari made a mental note to check all the bathroom stalls the next time he planned on eavesdropping in the bathroom.

That way, he wouldn’t be caught like he was today.

He made his way back to his group’s waiting room, stretching occasionally and ignoring Mathews’ attempts to feed him water and snacks he got from who knows where in his strange attempt to repay Ari for accidentally helping him sprain his ankle.

As the performance time got closer and closer, the nerves of the contestants were getting tighter and tighter, but the audience members were slowly filling the building.