From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 180: Unofficial Face Reveal

"Do you know what you did wrong?"

Ari stared at PD Emily, his mind whirling through the list of things he had done wrong.

From sneaking out repeatedly to arriving late at a performance in another city, hitting William(accidentally), sneaking in a recorder when there was an electronic ban, complaining about makeup being spilled on his clothing to the audience, complaining about something else during the ranking ceremony, threatening the assistant PD, breaking the door handle to his first room, etc.

The list could go on and on, and when he thought about it, maybe he went too far some of the time.

But as he stared at PD Emily’s expectant face, he stayed silent.

He’d played these games plenty of times when his parents were still alive.

This was clearly a trap to force him to confess to things she might not know about, and he absolutely would not be falling for it.

Instead of admitting anything, clearly the best response was...

"...no."

Denial!

Deny, deflect, deny!

"You don’t think you’ve done anything wrong?"

"I don’t think so?" Ari replied as innocently as he could, rounding his eyes in a way that he knew made him look harmless and cute.

PD Emily was not impressed.

"Is that right? You think all the cameras we have are for show?"

Well...

"..."

"You think a minor like you can just disappear with no way to contact you? You’re lucky we didn’t call the cops to report you missing."

"..."

"Argh, we’ll talk this over later. Front of the bus, next to me. Now."

"But-"

He needed to drive back with Carlos.

"I have half a mind to call your parents to pick you up after I kick you out of this program for violating the rules. Don’t tempt me, Ariel Matisse! Follow me and keep your mouth shut! We’ll have a long talk when we get back."

Seeing that she was well and truly angry, Ari just shut his mouth and followed along behind her.

Seeing Carlos’ mouth ’I’m sorry’ and the other contestants staring from him to the angry PD in shock, Ari just shrugged while following behind her, boarding the bus, and sitting in the seat right behind the bus driver with PD Emily glaring daggers at him.

Oops.

It seemed that she was quite angry.

Well, the conversation that would be happening later would be interesting, so he might as well get some rest now.

Unbothered by the PD angrily staring at him, Ari put on the motorcycle helmet so he couldn’t see her face, leaned his head against the window, and peacefully fell asleep.

It had been a long 24 hours.

*******

And inthe POP STAR Academy community, several images, videos, and GIFs of a single person were currently being spread far and wide.

The most popular of them was a short GIF of Ari lifting off a motorcycle with a white star over the eyes and red lips, a callback to the same manner he used to paint his face.

As his face was slowly revealed, from the pointed chin to the full, pink lips in a cocky smile, the slender nose, the green cat-shaped eyes staring dead ahead, and finally the faintly sweaty forehead covered in jet-black curls that was quickly swept back before the GIF restarted.

Several posts had already been made and filled with comments, but there was one that was pinned directly at the top by a poster who had learned their lesson the hard way.

[Contestant Ariel Matisse Face Reveal - Just saw the most beautiful face go from 4k HD to 8k HD in real life. You’re welcome!] [img attached.][video attached][video attached]

- Guys, I went to the performance where the boys were acting as openers, and I have to say that I’m amazed (more on that later), and it was money well spent, even though there were a bunch of old people there. But for now, what we need to focus on is this face.

That’s right, I’m talking about Ari’s face reveal.

We all wondered if it was Photoshop, if the sighting was fake, if it was plastic surgery, or if we even had the right person.

All I have to say is that not only have my eyes been blessed, but your rankings for the most attractive contestant on here are all wrong!

Straight from the horse’s mouth himself, I present to you my new bias, the prettiest contestant we’ve ever seen on the show, Contestant Ariel Matisse. Please vote for him and get him into the debut range! (Clip of him introducing himself and answering the MC’s question about his makeup.)(Clip of his face going from 4k HD to 8k HD while talking to Contestant Carlos) (Clip of him zoning out as his team members talked.) (Clip of his tongue being stuck out.) (Clip of him fanning himself) (Clip of him winking directly at me.) (Clip of him smiling like a cutie patootie angel after shooting all of his teammates in the center of their heads.)

The post had the maximum amount of images and videos attached to it, and underneath the post, the comments were going crazy.

└ Holy Sh*t

└ This face card is insane.

└ Somebody clearly maxed out their character creation profile. Everything is on 100.

└└ Nerd!

└ Is the face of a regular high schooler and not a model? Wth?

└└Who needs an education? If I were his parents, I would throw him into entertainment immediately! Acting, modeling, anything!

└└└He’s here, isn’t he?

└ Op, was your camera dirty? How did his face become even clearer and prettier out of nowhere?

└ └ It wasn’t! Even Carlos was confused and kept wiping his eyes. He’s clearly a fairy on earth.

└ Why would the production staff allow him to cover his face with that ugly makeup? I would have snuck into his bedroom at night and trashed all of it! That profile picture on the website needs to be replaced immediately.

└ └ PAUSE! Why would you say that? freewebnσvel.cѳm

└ └ What happened to personal expression?

└ └ └ Personal expression is for ugly people. If your face is pretty, you should display it to the world. Clearly, the production team is slacking because this would be my advertisement for the show.

└ └ └ └ No message?

└ └ └ └ └ Nope. Just his face for 20 seconds. It would sell.

└ └ └ └ └ └ I would buy it (ashamed).

└ Pause. OP, what do you mean by shooting? His teammates?

└ └ It’s a performance secret: just know he went from an aura-farming, cool villain to singing angelically within 30 seconds of each other.

└ OP. This is a minor; please remove his last name.

└└ It’s too late for that. It’s already online!

└└ He’s 17, which is basically an adult, so sybau!

With the unofficial reveal of his face and with it being more attractive than expected, a few posts calling him ugly slowly began to disappear.

But of course, there were plenty of hateful comments, too.

└ Guys, it’s definitely plastic surgery. Look at the bruising and swelling on his face from the video that was circulating a while ago (link attached). He definitely got a nose job, lip fillers, an eye lift, and more (I work in a plastic surgeon’s office, so I know the recovery signs). That face cannot be natural.

└└ We saw the yearbook photo, and he looks pretty much the same. It’s just that he looks like he added a bit more weight and has fewer eye bags.

└└ He’s literally a minor; can he even get plastic surgery?

└└└ If his parents sign off on it. I see it all the time with celebrity children who want to look as good as their parents! Unless he can show his baby pictures, I can guarantee on my job that it’s definitely surgery!

└ Stop yapping. I don’t even like him (Prince Willaw ftw), but all of you making posts and comments accusing him of being ugly need to apologize instead of quietly deleting them.

└ You guys are all the weakest links! So what if he’s pretty! That just means that he has a pretty face and a terrible heart. Don’t you remember what he said to poor Leo when all Leo was doing was asking for advice when he was feeling down? He called him so many names!

└└ Exactly! And then there’s Caleb, the eliminated contestant who has repeatedly said that Ari basically bullied him constantly. It was so bad that everyone called him Captain Crashout! I can’t believe you all are supporting him all of a sudden just because he’s a little pretty.└└ Getting bullied by a 17-year-old is pathetic ngl. Fight back, bro.

└└└It’s always two dumb b*ches tell each other exactly. Ugh! The contestant you supported was so untalented that he couldn’t even survive the first elimination round. Get a life and stop commenting under every post about Ari.

└└└ Awwww, here we go again, it’s Ari’s Angels aka mini-crashouts coming to his defense. Bunch of bots.

└└└└ Better to be a bot of someone who can sing instead of an ugly eliminated loser

└ And it’s clear he got some work on his face done. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have swelled and be bruised like that.

└ Maybe he got into a fight and lost?

└ └ Maybe! With how rude he is to others and the way he bullied Caleb, he definitely deserves it!

└└└You don’t know that! It’s just the editing! The PD hates him!

└└└└ gtfo Ari’s Angels. Do you think the PD has time to dislike one contestant out of 100? If Fish Boy didn’t say those things, they wouldn’t be able to post them!

└└└└└ Yes. Literally, that’s how this works. It’s called editing!

└└└└└└ sybau!

└ Regardless, he’s just an attention seeker. If he looked like that in the first place, then he should have just shown his face instead of acting like a weirdo. Think about all the teams that have suffered because of his use of that stupid makeup!

└ └ His teams have been constantly ranked at the top, though?

└└└ Because he’s getting carried by others, just watch. Next go round, he’s heading straight for the bottom cause he can’t dance. Notice how we didn’t see him in the signal song intro? It’s cause he’s terrible!

For Ari, even though one false rumor had cleared up, it seemed like the overall discourse around him was still split, with the majority being heavily negative and the small positive side battling with all their might.

Of course, the spoiler post was taken down, but the images and videos continued circulating as discourse still happened.

The consensus was to watch episode 3 to see which side would be proven right, even as the pictures continued to spread outside of the Pop Star Academy Community.

Until a certain daughter of a large family found the picture of a familiar face being shared on her school’s group chat.

"Mom! Ariel is trending online!" Audrey Crouch, the second eldest of ten children in the Crouch family, yelled from the bunk bed she shared in the room with her three younger sisters as she scrolled through her phone.

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