From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 99: Team Selection (3)

"So, Benjamin, as the leader, who’s your first pick?"

As the MC wrapped his arms around his shoulders, Benjamin stared at the sitting contestants his eyes waffling between several contestants.

As one of the few contestants who was in A-grade rap, he was confident in covering those deficiencies in rap on his team, but when it came to vocals and dancing, he knew that was his weak point.

Dance could be fixed quickly with practice, but vocals was an entirely different beast.

Based on the chats he had with different contestants, the strongest vocalists would be Carlos, Jamie, Ari, William Forbes, and Jin.

There were others in the A-grade vocal class but those 5 were the names he often heard which was corroborated by his new gym partner Jamie.

Since he couldn’t choose Jamie, and was indecisive about William and Jin, his choices were between Carlos and Ari who were praised by Jamie a lot in both personality and skill.

Carlos didn’t really have much of a presence in his performance video but executed it well with his team, while Ari’s video had gotten popular but was filled with controversy especially about his choice of face paint.

His own teammates also complained about him so Benjamin found it difficult trying to choose one over the other.

"Benjamin? You seem to be having quite a tough time. Care to explain why?" Ryan Leary asked with a curious expression since the British boy was usually quite decisive and confident.

It was rare to see him waffling like this.

"I can’t lie, I’m actually quite stuck between two people right now. Bit of a difficult decision innit." Benjamin replied as he continued to look back and forth between two areas.

"Oh? Who are the two people?" the MC asked curiously.

"I’m looking for strong vocals for my first team pick and since I can’t have Jamie, I’m considering contestant Ari from the previous team D(2) and contestant Carlos from previous team C(1)."

"Oh only those two? There are plenty of good vocalist here right? Why not one of those?"

"Yessir, there are lots of good vocalists, but for the picture I’m painting for my team, those two are my first priority over everybody else." Benjamin replied firmly as if he didn’t see the cameras.

Having been to several idol audition type shows, he cared not only about team composition but also personalities.

Although he enjoyed speaking with people, it wasn’t just for fun that he made sure to chat everyone up, it was to discover any hidden flaws about people.

"Really? Well time’s ticking, make a decision quickly."

Benjamin glanced from Carlos’ handsome face to Ari’s painted one in anguish.

Truly, he wanted them both right now, especially after hearing how they’re voices blended in ’Meet the Boys’.

But he couldn’t so the question became which person would offer him a greater advantage against other teams?

Remembering Carlos’ angelic voice and soaring high notes, Benjamin made the decision to select Carlos now and spin the block for Ari afterward.

"Ben?"

"This time around, I’ll choose Carlos. Sorry Ari, I promise you’re my next pick mate." Benjamin smiled contritely while bowing slightly toward Ari.

Ari waved him off, completely unconcerned while staring intently at Jamie as Carlos went to stand behind Benjamin.

He was sending mental commands for Jamie to choose him and hoped that the blonde boy would get the message.

Once again Jamie nodded his head confidently at Ari as the MC pointed his microphone at him with a smile.

"Contestant Jamie, who do you choose."

"Uhm, I have vocals so I’m lookin fer somebody with strong dance and rap skills so my choice would be Daniel. Thank’s to my pal Ari for pointing that out to me. I’ll definitely pick you next." Jamie pointed at him while smiling brightly and tipping his cowboy hat.

The orange haired Korean boy quickly went to stand behind Jamie and high fived him but Ari could only stare at Jamie in shock.

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

Huh???

Which part of the eye contact and telepathic messages told you to pick Daniel???

I completely understand your reasonable choice as Daniel is a great 2 for 1 catch, but I said choose me!!!!

Me!!!!!!

As some of the cameras turned to face him, Ari had no choice but to smile despite his eyes burning a hole in the side of Jamie’s face.

He would definitely be pouring ice down his shirt at some point!

"It seems that contestant Ari is quite popular today. Contestant Leo? Your choice??"

"Since everyone seems to want him and I need strong vocals, I’ll take Ari." Leo said reluctantly.

His choice had originally been William Forbe’s or Jin but seeing how the two best people were basically fighting for one contestant, he felt like he would miss out if he didn’t choose Ari.

"Gosh darnit!" Jamie snapped his fingers in regret.

"Nooooo!" Benjamin dramatically fell to his knees while stretching his hand out toward Ari who forced a smile on his face and when to stand behind the black-haired Korean rapper.

The MC burst out laughing before calling out the next name.

"Rex?"

"I’m vocals so I’ll take Levi for a contestant with strong rap skills."

"Sam?"

"I’ll take Jerome for his strong rap skills too."

"Adam?"

"I’ll take Seobin for rapping as well."

Just like that, the first-round picks were completed.

While Ari was genuinely surprised to be one of the top picks with three different people who wanted him, as he looked out at the audience, he had to hide a smile as he looked at William Forbe’s face which was slowly turning red from frustration.

It seemed that the other boy truly didn’t expect not to be chosen in the first round. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

But the trend continued from the second round where Jamie’s teammates chose strong dancers, and into the third round when they began picking vocalists again.

It wasn’t until Benjamin who was weighing William against another contestant grabbed him while sending a pained longing glance at Ari once more.

His face seemed really regretful, and Ari almost laughed before catching sight of William Forbes glaring at him where the cameras couldn’t see.

Not understanding why William was glaring at him when he should be glaring at the 7 people who didn’t choose him, Ari snorted before looking away.

The rest of the picks went quickly as each of the seven members of the B(1) team chose the 8 other members they wanted on their team.

It seemed that they had all done the math, realizing that since 10 people were going to be eliminated, having a small compact team of 9 meant that their members were least likely to be reassigned when the elimination happened.

After they were done selecting their team members, the remaining 37 people which were mainly in the F and D classes were told to split into 3 groups of 9 and one group of 10 and to briefly select a representative for each team.

Once they were chosen, and everybody was sitting down except the temporarily assigned, a staff member wheeled out a large white board that had a large, circular, cardboard diagram that was divided into three different colored section.