From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 138: Username Already Exists

To start with, his foster parents had destroyed his original passport, and to get a new one, he needed in-person parental attendance since he still wasn’t 18 years old.

Which meant this task was blocked unless he wanted to contact his foster parents.

Having no interest in dealing with that greedy, horrible couple and their nasty children, Ari skipped over the first mission for now.

It could be completed in a little over a month when he turned 18.

As for the second one, there was really nothing he could do about it right now.

But the third task should be easy enough to accomplish.

Although the production team had banned all contestants from posting anything about the Pop Star Academy experience on their personal accounts, they were still allowed to post, so Ari sat down to create a Finstagram account.

Thinking it would be simple, he began entering different versions of his name, hoping that one of them would stick.

- Ari

"Username already exists."

- Ar1

"Username already exists."

- Ariel

"Username already exists."

- Ar1el

"Username already exists."

- Ar13l

"Username already exists."

- Ar137

"Username already exists."

- Matisse

"Username already exists."

-A.Matisse

"Username already exists."

- Ar13L

"Username already exists."

- TheRealAri

"Username already exists."

- TheRealMatisse

"Username already exists."

- Λરίει

"Username already exists."

- ΛЯIΣᄂ

"Username already exists."

- [a][r][i][e][l]

"Username already exists."

What the heck?

Why was every variation of his name taken already?

No matter what variation of his name Ari entered, he kept getting the error message that the username was already taken.

Was it supposed to be this hard?

His name wasn’t popular or common, so why were so many versions of it already taken???

He didn’t want to create a random username, but he also didn’t want to spend any more time on it.

[Why don’t you try TO NOVA?]

"I don’t like you enough to do that."

[Then have fun spending the next 3 hours trying to get your username.]

[Time you could spend practicing to earn tokens.]

[Or sleeping.]

[Or practicing that terrible rap skill of yours.]

"Shut up. I’ll get the username I want any second now."

[Sure, sure.]

[And I’ll play the Powerball and win.]

[:)]

After another 30 minutes, Ari gave up.

Slightly frustrated, he typed in TONOVARI, making sure to include his own name in there, and to his surprise, the username didn’t exist yet.

[I told you so.] frёeωebɳovel.com

Ignoring NOVA’s smug words that filled his vision, and glad that the account creation process was over, Ari tried thinking of what to post.

He didn’t have any pictures of himself and didn’t particularly want to share any online until his face was back to normal.

And he didn’t really have a hobby of taking pictures of others either.

With few options, Ari posted the sound file of the traffic song he had made, accompanied by a simple caption, and watched for several minutes, hoping that somebody would like it.

After 10 minutes, with the only like on the post being his own, Ari decided to go to bed and get some rest.

For the first time in a while, he would be sleeping alone, and he was quite happy about it.

Tomorrow, he planned on cleaning the church and going to help out at the bathhouse, and the day after, he would go visit Granny Kim and Granny Lisa before watching the first episode of Popstar Academy.

******

"No! No! No! Absolutely not! Cover your face up you filthy whore!"

"Grace Choi! Language!" Granny Choi’s wooden spoon whipped out at the speed of light and whacked Grace on the back of her head, causing her to hunch down in pain.

"Ignore her and have some more food so your face will grow more handsome, my grandson."

A bit shocked at being called a filthy whore first thing in the morning, Ari blinked before continuing to eat his breakfast as Granny Choi piled more sausage on his face with a gentle smile before walking away.

Munching happily on the non-bland food as his sprained leg rested on a chair, he arched a brow at Grace, who was now glaring with both hands on her hips.

"...so what did I do to deserve whoredom in the morning?"

"You-you liar!! You think that face is an 8/10?"

"Well, it’s about a 6.5 right now, but give me a week or two and it will get there."

If he calculated properly, by the time he reached A+ rank, his normal face should have returned.

After that, he would slowly add stat points to get it to improve even further.

At the casual words coming from the boy before her, Grace didn’t know whether to beat him up or take photos of him and sell them online.

Even through her anger, she couldn’t help but look at his face again.

A heart-shaped face with a crisp jawline, lashes that were longer than her own framing cat-shaped sea green eyes, thick straight brows, crystal clear skin with no sign of pores or acne, and lips that were a fresh pink color. All surrounded by jet black curls that messily framed his face, with his slightly pointed elflike ears poking out.

Although there were slight shadows underneath his eyes, and he looked exhausted, it gave him a unique appeal, especially as his slender fingers pointed with his fork at her with a slight smirk before he continued eating.

6.5???

Only a 6.5???

If he thought this face was a 6.5, didn’t that mean he thought her face was a 2?

Or an even lower number?

She couldn’t believe that people thought he was ugly underneath all that makeup, and she couldn’t believe he decided to wear all that makeup when he should be ranking within the top 20 hottest boys on Pop Star Academy polls that were filling the community forums in anticipation of the first episode being dropped.

This was clearly the face of a teen model that should be on billboards, advertisements, and TV!!!

She could guarantee that if she took a picture and released it, she would get at least 1000 likes with her DMs filled with girls confessing.

And he dared to say this was only a 6.5???

Get out of here!!

"You-you shut up. You clearly don’t know how to rank yourself; you’re as blind as a bat, you lucky boy with stupidly thick, curly lashes, pink lips, thick eyebrows, and clear skin. I’m jealous!"

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

"Why? It’s annoying having thick lashes because they get stuck together when I sleep, and I can’t see when I wake up. Also, I’m a boy. I don’t want pink lips."

"Ahhhhhhhh shut up! Shut up! Boys are so annoying! Stop bragging!!! I get it!! I’m ugly!! I’m hideous!!!"

As Grace began yelling and covering her ears while squatting on the floor, Ari thought that she was exactly like her dad, Priest Steven Choi, in that aspect.

Seeing that her face was really turning red with unshed tears, he slid the jug of water over and continued eating while waiting until she calmed down.

After several minutes of panicking, her expression became serious as she stared at Ari, "Absolutely no showing your face in public. I would rather you wear that strange green mask than walk around showing THAT to the world. Cover up!"

"Firstly, I’m eating, so no. Secondly, I don’t plan on wearing my mask in public anymore since I wear it on the show," Ari replied calmly.

Although he wasn’t popular or famous, based on some of the weird comments he had seen online, he didn’t want anyone to recognize him until it was unavoidable.

He planned on wearing a regular facemask and hat from now on, and wearing his snail mask only on the show or indoors.

"Don’t talk back to me! You said you haven’t shown your face on the show??? Good. I’m hiring myself as your PR person. Let’s talk strategy to take you to the top. There’s a lot of bad press about you, but one selfie can clear it right up."

"...I thought you wanted to be an entertainment reporter?"

"You think entertainment reporters make money??? Please." Grace looked at Ari like he was stupid before continuing, "Celebrity PR is going to be my main gig, and I’ll take you on as my first client."

"Can I decline?"

"No!"

"Do I have to do anything?"

"Not yet. I have to organize everything and shift my whole online strategy."

"....Knock yourself out. And please, do your best to leave me out of it."

Ari rolled his eyes at her while continuing to eat, and Grace ran off before returning with her tablet and furiously scribbling notes and then slamming her hand on the table once more.

"No matter what, you can’t show your face on the show. You have to continue to hide your face, perform with a helmet, and do a grand reveal on stage. You hear me?"

"That was the plan anyway. I figured it would be a fun surprise for everyone."

At the thought of it, Ari chucked to himself, but Grace slammed her hand on the door.

"No laughing!"

He stopped laughing, but her hand slammed it again.

"No smiling!"

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

"Perfect! Keep that judgmental expression of disgust on your face at all times until you have a grand face reveal on the show! Speaking of which, since I had to cover your shifts, you owe me."

"Weren’t you working by yourself before I came here?"

"This and that are two separate things. Now, continue eating, let me get some candid photos of you! No wait! Let me get an apron so I can use you for free advertisement!"

Ari: "..."

"Don’t worry! It’s not like you have social media, and I won’t tag you. It’s strictly for business...and maybe my blog."

Ari: "...What was the last bit?"

"Nothing!"

Grace immediately ran off, and Ari just stared at her before sighing.

Well, whatever.

He owed her grandparents and dad a lot anyway, so he could do this much, though he didn’t think his face would do much to promote the bathhouse or the food.

When it finally got to A+ rank, he would just ask Grace to retake it.

*****

The next day, at lunch, Ari took the bus to his previous workplace at the restaurant, ordered the food that Granny Kim and Lisa liked, and took the bus to the nursing home where they lived.

As he signed in at the front, he got his cheeks pinched no less than 10 times as he walked into the elderly community room.

As he walked into the room, the first thing he spotted was Grandma Kim laughing like an evil villain while waving around her pink cane, as Grandma Lisa walked around swiping cash out of the hands of several distraught older women while laughing like a witch.

"Hahahaha, you think you can beat me?!! Not in a million years! Make sure to take it all, Lisa. Some of them are hiding the money in their bras!"

"Don’t worry, Kim, I’ll shake them down properly! This is revenge for bingo night!"

Ari: "...?"

What the heck had he just walked into?

Why were the two grandmas robbing other old people?

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