From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 163: Face Card (1)

Hiding his internal panic, Ari accidentally met the eyes of a blonde girl who stared at him with an open mouth as her phone fell out of her hand onto the ground.

"Are you okay?" Carlos quickly stood in front of him as Benjamin went to help the girl, and his other team members positioned themselves around him so the crowd couldn’t see his face.

"Status. My Status???" Ari immediately muttered as he began patting his face.

[Should you be saying that out loud?]

If you know that, then show me the stupid thing. I don’t have time for your nonsense.

[Here you go.]

[Ariel Matisse]

[Vocals: A]

[Dance: D+ (Currently C- with Otterly adorable tracksuit)]

[Visual: A-]

[Rap: F]

[Charm: A]

[Skills: JukeBox(A), Picky Listener (B), Pen Pal (C)]

[Surprise Missions: You think you’re better than me? It’s ci-pher you to prove it!]

[Current Rewards: N/A]

[I told you that you don’t have to worry about it for now.]

"Status? Uh...are you okay? Does your head hurt? Did you cut your face?" Carlos gently pushed back the hair that had fallen into Ari’s face before freezing.

What the heck?

"Phew. I’m fine." Ari sighed in relief after seeing that everything was fine, then pushed Carlos away and looked at the contestants, who were staring at him with open mouths.

"What?"

Was there a strange imprint from the mask on his face?

No matter how he rubbed his face, it didn’t feel like anything was there.

"Woah, your face."

"Wow, that’s how you look?"

"Life is really unfair, ugh."

Ari: "...?"

"Stay still."

Whip. Whip.

As his teammates began chattering, Carlos grabbed Ari’s chin, whipping his head from side to side as he examined it.

"Your face..."

"My face?"

Was there really a cut? Nothing hurt.

If he ended up scarred for life, he vowed to make William pay for it!

"...your face is fine?"

If he were being honest, Carlos had to admit that it was better than fine.

Slightly narrowed, cat-shaped sea green eyes framed by thick dark lashes, thick eyebrows furrowed in a slight frown, a straight, slightly upturned nose, clear skin without a hint of redness, acne, or sweat, full pink lips, and slightly pointed, elf-like ears peeking out from black curly hair.

Objectively, it was an extremely attractive face, but Carlos was stuck on just how young Ari looked.

He couldn’t believe that this pure, young-looking face with delicate yet sharp features belonged to the person who refused to lose an argument, regardless of whether it was a contestant or a trainer, and was secretly referred to as Captain Crashout.

"Your face is completely normal."

"I never said it wasn’t? Let me go."

Even as he complained, Ari obediently stood there until Carlos let go of his face with a confused expression.

It was clearly the same slightly accented, laid-back tone he had always heard, but seeing the judgmental eyes, along with the rest of the facial features, instead of through 10 pounds of black and white makeup or the strange green mask, was...odd.

He had also seen the online comments and the supposed leaked photos of Ari’s face, but clearly, that was far from the truth, and it was clearly somebody who wanted to slander Ari.

Thump-

"Rahhh...Looking like a model innit?" Benjamin whistled as he peeked over Carlos’ shoulder to stare at Ari’s face. "If your face looks like this, why were you hiding it with the weird mask and even weirder face paint?"

"I like the aesthetic. I think it’s cool."

[The lying show is back on.]

[Is that what we’re saying now?]

[Didn’t you spend hours finding a solution to hide your face?]

Well, it’s not as if I can tell them the truth of what happened.

"Usually, I support personal preferences and self-expression. But this time around, absolutely not. Unlike that aesthetic. Throw the mask away. Immediately. It’s beyond ugly, it’s hideous and makes you look like an alien." Benjamin honestly told him.

Wow. Tell me how you really feel.

"Whatever." Ari rolled his eyes before turning toward William, who was still sitting on the ground.

"Here to help me after pushing me down?" William asked sarcastically while holding his hand out before freezing as he looked at Ari’s face.

Why did he look handsome?

Wasn’t he supposed to be ugly?

He had personally verified with the contestant who posted the rumors to make sure that the video was real.

So why was he now looking at the unhappy face of a person who could be a model?

"I’m here for my mask. Move." Ari batted it away with his sleeve and grabbed the snail mask before freezing.

It was messed up.

There was a huge crack right down the center, and one of the horns was hanging off by a little piece, which fell off with a small thunk.

Ari’s eyes followed the piece as it hit the ground before slowly rising to glare at William, who had the audacity to look upset.

"Oops. It was an accident."

Your birth was an accident!

Your whole existence is an accident!

Your whole bloodline is an accident!

"That’s fine, you can accidentally pay me back for it. I take cash, direct deposit, Zelle, and bank transfer. Unless you’re broke?"

"Who do you think I am. Of course, I’ll pay for it. How much is it? $10? $20?" William began pulling out his wallet and removing several crisp cash bills.

"10,000 dollars and that’s the discounted rate. It’s a family heirloom that makes you more beautiful each day."

"What kind of nonsense is that? Are you a scammer?" William immediately stopped, putting the cash back into his wallet.

....?

I’m telling the truth.

This was my infinite glitch to become more beautiful constantly and you broke it you damn bastard!

I never even checked if it would work on other people, but do you know how much money I could make if it did??

Drop dead and die!

"Aren’t you the scammer here? I’m telling you it’s a family heirloom that makes you beautiful. $10,000 and not a cent less."

"I’m not paying that."

"You broke it."

"It was an accident."

"So? It’s still broken. Pay me back for my family heirloom."

"No."

"No?"

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

William: ಠ_ಠ

"Enough yapping. If nobody is injured, let’s load up! We have a long trip home." PD Emily called out.

Taking a deep breath to restrain his anger, Ari asked William the burning question through clenched teeth, "By the way, do you recognize me?"

"Why would I? Are you supposed to be important or something?" the blonde boy asked in an irritated voice, and Ari could only snort incredulously.

"Wow. Really? You are something else."

Seriously, how many people are you ordering to die that you can’t even remember my face or voice, even though it’s only a couple of weeks?

What a psycho.

"Are you picking a fight with me?"

"Actually, yes. I hope you’re sick the entire drive back. And I hope it continues until you pay me back for my mask." Ari told him honestly.

"All this over a cheap mask? You’re actually crazy." William spat out before standing and dusting himself off.

"You’re just finding out that I’m crazy? Pay me back and stop touching me. This is the second time I’ve warned you about this. Let’s not have a third," Ari whispered before turning away with his mask pieces.

He would have to ask NOVA if it was still functional when he was alone.

As he walked to the bus with his hood up, Benjamin slung his arm around his shoulder with a cheeky smile.

"Don’t be sad. At least we can finally sing this song and mean it- Mask on, f*ck it, mask off ey ey Mask off, Ari took the mask off ey ey" Benjamin began rapping loudly, and when he caught sight of PD Emily’s face and the camera, he pretended to snip his fingers like scissors, telling her to secretly cut it out.

Ari got on the bus, sitting next to Carlos while ignoring Benjamin’s efforts to avoid sitting next to William.

And the moment it started moving, he closed his eyes and was knocked out.

******************

[IDENTIFY THIS POP STAR ACADEMY CONTESTANT - (IMPORTANT!) (NEW!) - Who is this person? (.img attached, video attached)]

I was walking down Fremont Street with my friends when I happened to see several groups of extremely handsome boys performing random songs.

After chatting with them, apparently they’re on a show and (I may or may not have spent my souvenir money to attend a senior citizen concert to see them as the opener, but who cares?)

Anyways, we continued down the street to see all of the groups and came across one group that was basically throwing a party on the street??? It was chaotic with the boys running around, jumping on tables, and dancing like crazy with the crowd(but it was super fun!)

By the time we pushed our way through the crowd, they were packing up and leaving, and two of them were apparently play-fighting (one who looked just like a fairytale prince and one with a green mask), the mask came off, I saw the most insane face card I had ever seen in my life.

(img attached, blurry video attached.)

WHOOO? ISSSS?? THIS????

I have gone through all of the online profiles and found the identity of the prince(William), but I don’t see anybody who looks like this.

Does anybody know who this is?

Is this a staff member? Is this a contestant? Is this a contestant’s sibling? Their friend?

Has their social media been found? (I’m not a stalker, I promise, I just want to look at eye candy!)

Plz help, thanks!

It was a post that didn’t get much attention, especially because it was from a new account that wasn’t following the post guidelines.

But when it was reposted properly, someone left a comment that quickly led to another-

└ OP, why is it blurry? And the video is 2 seconds long??? Not helpful

└└ He looked into my eyes, and my brain glitched. My phone fell, and by the time I picked it up, he was blocked by the other boys, and they left.

└ Isn’t this one of the black haired contestants?

└└ No, I already went through them all.

└└└That eye color is rare on the show. Isn’t this Ariel?

└└└└ Even if it’s blurry, the person in the video is handsome, so it can’t be him. He’s missing the weird makeup.

└└└└└ No seriously. I think it is. The brown animal tracksuit and that weird green mask are the same as what he wore in Meet the Boys, Episode 1, and Episode 2 (screenshot attached, videos attached, links attached)

└└└└ But somebody in the community has been posting that this is what his face really looks like, and he’s wearing the exact same clothing inside the dorms they’re staying at, so somebody is lying (img attached, video attached, post links attached).

└└└└└ WTF

└└└└└ Ewww brother

└└└└└ The person posting says they’re on the same team as Ariel and that he’s literally a bully, ugly inside and out.

└└└└└ I was there, and even though his hood is up, I got a slightly better angle as they were getting on the bus. He’s actually quite pretty. (img attached, video attached.)

└└└└└ No way, I don’t believe it’s him

└└└└└ Why are all the boys surrounding him like bodyguards? Who does he think he is?

└└└└└└Wdym, he’s Captain Crashout, and there’s his first mate, Benjamin

└└└└└ Does it make sense that nobody has found him online, especially if his face looks like that (if that’s even him). It’s suspicious.

└└└└└ You’re suspicious.

As more and more comments filled the post-

└└└└└└└└ Wait! I go to school with him! He’s in my high school.

It blew up.

Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.co(m)