From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 165: Face Card (3)

[btw I’m a girl. I don’t know much about him since we’re in different classes, I just recognized him from the video.

From what I know, he’s really quiet and doesn’t talk to anyone, so he’s not popular.

But he’s really smart! He holds the school record for the highest and most AP exam scores and used to tutor for money before he quit a couple of weeks ago.

Plus, he’s been ranked 1st since he transferred over to our school.

There’s some stuff about his personal circumstances that I don’t think I should share. I can ask my friend who’s a senior for more details about him.]

└ What personal circumstances?

└└ She said she can’t share?

└└└ Then why did she mention it? Now I’m curious.

└ This doesn’t make any sense. A face like that is not popular?

└└ There has to be a personality issue

└└ One of the contestants said he’s a bully, and they call him Captain Crashout. Clearly, it’s true.

└ I still don’t believe this is him. The photo has to be edited

- OP: I can take a picture of him at school tomorrow

└ Please do!

└└ All of you guys are crazy! That is a minor that you’re doxing! OP, stop posting about him!

└└└ At this point, he’s a public figure, so who cares! If he didn’t want his life shared in public, he shouldn’t have gotten on the show!

└ OP, ignore them. If there are any other photos of Ariel, please share them!

└ Yes, and ask your friend or post in the high school group chat for details. We need to verify the facts.

└└ ...Why do you know about high school group chats? I see that you’re an adult with a real job.

└└└└ ......

└└└└ FBI! This one, right here!

With Ari’s true identity(?) being found, the fuss about most of the eliminated contestants died down, except for Caleb, who was the only one who had been on Ari’s team.

Even without being asked, he constantly shared stories, painting Ari in a bad light, and shared pictures taken by Ian, insisting that this was Ari’s true face and that he was a victim of his harsh behavior.

Of course, when the high schooler arrived at school and wanted to take a picture of Ari, since he was currently filming, he wasn’t there, so Caleb’s credibility went up, and lots of people began trying to attend the performance as well as spamming the production team to release footage proving showing Ari’s true face and verifying if the year book photo was actually him.

******

"What to do, what to do?" PD Emily sat in a meeting room with PD Ji-ho, assistant PD David, Clare, and a bunch of writers, including Kate.

They were reviewing not only the footage and results from busking as they planned the next episode, but also the online response to Ari’s face being exposed and blowing up into a bigger deal than expected.

After all, when choosing the contestants, one of the most important criteria was attractiveness in addition to talent.

Many of the contestants had built a decent following on social media and had even gotten modeling gigs.

But even among the good-looking contestants, just like there was division in talent, there was a clear division in visuals as well, and Ari hit all of the marks and immediately rose to the top ranks.

Even those who had a type would admit that he was good-looking.

When he was born, she was sure his parents high-fived each other.

PD Emily briefly wondered if that cheeky green eyed contestant had orchestrated this situation by never removing his mask and makeup where it could be captured by cameras, to allowing his teammate to get pictures, to finally ’accidentally’ removing his mask where the public could capture it, therefore building hype for his official mask removal and performance.

With the addition of the edited pictures floating around, it drove a crazy amount of interest towards him.

Even regular people were tuning in to see what all the fuss was about.

If he had planned all of this, she had to admit that he had mental strength of steel and confidence as high as the moon to stick with getting criticized by both trainers, other contestants, and the public, when he could have just shown his bare face and shut everyone up.

And if it was a coincidence, then he had an insane god of luck on his side, and she wanted him to buy her a lottery ticket.

Still, his plans were his plans, and her job was to come up with the best way to capitalize on this moment.

And to do that-

"Firstly, even if the internet detectives are at work, we have to protect his information on our side since he’s a minor. Have his guardians been contacted?"

"No, but we’ve left them several voicemails and messages to call us back and to inform them of the situation so they can be alert." Assistant PD Lee Bora replied as she flipped through her notepad.

"Okay, keep trying to reach them. I’ll speak directly to contestant Ariel myself, and if need be, I’ll contact his school as well to keep an eye out, even though I doubt anything will happen. Also, contact the eliminated contestants and let them know that they can talk as they please about their experience; however, they’re not allowed to give spoilers, or they’ll be held liable." PD Emily explicitly had one contestant in mind who was constantly running his mouth about Ari.

"Then, for the concert, let’s up the security." PD Ji-ho added as he pointed to the charts they had, which displayed ticket sales by teams.

The team led by William had almost double the number of people who had signed up using their specialty team code compared to the other groups.

And in the time between the busking being over, Ari’s face being revealed, and his identity being exposed online, an additional 200 people had bought the discounted tickets to see the contestants open for an old people’s concert, while the votes he received had pushed him up almost 10 spots.

All this and more just by his bare face being partially captured.

It seemed that her instincts were right in thinking that he always caught attention, whether he wanted to or not.

"That works for me. And David, about this contestant’s team..." PD Emily turned to look at him with her cold eyes while tapping her pen on the tabletop.

"Yes, ma’am?" Assistant PD David sat up straight with his heart in his throat as he wondered if the contestant they had been talking about had reported his actions to PD Emily or if she had found out that he was passing information to a particular contestant.

If she found out, he would be fired immediately, losing the job that seemed like it would be extremely successful and offer a substantial bonus at the end of it.

Not only that, he would possibly be blackballed, making all of the money he had collected useless since his career would be over.

"I know you have quite a lot of private meetings with the leader of the team."

"Hic." David couldn’t help but hiccup in fright, and PD Emily smiled in her usual sharp manner.

"No need to be scared. I don’t care since you already know I don’t particularly like him or his agency. Since he seems to listen quite well to you, convince them to choose the last performance spot by any means necessary. It would be a shame to immediately satisfy the curiosity of all the people coming to see a face reveal."

"...ah? That’s it? Sure. Yes! Of course! I’ll convince him or die trying!" David sighed in relief before replying in a much calmer tone.

After giving him a strange look, PD Emily chewed her lips before speaking slowly.

"And I want to say, you’re doing quite a good job. Ever since you took over dealing with the contestants’ issues, we’ve had far fewer complaints, and they bother me and PD Ji-ho much less. Whatever you’re doing is working, so keep up the good work. If you keep working like this, expect a fat bonus when things are over." PD Emily decided to compliment him since she didn’t want him to quit.

Having to go through the trouble of finding a new assistant when the show was just picking up would be annoying.

It would be perfect if things just stayed the exact same way.

"Ah? Really? Well, thank you! I’ll continue to do my best!" Assistant PD David replied cheerfully as he patted his heart.

Although he would have to bow his head a bit more to that annoying blonde brat, as long as the money kept rolling in from both sides, he could tough it out.

"Now, about the editing direction. Since a particular contestant has blown up in popularity, we need to switch the order around and increase his screen time and decrease the screen time of others. Starting with the boring blonde on his team, we’ll start by cutting his scenes that have nothing to do with him being a leader."

At the PD’s words, the bright smile that was on David’s face slowly disappeared.

Even though the PD had praised him, he now had to figure out how to explain to William why his scenes were cut after he had spent hours personally assembling all the good scenes of him while eliminating the ones that would tarnish his image if shown to the public.

******

And the center of all of the online buzz was currently slumped over on the roof, pounding his fist on the ground in anger.

"You’re telling me it’s broken? Forever?"

[Yes.]

[Gone. Finito. The end. Hasta la vista, baby. Sayonara. Au revoir.]

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